In the middle of a big field of peach blossom trees and purple orchids, a woman and a man are sparring. Both have strong swordsmanship, none giving in to each other's counterattack. If someone was watching them, their sparring would look like two lovers dancing in the field, enjoying their peaceful moment.
From the ground, the lovers, start parring up in the air spinning to the clash of their crossing swords. The man has the upper hand and he swiftly gets behind the woman making her lose her guard and she loses the sparring session.
A gust of wind blows, and the petals of the peach blossom trees are dancing around the couple as they slowly land on the ground. The woman gets shy and the man is laughing enjoying his lover's expression.
Not long after, the bright sky turns red and the clouds turn gray. The man holds his lover close to him, shielding her from whatever is coming their way. Dark smoke forms in the middle of the field and around them. From within arriving armed men, ready to take charge at the command of the man now standing in front of the couple.
There is a woman among the men, running up to the commander, pleading he kill the woman in the arms of the man. The commander pulls out his sword and points the sharp tip toward the woman, looking at her with great anger.
The man hugging the woman tells her to run and she does. The couple separates, the man fighting the commander, stalling his lover for more time to escape, and the woman with tears running down her beautiful face hoping she could find someone to help her. However, her escape was in no veil.
The woman ran towards a cliff, and when she looked back to look for a way out the woman that was standing by the commander stood before her along with a few of her guards. The evil woman laughs as she inches closer to the woman. She backs up to the edge until she has no space left. The woman is trapped.
Everyone around the woman laughs at her as she has nowhere to run. The evil woman is standing right in front of her and with a slight touch, she falls down the high cliff. Only an ear-piercing cry can be heard.
---
Meilian jolted awake, cold sweat forming on her forehead. She tries to calm down her pounding heart. This nightmare has been recurring since she came of age a year ago and it's been haunting her. Meilian tries not to mind her nightmare, but she never knows when it would return - it has left her sleepless at times.
She shakes off the chilling feeling and gets out of bed. Meilian had much work to do therefore she couldn't afford to sleep any longer, the sun was already peeking through the wooden windows. She gets changed into a light green flowy attire and put up her hair in a tall bun, securing it with a wooden orchid hairpin, given to her by her late mother.
Her father was outside, watering his precious plants. He sees Meilian walking out of the house and he calls her over.
They live in a small cottage by the mountainside. The cottage is surrounded by a lake and a bridge that connects to the other side. The land is big and fertile, filled with plants, flowers, and trees. Both of them had enough space to plant newer plants if they wanted to. The cottage is located a half-day walk away from the Fuzhou Kingdom. They live in a remote area. Meaning, if they wanted to go to town for business they would need to prepare in advance.
"Lian'er you finally decided to wake up," he says and pinches her nose.
"I'm sorry father," she says as she takes over watering the plants. "I had the same nightmare again and you know how my sleep is when I get that dream"
The father looks at her in disbelief but she was right. They had tried to find a cure for her condition because that's what pharmacists do. Sadly, they exhausted all possibilities and eventually, made incense that would make Meilian sleep soundly and not be disturbed by any dreams. Some days the treatment worked, but on rainy days the effect of the incense would stop working and last night it was lightly raining.
"When you are done watering them, remember to put the shield over them!" her father tells her as he walks to the backside of the cottage. "Then wash your hands, I'll warm up your breakfast"
Meilian was grinning, imagining the food her father had made her. She finishes watering the two plant beds and puts away the water hose. Then she takes a few steps back and makes hand signs and a transparent field surrounding the beds, protecting them from the curious animals.
The back of the cottage is set up with an open and outdoor kitchen. On the table, there is spicy tofu soup, grilled fish along with sides of lotus roots, and pickled cucumber. Her father brought out bowls and chopsticks then sat down. Meilian sat down on the opposite side of her father and picked up her chopsticks. She reached out to pick up her food, but their meal was interrupted by people calling for her father.
"Dr. Gu?" a man calls out from the front of the cottage. "Dr. Gu, are you here?"
Meilian's father got up and walked to the front of the house and Meilian followed after him after getting a bite of the tofu. They are visited by the disciples of the Heaven's Sword Sect. They looked like they were in a hurry. Meilian and her father respectfully greeted them.
"How can I help you, gentlemen?" her father asked as he showed them to a more suitable place for conversation.
"Dr. Gu, we don't have time!" the tall disciple said. "You have to come with us! It's very urgent!"
"You have to come to take a look Dr. Gu!" the other one added. "You have to save our junior brother!"
Mr. Gu understood the graveness in their voices and asked them to wait for him. Meilian followed her father and went to her room.
"Where did I put my pouch..." she mumbled to herself.
She looked down under her bed and puller out a big box. Meilian opened the box and from inside she took out a white, orchid-embroidered pouch bag. She opened it up to check if her energizing pill was inside. A pill her father specially made for her to boost her stamina in case she needed to heal a patient's core. Luckily, she had one pill left which she could use if life depended on it.
Meilian puts the pouch over her shoulders and runs outside, her father came right behind her with his medical bag.
"Let's go," Mr. Gu said.
Meilian, her father, and the two disciples arrive at Heaven's Sword Sect which is located high up in the mountains. 18 years of living, this was the first time Meilian visited the world-renowned sect. She only heard the descriptions the villagers of the town over, described. However seeing the sect with her own eyes, it was more spectacular than she had imagined.
She and her father were led to the sleeping quarters of the younger disciples and in the far corner, a few men stood surrounding a boy laying in bed.
"Sect leader! Sect leader!" said the tall one as he was rushing toward a middle-aged man. "Dr. Gu is here!"
The middle-aged man turned towards Meilian and her father. When they stood in front of the man, her father respectfully greeted him, a way Meilian never had seen her father do before, so she followed suit.
