Chapter 122 — Five Stars Without Peer
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
" And in the ground before the gate was a man, planted there. Their faces turned ashen. They stepped up and pulled the man out of the earth. "Leave the words for now. Tomorrow we humiliate him! " On the road, Shen Mu bought some food to fill his belly, then continued his free clinic in the Rain-Listening Pavilion.
He already had a little fame in the capital; even the households of high officials and nobles had heard that a young divine physician had come to Flower Lane, one who specialized in treating women's difficult and sundry ailments. There were men drawn by his reputation as well; Shen Mu refused no one and treated them all. Still, he encountered several conditions he could not cure — strange illnesses with no cause at all, yet the sufferer wasted away day by day.
The patients carried in had grown so thin that only skin and bone remained.
Five people afflicted with this illness were carried in together by several soldiers.
Shen Mu looked for a moment and said, "This is witch-poison. Had they been brought earlier, I could have cured them, but now — they are already dead.
I cannot save them. " The leading soldier was enraged. "You quack! They are plainly still breathing, still alive, and you say they are dead — what sense is that?
" Shen Mu shook his head. "They are dead; only their bodies still live. They have been poisoned with the witch-poison of the Man-Di Kingdom. Witch-poison is not like ordinary poison.
Ordinary poison attacks the body and the nerves; witch-poison attacks the soul.
Their souls have been poisoned and have been dead five or six days now — this one has been dead more than ten. " The soldier's eyes reddened.
"We have come from the frontier. There is a war on with the Man-Di Kingdom.
On the battlefield, a horned Man-Di brute aimed a mirror at them, and after they came back they began to waste away. No matter what they eat, they gain no flesh; even miraculous elixirs do nothing. The army physician said he could not save them, that staying on the frontier was only waiting to die, so the general had us brothers bring them back. Divine physician, you must save my brothers. .
. " Shen Mu shook his head. "Their souls are dead. I cannot save them. Go back. " The soldier wept bitterly and, with his men, carried the five away. Suddenly Shen Mu said, "General, I will give you a prescription.
If anyone is poisoned with this again, my prescription can save their life.
" The soldier halted in haste.
Shen Mu took up his brush and wrote out the prescription, handing it over. "This formula is called the Pure Yang Insect-Refining Pill.
It can counter the soul-insect attacks of witch-poison. " The soldier was both startled and overjoyed; suddenly he knelt and knocked his head several times upon the ground.
Shen Mu hurriedly raised him up.
"Why go to such lengths?
" The soldier wiped his tears and turned to leave.
Shen Mu drew back his gaze and sat down again to diagnose and treat.
This witch-poison — he had heard of it from the alchemists, a kind of shamanic art. The great shamans used poisonous insects to refine their poisons daily, absorbing the soul of the insect together with the toxin and refining it into their own soul. When they killed, they had no need to poison directly; they used methods like shooting at a shadow to poison their victim, and the manner of the poisoning was most bizarre. Witch-poison sorcery is in truth a method aimed at the soul, poisoning the soul. It is wholly unlike ordinary poison, and no ordinary antidote has any effect.
Because witch-poison targets the soul, the means of poisoning cannot be understood by common sense. For example, the shadow-drawing method: cut out a paper figure, write upon it the victim's name and the eight characters of his birth, and prick it with needles — through that pricking, the witch-poison in one's own soul is planted in the victim's soul.