Heavenly Shae

Doctor Geish returned rather quickly with extra towels, fresh water and soap, then left Shae with her privacy. Now that he had seen it once, she didn't expect him to spend more of his time observing her. So she simply progressed at her own pace. Not rushing to clean herself or prepare for the next round of cleansing.

Still, on his return his timing was almost perfect. She had laid out the needles and was going over the acupuncture locations. Stalling a little, if she was being honest with herself. The doctor's ideas of what the cleansing was still rattled around in her head, hesitation and uncertainty sparking off each collision.

"Knock, knock." Doctor Geish said as he cracked the door open. Then let himself in after a beat of silence. "Sayka Shae, I'm glad you haven't started yet."

She turned towards him quickly. "Oh? Did you find something out, Doctor?"

"Not really. I simply didn't want to wait again." He smirked. "I've taken the time to reread your medical file. And now I'd like to fill a few holes in it, if you're comfortable sharing more about what happened with the tribulation?"

"Um. I think the only thing off limits is what caused it. That seems important enough to stay a secret."

He paused while closing the door. "Hmm. I suppose so. I'm only interested in what's medically relevant, anyhow." Then he finished closing it. "Specifically how the cleansing actually occurred. And only to the two limbs. Our records of similar events show more significant penetration through the meridians and around the Dantian. If not bursting it entirely."

Shae winced. "That sounds awful. Do people really survive that?"

"Cultivators survive that. Though not without long term side effects. Usually much worse than a bit of odd cleansing."

"Hmgh." She grunted. "So I got pretty lucky?"

He wobbled a hand, ink from a quill pen splattering sideways as he did so. "Hm- Oops. A-hewm." He cleared his throat and flicked some qi at the small mess. Shae felt it as a sandy wind from the sensitive skin on her forehead acting up again.

He continued, "Luck is one way to look at it. Some would say it's a crossing of fates. Which is to say, your own knowledge from your past, and Elder Ghon's presence and care combined to save you." He shrugged. "Our existing notes on the incident are simply speculation. Please, with as much or as little detail as you like, what happened after the first strike?"

Shae looked at her cleansing notes and took a deep breath, then nodded and looked around the room. The doctor had already seated himself at one chair in front of a small tea table, and she quickly moved herself to take the matching seat.

She took another deep breath as she got comfortable. "I suppose I'll stick to the details that seem medically important to me. Please ask for clarification if I skip over something. Heh, or the opposite if I get lost. According to Elder Ghon, the first strike was a warning to him. A statement that it was my tribulation and he should stay out of it. He gave me a very brief description of what would happen, yet didn't seem particularly bothered. I think that might be what kept me calm."

Doctor Geish's brow furrowed. "He thought you would survive?"

"Oh, not at all. Heh heh. He was rather curious about what the gold lightning would do to my body and was probably already planning out the autopsy." She shook her head and chuckled again. "In hindsight, I should have ran for the trees. They might have caught the lightning instead of me."

"Hmm, I'm not so sure. Tribulation lightning doesn't really behave like lightning in a storm. It seeks its intended target first, and probably would have struck faster if you ran."

Shae worked her jaw, chewing on the information. "Ah. That's good to know... So, what I did was stand my ground. Though, I had a moment to prepare. I grabbed my metal rope- in the previous weeks I had been braiding a rope from iron blood creepers found on the mountain, similar to the vines of the same name. So I took that, threw it in our rainwater bucket with some salt, then also used it to soak my right arm and leg. Wrapping the rope around both, I then aimed to catch the lightning with the wet rope, instead of... well, my face."

Doctor Geish had paused his writing, then smirked and quickly scratched down the rest a breath after Shae stopped talking. "A-hewm, that's something. It sounds like you had a good long moment to prepare."

"Heh. Yeah. It was much more rushed and sloppy than that description. I'm not even sure if the salt had time to dissolve." She smirked.

"Hew-hew. So. The strike hit you. Knocked you unconscious, and Elder Ghon took care of the rest? You awoke with cleansed limbs?"

