Chapter 17: Silver Doctor’s Bell (3)
“I—” Jiang Shining hurried his pace under Xue Xian’s urging on the one hand, but on the other, he spoke hesitantly, “I still think that there is something about the plan that isn’t proper.”
“What isn’t proper?” asked Xue Xian, stroking his golden orb.
“Deciding for ourselves to hurry on and leave Master by himself,” replied Jiang Shining.
Xue Xian sent him a moody glance. “I say, are you sleepwalking, Nerdy? He captures ghosts and he caught the two of us. Have you ever seen anyone breaking out from jail call out to the jailer?”
“No, I haven’t.” It sounded right when he first heard it, but Jiang Shining thought it over carefully and could not help but say, “But—”
Xue Xian, “There is no but.”
Jiang Shining, “Still—”
Xue Xian, “There is also no still.”
Jiang Shining tilted his head helplessly and looked at him.
Xue Xian’s entire body was sprawled on top of the golden orb. He said, completely shamelessly, “I am just speaking logically.”
Jiang Shining, “…”
The city in Ningyang County had a night curfew. Fences and checkposts were already erected at several intersections of large roads. The bailiff on night duty carried a wine pouch to keep his body warm during the night and was keeping watch next to the checkpost. The gates in all four directions were secured; if a commoner wanted to leave the city during this time, for the most part, they would have to grow wings and fly away.
But for these two non-humans, this night curfew was not as much of an inconvenience.
Jiang Shining’s paper body had some advantages at this time. If necessary, it could be compressed into a very thin sheet that could easily slip through doors and pass through cracks.
“Turn east.”
“At the next intersection, stick yourself to the foot of the wall and turn into the alley.”
“Go straight and turn westward.”
Xue Xian’s moves were more effective than a dog’s. He could always spot the shadows of the bailiffs on night watch from far away and could issue commands while feeling in the right and self-confident, resolutely and decisively. Jiang Shining was a soft-tempered person and had grown accustomed to being ordered around by Xue Xian; as soon as Xue Xian had spoken, he would act to satisfy him and would not think more about it.
As a result, Jiang Shining believed in his nefariousness and walked for a good while, before he finally could not help but stop, his face full of vexation, and say, “Ancient One, please be merciful and stop talking.”
Xue Xian shot him a glance. “Why? Haven’t we been doing well and avoided being detected by that group of people on night watch?”
Jiang Shining said moodily, “Mn. We haven’t been detected, but I have come across this silk shop at least three times already. If I continue to listen to you and move around like this, we won’t be able to leave the city even by next year.”
Xue Xian said while hugging the golden orb, “Ss…The sky is somewhat gloomy, we should find a place to settle down soon.”
Jiang Shining, “…” This ruffian is dead set on saving his face.
Without the commands of Xue Xian, who had no sense of direction, Jiang Shining’s pace immediately quickened a lot. They rapidly left the area, which they had made three laps around, and headed in the right direction.
“This building looks familiar.” Xue Xian looked left and right and felt that everything on this street seemed familiar.
Jiang Shining made an “mn” sound. “You really don’t recognize any roads, huh. We were here just this morning. How did you forget as soon as you turned your head?”
Only after being reminded by him did Xue Xian realise that if they continued walking forward on this road for a while and then turned east at the intersection, they would be able to see Adviser Liu’s mansion. The night was peaceful; if something moved and made a noise, it would be much more noticeable than it would be during the day. As they crossed the intersection, they shot a glance at that familiar gate of the mansion and could faintly hear fragments of voices from within the mansion that sounded like people quarrelling. Or it could have been something else. In any case, it was not a peaceful conversation.
Jiang Shining’s steps halted briefly.
Xue Xian turned and swept his eyes over the Liu family’s mansion and said, “What is it? You want to see him reap what he sowed?”
“That is Adviser Liu’s own business and already has nothing to do with me.” Jiang Shining shook his head and no longer hesitated, walking towards the city’s gate.
It could be the inherent nature of someone raised in a family of doctors, yet after all was said and done, he could not bear to personally watch someone suffering. This perhaps was the most obvious difference between him and Adviser Liu.
There were many wooded mountains outside of Ningyang County but most of them were flat and beautiful, only a few were dangerous and steep.
Due to the National Advisor being a monk, many mountain temples arose in the mountains and fields of every province a few years ago, and, for a time, the burning of incense in front of temples was at its peak. However, for some reason, winter had started coming earlier in recent years. Even the south was hit by constant snow. Timely snow was an omen for a prosperous year, but for the past few years, rain had been unexpectedly scarce, the harvests had been poor, and the commoners had to live more and more frugally. It was hard to even live, let alone visit a temple to make donations.
As a result, there was an increasing number of abandoned temples in the mountains and fields, so many that they actually became temporary rest stops for many rushing travellers.
When Jiang Shining brought Xue Xian into an abandoned temple on Jiguan Mountain to rest, it had already started snowing.
As soon as Xue Xian entered the temple, he picked a good spot—this shameless vile spawn directly dredged up the dry sogon grass on the ground, spread it out at the base of the Buddha statue, and sat down while leaning on the statue, completely disregarding the taboo nature of his behaviour. As they were not hastening onwards, he naturally did not need to painstakingly maintain his paperman appearance and would rather turn back into his original form.
Dressed in black, he sat with a negligent appearance, as if he were boneless. His elbow was propped on the lotus platform on which the Buddha sat and his bent knuckles were supporting his chin loosely as his other hand continued to fiddle with his precious golden orb.
