The day after her reunion with Old Dog Du, Qin Jiuye had intended to bring him to her side to look after him. However, Old Dog Du was unwilling to leave the schoolhouse. Even though he no longer had any students, he still sat upright in that thatched hut every day, sometimes burying his head in scrolls, other times standing silently beneath the tree. He appeared much more peaceful than he ever had during his days wandering the streets of Jiugao City.
Seeing this, Qin Jiuye did not push him further. Compared to the current atmosphere in the pharmacy, the empty schoolhouse was actually quite tranquil.
The seven-day deadline agreed upon with Qiu Ling was fast approaching. Inside the pharmacy, the disputes over the interpretation of the Secret Formula had reached a fever pitch. The frustration of searching bitterly without results fermented and expanded within the cramped space; a war without smoke raged from sunrise to sunset, persisting even through the moonlight and rain.
Aside from Auntie Xiong, no one else in the pharmacy dared to approach the backyard. Sometimes, even a distant glance made one feel that the atmosphere there was terrifying, as if a black dragon were coiled there and dark clouds were gathering, ready to unleash thunder and torrential rain at any moment.
And right now, the "God of Thunder" and "Goddess of Lightning" were locked in a magical duel once more. The remaining two "protectors" sat on the front lines, eyes cast down and hearts stilled, going about their work as if nothing were happening.
"You moved my prescription again?!"
Teng Hu’s shriek pierced through the roof tiles of the pharmacy. The woman buried in work behind the medicinal cauldron was already prepared; she adjusted the cotton plugs in her ears and spoke without turning her head.
"Your prescription would kill people. Using Deer-Bell Grass to clear the way might suppress heart failure, but the damage to the liver and kidney meridians is immense. You must resolve the conflict of medicinal properties and the issue of toxins entering those two meridians..."
"Stupid! The Secret Formula penetrates deep into the bone and blood. Blindly using medicine to protect the heart is merely aiding the villain. The priority right now is to find a toxic precursor that can be precisely restrained and act quickly. By fighting poison with poison, the predicament will resolve itself."
"All things have their own biases; harmonizing the Five Elements is the superior strategy. If we can find the ancestor of all mixtures, a universal wonder-formula to serve as a base to protect the patient's heart meridians, we can buy enough time to clear the Secret Formula from the body. Then, perhaps we can achieve it without using highly toxic substances."
"Where would a universal wonder-formula come from? I think you didn't sleep yesterday and are dreaming now. And what is this? Why is there Drynaria? Which mountain gully did you dig this out of? It’s absolutely filthy..."
Teng Hu’s claw-like hands snatched at things on the table, his mouth chattering incessantly, noisier than a rooster at dawn. Qin Jiuye reached the end of her patience and was about to speak when a shadow suddenly rose behind her. Jiang Xin’er stood up, fuming with rage.
"I dug that up after scouring three mountain gullies! If you dare throw it out, I’ll throw you out of this courtyard!"
A moment of silence finally returned to the pharmacy. Qin Jiuye could almost hear the echo of her own laughter in her heart.
Truly, it takes a wicked person to grind down another. Heaven spares no one!
Satisfied as she was, she still explained to avoid him becoming shamed into anger and poisoning her behind her back.
"That is an ingredient from the Zhidan formula."
Teng Hu whipped his head around, his expression twisting as he looked at her.
"Impossible! The Zhidan formula was lost long ago."
"Zhidan was created by the Qu clan in the past. It is indeed lost, but I have spent these years studying ancient texts and working it out. Though there are likely discrepancies from what is recorded in the ancient recipes, it is roughly eighty or ninety percent there. Ordinary formulas take effect too slowly; by the time they work, the patient has already been consumed by the toxic precursor. Only the path of Zhidan counts as a clever and ruthless move, offering a chance at a fight." At this point, she added bluntly, "This is the best method I can think of right now. If you aren't convinced, then propose some new ideas."
New ideas—more and better new ideas, an endless stream of them, yet ideas that always led to failure.
What brought despair was not the complex and difficult problem itself, but the answers that were proven wrong time and time again.
It was as if they had walked from the wilderness into a town, only to plunge headlong into a dead end. If they could not pull themselves out in time to view the whole situation, they would only wander further into the darkness and despair of the wrong path. And sometimes, after going in circles, the answer was actually right under their noses.
Qin Jiuye turned to wash her face in cold water, then pulled out the notes Zuo Ci had left for Teng Hu once more. She repeatedly checked the records regarding various toxins and their toxicology. Most of them had extensive arguments citing various sources, except for the entry on the Ye Fuzi, which was exceptionally brief.
