Quietly, she placed the scroll into her ring and swallowed back the emptiness in her throat. swiped away her tears, she returned to her observations of the place. She can't get distracted here. If she got caught, she would be in danger of being expelled and there was indeed a lot of good books in this library. Reading all of it would be too greedy and her price down the line would be more than she can offer. Therefore, she can only read what was necessary right now and wait till she was strong enough to read more later on. She can't give up this opportunity to her sorrows or she could greatly regret it in the future.
Something like this...
She has no choice but to put it aside for now. Otherwise, Mo Li would call her a fool for giving up such an opportunity in her life just because of something that had already passed. Just the thought of her vanishing back into the portal brought a cold feeling in her.
"Are you sure you want to keep this, master?" Xiao Li questioned her carefully when he could tell from their contract that she was in great sorrow at the moment.
"Yes..." She responded slowly without hesitation, "That... is just returning to its original owner..."
"... Understood..."
Not questioning her actions again, Xiao Li was thankful that their master wasn't someone who would beat him for questioning their intentions and hurried away after worrying for a little bit. He had never seen Lotus so sad ever since he and his sister met her inside the ring. Now, she was clearly depressed and it had shocked both him and his sister that there would be some who was able to connect with her close enough to create such fluctuations in her stubborn heart. Just who was this Mo Li she was talking about?
For someone to be able to breakdown Lotus to this extent was rare. Moreover, he wasn't sure if she could still be able to focus on her task after that mental breakdown just now.
Lotus could feel the doubtful thoughts running through Xiao Li's mind as she stuffed another purple pill into her mouth and said with a small and weary smile, "I'll be fine."
Mo Li was no longer in this world after over a million years in hers. With another million of her soul drifting throughout the mortal realm, it was obvious that the passing of time should've long passed her friend's. However, no matter how long the passage of time was, she did not forget the goals she had from her previous life nor her current goals now.
While rummaging through a few books that she decided to borrow and stealthy undoing the barriers cast from long ago, she came across one of great interest and was curious as she read the title that was written in an ancient language from the Valley of Thorns, "Potion Brewery of Mana..."
She looked at the contents briefly and her eyes widened in bewilderment. This was a book containing experiments and records of when the fae had just started learning how to make potions!
According to her father, before they started calling the process of making potions, alchemy, it was described as a brewery instead. Apparently, Alchemy had been a different form of arts that was later refined into two subjects: Science and Brewery. They later changed the term Brewery into Alchemy because a country had been using brewery to create beer and brewing potions was more akin to creating miracles, which was something alchemy was known to do while science took over the ideology of alchemy which was the understanding of the world and its properties. Over time, the term alchemy no longer became a definition of taboo arts, but for brewing potions and the first to have started brewing potions before everyone else in the world was the faes and the fairies. In fact, her mother and father are the masters of alchemy in the fairy kingdom and the first amongst them. However, compared to the world-renown Maleficient, this was unknown as fairies do not like Maleficient as much as others do.
Looking through the books, it contains the trials and errs of their experimentations of those over a thousand years ago. The book itself was the personal record of those experiments and records of their discovery and knowledge. It could be said to be one of the first books and journals of alchemy recorded in history of magic!
Compared to the present, there were no rules limiting the field of study in alchemy and, as a result, they performed a lot illegal experiments. Even though they gathered a lot of world-breaking knowledge, they also created a lot of damage that would later question if the brewery of potions was alchemy or if it was something akin to necromancy. As the brewery of potions were also a part of the contents in the book. The category become of great controversial subject followed by many books that later follow it. The Brewery Potions of Mana that should've only contained information regarding brewing potions was later involved in the arts of illegal alchemy or immature science and have even been implicated into the arts of necromancy. As a result, this book had the right to be hidden away from the eyes of the public in this secret library.
However, even though the book has such famous and infamous records recorded into its pages, Lotus felt that the book would be of great use for her and her alchemy study. Cultivation Alchemy was different from Magician alchemy and that included the pot where the result came from. With this in mind, she stowed away the book into her ring before sneaking out and resealing barriers she had broke through.
With Little Jun helping her subdue the blot and her barrier protecting the cobra soul behind her, she could finally take the time to read this book carefully!
.....
Outside of her conscious, Raaji was panicking when he saw more blood flowing from her mouth as if she was gutted from the inside!
"Wh-What's going on?! Lotus? Hey, Lotus!" He cried out in a panic.
"Quiet down." A-Cong scowled in dismay and plugged one of his ears with a glare.
"B-But, Lotus..." He whimpered in fear when he saw that glare pierce through him.
"Calm down." Hei Hui responded softly, "Thy friend is not as weak as thou think she is. She will be able to survive this attack."
"Ah, I see..." Raaji breathed a sigh of relief when his eyes widen in shock, "Wait, 'she'?"
Because the term she and he sounded similar in their language, Raaji had not noticed the term difference till Hei Hui used a different term for she which shocked Raaji in bewilderment and looked to her hoping she had simply made a mistake.
"What? You haven't realized it?" A-Cong shook his head in dismay, "This friend of yours have been using an artifact to hide her gender this entire time."
"But, that can't be!" Raaji gasped in horror when he realized that he was interacting with a woman this entire time! It couldn't be that she was using this term the entire time and he didn't realized it till now?!
"W-Why would a girl be here of all places though?" Raaji wondered in bewilderment when he heard this.
"Hei Hui?" A-Cong turned to his companion curiously as well. He didn't have an ounce of medical knowledge in him, so he could only turn to the guardian for help and an explanation to his curiosity.
Hei Hui breathed a small sigh and shook her head in disappointment, "I believe she brought to this school as a safe haven for her right now."
Hearing this, A-Cong raised a brow in surprise, "She's injured? Can you treat her?"
Hei Hui shook her head, "I do not have enough medical knowledge to help her. But, she must be able to treat herself. She was most likely guided into this school to have the protection to give her time to recover."
"So, she was injured?" Raaji said in bewilderment, "But, wouldn't she be taken to a hospital or somewhere with better security?"
"It probably because either those are useless or she doesn't trust those places." A-Cong responded with a huff of dismay, "When cultivators are injured with no where safe to go, they would find a secluded area and hide out there until they recover. It matter little how long the recovery process is when cultivators cultivate to a point where food and water become unnecessary to keep their bodies functioning. Kid, do you know how she arrived into the school in the first place? The ebony carriage?"
Raaji nodded, "He- I mean, she should've. The ebony carriage shouldn't make a mistake either. Oh! But, there were rumors that she was recommended by the Dark Mirror, especially. Normally, the Dark Mirror chooses who should be recommended, not someone he wants to recommend. That's why Lotus was getting a lot of attention these days when the word spread. Someone overheard the conversation and the news spread."
"The Dark mirror is an artifact with a conscious." Hei Hui explained with a frown, "But, it does not mean that it can only remain in the mirror. It's most likely that he spotted your friend in her male form and offered her a safe haven into the school. She must've been severely injured during then. I can see traces of bone fractures pulled together by her own cultivation. Her medical knowledge must be vast for her to do something like this."
"Huh?"
A-Cong frowned, "She must've shattered her bones at some point and injured herself greatly before the Dark Mirror sought for her. Something made the Dark Mirror leave his place and find the girl to save her. She must have a very important role, otherwise, he would never leave his place. Because her medical knowledge is great, she has been healing herself for some time till now."