Chương 40: QI

Liu Town CHARLES THE BUTLER"Faster, fatty. You're in the way!"

"Sorry, Granny Zhi," I said as I carried a chest full of pungent pills and put it at the edge of the store.

"Getting awfully familiar, aren't you?" The doctor rushed through the store, picking different ingredients to use.

"It's because of your amiable personality," I chuckled. Against Beatrice's instructions, I came back. My curiosity carried me before I could think, and I ended up helping Zhi around her shop. The doctor kissed her teeth with a small smile.

"Get me that over there." She pointed to the shelf above me and took the jar from the high shelf to give to her.

"Gu."

"Finally, you mention it." Zhi dropped her chest on top of another, wiping sweat off her wrinkled brow.

"Go on."

"What is Gu?" Zhi sat on a table.

"Gu is the culmination of the greatest poison. Named after the practice of adding the most poisonous insects into a jar, the last insect standing is the strongest. That is GU." I sat down on a creaky chair, my full attention on the liuen lady.

"This is not just poison..."

"If it were, you would have just made it," I said. Zhi nodded in agreement.

"Poison is just ratios. Water can be a poison. But GU... There was only one time I was at its making... Never again..." I could see the madam shuddering at memories she thought she hid. A breath and she relaxed.

"Why does Drac think it will work on Kobi?"

"Gu taints and destroys meridians. Mana channels in your country's way and destroys the middle dantian before reaching the low dantian and higher dantian."

"Lower, higher...?" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Sheesh, novices. Lower is the basin. Where you collect mana. It's what cultivators use to transform the essence around us into QI," Zhi pointed at her bowels.

"Higher is the domain of the mages and the most skilled," Zhi pointed to the brain.

"We need GU to stop the curse from progressing. By cutting the one thing it feeds on."

"The victim's life force. Lands above... He will be disabled for life." Zhi hung her head.

"But a better life than this."

"No, it isn't!" A rage-filled voice echoed, alarming the lady.

"Sorry, but after seeing such a life every day, NO ONE deserves it."

"T-Then what else?" Her head hung lower, hands poised on her thighs, and her voice shook.

"Tell me, Friedman. What else?"

"What about the church?" I search desperately for answers.

"I heard that they help those with small symptoms, although for a few coins. Wood cracked in Zhi's hand.

"We went. Brought him when he had just an inch-long mark on his hand. I have more coin than I know what to do with. I would have given it all. Nothing was accepted. WE weren't accepted... Now it's too late."

"That was Trak's. No more." Zhi laughed in my face, but I didn't feel insulted.

"Same nobles, big man." Zhi pointed to the left.

"You missed one." I picked up another chest of ingredients.

"The name's Charles." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Who cares?" Adding water to the gritted materials, she ground some more.

"Your boss not coming?"

"He is very interested. But he has some business to attend to."

"Mmm...." I walked up to Zhi, bowing as the liuen guidebook taught.

'I swear on my soul. My master is a different man." Pretending that she couldn't hear, she changed the question.

"You're curious about my skills?"

"Very." Zhi put down her grinding bowl to look at me.

"You're smart. You listen well and respond well. Obedient, which I like very much. You know how to read, which is a huge addition in this idiotic city. But you can't read liuen." So close so far.

"Are you willing to learn?" I brought my head up, feeling ecstatic.

"Willing and able." Zhi hit her thighs and grinned.

"Good! Cos' I sense your boss has aloooooot money to spend." The shop's main door burst open as dark-dressed men and women flood the room. Smelling of iron, they gently bring a much taller man. Clothes burnt, face beaten blue and purple.

"Old lady!" And liuen accent yelled.

"A Raven needs help!!" Zhi kissed her teeth; however, her eyes widened as she saw the broken man's face.

"Charles! Go get towels and my pins." TARION Darkness surrounded me. Is this true death? Floating in the abyss is not my idea of a great hell, but it will depend on how long I spend here. I felt myself smiling. I could smile? Weird. I touch a ground. Clothes ruffle on my skin? It felt familiar. Polyester, my old friend. Cheap gym clothes, squeaky training shoes. So nostalgic. I could hear? What else do I hear? Breathing. Heavy and low. Beastly. An eye shone in the distance, yet it was close to my face.

As big as a mountain but could fit in my hand. I smell it. A CURSE"MAYBE." Infinity pulled me, stretching my soul. in millions of pieces. And like a pop of a bubble, I am back. A black beast the size of a castle brought his horse-like nose to me, blowing my hair like a storm. Its red eyes peer at me, full of discernment. A snake-like body wrapped around itself in comfort. I asked the question I was most curious about.

"Are you the blue box?" The beast rumbled like laughter.

"NO. BUT HE IS WATCHING. HE IS VERY PROUD OF YOU."

"How could he be? I failed. I fucking failed!" I pulled my head back, holding back disappointment and shame from flowing.

"I fell short again," I try to hold my locket, touching nothing. I regret everything. How I held back. How I pushed her away. She has grown stronger than I could have dreamed. And she will achieve her dreams and save the world. Without me. I wiped a tear and readied myself for the end.

"Go on then. Eat me then." Thunder rumbled as the monster chuckled.

"IT IS NOT OVER." I looked up at the dark monster whose eyes shone red like mine.

"I told you I fai—!"

"NO, I FAILED YOU." Scales brighten. Bit by bit the beast transforms into a white mana essence.

"I HAD OVERSTAYED MY VISIT." Wind carried the white petals of mana to me, swirling at me like the eye of a tornado. Left behind where the beast was lying was a slim pale man dressed in amazing black, red and gold liuen clothes. With his eastern features, he had a noble air to him. Crimson eyes.

"I SHOULD HAVE FOLLOWED HER... ME AND MY STUPID ARROGANCE."

"W-What is this!?"

"I AM GIVING BACK WHAT I STOLE. BREATH IT IN." The man nodded with a cheerful smile. I can't question a fucking dragon, could I? I inhaled. I became a beacon in the infinite black. In death I felt the most alive.

"One last gift. The cure to the curse is..." I woke up on the floor. Needles poke my entire body. Charles sat on my left as Zhi worked from my right. I looked up. A cosy little room, lit by lanterns in the corner. Liuen decorations everywhere.

"Nice to finally meet you Zhi-""Don't fucking speak, and you better not move." Zhi uses a strange white wire of energy to levitate pins into my body.

"Whatever you did saved you. Your heart is stable enough to remove the GU." Zhi stuck another pin. Felt great between the excruciating pains.

"All points done. NOW BE QUIET AND LET ME WORK IN SILENCE." The room was illuminated with white light pulsing from Zhi, the wires and the needles. Like a million volts of electricity shocked me; I jerked out of consciousness.