Qu Xin rested one hand on Guo You's thin, withered wrist and flicked the other lightly. A fine needle flew into the crown of his head, like a butterfly touching water, so light it seemed weightless. Chi Flame followed the thread, like ripples trailing behind its passage.
"What is known as soul separation often results from an intense shock, which separates body and mind: the body remains in reality, while the mind dwells elsewhere. Another way to understand it is that a thick barrier stands between the mind and the outside world, so it gives no answer when called." Qu Xin spoke as she applied the needles. "Mind-Spirit Arts seem to reach the seat of the illness directly, but in fact, they struggle to cure this condition. An outsider can indeed use them to enter the deepest reaches of the patient's mind, yet guiding its repair is an almost impossible task."
"Why?"
"Because you have neither experienced his upbringing nor felt his emotions and thoughts as he has. Once you enter his Mindscape Realm, all you see is a chaotic, broken ruin," Qu Xin said. "You don't know how it came to this, step by step, and you can hardly help him rebuild everything on your own-or even if you rebuild it, would that be his original self, or the version of him in your mind?"
"...I see."
"And so the Medicine Hut believes that patients like this must still be treated from the outside, advancing slowly. Only then can we restore the old as it was."
"Can that work?"
"Of course. The Medicine Hut believes that every patient's heart contains the power to heal itself," Qu Xin said. "The text written on this principle is the Spirit Pivot Heart-Knocking Record. It is not a mind-spirit method, but a medical