Shu He steadily pulled on his robes, straightening them out and tying the silver sash at the front, his old clothes had suffered quite a lot during his fight and were basically tatters, considering their durability it just showed how much damage he had received from the wind and his own attack.
He stretched his arms up, his back arching as he felt his muscles and joint scream with relief after being released from that bed, he couldn't help but begin doing stretches as he felt himself fully waking up from a long rest.
The door to the room opened and Jing Yaling stepped in, glancing his way, and sending him an odd expression.
"What are you doing?"
"Stretches" Shu He muttered as he moved side to side, stretching his legs.
"You're a cultivator, your body is always ready enough to move" She fixed her glasses position and sat down.
Shu He knew that was true, he had noticed it long ago; Stretching helps the muscles maintain their flexibility over long periods of inactivity, but it also helps feed blood and in turn oxygens to the muscles, but he realised he never really felt the benefits much once he started cultivating.
He had concluded he the flow of Qi in the body continually regulated his body, making sure the muscles and other organs were in top condition and ready to move as if he was 'stretching' constantly, it was one of the reasons cultivators can cultivate in one position for so long yet not be stiff when moving right at the end.
"I know, it's just habit" He finished and looked around the room, he had spent over a week here as he spent time extracting the gold Qi from his muscles, by the end his control over it had improved tenfold so at least that was a blessing in disguise.
He had also learned a bit more about the doctor in front of him whilst he was here, she visited thrice a day after he woke up to administer medication and bring him some food and water when he asked for it, but he knew she was not-so-secretly intent on figuring out his secret, it appears to really have piqued her interest.
Unfortunately for her, she had no chance to do so since Shu He quietly finished the extraction without any external help and recovered fine, she congratulated his recovery, but he could see a clear disappointment hidden behind her expression at that moment.
He would have left a day ago, but she wanted to perform final check-ups – to see if she could catch anything at all, so he decided to inquire about what research she was doing since he was interested in the Division, his admittance in his interest to join seemed to have made her more willing to open up to him.
"My research specifically going in to human and cultivator biology, what's the difference between the two, what effect does a core flame have on the body, how can we apply this knowledge to solve issues for mortals and cultivators alike" She explained, drawing Shu He's interest.
"So things like… lifespan?" Shu He asked the first thing that came to mind – cultivators live longer than mortals.
"Right, one of my predecessors did research on that subject, it took a lot of groundwork but essentially the small building blocks that make up a human degrade over their life span, this was observed over a long period of time with different age ranges, normally those blocks multiply and that's how a human body grows and heals, but the moment those blocks reach a certain point they cease functioning, and their body begins to fall apart."
'Blocks? I'm guessing she's talking about cells, has research not gone this far yet? Hmm was this the result of the cell division limit? Or was it something else? Something shortening.. can't quite remember' He thought and questioned, but stayed silent, coming out with this stuff will just confuse the conversation right now.
'Either way this matches what I understand from the other world'.
"For cultivators it's slightly different! It seems that under the presence of a high concentration of Qi these blocks mutate! Their structure changes and so does their rate of duplication, but at the same time they can last is far, far longer! It's an all-round improvement just by becoming a cultivator". She said while looking rather happy like she was remembering some good memories.
"So if a mortal were to be exposed to a high concentration of Qi, would they have a longer life span?" He couldn't help but ask, he remembered his Father had absorbed a large amount of Qi after taking the elixir and that caused him to die, so he thought he knew the answer, but he wanted to check.
As expected, Jing Yaling shook her head "We tested it on some smaller animals and preserved flesh, but the results weren't good, the animals died under the high concentrations of Qi. It's known among researchers that animals can potentially ascend to a spirit animal after absorbing Qi, too much even in a saturated environment and overload its body- essentially it's poison, but there were more detailed specifics, we saw them easier on the preserved flesh, it was still 'alive', and we steadily increased the concentration of Qi as we watched".
"We observed a change in the blocks, just like we saw in a cultivators body, they began to mutate which was a good sign- at first." She sighed like she was the one there.
