Inspection: Black Qi

The Medicine King Sun Simiao once said, "Without speaking of the I Ching, one is not fit to speak of being a great physician."

Su Ziyang had originally thought Mr. Mengfei would test him on the contents of the book he had left him.

But Mr. Mengfei did not mention the book at all.

Puzzled, Su Ziyang took the book out himself and told Mr. Mengfei that he had read two-thirds of it, but had not yet gotten to the rest.

Mr. Mengfei smiled and praised Su Ziyang for the first time. "Not bad. As expected of a graduate student, you're a quick learner!"

"Xiao Su, do you know how to become a great physician?" Mr. Mengfei asked.

Su Ziyang thought for a moment, then slowly answered with a note of uncertainty, "A great physician... dedication and sincerity...!?"

Mr. Mengfei shook his head. "Dedication and sincerity are certainly important, but they only work if you're capable enough. If your medical skills aren't up to the task, what use is all the dedication and sincerity in the world? Being overly responsible might cause other problems for some people. You'd be better off not treating them at all. Wouldn't that be doing the wrong thing with good intentions?"

At first hearing, Mr. Mengfei's words sounded harsh, but on closer thought, they did make sense.

Su Ziyang asked, "Then, Master, how do you become a great physician?!"

Mr. Mengfei said, "Everyone knows that 'The Dedication and Sincerity of a Great Physician' came from the Medicine King Sun Simiao's 'Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold.' Ever since then, that essay has become the gold standard for the moral conduct of physicians. But I've noticed that people have overlooked the next essay, 'The Studies of a Great Physician'! The Medicine King said that without studying the I Ching, one is not fit to speak of being a great physician! So I wrote down my own experience studying it for you to learn from. I hope you understand that I want you to become a true great physician to the people!"

Looking at the expectation in Mr. Mengfei's eyes, Su Ziyang suddenly felt an urge to cry.

"Xiao Su, since you sincerely want to learn from me, we'll do this as master and apprentice. I'll watch you diagnose patients here." Mr. Mengfei took a stool and sat down behind Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang immediately nodded happily.

But soon he shook his head again.

"But, Master, we don't have any patients..."

Mr. Mengfei patted Su Ziyang on the shoulder. "Don't worry. There will definitely be patients today!"

"Huh?" Su Ziyang was astonished.

Mr. Mengfei did not explain further. He merely smiled mysteriously and said no more.

Seeing that his master was not speaking, Su Ziyang sat quietly in his chair and continued reading the book his master had left him.

Su Ziyang's energy, spirit, and concentration were now extraordinary, and he was soon immersed in the world of words.

Nine thirty.

Li Zijun, Fairy Li, whom he had not seen for a long time, suddenly poked her little head through the doorway. Her big eyes blinked as she stared at Su Ziyang in the room. When Su Ziyang looked at her, Fairy Li grinned.

"Xiao Su, long time no see!" Fairy Li stuck out her tongue.

Last time, Fairy Li had left without a word, and Su Ziyang had been unable to contact her.

Now she had suddenly popped up again.

"Why did you leave last time?" Su Ziyang put down his book, pretending to be a little angry.

"That's a secret. I can't tell you!" Fairy Li said mysteriously, looking at Mr. Mengfei behind Su Ziyang as she spoke.

Mr. Mengfei smiled and nodded at Fairy Li, and Fairy Li secretly nodded back.

Their mysterious expressions left Su Ziyang completely at sea.

"There's a patient in Daoist Master Xiao's room. Want to go have a look, Doctor Xiao Su?" Fairy Li slapped the table, blinking her big eyes.

Su Ziyang turned to look at his master.

Mr. Mengfei nodded. "Let's go have a look!"

The three of them headed for the Daoist temple together.

It was the same guest room as last time.

A potbellied middle-aged man stood in the middle of the room, his brow tightly furrowed.

Beside the bed stood a handsome young man over 1.8 meters tall. He looked like a movie star; even Su Ziyang thought he was very handsome.

A thin, frail woman with a pale face lay on the bed.

The potbellied middle-aged man seemed to know Fairy Li. When he saw her return with the two men, he stepped forward and cupped his hands.

Fairy Li looked around and, seeing that Daoist Master Xiao was absent, asked, "Where's Daoist Master Xiao?"

The middle-aged man hurriedly said, "Master Xiao said he was going to fetch something, and Master Xiao Yang went with him!"

Mr. Mengfei walked over to Su Ziyang and said softly, "My disciple, let me test you. Look at the woman lying on the bed. What's wrong with her?"

Seeing that Mr. Mengfei was testing him again, Su Ziyang could not help frowning slightly.

How am I supposed to know what's wrong with her? He hasn't taught me anything yet! And he's already making things difficult for me again! Su Ziyang groaned inwardly.

Seeing Su Ziyang frown, Mr. Mengfei said softly, "Look at that woman. Tell me what you see in her face."

Su Ziyang observed her carefully for a while. "Her face is pale and her eye sockets are sunken. She should have a deficiency of qi and blood from a long illness."

After hearing Su Ziyang's answer, Mr. Mengfei asked, "Just a deficiency of qi and blood? Nothing else wrong?"

Su Ziyang shook his head, thinking that his master was messing with him. How was he supposed to know what was wrong?

"Take a good, careful look. Narrow your eyes." With that, Mr. Mengfei placed a hand on Su Ziyang's shoulder.

Su Ziyang obediently narrowed his eyes to slits.

The moment Mr. Mengfei placed his hand on him, Su Ziyang felt the current of qi swirling in his dantian surge toward his head and gather around his eyes.

The woman whose face had looked deathly pale just now presented an entirely different sight to him.

