The room was filled with silence, the only sounds that could be heard were gentle flickering and sizzling of the candles and the clanking of tools being placed on a metal tray.
Shu He walked into the room and quietly closed the door behind him, there were now only three people inside the small, dim room, there was an older nurse called Yu Ya, her face gentle yet filled with wrinkles as her hair was filled with white strands showing her age.
Next was Zou Qiang, the captain, he was currently laid on a table with his arms and legs strapped down, he had a leather mask with a tube attached to his face, on the other end was a bucket with soil, this was something Shu He had prepared to the confusion of others.
And finally, Shu He himself was here, he was wearing a cheap overall robe rather than the cloak he had been wearing most of the time just in case this got dirty.
"Doctor Shu, we've prepared what you asked for…. We also have the tools required here" The older lady spoke to him with respect, some of them had started to refer to him as that seeing how he began to handle the patients that they struggled with for so long, Shu He wasn't too bothered so he let them, but he wouldn't go out of his way to want to be called such, he felt he wasn't quite there yet.
"I won't be needing the tools" He shook his head as he approached the bucket by kneeling down carefully.
"What? Aren't you performing surgery?" She asked, confused.
"I'll be using a unique method… remember, I said to not speak of this to anyone".
She had a look realisation; he had definitely said that the reason she was the only one in here was because he wanted someone for support but didn't want too many witnesses.
"But then how…" She murmured to herself as she watched the young boy hold his hand out, he was wearing a unique pair of leather gauntlets and suddenly a plant shoot grew out of the top, entering the crack of his fist and disappearing, leaving her stunned as she watched with rapt attention.
Shu He channelled a large amount of Qi into the seedling that rested in his palm, reconfiguring its structure before he let it fall into the soil, soon a giant flower grew and its head entered the stitched tube, after a few seconds Zou Qiang who had been struggling in pain went silence, he had fallen into a deep sleep.
He had used the Snoozing Trapperflower from before, but focused on a slow, steady release of the sleeping powder, with the mask and tube the powder was focused and easily put one man into a deep sleep, plus this wouldn't strain the plant and allow it to produce seeds afterwards so It wasn't a waste.
"Amazing…" He heard whispered from behind him, but he ignored it and stood up beside the table, now was the beginning of the hard part.
He had been practicing his 'technique' for every moment since he first discovered it, it was incredibly hard to pull off and required a lot of concentration, but he should be able to do what he wants to do, the only problem was that it will take a lot of time, that's why he asked for a supporter.
He breathed in and out to calm himself, the slight scent of the candles soothing him as his eyes focused, the sight of hundreds of squirming worms filled his vision as he moved his hands, placing them against the worn bare skin of the captain.
Again, envisioned not just moving his sight, but his body within his range, there was an incredible force resisting his movements but slowly he moved, once he tried to pierce the skin it was like pushing against a brick wall, yet he pushed and pushed even when his head began to feel like a knife was being twisted inside of it.
His forehead began to sweat, this was infinitely harder than cultivating, it was even harder than removing the golden Qi from himself, he felt that the moment he lost concentration all his efforts will disperse like dust in the wind.
Eventually he had managed to push so that his 'hands' intersected with his image of the worms, it was like moving in virtual reality and clipping through a solid surface.
'Here we go…'
The hardest part was now.
He had to kill the worms, he couldn't remove them because he was essentially just extending his 'reach', he wasn't really inside with his physical hands, there was no exit wound, rather there was no wound at all.
That's why this wasn't 'surgery'.
He was about to take a massive gamble, one that relied on his fine control of his Qi.
He was very limited on what he could kill the worms with, most of his technique were Wood type, but he couldn't use those without seeds or existing flora, so that was a no go.
He had no Earth techniques, no Metal techniques, the Water technique he had was just for producing small amounts of water, basically for drinking.
His only choice was Fire, and he only had one technique at that.
But it could work, the parasites were sensitive to heat, a burst of fire could easily kill them; But he had to be incredibly careful, a simple misstep and he would burn the patients insides as well.
He focused on one long worm, he forced his 'hand' until it completely overlapped with it and then began to channel his Qi, it was an odd sensation, he felt like he was both challenging it through his hand and also through air, yet it acted like it was his limb, no matter the material his Qi flowed through like it was his own body,
He then moulded the Qi, stretching it thin, confining it to the shape of the worm… then when he was prepared mentally, he activated <
The flames engulfed the parasite, turning its writhing pale shape into a snake of flame, but the flames desired to spread, if he left it for even half a second it would scorch the insides of the captains flesh!
He clenched the flames, wrapping and controlling the Qi within them until it extinguished, all that was left was a tiny amount of ash that quickly mixed in with his flesh.
'Good'.
He didn't let his concertation slip, but he couldn't help but realise how long this would take, in fact if he took too long they may reproduce faster than he could kill them.
So he had to destroy multiple ones at once.
He stretched his 'Hand' as much as he could, like he was a giant trying to capture small animals, he sensed the writhing growth of worms he had grasped and carefully moulded his Qi once more… then lit the fire!
