(3) Plague in Yan City

It had been more than a year since Anu had last set foot in Yan City, and returning now to this once bustling, crowded city, something felt strangely amiss to her at once. To avoid alarming the mortals, Ziyuan brought her to a deserted spot by the city gate, veiled her face, and only then did the two of them walk side by side through the gate. Yet the farther in they went, the more Anu's suspicion grew — the streets were sparsely peopled, and even the few passersby she did see wore listless, drained expressions; the shops looked worn and neglected, nearly all of them shuttered, nothing at all like the lively scene from the year before.

　　Even allowing for the depths of winter, it should never have looked so desolate as this.

　　Remembering how, back when the nine-headed serpent-demon had wreaked havoc on Clearstream Town, the town had worn a similarly grim look, Anu could not help wondering whether some demon was now bringing misfortune upon Yan City as well. Ziyuan noticed the doubt in her eyes at once.

　　"What is it? Does it seem unusually quiet to you? It wasn't like this the last time you came, was it?"

　　"That's right!" Anu nodded.

　　"But I don't sense any demonic energy."

　　"It isn't a demon, and it isn't some evil spirit." Ziyuan counted upon his fingers, then said, "What I sense is the energy of sickness, and the energy of death."

　　"Death?" Anu did not understand.

　　"Not long ago a fierce blizzard struck this city, and afterward an epidemic broke out — many have already died of it." Ziyuan explained.

　　"An epidemic?" Anu was taken aback. Mortals had never had much power to resist or cure such plagues; though she knew mortals had their own fates and it was not truly her place to interfere, she found she could not simply turn away entirely from the suffering of the mortal world — especially not while she herself was living among mortals, with dear mortal friends of her own. Knowing they might be caught up in such a calamity, how could she possibly feel nothing at all?

　　"Don't worry yet, Anu." Ziyuan comforted her gently.

　　"Yan City has had the help of a person of great worth, and the epidemic has already eased considerably. If not for that, what you're seeing now would not be this quiet, peaceful scene, but something closer to a living hell on earth."

　　"A person of great worth?" Anu looked at Ziyuan, curious.

　　"Perhaps someone you already know." Ziyuan let the mystery hang; not far off, a shimmer of violet-gold radiance shone bright and dazzling — deliberately concealed, invisible to mortal eyes and to Anu's alike, yet not hidden from his own.

　　"Someone I know? And also a person of great worth who can cure the plague..." Anu, both intrigued and puzzled, turned the thought over and over in her mind; in truth, she did not know very many people at all.

　　"Could it be Grandfather?" The thought flashed through her mind, and she could hardly contain her delight. Over four hundred years since they had last met — could it truly be that she would run into him here, in this mortal city of Yan?

　　"How did Ziyuan know I knew him?" Beyond her delight at the thought of seeing her grandfather again in Yan City, Anu found herself once more marveling at how Ziyuan seemed to know everything, without exception.

　　"The moment I saw Xiaoyi, I guessed as much. He is nothing more than a lingzhi spirit with a little over a thousand years of cultivation, and yet he carries himself with the bearing of a Celestial being and possesses medical and magical skill far beyond his station — who could have taught him such things, if not Elder Mu? What's more, Elder Mu's wife is a close relative of your own mother's — given that connection, it wasn't hard to guess the two of you were well acquainted."

　　"So it really is Grandfather?" Anu asked eagerly, breaking into a delighted smile. "Then should I go find Grandfather first, or go see how Manchun and the others are doing? I wonder if they're all right, with the plague going around..."

　　"Perhaps you should go straight to see Elder Mu. The epidemic spread so quickly that the court, fearing it would spread further still, ordered the city's four gates sealed shut, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving — the people of Yan City were, in effect, simply sacrificed and abandoned. Ten days ago, Elder Mu arrived at the city gates with seven disciples and a dozen or so carts of medicinal herbs, and begged to be let in to treat the common people. Since the old physician set to work, not a single soul in Yan City has died, and those already stricken have been recovering one after another; some who had not yet fallen ill, moved to see the physicians treating patients day and night without accepting a single coin, came forward of their own will to help. Whether Manchun and her husband have taken ill or not, if they are still alive, they are likely to be found near Elder Mu even now — you might as well go and look."

