Only then did Shen Liufeng realize what was inside the large leather pouch.
It was the wolf’s blood.
If a living creature was killed immediately, its blood would quickly stagnate and coagulate, making it impossible to extract a large quantity. The reason Xue Yan had been able to obtain so much wolf blood was because he had slit the wolf’s throat without allowing it to die immediately. Instead, he had restrained it while it was on the verge of death, only killing it with a single strike after he had collected enough of its blood.
A wild beast struggling on the verge of death was at its most vicious.
It was only when he got closer that Shen Liufeng noticed several tears in Xue Yan’s robes as well. Through the rips in his sleeves, he could see deep wounds in the flesh beneath.
Just looking at them made Shen Liufeng’s eyes hurt.
The miracle physician walked over and weighed the leather pouch in his hand.
“Wow, that much? That’s enough, enough.”
When he had previously told Xue Yan to collect more blood, it was because he knew that blood from a dead creature was difficult to obtain. He had therefore wanted Xue Yan to kill a couple more wolves, just in case what he collected was insufficient.
He had not expected this man to be so ruthless that he would actually extract blood from a living wolf.
Xue Yan gave a low grunt, his voice frighteningly hoarse.
“I’ll go pack the things we need,” the miracle physician said. “We can’t travel at night. First, help me remove the wolf’s bones. I need them. Once it gets light, we’ll leave.”
Xue Yan acknowledged him without raising his head. He turned around, dragged the wolf’s body farther outside the doorway, and, beneath the light spilling through the open door, pulled over a stool and sat down beside the corpse.
The miracle physician went inside to sort through the medicinal herbs and medical instruments.
Shen Liufeng had nothing to do sitting alone inside, so he simply dragged a chair over and sat opposite Xue Yan.
By now, Xue Yan had drawn the dagger he carried and begun dissecting the wolf’s corpse. Although his face already showed the exhaustion of someone who had pushed himself far beyond his limits, the movements of his blade remained clean and precise.
When Xue Yan saw Shen Liufeng sit down, his movements paused for a moment. Without even lifting his eyelids, he said, “Move back. Don’t get in the way.”
Shen Liufeng had no choice but to awkwardly shuffle his little stool backward.
“This wolf is really big, huh?” he said, desperately searching for something to talk about.
Xue Yan gave a low grunt.
“Alpha wolf.”
Shen Liufeng was startled.
“Good heavens, you killed the alpha wolf?”
Xue Yan casually set the wolf pelt he had removed to one side.
“It was big,” he said. “More blood.”
He said it so casually, as though he were shopping for vegetables and choosing radishes.
Shen Liufeng swallowed and once again let his gaze fall on Xue Yan’s arm.
There were clearly claw marks from the wolf there. The wounds were deep, with the flesh at the edges slightly split open.
“You’re injured,” Shen Liufeng said. “Shouldn’t you have the miracle physician bandage you before we leave?”
Xue Yan raised his eyes and looked at Shen Liufeng.
“Are you always this talkative?”
Shen Liufeng gave an “Ah?”
“Either stay farther away, or shut your mouth.” Xue Yan lowered his gaze again. His tone was calm, but it carried a pressure that made one’s heart tremble. “You’re giving me a headache.”
He had gone several days without sleep or rest.
The only reason he was still forcing himself to stay awake was Jun Huailang.
But that did not change the fact that his entire body was exhausted, and he could barely feel the pain anymore. All he could feel was his temples throbbing, making him dizzy.
Shen Liufeng did not dare say another word.
Xue Yan lowered his eyes and continued with what he was doing.
Then his movements stopped again.
He raised his eyes toward Shen Liufeng.
Under the faint lamplight, the warm glow of the flames was reflected in his eyes, yet it could not warm those amber irises in the slightest. Even Shen Liufeng, who was normally rather oblivious, could sense the hostility in his gaze.
He… he had not even said anything just now.
Then Xue Yan spoke.
“Do not tell Jun Huailang a single word about my injuries,” he said.