"!!"
*Bang*
The captain's body jumped before laying still again.
"Tch"
Shu He grit his teeth, he was too inaccurate in his haste, he had lightly burned some flesh.
Once was fine, such things would heal, but if it kept happening it would be bad.
He had to focus harder, he couldn't let his impatience get a hold of him.
From then on, it was a long period of silence and concentration, Shu He didn't say a single thing but seeing his face red and filled with sweat made Yu Ya worry, she got a cloth and patted the sweat off his face and brow to prevent it from getting in his eyes, when she saw his lips begin to crack from dryness she tipped small amounts of water in his mouth, he didn't respond but drank it.
In the moments where the patient began shifting uncontrollably despite the restraints, he used his small build to steady his body.
It was all she could do as she watched an unknown practice go on before her.
This went on for a full 12 hours, some impatient nurses and the mayor himself had tried to come inside to check up on them but were turned away quietly by the old lady.
Eventually, it was finally over.
Shu He took a step back, lifting his hands up before they drooped to his side and he stumbled, about to fall before Yu Ya caught him and placed him in a chair.
"Is it done?" She asked quietly.
Shu He grimaced, he had a splitting headache and he felt dizzy, his 'sense' was much weaker than usual, he had definitely overdone it, but…
"Yeah, he just needs the normal treatment now…" He managed to eek out before turning silent once more, laying back on the chair to rest.
She patted his head, like a gentle grandmother would do her grandson "Well done".
She had watched him closely the past few days, seeing such a young child taking on such heavy responsibilities and solving a problem they've been having for more than a week now, she wanted to do something for him, but this was all she could do, she felt guilty.
Yet as his expression calmed, she felt it was fine, afterwards she left the room to inform the others that it was over, they were overjoyed as they moved the captain back in with all the others and began checking him over, when he woke up an hour later he said he still felt some pain, but it was significantly better.
With that, the entire crew would be fine withing a couple weeks leading to some celebration, but not too much, that was to be reserved for a couple weeks from now.
As for Shu He, he had fallen asleep in the chair, Yu Ya had told them to leave him alone, she had seen how long he had been concentrating, she knew he needed to sleep.
…
5 hours later, it was midnight outside, the mayor's manor was quiet as everyone was asleep save for the few nurses moving about, inside the dark room Shu He's eyes gently opened.
"Where…?"
He looked around the dim room before his memory kicked in.
'Right… I must have fallen asleep after finishing the operation…' He stretched and yawned, his head still hurt but not as bad as earlier post op, he tried his 'sense' and felt that it was still restricted, but not as heavily as before.
'So I can recover it by resting, that's good to know at least…'
He stood up and went over to the table, leaning down to the bucket beside it and looked inside, the plant had withered and was dead, but Shu He reached inside its petals and pulled out a few seeds that remained before pocketing them.
He then stood up and looked out the window.
The moon was high in the sky and the wind blew the leaves off the trees gently.
'I should go for a walk…'
He left the room and took off the cheap overall robes before putting his cloak back on and taking his sword before exiting the building.
He felt the cold nights air to be pleasant on his pounding head, he had felt sick from being inside a small room for more than half a day straight, in fact if he hadn't had Yu Ya to attend to him during the operation he might have fainted.
'I'll have to thank her later'.
He then placed his hand on his head and remembered the sensation of her rubbing it with a mixed expression on his head.
'I guess… no matter it be this life or last life, I'm still a child compared to her' He thought before shrugging'.
He then thought about his experiences with his own 'Technique' just now.
'I have my 'Sight', my 'Sense' and now… what do I even call it? Rather… it's all part of the same thing, extending 'Myself' in various ways, in a form that no technique I've encountered so far has done…'
"Shouldn't I give it a proper name?" He murmured to himself.
'But what? Some sort of domain? I think other techniques use that term already…'
He wracked his brains, trying to think of a name… and then something came to his mind.
A domineering figure that he had encountered recently, Long Tian; He had how own technique and he gave it such a… proud name, <
'Maybe… I should follow suit?' He thought, a childish grin grew on his face.
He didn't know why, but something was pushing him to do so, like it was the right thing, even if his subconscious kept telling him how cocky it was to name a technique like that.
'I can always change it later if I need to' He thought as a name formed in his mind… and then it was finalised.
"<
It was like the word 'Divine' was screaming to him, it needed to be part of the name, as for the latter part he could have gone with 'Domain' but felt 'Territory' was better, they meant the same thing in the end though.
He felt something click inside him as he spoke the name, like a solid image had been formed.
He couldn't help but smile as he continued on his walk.
Soon he reached the outskirts of the town, a simple dirt path that bordered the nearby forest and the outer sections, as he watched the moon peacefully he suddenly stopped.
"Just as I was in a good mood…" He broke out into a run, in the opposite direction he should have been going, away from the town.
His <
Someone was charging at him under the dark of the night, black robes covering their figure, a shining blade reflecting the moonlight and… a black mask covering their face.
They had found him!