Jiang Shining massaged the space between his eyebrows, his head hurting from looking at this Ancient One. “Even if it is an abandoned temple, you should still show at least a little decorum. Can a Buddha statue be sat on so casually like that?”
Xue Xian patted the Buddha’s leg. “Give me half. If you’re dissatisfied, just let out a groan.”
He even waited in deadly earnest for a moment before poking at Jiang Shining’s chin. “See? The statue didn’t groan.”
Jiang Shining, “…You can joke around however you like. I won’t concern myself anymore.”
He blew at the candlesticks covered in dust in front of the Buddha statue and asked Xue Xian for a match, trying hard to light the somewhat damp and old candle wicks on the one hand while protecting himself from catching on fire on the other hand.
“Where did you get a match?” Jiang Shining asked casually after he had finished lighting the candles and extinguishing the flame on the head of the match.
“Took it from Baldy’s cloth bag before we left,” said Xue Xian without any flushing of his face or fluttering of his heart.
Jiang Shining said helplessly, “This is the first time I have ever seen someone who has broken out from jail even dare to take something from the jailer while escaping.”
Xue Xian, “He isn’t going to miss this anyway.”
Once Xuan Min was mentioned, Jiang Shining always felt somewhat apologetic. He could not help but ask Xue Xian, “Do you especially dislike that master? Is it because he caught us?”
Xue Xian shook his head.
“Then why did you throw him off so urgently and leave him behind? Forgive me for speaking the truth…” Jiang Shining pointed at himself, then at Xue Xian. “The two of us cannot shoulder much. If we come across any trouble en route, we would have to just suffer through it. From head to toe, I only have one doctor’s bell, which has little value. That golden orb of yours, though, is another matter. If by any chance someone fixes their attention on it…”
Xue Xian pinched the orb in his fingers and twirled it in front of the candle flames.
There was a reason he ran away that very night and the reason lay in this golden orb of the real dragon’s body. At the moment, his body had still not recovered and its connection to the golden orb was truly empty and indistinct. Even though he was holding the orb like this in his hand, he practically had no awareness of it, almost as if he were holding an extremely ordinary orb.
But Xuan Min was different. The unusual change he felt under the skin and bone at Xuan Min’s waist was extremely odd. The first time it happened, it could have been a misperception, but it could not be ignored after it happened a second time.
Despite Xue Xian still not having seen how he would handle something seriously, he was already almost certain that Xuan Min was not that simple.
Currently, Xue Xian could not feel anything from the golden orb while Xuan Min seemed to be able to. While he carried the golden orb, the longer he stayed at Xuan Min’s side, the more easily it would be influenced by Xuan Min. If it became abnormal, he could just forget about recovering his dragon’s body.
Furthermore…
Xue Xian told Jiang Shining, “His origin is unclear and his goal is even more so. He does not seem like a cultivator who is trying to earn money or make a living, but he also does not seem like an honorable monk who travels everywhere to help others out of a merciful heart. There have even been a few short instances where I could sense a sort of coldness and ruthlessness in him.”
Jiang Shining asked, baffled, “What coldness and ruthlessness? Say something I can understand.”
Xue Xian made a “tut” noise, shot him a disdainful glance, and said, “I said it very clearly. He’s not like ordinary monks. Previously, I could not figure out how he was different, but now I’ve realized that it’s probably the lack of the gentleness of someone who abides by teachings scrupulously. Don’t you feel that at certain times he would even violate the Buddhist monastic principle not to kill?”
“…” Jiang Shining held back his words for a moment, shook his head, and said, “That, I’ve never felt. But speaking of it, I feel ashamed that I am actually somewhat afraid of him.”
Xue Xian moodily said, “That’s exactly it. Same thing.”
Speaking of unclear origins, Jiang Shining suddenly thought of something. “That reminds me, previously, when we were in that house, did you notice the smell of medicine?”
“Yep, I noticed it. I even felt somewhat puzzled; does Baldy even take medicine?” Xue Xian replied.
“I grew up with the smell of medicines and am rather sensitive to them,” Jiang Shining concluded after some pondering. “The smell of medicine in that house was somewhat familiar. It smells very similar to the medicine taken by a neighbour who sought treatment at my family’s medicine hall for many years.”
Xue Xian asked, “What kind of disease does it treat?”
Jiang Shining hesitated for a short time, then said, “Lost soul disease.”
Someone who had lost their soul often could sleep through the night and had many nightmares that caused them to tremble in fear. Sometimes, when they woke up, they would have already forgotten what had happened. Their memories were defective, as if their mind had left their body, hence the name “lost soul disease”.
“Lost soul disease? That Baldy?” Xue Xian scoffed and waved his hand saying, “Where is there even the slightest sign that he wakes from nightmares shaking in fear or that his mind is unclear? How could that be possible?”
********
“It definitely doesn’t seem like his memory has any defect, but—” Jiang Shining recalled, “According to what I’ve seen, there are several people who suffer from lost soul disease that have relatively obvious manifestations of the disease. Because of memory deficiency or confusion, they are rather hesitant whenever they discuss something and they look worried and tired all the time. However, there are some that aren’t like this, probably from a natural defense against overanxiety. They are especially shy with strangers and are always somewhat restrained in their words. They would exhaust all methods to avoid the parts that are omitted and only speak of what they remember. If you don’t interact with them in a meaningful way, it would truly be difficult to see that they have a problem.”