Her finger stopped beside that short line of ink. After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke.
"Those who consume Ye Fuzi... the symptoms first manifest in the mouth, nose, and eyes..."
The moment she spoke, Teng Hu immediately took over.
"First manifesting in the mouth, nose, and eyes, the extremities of the blood vessels, and the exposed parts of the body, after which the internal organs are all eroded. Once the poisoning begins, it is irreversible and cannot be affected by ordinary toxins. Do you think I haven't carefully read the things my Master left behind? Ye Fuzi has no effect whatsoever on those afflicted by the illness. You could recite it a thousand times and it wouldn't change that fact."
"But don't you find this description familiar?" Qin Jiuye ignored the emotion in his voice, still unwilling to give up on her intuition. "The toxicology of this thing is extremely similar to the progression of the illness in those infected by the Secret Formula."
Persuasion was useless. Teng Hu raised his eyes gloomily, a few cold laughs squeezing from deep in his throat.
"Whether it's the so-called miraculous medicine Zhidan or the strange poison Ye Fuzi, they are nothing more than legends. If you take them seriously, you are the fool among fools."
Qin Jiuye looked at him sharply, her voice also betraying a hint of fire.
"What exactly do you know? Can't you just say it openly? Do you have to waste time being so cynical?"
Teng Hu was silent for a moment, then suddenly looked over with a strange expression.
"You didn't even know the toxicology of this thing before. Why did you go to such lengths to collect it at the Treasure Mirage Pavilion?"
The Treasure Mirage Pavilion in Jiugao City was no older than the shops on Bobo Street, but the traditions of the Qingyang Market could be traced back hundreds of years. The legend of the Ye Fuzi would be mentioned in the dark markets every so often, like mystery itself—frequently discussed at first, then gradually forgotten. Picking it up or putting it down had no real significance.
By Qin Jiuye's generation, these folk tales passed down through the ages had evolved into stories used by medicine sellers to hike up prices. The storytellers said the strange place where the Ye Fuzi grew was called Liuren Hollow. Not a blade of grass grew outside the hollow, but inside, it was filled with exotic flowers and rare herbs. The beasts and insects there were all born strange, and not even a bird would fly over that deep pit. A traveler once brought back a stone from there, saying the stone was also very peculiar; it could turn turbid water clear and keep fresh fruit from rotting. Some said it was a gemstone that could turn stone into gold. When a wealthy man heard of it, he went to collect it, only to find that the family who had picked up the stone had all contracted a strange illness and died one after another shortly after. Thus, the stone became an ill omen, and Liuren Hollow became a place of unmitigated misfortune. Later, dynasties changed, and now no one knew where the so-called Liuren Hollow was. One would need a dead man's dream or a celestial's guidance to enter. As for the Ye Fuzi, it was hard to find even for a thousand gold pieces, and over time, it became a symbol of something that could be sought but not found.
Of course, Qin Jiuye could not tell Teng Hu these far-fetched tales.
She had never been to any Liuren Hollow, nor had she seen any strange stones. It wasn't that she hadn't doubted whether the Ye Fuzi truly existed, but...
"As a physician, all doubts must be personally verified before there is an answer. That was why I braved the Treasure Mirage Pavilion back then, and it is why I am arguing with you now."
Through their time together, both had gained a deep understanding of each other. Teng Hu knew she was as stubborn as he was. If they remained at an impasse and could not completely convince the other, further disputes were inevitable.
Teng Hu withdrew his gaze and spoke coldly.
"Do you know why my Master went to Qionghu Island in the first place?"
Qin Jiuye hadn't expected him to bring up the past and instinctively waved her hand.
"I don't want to know what insane things your Master did on Qionghu Island. If you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to force yourself to tell me."
Teng Hu rubbed the medicinal powder on his hands, his voice gradually lowering.
"The reason Master went to Qionghu Island was because of a certain person. That person's real name is no longer known; rumors say he was a wandering occultist from the Tiancheng era, a descendant of the Qu family bloodline. Because of his extraordinary medical skills, he was given a mythical aura, but unfortunately, he passed away early. Unofficial histories record that this person once practiced medicine and distributed drugs in the current Longshu area. Master followed his footsteps to Jiugao, but in the end, he only found his tomb."
A tomb? So before Zuo Ci set foot on Qionghu Island, another physician had already been there?
