"Good," Lu Sheng nodded, his eyes focused on the group. The disciples gathered around, their mixed expressions revealing a blend of curiosity and uncertainty.
"Everyone, I am Lu Sheng. I have heard everything from Tu Peng about our new situation, and I will not ramble on about whether it's fair or not to throw us into the fire of war. Do you want to know why?"
They all looked at each other, unable to understand what this new Senior Brother was trying to say.
"It seems you do not understand the words I am saying," he continued, his gaze sweeping across everyone as they avoided eye contact.
"You all have the notion that we are physicians and do not belong in the war, right?" His words resonated with everyone. They now focused on his words.
"I agree with all of you," he said, affirming their thoughts.
"Does that mean you will talk to Master Hong about us?" Several of them including Zu Xin fired the question they had been wanting to ask.
"No!" Lu Sheng resolutely denied their request. Everyone's hope dropped, confusion etching their faces.
Lu Sheng continued, "No, I won't plead our case to Master Hong. Not because I don't care about our safety, but because it goes against our Legacy!"
"Legacy?" Everyone became confused.
"The Legacy of the Physician Hall?" Zu Xin asked.
Lu Sheng nodded.
They all looked at each other, searching for someone who had read about the history of the Physician Hall. However, none had the complete context to understand what history Lu Sheng was referring to.
"Tu Peng?" Lu Sheng called Tu Peng forward.
Tu Peng shivered upon hearing his name unexpectedly and quickly emerged from behind Lu Sheng.
"Tell us everything about the 'Melted Ash'," Lu Sheng didn't give Tu Peng any time to breathe before firing his question.
Tu Peng, still in a daze, took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering. "Melted Ash is the ingredient used to neutralize toxins in most herbs and their seeds while crushing them. It's one of the most basic ingredients and is created by burning the Last Autumn grass."
Lu Sheng nodded. "Now, tell me why it's called Melted Ash."
Tu Peng wasn't sure about it because he hadn't read about it, or if he did, he didn't remember. It was the kind of trivia that was impractical to memorize among the thousands of more useful facts.
"Let me tell you a story," Lu Sheng smiled, seeing the confusion on everyone's faces.
"Long ago, there was a demon named Ironshard Fiend. His body was made of five kinds of iron: Mortal Iron, Nascent Iron, Sage Iron, Yin Iron, and Infernal Iron. In a terrible battle, this Ironshard Fiend defeated all of humanity's warriors. No one was left to fight, and in the end, only one man remained. He was a physician, as he saved everyone's life one way or another and secured their escape from the battlefield. In the end, he stood before the Ironshard Fiend alone, for one last attempt, in the hope that all the fighting had weakened the Fiend.
"That physician was ready to die that day, pledging to save lives at the cost of his own life and not waste his effort of saving all those lives again if he let this demon go.
"The battle resumed, and the furnace heart of the demon bellowed, revealing that the physician's estimation was completely wrong about Ironshard Fiend being weakened after all the fighting with his peers. The physician tried his best, but he was not a martial genius like any of his peers. However, he remembered that he could not run away now because if he did, all of his efforts would be wasted and this demon would chase and kill everyone. He needed to keep this demon busy.
"His mind raced on how to not lose his life quickly and also keep this terrible demon engaged. He was out of every possible pill, herb, and material. He only had mountains of Last Autumn Grass with him in his spatial ring for his Pill Crafting.
"With nothing else left to use, the physician decided to dump this demon into the mountain load of Last Autumn Grass. It was not a calculated move, not a cunning move, not a sudden genius move, but a move out of sheer desperation which had no logic behind it as he started throwing carts full of Last Autumn Grass with each swing. However, before the grass could touch the demon, it caught fire and turned into ash, engulfing the demon in smoke and flames.
"That was not the end of it because the exposed furnace heart of the Ironshard Fiend was unique. A unique flame was within him, which did not stop at burning the grass into ash. The tremendous heat melted the ash.
"At first, the physician was surprised to see the demon begin to slow its advance, choked by the ash, smoke, and embers swirling around it. But that was not a possibility at all when he noticed the intense heat radiating from the furnace heart of the Ironshard Fiend was so scorching that it began melting the ash itself. The molten ash transformed into a viscous dark goo that seeped into the exposed chest and small gaps in the demon's Five Iron metal body, clogging gears, jamming joints, and causing chaos within its iron innards.
"The Ironshard Fiend roared in anger, but its movements became more sluggish. Encouraged, the physician quickly gathered more of Last Autumn Grass from his spatial ring to fuel the fiery barrage. Increasingly, melted ash infiltrated the demon's body. The creature thrashed about, but the constant shower of grass, smoke, and molten ash overwhelmed it.
"In the end, his own body failed to contain the heat of his own furnace heart and exploded, melting the five Iron Body of Ironshard Fiend from the inside. When help arrived, they were ready for another terrible war with the Ironshard Fiend, but instead, they found a lake of vicious dark goo and a coughing physician dying from thirst."
Lu Sheng's story had left everyone in silence, still immersed in the tale. None of them were aware of this particular story, but the somber, proud tone in which Lu Sheng spoke made it evident that the physician mentioned was part of the Physician Hall's Legacy. However, they were curious about how Lu Sheng had come across this piece of history.
"Did he read the old volumes?" one of them speculated.
"What do you mean? What old volumes?" others questioned.
"The old ones in the underground at the back of our Library." explained a younger disciple who worked on copying old volumes.
"Why do we don't know about this?" Zu Xin asked after hearing their conversation.
"Because we never had an underground in our Library before coming to the Lu Clan." Bi Kai answered. "We also had hundreds of junior disciples to take care of these kinds of tasks while we seniors only studied."
"ARGH! Why did the Master choose to come this far away from everything we had?" Zu Xin complained.
Bi Kai glared at Zu Xin, silencing his complaint.
"Ahem!" Lu Sheng cleared his throat to gain their attention. "I didn't read anything related to our history, the old Herb compendium I read was full of little trivia of stories filled around every herb on their origin and history."
"Then how come the books we have do not contain any of it?"
"Because of the wrong perception of what is important and what is not. The junior disciples who do the copying work for all of you just want to finish the work so that they can get time for themselves too."
Hearing this from Lu Sheng made Zu Xin, Bi Kai, and other senior disciples feel ashamed. They weren't victims of deceit but of their own neglect. Transcribing wasn't a mere chore, but a valuable part of their studies, their responsibility. Their juniors weren't lazy; they were focusing on efficiency, even if it meant losing valuable stories that weren't considered practical knowledge.
"We apologize, Seniors!" some of them bowed deeply.
"No, you don't have to, we are at fault here, we abused our seniority." Bi Kai and others looked at Lu Sheng in a new light.
While they searched their conscience, far from them, someone was keeping an eye on them.
"Master? Is that tale true?" Ming Mei looked up at Physician Hong.
"Yes, but that senior was not part of our Physician Hall. I also mentioned it in the older discarded volumes." He paused thinking deeply about something.
"Master? Can I ask, why did you choose him as your disciple?" Ming Mei asked curiously. "Although I am happy to have a junior…"
Physician Hong turned slightly to glance at her. "When I was treating him for his life-threatening injuries I noticed something odd about his physique."
"Odd?"
Physician Hong nodded. "Even in the life-threatening internal injuries, his body was not showing any signs of shock and trauma. Instead of the normal reaction of protecting the vital organs like heart and brain, his body was working normally and slowly mending the internal bleeding and reducing the inflammation."