　　Listening to Ziyuan explain the full course of events so patiently, Anu's heart filled with delight. In the past, whenever she went out with Xing'er, being the one with the higher cultivation between them, it always fell to her to play the role of the one solving every difficult problem, with Xing'er forever relying on her; but now, with Ziyuan at her side, she found she could simply relax and let herself be looked after. Whether or not he bothered to count on his fingers, Ziyuan's reckonings of past and future alike were always precise, quite unlike her own occasional lapses — this feeling of having someone to lean on filled her with a quiet warmth.

　　"Then I'll do as you say." With someone as reliable and steady as Ziyuan at her side, what reason could the little thing possibly have to object?

　　"Since you're saying all this, you must already know where Grandfather is — take me to him, quickly! I haven't seen the old man in over four hundred years."

　　"Wait a moment!" Ziyuan seemed to remember something, and did not step forward at once.

　　"Dressed as lightly as we are, we'll stand out badly in this bitter mortal cold. Neither of us feels heat or cold, but mortals do — if we don't add a few layers, we'll draw far too much attention." As he spoke, seeing no one nearby, Ziyuan gave a light tap of his finger, and at once several layers of warm winter garments appeared on each of them, inside and out, topped off with a fox-fur cloak apiece.

　　Looking at the two cloaks, one violet and one white, Anu could not help laughing.

　　"Aren't we a little too conspicuous, dressed like this?"

　　"I thought about plain homespun robes, to pass ourselves off as ordinary folk — but with your face veiled, what serving girl doing rough work goes about with a veil over her face? So I had no choice but to dress us up as wealthy nobility instead, and make do." With that, giving Anu no time to think further on it, Ziyuan took her hand and led her off toward the violet-gold glow.

　　They wound their way through the city's twisting streets for some time, the whole way steeped in an air of desolation, and yet every passerby they met could not help casting looks of open admiration their way. However hard Ziyuan and Anu tried to pass as ordinary mortals, there was no concealing the exceptional beauty and otherworldly bearing that set them apart. Even with only her eyes and brow visible above the veil, Anu's violet eyes and the flower between her brows, framed by her fine, delicate features, already outshone by far any noblewoman of wealth the mortal world had to offer; as for Ziyuan, there was no need even to say it — the noble air he had carried since birth, his dragon-and-phoenix bearing, made even a mortal king's presence pale by comparison.

　　Trailed all the while by a stream of admiring glances, the two of them arrived at last at a hastily erected treatment camp, several large felt tents standing in orderly rows. People moved briskly in and out, each occupied with their own tasks; though the place bustled with activity, everything proceeded in good order, and for all the bustle there was no noisy clamor.

　　Ziyuan led Anu through the crowded press of people to stop before one of the smaller felt tents, and curious glances from all around began converging on them at once. Two people in fine, elegant clothes, showing not the slightest trace of illness, stood out sharply amid this scene of suffering. Their presence stirred an unusual commotion, and soon everyone who had been busy at their tasks turned their attention toward the pair.

　　"You two..." Someone finally could not contain their curiosity and spoke up.

　　"We're looking for the old miracle physician." Ziyuan folded his hands and explained their purpose. He had just used his Mind's Eye to learn, in an instant, that the common people here called Elder Mu the "old miracle physician."

　　"Ah, looking for the old miracle physician..." The crowd broke into knowing laughter at this.

　　Just then, a gray-robed man stepped briskly out from within the tent, and upon seeing the two of them, folded his hands in a respectful bow. "Greetings to you both, honored guests. My master has been expecting your arrival for some time now — please, come in."

　　"Grandfather knew we were coming?" Hearing this, Anu's face lit up with delight, and she turned to ask Ziyuan in a low voice.

　　"Do you still not know what Elder Mu is capable of? His cultivation surpasses even mine — if I knew he had come here, how could he possibly not know we were coming?" Ziyuan answered, perfectly composed.

　　At this, Anu's face bloomed into a wide smile; she let go of Ziyuan's hand and dashed eagerly into the tent.

　　"Grandfather! Grandfather!" Anu called out as she ran.