Her own master had been too conservative; in order to pursue a truth, Zuo Ci not only crossed mountains and rivers but also dug holes and entered tombs. How could that not be considered another form of obsessive madness?
Qin Jiuye pondered for a moment, then recalled some details Xu Qiuchi had mentioned to her before.
That dandy had indeed entered the underground through a tomb passage, and he had mentioned that a statue of the agricultural deity, Fengyin, stood at the entrance. Thinking about it now, that statue indirectly confirmed the true identity of the tomb's owner.
"The reason Zuo Ci mentioned the Ye Fuzi to you... could it be because of that tomb? But there have been many virtuous physicians since ancient times; why follow this person's footsteps specifically?"
"Because the most bizarre legend about this person is that he once treated someone who had experienced a 'God-descending' ritual."
As soon as Teng Hu said this, the entire pharmacy fell silent.
Qin Jiuye suddenly regretted not speaking of the legends from the Qingyang Market. Since they were all just telling stories, whose could be more bizarre than the other's?
"You're not saying that Zuo Ci previously suspected the Secret Formula was related to ancient god-worshipping rituals, and so he followed that line of thought to find that person, are you?"
Teng Hu clearly heard the skepticism in her voice and couldn't help but turn to glare at her.
"You have only been in contact with this thing for a few months, whereas my Master had been deeply mired in it for years. No level of madness would have been out of place for him. A year before he vanished, the last letter he sent me mentioned some of his findings in the so-called 'Realm of the Ultimate,' which included a medical book."
"This book was found in a stone coffin in the underground tomb on Qionghu Island. Aside from this medical book, there were no other burial goods in the stone coffin, nor was there a body; it seemed to be merely a cenotaph. Scattered around the clothes were only some rouge and powder used by women for their faces. The burial items were few, and the layout of the tomb was extremely haphazard. From this, he judged that the person in the coffin might not be the Tiancheng occultist himself, and at first, he was skeptical of much of the content described in the medical book—until he began to study it."
"This person had verified many unofficial records and miscellaneous notes, eventually concluding that the earliest record of the Ye Fuzi was about nine hundred years ago. At that time, the ancient northern city of Muerhe was struck by a plague, and the entire city once became a ghost town. Hundreds of physicians threw themselves into the effort to overcome the crisis, and in the end, they relied on this Ye Fuzi to drive away the pestilential air. However, the specifics of that plague and how it was cured can no longer be verified."
"The medical book devoted a chapter to the use of Ye Fuzi, mentioning that it is a toxin with very peculiar medicinal properties. The symptoms of those poisoned vary; some resemble acute illnesses, with death from coughing blood and lung failure, while others resemble chronic conditions, featuring skin ulceration, blindness, and damage to all six internal organs. But if this toxin is properly incorporated into medicine, it can be used to reverse and cure those who have undergone the so-called God-descending ritual. However, because of missing pages and obscure language, and because the things described were too bizarre, and with the practice of shamanic rituals declining, the use of Ye Fuzi recorded in that book would not be taken seriously even if it were made public."
"Master was usually silent and taciturn, and he was never one to indulge in excessive ink in his letters. Only when he discovered something significant enough to keep him excited and sleepless would he be eager to share it with me. So even though he vanished afterward and his final testament fell into the hands of others, I still firmly believe that the Ye Fuzi was the thing he touched that was closest to the truth. Unfortunately... it was all just an illusion." Teng Hu’s narration ended abruptly, his voice carrying a sense of despair through his exhaustion. "If it weren't so, I wouldn't have waited until the very last moment to try this thing."
The ink on the tip of her brush had already congealed. Qin Jiuye’s hand slipped, and the brush fell to the ground with a thud.
"How could it be an illusion? Sometimes the more absurd an existence is, the more it is the truth itself. Zuo Ci was famous but did not leave behind many medical books because he was dissatisfied with most of what he recorded; the parts he was willing to publish were very few. Would a man so rigorous and rigid in his pursuit of medicine mention an illusory thing to his only disciple for no reason?"
Qin Jiuye knew Zuo Ci’s status in Teng Hu’s heart. She mentioned it now only because she wanted him to stop being so biased and to step out of his stubborn mindset, but she hadn't expected it to provoke him instead.
Questioning the things his Master had left behind was an unspeakable pain for Teng Hu, but at this moment, the urgent need to refute Qin Jiuye completely took hold of him, causing him to voice all the troubles he had hidden deep in his heart.