Xue Xian heard what was said and shrugged his shoulders. “Even if he were to be of the latter kind and were able to guard against overanxiety, he wouldn’t randomly wander about in a packed street, right? Since he wouldn’t want people to become aware of his problem, he would have acted cautiously and refrained from interacting too much with other people in case he slipped up. Who would wander all over the place by themselves after losing their memory and would provoke both people and ghosts? That wouldn’t be called losing their memory. It would instead be called losing their mind.”
Jiang Shining nodded. “True.”
“But even if he isn’t suffering from the lost soul disease, that Baldy still has other problems.” Xue Xian recalled the appearance Xuan Min had when he suddenly sat on the table while he was in the middle of speaking and said grimly, “This type of person whose origins are unclear and whose depths can’t be made out would never wander all over the place without a purpose. He must have come to Ningyang County for a reason. But in the span of one day, he only did two things that were not related to him at all: catching the two of us and tearing down the fengshui array of the Liu family.”
Hearing this, Jiang Shining could not help but add, “He also performed the Soul Directing Ceremony for Granny Liu, helped me get the doctor’s bell, helped you obtain the golden orb and—”
Before he finished speaking, he came to a stop. Thinking about it in this way, Xuan Min’s actions made his purpose even less clear. If these were all easy tasks, his actions would not be anything special. But in reality, he wasted an entire morning at the Liu family mansion and these tasks were both time-consuming and required a great deal of effort. What was he ultimately planning?
“Before, it seemed like he even intended to deliver the Buddha to the West and bring this doctor’s bell to where your sister is.” Xue Xian turned the golden orb around in his hand and continued, “Coincidentally, I have been to Anqing before. Although the distance from Ningyang isn’t even 1000 li, there is a river in between. If he really did not have a purpose and was helping others while he passed by, this would be overly enthusiastic. That Baldy’s entire face is as cold as a world of ice and snow and as desolate as the north wind. Does he have anything to do with the word ‘enthusiastic’?”
Having said this, Xue Xian could not help but visualise what that Baldy would look like if he became enthusiastic.
After a moment, this vile spawn trembled from top to bottom. With an expressionless face, he said, “Save me. That scares me to death.”
Jiang Shining, “…”
Although this Ancient One looks unreliable, everything he said was reasonable. But when he talked about Xuan Min’s unknown purposes in conveniently helping others, Jiang Shining tilted his head and looked at him. “The first day you came to Ningyang County, didn’t you also have no proper business to deal with and didn’t you make me a paper body without any payment…?”
Xue Xian blurted out, “That’s not the same.”
“To be honest, I never actually understood why you came to my family’s abandoned mansion when there were so many other mansions in Ningyang County.” Jiang Shining shook his head and said, “It’s cold and dim. This taste of yours is truly original, you really love finding suffering for yourself.”
“I am happy with it. Would you be able to stop me?” Xue Xian retorted back.
When this impolite Ancient One talked back, he did not even spare one look at the person, preoccupied solely with appreciating that precious orb.
The yellow candle flames gave Xue Xian’s pale skin a tint of warmth and spirit. Although he opened his mouth in a yawn, he had a rather good-looking appearance. The flames cast bent shadows from his long and thick black eyelashes. In his lazily half-closed eyes, his pupils reflected the bright golden orb and the heavy snow falling outside.
There were so many mansions that could provide shelter in Ningyang County, why did he go to the Jiangs’ medicine hall and why did he also waste an entire day’s effort to give this nerd a paper body…?
Xue Xian could not clearly remember the finer details of his reasoning. His life span was much, much longer than an ordinary person’s. If he remembered all the minor details of every situation of every day clearly, this dragon brain of his would probably explode.
He only remembered that he went north in the winter of a random year because of some business and happened to pass through Ningyang County on his way back.
That should have been in the evening and Ningyang County was experiencing a rare snowstorm, one that was similar to tonight’s, and hence there were very few pedestrians on the road. Even the inns and restaurants had closed early. The whole street was empty and silent.
At that time, Xue Xian still had not had his muscles and bones drawn out of him yet and it was easy for him to walk. His true dragon’s body naturally did not fear the cold; to him, wind and snow were just some decorations for cold winter days. Hence, he wore thin black robes and walked through the snow at a steady pace. As he walked into the mouth of an alley, his arm was grabbed by someone.
Xue Xian was an independent person and never liked any close contact with others so of course he was not used to being pulled at by someone.
His brows wrinkled as he turned his head impatiently to see that the person grabbing him was a middle-aged man wearing a grey coat. He was holding up a greased-paper umbrella and carrying a rectangular wooden box hanging from a cloth band on his shoulder. Looking at the footprints, he had come from within the alley.
Xue Xian already could not remember clearly what that middle-aged man looked like and could only remember that he had a beard and a good-natured appearance.
As soon as he grabbed Xue Xian, he pointed at the back of his hand and said, “This is such a deep wound. If you don’t apply medicine and don’t bind it, your skin and flesh will freeze and be damaged. In this wet and chilly weather, if you freeze for two days, you’ll have to suffer whenever it rains or snows from now on.”
That middle-aged person was somewhat long-winded, talking as if he were speaking to someone of a younger generation in his own family and not to an outsider. After Xue Xian stared blankly for a short while after hearing this, the man subconsciously looked down at his own hand.
The hand grabbed by the middle-aged man had indeed suffered an injury that was left by a lightning strike when he had been careless earlier. To him, this type of wound was just like losing a thin bit of skin when brushing against a tree branch, something that would be forgotten within the blink of an eye and heal in less than two days. But in the eyes of a common person, it looked scary indeed—after all, it cut through half of his hand horizontally, blood was clotting at the edges of the wound, the skin and flesh were turned outwards, and it was deep enough for the bone to be seen.