"Uh, not yet." She shook her head. "I blacked out briefly, yet there were three strikes, not one. Four if you include the warning strike."

Geish blinked at her, an unusually blank expression on his face.

"So... Then I woke up on the ground. I had wanted to catch the lightning while I was jumping, to force it to ground through the wet metallic rope, but I wasn't ready for it, of course." She shrugged and took a deep breath. "The lightning basically evaporated all the water, so I yelled at- err, asked Elder Ghon to refill the water bucket. It had a qi array thingy to collect water, and I was pretty sure he could force it to work faster. The tribulation storm hadn't dispersed yet, so I knew I needed to prepare for another."

Geish leaned forwards slightly. "But you survived a direct strike? Fully intact and aware? Even core formation cultivators have a hard time of that."

She shrugged. "Yeah. I was probably in shock, heh pun. Water and metal are going to conduct better than my fleshy body. Why wouldn't I be fine- okay, not fine, just mostly intact?"

"It's tribulation lightning. Even qi lightning controlled by a cultivator doesn't follow expected Dao laws, it goes where it wants. Striking as dictated. Hitting you, the cultivator under tribulation, not nearby conductors." He messaged his temple with his quill hand, smudging ink onto his face. "I've seen specifically prepared lightning rods be ignored by tribulations. Charring flesh from core cultivators who were standing right next to it. Even striking the rod, then jumping off to hit the cultivator anyway. And it only gets stronger the more strikes there are. You couldn't have survived three strikes?"

Shae crossed her arms and glared at him. "Well, sorry for being alive, Doctor."

He flinched and grimaced. "Sorry, Sayka. You are clearly alive and well. Yet, how?"

"You said you've seen others' tribulations? Were they all the same? How about your own? We're they all for core formation?"

He tilted his head and sat back, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. "Hmm, no. I suppose I saw- well, was near enough to one other. An older core-formation elder attempting to progress to the nascent soul stage. The area was shielded, and far away. It wasn't in a sect, the collateral damage would be too great. Yet still, the whole region felt the storm."

Shae leaned forward. "Did she survive?"

He smirked. "I said they, not she. I wasn't actually sure who it was, just heard rumors afterwards. I think they did. Late stage progress is kept very secretive, so that rivals do not attempt to interfere."

"Huh. That's considered late-stage? How long does that take, do you think?"

He shrugged. "Hundreds of years, they say. However, if they keep it a secret, who knows. Perhaps there are many more nascent soul cultivators around than we think. Even at core, you need time to settle into your stage and solidify your new power."

"Huh." She leaned back again and let the silence fill the air.

Doctor Geish looked down at his notes and frowned, then began to add to them.

Shae let her mind consider the question of why her tribulation was weaker. It fell into place almost immediately, like a fact she already knew. It was weaker because I was mortal.

When Geish stopped writing and looked up, she opened her mouth to explain it to him, then froze. She knew because she had had an enlightenment about this already, or possibly as part of another. Would telling Doctor Geish outright deny that same enlightenment? He's got to know already, right?

"Sayka Shae?" He asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Ah. Um. I think it's fair to say that this tribulation was much weaker than the ones you've seen. Although, I did provoke it. Maybe that's why I got three strikes?" She shrugged. "Ghon suggested provoking it as a way to predict when it would strike- I mean, I could see the gold and red and blue lightning circling and forming together."

She paused, then shrugged again. "Anyway. Elder Ghon did make more water. Then we mixed in a chicken egg and some copperfur leaf because we had them on hand. Oh, do I need to explain why?"

The doctor shrugged while writing. "Because the copperfur is metallic, I assume?"

Shae wobbled a hand. "That's part of it. It's because pure water doesn't conduct electricity. You have to mix stuff in to have it work better. Just a bit of salt is enough."

Doctor Geish tilted his head. "I've never seen that to be an issue during cultivator battles."

