Chapter 8- A Long Night Brings Many Dreams

Tian thought the sect-issue tents were very strange looking. The little lean-tos and nests he built with Grandpa were circles or rectangles. These were more like three sided pyramids, if a pyramid had one corner dragged way, way out. You could sleep lying flat along the long side or sit up in the exact middle of the short side. The pointy end was to be set facing the wind. And that was that. It didn’t make the least bit of sense. Why not build it even lower to the ground if you were worried about the wind? Why make it a triangle instead of a rectangle?

It was bizarre. But when they were staked out, you had a tent that was sealed on every side, sturdy, and worked even better than the protective clothes to filter out the toxic earth and fire qi of the desert. Tian sat in it for a minute. Nothing special happened. He laid out his bedroll and put down a couple of looted cushions just for fun. Then put them away because they were annoying to walk over. Then put them back because now he was by the door and they weren’t in the way anymore, and he had the urge to make the dark space at least feel brighter, even if it wasn’t actually any brighter.

“I need to go check on Brother Long,” Tian sighed. There was only so much his tent could do to distract him.

It turned out the Senior Brother who got a spear through his gut was surnamed Long, a common name for cultivators. This Senior Brother Long preferred fighting with a long spear. Believing himself to be peerless with a spear within the same realm, Senior Brother Long immediately attacked a heretic carrying a shorter spear and a shield during the ambush.

His fight ended when the heretic blocked Long’s spear upwards with their shield, and buried their shorter spear in his gut. Brother Long grabbed the spear shaft behind the head and fell backwards, taking the spear with him. With a last burst of strength, he managed to swing his own long spear around with a single hand, hard enough to break the legs of the retreating heretic.

Someone else finished the job. Tian didn’t really care who. He didn’t really care about the details of the fight either. Brother Long just felt it was really important to tell him, narrating every jab, thrust, sweep, slam, advance and retreat. Tian couldn’t fault him for that. Brother Long was in a lot of pain, and telling the story helped distract him. Tian didn’t know acupuncture, didn’t have any good pain relieving medicines, and had sternly forbidden alcohol as it would only speed the bleeding and worsen the infection. Brother Long was in for a bad night.

It might also be his last one. The first aid had slowed the damage, but hadn’t stopped it entirely.

Brother Long lay in his tent. Tian crouched next to him, doing his best to try and diagnose the problem beyond “spear through the gut.” The senior brother was feverish, animated, sweating. A yang phase disease then, though which phase he didn’t know, and under these circumstances, it didn’t matter.

Yang disease should be treated by cooling and removal or withholding to return the body to health and balance. But that was easier said than done.

Cooling a body in the desert at night? Nothing would be easier. It got cold enough to make a mortal’s teeth chatter. But that was external, and the body would fight to keep the heat in the organs when he wanted it to do the exact opposite. How to cool the internal organs then? He did have yin medicine, but none of it was for treating infection like this. Worse, his half-baked diagnostic abilities had only narrowed the diagnosis to “yang phase infection as a result of ruptured intestines and possibly other organs, I can’t exactly cut him open to have a look around, well I could but I might as well slit his throat first as the result would be the same either way.”

“You look worried, Little Doctor Tian.” Brother Long grimaced, trying to smile through the pain.

“Very. I still haven’t figured out how to brew the Autumn Fire tea I brought.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s a red tea, Senior Brother Long, and it’s not common so no one is really sure about the best way to brew it. I could experiment, but that feels wasteful.”

“Are the tea leaves red or more of a black color?” He was gasping a little as he spoke, but the senior’s eyes were bright and interested.

“I’d say… very dark red verging on black in places. Actually some of the leaves are black. Does Senior Brother have an idea?”

“Usually when the term ‘red tea’ is used, it refers to the color of the tea once the tea has been brewed. The leaves themselves are usually fully fermented which adds a sweet, tart flavor to the infusion. And the fermented leaves are usually black. Merchants transport it pressed into plates and bricks. I guarded a merchant convoy- pressed plates with the seal of the merchant company on them, made from black tea leaves. I killed so many bandits, my spear crossing the sky like heavenly lighting… The first infusion is the best but you can use the leaves up to ten more times. For the red teas I have brewed, anyway.”

“Senior Brother Long! I didn’t know you were an expert at tea!” Tian cupped his hands and bowed. “Thank you for resolving my confusion.”

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“Haha. Ow. Ha. It sounds like your leaves were partially fermented. Use boiling water to steep it.”

“Hmm. I’d offer you some, Senior Brother, but I’m worried it will be too yang. Would you like some green tea? I’m told my green tea leaves are terrible, but I think it tastes okay.”

“Life is… too short… for bad tea. Haha. Here. Brew me a pot of this. You can keep the leaves. It’s my usual green tea. Cloud Grace Valley. The first pick of the season. Three spirit crystals a quarter-pound. Not the most luxurious, but I think the flavor for the price cannot be beat.”

The light was fading from Brother Long’s eyes. Tian had seen it before. The final radiance before the sunset. His diagnosis after the ambush had been too optimistic. Brother Long would never have made it back to the Depot, even if they ran with the stretcher the whole way.