That middle-aged man immediately dragged Xue Xian, who was too slow to react, and hurried down a small stretch of the alley he came from and stopped in front of a gate painted with red lacquer.
That was most likely his home. He lifted his hand to push the gate half-open and shouted something that sounded like someone’s name into the house, then said, “Bring out that small stove on my table.”
Afterwards, he opened the lid of the wooden box and meticulously applied medicine to Xue Xian’s wound without delay.
Someone quickly came out of the house and handed over a small and exquisite copper stove.
Xue Xian glanced over; the person carrying the small stove was a middle-aged woman and she also had a good-natured air, similar to that of the middle-aged man. Behind her, a boy who looked around seven or eight years old stuck his head out to look around. When he saw Xue Xian, he gave him a smile and made a show of being very earnest, pointing at Xue Xian’s hand and saying, “It can’t touch water for two days, especially cold water.”
“Go and read your books.” The woman turned her head and urged him laughingly. She then turned her head towards Xue Xian and added, “Indeed, any contact with water should be avoided. In this weather, you have to be especially careful, otherwise the pain will become rooted and will cause you major pain attacks every year from now on.”
This was no different from what the middle-aged man had said.
“Are you hurrying on on your journey? Would you like to come into the house to warm up for a bit?” The middle-aged man asked good-naturedly as he bound his hand well with sackcloth, carefully tying a knot while avoiding any place that would hurt.
“No, thanks. I still have business to attend to,” replied Xue Xian. After a pause, with slight awkwardness, he added, “Many thanks for your kindness.”
“Then take this small stove with you. This type of wound must be covered up for a while.” The middle-aged man allowed for no discussion and pressed the small stove that was about half the size of the palm of one’s hand into Xue Xian’s hand.
Although Xue Xian did not fear the cold, he could still distinguish between differences in temperature. When the warm little stove was pressed into his hand, he raised his head and swept a glance at the area above the lintel of that mansion where three words had been written—Jiangs’ medicine hall.
Afterwards, there was one year when he happened to pass through Ningyang. He took advantage of being undetected by people to overtly enter the Jiang family’s courtyard and place that small copper stove along with a small bag of golden orbs on a stone table. He then departed in a leisurely and carefree manner.
This time, he arrived in Ningyang County once again and thought of the Jiangs’ medicine hall. He planned to take a look as he passed by, but who knew that he would see such a ruined scene. The red lacquered wooden gate and the medicinal garden in the courtyard from the olden days had changed beyond recognition. All that was left was the lonely ghost of Jiang Shining.
He helped out a bit in passing.
After all, this world was not entirely populated by cruel and cold-hearted people like Adviser Liu. While there were people who forgot favours and violated justice, there also were people who understood benevolence and virtue.
Xue Xian swept his eyes over the snowstorm outside the temple and leaned his back against the Buddha statue.
Jiang Shining suddenly asked, “Before we left, you had me wait at the side of the gate. What did you tinker with at that master’s desk?”
Xue Xian responded lazily, “I left him a little something in passing that can be considered an expression of my gratitude for helping me get the golden orb back.”
What he left for Xuan Min wasn’t just anything: it was a dragon scale from his original body. In any case, it was still a portion of a true dragon’s body. Although it was not as good as the flesh and bones of the living dead, compared to mountain ginseng or lingzhi mushrooms, it was still much more valuable. If the Baldy’s body bore an illness, even without knowing the cause, simply applying a dragon scale as medicine would at the very least have some beneficial effect.
When ordinary people saw a dragon scale, they would of course not recognise what it was. It would appear to just be a round, thin disc about the size of a coin that was suffused with a greenish-black luster. It would emit a faint and unique scent, like the damp smell that arises when rainwater strikes a mountain stone. There was even a bit of a…fresh smell that could not be described, like a freshly peeled shrimp that was pure and limpid.
Xue Xian silently opened his eyes and expressionlessly mumbled, “I’m a bit hungry.”
In the central room on the second floor of the Guiyun Inn, Xuan Min continued to sit at the table with his eyes closed, maintaining the same position that he had held before Xue Xian left, not having moved for quite a while.
In front of his table, a piece of yellow paper was spread out. On the paper was the dragon scale that Xue Xian had left behind. That special scent slowly dispersed, floating in the air, and finally wafting to his nose.
Xuan Min wrinkled his brows and suddenly opened his eyes. The spider-like mole on the side of his neck quietly returned to its original form.
He gazed down at the tabletop and saw the yellow paper in front of the table on which someone had left large words that looked like the marks of a dog crawling: “Legendary medicine. It can heal every illness. Feel free to believe it or not.”
Xuan Min picked up that black disc next to the dog-crawled words and took one look at it. Suddenly, he knew what he should do and pulled out a thin, folded piece of paper from between his lapels.
He unfolded and flattened the paper, looking at the first three words written on it: Find the person.
Coincidentally, next to these three words, there was a drawing of a black disc that looked identical to this one on the table.
Find the person…
Xuan Min frowned and carefully compared the two for a while. He then folded the paper properly once again, picked up the thin disc that was left by someone, and sat quietly under the light of the candle flame.
Outside the window, the cold wind whipped around the snowstorm, quietly rustling and hitting the gate of the building.
Regardless of whether it was a small trail on a mountain or a narrow street in a city, they were all streaks of darkness, travelling far and wide.
