I shall Protect You Act 2

Will of the Heart

A/N: I am soo sorry for this late chapter! School's been a pain! This chapter was inspired from Baizhu's quest! Enjoy! (Please see the notes at the bottom) 

Recent activity in Qingce village has made Lily worried. An odd sensation alarmed her when she was checking up on patients. Something inside Lily was screaming at her something was wrong. She returned to Bubu pharmacy and heard someone yelling for Dr. Baizhu. 

She teleports to the area and accidentally scares a young boy. "Woah!". Lily catches him in time. "There you go. I'm sorry for scaring you". The boy looks at her wide-eyed. "A-Are you Adeptus Sirona?!". She nods to the boy.

He excitedly jumped up and down. "Oh, good! Please help find my dad!". Lily blinks a couple of times. She hasn't heard of anyone being missing. "Is someone looking for the owner of Bubu Pharmacy?". Lily turns her head to the side. "Dr. Baizhu...". 

As she said that the boy ran up to him. "Please save my dad!". The boy introduces himself to be Ayu. His father has recently gotten ill and is very forgetful. Baizhu knows the boy's parents and is concerned for them. Ayu has tried to ask for help but no one has found him.

Lily helps with the search. Aether and Paimon tagged along with her. They search near Luhua Pool and when they get there Lily immediately teleports to stop someone from falling off a cliff. "Ugh..". Baizhu and another show up. 

"Wangshang Funeral Parlor appreciates your services, but if Adeptus Sirona hadn't saved you then you'd be our new customer". Lily begins healing on the man, but Baizhu asks her to stop. "Your services aren't needed for this task, Adeptus Sirona". Lily backs away as Baizhu takes a look.

It was determined to take Jialiang back to the pharmacy. Lily waits until Baizhu is done. "How is he?" she asked. "Jialiang will be just fine". Lily lightly sighs. "Why didn't you let me heal him?". "It ssseams Jialiang hasss God remains in him" said Changsheng. 

'God remains?' she thought. "This type of case is far beyond your capabilities". Lily looks a little downcasted. "...You're right. I don't have much knowledge in that field...". Baizhu smiles and pats her head. "There is no need to feel downcasted, my dear".

There are some things even the mighty Adeptus Sirona cannot do. Lily leaves Baizhu to tend to his patient. She needed to investigate something herself. She returns to Qingce village. The sensation was much stronger. "There's undoubtedly God's remains under Qingce village". 

Lily looks at Hisano. "How can you tell?". 'God's remains are potent and highly toxic to mortals. You may have felt the effects by now'. The odd sensation she was feeling. "Is there a way to reverse it?". Hisano and Guizhong look at each other.

 What does that mean? 'Each user of Changsheng's adeptal art dies at a young age'. Lily's breath hitches. "I-Is there no way to reverse it?". She's known Baizhu for a while now. There must be a way to reverse it. "I'm afraid not" said Hisano. 

Lily balls her fist. "Can I at least help with his illness?". Guizhong nods 'If he's willing to you can'. So, there was a silver lining in there. Lily felt relieved but what to do with the God's remains? Someone must know about it. Someone she knows perhaps. Xiao!

She calls him. "Xiao!". He appears next to her. "Yes, my flower?". Lily tells him what's going on. In turn Xiao tells her about what he said to Baizhu. "They're here?" she asked. "Yes. I just returned from talking with them". "So it's true then. I can't do anything...". 

Xiao sups her cheek. "Do not say that, my love. I know you can come up with something". Lily has always come up with solutions. There must be a solution to help Baizhu. Lily leaves Xiao to help with the others. She needs to help them.

Lily enters into a cavern and looks for the others. She dawns her adeptal form once more and fights the monsters in front of her. She finds the others in no time and suddenly stops. She hears about Jialiang's heart condition. If the God's remains are purged from his body then he'll die. 

A large gasp is heard from behind as the others look to the direction of it. "Adeptus Sirona?". Lily runs over to them. "Dr. Baizhu, there must be a way to help Jialiang!". He shakes his head. "I'm afraid not".

A concerned feeling overcame her. Baizhu grew concerned as well. He didn't want Lily to be here. Baizhu knew what'll happen to Jialiang and didn't want Lily to see it. Seeing a patient die takes a toll on others. He also knows the great lengths Lily goes to, to help patients. 

If Jiangli is also affected then Lily may try to take the remains into her and try to purify it. That process is very painful. Baizhu doesn't want her to go through that. So it was time to get a little harsh. "Adeptus Sirona, I did not call you here".

Lily furrowed her brow a little. "I came of my own volition". Baizhu also furrowed his brow. "Your services are not needed here". Lily tries to object but Guizhong steps in. She too knew what Lily could and will do. "We are perfectly fine here. There's no need for you to get involved". 

Lily got the picture now. "....I understand Dr. Baizhu". Lily teleports away feeling defeated. She made it her mission to treat others. When working with Baizhu he learned the great lengths she went to save others.

He saw his young self in her. Baizhu doesn't want to see his disciple suffer. "Baizhu knew what you're going to do, and so did we". "But!". Hisano stops her. "I've seen my fair share of deaths. There was no way to reverse the God's remains effects. Jialiang will die". Tears fell as Lily dropped to the ground. 

Guizhong goes over to comfort her daughter. 'Even you'd struggle with the God's remains as well. There was no way to save Jialiang, but...'. She stops as Hisano sighs "Turning Jialiang into a zombie is a way to preserve him". 'Eh?' Lily thought. 

 ~Time skip~

Someone was getting ticked and wanted an answer. Baizhu finishes with speaking to the others and goes to speak with Lily. He chuckled as he saw her. "Hmph, I'd like some answers Dr. Baizhu". "And answers you'll get, Adeptus Sirona". 

He takes her to his office to talk. "...So you didn't want me to experience another one's death...". Baizhu nods "Indeed I do. It takes a major toll on one's psyche. Seeing you suffer isn't something I want to see". Lily blinks. 'Ugh! Same goes for you!' she thought.

Lily goes over to him and flows her energy into him. Baizhu blinks as his body begins to feel light. "My teacher told me I can help ease your illness. I too don't want to see you suffer as well, Dr. Baizhu". Lily leaves as Baizhu glances at his disciple leaving. His eyes glow a little. "Well now I must see this teacher of yours". 

Lily returns to Wangshu Inn. Xiao greets her with some dinner. "Ugh, now I understand how frustrating humans are". Xiao chuckles "Today must've been eventful". Lily sighs again. "Yes, very". This teacher piqued Baizhu's interest. If Lily can help ease his illness, then is his wish for immortality in reach? No one knows. 

A/N: Again, very sorry! School has been annoying, and Finals are next week, so I've been stressing out about that! I may have another chapter out by this weekend, but no promises. I'm focusing on school right now. Also, I'm guilty for playing Honkai Star Rail. It's such a cool game! What trailblazer (If you play it) did guys choose? I chose Stelle! She's pretty cute!

See you guys soon! 

-Aria