~~~

Morning, afternoon, and evening.

The duels between disciples continue at all hours of the day. Through the use of repeated guaranteed challenges, it becomes possible to lure people into no-win situations. Some use the opportunity to settle old grudges. Others try to strike at what they see as troublesome figures in the opposing faction. Many are the disciples who find themselves ambushed by those who they believed to be their friends.

These sorts of tactics are not anything new. Fierce and often brutal competition has always been an aspect of the Eternal Flame Clan. It is only by stepping over others that one can reach the summit. For many cultivators, that is the truest truth of all.

And yet, the escalation is worrying.

In number, frequency, and violence, the fights between Lord Feng Shang’s supporters and Lord Feng Gui’s supporters keep escalating. The Sparring Hall is no longer large enough to contain them, not that most disciples are in any hurry to use it. These days one can see fights breaking out all over the compound. Were it not for the rules stating the Sparring Hall is the only building in which fights are allowed, quite a few buildings would have been damaged by the deadly techniques unleashed one after another.

For many, this would be an unforgettable spectacle. Some of the most talented cultivators in the Empire are putting every bit of their Heaven-defying talent on display.

For the Medical Pavilion, it just means more work.

Disciples are carried in at all hours of the day. It is a never-ending procession of bleeding wounds, damaged organs, and broken bones. The violence has escalated to the point where simple remedies are no longer enough. Yesterday, a disciple came in without arms.

Today, Liu Jin is reattaching someone’s leg.

His red eyes shine with concentration. The limb had not been severed cleanly. Rather, it seems someone hit him with some type of fire technique. Focused, but not focused enough. It had burned through the disciple, leaving charred flesh behind.

Liu Jin has two disciples assisting him. They have already cleaned the wounds and removed all the charred areas. Unfortunately, that left the disciple with about five inches of leg missing. Successful reattachment was going to require some creativity. Were it not for the acupuncture needles Liu Jin had used to disrupt the disciple’s sense of pain, he would probably be screaming right now.

Liu Jin weaves his Qi into thin strands and uses them to connect the disciple to his severed limb. Nerves, muscles, meridians. Everything needs to be connected in just the right way. As he does this, Liu Jin’s Qi synchronizes with that of the wounded disciple, spurring his Qi into flowing through the strands Liu Jin has created. The quicker the disciple starts flowing Qi back into his severed limb, the quicker the regeneration process will be.

“Red Cream,” Liu Jin says, holding out his hand.

“More?” One of the disciples helping him asks, his hands clutching the jar of cream against his chest.

On some level, Liu Jin can understand his hesitation. Blessed Red Ash Cream, or Red Cream for short, is a hard-to-make item. Since they are not using many of the medicines in storage to keep up Elder Xue’s ruse, they cannot afford to be wasteful with what they do have.

On a much deeper, truer level, Liu Jin is trying to reattach someone’s leg. It is a lucky thing that this patient’s friends had the sense to bring his severed leg with them, mangled though it may have been. Liu Jin could explain how the cream will help temporarily make up for the missing tissue and speed up the regeneration. The cream should also ease the passage of Qi into the severed limb and help preserve the strands of Qi Liu Jin had created.

However, doing that meant wasting valuable seconds.

Liu Jin glares at the disciple, his red eyes full of menacing intent. His aura flares out. It is almost enough to make the disciple drop the jar. With wide eyes, he quickly hands it to Liu Jin, who immediately gets back to work. He slathers the red, viscous cream on the affected area.

“Black Caging Powder.”

This time, there are no objections. A jar of Black Caging Powder is immediately placed on his hand. Liu Jin’s Qi latches on to its contents as he quickly spreads it around the wounded area. True to its nature, it begins hardening as soon as it’s applied, leaving a large segment of the disciple’s leg encased in a stone-like substance. As that happens, Liu Jin places more acupuncture needles on the disciple’s leg and thigh to properly stimulate the flow of Qi in those areas. He checks and double-checks, making sure there have been no mistakes in the procedure.

Only then does Liu Jin allow himself to lean back and let out a big breath. A tired smile graces his face. How loathsome it is that it took something like this to remind him of something so utterly simple.

Being a doctor feels good.

“He should be stable now,” he says. “Take him to the second floor. A normal diet should be enough. When he wakes up, let him know the caging powder will be removed in three days and no earlier.”

The disciples salute.

“At once, Senior Brother Qing!”

Liu Jin smiles and chuckles. Those two had been in their twenties. What is the world coming to when people so clearly older are calling him Senior Brother?

“What is next?” He asks once he leaves the procedure room. A disciple is waiting for him there, an aide. He is a disciple from the Medical Pavilion that had been found to be generally trustworthy over the past two weeks and so had been placed in a higher position.

“S-So quickly? Does Senior Brother Qing not want to rest?”

“What’s next?” Liu Jin repeats.

“There is not much, really,” the disciple replies. On his hands, there is a list that automatically updates as patients arrive. “At least, nothing that requires Senior Brother Qing’s skill. I am certain no one would complain if Senior Brother decided to rest.”

“Is that so?”

“It is so, Senior Brother.”

Something about the way he says it. The careful slowness. The small pause before speaking. How his eyes never seem to find Liu Jin’s.

“Senior Brother!” The disciple yells out as Liu Jin snatches the list from his hands.

“A patient with a broken collarbone, one with multiple burns and severe lacerations, and one with a creatively obstructed...” Liu Jin’s eyebrow rises as he reads the last one. Whatever amusement he feels at reading the description is all too fleeting. His eyes are cold when he looks up at the disciple. “Do these sound like things that do not require my attention?”

Certainly, he’s not the only one in the Medical Pavilion who can deal with injuries like this. Far from it. However, if he can help out a little, why not do it? An extra set of hands can hardly hurt.

“But Senior Brother! Those are...”

The disciple trails off, his words lost as Liu Jin looks at him with empty coldness.

“Disciples from Internal Disputes and External Relations,” Liu Jin says, reading the chart. “Is that what you were going to say?”

His aide’s face goes pale. “I-I thought… I thought...”

He thought that disciples who supported Lord Feng Shang should be of lower priority.

And why shouldn’t he? They are currently fighting, are they not? Maybe they are doing it under the guise of guaranteed challenges, but no one would deny the two factions are in conflict. Why should they restore their foes to full health? Why waste their time and resources on them? Why heal them when they’ll just fight against them once more?

“I...I…”

The disciple coughs and hacks, falling to his knees. Only then does Liu Jin realize his Qi has been flooding the hallway and hovering over the fallen disciple like the fangs of a venomous snake. Nine-Headed Snake God’s Veins pulse inside him for the first time in what feels like ages.

“Rise,” Liu Jin orders, diminishing the potency of his Qi.

“S-Senior Brother Q-Qing,” the disciple says as he does, “I did not mean-”

“Enough. Follow me.”

Liu Jin storms down the hallway. The disciple follows after him, too scared to do anything else. People press their backs against the white walls in their haste to get out of their way.

“It seems to me,” Liu Jin says as he bursts into the main lobby where patients are admitted, “that here has been a misunderstanding!”

His voice is charged with Qi. It is impossible to ignore him.

“Some people seem to think the current state of affairs can be used as an excuse to shirk their duties. Let me dissuade you of that notion. This is the Medical Pavilion! It is our job to provide healing. If a wounded disciple arrives here, your job is to heal them regardless of their allegiance! Those who fail to do something so simple will be punished! Is that understood?”

Liu Jin gets a few nods, whimpers, and stuttered agreements.

His eyes narrow.

“Is. That. Understood?”

“Yes!”

This time, the response is unanimous. Liu Jin gives a short nod.

“Better.”

Another wounded disciple arrives a few minutes after that, and Liu Jin quickly loses himself in his work once more.

Being a doctor feels good, indeed.

