~~~

The child eagerly leads them to his house all while his mother tries to stop them as politely as possible. She tells them that her father is okay. That he has just come down with a cold and that it will heal soon. She tells them her house is a humble one and not fit to receive people like them. She tells them to ignore her child’s plea, that they need not bother themselves with them.

Liu Jin tells her it is no bother at all, but that does nothing to calm her down. The opposite, really. The woman’s eyes become increasingly desperate as all her attempts fail. It is hard to blame her. Liu Jin may have helped her son, but that could simply have been a ploy to get her to lower her guard. She is waiting for the moment when they reveal themselves to be bandits or worse, and she’s hardly the only one. Some villagers follow them discreetly, most likely to try to ensure the safety of the woman and her child.

It is a useless gesture. Liu Jin and Ni Cai are not planning on doing anything wrong, and if they were, the villagers wouldn’t be able to stop them. Still, Liu Jin approves of the solidarity they’re showing.

He supposes it is necessary to survive in a place like this.

“It’s here!” The child says as he opens the door and hurries in. “Grandpa! We brought a doctor! He’s really good! I was coughing again, and he stopped it!”

The house is all one room and not a large room either. To the left, there are shoddily made pots and a fireplace. To the right, there are two beds.

One of the beds has an old man resting on it. He is awake but does not get up upon seeing two strangers enter his house. Liu Jin doubts he has the strength to do so. The old man’s head is completely bald, and his body so small one can barely make it out under all the covers he has on him.

“What… what are you talking about, Little San?” The old man asks in between weak coughs. He is barely audible. Most likely, he has coughed so much and for so long that he barely has a voice left.

“It’s okay, grandfather!” The child says with the wide-eyed brightness only a child is capable of, completely untouched by the gloomy darkness of his own house. “The doctor made my cough stop so he can make your cough stop too.”

“Oh, child,” the old man says. He turns his head to look at them, and even that seems to tire him. “Good sirs… I am old. This… is what age does to those… not blessed by the Heavens. It will pass. Or I will pass. That’s… how it goes.”

“Then I just have to make sure it is not you who passes today, sir,” Liu Jin says. He turns towards the mother. “How long have the coughs been going?”

“Two months!” The child replies instead, raising two fingers for them to see. “Maybe three.”

Liu Jin nods.

“And how long has it been since the disease struck the town?”

“What?” The mother looks shocked. “How did you…?”

“I am a doctor,” Liu Jin replies as though it should be obvious. “When I examined your child, I was able to discern his condition. I am fairly sure if I were to examine your father, it would be the same illness.”

“You only touched him for a second…” the woman whispers to herself. Liu Jin hears her all the same.

“I am a good doctor.”

Ni Cai snorts behind him. Liu Jin pays him no mind.

“Ma’am, I truly mean you no harm. I know it is not easy to trust strangers, and unfortunately, I cannot put on a puppet show to set your heart at ease. I can only ask you to let me treat your father and child.”

He bows before her, his whole body bending at a ninety degree angle.

“Brother Qing!” yells a scandalized Ni Cai.

“Please,” Liu Jin says. “You will not regret it. I promise you.”

The mother staggers back into her bed and looks helplessly at him. “Good sir, if you ask like that, how can I say no?”

It is exactly because he knows she cannot say no that he does it.

It is unfair of him. He admits it.

“Thank you,” Liu Jin tells her. He walks over to the old man’s bed and kneels beside it.

“As your grandson said, I am a doctor, and I would like your permission to treat you,” Liu Jin says.

“He’s really good, grandfather!” The child says, running next to him. “He put his hand on me, and whoosh! The cough was gone.”

The old man does not say anything. He merely looks at him and nods. Perhaps he believes him. Perhaps he’s just humoring his grandson. It does not matter. Liu Jin places a hand over the old man’s chest and sends some of his Qi into him.

Liu Jin only got a brief glimpse when examining the child, but a close look into the old man’s lungs confirms it. They are definitely suffering from some sort of lung disease, though the old man’s case is far more advanced. It is unsurprising. The old man’s body is too old and weak to properly fight off the disease.

“I see.” Liu Jin says as he starts stimulating the old man’s lungs. Lung tissue is meant to expand and contract easily, but the old man’s lungs are so damaged that the tissue there has become stiff and lost its flexibility. It makes even something as simple as breathing take effort. There is less oxygen in the body, and so, there is less oxygen in the blood. A very dangerous thing for someone who is merely in the Inner Realm.

“Don’t worry. You won’t feel a thing,” Liu Jin says as he takes out three needles and stabs the old man’s acupoints. “This will help stimulate the flow of your Qi.”

By focusing the flow of the old man’s Qi into certain areas, his Qi will work towards healing the damaged tissue. While he does that, Liu Jin also starts repairing the damage to the old man’s throat.

“That… that feels better,” The old man says after a while. His voice is less of a whisper now.

“It does?” His daughter asks in shock.

“Of course it does!” Ni Cai scoffs and crosses his arms. “Did you think a mere provincial disease would be beyond Brother Qing’s ability to heal?”

The daughter does not reply. She merely lowers her head. Liu Jin gives Ni Cai a warning glance.

“See, grandpa? I told you he’s a good doctor,” the child says.

And yet, this much won’t be enough. Much like he did with the child, Liu Jin is only treating the symptoms, not the illness. He’ll need to prepare a remedy. Already his mind is compiling a list of ingredients.

“How many people have been affected by the disease?” Liu Jin asks the mother.

“What?” She looks a little startled at suddenly being addressed. “Maybe twenty people? I am not exactly sure.”

“That seems accurate.” Liu Jin nods. “The real number is definitely higher, but the early symptoms should be so mild most probably won’t notice it.”

“Higher?”

“Of course, it is airborne, after all. That means it is in the air,” Liu Jin explains. As the woman’s face pales, he adds, “Don’t worry. In most cases, the disease won’t do much. It’s only the young and old that are susceptible to it.”

The young ones are too weak in cultivation, and the old are too weak in body.

“I just wanted to have an idea of how much medicine I will be making.”

“How much… medicine?” The woman blinks. “You’re… you’re going to make medicine for everyone?”

“Naturally.”