"The shapes of the blocks were different from what we observed before, their order and flow were different as they erratically divided and then began to collapse in on themselves, it was like watching a riot of commoners in a city fire, eventually activity ceased, and the sample 'died'".
"So, it's not possible for mortals to use Qi to live longer?" Shu He asked, letting the conversation continue.
"From these results, no, however we concluded one thing – There was a difference between the subjects, a cultivator, and the 'sample', that is a 'Core Flame', it's highly likely that Qi can only be beneficial to the human body as long as its under the 'will' of a core flame".
"So, you'll need to research the core flame?"
She sighed "That's like asking me to glimpse the secrets of the heavens themselves, unfortunately this was a dead end, but it's these kind of things we look in to in hopes of finding something."
That was one of the short conversations they had, Shu He definitely felt more and more interested, if he applied the little knowledge he had of otherworld science he felt like he could get somewhere.
Either way, he had to deal what was in front of him right now, and that was-
An Envelope.
Jing Yaling held it out to him like she was handing out a leaflet on a streetside.
"What's this?" He took it out of her hands, taking a look at it, he flipped it over from the plain side as its silver paper shimmered in the light, on the other side was a weird stamp with the 'Metal' symbol on it.
"I don't know, I was handed it by that Bai boy and told to give it to you when you were going to leave" She shrugged.
'Bai Shun?' Was the only name Shu He could think of.
He touched the stamp and as he did he felt a small suction as his Qi was siphoned into the stamp, the stamp lit up before it dissipated into particles of light.
'Is this really necessary for a letter?'
However when he looked inside it wasn't a white piece of paper like he expected, instead it was an incredibly thin slate, it was the same colour and material as his sect token.
He frowned 'What is it?' he activated his 'sight' but saw little other than the fluctuating formation light filled with Qi inside of it.
He took it out and suddenly lights showed up on the front of the black card, forming a sentence.
'Outer disciple Shu He
This is a direct order.
Report to the Elder's Hall at once.'
He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing things correctly.
"They want me to go to the Elders Hall…?" He couldn't help but mutter.
"That's not a surprise after what happened" the doctor mentioned, reminding Shu He that he wasn't merely injured in a simple fight.
"That's true…" He stared at the card for a while longer before storing it in his new robes, he then went over to his bedside cabinet and picked up the few items that survived his robes being tattered.
Namely his token and… the name plate that read 'Fu' that he had retrieved from his Father's hidden stash before he left home.
He didn't know why he was carrying this around; it was a simple memento from his Father's past life, it looked like it would have been set next to the door to show who lived there, but the more he looked it felt off.
There were no holes or evidence that it had been attached to wood at some point, although it's made of brass it has no stains, dents, or scratches on it.
He was starting to doubt his initial assessment, yet even with his eyes he couldn't see anything wrong with it, to them and his other senses it was a simple metal plate.
He shook his head and stashed it in his robes before he sighed.
He hadn't carried much else into the fight, his stash of seeds he had prepared and the stuff that held them went up in flames, but there was something else that was destroyed.
His bow.
His father's bow.
He was quite sad when he learned about its fate, he had gotten used to it over the last few years and cherished it because it belonged to his father, one of the few things he left behind.
But after a while he settled down.
In the end it was a weapon, one of many bows his father used, it wasn't special.
He doesn't really know why, but after that battle he felt like he had something lifted from his heart, he understands that he needs to move on.
He can feel sad, he can grieve but he can't stop in place or let those emotions blind him.
He sighed again, turning to leave.
"Then, thanks for taking care of me, I'll be going now". He spoke to the doctor as he passed.
"Make sure to come back after sorting yourself out, I could use an assistant." She said, standing up crossing her arms.
"I will" He waved as he exited the door which then closed behind him.
As he walked down the hallway, his only companion the echoing of his footsteps.
'I guess I can't keep an invitation from the Elder's Hall waiting, can i?' He prepared his heart as he looked off in to the distance, at the tallest peak surrounded by cascading water.