Chapter 17: Silver Doctor’s Bell (3)
“I—” Jiang Shining hurried his pace under Xue Xian’s urging on the one hand, but on the other, he spoke hesitantly, “I still think that there is something about the plan that isn’t proper.”
“What isn’t proper?” asked Xue Xian, stroking his golden orb.
“Deciding for ourselves to hurry on and leave Master by himself,” replied Jiang Shining.
Xue Xian sent him a moody glance. “I say, are you sleepwalking, Nerdy? He captures ghosts and he caught the two of us. Have you ever seen anyone breaking out from jail call out to the jailer?”
“No, I haven’t.” It sounded right when he first heard it, but Jiang Shining thought it over carefully and could not help but say, “But—”
Xue Xian, “There is no but.”
Jiang Shining, “Still—”
Xue Xian, “There is also no still.”
Jiang Shining tilted his head helplessly and looked at him.
Xue Xian’s entire body was sprawled on top of the golden orb. He said, completely shamelessly, “I am just speaking logically.”
Jiang Shining, “…”
The city in Ningyang County had a night curfew. Fences and checkposts were already erected at several intersections of large roads. The bailiff on night duty carried a wine pouch to keep his body warm during the night and was keeping watch next to the checkpost. The gates in all four directions were secured; if a commoner wanted to leave the city during this time, for the most part, they would have to grow wings and fly away.
But for these two non-humans, this night curfew was not as much of an inconvenience.
Jiang Shining’s paper body had some advantages at this time. If necessary, it could be compressed into a very thin sheet that could easily slip through doors and pass through cracks.
“Turn east.”
“At the next intersection, stick yourself to the foot of the wall and turn into the alley.”
“Go straight and turn westward.”
Xue Xian’s moves were more effective than a dog’s. He could always spot the shadows of the bailiffs on night watch from far away and could issue commands while feeling in the right and self-confident, resolutely and decisively. Jiang Shining was a soft-tempered person and had grown accustomed to being ordered around by Xue Xian; as soon as Xue Xian had spoken, he would act to satisfy him and would not think more about it.
As a result, Jiang Shining believed in his nefariousness and walked for a good while, before he finally could not help but stop, his face full of vexation, and say, “Ancient One, please be merciful and stop talking.”
Xue Xian shot him a glance. “Why? Haven’t we been doing well and avoided being detected by that group of people on night watch?”
Jiang Shining said moodily, “Mn. We haven’t been detected, but I have come across this silk shop at least three times already. If I continue to listen to you and move around like this, we won’t be able to leave the city even by next year.”
Xue Xian said while hugging the golden orb, “Ss…The sky is somewhat gloomy, we should find a place to settle down soon.”
Jiang Shining, “…” This ruffian is dead set on saving his face.
Without the commands of Xue Xian, who had no sense of direction, Jiang Shining’s pace immediately quickened a lot. They rapidly left the area, which they had made three laps around, and headed in the right direction.
“This building looks familiar.” Xue Xian looked left and right and felt that everything on this street seemed familiar.
Jiang Shining made an “mn” sound. “You really don’t recognize any roads, huh. We were here just this morning. How did you forget as soon as you turned your head?”
Only after being reminded by him did Xue Xian realise that if they continued walking forward on this road for a while and then turned east at the intersection, they would be able to see Adviser Liu’s mansion. The night was peaceful; if something moved and made a noise, it would be much more noticeable than it would be during the day. As they crossed the intersection, they shot a glance at that familiar gate of the mansion and could faintly hear fragments of voices from within the mansion that sounded like people quarrelling. Or it could have been something else. In any case, it was not a peaceful conversation.
Jiang Shining’s steps halted briefly.
Xue Xian turned and swept his eyes over the Liu family’s mansion and said, “What is it? You want to see him reap what he sowed?”
“That is Adviser Liu’s own business and already has nothing to do with me.” Jiang Shining shook his head and no longer hesitated, walking towards the city’s gate.
It could be the inherent nature of someone raised in a family of doctors, yet after all was said and done, he could not bear to personally watch someone suffering. This perhaps was the most obvious difference between him and Adviser Liu.
There were many wooded mountains outside of Ningyang County but most of them were flat and beautiful, only a few were dangerous and steep.
Due to the National Advisor being a monk, many mountain temples arose in the mountains and fields of every province a few years ago, and, for a time, the burning of incense in front of temples was at its peak. However, for some reason, winter had started coming earlier in recent years. Even the south was hit by constant snow. Timely snow was an omen for a prosperous year, but for the past few years, rain had been unexpectedly scarce, the harvests had been poor, and the commoners had to live more and more frugally. It was hard to even live, let alone visit a temple to make donations.
As a result, there was an increasing number of abandoned temples in the mountains and fields, so many that they actually became temporary rest stops for many rushing travellers.
When Jiang Shining brought Xue Xian into an abandoned temple on Jiguan Mountain to rest, it had already started snowing.
As soon as Xue Xian entered the temple, he picked a good spot—this shameless vile spawn directly dredged up the dry sogon grass on the ground, spread it out at the base of the Buddha statue, and sat down while leaning on the statue, completely disregarding the taboo nature of his behaviour. As they were not hastening onwards, he naturally did not need to painstakingly maintain his paperman appearance and would rather turn back into his original form.
Dressed in black, he sat with a negligent appearance, as if he were boneless. His elbow was propped on the lotus platform on which the Buddha sat and his bent knuckles were supporting his chin loosely as his other hand continued to fiddle with his precious golden orb.
