Chapter 163 - A Master Alchemist’s Methods

On the second story of a simple mortal bakery in Turning Leaf town, several people had gathered around an injured man sleeping peacefully in the bed he hadn't left for several weeks. Hou Jia fretted quietly in the corner as she observed the two other people in the room hovering over her injured husband. Alchemy Novice Wu Lin had been a frequent enough visitor that Hou Jia had come to rely on his calming, refined presence when he visited to bring more medicine for Ao Yang and to inspect his wounds. 

The final person in the room, however, had created a significant stir when they arrived in Turning Leaf town. Yun Bing captivated the heart and mind instantly wherever she went, her elegant figure seeming to float above the ground rather than tread upon it. Her soft jade green robes had been embroidered with several arcane symbols that neither Hou Jia or the considerably better informed Wu Lin had seen before giving her an ancient air that contrasted sharply with her smooth-cheeked, youthful appearance. 

A deep verdant green energy flowed from the woman's hands, wrapping around Ao Yang, easing his breathing and removing the final vestiges of injuries from his burned flesh. Sadly, for all the miraculous energy accomplished, his left hand remained severed. While the healing energy could accelerate his recovery to a remarkable degree, what was lost could only remain so. 

"Who?" Ao Yang croaked, his amber eyes blinking in the dim light of the room as the hazy figures of Wu Lin and Yun Bing resolved in his vision. 

"A'Yang!" Hou Jia cried, rushing out from the corner to her husband's side, grasping his remaining hand in hers and staring into his eyes that were blessedly free of pain. "You're finally awake."

"I feel very weak," Ao Yang said, reaching out to hold Hou Jia's hands with his left hand before realizing that the other hand really was gone! "So it wasn't a nightmare," he said, slumping back in his pillow. "I'm sorry," he added, turning to Yun Bing. "I remember Alchemy Novice Wu, but I'm not familiar with you, Fairy…? Or is it Celestial Fairy? Are you from my daughter's sect?" Ao Yang asked, trying to understand what a person with such an amazing aura was doing in his bedroom. 

"I'm Master Alchemist Yun Bing," the woman said, her simple words setting off an explosion in Ao Yang's mind. "I'm afraid that I don't have the honor to belong to your daughter's famed sect," she continued in a voice that felt like a gentle breeze over still water. "The Alchemy Consortium sent me to tend to Turning Leaf while Independent Alchemist Wai Dan recovers. When Novice Wu told me about how you had been healed, I grew curious. I hope you forgive my intrusion to satisfy my own curiosity at the methods that were used to treat you."

"Wicked savage methods," Hou Jia spat. "Compared to your healing, what that woman did to my A'Yang was far more cruel. You saw the burns she left on him but they were much worse before receiving so many days of treatment from Novice Wu," she said, cupping her hands and bowing to both alchemists. "It's our fortune to receive your care."

"That woman?" Ao Yang asked in confusion. "Did someone treat me other than Wen'er?"

"Don't call her that," Hou Jia said more sharply than she intended. "After what she did to bring disaster to us, Celestial Fairy, Alchemy Novice, Holy Healer, whatever she calls herself, she can call herself anything but our daughter. We don't have a daughter like her who would burn you to a crisp and call it healing."

"Excuse me, but has there been a misunderstanding?" Yun Bing asked. "Novice Wu, you told me that Alchemy Novice Ao Wen used emerald alchemy flames to cleanse Flood Dragon Venom from her father's body and that he was badly burned as a consequence. We are talking about the same woman aren't we?"

"We are," Wu Lin said carefully, not wanting to offend Ao Wen's parents but having little choice than to answer the Master Alchemist's questions. "There was no time or means to produce an anti-venom for Master Ao so she used a flame purification technique on his flesh after providing him a concoction to safeguard his vital organs. The effects are as you see, while the burns were severe, the Flood Dragon Venom is gone without a trace."

"Jia, where's Wen?" Ao Yang asked, his mind frantically assembling the fragments of conversation and a sense of dread growing in him. "She was bleeding badly when she healed me but she wouldn't take care of herself until she took care of me and I… I succumbed to the pain from her healing." 

"That wasn't healing, that was torture," Hou Jia said forcefully. "You've just experienced real healing from Master Yun, no flames, no burns, no pain, just gentle energy that removed your wounds," she praised. "If someone deserves to be called a Holy Healer, surely it's her."

"Again, I think there's been some misunderstanding," Master Yun interrupted. "What I did was an acceleration of the body's natural healing. The method I used to resolve Master Ao's lingering burns wouldn't have removed Flood Dragon Venom from his body, it would have hastened his demise." 

"Still, I'm sure you wouldn't have resorted to such barbaric means to save my husband," Hou Jia insisted. "We're in your debt," she said, bowing deeply with cupped hands. 

"Jia," Ao Yang said, this time more instantly as fear built within him. "Where's Wen'er? She, she made it back, didn't she? Is she still recovering from what Long Ma did to her? Is that why she's not here now?" After watching his daughter fight so fiercely to rescue him and then insist on healing him first even while her wounds were still bleeding, he couldn't imagine that she'd let some other healer wake him without being here unless something was keeping her away. 

"A'Yang, I told you, she's not our daughter anymore," Hou Jia said, squeezing his hand and avoiding his gaze. "She already left Turning Leaf a while ago. She may even have made it to Red Moon City or the mainland by now. I don't know where she went and it has nothing to do with us anymore anyway."

"Jia? Why would she leave without waiting for me to wake up? Our Wen wouldn't leave without saying goodbye," Ao Yang asked, deeply disturbed by the way Hou Jia was talking about their daughter. 

"I," Hou Jia started, hesitating for a moment and biting her lip. It took several breaths before she could meet Ao Yang's pained and imploring gaze and several breaths after that before she could speak. "I sent her away. I told her, I told her that our Wen'er died in the Awakening Ceremony and I didn't want to see a stranger wearing her face."

"Jia," Ao Yang said, eyes wide in shock. "What have you done?"