Master Huifa, the Emperor has issued an imperial decree. Please enter the palace immediately! The leading imperial guard captain spoke to Master Huifa with an anxious expression.
Seeing how hurried the captain was, Master Huifa stood up, nodded slightly to Gu Zhaoyan, and hastily followed him away. In the blink of an eye, only Gu Zhaoyan and Bailang remained in the abbot’s courtyard.
Being in such a rush means something must have happened in the imperial palace, Bailang remarked. Master Huifa is well-versed in Buddhist scriptures. Since the palace is in such a hurry to summon him, could it be that they want him to chant scriptures and pray? Usually, things only reach this point when evil spirits and chaos are running rampant. However, the imperial palace is the place where the nation’s destiny is most prosperous. What kind of evil spirit could possibly appear within the imperial city?
Hearing Bailang’s words, Gu Zhaoyan let out a light chuckle. It remains to be seen whether it is truly an evil spirit.
Bailang looked at him with a blank, uncomprehending gaze. If it is not an evil spirit, what else could it be?
A man-made disaster. Gu Zhaoyan raised an eyebrow, gently uttering those two words. The human heart is as complex and unfathomable as a ghostly realm. There is no telling if someone is merely making a mystifying fuss.
Hearing this, Bailang looked thoughtful. Was it brought about by mortals?
That very night, just as Gu Zhaoyan had returned to his guest room from Zhou Wanying’s quarters, he heard Prince Jing’s voice accompanied by urgent knocking at the door: Master! Master!
Gu Zhaoyan opened the door and saw Prince Jing with a panicked expression. Prince Jing grabbed his arm and began pulling him outward. Time is of the essence. We will talk on the way! Before Gu Zhaoyan could even say a single word, he was pulled out of the temple and onto a carriage by Prince Jing. As soon as he sat down, the carriage started moving at a rapid pace. The sound of horse hooves beat like drums striking heavily against one’s heart.
What on earth has happened? Gu Zhaoyan asked with a frown. This was the first time he had ever seen Prince Jing in such a panic. Could something truly major have happened in the palace?
His Majesty has fallen gravely ill. Even Master Huifa was helpless, and I had no other choice but to seek you out, Prince Jing sighed. At present, the crown prince has not yet been appointed. If His Majesty passes away now, I fear the struggle among the imperial princes will flow with rivers of blood! That is why he came to look for Gu Zhaoyan, though he had no idea whether Gu Zhaoyan actually had the ability to handle it, leaving him with no choice but to hold onto a shred of hope.
Gu Zhaoyan had not expected the emperor to fall severely ill. Since they even went outside to invite Master Huifa to intervene, it was likely that the imperial physicians in the palace were entirely out of ideas. Yet, he did not consider his own medical skills to be exceptionally brilliant. At best, he was slightly better at dealing with discomfort caused by malevolent spirits, but when it came to treating illnesses and saving lives, aside from the child Jinyu, he had truly never saved anyone else.
Let us make this clear beforehand. His Majesty is already elderly. As you know, when elderly people are in poor health, they easily fall ill. If this illness is something I can treat, I will certainly treat it, but I cannot do anything else. After all, I am merely a physician, not an immortal. Gu Zhaoyan gave Prince Jing a heads-up in advance so that if any problems arose later, the blame would not fall entirely on him.
Prince Jing nodded and said, Rest assured, Master. We only need you to treat the illness, nothing more. Besides, even if you could do more, I am afraid those imperial princes would not wish for you to do so.
The carriage quickly arrived at the imperial palace. With Prince Jing leading the way, they entered the emperor’s bedchamber without any obstruction.
At that moment, the bedchamber was very quiet. Many imperial physicians were gathered to one side, whispering among themselves in low voices. Meanwhile, Master Huifa was deep in thought, occasionally shaking his head with a troubled expression.
A woman in her late forties, dressed in a bright yellow phoenix robe, was sitting beside the bed, using a silk handkerchief to wipe the tear tracks from her face. From time to time, she raised her tear-blurred eyes to look at the old man lying unconscious on the bed.
The Master has arrived! Prince Jing pulled Gu Zhaoyan along as he strode quickly into the room. Seeing everyone inside turn their gazes toward him at those words, Gu Zhaoyan felt rather awkward. He quickly pulled his hand away from Prince Jing’s grip, brought his hands together in a salute, and chanted a Buddhist name: Amitabha! This humble monk, Wuchen, greets the Empress.
