Chapter 284 - Ye Mulian (2/2)
Gongsun Tai extracted a mask from his own pocket and put on a pair of gloves knitted of threads of gold before he allowed himself in.
Elders Bamboo and Pine waited outside, while the rest entered the compound with masks. As they grew closer to the cottage, they heard the intermittent spurts of coughs coming from inside. With his Divine Sense, Xiao Chen could see a sickly young girl lying on a bed of silken sheets, covered in a thin blanket.
“Is that you… Father? I’m fine… Please don’t come in, Father…”
Her husky voice rang sickly sweet, although she stopped sporadically to draw short and quick breaths. Her condition was worsening. “WHAT IS HAPPENING, MASTER GONGSUN!?” Ye Lingfeng thundered.
Looking terribly ugly, Gongsun Tai pushed past the doors with everyone else in tow. Lady Jiang’s eyes immediately reddened at the sight of her bedridden daughter and rushed forward but Xiao Chen held her back, “Please, Lady Jiang. Please calm down.”
He walked to the bed and reached for the abed girl’s slender wrist. His two fingers touched her tender skin to check her pulse, but she instinctively drew her hand back, gasping hoarsely, “Please… Sir.. Please don’t touch me…”
“There’s no need to worry, Young Lady,” Xiao Chen replied, “I know a little about healing.” He was not in the least afraid of being infected.
Gongsun Tai remained at a corner, watching gleefully as he thought, “Your days are numbered, Boy. This infernal infection is so contagious that I myself had to check her pulse through a screen. What a fool you are to touch her.”
The frown on Xiao Chen’s face grew deeper. Noticing this, Gongsun Tai jeered sardonically, “What is it, young one? Have you found anything?”
Xiao Chen said nothing. The infection of the dark matter had invaded her internal organs, nerve and meridian points, including that of her brain. There was hardly anything he could do for her, unless he could get any help from Gui Xian.
The palpable silence in the room that seemed to be substantiated by Xiao Chen’s grim reticence did little to mitigate Ye Lingfeng’s dread which was broken only by Lady Jiang’s stifled sobs.
“Master Xiao, is there really no…” His voice broke.
Zhiluan uttered as-a-matter-of-factly, “It’s too late. In Buddhist medicine, the three samadhis—the three main organs: the heart, the liver, and the bladder—are most vital to the human body. With all three of them infected, she’s beyond help now!”
“Wh-what!” Ye Lingfeng and his wife spun to look at the leopard cat spirit, before they almost reeled in vertigo of sadness at the distressing revelation.
Xiao Chen glowered at Zhiluan. “Have some decency!” He got up and approached the Governor of the Burg. “I’m afraid I might need some time. The infection has had plenty of time to grow in the Young Lady.”
Gongsun Tai almost snorted. “Apparently, a mouth that works better than his hands.”
“Can you tell me how did the Young Lady contract this disease?”
Ye Lingfeng began his tale with a long and heavy sigh. As it turned out, Ye Mulian was skilled in healing since a very young age. Out of sympathy for the infected, she had tried to help them. Still, in spite of her caution, her long hours of working with the infected had seen her afflicted herself.
Ye Mulian smiled weakly at her father, exhaling feebly. “Hush… Father, Mother. I’ll be fine…”
But the frown on Xiao Chen’s face loosened not one bit. “She has at most a month left. Would that Gui Xian was here; he would be able to cure her in just three days.”
“Oh dear…”
He would have cared not a fig if it was a man who was on the brink of death. But Ye Mulian was a young and gorgeous lass in the prime of her life. He would feel terribly sorry if she would have to die so pitifully.
“Governor Ye. I’ll need your help procuring these herbs…”
Xiao Chen gave the Governor a list of rare herbs. Ye Mulian’s life was on a knife’s edge now and her best chance now lay with Xiao Chen’s notes from Gui Xian’s Elixir King Scripture. With hope, the prescription from the Scripture would be able to rescue her yet.
Sniveling at his corner, Gongsun Tai listened intently to the names of the herbs that Xiao Chen recited. “What in the world? Does he really intend to cure the girl with these plants?”
Two servant girls returned not more than an hour later with the herbs. Xiao Chen took the packages of medicinal shrubs from them and went to Ye Mulian’s bedside. He tapped on several points of her body, sending jolts of magic into her to help stabilize her condition. “I’m going to brew the medicine,” he instructed Zhiluan gravely, “Stay here and keep watch. Alert me at once if there are any changes to her.”
The rest might possess powerful magic, but they were still ordinary humans nonetheless. Zhiluan was the only one who would be able to first notice anything wrong with Ye Mulian, since it was a leopard cat spirit who had survived for millennia, and he would have to alter the dosage of the medicine if the girl’s condition worsens.
“Go ahead then.” Zhiluan waved its paws dismissively. “But let it be on record that I’m only here to keep watch. I’m not to be blamed if she dies suddenly.”
“Silence!” Xiao Chen hissed and rushed out with his packs of plants.
Gongsun Tai watched Xiao Chen leaving with suspicious glares. He was curious about how Xiao Chen would brew his medicine, but he understood full well the untold rule of anonymity of healers when they worked. A healer must brew his medicine alone and away from prying eyes. As a Tier Four Elixir King, there was no way he could pry upon a junior which he considered inferior, lest his reputation would suffer.