"We've got another one here!"
Jingshen Chen looked up from his files, the messenger calling out to him with a hint of urgency. The recent years since the collapse of the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect and the occupation of much of their old territories proved to be a great boon for the greater Clan--allowing them to expand their territories greatly at no cost in blood and only modest investments of treasure--but Good Fortune rarely comes without a catch, and this one was proving to be something of a nuisance.
The Ravaged Husk Plague--a calamity unleashed in the desert from the former holdings of the Cannibals. It always began with feelings of hunger and deprivation in the bodies and spirits of the infected, persisting through any attempts to provide food and water. Slowly, surely, the victims begin to shrivel up upon themselves, the plague robbing them of their strength and will to continue even as the pain of their hunger slowly and steadily decays their mind.
The final outcome is nothing more than a ghoulish creature, driven beyond the limits of endurance as it bites and scratches at any it can find. Nothing remains but a husk to be put to the sword and burned alive to ensure its ashes do not spread the disease.
He grimaced at the thought. Even
that method seemed ineffective at arresting the spread of the disease, as those who handled the bodies still often ended up sick.
The most frustrating thing about the matter is that the illness rarely manifested in Cultivators above the middle reaches of Qi Condensation--which meant that as far as the greater Clan was concerned, this plague was an irritant that would burn itself out on its own, and thus, no additional resources would be committed to stamp it out. Let the mortals die as they must, for the greater foe lies in wait, ready to leap out at the first sign of weakness.
His grimace turned to a sneer then.
'Besides' he had heard once.
'This is probably an attack from the Golden Devils anyway, we can't let them draw us out in these critical moments, when we cannot resist their assault!'
Foolishness, desecrating savages they may be, but the Golden Devils knew better than to call up that which they could not put down--and they would suffer far more from this plague breaking containment than Jingshen ever would, with the Great Cordon dividing the core territories of the Clan from the satellites that exist to serve as tripwires from the treachery of the Demonic Barbarians abroad.
The Devil King is
long dead, and while the withered ancient that took his place is not to be underestimated--as the Battle Blood Cannibal Sect learned to their sorrow--he could not overcome Jingshen's own experts upon their home ground. What sense was there in continuing this policy of scorched earth when there was all of this new land to develop and exploit first?
His pride as an apothecary bristled at the dismissal, and each new case brought into his estate another failure of his clan to react to this threat.
Indeed, if he hadn't delved into his own stipend as a Foundation Establishment son of the Clan to establish quarantines and secure supplies of herbs from all corners of the Virtuous Flipper Region--it may have already run out of control. If he could not come to a breakthrough on treating this plague soon…
He would just have to give up--and such a failure to act would serve as a devil upon his Dao-Heart in the days to come. Sure, he may be able to muddle through the remainder of Foundation Establishment--but forming a Core would forever be out of his reach.
There had to be a solution to this within reach! Some combination of treatment that could do more than simply slow the spread of the plague! Indeed, he had secured new ingredients since the last time he had tried, and if he could form the right pills from them… Maybe it would have a better effect.
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The peasant writhing on the bed, restrained by leather straps did not respond to treatment.
As always with the Ravaged Husk Plague, no level of medicinal energy introduced could do more than delay its march. The pills dissolved within the stomach, and their energy trickled through the body--but ultimately found themselves exhausted and depleted before they could complete their journey.
He even begged forgiveness and conducted an autopsy on one of the victims, hoping that he could identify the cause as some kind of parasite suckling off of the innards of the victim. But there were not even any signs of such a terrible creature! Merely the ravaged innards of one who has starved to death in an ocean of food!
His robes were ruffled, his hair standing on end, and his fingers steepled together as he stared at the symbol of the Clan that hung on the opposite wall of his study. Was he really going to have to concede defeat? That all of the resources, skill, and insight he had gathered over three hundred years of life be reduced to nothing?
Was Jingshen Chen truly a failure? Was his Dao incorrect? To have lost here in this place, to some little bug emerging from the shadows?
He was unwilling to concede!
And yet, had the Heavens backed him into a point of no return? Must he accept his Dao as incorrect, because of encountering a plague he could not treat?
These thoughts swirled in Jingshen Chen's mind, his heart a storm, his pillars shuddering as the turmoil began to impact his Foundation--when his door burst open, the greater light of the hallway filling the air.
"Lord Chen!" His aide spoke. "Important news!"
His face turned up, once clear blue eyes darkened by his turmoil, bags visible beneath his eyes. Yet there still remained a slight spark within--his head inclined to give the man a chance.
"We've found someone who's developed a functioning treatment!"
"Investigate their background!" Chen's voice boomed. "And bring them to me!"
Was this the breakthrough he desired?
