Soul and Form

Qu Zhongheng glanced sideways at Ding Songyan and spoke in an odd tone. "You didn't know?" "The day I went missing, I took a blow to the head and forgot many things. I'm here today for a follow-up with Divine Physician Shao," Ding Songyan replied candidly. "No wonder it's such a coincidence." Realization dawned on Qu Zhongheng. He tapped the horizontal eye on his forehead. "This is a yin eye. It can only open at night, and it lets one see the flow of heaven-and-earth qi, as well as wandering souls and wild ghosts drifting about. If you want to craft wondrous, arcane items, you have to use a yin eye in the dead of night." "It can see wandering souls and wild ghosts?" Ding Songyan was taken aback. *Isn't this a martial arts world?* *No, wait—even snake demons exist, so ghosts appearing isn't strange either. I remember the descriptions of Empress Houtu listed 'ruling over the Netherworld.' Perhaps the legacy she left behind can suppress evil spirits...* Qu Zhongheng chuckled. "What is there to fear? Wandering souls and wild ghosts have neither intelligence nor supernatural powers, and they are extraordinarily weak. They can't harm anyone at all. If they cross paths with someone whose yang qi is even slightly vigorous, they melt away like thin ice meeting fire. Even if you leave them alone, they will sink into the Netherworld or scatter completely into the world within three to five days." "So that's how it is..." Ding Songyan wore an expression of relief. Inwardly, he had firmly resolved never to visit Qu Sanlang at night. Ghost only knew whether that yin eye could tell there was something wrong with his own soul. After a while, Divine Physician Shao sent an apprentice to invite Ding Songyan up to the medical hall's second floor. Inside a room adorned with a freehand landscape painting, Divine Physician Shao sat cross-legged behind a brown wooden low table carved with auspicious cloud patterns. Spread out before him were several thread-bound ancient books and a few sheets of letter paper. He motioned for Ding Songyan to sit as well, smiling. "Have you recalled any past events these past few days?" "Not at all," Ding Songyan answered honestly. Divine Physician Shao studied Ding Songyan for a time with his slightly pale-tinged eyes. "Let me examine you again. Give me your hand." Ding Songyan assumed he meant to feel his pulse, but just as he extended his hand, Divine Physician Shao produced a gold needle. The soft gold needle suddenly pulled taut and rigid, pricking into the acupoint at Ding Songyan's wrist. A wisp of cool air followed, slipping into his body and coursing swiftly along his meridians. "What is this?" Ding Songyan asked, a mixture of concern and curiosity in his voice. Divine Physician Shao did not reply. With half-closed eyes, he quietly focused on what he felt. A moment later, he reached up to stroke his long, five-part beard, his face full of bewilderment. "Soul and form are in harmony... soul and form are in harmony..." Divine Physician Shao's fingers tugged harder and harder at his beard, until Ding Songyan began to worry he might snap a couple of hairs. Finally, Divine Physician Shao withdrew the gold needle. Ignoring Ding Songyan entirely, he began frantically flipping through the stack of thread-bound books. "What's wrong?" Ding Songyan could not resist asking again. Only then did Divine Physician Shao regain some composure. Pointing to the letter beside his hand, he said, "After returning to the hall that day, I wrote a letter and dispatched it by bird to my revered master to seek his counsel. He replied quickly, saying that the sect's *Remnants of the Medicine King* mentions a potential mismatch between soul and form. I searched through all my medical texts and found a few relevant passages. "If a person suffers extreme fright, their three hun and seven po may scatter. Certain martial arts can also produce a similar effect. Once the soul returns to the body, an incompatibility between soul and form can occur, causing the person to forget parts of the past. In severe cases, if the soul is damaged while displaced, the three hun become deficient and the seven po incomplete, leaving the victim witless or bedridden. "I thought I had discovered the reason for your soul-departing illness, yet your soul and form are perfectly in harmony." Divine Physician Shao could not stop himself from tugging at his beard once more. "Oh... and the gold needle was for?" Ding Songyan asked gingerly. *My soul and form actually harmonize?