Lingsha

The new Cauldron Master of the Xianzhou Luofu's Alchemy Commission is one perceptive and intelligent Vidyadhara healer.

With a keen sense of smell, she diagnoses ailments and calms minds with aromatic therapy.

Adept at navigating complex social relationships, she can remain impeccably composed even when turmoil rages within.

As the cauldron became enveloped with clouds of dark smoke, the young girl sits anxiously on the pillow, her bright eyes fixed on its rattling lid.

Following an explosion resounds through the room, the young girl runs excitedly into her master's consultation room clasping a crystal-clear pellet, despite her entire person looking scorched like a scroll left too close to a candle.

"Master Yunhua! Look, I did it!"

In the crowded consultation room, Cauldron Master Yunhua is currently treating patients.

Seeing her master focused and concentrated, the young girl obediently hides behind her master and lowers her head to sniff at the scent of the medicinal pellet.

"This pulse... it's a tough one..."

The young girl overhears her master's suspicion and approaches the patient's side to take a sniff.

"Little Dan Zhu, your sense of smell is second to none! Can you tell me anything about this patient's condition?"Yunhua calls the young girl forward and looks at her encouragingly.

"Hmm... There's a faint smell of overripe fruits, likely a sign of spleen deficiency with excessive thirst..."

"Quite right... that would match with the early symptoms. So, what medication would you recommend?"

The young girl raises the pellet in her hands and loudly proclaims: "Half of a revitalization pellet, take with water!"

After a long day of diagnosing and treating patients, the young girl runs after Yunhua and asks perplexedly:

"Master, why do you still insist on personally seeing patients? I see that the other high-level Alchemy Commission healers spend all their time either treating themselves or rubbing shoulders with wealthy merchants..."

Yunhua finishes organizing her medical records, kneels down, and rubs the young girl's head.

"Little Dan Zhu, have you heard something?"

"I heard people saying bad things about you..."The young girl drops her head, looking as if she's crying.

"Little Dan Zhu, what do you think is the duty of a healer?"Yunhua lets out a faint smile and picks Dan Zhu up in her arms.

"To study medicine with devotion, and to treat the sick and save the wounded..."

"If that's the case, don't you think that healers like me should spend every day working hard and being loyal to our duties?"

"...Yes, master!"

Even after seeing her master's warm smile, there is still a sliver of doubt that lingers within her heart.

The years that she spent studying under Yunhua were the most fulfilling and joyous of her life.

She would flitter through vials of strange herbs like a snake with a keen nose and research strange creatures from other planets. The origin of mara, the true essence of the Abominations of Abundance, medicinal pellets that eased the onset of mara... Each new research topic led her further into this fascination and caused her a lifelong obsession. Every day brought new progress and new joy.

However, in the time that she had become immersed in fragrance and fantasy, the Alchemy Commission had silently grown unstable and treacherous.

After dozens of days and nights of internal surveillance, the waves of war finally spread to immerse Cauldron Master Yunhua.

With a single order, she was stripped of her role as Cauldron Master and made a commoner.

Actually, she had smelt this strange scent coming.

The whisperings of the Preceptors, the aroma of unknown medicinal pellets around the Alchemy Commission, the nights her master had spent going to and from the Shackling Prison after receiving a mysterious message... But by the time she noticed how these things were all related, it was too late.

She sought help from her superiors in the Alchemy Commission, but her usually kind-hearted seniors had grown envious of the previous Cauldron Master and she received only cold responses and warnings.

She made an official appeal, over and over, but received the same response every time.

However, she just could not bring herself to believe that the Cauldron Master who had devoted herself wholeheartedly to the wellbeing of her patients would do anything unreasonable.

Just as she could not repress the urge to argue her master's case once more, Yunhua appeared from nowhere and gently patted her on the shoulder.

"Dan Zhu, there is no need for you to plead my innocence anymore... I am exhausted, I don't mind leaving this place."

She chased after her master, but before she could say another word, she caught a whiff of a strange scent...

The scent of a conspiratorial plot.

She quickly came to realize that perhaps leaving would be her best option.

With the help of the Preceptors, they left the Luofu together and headed for the Zhuming. The past flashed before her eyes. As they were immersed in a world of medicine and research, they were blithely unaware that a huge net woven by the hearts of men had already ensnared them.

"If you never learn how to face this world, your ideals will face only inevitable destruction."

She vowed to herself never to let something like this happen again.

Thanks to Yunhua's introduction, she was able to meet with the Zhuming High Elder Ardens Regia, and enter the Piercing Gaze sect to study specialist medical treatments such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, and pyropathy.

She fixed her previous pattern of turning a blind eye to the world around her and came to work alongside people of all walks of life harmoniously.

As time passed, she realized that every type of person, every type of "illness" had their own unique scent.

She had smelled the putrid stench of envy.

While she studied at the Zhuming, she did not allow the mysterious disappearance of medicinal herbs and the subsequent misunderstandings and cold shoulders to crush her. She dispelled all doubts and mocking with incense that no seasoned alchemist could ever hope to match.

She had smelled the fetid stench of conspiracy, hypocrisy.

When working with biotechnology experts from other planets, she traced the thin veil of clues that revealed their schemes and thwarted their secret intentions to collude with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.

She had smelled the foul stench of covetous greed.

When she served as a Zhuming military healer, she came to understand the huge benefits of medicines hidden in the barracks and investigated in secret to expose corrupt members in one fell swoop.

The "afflictions" of humanity had nowhere to hide under her diagnosis, she was always able to formulate the perfect "incense" to dispel their scent.

"If I am unable to stand head and shoulders above my peers like my master, then I shall dedicate myself to learning the hearts of man and fighting them fair and square."

She changed her name to "Lingsha."

Her medicinal namesake's fluctuation of yin and yang, its properties of both water and fire make it a miracle cure to those in mortal danger, just as she herself wished to become.

With her use of burning incense, she masterfully united the ways of Luofu alchemy and the teachings of the Zhuming's Piercing Gaze, to slowly become a healer known by every soul in the Alliance.

When she received instruction to serve as Cauldron Master of the Luofu Alchemy Commission, she became a little preoccupied. However, upon arriving at the Luofu, she was disappointed to realize that not only had the Alchemy Commission not improved since she left, the internal conflict had in fact worsened.

"The first issue is that people's interests are impure and nepotism is rife. Second, there is a lack of professional dedication and constant blame passing and squabbles. Third, an unjust rewards and punishment system has put people ill at ease. Fourth, research is dismissed as worthless and patient visits neglected. Fifth, those with power take all, those dedicated to improvement become discouraged and malpractice has been rampant for considerable time..."

As she greeted others with a smile, she spent any time socializing secretly carving out an image in her heart of the problems she faced with each person.

However, the problems within the Alchemy Commission were not created overnight, nor would they be solved as quickly.

Be it the fake platitudes of the Preceptors, the constant smoke and mirrors of the Alchemy Commission healers or conflicts with other departments, her worries were endless. She would have to use huge quantities of incense in order to keep her mind steady.

"Don't get mad, don't be hasty, if I get sick then who'll replace me..."

She would smile through gritted teeth as she read through reports that made her despair and massaged her temples for comfort.

The waves still sounded outside her window.

As she watched the rising and falling of the ocean, she thought about how Yunhua must have spent her days like this back then.

"Master, continuing to practice and learn in the face of the burdens of human affairs is no simple matter..."

That young girl whose face was blackened by the exploding elixir crucible is now a grown woman, drowning in work and petty squabbles.