Shu He followed behind He Qiao as they dashed across the sect grounds, normally such a thing would be seen as rude and disrespectful but anyone who glanced over at them saw the state Tao Ru was in and turned an eye to them, Shu He's sight didn't leave his teacher's body for even a moment as he used his territory to inspect the state of her physique.
She didn't even have an ounce of Qi inside of her, it was something he'd never seen before; Even the rocks and flora had trace amounts of Qi flowing through them, there wasn't a single thing that was utterly devoid of Qi like this, he doesn't understand what could have caused this, she was just performing Alchemy, right? Such a thing shouldn't happen!
He also questioned why they left the Alchemy Tower immediately, shouldn't there be pills there that could help stabilise her? He saw the effects of the pill that the Tower Lord fed her earlier, it had caused a horrid black substance to gather from the depths of her body before being expelled from her skin, but what was that?
Bo Yun had called them impurities, Shu He has understood that term being used in alchemy refers to waste products formed from the pill creation, things to be disposed of, but why were they inside Tao Ru's body?!
'What was she doing in there?!' A drip of sweat fell from his brow as his feet kicked off the stone pathway, they were quickly approaching the Medical Division, Shu He jumped ahead of He Qiao who was being careful, trying not to injure Tao Ru even more and shouted behind "I'll go and tell Doctor Jing to prepare!"
"Got it!" He Qiao shouted back as he watched Shu He shoot off, his Qi causing indents in the stone as he went along.
…
After Shu He arrived he quickly dragged Jing Yaling out of the hidden basement, at first she was annoyed since she was in the middle of research but after explaining the symptoms he had seen her expression darkened.
"Prepare the operating room! I need to gather some things so get everything set up!" She shouted at Shu He before she rushed off in to one of the deeper rooms, Shu He did as he was told and got everything set up with fresh implements, by the time He Qiao had arrived a few minutes later everything was ready.
"Where's Senior Jing?" He Qiao questioned while looking oddly at Shu He who was wearing a pure white robe and mask.
"She's preparing what she needs, bring my Teacher through here and place her on the table" He directed the distressed Alchemist who carefully placed her down.
"…" Shu He's eyes narrowed, she had gotten even paler, he wasn't sure what exactly was wrong, but she was worsening in health! Jing Yaling burst through the door carrying a pack filled with vials and containers, she looked at the two of them before turning to He Qiao.
"You, leave" It was a simple, direct order.
"I won't get in the way! Shu He is here as well so-" He tried to convince her but-
"Leave or she'll be left to die".
It was a clear threat.
He Qiao swallowed his words before glancing at Tao Ru's still body once more, before leaving the building entirely, he didn't want to argue any more with her life on the line.
She then turned to Shu He "You're dressed properly, good".
"I don't know if I can help, but I'll do anything I can" Shu He said, he hadn't ever participated in any of the surgeries here yet, Jing Yaling hadn't let him, but he was intending to start learning anyway, that said right now was an emergency, he needed to do all he could.
"Then first, strip her" Jing Yaling ordered as she began unpacking causing Shu He to flinch, she glanced at him, and their eyes met. After a second Shu He turned around wordlessly and walked over to the table.
'Sorry' He then skilfully disrobed her exposing her naked body, yet not a hint of lust could be seen in his eyes, only worry. A hospital operating room was something he was too familiar with after all, he understood that such feelings had no place here, a life was at stake.
The smell of disinfectant, the pure white walls and floor, the faint sounds of weak and laboured breathing, a room where dignity was irrelevant; It was all too eerily similar to him, even if the shapes of the contraptions were different.
"You've learned the meridian acupuncture technique, right?" She asked, mixing some chemicals together.
"Yes" Shu He walked over to where the acupuncture needles were stored, long and thin so they could pierce down to the meridians without damaging the skin and vessels inside of it, they had a small hook on the end for attaching to things.
"Set up along the 12 majors, do it".
He nodded in silence as he picked up the needle while carefully placing his hand on Tao Ru's- no, the patients skin, measuring the distance, using his territory to observe beneath her skin, finding the routes of the meridians.
The meridians travelled along the same path for everyone, but their true path varied slightly person to person, yet in medicine this small variation can affect the treatment greatly, especially if acupuncture is performed incorrectly.
*Swish*
With a fast, controlled movement the needle entered the skin, perfectly intersecting with one of the 400 meridian points, he then picked up another and did it again, and again, and again, he didn't stop as he began to sweat under the sheer level of concentration he was performing.
While he was doing that, Jing Yaling walked over with a vial and gently poured the clear liquid down the patient's throat, directing the flow with her Qi so that she wouldn't choke, it was a combination of a strong anaesthetic and tranquiliser.
After an intense half an hour Shu He had finished, he had picked up the pace the more he went so he was faster than he had ever been. "I'm done" he stepped away, observing the patient that resembled a silver hedgehog with all the needles sticking out of her, you could only faintly see the needles near her chest moving from her weak breathing.