* Divine Physician Shao answered offhandedly, "Inspecting the soul with a gold needle." *You should have said so earlier! If I had known, I wouldn't have come...* A wave of lingering fear washed over Ding Songyan. This was the price of his shallow knowledge. Still, it dispelled many of his worries. Even an inspection of the soul could detect nothing amiss with him. *** Leaving Yannian Medical Hall, Ding Songyan saw that it was still early, so he returned to Duokang Temple, intending to spend an hour or two listening to martial world anecdotes and jianghu tales before heading home. His original self had only excelled at historical storytelling, and the storybooks left behind had touched little on this area. Of course, they were not entirely devoid of it—the martial jianghu and imperial history were intimately entwined, impossible to separate. The moment he arrived at his usual empty plot, Ding Songyan spotted a figure standing in the tree's shade. It was Xu Chang'an, who had not walked with him today. Xu Chang'an was still clad in a green, narrow-sleeved robe with a black cloth binding his hair. He was pacing back and forth, looking fraught with anxiety. Ding Songyan's first impulse was to turn and walk away so trouble would not find him, but Xu Chang'an had already spotted him and called out in delight, "Second Brother Ding!" "What is it?" Ding Songyan replied helplessly. Xu Chang'an said worriedly, "My master is gone!" *Gone?* Ding Songyan's heart stirred. The last time he had heard of someone being gone, it had been his predecessor's disappearance. Xu Chang'an spoke in a rush. "I went to my master's place yesterday for my examination, but he wasn't there at all, and he hadn't told us beforehand. I went looking for him again today, and he still wasn't there. Nor did he leave any secret markings... "Second Brother Ding, could something have happened to him?" He had originally viewed Ding Erlang as someone like himself—rather timid and cowardly—which was why they had gotten along well in the past, neither looking down on the other. It certainly was not because Ding's younger sister was fair as a celestial maiden. But over the past couple of days, he had found that Ding Erlang had somehow become perceptive and sharp-eyed, making Xu Chang'an want to seek his counsel whenever anything happened. "Gone since yesterday..." As Ding Songyan mulled it over, a strange thought crossed his mind. He asked in a deep voice, "Did your master have any friendship with me?" Xu Chang'an looked bewildered. "You two were on good terms. At noon a few days ago, my master even invited you to his courtyard for wine and meat." "How many days ago is 'a few days'?" Ding Songyan pressed. "You don't remember yourself, yet you're asking me?" Xu Chang'an thought back. "Seven or eight days, probably." Ding Songyan narrowed his eyes. "I truly don't remember, because a few days ago, I was 'gone' too. Later, when they found me, I had forgotten many things." He laid heavy emphasis on the word "gone." Xu Chang'an gasped in horror. "You were gone too? Was it that day? I asked you about it, but you didn't answer me." *Could my predecessor have obtained The Esoteric Classic of Mountains and Seas from Xu Chang'an's master? Did Xu Chang'an's master steal it from somewhere? Hiss, if that's truly the case, that master has a venomous heart. An old thief like him would surely know a few fences to offload stolen goods. From the very beginning, he probably intended to use my predecessor as a scapegoat... Did he flee to the ends of the earth, or did he meet with foul play just like my predecessor?* Thoughts raced through Ding Songyan's mind. He said to Xu Chang'an, "Take me to your master's courtyard to look." "All right!" Terrified, Xu Chang'an seemed to have found a pillar of support. He had completely forgotten that Second Brother Ding was even worse at fighting than he was. Ding Songyan took only a few steps alongside Xu Chang'an before coming to an abrupt halt. "First, we go to Beishui Street—no, the docks," he told Xu Chang'an. "Why?" Xu Chang'an asked, confused. *Use your head...