"What swagger! What arrogance!"
The red-faced burly man shook with fury. "I'd like to see just who has the gall — with all the heroes of the righteous path of the martial world gathered here in one place. Since he couldn't poison these rats dead just now, he will never poison them dead. Our Four Seas Hall is going to keep every one of them alive and well. Let's see who dares try to leave our Four Seas Hall with not even chickens and dogs left!"
The red-faced man's words rang out like hammer blows, but Eldest Master Tang said, "Old Huang, you're talking too big!"
"I can't cure this poison... Go find someone else!" And with that he turned and walked away.
The red-faced man gave his men their orders. "Send for the masters of poison and the Divine Physicians, and ask whether Divine Physician Qi Qiuzi has arrived yet. And round up all these rats..."
Then he walked over to Qian Chen, a kindly smile on his face. "So this young brother is the one who just pointed out that the rat swarm had been poisoned? What should I call you, young brother?"
He clapped Qian Chen on the shoulder in easy familiarity. Qian Chen's face went shy. "My name is Qian Chen. I'm nobody at all."
"Hah! Younger Brother Qian may be a nobody today, but one day your name is bound to resound across the four seas. From this day on, Younger Brother Qian is no nobody. Now tell me — how did you spot this poison?"
As though he had not noticed the suspicion hidden beneath the red-faced man's warmth, Qian Chen answered in high spirits. "I have medical arts handed down in my family. One look, and I knew something was wrong. This is 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots,' a poison of the Azure Phosphor Five Poisons Cult of years gone by. He planted it on the lice. The more the lice bites itched, the more the rats rubbed up against one another, and that way the poison passed through the whole swarm in no time.
"Driven by the poison, the rats fled Four Seas Hall. Then 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots' flared up and their fur molted away, and the lice dropped off with the fur — so the trail of the poisoner vanished too. And while everyone's eyes were pinned to the bald rats, no one spared a glance for the shed fur... That is his true killing stroke.
"His real aim was to dose every person here with the deadly poison of 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots.' When the need arises, he can drive any one of you into a frenzy of murder!"
At these words, everyone at the gate of Four Seas Hall went mad. They tore off their clothes, pawed over their bodies hunting for lice, and clawed at their hair to yank it out. In moments the gate had become an ocean of yellow, white, and black — skin of every color, and bare flesh besides — while the common folk of Linhai City stared openmouthed at the gate of the locally famous Four Seas Hall, where everyone, as though on fire, had stripped themselves bare as plucked pigs.
The red-faced man's face had gone ugly too. Forcing down the phantom itch that crawled over his skin, he came to value Qian Chen more and more.
Qian Chen blinked in puzzlement. "Why are they taking their clothes off?"
"Because they're afraid of being poisoned!" the red-faced man said, and cursed in his belly: "I'm afraid of being poisoned too, damn it! But who told me I have a face to keep? I can't strip down..."
As though waking from a daze, Qian Chen said with a start, "Oh! The moment I saw the poison was 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots,' I worked the whole scheme out. Then I dusted the shed rat fur with an insect-killing drug, so the spread of 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots' was already cut off."
Only then did everyone breathe easy. Someone swore, "What the hell, kid — why didn't you say so sooner!"
"Enough!" the red-faced man called out. "Is that any way to speak to the man who saved your lives?" He cupped his fists to Qian Chen. "My thanks, young brother, for saving every one of us. But tell me — when did you lay down that insect-killing drug? I never saw a thing."
"Where would I be carrying an insect-killing drug?" Qian Chen laughed. "I simply borrowed the poisoner's own poison. A vermin-killing toxin is what he used to slay all those flies and bedbugs. Its one weakness is that it cannot kill lice — so I added a single ingredient: a medicinal fragrance. With that ingredient, the lice could no longer withstand the vermin-killing toxin, and they died off like the rest."
Qian Chen untied a sachet from his waist and handed it to the red-faced man. "It was with this fragrance that I roused the insect-killing drug's potency. Wherever I walked, the lice died to the last. Just now, passing through that rat swarm, I had already finished the work of countering the poison."
The red-faced man sniffed the sachet. Sure enough, a rich medicinal fragrance rose from it. A wary thought stirred in him; he pocketed the sachet and said, "Young brother is truly an honored guest of our Four Seas Hall. Come in, come in — this way, please..."
He personally ushered Qian Chen into the hall, and every courtesy was seen to down to the smallest detail. Qian Chen played his part — a green youth at a loss for where to put his hands, overwhelmed by hospitality too warm to refuse, the very picture of embarrassment. The red-faced man laughed heartily. "From today, young brother, you are a guest of honor of our Four Seas Hall. If anyone dares slight you, tell your big brother, and I'll flay the skin off him... Now, young brother — is there any way you might cure this 'Cut the Grass, Pull Out the Roots' poison and save our Four Seas Hall's face? Save big brother's face, and you will be richly repaid!"
"I've read a few prescriptions in the medical books handed down in my family. If the ingredients are all at hand, we might try." Qian Chen mumbled, red to the ears.
Only through introductions did Qian Chen learn that the red-faced burly man was named Huang Yuhan — Hall Master of East Sea Hall, one of the four halls of Four Seas Hall: east, west, south, and north. He was also Hong Sihai's chief steward, charged with all the internal affairs of the Four Seas Hall headquarters. In the jianghu he counted as a man of high position and real power, but he himself seldom struck, so no one could gauge how deep his martial arts ran.
Passing in through the main gate of Four Seas Hall, Qian Chen learned what an air of grim, disciplined might meant. Countless open and hidden sentries guarded the place so tightly that not a drop of water could seep through, and after the disturbance that had just occurred every man of them was braced and alert, the murderous air about them colder than ever. Huang Yuhan led Qian Chen through the inner hall and along a covered gallery to a side hall.
"This side hall is where the Hall stores its medicines. It is not the official treasury, but the varieties of medicinal ingredients are complete. Take a look, young brother — is anything missing?"
Qian Chen pushed the door open and was taken aback by the lavishness of Four Seas Hall. Paulownia-wood racks lined the side hall, heaped with great quantities of precious medicinal ingredients stacked as though worthless, and he could even catch a faint whiff of mold — the fruit of careless keeping. Like a man besotted with medicine, he hurried forward and began riffling through the boxes that held the precious drugs.
"Qilin dragon's-blood resin, from across the seas! And here — borneol, qilin toes... and this jade poria! How did anyone let it spoil!"
"Whatever ingredients your prescription calls for, young brother, take your pick," Huang Yuhan said with a laugh. Without a shred of ceremony, Qian Chen pinched up one precious ingredient after another, then asked for one of the molting rats. Soon he had a decoction prepared. One dose went down the rat's throat; its legs kicked stiff and straight, and sure enough, it died. Huang Yuhan roared with laughter, minding it not at all, and presented still more precious drugs.
Only after Qian Chen had treated three rats to death did he finally brew a decoction that, once poured down a rat's throat, left the beast barely breathing — yet it clung stubbornly to life.
Chapter 13