Xu Qian's "secret cleaning campaign" went off without a hitch. It not only improved the little group's hygiene, but also unexpectedly won him a wave of goodwill, which in turn gave him even more motivation to practice drawing talismans. Just as he was wondering whether he should try making a Gentle Breeze Talisman to bring some coolness to the sweltering, damp Heavenly Prison, "business" came knocking on its own.
That day, while delivering food in Block E, he heard several prisoners gathered outside Cell C-13, talking among themselves.
"Tsk, I'm afraid Divine Doctor Xue won't pull through this time..."
"Yeah. His whole body's covered in sores, and his fever won't break. He's clearly not going to last."
"Ah, what a shame. Back when he was on the outside, Divine Doctor Xue saved so many people..."
"What good does that do? Once you're in the Heavenly Prison, even dragons have to coil up and tigers have to lie low. Get sick in here, and all you can do is wait to die."
Divine Doctor Xue? Xu Qian's thoughts stirred. He remembered the man. His name was Xue Muhua, if he recalled correctly, a physician with quite a reputation in the martial world. He'd been thrown into the Heavenly Prison after becoming entangled in a sordid case involving a powerful household. He was usually a fairly amiable man; if a guard came down with a headache or fever, he would occasionally take a look at him—within the limits of what he could do, of course.
Xu Qian carried the food bucket over and peered through the bars.
He saw an old man with hair and beard as white as snow, who had once possessed the air of an immortal. Now he lay curled up on a pile of straw, barely breathing. Red rashes and blisters covered the skin exposed to view; some had already broken open and begun oozing pus, giving off a foul stench. His face was flushed and his lips were cracked, clear signs of a high fever.
Several guards stood outside, helpless. The Heavenly Prison was short on both doctors and medicine; with a serious illness like this, you were practically just waiting to die. Zhou Kang had come to look, too. After frowning for a long while, all he did was order them to give Xue a little more clean water and leave the rest to fate.
Xu Qian unconsciously activated the Qi Gazing Technique.
What he saw, however, revealed something unusual!
Through the Qi Gazing Technique, he saw a dense cloud of gray-black sickly qi enveloping Xue Muhua. That was normal. But deep within it, a thread of dark green qi, as fine as a spider's silk, wound around him, almost impossible to detect! The dark green qi was sinister and corrosive, constantly eating away at Xue Muhua's vitality and causing the sores and fever!
This isn't an ordinary illness! It's poison! And a very insidious, slow-acting poison! Xu Qian reached his conclusion in an instant.
He recalled that the Qing Nang Handbook had mentioned several sinister methods used in the martial world. One slow-acting poison was called Bone Rot Miasma. In its early stages, its symptoms resembled a common cold and damp-heat rash, making it extremely easy to misdiagnose. By the time the whole body was covered in sores and the fever refused to break, the poison had penetrated deep into the marrow, and even immortals couldn't save you. The symptoms were remarkably similar to Xue Muhua's current condition!
Just then, Xue Muhua seemed to regain a little consciousness. He struggled to raise his head, his cloudy eyes sweeping over the people outside the cell before finally settling on Xu Qian. His lips quivered as he let out a faint murmur: "Water... Give me some water..."
A guard cursed as he ladled up some water and poured it in.
Xu Qian looked at Xue Muhua's wretched state, then at the dark green poison qi steadily devouring his vitality, and weighed his options rapidly.
Should he save him, or not?
If he saved him, he might expose his Qi Gazing Technique and his medical knowledge, attracting unwanted attention. Besides, Bone Rot Miasma was fiercely toxic. Though he had knowledge from the Qing Nang Handbook, he lacked medicinal ingredients and might not be able to cure him.
If he didn't save him? This was a human life, and a renowned physician at that—someone who might prove useful in the future. What's more, letting someone die without lifting a finger seemed to go against the line he believed he wouldn't cross.
As he hesitated, Xue Muhua drank a few mouthfuls of water and seemed to feel a little better. He looked at Xu Qian and gave a bitter smile. "Young... friend... I'm afraid... my time... has come... Cough, cough..."
Xu Qian's thoughts stirred, and he decided to sound him out. He crouched down by the bars and asked as though out of curiosity, "Divine Doctor Xue, this... doesn't look like an ordinary cold. Could it be... you ate something that was tainted?"
His question sounded casual, but Xue Muhua's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up!
Xue Muhua stared fixedly at Xu Qian, gasping as he spoke. "You... can tell... this old man... doesn't have a cold?"
Xu Qian put on an air of profundity, though he was actually unsure, and lowered his voice until only the two of them could hear. "From what I can see... the sores are dark in color, with faint black lines around the edges. And beneath the high fever, there's a chill to it... It looks as though... you've been poisoned by some kind of hidden toxin?"
His words were half true and half false. The true part came from what he'd seen with the Qi Gazing Technique; the false part was his guess based on the Qing Nang Handbook. All in all, it sounded quite convincing.
"A hidden toxin?!"
Xue Muhua looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. His eyes flew open as he stared at Xu Qian in disbelief! He knew his own body and had suspected for a long time that he'd been poisoned, but the symptoms were so deceptive that even he had initially thought he'd contracted a terrible disease! He couldn't believe that this prison guard, who looked so ordinary and even seemed rather young, had pinpointed the cause with a single glance—or rather, a few words—even though Xue himself hadn't been able to confirm it completely.
"You... know medicine?!" Xue Muhua's voice grew even hoarser with excitement, a glimmer of hope in it.
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