Hidden Shadow – CH 050

Chapter Fifty: Dual Spiritual Power

A person’s character was truly important.

When An Jiu first met Mo Sigui, she thought he was a handsome young man, but after several encounters, she discovered that his character completely overshadowed his appearance to the point that she wanted to punch him whenever she saw him.

“Physicians are all the same, really,” An Jiu thought to herself.

Mei Jiu remained silent, not daring to mention An Jiu’s painful past. From the memories she had received, An Jiu’s father was a physician, a madman who used his own wife as a guinea pig for medicine. Due to a huge upheaval, An Jiu developed mental problems; her behavior was extremely violent, often resorting to murder or self-harm. Therefore, the physicians had to forcefully suppress her, and An Jiu had always disliked all physicians.

After waiting for a while, Mo Sigui and the two elders left the herb garden together.

Elder Qi was only four years younger than Elder Zhi, but when they walked together, they looked like they were ten years apart! Elder Qi, sixty-three years old this year, looked remarkably spry, appearing to be only in his fifties. He was agile, yet held a cane as white as jade in his hand.

Elder Qi glanced at An Jiu with gentle eyes.

An Jiu awkwardly followed Yao-Ye in bowing to the two.

“Hmph.” Elder Zhi, seeing her sullen expression, felt a surge of anger rise again.

An Jiu said earnestly, “Elder, it was wrong of me to make you angry just now. Do you think a few beatings would make you feel better? I will not dodge.”

Mei Jiu shuddered upon hearing this. “You should at least discuss it with me! It’s not just you who’s hurt!”

“Ha, Brother, your disciple is interesting.” Elder Qi was stubborn at heart but usually very easygoing. Only Mo Sigui could usually provoke him.

“Likewise,” Elder Zhi snorted.

Elder Qi, the eldest son of the main branch, was a medical prodigy, though lacking in martial arts. He was obsessed with medicine his entire life, indifferent to everything else, until his only son was sent to the Konghe Army, at which point he felt remorse. After becoming an elder of the Mei Clan and gaining a deeper understanding of the Konghe Army, that remorse grew increasingly unbearable. The image of his son’s melancholy expression before joining the army became a haunting nightmare. He was stubborn by nature; once he made up his mind, he would never turn back, even if it meant hitting a wall. He felt he had wronged his son, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind.

Elder Qi doted on Mo Sigui, treating him like his own grandson. He deliberately prevented Mo Sigui from joining the Mei Clan, yet secretly and unreservedly passed on all his skills to him. Elder Zhi, with his keen understanding of the world, could easily guess Elder Qi’s intentions; he simply turned a blind eye.

“Let’s go. Let’s talk inside,” Elder Qi said.

An Jiu immediately became wary. She had come to apologize to Elder Zhi, which had nothing to do with Elder Qi, but was this a prelude to a chat in the room?

“Girl, ever since you were registered under my name, I’ve been watching your words and actions closely,” Elder Zhi said, his gaze clear as if he knew a secret. “Elder Qi is not only a skilled physician but also proficient in various mystical and magical arts, but do not worry. I have no ill intentions towards you.”

From his words, it seemed he already knew that two souls resided within her body.

Mei Jiu was worried. “What should we do? It seems we’ve been discovered.”

If Elder Qi could truly see through the duality of one body and two souls, An Jiu felt it was worth the gamble. What was it to be trapped in a body with an owner? Living or dead? If there were a way to separate them, that would be ideal. If she were to simply vanish into nothingness, she could at least pretend she was dead when someone shot her in the head. But if they had not noticed, she would never admit it.

She made up her mind. An Jiu asked Mei Jiu a very serious question, “What are mystical arts and magical arts?”

“You do not know?” Mei Jiu, constantly being called an idiot, was forced to show some temper. She immediately wanted to mock her. “Do you not consider yourself a genius?”

Because of her mother, An Jiu knew some Eastern culture and had lived in the East for a time, but she was still not as knowledgeable as a native of ancient times.

“What’s the problem? The difference is obvious,” An Jiu, without batting an eye, stated a fact very seriously. “Since I am not ashamed to ask, answer properly. Being a born idiot is one thing, but do not lose the virtues you’ve painstakingly cultivated.”

Mei Jiu deeply doubted whether this person was really an assassin. She privately thought assassins should be like Mu Qianshan—cold and taciturn, with a deathly expression that kept people at a distance. An Jiu did indeed have a murderous aura and was difficult to approach, but she was not exactly taciturn. Thinking about it carefully, An Jiu was also cold and taciturn when she possessed the body, yet she was like a chatterbox in front of her!

Being a chatterbox was one thing, but every word she uttered was also hurtful!

Despite her dissatisfaction, Mei Jiu obediently answered, “Mystic arts cover a very wide range, including some medical skills and methods of self-cultivation, essential studies for great physicians. Besides these, mystic arts also include divination and physiognomy, and legends even mention summoning ghosts and gods and cultivating immortality. Magical arts focus on the supernatural aspects of mystic arts, including geomancy, formations, and divination.” Mei Jiu was widely read, but her knowledge of these things was only superficial. She had no natural affinity for the I Ching; even after reading the I Ching repeatedly, she could only grasp its surface meaning.

Mo Sigui could not help but sidle up to An Jiu again. “I knew you were crazy.” An Jiu suddenly raised her hand and punched him in the face.

“Ouch—” Mo Sigui howled, covering his face. “I am going to make a living with my face!”

Slap! Elder Qi tapped him on the back of the head with his cane, displeased. “Do you think learning my medical skills will starve you? Do you really need to rely on your shamelessness to make a living?”

Yao-Ye and Mei Jiu, who were worried, could not help but laugh at this commotion.

