Chapter One Hundred And Sixty Eight - We return to our lessons

All good things must come to an end and all partings are bittersweet. It's especially bitter once the addictive sweetness has enlightened the taster to it's deliciousness. Jin Li looked down upon his sleeping lover and was sorely tempted to bundle him over his shoulder in order to steal him away to his room in the Martial Arts school. But he didn't... at least he wouldn't at this time. However in the future, they would have to leave this school and wherever he went, he would assure that his small alchemist followed. This was the fate of this youth, the first person he met after whatever strange incident dragged him to this lesser realm, Jin Li was certain.

At this point in time, though, his small alchemist had much to learn in order for his talents to shine even greater. Only then would he be able to stand at his side when they returned to his family in the Higher Realm. Jin Li, as well, wished to regain more of the strength that he had lost and this school was not a bad place in which to do so. Indeed, it could be said that he had gained some respect for a few of the Teacher's and students here.

Following the musings of within his own mind, he pressed a kiss upon Leon's soft lips before quietly leaving to return to the Martial Arts Outer School.

*****

Leon woke a short while, disturbed by the rapidly cooling space beside him and let a long groan escape him as he rose from the bed. Wincing over the hoarseness of his voice, he stretched his limbs to relieve remnant aches, before grabbing the iron kettle to fill with water. The fragrance of tea sweetened with honey filled the small hut not long after as Leon lazily leaned against his bed while stirring a bowl of porridge. Should he listen to the sated humming of his body, he likely would have lingered there for the best part of the day, however his consciousness began to warn him that he'd lazed about enough and it was time to get to school.

He probably walked a little bit slower than normal and certainly, his mind frequently wandered elsewhere, such memories causing frequent bouts of blushing as well as shivers as his sensitive skin reminded him of all the places Jin Li had touched him, had marked him. And as if the dotted map of blossoms upon the previously white canvas from their first night's explorations were not already enough, the youth had proceeded to stake his claim and leave the proof of their affections upon even more parts of him the previous night. Thus he was totally unprepared for the enthusiastic greeting he was subject to... again.

"Leon!" He face-planted into the soft ground as the weight of another suddenly appeared upon his back. Fortunately, the current gift of sight Maimai had already given him were much stronger that his previous pair and were not damaged in the fall.

He removed a coarse handkerchief from his robes and wiped the dust from his face. "G-good m-morning Maimai," he smiled with an inward sigh as he observed her wide-eyed and full of expectation expression. "N-not telling," he said as she opened her mouth to question him.

She let out a puff of air and pouted. "You don't even know what I was about to ask!" She complained.

"I'm sorry," he said, softly, with a hint of jest in his tone. "G-go ahead. Ask m-me anything." Her smile widened brightly and reached her eyes, curving them until they became two crescent moons. "So l-l-long as it has n-nothing to do with J-Jin Li and m-me," he quickly added.

Her smile fell with her jaw and she gasped like a fish for a few moments. Leon could not help but laugh brightly over her expression. "So mean!" She said, finally, before weaving her arm about his and asking; "Are you going to the Herb Hall?"

"En," Leon nodded. Of course he planned to see his Teacher and also get more herbs for pills. He still wished to explore the possibility of making Burning Blood Pill variants. And maybe later, he would have a look at the book he'd bought with basic Medicinal Tea recipes...

"I'll go with you," Maimai decided, not mentioning that actually, she had not long been there. It was just she was hoping Leon would let his guard down enough on route to spill a few tidbits to satisfy her curiosity. He did not.

Leon left Maimai at the entrance to the Herb Hall, bidding her farewell and receiving the promise that she would visit for tea later. He passed through the Hall, nodding to the senior who was currently in charge before walking out the back entrance towards the fields. He didn't need to pass through them as Teacher Sagi was examining a wilted patch of red lantern plants. The leaves were drooping pitifully and the immature sealed flower buds were dying without having opened.

The man sighed as he rose to his feet. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he noticed Leon's presence. "Ah, Leo!" He greeted his apprentice. "Since you are here, you might as well help me remove this patch. These Lanterns have become infested with striped gu larvae. We need to dig them up and burn them to prevent the spread of infection."

"They c-can't b-be saved?" Leon queried as he took a hand fork from the basket nearby and knelt down to dig.

"No," Teacher Sagi sighed. "Red Lanterns are a favourite of striped gu. They lay their eggs in the flower as it blossoms, while feeding from it's nectar and the eggs merge with the seeds as they are formed. They hatch with the sprouted plant, but remain dormant until the plant matures. They then eat away at the roots until they are fat, before mutating into their adult forms and infesting any plants that survived with their eggs and hence the cycle starts again. In fact, it is usually safest to destroy all of the lanterns near an infestation. However, I believe we caught this quickly enough as none of the plants in this field have blossomed fully. What pains me is the unanswered question of how the infected seeds came to be in our possession in the first place..."

Leon shook his head, of course, he didn't work in the fields so he did not know. He simply followed Teacher Sagi's instructions to carefully dig out the plant with roots intact, in order not to disrupt the gu and have them flee to healthy host plants. To do this Leon had to use his spiritual energy, wrapping it around each root carefully to make sure they did not break as he dug out the plant.

Teacher Sagi said this was best practice for all herbs when harvesting, to ensure that the herbs were of peak condition before turning them into pills and potions. Of course, this was not always possible and with some forgiving herbs, not always necessary. But Leon would find that with rarer herbs, delicate touches were almost always required.