Shae shrugged. "Well, who would cultivate pure distilled water? They'd go with naturally occurring water, which doesn't have that problem. Plus, like you said about lightning, qi doesn't need to follow the exact rules."

"Huh." He blinked.

"So anyhow. He mixed it up, probably with an alchemy technique, then it was a repeat of the first strike. Uh- I actually don't recall if the egg blend was before or after the second strike..." She paused, staring at the ceiling with her mouth open. "Meh, but yeah. I soaked the rope and my robes with it. Yelled at the storm some more. Got a really strong third strike which is when I did black out fully and Ghon stepped in to take care of me."

"Okay. And you were rather injured I assume? Did Elder Ghon explain how he saved you? Or about the cleansing?"

"Ah, right, that's what this was about, heh heh. Medical records." She laughed into her sleeve. "Yeah. He said he had to use a bunch of healing talismans to save me. The lightning, mostly the third strike I'd assume, was trapped in my arm and leg. Elder Ghon used the mountain's qi pressure to hold it there, and stop the uncontrolled cleansing. When I woke up a few days later, it was still there. The only reason I was still alive- okay, one of many- was because I had been doing directed tempering with the Elder. Using the mountain's pressure, I think."

Geish blinked then nodded quickly and continued writing. "That last part is the first thing that seems to make sense."

"Hey!" Shae pouted. "This all makes sense, mostly."

"Heh heh. I suppose there's a twisted kind of sense to it. Just not what we would expect."

"Well, maybe you need to expect different things. Be a little more optimistic about people's survival. You're a doctor after all- ah- sorry. I guess that might be why." She grimaced at herself.

"No apology needed. I don't see that many deaths in acupuncture, and cultivators are fairly resilient. So, how did you handle recovery with the lightning still in your limbs?"

"Ah, right-right. First, I had to stay inside the mountain. Where the qi pressure was a little higher. Then Elder Ghon taught me a bit about moving qi around. Getting a sense for elemental qi and moving it through my body. We tried to start with neutral except it was too hard because of the mountain. From there, the goal was to spread the lightning out from my limbs, that's why the edges are really erratic. It used to just be up to here and here." She gestured on her body where the cut off point for the cleansing used to be.

"Hmm. I may wish to investigate that transition later, see if the cleansing is as consistent. When you mimic the cleansing, do you reach past that line?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Ah, I see what you mean. Hmm..." she hummed and thought. "Not especially. The boundary isn't super clear when I'm meditating. I suppose I should try that, though."

"Perhaps that can be your next test tonight. But first." He tapped his notes.

"Mhm. Okay. I spent a lot of time learning to visualize moving the lightning without it just destroying my flesh. Eventually, I managed to spread it thin enough to cleanse. So then, because of my practice with the elemental qi and slowing moving the lightning around, we had an idea for something to try. Or maybe it was just my idea." She shrugged. "So I wanted to- Uhm." She stopped and looked directly at the doctor. "Is there anything in my file about my Dantian?"

He scratched down a few more notes then looked up. "Not especially. Just similar to what's in your token. Something I should know, Sayka Shae?"

She worked her jaw, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "Ugh. I had hoped I could get this full explanation out once and not have to repeat it. You will share this with the sect and whoever needs to know, yes?"

He nodded slowly. "I can make it either accessible to only your doctors, or to all the elders, yes."

"To all the elders is fine, I'd rather not repeat this story again and again to whoever is curious. Not that I mind you asking." She covered her face and coughed lightly. "And assuming that whoever is in control of information flow is okay with everyone knowing." She rolled her eyes. "So... Skipping a little that's probably supposed to be a secret, I accidentally channeled the lightning to my Dantian and lost control of it. It arced fully through my channels, even linking to my leg and pulling that lightning qi into it. There was a little complication with -uh- in the area around my Dantian. Finally, I managed to absorb the lightning directly into my Dantian and regain control of it. Extremely painful from start to finish, yet with surprisingly little long term damage."

"A little long term damage." He spoke as he wrote. "Impressive, so something was damaged?"

