"Coocoo—Coocoo—"
The night was thick. The chirping of birds came from outside the window.
Although it was approaching midnight, the light was still on in the backyard of the clinic. Ye Wanmian sat at the table, picking up her pen to revise the medical records she had taken while treating patients in the past few days.
Not far away, there was also light in Qi Wen's room. This guy had been very diligent lately. Every day he would bend over his desk and write away. Sometimes he would burst into laughter, and sometimes he would frown in distress. No one knew what he was writing. Once Ye Wanmian got close, he would secretly put away his pen and paper.
After writing the last character, Ye Wanmian let out a breath and put down the pen in her hand.
She glanced at the clepsydra. It was almost six quarters past the hour of the ox.
Just as she was thinking, there came a barking of dogs outside. She got up and walked out of the yard. Qi Wen across the way also followed suit.
During the day, Ye Wanmian had told Qi Wen about her plan. Qi Wen knew that someone would come that night and that he would cooperate with her later.
After the barking stopped, she heard a soft knock on the back door.
It was exactly two short knocks followed by one long one as they had agreed.
Ye Wanmian stepped forward and unlatched the door. Sure enough, behind the door was the Taoist Yuan Zheng who had made an appointment with her during the day.
Ye Wanmian smiled. "The Taoist priest is very punctual. Come in quickly."
Yuan Zheng said, "The young lady is so generous. How could the poor Taoist miss such a good opportunity?" He strode into the door, revealing the two dogs behind him that had led him there.
Ye Wanmian took out two pastries and held them out. The dogs carefully took them in their mouths and left happily with their tails wagging.
Seeing this, Yuan Zheng said meaningfully, "The young lady has a really good relationship with the dogs in the town."
These two dogs had arrived by the bridge cave to wait even before the appointed time. When leading him to the clinic, they had chosen the deserted alleys and avoided the patrolling guards and the night watchmen in the town. No one knew his whereabouts, which greatly surprised him.
Ye Wanmian just smiled and didn't reply. She looked at Yuan Zheng's left hand and found that he was holding a black clay pot.
For some reason, she felt uncomfortable when she saw the pot. But she didn't know where this discomfort came from.
Qi Wen murmured, "The Taoist priest is in such a good mood. He even brings wine here so late at night."
But Yuan Zheng said seriously, "This is not wine."
If it wasn't wine, then what was it?
Ye Wanmian and Qi Wen both looked puzzled.
Yuan Zheng put his hands on his hips and asked, "Young lady, the poor Taoist is here now. What exactly do you want the poor Taoist to do?"
Ye Wanmian led Yuan Zheng towards the room where Xiao Jingcheng was. On the way, she asked, "I wonder if the Taoist priest has ever heard of a disease called 'wooden stiffness syndrome'? People who suffer from this disease fall into a long - term coma due to external injuries. No matter how others touch or call them, they won't respond."
Yuan Zheng said, "I've heard of it. But in our place, this symptom is also called 'soul - leaving syndrome'."
Soul - leaving syndrome?
Yuan Zheng took the initiative to explain to them, "Anyone who is conceived from essence and blood has three souls and seven spirits. The three souls are the celestial soul, the earthly soul, and the life soul. The seven spirits are joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, and desire. A person's life is like a lamp. The flame can be weak or strong. When the life - flame is weak, the soul is easily frightened or lost. When the life - flame is strong, no evil spirits can invade and everything will go smoothly."
Hearing such remarks in the dead of night sent a chill down one's spine.
Ye Wanmian was lost in thought. The Crown Prince wasn't completely unresponsive to the outside world, but he just couldn't wake up completely. Could it be that he had been tricked by that evil Taoist and lost his soul?
As they were talking, they had arrived at the door. Ye Wanmian pushed the door open and said to Yuan Zheng, "Then I'll trouble the Taoist priest to take a look at the person in the room. See if he is really suffering from the soul - leaving syndrome and if you can wake him up from his coma?"
Walking into the room, by the flickering candlelight, they could clearly see a man lying quietly on the bed. Although the man was wearing the most ordinary clothes, his imposing aura as a person used to being in a high position was still hard to ignore.
Moreover, Yuan Zheng was no ordinary person. He was a Taoist who was good at judging fortune and misfortune from people's facial features. He immediately saw the nobility between the man's eyebrows and the strong purple aura around him.
This, this was—
Yuan Zheng subconsciously took a step forward and was about to go to the bedside. But the soft sound of the door being locked behind him suddenly brought him back to his senses.
He turned around and found that Qi Wen had locked the door, blocking his way out. Immediately his face changed. "This, this, young lady, didn't you invite me here to help? What does this mean now?"
Ye Wanmian blinked and looked innocent. "Yes, I did invite the Taoist priest to help, and I also promised to give the Taoist priest thirty taels of silver after the matter is done. But I never said that the Taoist priest could leave."
"You're kidnapping me! You're forcing me!" Yuan Zheng was so angry that his nose was crooked. "The young lady looks so upright. How could you do such a heartless thing?"
Then he changed his tune. "Fifty taels won't do. I want a hundred taels!"
"A hundred taels?!" Qi Wen gasped. This was robbery!
But Ye Wanmian readily agreed. "The price is negotiable. It depends on whether you can wake the person up. If you can't..."
Yuan Zheng snorted and flung his sleeve. "Since I'm here, there's no way I'll leave empty - handed. Just wait and see."
Saying that, he walked towards the bedside and put the clay pot aside. He first bent down to check Xiao Jingcheng's condition.
Ye Wanmian followed closely behind, staring intently at Yuan Zheng's actions.
Yuan Zheng first pressed his finger on Xiao Jingcheng's neck to feel his pulse and breathing. Then he made a gesture with his right hand and pressed it on his glabella. Then he explored from the glabella to the back of his head. After that, he closed his eyes and muttered while pinching his fingers.
The speed at which he pinched the incantation gestures was extremely fast. One could hardly see anything but a blur.
After a while, he stopped and frowned.
Before Ye Wanmian could speak, Qi Wen couldn't hold back and asked, "How is it?"
The Taoist Yuan Zheng said, "The Azure Dragon's tail is severed. The life - flame is weak, and the lifespan is damaged. Someone deliberately took his heart's blood and fetal hair and scattered and imprisoned his soul, so his soul couldn't return to his body, and his body became an empty shell."
Ye Wanmian's eyes suddenly widened, and she shivered. "Imprisoning the soul? What's the purpose of doing this?"
Yuan Zheng said, "Within forty - nine days, as long as his soul doesn't return to his body, he will completely lose his vitality and become a real dead man."
Qi Wen was very puzzled. "Why wait for forty - nine days? It's so troublesome. Why not just kill him directly? Wouldn't that solve everything once and for all?"
Yuan Zheng chuckled and said, "You young man just don't understand."
He pointed at Xiao Jingcheng who was lying unconscious on the bed. "He has a purple aura around him. He should be an Azure Dragon soaring in the nine heavens, shouldering the fortune of a country. With the purple aura and the luck protecting his body, no matter what setbacks he encounters, he will always turn danger into safety. It's extremely difficult to kill him."
"And this extremely vicious Taoist method can damage the purple aura and the luck on him. In this way, one can go against the will of heaven and change his fate, seize his vitality and opportunities, and take his place."