The next morning Shu He awoke from a deep sleep, the scent of faint dust and chemicals tickles his nose as he stirred, pulling himself up he looked around the room in confusion before he remembered that he had crashed on a spare bed in the Medical Division for the night.
'Elder Jing… isn't here' he couldn't hear her in any of the rooms nearby either, so she was either in the basement or the patient rooms, he had a long discussion with her last night about assisting her more in the future, for him, even more so after last night, he decided he couldn't put off practical experience anymore.
He got lucky back in Sunnyside in that he found a solution that didn't require surgery, but he won't be that lucky every time.
Shu He stood up and stretched slightly to brush off the stiffness from sleeping on a hard bed and yawned before making his way out of the room, he was staying in a room that was supposed to be used by staff that stayed here, but since it was just Jing Yaling it went un-used, though since he was part of the Medical Division he could also be considered part of the staff, technically.
He made his way to the patient rooms, more specifically the room where they had laid Tao Ru to rest last night, he eventually turned around a corner and entered the hallway to the room where two figures entered his vision.
'Senior He, and… the Tower Lord?' The two of them were sat outside the room in silence with their eyes closed, yet as soon as they heard Shu He's footsteps their gaze locked on to him. "Shu He, you're awake? I heard you helped the Doctor a lot of last night, you have my thanks" Bo Yun said unexpectedly, even slightly bowing his head.
Shu He stumbled lightly feeling like he didn't do enough to deserve thanks "It was nothing, Senior Tao is my teacher, it's the least I could do".
"She has such a good student, yet she still acts so foolishly…" He Qiao grumbled slightly as he stared at the door, waiting for it to open.
"That's always been her greatest flaw, acting without thinking of the consequences and throwing herself at the storm without hesitation" Bo Yun shook his head "No matter how many times I've chastised her she just doesn't learn…" he spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of regret.
Shu He looked at the door to the patients room and saw that it was locked "Elder Jing is performing a checkup? Has she awoken yet?" He asked.
He Qiao shook his head "Not yet, she is looking much better than last night, but she hasn't stirred at all."
"It will probably be a few more hours before she wakes, Qi Rejection is a nasty thing that temporarily weakens the three centres of cultivation after all" Bo Yun explained as he leaned back on the chair, preparing to wait until then.
'He's the Tower Lord so he should be busy, yet he's willing to wait here until she wakes up… he must really be worried about her'.
Shu He took a seat next to He Qiao, he could unlock the door himself and enter but he decided to leave it to Jing Yaling, he probably wasn't needed right now after all.
"…" silence settled on the dim hallway akin to a funeral, the three sat together in a line were only fixated on the door in front of them, Shu He however decided to ask a question since the Tower Lord was here and had time.
"Tower Lord, can I ask you a question if you don't mind?" He broke the silence causing He Qiao to look at him oddly, he had just addressed someone far higher in status casually after all.
"… Go ahead, Junior Shu" Bo Yun said without moving at all as if he knew what the question was.
"Last night I heard you say, "This is my fault", what did you mean by that? Do you know what happened with Senior Tao?" It was a moment that had been scratching at the back of his mind since last night, he wanted to understand just what happened.
He Qiao looked at the Tower Lord in silence, he too wanted to know.
After a few seconds Bo Yun sighed, exhaling deeply as he hung his head "So you heard that? You have good hearing" he then glanced at the two of them "I wish I could just say I was rambling, but in this situation… that'd make me feel bad, but I have a question to ask you two before I explain".
The two of them lightly nodded.
"What does Alchemy mean to you? What is it you want to achieve with Alchemy?".
The two paused, not expecting such a grand question, yet only after a few seconds He Qiao had an answer as he crossed his arms "Alchemy is an amazing tool, a wonderous one that can make miracles a reality… but to me, it is part of my goal" he looked at Bo Yun and smirked "I want to be a Tower Lord like you and teach even more students about it".
Bo Yun nodded "A reasonable, honourable goal, the position of a Tower Lord is one of the highest in this countries hierarchy" he then turned to Shu He "And you?".
Shu He frowned, he couldn't give such a clear answer, in the first place he started learning Alchemy out of curiosity and the benefits to the field and medication, he doesn't care much about becoming a famed alchemist, or the association.
"If I'm being honest… I don't have much of an attachment to alchemy, to me it's a means to an end, another path that exists on the road ahead" he spoke his mind.
Bo Yun's eyebrows rose lightly and He Qiao frowned "But you've been learning quite fast, even Tao Ru praises you whenever you aren't around, I'm sure within a couple years you'll be able to reach 3rd Tier".
Shu He scratched his head as he was slightly conflicted on how to word what he wanted to say, "It's not that I don't like alchemy, nor do I not have interest in it; It's just that what I care about is what it can do, the potential".
"Is that not the same as most alchemists then? In the end you care about alchemy" He Qiao tilted his head in confusion.
"No, it's different" Bo Yun's deep voice interrupted him "Shu He is different from someone like Tao Ru, if Tao Ru was presented with 100 recipes that made the same pill, she would learn and master every single one and learn the intricacies; But Shu He, you would just learn the best and study the others lightly at most".
Shu He nodded lightly, he cared about the result and ways to improve the final result, but Tao Ru cared about every aspect even if it was a 'waste of time'.
It was the difference between a hard-working layman and an obsessive genius.
"That is fine too, everyone has their owns paths…" Bo Yun continued "But, Shu He, what is your goal? What do you want to achieve?".