Jiang Shining massaged the space between his eyebrows, his head hurting from looking at this Ancient One. “Even if it is an abandoned temple, you should still show at least a little decorum. Can a Buddha statue be sat on so casually like that?”
Xue Xian patted the Buddha’s leg. “Give me half. If you’re dissatisfied, just let out a groan.”
He even waited in deadly earnest for a moment before poking at Jiang Shining’s chin. “See? The statue didn’t groan.”
Jiang Shining, “…You can joke around however you like. I won’t concern myself anymore.”
He blew at the candlesticks covered in dust in front of the Buddha statue and asked Xue Xian for a match, trying hard to light the somewhat damp and old candle wicks on the one hand while protecting himself from catching on fire on the other hand.
“Where did you get a match?” Jiang Shining asked casually after he had finished lighting the candles and extinguishing the flame on the head of the match.
“Took it from Baldy’s cloth bag before we left,” said Xue Xian without any flushing of his face or fluttering of his heart.
Jiang Shining said helplessly, “This is the first time I have ever seen someone who has broken out from jail even dare to take something from the jailer while escaping.”
Xue Xian, “He isn’t going to miss this anyway.”
Once Xuan Min was mentioned, Jiang Shining always felt somewhat apologetic. He could not help but ask Xue Xian, “Do you especially dislike that master? Is it because he caught us?”
Xue Xian shook his head.
“Then why did you throw him off so urgently and leave him behind? Forgive me for speaking the truth…” Jiang Shining pointed at himself, then at Xue Xian. “The two of us cannot shoulder much. If we come across any trouble en route, we would have to just suffer through it. From head to toe, I only have one doctor’s bell, which has little value. That golden orb of yours, though, is another matter. If by any chance someone fixes their attention on it…”
Xue Xian pinched the orb in his fingers and twirled it in front of the candle flames.
There was a reason he ran away that very night and the reason lay in this golden orb of the real dragon’s body. At the moment, his body had still not recovered and its connection to the golden orb was truly empty and indistinct. Even though he was holding the orb like this in his hand, he practically had no awareness of it, almost as if he were holding an extremely ordinary orb.
But Xuan Min was different. The unusual change he felt under the skin and bone at Xuan Min’s waist was extremely odd. The first time it happened, it could have been a misperception, but it could not be ignored after it happened a second time.
Despite Xue Xian still not having seen how he would handle something seriously, he was already almost certain that Xuan Min was not that simple.
Currently, Xue Xian could not feel anything from the golden orb while Xuan Min seemed to be able to. While he carried the golden orb, the longer he stayed at Xuan Min’s side, the more easily it would be influenced by Xuan Min. If it became abnormal, he could just forget about recovering his dragon’s body.
Furthermore…
Xue Xian told Jiang Shining, “His origin is unclear and his goal is even more so. He does not seem like a cultivator who is trying to earn money or make a living, but he also does not seem like an honorable monk who travels everywhere to help others out of a merciful heart. There have even been a few short instances where I could sense a sort of coldness and ruthlessness in him.”
Jiang Shining asked, baffled, “What coldness and ruthlessness? Say something I can understand.”
Xue Xian made a “tut” noise, shot him a disdainful glance, and said, “I said it very clearly. He’s not like ordinary monks. Previously, I could not figure out how he was different, but now I’ve realized that it’s probably the lack of the gentleness of someone who abides by teachings scrupulously. Don’t you feel that at certain times he would even violate the Buddhist monastic principle not to kill?”
“…” Jiang Shining held back his words for a moment, shook his head, and said, “That, I’ve never felt. But speaking of it, I feel ashamed that I am actually somewhat afraid of him.”
Xue Xian moodily said, “That’s exactly it. Same thing.”
Speaking of unclear origins, Jiang Shining suddenly thought of something. “That reminds me, previously, when we were in that house, did you notice the smell of medicine?”
“Yep, I noticed it. I even felt somewhat puzzled; does Baldy even take medicine?” Xue Xian replied.
“I grew up with the smell of medicines and am rather sensitive to them,” Jiang Shining concluded after some pondering. “The smell of medicine in that house was somewhat familiar. It smells very similar to the medicine taken by a neighbour who sought treatment at my family’s medicine hall for many years.”
Xue Xian asked, “What kind of disease does it treat?”
Jiang Shining hesitated for a short time, then said, “Lost soul disease.”
Someone who had lost their soul often could sleep through the night and had many nightmares that caused them to tremble in fear. Sometimes, when they woke up, they would have already forgotten what had happened. Their memories were defective, as if their mind had left their body, hence the name “lost soul disease”.
“Lost soul disease? That Baldy?” Xue Xian scoffed and waved his hand saying, “Where is there even the slightest sign that he wakes from nightmares shaking in fear or that his mind is unclear? How could that be possible?”
********
“It definitely doesn’t seem like his memory has any defect, but—” Jiang Shining recalled, “According to what I’ve seen, there are several people who suffer from lost soul disease that have relatively obvious manifestations of the disease. Because of memory deficiency or confusion, they are rather hesitant whenever they discuss something and they look worried and tired all the time. However, there are some that aren’t like this, probably from a natural defense against overanxiety. They are especially shy with strangers and are always somewhat restrained in their words. They would exhaust all methods to avoid the parts that are omitted and only speak of what they remember. If you don’t interact with them in a meaningful way, it would truly be difficult to see that they have a problem.”