* Ding Songyan sighed. "If we run into danger, will you step forward to fight them, or will I?" "It's right inside the city. Surely it won't come to that..." Xu Chang'an looked up toward the tallest watchtower. Ding Songyan did not bother arguing with him. Pointing toward the brown-tiled roof of Duokang Temple, he headed off in the direction of the docks. *Right, if we run into danger inside Master's house, the watchmen on the towers won't see a thing...* Xu Chang'an's chest tightened, and he hurried to catch up. The docks lay outside the city gate closest to Duokang Temple. Here, the river broadened, dotted with vessels of every size: tower ships, celestial roaming ships, long-distance ships, centipede boats, and many more. Waterwheels along the tributary drove mechanisms to hoist heavy cargo off the vessels and deposit it before nearby storehouses. Porters carried loads on their backs or shoulders, or wheeled wooden carts, moving crates and sacks to and fro. Ding Songyan let his gaze drift across the scene. He saw tower ships clustered like clouds, and out in the middle of the river, a broad sandbar thick with lush trees and tumbled rocks. While searching for Ding Daniu's figure, he glimpsed two figures seated opposite each other at a chessboard on the prow of a tower ship. Because of the distance, the cut of their clothing was difficult to discern; he could tell only that both wore black. One was an old man with snowy hair and beard, while the other wore a black gauze veiled hat, gender indistinguishable. "Wearing a veiled hat even while playing chess? Have they renounced the world, or do they have some strange feature on their face or head that others cannot see?" Ding Songyan murmured. He then made his way toward the area where the porters gathered. He asked Xu Chang'an offhandedly, "Is that Wangtianmen Island?" Qu Sanlang's mother had died when she fell into the water while taking a wooden kite flying carriage to that island. "It is." Xu Chang'an already knew Second Brother Ding had forgotten many things. "Why is it called Wangtianmen?" Ding Songyan made no attempt to conceal his curiosity. Xu Chang'an thought back. "They say that after Emperor Zhuanxu severed Earth from Heaven, there were only a few places across all of Dahuang where the celestial realm could still be seen. This was one of them, which is why it was called 'Wangtianmen'—Gazing upon the Gate of Heaven. Later, starting from who knows which dynasty, it could no longer be seen from here either." *In the myths of this Dahuang, Emperor Zhuanxu certainly has a strong presence...* Ding Songyan mused inwardly. Before long, he spotted Ding Daniu, whose height of over nine feet made him conspicuous wherever he went. Carrying several hemp sacks on his back, Ding Daniu strode with easy, steady steps toward a donkey cart not far away. "Big Brother!" Ding Songyan waited until Ding Daniu had set down the cargo and wiped his face with the coarse cloth hanging around his neck before calling out loudly to him. Ding Daniu came over, delighted. "Erlang, you were looking for me?" Ding Songyan nodded. "I need to go somewhere, and I'm worried it might be a bit dangerous. I'd like to ask you to come along and keep an eye on things." "All right." Without a second thought, Ding Daniu walked straight up to the foreman and said in a booming voice, "My Erlang needs my help. Mother told me to look after Erlang, so I have to leave early today." His eyes shone with keen anticipation, as if waiting for the foreman to refuse. That way, he could strike with proper justification, without worrying about angering his mother. The foreman, a scruffy, bearded middle-aged man, caught Ding Daniu's look and shuddered violently. "Go, go on!" he replied hastily. Somewhat disappointed, Ding Daniu followed Ding Songyan and Xu Chang'an away from the docks. *** In Qiushui Lane, before a courtyard residence. Xu Chang'an expertly picked the courtyard's front gate with a piece of iron wire. Not only was the courtyard far more spacious than the Ding family's, but the house also boasted a full five rooms. The three of them searched slowly for a time without turning up a single trace or clue, though they did unearth plenty of other items. "So much silver?" Staring at the five or six silver ingots, dozen or so smaller silver ingots, and heap of loose silver he had retrieved from a hidden compartment, Xu Chang'an was so astonished he nearly forgot his master's disappearance. *He didn't flee to the ends of the earth...* Ding Songyan's eyes narrowed at once. Who on earth would leave the vast majority of their fortune behind when fleeing?