Dusk gradually deepened, and the water and sky floated with the evening glow. River Water flowed into the Golden Sea, splitting the shimmer of the waves north and south. And eight great ships were moored right at the river mouth, quietly waiting for the trade ashore.
Morino Kiyoshi wore splendid robes, a folding fan tucked at his belt, standing beside River Water. His expression was grave, his fingers tightly pinching a sheet of hide paper, while his eyes stayed fixed on the "pictures and words" on the paper, reading carefully.
"The gods have bestowed a prophecy, urgently requiring medical artisans who can treat illness? Especially great physicians who know the 'variolation' method to guard against 'smallpox'?... Buddha! What is 'variolation,' and what is 'smallpox'?..."
"What? This so-called 'smallpox' is, just as drawn in the picture, a plague where 'pox sores' appear all over the body, spreading widely and causing death... Oh! So it is the terrible 'pox sores' sent down by the 'Smallpox God' in Shinto! What did you say? This terrible 'pox sores' can actually be prevented through 'inoculation'?!..."
Morino Kiyoshi was greatly shocked. He had never heard of the "prophecy" written on this paper, and it was simply hard to believe. He knitted his brows tightly, repeatedly opened and shut his folding fan, paced back and forth a few steps, then spoke to the expectant Zuwaro.
"Honored Gold chieftain... Your ancestors ranged across ten thousand li, conquering countless lands and cities, and even entered and ruled the Han lands of the Central Plains, thereby obtaining many secret teachings as inheritance!..."
"It is just that Wagoku hangs alone beyond the seas, and medicine is especially closed off. These secret methods are neither known nor possibly handed down... More than seven hundred years ago, Master Jianzhen, the 'Dharma-Lamp Master,' crossed