~~~

“It seems you had quite the outburst today.”

Should he even be surprised Elder Xue knows? Either she has people other than him briefing her on what happens in the Medical Pavilion, or some unhappy disciple tried to report him. Probably both.

“That indeed happened, Elder Xue.”

“Usually, one would offer an explanation by this point. You did order for members of Lord Feng Shang’s faction to be given equal treatment.”

Liu Jin does not hesitate for a second in giving his answer.

“I did it for the sake of Elder Xue’s reputation.”

The corners of Elder Xue’s mouth turn up. “Oh?”

“Elder Xue’s command of the Medical Pavilion is not set in stone,” Liu Jin says, his hands folded behind him. “As I understand it, the Crimson Cloud Tournament has already finished. Lord Feng Shang is liable to come back any day. When that happens, he will surely try to force the election of a new Elder. If he can cite improper conduct by the Medical Pavilion, that will only strengthen his case. It may be that Elder Xun will side with Lord Feng Shang’s faction this time.”

“Nicely said.” Elder Xue even claps for him, her dark eyes shining with amusement. “I wonder. How long did it take you to come up with that excuse?”

“A few minutes, but I needed much more time to figure out the best way to phrase it.”

Lu Mei had helped him do it, though she had not been the slightest bit amused.

The word fool may have been repeatedly repeated.

“Sensible.” Elder Xue nods, bringing a dainty finger to her chin. “Although it is just an excuse, you are not wrong. There are only so many ways in which I can abuse the authority of the Medical Pavilion.”

There is an unspoken ‘for now’ there that Liu Jin doesn’t particularly care for.

“Your altruism was not misplaced in this particular case, yet I must express some concern.”

Liu Jin blinks. “Concern?”

“I am satisfied by your actions.” Elder Xue moves her finger to point at him. “You will not be. When the disciples you heal use their gifts to hurt and kill others, this moment will be naught but ashes in your mouth.”

Liu Jin frowns.

“That may be so.” No, there is no may about it. “However, it would be foolish of me to take responsibility for their actions.”

“A good answer, yet I wonder whether you will truly be able to put it into practice.”

“If I am allowed to be bold, I did not expect Elder Xue to worry so much about this disciple’s wellbeing.”

“If you were a normal disciple, I would not,” Elder Xue admits. “However, full of contradictions and hypocrisies as you may be, you are talented. Someone like you has quite a few uses. It would sadden me to see you waste your potential because your spirit proved too weak for your conscience.”

Liu Jin opens his mouth but finds himself silenced as a heavy, oppressive weight suddenly drops on his shoulders. The sudden pressure leaves him stumbling. No, it is not just him. The room. The building.

The entire compound shakes exactly once.

“Oh dear,” Elder Xue says, one hand rising to her lips. There is a sharp smile there. “To greet us like that… He is quite angry.”

“He?” Liu Jin blinks a little before it dawns on him. “Does Elder Xue mean…”

“Lord Feng Shang,” she says with glee. “It seems he has returned in defeat.”

And with him, all the Core Disciples he took to the tournament.

~~~