"My humble greetings, Sect leader" her father addressed.
"Thank you for coming all this way Dr. Gu" the sect leader said. "We will be grateful for your help today"
"If you don't mind," Mr. Gu began. "Can you tell me what happened to this boy?"
"We asked younger brother to go up the mountain to pick tea leaves for our master," the disciple that had been crying up until that point said. "I and another were going to gather wood to practice on. We were going to gather back here but it took a while for younger brother to return from his trip. Then we went to look for him and that's when we saw him passed out"
He started crying again. It was painful to watch for Meilian but she understood his pain and sympathized with him. Mr. Gu was deep in thought.
"Could he have picked something he shouldn't have?" Meilian asked her father. "Like something poisonous?"
Mr. Gu looked at the boy in the bed, his face looking pale. he got closer to the boy and took his pulse and temperature. It didn't take seconds before his face changed expression.
"Lian'er check his pulse for me," Mr. Gu told his daughter and she walked to the other side of the bed and took his pulse.
She looked at her father and both knew what they had to do. Mr. Gu looks at the Sect leader and tells him his diagnosis.
"Sect leader this boy has been poisoned," he began. "We need to start the treatment right away. We do not have much time left"
"Please tell those two if you need any help with anything," the sect leader said. "Save this boy"
Mr. Gu nodded at the sect leader and then looked at his daughter.
"Lian'er, get some fresh water," he orders. "Be as quick as you can"
Meilian picked up a large marble bowl and left the quarters, following behind her one of the disciples that escorted them to the sect. He showed her halfway to were their largest water source was and then left her to be by herself. She didn't mind, she had good memory so she is capable of finding her way back.
There was a big waterfall. Underneath a pond that looked clearer than anything, she had ever seen. Meilian was taken aback by the beauty of it all. She walked closer to the pond and looked into the water. It was so clear she could see her perfect reflection of herself. She quickly took the marble bowl and put it under the clear water and filled it up to the brim. Meilian got up slowly to make sure she didn't spill the water.
She wasn't watching where she was walking, and before she knew it, she had bumped into something, and all the water spilled on the something - or someone. She looked down at the fallen bowl and took notice of a pair of shoes. That's when she realized she had bumped into someone and the water had spilled on them. She started to panic and looked up at the person ready to apologize to him.
"I am so sorry-" she was cut off.
"Who are you?" he asked in a stern tone.
Meilian was caught off guard. She could see that the man in front of her didn't look amused at all. His eyes were cold and his clothes drenched. This man was annoyed because he had just gotten changed from another incident and the thought of getting changed again meant his time was wasted yet again. What he couldn't wrap his head around was why this random person was inside their sect. He didn't want to create a scene, but to him, this situation was unheard of.
His friend had fallen behind earlier and had finally caught up with him. Finally, when he reached his friend, he couldn't stop laughing when he saw his childhood friend drenched.
"Haha young master," his friend said, unable to contain his laughter. "You just got changed. I didn't know you were that eager to take another bath!"
The young Master stared at him and this made the laughing boy stop. Before the young Master could ask any questions Meilian remembered why she was there in the first place. She got up and apologized in a rush, ran back to the pond and got new water, and walked past the young master.
In this world, people can use magic to enhance their performance. It wasn't an unusual occurrence but not everyone was blessed to have this ability. Some would be born with burnt cores, which would make it hard for a person to cultivate. Sometimes, when someone has a burnt core they could repair it if someone with strong abilities along with a premium cultivated plant. Meilian was fortunate enough to be blessed with such abilities. However, she was special in a way.
Meilian returned to the sleeping quarters and saw that the sect leader was waiting outside. She went into the room quickly with the water. Her father was preparing the place. Preparing to extract the poison inside the disciple's body.
"Are you ready Lian'er?" her father asks her as he places the tray with the needle pouch on the table.
Meilian takes a deep breath before she walks over to the bed and unfolds the needle pouch. She takes out a small needle that's sharp and sterilizes it with a cloth her father gives her. She then takes the needle and pricks it into the boy's skin on his neck, specifically his vein. There is a small wound on his neck and a small trail of blood pours out.
She puts down the needle and sits down on the stool placed beside the bed. Meilian takes a deep breath before making gestures with her hands and some of her qi gets sent into his weak body. While she is focusing on her qi control, Mr. Gu walks to her side with a needle and pokes her in the same spot as the boy. Blood starts seeping out of the tiny wound. That's when Meilian changes her hand gesture and his qi flows into her wound.
Slowly, some of his tainted blood along with poison exits his body through the tiny wound and enters Meilian's body through her wound. She focuses hard to ensure she doesn't make a mistake or it could be fatal for the boy.
The boy's body begins to sweat, his limbs start twitching slightly. Mr. Gu gets a clean cloth and dips it into the clear water and dabs the boy's forehead, wiping the sweat and cooling him at the same time.
After some time, some blood spilled from Meilian's mouth and she endures it, and eventually finishes the cleansing prosses after an hour.
She stops the qi flow and slowly gets up. Mr. Gu puts down the cloth and walks over to his daughter, helping her sit down on an empty bed. Meilian smiles weakly. Then her father walks over to the boy and checks his pulse again.
"His pulse is normal now," her father said. "He is strong"
"Luckily the poison wasn't terminal," she added. "He is lucky he didn't find a deadly plant"
Meilian's head starts to spin - she feels light-headed. Meilian meditates to calm her head. Lightheadedness is one of her symptoms when she uses this ability, to purify the blood from toxins. Meditating helps her calm her qi because it becomes chaos inside her head and she passes out. Luckily, the poison inside the boy wasn't that strong, so she is able to purify the toxin.