Shen Liufeng: “…”
He did not really understand what Xue Yan hoped to accomplish by saying that, but since Xue Yan had instructed him to keep it secret, Shen Liufeng immediately nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Xue Yan withdrew his gaze and continued dissecting the wolf.
Shen Liufeng breathed a sigh of relief and could not help grumbling inwardly.
Prince Guangling really was strange. He was unbelievably ruthless toward everyone around him and even toward himself. Yet when it came to Huailang, why was he suddenly so careful?
Then again, it made sense.
Huailang was so lovable. Perhaps even the heart of Prince Guangling, hard as iron, could not withstand him.
——
By the time the sky began to lighten, Xue Yan had already piled the clean wolf bones inside the miracle physician’s room.
The miracle physician handed Xue Yan the leather pouch containing the blood along with the packed bundle of supplies.
“You want me to take this too?” Xue Yan weighed the pouch in his hand, somewhat puzzled.
The miracle physician nodded.
“We’ll know whether it’s useful once we get to Jinling,” he said.
The three of them then mounted their horses and left the mountains.
By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, the magistrate of Yangzhou was already waiting at the mountain entrance. He had prepared a carriage for the miracle physician.
The carriage had six horses harnessed to it, all fine steeds, and it could travel no slower than a horse being ridden.
Shen Liufeng, who already felt as though his body had been shaken apart by horseback riding, hurriedly climbed into the carriage with the miracle physician.
The three of them hurried all the way back and arrived in Jinling at noon.
Once the carriage entered the city, it did not stop for even a moment. It went straight to the Governor’s residence.
The Imperial Physicians Xue Yan had brought with him were all staying at the Governor’s residence, distributed among several courtyards. When they returned, the physicians were arguing heatedly among themselves.
But without exception, not one of them had figured out the cause of the illness.
On the surface, the epidemic simply caused fever, yet for some reason it could not be cured. It was exceedingly strange.
Although they were arguing fiercely, in reality none of them had any idea what to do.
When Xue Yan arrived, he saw them huddled together like headless flies, arguing back and forth.
His expression immediately darkened at the sight.
The entire group fell silent at once. No one dared say another word.
“Did I bring you all to Jinling so that you could argue with one another?” Xue Yan’s voice was hoarse and cold, making everyone shudder.
These physicians had served in Chang’an and the imperial palace for years. Who among them did not know that Prince Guangling was not only deeply favored by the Emperor, but was also notoriously violent and unpredictable?
The miracle physician glanced at them and saw these famous doctors all shrinking back like a row of quails.
He suddenly snorted with laughter.
“Don’t take it out on them,” he said leisurely. “Aren’t you trying to save someone? Take me to see the patients first—is there one in this courtyard?”
Xue Yan’s gaze paused.
He gave a low grunt and said to Jinbao, who was waiting nearby, “Lead the way.”
Jinbao did not dare delay for even a moment. He immediately led the miracle physician to the small courtyard where the patients had been placed.
The two patients in that courtyard were the first two people to develop fevers. They were also the ones who still had not recovered and were being kept alive with medicinal treatment.
Xue Yan followed the miracle physician into the courtyard.
The miracle physician stopped and turned around.
“Why are you coming in? Aren’t you afraid of the epidemic?”
Xue Yan simply said, “I’ll take a look with you.”
Naturally, he could not see anything unusual himself.
But the miracle physician could tell that he was anxious.
He smiled and did not stop him, merely making a gesture for Xue Yan to come along.
The two people in the courtyard were already extremely ill.
When they entered, there was no one else inside. The two patients lay on the beds with their eyes tightly closed, their faces burning red from fever. They were already breathing out more than they were breathing in.
Xue Yan frowned.
The miracle physician noticed the change in his expression and could roughly guess that Xue Yan’s frown was certainly not because he was worried about these two people.
As for the exact reason…
With someone as cold and hard as Prince Guangling, almost to the point of seeming inhuman, there must surely be someone extremely important to him who had also contracted the epidemic.