~~~

“Making enough medicine for everyone? What are you thinking, Brother Qing?!” Ni Cai asks him once they leave the woman’s house. Liu Jin has already stabilized the old man’s condition and examined the child, so there is no need to remain there.

Besides, that house is simply no place to make medicine.

“There is no way we have enough resources to share with these people!” Ni Cai says. “Even if we did, we’d be giving away supplies that could be useful for us in the future.”

“There is no need to worry about that,” Liu Jin says. “I will be using my own supplies.”

“Yo-your own supplies?” Ni Cai throws his hands up and turns away. “Why would you…? Think of how much time this will take! Even you cannot make medicine for dozens of people so quickly. The people in the fortress are going to notice if we do not return soon.”

“I could tell you to take Soaring Feather and fly back to the fortress.” Liu Jin jabs his thumb up to point at the bird flying so high above them he’s little more than a black dot, “But we both know that’s not needed. Either one of us could reach the fortress in a second if we wanted. I’d rather have you help me prepare the medicine. We’ll finish faster that way.”

“...I don’t understand you, Brother Qing. I really don’t,” Ni Cai says, shaking his head. “You’re so strong you can do whatever you want. Why would you bow your head to that unimportant woman and waste your resources helping them?”

“I am strong enough to do what I want, and what I want to do right now is to help these people,” Liu Jin says, crossing his arms. “And since someone as strong as I am is deciding they’re worth helping, they cannot possibly be unimportant. Isn’t that how it goes?”

Someone claps behind them.

“Well said, doctor! Well, said!”

It is the two puppeteers from earlier. They walk calmly toward them. One has his hand raised in greeting.

“We said we would exchange stories, did we not?” The puppeteer asks while he removes the cloth covering his face. The face behind it is that of a young man. His head is completely devoid of hair. “Shall we start with introductions? This one’s name is Firm Shadow. My companion is Alarming Shadow.”

Liu Jin and Ni Cai both blink.

“Alarming Shadow?” He asks, looking at the puppeteer who still has his face covered.

“Do you have a problem with my name?!” Alarming Shadow asks them. He sounds so hostile Liu Jin instantly knows he is glaring at them under his veil.

“We mean no disrespect,” Ni Cai says, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “It is just… unusual.”

“So you do have a problem with it!”

“Peace, brother,” Firm Shadow says, raising his hand to stop Alarming Shadow. “For them, a name like yours must certainly be odd.”

