Yu Jinqi did his best to close off his ears and ignore the sounds of a fierce battle taking place less than twenty meters away from him. Right now, Fang Lin's life depended on his skills and he refused to lose his own battle.
He'd already cut away the other Scholar's silk trousers to have better access to the bloody carnage the wolf had made of his friend's leg. Not only was one calf completely shredded with bite marks visible on stark white bone, but the wolf sharp paws had torn at the other leg when Fang Lin tried to kick his way free, leaving deep gouges that ran all the way up to his knee.
Alchemist Huang Yeyan had gifted their party with a number of powders, salves, completed medicines, and even a handful of Impure or Ordinary-grade elixirs. In fact, between his own supplies and what they'd been given, one of his first problems was that he had too many choices.
In treatment, there were often multiple approaches that would work, each with its own benefits and disadvantages. Doing things in the right order, however, was vital if he wanted to save not only his friend's life but his leg as well.
Yu Jinqi had already considered amputating Fang Lin's leg. If Xiong Dahuo with his massive saber had been available or even one of the other Brawlers, he'd have genuinely considered it. If he amputated the leg, he was much more certain that he could preserve the Formation Initiate's life than anything else he could do.
Without them, however, he knew that he lacked the strength to cleanly sever the limb and anything else he tried to do to remove the mangled leg would only make matters worse rather than better. In the midst of a pitched battle, he didn't have the time it would take to do a delicate amputation by himself, which meant he had to find another solution.
First, Yu Jinqi worked to control the bleeding. The saliva of the Blood Moon Mist Wolf was even more potent than the saliva of the Red Mist Wolf that had afflicted Jin Wuya. Blood not only flowed freely from his injuries, it had started to seep from Fang Lin's flesh as though it was a dark, crimson sweat. Pulling out his small, traveling cauldron, Yu Jinqi's purple alchemy flames blossomed under the cauldron like an opening flower gently heating it as he added all of the remaining Thousand Maggot Ointment along with several other ingredients.
There wasn't enough of the ointment left after treating Jin Wuya to treat wounds as extensive as Fang Lin's but if he could spread the properties of the ointment into a sympathetic solution then he could cover a larger area with a smaller amount of ointment…
Around him, purple energy began to flow, enveloping Yu Jinqi, his cauldron, and even his patient. There were too many problems to solve in order to save his friend and he pushed his mind to the limit working through each one in turn. As he did so, his mind surged past the limits of Initiates, gaining the strength, speed, and flexibility of a Novice Scholar!
Yu Jinqi had no room in his mind to celebrate or even notice his breakthrough. As he poured his diluted Thousand Maggot Cleansing Solution into a misting bottle, the only thought on his mind was 'Please work.' If it didn't, there was less hope that he'd be able to do anything else for his struggling friend.
In his Inner World, Fang Lin stared at the imposing figure of his father and his cold judging eyes. Next to him, the wolf bared its fangs in a wicked grin. The young scholar's mind turned over several arguments rapidly. His father was concerned about the cost of continuing to invest in helping him Awaken and he had to admit that the price was exorbitant if he wanted to cleanse the results of multiple failures.
Should he argue that he could awaken without the help of an Alchemist to cleanse the sequelae of his failures? But without that investment, his odds of success became so astronomically low that he might as well claim he could predict the results of a thousand tosses of the dice. His father wouldn't find such a ridiculous argument to be credible.
"It's alright, son," his father said, standing next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. The weight of the hand and the firmness of the grip felt like the jaws of a wolf clamping down on him, pinning him into place.
"Your younger sister, Lu, is already showing promise," the older man said, his words piercing deeply into Fang Lin, like the fangs of the wolf beside him. "Even if she can't take over the burdens of our business herself, I'm certain that I can find a worthy Scholar to betroth her to. As long as she manages to awaken, I may even be able to attract a talented young Novice to join the family, so you shouldn't worry too much about things," he said, each word clawing away at Fang Lin's confidence.
"Father, I know I've disappointed you," he finally managed to say, looking up at his father with stubborn, pleading eyes. "But I know I can do this! Test me, Father. I'll prove to you that I can take up my share!"
"Lin'er," Fang Muchen said with a disappointed shake of his head. "You're my son, I won't cast you out. But you should know that any investment, even in our children, needs to result in a positive return. Perhaps you should spend some time away from your friends who have managed to awaken. I know they mean well when they encourage you but they're too young to recognize the harm of false hope," his father said in gentle tones.
"Spend some time with your cousins who are still mortal," his father continued. "Look at the life they lead. It's not so bad if you can't cultivate. Once you have some perspective, perhaps we can talk again."
Slowly, his father turned away, walking toward the room's exit and waving his wolf over to follow him. In Fang Lin's world, the distance from where they stood to the door distorted becoming strangely long. Each step his father and the wolf took landed on the polished wood floor like the sound of a hammer driving a nail deeper into his heart.
"Father, no!" Fang Lin shouted, instinctively reaching into his robes and pulling out several flags with heavy golden bases. "Give me this chance," he yelled, tossing each flag with incredible precision, bracketing his father and the wolf on four sides before he set the final flag down gently at his own feet.
It should have been impossible for an unawakened mortal to place formation flags with such precision but Fang Lin wasn't an unawakened mortal, he was a cultivator, a middle-stage Formation Initiate. To him, a simple capture formation that stopped a person from fleeing was the most basic part of the Fang Family's heritage to inherit. How could he fail?
Once the formation snapped into place, his mind began to clear. He was no longer his seventeen-year-old mortal self but the young man he'd grown into following his Awakening. In the formation, the image of his father turned away before fading into the mist that swirled around the wolf. Everything around him became more familiar as he looked upon the intricate patterns on the walls of his Inner World.
The wolf, however, wasn't done with Fang Lin. Its powerful paws lashed out, shattering Fang Lin's barrier and lunging for his throat!