She nodded and looked up. "Mhmm. I think it was my... Gall bladder meridian. Took a bit of the lightning, seems fine but broke up some of the impurities, who knows what will happen long term. I don't have anything to compare it to."

"Ah, yes. Excessive strain to the gall bladder meridian." He nodded and wrote. "That's common during uncontrolled qi use. The impurities probably saved you from long term damage. I'd say don't use qi around it for a while, but it's a little late for that. It might be harder to clear once the time comes, just don't start a cleansing method that needs it cleared early as you might not have the qi reserves for it."

"Okay. I'll try to remember that. Hmm, just a guess here, is that because the impurities harden up?"

"Good instincts. Yes, they will settle and strengthen after... Let's say, six months. That's not a hard cutoff, however. As your senses improve you may be able to detect the change. Though, even that might only be after the impurities have already settled it." He looked up at the roof and hummed. "It's probably best to not poke at it. Constant probing with qi may cause it to settle faster. The same goes for your other meridians. Most manuals are good enough to handle a little hardening, it's the repeated injuries we have to watch out for."

"Alright." She shifted in her seat. "I guess it's like a scar or scab, don't pick at it. Does heavy qi flow melt impurities? Is that how cleansing works? So melting and letting it harden again makes bigger clumps which are harder to melt again?"

Doctor Geish half-grimaced. "Some people use ice as a metaphor, but no. I don't like that explanation at all. Tar might be a little better, thick and nearly unmoving. Then if you heat it a little it moves faster, but it's still sticky and horrible. These states of matter don't properly encompass what the impurities actually are, however. Hmm, I suppose I should assign you some reading if you are interested. Although, if we think historically, understanding doesn't actually let you cleanse any easier." He finished with a shrug.

"Oh! Speaking of reading." She jumped out of her chair and fetched a letter from her stack of paper. "Doctor Cho suggested some books for me, because I was interested in anatomy and acupuncture." She passed the list from Cho to Geish.

"Are you? Well, we are always welcoming to new medical students." His brow furrowed as he read the list. "This... Isn't exactly the kind of starter material I would assign. Even to one such as yourself, Sayka."

"Ah, well. I suppose I skipped over some context. My interest isn't strictly to become a doctor or nurse. It's to learn about my cleansed flesh, and to plan for acupuncture locations for meridian cleansing. Or, if not plan, at least to gain some understanding."

"Hmm." His expression returned to something more neutral. "I suppose that makes more sense." He bobbed his head to the side and hummed, then nodded. "I'll add to your list then, and give you the names of a few sensing practices to work through. With the aim of moving onto a more powerful technique. Start with the earliest, of course, and only move on when you cannot progress. Preferably after review by an elder to assess your abilities."

He flipped her note and wrote a few lines on the back. Then took out a fresh page and wrote on that as well. "Most of these are available in the sect library, yet this note from me should wedge the door open. It includes an oversight clause, which means that I'll be informed of anything you remove from the medical section. Should save you quite a few delays, especially as a new student."

"Oh. Uhm, thank you, Doctor Geish." She made a seated bow. "Is this- uh- how does it usually-?"

He raised an ink stained finger, then frowned at it. "Your other teachers have access to your reading records anyway. Please don't assume this is me spying on you. I'm simply interested in following your progress. Most would take months to work through each of these textbooks. So I may simply forget to follow up. Young people don't like to study, though. Maybe you'll be faster." He shrugged.

"Ah. Thank you, again. I didn't mean to be suspicious."

"Heh, haw. It's good to be a little suspicious of your fellow cultivators. It will save you some trouble now and then." He read over his recommendations again, then pursed his lips for a breath. "I'm going to add one high tier technique to your list. It can be learned early on, but is rather expensive to acquire. Good to have long term goals, however." He smiled as he wrote.

She grimaced. "Ugh. Speaking of cost. Will the others cost me comp?"

