Chapter 114 — Died on the Spot

Shen Mu took her pulse and said, "Elder Sister, when you were practicing four months ago, did you once suffer a qi deviation? That is the root of the trouble left behind from then."

Fu Qingyun nodded repeatedly and said, "There was indeed a qi deviation. I thought it was a minor ailment and did not take it to heart."

Before anyone noticed, night had deepened, and flower lanterns rose throughout the capital, bright as day. The so-called flower streets and willow lanes were precisely the places the capital's famous scholars frequented, and some high officials and nobles were also wont to visit under cover of darkness. Nor were the flower lanes entirely places of selling the body; the deeper one went, the less it was about selling the body and the more about selling art. The flower lanes' peerless beauties, with their qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting, their poetry and song, could stir the hearts of the illustrious.

And tonight, the various notables who came to the flower lanes found only that the brothels were empty, the lanes lined with girls, yet no one plying a trade within the brothels. When they asked after their sweethearts, the answer came: "A sage physician of women's medicine has come to the Pavilion of Listening to Rain. We sisters are queued up awaiting diagnosis and have no time to ply our trade. Would the young gentleman please come again tomorrow."①

"A sage physician of women's medicine has come to the flower lanes?"

Outside the lane, from a great sedan chair, an old man in plain clothes stepped out and said in astonishment, "Go and make inquiries — how good is this sage physician of women's medicine?"

After a moment, a servant came back to report, "My lord, the girls of the flower lanes all say he is good. His medical skill is called divine."

The old man in plain clothes pondered in silence. Beside him, an advisor said in a low voice, "What my lord has in mind is that person in the palace..."

"Too many people, too many ears. Say no more."

The old man in plain clothes sighed and said, "That person in the palace has long been afflicted with illness. The imperial physicians are at their wits' end, unable even to identify the malady. I only hope to find a divine physician to prolong that life, but I fear the days remaining are few. Words alone are no proof — go and summon Imperial Physician Xiao, and have him come assess this divine physician of the flower lanes."

"Yes!"

Before long, Imperial Physician Xiao arrived and bowed, saying, "For what matter has the old lord summoned me?"

"No need for ceremony outside the flower lanes."

The old man in plain clothes explained the situation and said, "A divine physician has come to the flower lanes. I would ask Imperial Physician Xiao to go and see his abilities — whether he has the skill to treat that person in the palace."

Though Imperial Physician Xiao's hair was wholly white, his eyebrows were blue-green, and there were traces of blood in his eyes. He sneered and said, "What divine physician could there be in the flower lanes? Nothing but a charlatan fishing for fame and deceiving women and children. Why should I go to see him?"

The old man in plain clothes frowned. Imperial Physician Xiao's heart skipped, and he hastily said, "Old lord, I need not see him — I need only look at the prescriptions he has written." With that, he snatched a prescription from the hand of a flower-lane woman who had just come out from a consultation, glanced at it, and sneered, "Old lord, please look — every medicine he prescribes is of the cheapest. With such methods, how could he possibly enter the palace to treat that person?"

The old man in plain clothes said unhurriedly, "Medicine is not judged by price; all of it is a thing for treating illness and saving lives. The women of these flower lanes are no noblewomen and have little wealth. To cure illness with cheap medicine — that is true skill. Come in with me and assess him."

Imperial Physician Xiao had no recourse but to assent, and followed him into the flower lanes. The flower lanes ran deep, and within, the courtesans of the brothels were all queued awaiting treatment. The two of them barely squeezed their way to the Pavilion of Listening to Rain. Once inside the pavilion, they saw a handsome youth in brocade robes examining patients by lamplight.

Imperial Physician Xiao sneered, "Look at him — no more than fourteen or fifteen, and already out to swindle money. Old lord, you may now give up hope. Observe: his qi and pulse are steady enough, yet every so often they fall into disorder. That shows he has suffered qi deviation and cannot even cure himself, yet still comes out to peddle his tricks! Old lord, we may go back."

The old man in plain clothes said with a blank face, "I told you to go, so go."

Imperial Physician Xiao had no choice but to step forward, push aside the women, and sit down before Shen Mu with great swagger. He extended his palm and said in a voice like a great bell, "Tell me — what illness do I have?"

Shen Mu was startled. He raised his head and looked at the old man before him. Without taking his pulse, his expression grew grave, and he said, "Old sir, your illness is not light!"

Imperial Physician Xiao sneered and rose to his feet. "A swindler still dares, before this old man—"

"You are an alchemist, are you not?"

Shen Mu said, "Your body carries the scent of ten thousand medicines — it is clear you have steeped yourself in drugs year in and year out, breathing in their medicinal nature. Moreover, you prescribe for yourself, often soaking in medicinal baths and consuming all manner of miraculous elixirs you have refined yourself. But your art of medicine is not refined, and you have failed to regulate the toxins within those drugs. By now, several hundred kinds of poison have accumulated in your body. Your eyebrows are blue-green, your eyes red — the toxins have already reached your skin and hair and penetrated deep into your pupils. At this stage, you cannot be saved. Your illness, I cannot cure. Unless you go to the King of Hell, there is no saving you."

Imperial Physician Xiao flew into a rage and laughed in his fury. "Little alchemist, how much life do you say I have left?"

Shen Mu hesitated a moment, then said, "If you do not give way to wrath, you may yet live a while longer. If you do give way to wrath, then wrath will assail your heart, poison will assail your heart, the medicinal natures will mingle, and you will have ten—"

Imperial Physician Xiao grew even angrier and said coldly, "You say I have ten days of life? And if I do not die in ten days?"

Shen Mu furrowed his brow and said, "Nine. Eight. Seven..."

Imperial Physician Xiao's fury was beyond containment. His breath shook, shattering the medical records before Shen Mu, and he sneered, "You are saying I will die right now? If I do not die, then you shall die!"

"Three. Two. One."

Shen Mu had just spoken the word "one" when Imperial Physician Xiao suddenly felt as though his heart were being cut by a knife, as if his heart had shattered. His cultivation instantly ran out of control, the skin of his whole body burst apart, blood gushed forth in columns, and he became a man of blood. Then his body rotted and collapsed into a puddle of muck.

"I cannot save you."

Shen Mu shook his head and said, "You should never have given way to wrath. Your medical skill is unrefined, and you recklessly dosed and refined medicines for yourself. This could only be the outcome. Sister Yun'er, does this corpse need to be reported to the authorities?"

The flower lanes fell into chaos. The old man in plain clothes was startled as well. He nodded secretly to himself, then turned and walked out of the flower lanes.

The commotion soon passed. Shen Mu no longer diagnosed other patients but returned to his room to rest.