Streams of black qi flickered in and out of sight around her face, and the black qi was thickest over her upper abdomen.

Astonished by what he saw, Su Ziyang's eyes flew open, and the sight before him vanished.

Su Ziyang stared wide-eyed at his master.

Mr. Mengfei merely smiled and said nothing.

When Su Ziyang narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman again, he saw the swirling mass of black qi once more.

"Master, what is this?"

Unable to contain his astonishment, Su Ziyang asked.

"Shh! Let's wait for Old Xiao!" Mr. Mengfei signaled Su Ziyang not to make a fuss.

Just as the two finished speaking, Old Daoist Master Xiao returned with Daoist Master Xiao Yang.

Daoist Master Xiao Yang held a round wooden rod engraved with intricate runes.

Old Daoist Master Xiao carried a golden-yellow cloth pouch embroidered with the eight trigrams.

As soon as the two entered,

they were surprised to see Su Ziyang and Mr. Mengfei in the room. Daoist Master Xiao put the pouch on the table and said, "Mengfei, what brings you here?"

Mr. Mengfei smiled. "Haha, I heard you've been treating strange illnesses lately, so I brought my newly accepted disciple along to observe!"

Daoist Master Xiao's gaze lingered on Su Ziyang for a moment, and then he smiled with some satisfaction.

"Master Xiao! My little sister is in this state, and you're still in the mood to chat with people who have nothing to do with this? We came here sincerely seeking treatment! If you cure my sister, my father will donate money to your temple and help you renovate the main hall!"

Old Daoist Master Xiao had only exchanged a couple of sentences with Mr. Mengfei when the handsome young man's disgruntled voice reached his ears.

As soon as he spoke, everyone in the room turned their attention to the handsome man standing by the bed.

"Xiao Qiang! Don't be rude!" the potbellied middle-aged man immediately scolded.

Mr. Mengfei looked at the handsome man and said calmly, "Is having money so impressive? Since you're so rich, why don't you see if you can cure your sister?"

The potbellied man was clearly better at reading the situation than the person who had just been called Xiao Qiang.

He had come seeking treatment from an expert, and the person he had come to see was speaking warmly with someone else. That other person was surely no ordinary man either.

The potbellied man immediately cupped his hands to Mr. Mengfei. "Sir, my nephew doesn't know any better. My niece has been ill for many days, and he's worried sick about his sister. I hope you can understand. I apologize to you on his behalf!"

When Mr. Mengfei had retorted just now, Old Daoist Master Xiao had remained silent, clearly harboring a trace of displeasure toward this rather ill-mannered person himself.

Mr. Mengfei had wanted to say more, but the potbellied man's apologetic manner made it hard for anyone to press the matter. After all, you don't strike a smiling face.

"No harm done, no harm done!" Mr. Mengfei likewise cupped his hands to the potbellied middle-aged man.

Seeing that Mr. Mengfei was no longer angry, the potbellied middle-aged man cupped his hands to Old Daoist Master Xiao again. "Master Xiao! Please, let's hurry and examine the patient. For every moment my niece suffers, I feel miserable too!"

Those who had left the secular world were compassionate at heart, after all.

Old Daoist Master Xiao nodded. "Xiao Yang, assist me!"

With that, he picked up the yellow cloth pouch embroidered with the eight trigrams from the table.

Mr. Mengfei waved a hand at Daoist Master Xiao. "Old Xiao, does this really need you to handle it personally? It's a small matter!"

Before Old Daoist Master Xiao could speak, the potbellied middle-aged man said, "Oh? Could it be that you have a good solution, sir?"

Mr. Mengfei nodded. "For a minor problem like this, there's no need for me to step in. My disciple can handle it!"

With that, he pushed Su Ziyang, who had been standing to the side, forward.

Su Ziyang gave Mr. Mengfei a resentful look. The more he looked at his master, the more he felt there was something unreliable about him.

Although he had just seen the black qi on the woman, how was he supposed to know how to deal with it? Wasn't this going to be the death of him? It wasn't as though he could just stare the black qi out of her!

Su Ziyang was inwardly complaining about his rather unreliable master.

"Young sir, what is your esteemed opinion?" Seeing Mr. Mengfei recommend Su Ziyang, the potbellied middle-aged man immediately turned to ask him.

Su Ziyang forced down his embarrassment and smiled. "Let me take a look first! A look!"

He walked to the bedside and gently placed his fingers on the woman's wrist, taking her pulse.

Ever since Su Ziyang had succeeded in the hundred-day foundation building, the sensitivity of his fingers had become extraordinary.

His fingers rested lightly on the woman's pulse, his three fingertips like dragonflies skimming the water, pressing lightly one moment and heavily the next.

Su Ziyang felt a constant flow of coolness coming from the pulse beneath his fingers, and its rate was extremely irregular.

(A bit of general knowledge about pulse diagnosis: the pulse is made up of seven basic elements-position, body, strength, rate, rhythm, amplitude, and shape. Pulse rhythms can be regular or intermittent.)

Pulse rhythm is the pattern of the pulse's beats.

A normal person's pulse should beat in a regular pattern.

For example:

.^.^.^.^.^.

But the pulse Su Ziyang felt from the sickly woman on the bed was different. Her pulse rhythm was extremely complex and strange.

It was like this:

.^..^...^.^.^...

(Each period represents one pulse beat, and the little triangles represent the pattern of pauses in the pulse.)

That was not all. Su Ziyang noticed that the coolness in the woman's pulse reached his fingertips, leaving them tingling faintly the whole time. It was an exceedingly strange sensation.

Su Ziyang sensed that something was amiss, but he could not diagnose what illness it was, so he could only turn to look at his master.