Ball of Nothing

Hua Tuo had never been more thankful for magic. The travel from the hut to Trigression Falls would have been torture of a different kind if not for the portal that was already set up. Somehow, Hua Tuo convinced Zero that there was no real need to remove the portal from the hut to the waterfalls with some homemade soy pudding. The teenager didn't mind either way but it made Hua Tuo's year when the boy agreed. Travelling by a cloud mount would still take an hour. Travelling by the portal took less than a minute and Hua Tuo could make several trips to and fro and carry over the cartload worth of things they needed.

After the master and student unloaded bedding, pots, campfire, herbs, rope and dried rations, Hua Tuo told Zero to expand the cave.

"Which side should I expand it to?"

Hua Tuo studied the area. It was a rather small place for two people to be living and while the portal was convenient to help them travel to and fro, Hua Tuo didn't want to go back in the middle of the training. It would distract the mind greatly. Seclusion meant that they were cutting contact with the outside world.

"We need some space to put the bedding and a small cooking area. It doesn't really matter where you expand it to, just make it enough for both of us."

Zero thought for a while. Hua Tuo didn't allow him to sleep in the lamp this time as part of the cultivation training. The teenager thought that the sleeping venue didn't matter too much. In fact, they should be travelling back to the hut for rest but Hua Tuo insisted otherwise. Leave it to the physician to practice it the old-fashioned way. Still, Zero respected his teacher too much to argue. If seclusion was the fastest method to succeed in the trial, Zero would have to put up with it. Besides, they were only going to be gone for a month and then his combat training would resume.

It took Zero slightly more than an hour to make their living space comfortable. At this point, the teenager was thinking about the pros and cons of having home makeover magic. He had Zeus' magic lamp so the teen wasn't very worried about setting up camp. However, was this a little too luxurious for a rugged adventurer? From Vrald and Gerlad's stories, they never had such a comfortable place to sleep in when they travelled. Sometimes they'd find shelter in a cold cave that smelled of mould and on good days they sleep in the open field or under some tree with stars as their blankets around some poorly made campfire. The young doctor wondered how his adventurer life would be when he became a travelling doctor. From Hua Tuo's tales, the Sage God usually carried a heavy and bulky medicinal cabinet with his medicine making tools on his journey. On the other hand, Zero looked at his dimensional bag from En. He stored everything in his void dimension without carrying anything extra on him wherever he went.

The apprentice frowned. Wasn't he a little too spoiled?

Hua Tuo was satisfied with the level of detail Zero paid attention to when creating a new wing in the small cave. There was a room for cooking over the campfire with access to clean water redirected from the spring into the cave. The water was also good for bathing and cleaning if necessary but Hua Tuo highly doubted they would need any of that by training under the waterfall over the next few weeks. Zero even considered making a clothing line over the campfire so Hua Tuo could dry his wet clothing and the physician was grateful for having such a thoughtful disciple. This was how masters should be treated when they took on students. For the first time since accepting Zero under his wing, the Sage God felt respected and honoured.

While it was true that Zero successfully developed the twelve standard meridian points to the maximum potential, the teenager still has not discovered how to develop the eight extraordinary meridian points which pugilist masters developed. In order to unlock the Bagua formation, Hua Tuo took many centuries to master the surface of all eight 'enlightened' meridians. While it wasn't possible for ordinary students to master the Ba Gua to Hua Tuo's level of proficiency, the Sage God had faith that Zero would be able to learn all that he has learnt and more.

The physician lamented his inability to be compatible with certain elements in the Ba Gua formations but Zero had an affinity with all elements that made it possible for him to unlock and use all sixty-four combination pairings of the spiritual spectrum. Tai Ji movements were founded based on the eight trigrams but nobody has successfully cultivated it to the level of proficiency that was theoretically possible. Qi Gong, on the other hand, has been mastered as the foundations for every martial arts practitioner who wished to surpass the physical limitations of the human body. Zero has mastered Qi Gong and strengthened his body to what is close to a demigod's level because of his complete set of the meridian network. However, Hua Tuo wondered if his disciple could attain even greater heights after mastering the Ba Gua and eight extraordinary meridians.

Zero changed into his swimming costume this time upon Hua Tuo's insistence that it was not appropriate to train in the nude even if they were technically bathing in herbs.

They changed out of their normal robes and started building the 'bathtub'.

The bathtub reminded Zero of a roc's birdnest, crudely made with branches from the tree and some questionable materials. Thankfully, Hua Tuo didn't insist on using bones to build the sides of the nest. Zero didn't know where he'd find the bones in this spring. Maybe if they filleted the monster carp hiding at the bottom of the spring they could use it. Instead, the physician was slapping on some mud he found by the side of the cliff. The mud was called clay and stuck on the branches rather well. Zero found himself learning how to make a survival water catchment while Hua Tuo worked. Instead of relying on home makeover magic, the brunet was simply using a basic mana shield as an umbrella while his teacher slapped on clay to the side of the branch nest.

"Get me more clay," Hua Tuo ordered and Zero extended his other hand to telekinetically scoop up more of the reddish-brown soil to add to the pile in the middle.