He bobbed his head. "A little. Practices are usually considered free, though they do have a cost. Usually just a single comp to cover scribing a copy. Techniques are more expensive, a set of comp, for the cheaper ones. Just so you new students don't try to buy sets and sets of them. A few may require proof that you've mastered a prerequisite practice. This one is like that." He tapped the page.

She leaned over and read the last line.

Heaven's Mirror Through the Soul.

"Despite the grandiose name, it has very little to do with heaven, and isn't considered related to soul arts." He wheezed out a laugh, "Hew hew hew, which is good, because it definitely wouldn't be available if that was the case."

Shae didn't understand the foreign language word he used, but picked up his intended meaning and worked it out from context. "Sounds fancy. How does it work?"

"Hew haw haw!" He laughed louder. "How does it work? She asks. Hew hew hew." He shook away the laughter. "Techniques are not a simple contraption of axles and gears, little Sayka. How they work is never so obvious. If you meant what does it do? Well, it will greatly assist you in spreading that cleansing evenly, I can say that for certain." He waved away her follow up question. "It's far too soon to worry about that, however. I'll be impressed if you can even afford it within the next year. Hew hew." He smirked.

She shrugged. "Sure I don't have a noble's backing, but I'm not destitute. And I'm allowed to start taking missions now. Err, forced to may be more accurate."

"Ahh, I was wondering about that mission credit you already had. Aim to find a long term role, if you can. It's much easier than crowding the Mission Hall boards every day."

Shae nodded. "Good to know, thanks. Oh. Where did we leave off?" She pointed at his notes.

"Ah yes..." He skimmed them over then froze near the bottom. "You know. I remember hearing you say this, but it didn't really stick, even after I wrote it down."

"Hmm?"

"You say that you absorbed the lightning into your Dantian, and regained control of it? Just to be clear, you mean to say you trapped heavenly tribulation lightning inside your Dantian?"

She nodded. "Yes. Though, part of gaining control was deciding it was mine, not heaven's. Heaven gave it to me during the tribulation, you see. I also had to wrap my mind around it being a bit more friendly. It wasn't exactly pleasant before that."

He skimmed the notes again. "I must assume it was a small amount. That it mixed into the existing qi in your Dantian and refined it. Much like using enlightenment qi to do the same." He readied his quill to make more notes.

"Uh. No. It certainly felt like quite a lot. Oh, and I didn't have any qi in my Dantian before that."

Doctor Geish's hand snapped the quill and he looked up. "Pardon me. Are you certain of that?"

Shae felt his qi and intent like a harsh desert wind. Not threatening, so much as simply present. A reminder of the hot unyielding threat of desert heat. "Erm. Yes, Doctor. I'm very certain. The uh- situation, around my Dantian, the same thing that blocks qi scans, it also prevents stray qi from entering unless I strictly allow it."

"Huh." He said and kept staring at her, though his qi did settle down. Another breath passed and he looked down at his broken quill then clicked his tongue and it and began to clean it up. "Tsk. Forsaken ink, this is why I prefer charcoal."

Shae smirked and breathed. Letting herself relax as the tense moment passed.

Geish finished cleaning and produced another quill, then made a few more notes. Finally he leaned back in his chair and sighed. "This is certainly outside my area of expertise. I'm not sure the sect has someone experienced enough to comment on what happened." He took a deep breath and sighed again. "Aside from the main leadership, however, they are usually busy. I'm simply glad that you seem to have it under control now. Hmm. Could you recreate the quantity of qi in your limbs? Even just in your hand or finger?"

"Uhh, maybe?" Shae tilted her head and looked up. "Maybe just the same feeling, since my situation has changed it will probably require much more for the same feeling." She shrugged then moved to sit in the lotus poison in the center of the room again.

A few slow breaths had her feeling calm and she withdrew qi from her Dantian. Aiming to mainly use lightning qi, she included the more unruly red challenge qi that had escaped her full contemplation and understanding of tribulation qi that occurred in Gatewash.

She focused only on her arm for now. Packing qi into it until it felt as dangerous and intense as she remembered. It took much longer than she assumed it would. Even with the denser challenge qi. She cracked an eye and looked around for the doctor. "Uhm, it felt like this, but this qi is much denser than it was back then. So ignore that."