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"Her name is Cinnabar" His aide read off, flanking Jingshen Chen as they marched to the guest chamber. "Adopted by refugees of the former Oasis Rebels in their flight from Child Corpse Gulper's rampage--given her features, it was thought that she was the child of a slain Cannibal, but as she was an infant, she was considered blameless."
Chen nodded at that--he had cleaned himself up and gotten some rest since the initial report was made. His men had gone to the merchant's caravan that the woman had been attending, and invited her to attend his estate. If the technique she had practiced to cure this Plague was one he could incorporate… His calamity may finally be at its end.
"Our man took a sample of her blood, and confirmed no traces of the Bronze within." The aide continued. "And the Blood Wards barely gave a flicker--this seems to confirm the information that her cultivation is Beast Path--though achieving the Tenth Heavenstage is noteworthy, it is within the boundaries of a Loose Cultivator's good fortune."
"So, not likely to be a spy?" Chen mused--to get a wry grin from his aide and a confirmatory nod. "Good, I would have hated to have fallen for such a trick. Have you extracted her method from her yet?"
"She's spoken on the matter somewhat…" The Aide started. "But… To be honest, our man barely understood what she was going on about."
"So, a conwoman or a genius." Chen considers. "Regardless, I will get to the bottom of this." The door to the guest chamber loomed ahead. "Get your men ready in case she turns out to be an assassin." He adds in an afterthought, and pushes the doors open.
It takes but a moment for him to identify the… creature laying sprawled on a divan before him. Clad in robes of beast fur and leather, spliced and stitched together into a semblance of covering, while still revealing far too much jade skin to be fit for polite company.
Her feet absently dangled side from side, unshod and unadorned--her hair a sable cloak of night spilled across her perch--her face the appearance of an angel.
But then her nose twitched, and she opened a single eye partially--and it was red as the sun on the eve of a storm. The gaze caused even Jingshen Chen to hesitate for a moment.
She was
Beautiful
"Ah" She spoke up, a lazy smile forming on her face. "Is it time to go then?" Her other eye opened, and she shifted from her sleeping posture to one straight up, her feet disappearing into the folds of her robe once again. "You're the one who was asking about that poor soul, right?"
Chen forcefully maintained a neutral expression, disregarding the radiance sitting before him. "Indeed." His voice sounded more imperious than he felt. "This one is Jingshen Chen, I have been informed that you had some success with the treatment of the Ravaged Husk Plague?"
"Is that what you call it?" She mused, lips pursed ever so slightly together. "Mmm, I guess it would look that way to most people. It's as good a name as any I suppose."
"It has been ravaging my holdings for the past several years," Chen continued, hoping to recover his wits through small talk. "Naturally, I was suspicious to hear a Loose Cultivator had successfully treated it, when the finest herbs and medicines that my skills and resources could prepare were of no effect."
Her lips split open--and he sees for an instant an impression of sharpened fangs before being intoxicated once more by her eyes--even as she breaks off into a quiet giggle. "Well, of course you'd have problems, silly." She chides in a voice Chen couldn't even feel offended in. "It's a problem with their ability to eat and drink, right? It'd be weird if you could solve it by giving them something to eat, wouldn't it?"
Her words were like a bolt of lightning. "Give them something to ea… Of course!" Chen was a skilled Pill Forger, but he had forgotten that most fundamental trait of low level pills!
They were all ingested as the easiest way to introduce them to the body's system, as well as allowing some of the impurities to be passed through ordinary digestion… But if the problem was the
ability to consume in the first place, wouldn't most of the medicinal energy be lost before it even began to work?
Cinnabar tilted her head, and he could almost feel the shame of his own misconceptions--for him to bash his head against this wall without even
noticing the problem at the starting gate?
He could feel the insight congealing together in his heart, merging with his understanding of his Sixth Pillar.
"That's…" He began, and finally gave up the ghost of hiding his excitement. "How did you come up with your solution then?"
Her head tilted ever further--almost looking comedic in a sense, but he could hardly accuse her of that when her crimson eyes remained fixed upon him.
"I explained it to the other mister…" Her voice rang through his mind. "But… Well, I could show you I guess? If you have someone who's sick around anyway."
Chen was too enraptured to say no.
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The infirmary was a place of misery, men and women strapped down and suffering as the Ravaging Husk Plague continued to do its terrible work upon them. The Lady Cinnabar simply looked upon the sight, shaking her head and making a disapproving set of
tisks as she advanced on them, reaching into a portion of one of her sleeves.
From it she drew a thin, finely sharpened blade, sporting a strange, stained wooden handle.
"First things first, Mister Jingshen." Cinnabar began. "The most important thing when dealing with stuff like this is to know that everyone's a little bit different, and you can't be too squeamish if you really want to heal someone properly."