"Well done" Jing Yaling then moved, grabbing a spool of what seemed like silk, yet it had a metallic shine to it. "Bolt Spider's silk, it has a high Qi conduction property" she briefly explained before unravelling it and wrapping it around the hooks at the end of the needles in a specific pattern-
That pattern was identical to the anatomical representation of the 12 major meridians. Shu He watched in marvel at her precise skill, despite there being so many needles the threat travelled and wrapped around the small hooks like it was alive, soon she was finished as she then gestured for Shu He to come next to her.
"The next step is the hard part; we need to re-awaken her meridians".
"Re-awaken?" Shu He looked at her, shocked, but he didn't ask any more questions for now, instead eyeing the complex pattern of thread "What do I do?".
Jing Yaling held her hand out and gently touched the tip of one of the needles with her finger "We need to shock them into activity, we'll each inject Qi at equal distances opposite one another down the meridian, the Qi colliding at the centre will kickstart it, but we need to be precise with timing and quantity".
Shu He listened but began to worry "But you're much higher in cultivation than me, will I be able to do it?" he said with doubt, he wasn't sure as to her exact stage, but she was definitely at the 6th or above.
As for Tao Ru, she was at the 6th, Foundation Building.
"A large amount of Qi isn't needed, just match me; You should be able to do this, no, I know you can" Jing Yaling said, Shu He looked her in the eyes, he could tell she wasn't just trying to comfort him or reassure him, she had reason to believe he could.
He placed his fingertip on the needle, yet he couldn't help but shake slightly, he was worried, he hadn't done this before and what was being asked of him seemed difficult, especially when someone's life was on the line.
'What can I do to match her levels? To match the timing perfectly? If I used my Golden Qi I could probably match the level, but it's more likely that I'd exceed it, let alone what damage it would do to the patient, so it can't be that…'
He steadied his breathing as his eyes glimmered with Gold, as he observed the patient, himself, and Jing Yaling he had an idea, he could observe everything within his territory with great detail, his Qi sense was also greatly enhanced being able to pick up on things others would not.
So…
He focused solely on Jing Yaling while closing his eyes, tracing her Qi levels, her Qi flow, her output. He couldn't make something from nothing, yet he could tell she was reducing her output so he could match it.
He could do this!
His eyes opened as his Qi flow became an exact replica of Jing Yaling's, his focus was peaked.
"3, 2, 1, 0!" She counted down, as 0 was said the two simultaneously injected the Qi which shot through the needle, down the threads and in to all the needles down the pathway before colliding in the middle!
*BANG*
Tao Ru's body jittered slightly like a body that was being resuscitated with a defibrillator.
"Too late! 3, 2, 1, 0!".
*BANG*
Her body jumped again; slight bruising appeared beneath her skin causing Shu He to sweat heavily.
"TOO SOON! 3, 2, 1, 0!"
The Qi shot through the pathways once more, this time it collided perfectly in the centre! The meridian pathway seemed to bulge for a single moment before Qi began flowing through it weakly!
"Good, it worked" The doctor nodded as Shu He felt a wave of relief "Don't stop now, we have 11 more to go or it'll be pointless!" she yelled.
And so the two of them repeated the process eleven more times, failing often in the process, yet they didn't give up and after an hour or short rests and attempts the twelfth Meridian was re-awakened, Tao Ru's body now had a weak flow of Qi passing through it.
They then carefully treated her body with a rub that was very similar to the Qi Gathering Paste he had used back in the day in order for her body to start absorbing Qi naturally once more followed by aftercare with further pain relief.
Once night began to fall, they were done, Tao Ru had stabilised and was moved to a room so she could rest in peace as she was monitored by the formations, Shu He sat in Jing Yaling's office together with her, he was exhausted, even more so than when he ceaselessly treated the sailors back in Sunnyside, he had used his territory extensively along with the careful control of his Qi, so he was mentally exhausted.
"Elder Jing, just what happened to Senior Tao, my teacher?" He managed to eek out the question between his tired breaths.
Jing Yaling lent forward in her chair, sighing. "It's a state called Qi Rejection, a rare state where the body refuses to absorb Qi entirely and expels all that is inside, for a cultivator it is lethal since it also deprives the three centres of power along with the core of cultivation, whenever one of them withers away the others wouldn't take long to follow".
"But why did she enter that state? She was just performing Alchemy…" he was still confused.
Another heavy sigh came from Jing Yaling "Because she's a fool, never knowing when to stop…" she shook her head "I shouldn't be the one to explain it to you, ask Bo Yun when he eventually comes".
'The Tower Lord? So it's definitely Alchemy…' he pondered before answering "Okay".
"That aside, you did well today Shu He, it's really a good thing you joined this Division, an assistant really is helpful".
"Thank you… but…" Shu He looked down at his hands, he was shaking slightly still.
Was it because the person he was operating on was someone he knew well? Her life felt much heavier than those sailors he had saved even combined.
"I still have a lot of growing to do" he gripped his fist tightly to stop the shaking.
Jing Yaling just laughed lightly "No matter who it is, we never stop growing, you're not alone".