Geish's voice came from behind her, at least a few paces back. "This is... Very different from your earlier qi."

"Mhmgh," she grunted in agreement. Then decided she didn't want to keep the discomfort going and returned the qi. It leapt at wanting to be used and she had to struggle to keep it under control.

A few breaths later she was finished and noticed she had been sweating. "Ugh. Hate that this stuff is still like that."

"Still like that?" The doctor's question was quiet.

"Hmm?" She spun herself without standing up, and found him closer to the door than his chair. He was staring past her with a hollow look in his eyes. "Doctor Geish! Ah... I'm so sorry for that. I didn't know... Did it bring up bad memories?"

"Ah. Yes. I suppose so." He blinked and looked around. Then took a deep breath. "I suppose my past trauma isn't as dealt with as I'd like. Heh heh." He forced a chuckle. "I'm sure my therapist will enjoy hearing that a new recruit has my legs shaking."

Shae frowned. "It is a rather unpleasant interpretation of tribulation qi. I'd rather not still have it, but it escaped my enlightenment and comprehension changes in Gatewash. Though, I suppose it's an example of what I thought the red lightning was before more fully understanding it."

The doctor nodded slowly. "That is something of a relief to hear. Though... It's surprising that you have such very different qi in your Dantian. What you had before-? Ah, perhaps I shouldn't pry." He shook his head.

Shae smiled but couldn't fully hide the sadness in her eyes. "It's fine, come feel the good stuff, heh heh." She pulled her personal qi into her arm, a lot less of it, and focused it into her hand. Then extended it to the other cultivator.

Doctor Geish hesitated, then stepped across the room and sat in front of her. He didn't grab her hand but instead closed his eyes and breathed calmly. She felt his qi sweep gently across her hand, saw him relax in the next breath, and then a smile crept onto his face as he meditated. Three more breaths passed before he roused with a deeper smile. "Thank you, Heavenly Shae. That is truly a very different interpretation of tribulation qi. I will have to spend quite some time contemplating it."

She smiled back and dropped her hand. "You're welcome, Doctor. I think many cultivators think too much of the threat of tribulations, and not what they are for." She shrugged. "But I have a rather unique perspective on that."

"Heh hew, on most things, I think. A rather valuable perspective, Sayka Shae. Don't let this place burn that out of you."

She nodded. "Right. I won't."

He nodded back. "Good." Then took a deep breath and slapped his palms on both his knees. "Well. Time waits for no Doctor. I have rounds to do. I would encourage you to do another round of cleansing. There's still plenty of time for that and some sleep, before your appointment in the morning."

"Eh? Really? I half expected this to take all night."

"Heh hew, not at all. Your cleansing was rather quick, even if it felt long." He stood and smoothed his robes. "It will be good for your senses to pay attention to what the qi is doing, instead of letting it run free. You don't have to order it around constantly, just watch it." He looked over her notes for the next acupuncture locations. Then waved his hand above the three needles. "Sanitized. I think you'll handle the placement fine. These aren't particularly tricky."

"Thanks again for your help, Doctor Geish." Shae dipped her head as a seated bow.

"Hmm. Don't thank me too much yet. I'm sure someone will come knocking on your door when they read your account of the tribulation." He shook his head and collected his notes from the table. "I think I'm content to leave the mysteries for another, I've too much on my plate already. Don't be a stranger, though. I'll answer any acupuncture questions you might have. Especially if you catch me while I'm working here. Hew hew."

"Heh, I will. And the note for the library does help a lot. I was worried they wouldn't let me in until classes started."

"Hmm, I didn't think they were that strict, unless you do something suspicious. Hew hew. Good cleansing, Sayka Shae." He nodded to her as he opened the door.

"You too- err, good night, Doctor." She scrunched her face and blushed.

"Heh haw haw haw!" His loud laugh followed his exit, still punching through the closed door.