She flicked her blade, and drew a thin line of blood from one of the patients. Her nose twitched, and she stepped up to them. "First things first, you need to know, this stuff's in the water--it's got little chewy guys that swim around in it and think people are delicious. They're extra small and they're easy to miss if you don't know they're a thing that can exist. So you need to find out where they're waiting inside first. For me…"
She bends her head over the injury--and licks it clean, pursing her lips tightly together as she spreads the blood along her tongue.
"That's…" Jingshen Chen pales. "D…"
"Blood Path?" Cinnabar interrupted. "Nah, not really, I'm not cultivating using it, I've got sharp senses, and all kinds of things hang out in the blood. I take a taste, and can figure out what organs are starting to chip off because of the little bugs. Which tells me where to look for the next phase." She wrinkles her nose. "I…
guess if you want to do something yourself, you could make a pill that spreads a dye or something that lights up? I don't really know, I'm not much of an apothecary."
Chen was about to say
disgusting, but her rationale was… Well, it couldn't be helped, he just admitted to a degree of disappointment that such an enchanting beauty had such an unsightly method.
"So, for this poor fellow… Looks like parts of his stomach and liver are already owned by the little guys." She monologues. "Good thing it hasn't gotten to the spine yet, that's usually when it gets beyond the point of being able to do much about it."
Her blade flew up--and several more streaks of blood flew out--the victim too starved to care. "Now, step two, once you know what's damaged so you can minimize hurt--you need to get inside the damaged organs and remove the bad parts."
She reached up into the incisions, fingers dipping within. The patient seemed to finally notice something was going on and leaned forward, eyes widening and starting to scream into their gag.
"Easy, easy." Cinnabar chided. "I'll be done in just a sec…" She inserts her blade after a moment of feeling, rummages around--and comes out eventually with a hunk of superficially fine flesh. "You have some magic that can look *really* close at something? Give it a shot." She wiggles the piece of organ at Chen--who gulps,but focuses.
And finds himself taken aback--the entire portion of stomach was
crawling with tiny, insignificant creatures, latched on and secreting foul liquids onto their home.
"Yeah, they're pretty ugly." Cinnabar agrees, closing her fist around the organ piece "But anyway, once you've gotten their home removed, what you need to do next is fold the undamaged parts into the functioning parts--kind of like using a bandage of itself, you know?"
She does so, fiddling with the injured organ. Disregarding the weeping of the patient. "The thing is, these little guys don't outright eat the stuff they're stuck on--because they're smart, you know? They'd die too. So they drag it out until they're ready to move on. First you lose the ability to eat, then to drink, then it gets into your spine and starts to realize that they've gone too far--so they start getting ready to move on to the next person and hang out in the blood. So the person goes crazy and everything about them starts spreading because they're jumping out of the sinking place, you know?"
She repeats her feat with the liver, extracting the damaged portions, and stitching some of it together again.
"But once you've gotten them out, give it a day or so to get everything going again, and feed them a basic Organ Regeneration Pill--and there you go, full recovery!" She claps her hands together--somehow pristine despite the work she was doing. "That's all there is to it!"
Jingshen Chen was stunned by this. "Who… Taught you how to heal?"
Cinnabar brought one finger to her chin and thought hard about it for a while. "A bunch of people giving bits and pieces here and there" She admits after a moment. "Then I used those bits and pieces to figure out the rest, and adapted for how my body works, and the rest kind of worked itself out, you know?"
He intuitively understood the idea--that someone had to begin the process of understanding a new discipline.
But what was this? The methods were borderline heretical! She gouged and maimed the subject of her ministrations like some common mortal physician!
And yet, she applied that with a precision of a genius, the harm was minimized--and the effect maximized. So that she could mend the wounds of anyone, whether she had resources on hand to rely on or not.
Genius and insanity walking hand in hand with the face of an angel. Subtractive Medicine. How had he never imagined such a thing? "That which can cure can also kill, in the right dosage" was something he had known for sure. This was more like… "A blade can cure as well as it can kill, so long as it is aimed well enough."
There was a lesson to be had in that, Chen thought.
He had the samples now from the source of the plague--could he perhaps prepare a poison harmless to humans, but would selectively destroy the creatures here? Perhaps reacting with the paralyzing fluid that they secreted?
The doors that had opened were many--he needed to explore every one!
"So…" Cinnabar asked, dusting her hands off. "Can I go back now? I've kind of promised to be their doctor until the trip is done, and I do need the cores for my breakthrough…"
He waved her off, focused on his own endeavours once again--he would not waste this chance to wipe away his shame as a cultivator!
Chen did remember though to pass on to his Aide to give the Lady Cinnabar his contact information though--madwoman she may be, her skills were real--and corresponding with other fellow Daoists on the path of medicine--heretical or not--could only benefit his own growth.