"The records regarding the medicinal use of Ye Fuzi first came from that person’s surviving medical book; anything earlier is untraceable. Think carefully—aside from heterodox paths and unofficial histories, have you ever seen a drawing or even a description of this thing in any orthodox medical book? People cannot even agree on what the so-called Ye Fuzi looks like. How do you know that what you obtained at the Treasure Mirage Pavilion is the real Ye Fuzi and not some charlatan's trick you failed to see through?!"
Qin Jiuye was stunned, unable to speak for a moment.
She indeed had not seen records of the form, origin, toxicology, or pharmacology of the so-called Ye Fuzi in any orthodox medical books. But she had always felt that it was because the conditions of her medical studies had been too difficult and the ancient texts she could access were limited. It was precisely because of this that she wanted to find the item herself to verify it. She had never imagined that even Teng Hu, a disciple of Zuo Ci who had read all the medical books in the world, would tell her this.
Perhaps the world never had a unified understanding of the Ye Fuzi, but even if physicians of different eras interpreted its toxicology differently, its appearance should at least be the same, right? What kind of herb in this world changes its form? Sometimes flat and round, sometimes wide and square, sometimes huge, sometimes tiny—in the final analysis, it was likely just something that shifted according to the needs of swindlers selling medicine throughout the dynasties.
"That so-called Tiancheng occultist might have just been one of those thousands of alchemy-practicing Taoists. The claim that Ye Fuzi can be used as medicine has been a false rumor from beginning to end. That stone coffin was always empty, the so-called lost medical books were all lies, and there has never been any strange poison called Ye Fuzi in this world! It is all just a phantom, a phantom..."
Teng Hu buried his head in the piles of medicine. His hair, which he usually kept neatly combed, had become as messy as straw; the stray strands were like chaotic thoughts, trembling uncontrollably. The negative emotions of this favored son of heaven, personally chosen by Zuo Ci, when faced with defeat, were like overflowing black water that instantly flooded the entire pharmacy, making everyone inside feel so oppressed they could hardly breathe.
Qin Jiuye’s gaze swept over the prescriptions accumulated over the past few days and the methods they had discussed. She felt as if those ink dots and strokes were about to turn into long-legged spiders, swarming toward her like a tide and weaving layer upon layer of webs on her desk.
If the Ye Fuzi truly did not exist and was merely a fictional creation, how did the earliest rumors start? After all, it was neither a divine herb that could cure a hundred illnesses nor a miraculous medicine for eternal youth. The so-called God-descending theory was so obscure and difficult to understand; how many people would invent such a story just to sell medicine?
But if the Ye Fuzi was a real thing, what was it, and why was it so mysterious? Beneath this dark, lightless water, when would that belated ray of light finally break through? And as a drowning person, how was she to grasp a phantom light?
"If Master were still here, it would certainly not be like this... it definitely wouldn't be..."
Teng Hu began to mutter incessantly about his dead Master again. Qin Jiuye felt her head throbbing, as if ten thousand Zuo Cis were ringing bells and chanting incantations before her eyes, threatening to shatter her remaining sanity.
At that moment, Li Qiao’s voice suddenly rang out, interrupting the other man’s near-delirious speech.
"Mister Teng Hu has not closed his eyes for a day and a night. Do you need Auntie Xiong to brew a calming prescription for you?"
The hands covering her ears slowly lowered. Qin Jiuye looked at Teng Hu and sensed that something was wrong. If he were practicing some kind of martial arts internal technique, he would be considered to have suffered a "deviation" by now.
In truth, it wasn't just Teng Hu; she was also reaching her limit. And a person in such a near-collapsed state could not possibly reach a correct conclusion.
Qin Jiuye stood up without a word and walked behind him in a few steps. Before he could turn around, the acupuncture needle in her hand had already struck.
He gave a cry of surprise, and as he stood up with the needle still in him, a poison dart was already flying from his hand.
Qin Jiuye was prepared; she slammed a medicinal winnowing basket over his head and slapped a glob of mint salve onto his face.
"Don't blame me, I'm doing this for your own good. Dark energy is already swirling around your head. If left alone, I fear your internal fire will attack your heart, and your qi and blood will fall into fatal disorder."
The messy mint salve slid down Teng Hu’s face, leaving a greenish trail that made his face look both terrifying and somewhat ridiculous.
"Qin Jiuye, take a look in the mirror. You look like a plucked duck, a defeated rooster. How are you any better than me?"
Qin Jiuye didn't need to look in a mirror to know that Teng Hu was right; she had indeed written "defeat" all over her face.