Xue Xian heard what was said and shrugged his shoulders. “Even if he were to be of the latter kind and were able to guard against overanxiety, he wouldn’t randomly wander about in a packed street, right? Since he wouldn’t want people to become aware of his problem, he would have acted cautiously and refrained from interacting too much with other people in case he slipped up. Who would wander all over the place by themselves after losing their memory and would provoke both people and ghosts? That wouldn’t be called losing their memory. It would instead be called losing their mind.”
Jiang Shining nodded. “True.”
“But even if he isn’t suffering from the lost soul disease, that Baldy still has other problems.” Xue Xian recalled the appearance Xuan Min had when he suddenly sat on the table while he was in the middle of speaking and said grimly, “This type of person whose origins are unclear and whose depths can’t be made out would never wander all over the place without a purpose. He must have come to Ningyang County for a reason. But in the span of one day, he only did two things that were not related to him at all: catching the two of us and tearing down the fengshui array of the Liu family.”
Hearing this, Jiang Shining could not help but add, “He also performed the Soul Directing Ceremony for Granny Liu, helped me get the doctor’s bell, helped you obtain the golden orb and—”
Before he finished speaking, he came to a stop. Thinking about it in this way, Xuan Min’s actions made his purpose even less clear. If these were all easy tasks, his actions would not be anything special. But in reality, he wasted an entire morning at the Liu family mansion and these tasks were both time-consuming and required a great deal of effort. What was he ultimately planning?
“Before, it seemed like he even intended to deliver the Buddha to the West and bring this doctor’s bell to where your sister is.” Xue Xian turned the golden orb around in his hand and continued, “Coincidentally, I have been to Anqing before. Although the distance from Ningyang isn’t even 1000 li, there is a river in between. If he really did not have a purpose and was helping others while he passed by, this would be overly enthusiastic. That Baldy’s entire face is as cold as a world of ice and snow and as desolate as the north wind. Does he have anything to do with the word ‘enthusiastic’?”
Having said this, Xue Xian could not help but visualise what that Baldy would look like if he became enthusiastic.
After a moment, this vile spawn trembled from top to bottom. With an expressionless face, he said, “Save me. That scares me to death.”
Jiang Shining, “…”
Although this Ancient One looks unreliable, everything he said was reasonable. But when he talked about Xuan Min’s unknown purposes in conveniently helping others, Jiang Shining tilted his head and looked at him. “The first day you came to Ningyang County, didn’t you also have no proper business to deal with and didn’t you make me a paper body without any payment…?”
Xue Xian blurted out, “That’s not the same.”
“To be honest, I never actually understood why you came to my family’s abandoned mansion when there were so many other mansions in Ningyang County.” Jiang Shining shook his head and said, “It’s cold and dim. This taste of yours is truly original, you really love finding suffering for yourself.”
“I am happy with it. Would you be able to stop me?” Xue Xian retorted back.
When this impolite Ancient One talked back, he did not even spare one look at the person, preoccupied solely with appreciating that precious orb.
The yellow candle flames gave Xue Xian’s pale skin a tint of warmth and spirit. Although he opened his mouth in a yawn, he had a rather good-looking appearance. The flames cast bent shadows from his long and thick black eyelashes. In his lazily half-closed eyes, his pupils reflected the bright golden orb and the heavy snow falling outside.
There were so many mansions that could provide shelter in Ningyang County, why did he go to the Jiangs’ medicine hall and why did he also waste an entire day’s effort to give this nerd a paper body…?
Xue Xian could not clearly remember the finer details of his reasoning. His life span was much, much longer than an ordinary person’s. If he remembered all the minor details of every situation of every day clearly, this dragon brain of his would probably explode.
He only remembered that he went north in the winter of a random year because of some business and happened to pass through Ningyang County on his way back.
That should have been in the evening and Ningyang County was experiencing a rare snowstorm, one that was similar to tonight’s, and hence there were very few pedestrians on the road. Even the inns and restaurants had closed early. The whole street was empty and silent.
At that time, Xue Xian still had not had his muscles and bones drawn out of him yet and it was easy for him to walk. His true dragon’s body naturally did not fear the cold; to him, wind and snow were just some decorations for cold winter days. Hence, he wore thin black robes and walked through the snow at a steady pace. As he walked into the mouth of an alley, his arm was grabbed by someone.
Xue Xian was an independent person and never liked any close contact with others so of course he was not used to being pulled at by someone.
His brows wrinkled as he turned his head impatiently to see that the person grabbing him was a middle-aged man wearing a grey coat. He was holding up a greased-paper umbrella and carrying a rectangular wooden box hanging from a cloth band on his shoulder. Looking at the footprints, he had come from within the alley.
Xue Xian already could not remember clearly what that middle-aged man looked like and could only remember that he had a beard and a good-natured appearance.
As soon as he grabbed Xue Xian, he pointed at the back of his hand and said, “This is such a deep wound. If you don’t apply medicine and don’t bind it, your skin and flesh will freeze and be damaged. In this wet and chilly weather, if you freeze for two days, you’ll have to suffer whenever it rains or snows from now on.”
That middle-aged person was somewhat long-winded, talking as if he were speaking to someone of a younger generation in his own family and not to an outsider. After Xue Xian stared blankly for a short while after hearing this, the man subconsciously looked down at his own hand.
The hand grabbed by the middle-aged man had indeed suffered an injury that was left by a lightning strike when he had been careless earlier. To him, this type of wound was just like losing a thin bit of skin when brushing against a tree branch, something that would be forgotten within the blink of an eye and heal in less than two days. But in the eyes of a common person, it looked scary indeed—after all, it cut through half of his hand horizontally, blood was clotting at the edges of the wound, the skin and flesh were turned outwards, and it was deep enough for the bone to be seen.
