Linjiang County, the Hall of Benevolent Aid.
Even at noon, the sunlight filtering through thin clouds onto the flagstones brought little warmth.
Inside the Hall of Benevolent Aid's side hall, however, everyone was working in a fever of activity.
The bitter scent of herbs mingled with the sharp reek of blood, so thick it seemed almost tangible.
Since the Ghost Calamity in Blackwater Ancient Town had briefly subsided, wounded soldiers returning from the front and civilians eroded by Ghost Qi had flooded in to recover. The Hall of Benevolent Aid was packed to bursting.
At the center of the side hall, Li Xiang stood before a simple wooden bed.
He had taken off his outer robe and wore only a practical short tunic, its sleeves rolled high to reveal his lean forearms.
"Hold him down. Don't let him move." Li Xiang's voice was perfectly calm.
Several Hall of Benevolent Aid apprentices, sweat streaming down their faces, pinned the wounded man to the bed.
He was a Warlord's soldier. Some kind of claw had torn a massive wound across his chest and abdomen, deep enough to expose bone. Flesh gaped open, and even after all this time, dark-red blood still spurted out.
At an ordinary clinic, an injury this severe would most likely have earned a helpless sigh and preparations for the funeral.
But Li Xiang's gaze did not waver.
He drew a deep breath. His blood and qi circulated gently along the paths of the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture, and his Physician Profession's Benevolent Healer's Heart trait quietly activated.
An invisible aura of peace spread from him and enveloped the entire bed.
The wounded man, who had been howling and struggling, gradually lost the terror in his eyes. His taut muscles relaxed, as though some force had shut out