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Chapter 18 - The Alchemist's Prescription

The walk back to the laboratory felt like a march through enemy territory. Every shadow seemed to hold a pair of watching eyes, every whisper seemed to carry a threat. When they finally reached the familiar, soot-stained door of Bao's lab, it felt less like a cage and more like a sanctuary.

They found Elder Bao waiting for them, not amidst a new explosion, but hunched over Jian Ming's notebook, which he had apparently requested. The alchemist was uncharacteristically quiet, his manic energy focused into a sharp, analytical intensity. He looked up as they entered.

"I have read the report," he said, tapping a page where Jian Ming had detailed the fight with Bei Jin's lackeys. "Insects. Annoying, but ultimately, crushable." He waved a dismissive hand. "The real enemy is not in the courtyard, Bu He. It's in your chest."

His sharp eyes locked onto Bu He, and for the first time, Bu He felt truly seen—not as a monster or an anomaly, but as a problem to be solved. "Tell me," Bao said, his voice softer now. "The hunger. Describe it."

Hesitantly, Bu He explained. He spoke of the gnawing emptiness that came after every use of his power, the desperate craving for the raw energy of the Blood Crystals. He described the red haze that sometimes clouded his vision in the heat of battle, the chilling feeling of his own hands moving with a brutal efficiency that felt alien to him. "It's getting worse," Bu He admitted, his voice barely a whisper. "Sometimes… I'm afraid of what it wants."

Bao listened intently, nodding slowly. He rose and walked over to the ancient, leather-bound tome on his workbench—the book of heretical bloodlines. He flipped through the brittle pages.

"I was afraid of this," he muttered. "Your Blood Core is a primal engine. A magnificent one. But you are feeding it raw, unrefined fuel. It's like throwing crude ore into a master smith's furnace. Yes, it creates heat, but it also produces slag, smoke, and impurities." He looked at Bu He. "The rage, the loss of control, the insatiable hunger… that is the smoke. It will eventually choke the fire itself if we don't refine the fuel."

He pointed to a complex diagram on the page. It showed a crimson vortex surrounded by three glowing symbols.

"There is a way," Bao said, a familiar, manic glint returning to his eyes. "A dangerous, near-impossible way. A legendary alchemical formula for those with blood like yours. It's called the Heart-Calming Jade Elixir."

He explained that the elixir would not stop the hunger, but refine it. It would allow Bu He's body to process the raw Leyna from the Blood Crystals more efficiently, providing far more power with fewer of the maddening side effects. It would turn the "dirty smoke" back into "clean fire."

"But the ingredients…" Bao's expression turned grim. "They are things of legend. Nearly impossible to acquire." He began to list them, his voice low.

"First, the Thousand-Year Frost Lotus, which grows only in the heart of the Ice Palace Sect's most sacred territory. Its calming essence can cool the fire of the Blood Core."

"Second, the Venom of a Shadow-Serpent Patriarch, found only in the deepest, most treacherous marshes of the Western Wastes, the domain of the secretive Shadow Sects. Its potent energy can purify the blood."

He paused, taking a deep breath before revealing the final, most daunting ingredient. "And third… the Pristine Core of a Golden Vein. A fully formed, perfectly pure Qi-crystal, taken from the heart of a Golden Blood disciple."

Ci Ying gasped. "But… to get that… one would have to… kill a Golden Blood."

"Or defeat one so utterly in a sanctioned duel that they must forfeit their core as the price," Bao finished, his gaze intense. "Which brings us to the coming storm. The great Inter-Sect Tournament."

He unrolled a large map of the continent. "In one month, the tournament begins. Every major sect will send their most promising disciples. It is the greatest gathering of young talent in a generation. It is also your only chance. The tournament's arenas will be held in different domains, and the prizes for victory are often the very treasures of those lands."

He pointed to a frozen peak on the map, then a dark swamp. "The Ice Palace and the Shadow Sects will be there. The Frost Lotus and the Serpent's Venom will be within reach—either as prizes or by… other means. And," his eyes glinted, "it will be the perfect hunting ground for a Golden Vein."

The weight of the task settled upon them. This was no longer just about surviving in the tower. It was a quest. A desperate, impossible quest to save Bu He's soul.

"Bei Jin and his little faction are gnats," Bao said, rolling up the map. "The real wolves are out there. The tournament will be a bloodbath. Every Qi-user will see your Heretic Vein as a threat to be eliminated. You will be hunted." He looked at Bu He. "But your path requires it. Every attack you endure will only make your Dark Ascension faster."

Bu He looked down at the diagram for the elixir, at the three impossible ingredients. To calm the monster within, he first had to become a monster to the entire world.

"We'll do it," Ci Ying said, her voice filled with a fiery resolve. "The odds are not in our favor," Jian Ming added, already sketching the ingredients in his notebook. "But they never have been."

Bu He looked at his friends, then at his master. For the first time since learning the truth of his power, the fear was overshadowed by something else: a clear, terrifying purpose.

"Then let them come," he said.

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