That middle-aged man immediately dragged Xue Xian, who was too slow to react, and hurried down a small stretch of the alley he came from and stopped in front of a gate painted with red lacquer.
That was most likely his home. He lifted his hand to push the gate half-open and shouted something that sounded like someone’s name into the house, then said, “Bring out that small stove on my table.”
Afterwards, he opened the lid of the wooden box and meticulously applied medicine to Xue Xian’s wound without delay.
Someone quickly came out of the house and handed over a small and exquisite copper stove.
Xue Xian glanced over; the person carrying the small stove was a middle-aged woman and she also had a good-natured air, similar to that of the middle-aged man. Behind her, a boy who looked around seven or eight years old stuck his head out to look around. When he saw Xue Xian, he gave him a smile and made a show of being very earnest, pointing at Xue Xian’s hand and saying, “It can’t touch water for two days, especially cold water.”
“Go and read your books.” The woman turned her head and urged him laughingly. She then turned her head towards Xue Xian and added, “Indeed, any contact with water should be avoided. In this weather, you have to be especially careful, otherwise the pain will become rooted and will cause you major pain attacks every year from now on.”
This was no different from what the middle-aged man had said.
“Are you hurrying on on your journey? Would you like to come into the house to warm up for a bit?” The middle-aged man asked good-naturedly as he bound his hand well with sackcloth, carefully tying a knot while avoiding any place that would hurt.
“No, thanks. I still have business to attend to,” replied Xue Xian. After a pause, with slight awkwardness, he added, “Many thanks for your kindness.”
“Then take this small stove with you. This type of wound must be covered up for a while.” The middle-aged man allowed for no discussion and pressed the small stove that was about half the size of the palm of one’s hand into Xue Xian’s hand.
Although Xue Xian did not fear the cold, he could still distinguish between differences in temperature. When the warm little stove was pressed into his hand, he raised his head and swept a glance at the area above the lintel of that mansion where three words had been written—Jiangs’ medicine hall.
Afterwards, there was one year when he happened to pass through Ningyang. He took advantage of being undetected by people to overtly enter the Jiang family’s courtyard and place that small copper stove along with a small bag of golden orbs on a stone table. He then departed in a leisurely and carefree manner.
This time, he arrived in Ningyang County once again and thought of the Jiangs’ medicine hall. He planned to take a look as he passed by, but who knew that he would see such a ruined scene. The red lacquered wooden gate and the medicinal garden in the courtyard from the olden days had changed beyond recognition. All that was left was the lonely ghost of Jiang Shining.
He helped out a bit in passing.
After all, this world was not entirely populated by cruel and cold-hearted people like Adviser Liu. While there were people who forgot favours and violated justice, there also were people who understood benevolence and virtue.
Xue Xian swept his eyes over the snowstorm outside the temple and leaned his back against the Buddha statue.
Jiang Shining suddenly asked, “Before we left, you had me wait at the side of the gate. What did you tinker with at that master’s desk?”
Xue Xian responded lazily, “I left him a little something in passing that can be considered an expression of my gratitude for helping me get the golden orb back.”
What he left for Xuan Min wasn’t just anything: it was a dragon scale from his original body. In any case, it was still a portion of a true dragon’s body. Although it was not as good as the flesh and bones of the living dead, compared to mountain ginseng or lingzhi mushrooms, it was still much more valuable. If the Baldy’s body bore an illness, even without knowing the cause, simply applying a dragon scale as medicine would at the very least have some beneficial effect.
When ordinary people saw a dragon scale, they would of course not recognise what it was. It would appear to just be a round, thin disc about the size of a coin that was suffused with a greenish-black luster. It would emit a faint and unique scent, like the damp smell that arises when rainwater strikes a mountain stone. There was even a bit of a…fresh smell that could not be described, like a freshly peeled shrimp that was pure and limpid.
Xue Xian silently opened his eyes and expressionlessly mumbled, “I’m a bit hungry.”
In the central room on the second floor of the Guiyun Inn, Xuan Min continued to sit at the table with his eyes closed, maintaining the same position that he had held before Xue Xian left, not having moved for quite a while.
In front of his table, a piece of yellow paper was spread out. On the paper was the dragon scale that Xue Xian had left behind. That special scent slowly dispersed, floating in the air, and finally wafting to his nose.
Xuan Min wrinkled his brows and suddenly opened his eyes. The spider-like mole on the side of his neck quietly returned to its original form.
He gazed down at the tabletop and saw the yellow paper in front of the table on which someone had left large words that looked like the marks of a dog crawling: “Legendary medicine. It can heal every illness. Feel free to believe it or not.”
Xuan Min picked up that black disc next to the dog-crawled words and took one look at it. Suddenly, he knew what he should do and pulled out a thin, folded piece of paper from between his lapels.
He unfolded and flattened the paper, looking at the first three words written on it: Find the person.
Coincidentally, next to these three words, there was a drawing of a black disc that looked identical to this one on the table.
Find the person…
Xuan Min frowned and carefully compared the two for a while. He then folded the paper properly once again, picked up the thin disc that was left by someone, and sat quietly under the light of the candle flame.
Outside the window, the cold wind whipped around the snowstorm, quietly rustling and hitting the gate of the building.
Regardless of whether it was a small trail on a mountain or a narrow street in a city, they were all streaks of darkness, travelling far and wide.