Elder Qi was reluctant to use force, but An Jiu did not hold back, punching Mo Sigui so hard his nose bled profusely. He rummaged through his pockets, pulling out several bottles and jars, fiddling with them for a while, then tore off a handkerchief and stuffed it into his nostrils to stop the bleeding.

Luckily, Mei Jiu’s body was not very strong; otherwise, Mo Sigui would have had his nose broken, if not disfigured.

Back at Qiming Hall, Elder Qi led them into a pharmacy.

Upon entering, they realized that Elder Qi’s residence was not only different from Elder Zhi’s in appearance, but even the interior was vastly different. Elder Zhi’s residence was huge, spacious yet spotless, devoid of any superfluous furnishings. Elder Qi’s pharmacy, on the other hand, was a chaotic jumble of bottles and jars, various medicinal herbs piled haphazardly, almost obscuring the furniture. Many of the bottles were identical, making it impossible to identify what they contained.

“Do not stand on ceremony; sit wherever you like,” Elder Qi said kindly.

But where to sit?

Elder Zhi spotted a chair. He brushed away the bottles and jars and sat down.

An Jiu followed suit, clearing out a chair.

The clanging sound of shattering porcelain made Elder Qi’s eyes twitch. He sighed. “Truly, master and disciple are alike. Sigui, fetch my soul-soothing powder.”

Mo Sigui’s nose was bruised and purple, and the silk strips stuffed in his nostrils dangled. As he spoke, he blew on the silk, causing it to dance wildly. He looked innocently at Elder Qi. “I cannot help.” With so many bottles and jars, he needed his keen sense of smell to find the medicine. His nose was coated with medicine, its strong smell almost undetectable.

“Your eyes are fine, are they not?” Elder Zhi’s voice remained gentle, but his demands were extremely harsh.

The bottles here were not labeled; judging the ingredients of pills or powders by sight alone was incredibly difficult.

Mo Sigui reluctantly shifted his position. “You have to give me a general idea!”

“I remember it’s roughly over there.” Elder Qi pointed to a corner with his cane.

Mo Sigui tiptoed over there and squatted down to rummage through the bottles.

An Jiu was wondering if he could find it when suddenly her wrist was pinched by three fingers. She pulled away abruptly, her retaliatory movement halting halfway.

“Excuse me,” An Jiu said, recognizing Elder Qi beside her. After a moment’s hesitation, she extended her hand.

This time, the pulse-taking lasted a long time. The room was quiet, making the sounds of Mo Sigui fiddling with the bottles and jars all the more prominent.

Elder Qi released An Jiu’s wrist and then checked her pulse at several points. He pondered for a moment before saying, “There’s something unusual about her pulse.”

“What kind of unusual pulse?” Mo Sigui rushed over excitedly, reaching out to grab An Jiu’s wrist.

Mei Jiu wanted to sigh. This person really… the wound had not even healed yet, and he’d already forgotten the pain.

An Jiu withdrew her hand and looked at Elder Qi.

“You can leave now,” Elder Qi said, glancing at Yao-Ye.

Yao-Ye was both worried and confused. She wanted to stay but dared not disobey the elder, so she reluctantly withdrew.

Mo Sigui, unable to find the difference in An Jiu’s pulse, asked unwillingly, “Elder, what’s unusual?”

The Ren and Du meridians, one yin and one yang, connected the Qi and blood of all the internal organs; together, they were called unusual pulses. In martial arts, extraordinary meridians differed. Some possessed naturally unobstructed Ren and Du meridians, making them martial arts prodigies; others had complex branch meridians, hindering the clarity and flow of the two main meridians, rendering them useless in martial arts, unable to reach their peak no matter how much effort they put in.

If it was useless, that was terrible! Elder Zhi straightened slightly. “A heavenly meridian or a useless meridian?”

Elder Qi shook his head. “Neither. Although Fourteenth Young Lady does not have naturally unobstructed extraordinary meridians, both are clear, and I observe her exceptional bone structure and excellent aptitude. It’s a pity she started practicing martial arts too late; otherwise, she should at least be at the fourth level by now.”

Mei Jiu had never practiced martial arts; merely killing a martial arts master with a bamboo bow was not the main reason Elder Zhi accepted her as a disciple. He initially decided to take her on because of her good aptitude and her personality, which suited him well.

Hearing Elder Qi’s words, Elder Zhi finally felt relieved. “That’s…”

“Her two meridians are sometimes blocked and sometimes open, with no regularity in their speed,” Elder Qi frowned, then slowly said, “Logically speaking, once a person’s Qi and blood are fixed, the Ren and Du meridians should circulate on their own, making this situation unlikely. From a martial arts perspective, perhaps spiritual power can influence the two meridians…”

Elder Qi, as he spoke, suddenly realized something. “So I speculate that Fourteenth Young Lady has two layers of spiritual power. When these spiritual powers intersect, it might cause this strange phenomenon.”

“So she’s a madwoman, right?” Mo Sigui interjected. “I’ve seen this kind of pulse pattern before in Bianjing; it belonged to an escort. Master, he’s usually erratic, sometimes claiming to be the number one martial arts master, other times saying he’s a widowed peasant. His pulse fluctuated wildly between these two claims! When he says he’s the number one master, his internal energy doubles, leaping from the third to the fourth level, only to plummet back down when he’s lucid. My cousin’s situation is quite similar, but while the escort clearly was not quite right, my cousin showed no signs of madness. That’s why I am particularly interested.”

He rattled off a bunch of things, then looked at An Jiu with a clear, distant gaze: “See? Cousin is actually very upright at heart. He’s genuinely just concerned about your illness, with absolutely no lewd intentions.”