Shu He's memories flashed through his mind, the suffering he lived through in his previous life, the initial drive that has existed since he was reincarnated, he spoke clearly; "I want to be able to cure everyone, mortal and cultivator alike, I want to be able to heal them of wounds and debilitating conditions no matter how bad they are; I want me and everyone I love to be able to live freely without such risks".
He Qiao looked stunned at the young teen that was before him, his goal was far grander than his, so much so that he couldn't help but feel slightly inadequate.
Bo Yun scratched his chin with a smirk "Do you realise how hard that is? There are diseases, curses, and afflictions in this world that not even the greatest healer can solve, yet you want to be able to get rid of them all. It's no wonder Alchemy is only a small path in your eyes, your eyes are bigger than the heavens!".
He then leant back on his chair, chuckling lightly before sighing "It seems it will be fine to tell you, I made a mistake, I was performing my own research and left out a scroll containing restricted content on my desk… Tao Ru visited me while I was away and caught sight of it, reading through it in an entirely… I didn't realise until just yesterday, if I had paid attention to that sinking feeling in my chest then I would have barged down her door earlier…"
"Restricted content? I didn't know we had any scrolls like that" He Qiao said "I've read through basically every scroll in the tower as well".
"Of course you wouldn't know, they're stored in the Tower Lord's room and can only be accessed by me".
"Restricted? Not forbidden?" Shu He noticed this point.
"That's right, the content of the scrolls isn't anything bad or inherently destructive, if I need to I'm allowed to distribute them to members of my tower… but that one scroll contained something only the most skilled alchemists should touch" A dark shadow appeared on Bo Yun's face.
"True Alchemy".
Instantly He Qiao's expression twisted "What do you mean 'True' alchemy? Does that mean our alchemy is 'fake?'. Shu He listened in silence.
"No, our alchemy isn't fake, however it is different from what is recorded in that scroll".
"How so?" He Qiao pressed the question, there was a slight flame lit in his eyes, having his skill called anything but 'True' was an insult to him.
"He Qiao, do you ever wonder why there are no alchemists capable of making Tier 9 pills?" Bo Yun questioned him.
"That's because there are no Alchemists at Mortal Rebirth, right?" It was common knowledge for skilled alchemists, it was a gap that simply couldn't be bridged.
"That is one of the reasons, but it isn't the whole truth; The fact is it's possible for an alchemist under Mortal Rebirth to create a 9th tier pill, however we cannot do it with our alchemy."
"So True Alchemy is…" Shu He picked up on the implications.
Bo Yun nodded once heavily like the confirmation contained the weight of the heavens "True Alchemy is by far the greater form of alchemy".
"Then why isn't it used?!" He Qiao couldn't help but shout, yet Bo Yun merely glanced at the door to the patients room causing He Qiao to go silent.
It was obvious.
It was for more dangerous than normal alchemy, potentially lethal!
"Even after reaching Mortal Rebirth, your limit would be 9th tier with out techniques, no matter what you wouldn't be able to progress past that, the reason for that is simple; Modern Alchemy is designed to be easy to learn and capable of mass production, as opposed to True Alchemy that focuses on singular, powerful pills".
"The reason I had the scroll out is because… I need to learn it in order to advance further, yet every time I try, I can't help but stop in fear, I can't handle the risks, I'm too old, too weary…" Bo Yun closed his eyes as his memories reflected on the back of his eyelids, he had lived long enough already.
"So, is 'True Alchemy' what alchemy used to be? The ancient form of it?" Shu He thought back to the scroll he had been given back when he first started learning, the one that endlessly praised modern advances of alchemy.
"That's right, alchemy was originally something performed only by experts that had risked their lives to learn it, many lives were lost as they pioneered the path… it wasn't long before mortal cultivators found ways to make it easier, they modified the furnace, filled it with formations and cut out the dangerous parts of the process, all for the sake of mass production; The idea wasn't wrong, yet it reduced the amount of people trying to use what we now call 'True Alchemy'.
"Just what is the difference? What causes it to be so dangerous?" He Qiao asked as he tapped his foot on the floor.
Bo Yun glanced at the two for a moment before looking back at the door "True Alchemy doesn't even really need a furnace, it's just easier to visualise the process if you use one; The first process is the same, Extraction, yet everything else is different".
"The process of True Alchemy… uses your Core of Cultivation as the primary controller, the Qi and materials are all processed inside the body to an extremely fine degree before the final product is combined in one's hands, or inside the furnace".
"Inside the body?! That's suicide!" He Qiao jumped up in shock.
Shu He's eyes were glued wide opened as well, he knew full well how volatile the essences used in Alchemy could be, just single accident could mean death!
"It's suicide, but it is what the most powerful alchemists in history did; And it's also what caused Tao Ru to be in such a state… that utter fool, the amount of impurities in her body showed she had been trying it non stop for those three months, she had probably used many pills to heal herself in that period but… her Core of Cultivation received a great shock, and that caused Qi Rejection, if we didn't come when we did she would be dead" Bo Yun grit his teeth as his fists clenched.
"…" The three of them returned to silence, their minds racing with many different thoughts, Bo Yun's with guilt, He Qiao with indignation and then reluctance and then Shu He…
Intrigue.
Suddenly, the lock clicked, and the door opened as Jing Yaling walked out and glanced oddly at the three of them "You're all here? Good, she's awake".