The Empress hurriedly stood up. Though her expression was anxious, she did not lose her status and etiquette: Master Wuchen, His Majesty is gravely ill. We ask that the Master please take a look. Looking at Gu Zhaoyan’s countenance, which resembled that of a Buddha descended to the mortal world, her anxious heart calmed down quite a bit. Someone who looked so different from ordinary mortals surely could not be an ordinary monk. Having previously heard Prince Jing’s high praise of him, a sliver of hope rose within her heart.
Gu Zhaoyan smiled and said, This poor monk will naturally do his utmost. With those words, he walked over to the bed, sat down, and reached out to take the emperor’s pulse. The pulse was weak and feeble, appearing intermittently, which was precisely the sign of a life force nearing exhaustion. However, for some reason, a wisp of vitality remained within the pulse, sustaining the emperor’s life and preventing him from kicking the bucket right then and there.
He lowered his gaze in deep thought. The imperial physicians in the palace surely knew what to do. Even if they wanted to rouse the emperor to consciousness for even a brief moment to establish an heir, they should have been able to manage it. Yet the palace had instead invited Master Huifa in. On the way here, Gu Zhaoyan had already heard from Prince Jing that Master Huifa possessed great medical skills, even rivaling those of the imperial physicians. Yet even Master Huifa was helpless, which was truly strange.
Master Huifa handed the prescription previously written by the imperial physicians to Gu Zhaoyan. This is the prescription the imperial physicians in the palace wrote before this old monk arrived. It targets the symptoms correctly. Logically speaking, once His Majesty took the medicine, he should have woken up, but he has taken it multiple times without showing the slightest effect, and still displays no sign of regaining consciousness.
Gu Zhaoyan took those prescriptions, looked through them one by one, and nodded from time to time. The prescription was indeed targeted at the correct condition. How long has His Majesty been unconscious?
The Empress replied, It has been two days. The day before yesterday, after finishing court and reviewing memorials for quite a while, he was just about to stand up when he collapsed and fainted. He has not woken up since.
That was somewhat unusual. Gu Zhaoyan ruled out the possibility of an incorrect prescription, which left only external factors. He looked at the unconscious emperor on the bed, his eyes flashing slightly. A flicker of light danced across his pupils and vanished in an instant. Because he was standing with his back to the others, no one noticed.
With his spiritual eyes opened, anything invisible to the naked eye of mortals became completely clear. A wisp of golden light drifted out from the emperor’s chest, floating away from the bedchamber like a living creature toward an unknown destination. Gu Zhaoyan raised his head to look toward the roof, only to see a golden dragon circling above the imperial palace. That single wisp of vitality sustaining the emperor had been granted by this dragon formed from the nation’s destiny. Noticing Gu Zhaoyan’s gaze, the golden dragon blinked its eyes, nodded slightly at him, and instantly vanished, taking that wisp of vitality back along with it.
The next moment, Gu Zhaoyan pressed his fingers against the emperor’s chest and severed that wisp of golden light, immediately feeding him a medicinal pill. The outflow of dragon qi was blocked, and the pill preserved that remaining hint of vitality, effectively stabilizing the emperor’s condition.
Brew a bowl of medicine according to this prescription. By tomorrow, His Majesty should be able to wake up.
Hearing his words, the imperial physicians were all extremely surprised. After exchanging glances, they looked toward the Empress. With the Empress’s consent, they hurried over to check the emperor’s pulse one by one. Finding that the pulse had returned to a much more normal state, they all looked at Gu Zhaoyan in utter astonishment. They had just witnessed it with their own eyes: Gu Zhaoyan had simply reached out and tapped the emperor’s chest, and just like that, he was cured? How truly marvelous.
Master Huifa also took the pulse once and smiled. Little Friend Wuchen’s medical skills are likely superior to this old monk’s. He figured that Gu Zhaoyan, as a lay disciple of the Buddhist gate, must have already achieved profound mastery through his cultivation.
Hearing Master Huifa say this, the imperial physicians were even more shocked. They all knew Master Huifa’s medical prowess; even the chief physician of their imperial hospital lagged slightly behind Master Huifa. How could such formidable medical skill not leave them both shocked and full of reverence?
Gu Zhaoyan paid them no mind, instead walking over to the Empress’s side and asking in a low voice, Amitabha, please forgive this poor monk for asking out of turn: has anyone unusual appeared by His Majesty’s side recently?