Only then would he empathize so deeply and rush to Yangzhou without regard for his own life, digging the miracle physician out of the depths of the mountains.
The miracle physician had traveled the world for many years and had seen plenty of what love could drive people to do.
He smiled without saying anything and walked over to the bed to examine the patients himself.
After observing, smelling, questioning, and taking their pulses, he drew a little blood from one patient’s fingertip and carefully examined it.
After a while, the miracle physician smiled faintly.
“Just as I thought. I wasn’t mistaken.”
As he spoke, he said to Jinbao, who was standing nearby, “Go find an official in charge.”
Jinbao hurried out and brought an official inside.
It was the official who had previously worked alongside Jun Huailang on repairing the dike.
“Tell me, when did this epidemic begin?” the miracle physician asked.
The official hurriedly replied, “The earliest cases appeared roughly ten days ago.”
“And before that, did anything happen in the places where the epidemic broke out?” he asked.
The official thought for a moment.
“The epidemic first broke out in the prison where Jinling holds its criminals. A few days before that, there was a fairly serious accident at the dike, and some workers were injured. His Highness the Heir ordered those workers detained.”
The miracle physician smiled.
“Then that explains it.”
He looked toward Xue Yan.
“The wolf blood I had you collect will also be useful.”
Everyone in the room looked at him.
The miracle physician found paper and a brush and began writing out a prescription with smooth, flowing strokes. As he wrote, he also pulled medicinal herbs from the bundle he carried with him.
“‘If an orange is planted south of the Huai River, it remains an orange; if planted north of the Huai, it becomes a trifoliate orange.’ Have you heard that saying, Your Highness?”
Xue Yan nodded.
The miracle physician continued.
“Lingnan is rife with miasma. It has many mountains and lakes, and the southwestern region is particularly so. The terrain there is narrow and remote, and the food people eat is different from that of the Central Plains. On top of that, people living in the mountains always have things they can eat that outsiders cannot.
“Over time, the people there—especially the bandits who have lived in the mountains for generations—develop certain toxins in their blood. They themselves can resist them, but outsiders are another matter.”
Xue Yan frowned.
“You mean the workers in Jinling had a southwestern bandit mixed among them?”
The southwestern frontier was precisely the fief of the Prince of Yunnan.
With a flourish of his brush, the miracle physician finished writing the prescription.
“That, you’ll have to investigate yourselves.”
He placed the prescription on the table.
“Have someone decoct the medicine. Use the wolf blood as the medicinal catalyst. You don’t need much—just administer the medicine after adding it. If I’m not mistaken, one dose should be enough to show an effect.”
Xue Yan looked toward Jinbao.
Jinbao immediately responded and hurried out with the prescription to have the medicine prepared.
“Send a dose to the Heir’s room later,” Xue Yan said.
There was no need for Xue Yan to mention it.
Jinbao immediately agreed repeatedly and ran out.
The miracle physician leisurely sat down.
“You don’t need to blame those Imperial Physicians either,” he said. “They spend all day in Chang’an. What difficult illnesses have they actually seen? I’ve traveled all over the world, so naturally I’ve seen more than they have.”
Xue Yan acknowledged him and was about to get up.
“The heir you mentioned—is he the person you saved that day?” The miracle physician looked at him with a hint of teasing in his eyes.
Xue Yan calmly met his gaze without the slightest attempt to evade it.
“Yes.”
The miracle physician laughed.
“I’ll arrange a place for you to stay. You may do as you please,” Xue Yan said.
With that, he turned to leave.
Why was he in such a hurry?
He was obviously going to keep watch over that person.
The miracle physician kindly reminded him, “There’s no need to stand guard. If you still want to keep your life, you should get some sleep first.”
As a physician, he could tell at a glance that this man’s strength had long since been completely exhausted. At this point, he was surviving purely through sheer willpower.
But Xue Yan did not stop walking.
“I want to be there when he wakes up,” he said.