Silence.
A profound, deafening silence filled the workshop. On the table, the Hundred-Year Sun-Kissed Fern pulsed with a gentle, vibrant light, a beacon of impossible life. On the floor, the small, ragged boy who had created it lay in a broken heap, his face the color of ash.
Young Master Lu was the first to break the spell. A choked, horrified sound escaped his lips as he scrambled to Li Xuan's side. "Master Li!" he cried out, the honorific coming naturally. He pressed two trembling fingers against the boy's neck, searching frantically. A wave of relief washed over his face. "There's a pulse! It's weak, but it's there! He's… he's still breathing!"
The salesgirl, Meili, let out a relieved sob. The apprentice, Chen, simply stared, his face a mask of pure, unadulterated shock.
Captain Gao, the Yan Clan guard, was torn. His gaze darted from the life-giving herb on the table to the unconscious boy on the floor. His duty was to his clan's heirs, but the sheer, suicidal power he had just witnessed had shaken the hardened warrior to his very soul.
"Don't just stand there gawking!" a powerful voice roared, cutting through the panic. Master Feng, his face pale but his eyes blazing with an alchemist's fierce intensity, took command. "What are you watching?! Lu, get my Silver Needle set, now! Captain, guard that fern with your life—do not let anyone touch it! Chen, you useless boy, fetch a vial of the Thousand Year Life-Nourishing solution from the jade cabinet!"
The sharp commands brought everyone back to their senses. Lu sprinted to a cabinet, his hands shaking as he retrieved a case of gleaming silver needles. Captain Gao and his men formed a grim, protective circle around the table with the herb.
Master Feng knelt beside Li Xuan, his old hands surprisingly steady as he began his diagnosis. He placed two fingers on the boy's forehead, closing his eyes and extending his own Qi, not as a healer, but as a scanner. He traced the path the violent energy had taken, felt the shattered remnants of the pill's chaotic power, and the profound, terrifying emptiness left behind. After a long, tense moment, his eyes snapped open, filled not with fear, but with a look of pure, reverent awe.
'How could it be?' Master Feng thought, his mind reeling from what his senses were telling him. He could feel a second, gentler energy at work within the boy's body. It was a vibrant, green Qi, full of life, that was slowly, methodically stitching the boy's torn meridians back together. 'This boy's body… it's healing itself as each moment passes! He must possess a profound healing technique of his own!'
He continued his diagnosis, his initial awe turning into utter disbelief. 'But who would have thought… his body's meridians are this clogged! It's a miracle he can cultivate at all!'
The old alchemist finally understood. He stood up, his face a complex mixture of shock and enlightenment.
"The boy is not in any immediate danger of death," he announced, his voice steady.
Captain Gao looked at him, confused. "But Master, he took the pill… he collapsed…"
"His body was not able to handle the sudden surge of Qi from the pill," Master Feng explained, his eyes still fixed on the unconscious Li Xuan. "Because his meridians are almost completely clogged with impurities. The pill's energy had nowhere to go, so it rampaged through his system, causing a massive shock that knocked him out."
He paused, a look of wonder on his face. "But it seems this was both a crisis and an opportunity for him. The Qi, in its rampage, acted like a battering ram. It forcefully blasted through some of those clogged meridians. While he was growing the herb, he was also using the pill's violent power to begin the first, brutal purification of his own body."
Just as a fragile sense of hope returned to the room, a pained gasp came from the other side of the workshop.
They all turned. The young girl, Yan Qing, was convulsing weakly on the examination table, the dark, poison-veins on her neck growing more prominent.
Captain Gao spun back to Master Feng, the terror returning to his face, a hundred times worse than before.
"Master," he choked out, his voice cracking. "The children… they don't have time to wait for him to wake up."