But defeat was common fare for her. She felt defeated when the tiles of the Ruguo Clinic leaked, she felt defeated when the rice jar by the stove ran empty, and she even felt defeated when Widow Dou could never produce the last coin for her medicine.
Her life was often soaked in those two words; no one understood better than she how to live with it.
"It has only been nineteen attempts. Perhaps success lies in the twentieth? I will not give up." The woman’s thin figure stood up unsteadily, her mouth reciting over and over, "I will not give up, I will never give up..."
"Why hasn't Miss Tang drunk this soup yet?"
Auntie Xiong’s voice broke the heavy air. Qin Jiuye raised her head in a daze, belatedly looking at the bowl of sweet soup by the stove that had gone completely cold.
"Sorry to trouble you, Auntie Xiong. I’ll drink it now..."
Auntie Xiong didn't wait for her to move; she quickly took the bowl in her hand.
"Oh my, I brought this to you yesterday morning. It’s been sitting for almost a day and a night; how can you still drink it? I’ve freshly simmered some turtle soup; I’ll go get some more for you all. Honestly, all day and night, you don't know to put anything in your mouths. Before the medicine is refined, you'll probably turn into immortals..."
She didn't stop talking as she hurried out of the room with the bowl.
Qin Jiuye’s figure remained frozen in place until Auntie Xiong’s nagging voice faded into the distance. Only then did she suddenly move.
"One more try." She walked quickly back to Teng Hu’s side and grabbed his sleeve. "Let's try one more time."
Forced to stand, Teng Hu, with his swollen face, nearly tied a knot with his thin eyebrows at his brow center.
"Try what one more time?"
"Ye Fuzi. Let's try using Ye Fuzi in the medicine one more time."
The eyebrows bunched together instantly smoothed out. Teng Hu pulled his sleeve away and said expressionlessly.
"If your head isn't clear, give yourself a couple of needles. If you can't bring yourself to do it, I can do it for you."
He finished speaking and was about to walk out of the pharmacy to get some air, but the woman, as if completely failing to understand the sarcasm in his words, stepped in front of him to block his path.
"I'm not talking crazy. What if our line of thinking is correct? What if the problem isn't the prescription itself?" Qin Jiuye spoke with a dry mouth, yet she didn't even have the leisure to pause and moisten her throat. "My Ye Fuzi was collected from the Treasure Mirage Pavilion. Who knows where the person who auctioned it there got it from? A bowl of soup changes flavor after sitting overnight, and many medicinal herbs lose half their potency after three to five years, let alone this Ye Fuzi that has passed through who knows how many hands and circulated for who knows how many years? Everything is a matter of probability. Perhaps some of the Ye Fuzi I collected have already lost their efficacy, and the one you tried before was one of them. Let's try one more time, okay?"
Teng Hu was silent for a good while. Only after a long time did his eyes move to look at her, and then he took a golden medicine jar from his person and tipped it over.
A tiny speck of grayish-white lay on the long, wide table, as small as a grain of rice.
Qin Jiuye stared at that dust-like thing, feeling her vision go dark, as if she were about to spit out a mouthful of blood.
"There was more than this when I gave it to you, wasn't there?"
Teng Hu glanced at her, his expression like he was looking at an idiot.
"Doesn't testing medicine require consumption? You should be glad there's this much left." He paused before continuing, "Think carefully. There is only one grain of Fuzi left. If this time..."
What if it failed again this time? What if this last bit of hope was also extinguished? What if what awaited them was destined to be an endless night?
But in the dark, she had a strange, inexplicable sensation.
Back then, the Tiancheng occultist had come to Jiugao to explore the mysteries of heaven and earth, yet in the end, he failed to find an answer. Hundreds of years later, Zuo Ci had followed in pursuit of the truth behind the Ju-Nest pestilence, only to die with regrets in an underground stone cavern. A few more years passed, and Teng Hu and she had traveled to Qionghu Island, struggling and suffering for the riddle of the so-called Secret Formula. Although the final veil of that ancient secret had yet to be lifted, generation after generation of predecessors had protected that spark of truth with their lives. Now, that spark, which was about to go out, had been passed into their hands. Whether to continue forward with the determination to see it through to the end or to let it be extinguished and vanish into nothingness was entirely up to their choice.
The woman raised her head. Her eyes had regained their dark brilliance at some point. The piercing morning light broke through behind her, reflecting a fire within her pupils.
"In a person's life, there should always be a moment like this to stake everything on a single throw. No matter the result, could it really be any worse than it is now?"
***