Firm Shadow isn’t exactly common, either.

“It is the tradition where we are from to name ourselves Shadow, for we are shadows that do not stand on the stage,” Firm Shadow explains to them. “The first word in our names is there to differentiate us as no two shadows are the same. Unfortunately, the best names were taken by our elders long before we were born.”

In other words, Alarming Shadow cannot be something like Fierce Shadow or Angry Shadow because those names are already in use.

“That’s an interesting system,” Liu Jin says. “I am afraid we cannot compete. He is Ni Cai, and this one is Qing Jin.”

“Ah, I see you suffer from a common name.” Firm Shadow smiles. “Of course, that is only if you come from this country. You two seem to be travelers like us, yet you also seem to be staying in the fortress. How curious.”

Liu Jin feels Ni Cai tense and wishes he could tell him to calm down. It is not a problem that they heard them talking.

“There’s nothing odd about doctors being welcomed by the army,” Liu Jin says. “However, if your curiosity is truly that much, I suppose there is no harm in letting you know a little. We are from the Crimson Cloud Empire. To be specific, we are affiliated with the Eternal Flame Clan and have been sent here in the spirit of friendship and cooperation. You may or may not have heard this, but General Nie Dan is a good friend of the Eternal Flame Clan.”

There is no harm in letting them know this much. This is all information that is somewhat available to the general public, and it is not as if they have tried to hide the presence of the Eternal Flame Clan ever since they arrived here. The only real secret is their final objective: That this isn’t just some exercise in cooperation but the first step to win the war.

“Are you sure you should have told us so much?” Firm Shadow asks. He seems taken aback by Liu Jin’s openness.

“If I had lied, you would have poked and prodded until you had a good story,” Liu Jin replies, shrugging his shoulders. Besides, he does not think these two men are spies of Murong Bang. “Consider it a way of building trust. After all, I am very interested in what sort of stories you have to tell.”

Alarming Shadow tenses. Firm Shadow just keeps his expression neutral. “Is that so?”

“Your clothes are expensive,” Liu Jin points out. “They look simple, but the material is high quality. Your puppets are exquisitely made, and the skill with which you wield them demonstrates such control over Qi that I find myself a little envious. That being the case, why would you be in a place like this one?”

“What is it to you?!” Alarming Shadow says, taking a step forward and raising his fist. His long braid sways behind him.

“Peace, brother,” Firm Shadow says once more, putting a hand on his shoulder. “We are the ones who started asking questions. It is fair for them to ask questions back. I suppose we could say that we just happened to pass by this place, but that would be unfair, wouldn’t it?”

“I would be very disappointed in you if you tried that,” Liu Jin tells him honestly.

“I believe I would hate to disappoint you,” Firm Shadow says. “Very well then, we are looking for some people.”

“Dangerous people?”

“Without a doubt. You could even call them criminals,” Firm Shadow replies. “And our search has taken us to this country.”

His face wrinkles in distaste.

“It has not been the most pleasant of experiences, but one does what one must.”

His companion has more candid words to offer.

“The air in this place is shit.”

“I see.” Liu Jin rubs his chin. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to offer more details than that?”

“I’d have to lie to you if I did, friend. Some things are best kept among shadows.”

Liu Jin thinks about it and nods. “Then, if you cannot tell me the truth, allow me another question. You have been traveling across this country and are now in the border territories. Is it safe to assume you have seen Murong Bang’s lands?”

A dark look crosses Firm Shadow’s face, which soon fades into a tired smile. “It seems you are the one prying stories out of me, friend.”

“Oh, I intend to repay you,” Liu Jin says. “The people here don’t trust me. If you vouch for me, they will be more likely to let themselves be treated by me. If you do that, you can tell the story of the doctor who cured an entire village of their illness for your next audience. All I ask in return are some stories about Murong Bang’s lands.”

“Hm.” Firm Shadow rubs his chin. “Interesting, but I am not too sure. Such a story seems a little too straightforward for the audience to enjoy.”

“I am sure a storyteller of your caliber can add a few plot twists to keep his audience entertained.”

Firm Shadow meets his eyes, and a slow smile spreads over his face.

“You might just be right, friend. Very well, I might know a few things that will be of interest to you.”

~~~