The bath Hua Tuo made wasn't very big but Zero could compare it to the size of two turtles. They paved the path up to the bathtub with some rocks that Zero cut into shape with wind magic. The duo made quick progress and it was around noon when Hua Tuo added the finishing touches to the bathtub.

"Ok, I need you to hold that mana shield while using heat magic. The clay won't hold water until it is solid."

Zero nodded and got to work while Hua Tuo excused himself to start fishing for their lunch. Halfway through the heating process, Zero smelled something very wonderful and rather familiar. His stomach growled loudly and the teenager decided to cheat a little. Drying the clay took too long with heating magic so Zero decided to use fire to burn it dry.

Hua Tuo heard the crackle of something strange over his cooking but ignored it. Surely Zero wouldn't be up to something funny right? Drying the clay was an easy thing to do.

The moment he heard a sharp hiss and saw steam coming out from that unfinished bathtub, Hua Tuo removed the fish he was grilling and flew over to where his student was.

Inside the bathtub, Zero was sputtering. He didn't think that adding compressed fire in an enclosed space like this would trigger a massive steam explosion. Still, he held onto the mana shield, not wanting the water from above to destroy Hua Tuo's hard work.

"Zero!"

The teenager coughed as hot steam entered his mouth, burning his lungs.

"I'm ok!"

Hua Tuo highly doubted it but it was too risky to go in there yet. What exactly did his apprentice do?

Once the steam cleared and vision was back, Hua Tuo jumped in through the small crack and checked over his student for injuries. There were some first and second-degree burns but Zero was already recovering rapidly from them. Only after he was certain that Zero wasn't harmed too badly did he smack Zero on the head.

"Do you really want to try dying so badly? If you weren't wearing swimming trunks the Great Gods blessed you with, you would have been cooked!"

Zero grimaced. He couldn't retort here and Hua Tuo was right. He'd been reckless and impatient.

"Sorry, shifu."

Hua Tuo simmered visibly. Seriously, someone had to keep an eye on the teen at all times. There was never a moment he could relax. Just when he thought Zero had matured a little enough to be left without constant supervision, the brat had to prove him wrong.

He studied the ground that was cracked and charred. Zero must have gotten impatient and decided to use direct fire instead of heat. He clicked his tongue in disapproval. This is another lesson Zero must learn.

"Do you know what you've done wrong?"

Zero nodded and looked down in shame all the while maintaining the mana shield. Hua Tuo sighed.

"Not knowing is not a crime. However, not finding out what you don't know and assuming that it will be alright is a crime. Clay needs to be dried out first then fired to be strengthened into a waterproof state. Firing and drying has to be done evenly otherwise cracks will form and if this is going to be a bathtub, we don't want any cracks showing. It wouldn't be any different from the branch nest if it had cracks."

Zero nodded but Hua Tuo pointed at Zero's nose and continued in an even sterner voice.

"However! If you administered fire to wet clay that still contained a lot of water content in such an enclosed space, not only will the clay be damaged, a steam explosion will happen and you would have died."

Zero gulped with crossed eyes focussed on that pointer finger that moved upwards to flick him on the forehead. The teenager yelped in pain as his head was thrown back by the force of that one finger flick.

Hua Tuo huffed. "That's for endangering yourself. Everything happens for a reason. If you don't know why it is happening, you should find out first before taking action. Always look before you leap! Think before you act because once you've done something, you cannot take it back. Once the damage is done, it lasts forever like a scar left behind from an old wound. Not everything can be saved by healing magic, human emotions are even more fragile than their fleeting lives."

"I'm sorry," Zero whispered, horrified at the implications. Hua Tuo had every right to be angry.

Ever since Zero became a teenager, he'd been making nothing but mistakes. He thought he'd matured enough to handle everything by himself and make accurate judgements like how he found out about the allergies vampires had. However, it seemed as if all those discoveries were nothing more than just a fluke. Zero paled. What if this was actual lives in his hands and he simply took action based on assumption without investigating the actual reason? Would he have killed someone?

Hua Tuo didn't need to say much more when the horror settled in. Zero had to learn that medicine was not a craft to be taken for granted. A misdiagnose could heavily cost someone their lives and future. As a doctor, Hua Tuo made sure to always check all the symptoms for every individual each time they visited to form a diagnosis accurately without getting influenced by what is 'common'.

Out of the two hundred people that showed flu-like symptoms, there would always be the possibility of that one person carrying something that looks like the flu but more dangerous. Hua Tuo always regretted not paying closer attention while he was still working in the palace. Although nobody blamed him for the plague breakout, Hua Tuo always regretted the fact that it could easily be avoided if he'd been more vigilant. He didn't want Zero to follow his footsteps of being complacent with his knowledge and overlooking possible signs of something worse.

"Fix it up. Once you're done, come for lunch. I'll leave your share by the portal, don't cut corners this time."

Zero nodded and scrambled to find more clay, taking care to cut out and dispose of the ruined portions from the earlier explosion. Hua Tuo returned to his cooking this time with his mind at peace. This time, he was sure that Zero wouldn't stray from the path.