(4) Elder Mu, God of Healing

The moment she stepped into the tent, Anu saw a white-haired, rosy-cheeked old man in gray robes, brimming with vitality, come walking toward her with a broad smile. She caught hold of his sleeve and bounced up and down with excitement.

　　"Grandfather, how did you end up in Yan City?"

　　"The good people of Yan City have you to thank for it, Anu! I reckoned you'd be coming this way, so I came ahead specially to see to this epidemic — otherwise there's no telling whether that young friend of yours and her husband would even still be alive."

　　"Manchun? Grandfather, you know about Manchun? How... how are they?" Hearing what the Old Immortal said, Anu's heart lurched with worry at once.

　　"You have her to thank too — the two of them have very nearly recovered, and the child in her belly has been safely preserved as well." Elder Mu looked at Anu and smiled.

　　"Really? Manchun is with child? Then where are they now?"

　　"Don't rush..." Elder Mu patted Anu's hand soothingly. "Let me greet our honored guest first." With that, he turned and folded his hands in greeting toward Ziyuan, who had just entered the tent behind her.

　　Since they stood surrounded by mortals, Elder Mu addressed Ziyuan only as "honored guest," to avoid revealing who he truly was; the two of them understood one another perfectly without a word, and Ziyuan returned the courtesy in kind, saying respectfully, "I have long heard Elder Mu's name spoken with great reverence. To meet you today, by such fortunate chance, is Ziyuan's own good fortune."

　　The two exchanged pleasantries back and forth, each perfectly aware of the other's meaning beneath the surface, their faces betraying nothing out of the ordinary.

　　"Please, honored guest, be seated." Elder Mu gestured for his disciples to bring over two stools, his manner deferential.

　　"My thanks, Elder Mu."

　　Ziyuan seated himself and glanced about the tent. The furnishings within were simple: three wooden tables and six wooden chairs, each table bearing a small jade headrest, along with the complete set of writing implements and a paperweight — plainly the tools Elder Mu and his disciples used for examining patients and writing out prescriptions. Off to either side stood a scattering of wooden stools and two disciples, both dressed as mortals in their twenties or thirties, wearing short gray tunics and coarse grayish-black trousers. Ziyuan could tell at a glance that these two were no ordinary sort — both were of the Celestial Clan, sent here under their master's command to help save lives in Yan City; disguised as mortals alongside Elder Mu, they handled everything from diagnosing patients to brewing medicine to running errands, and blended easily among the mortals without raising any suspicion. The remaining five disciples, meanwhile, were tasked with leading the people of Yan City in tending the sick across the various tents — all seven working in their assigned roles, everything proceeding in good order.

　　The gentle, easy words Elder Mu had used to soothe Anu a moment ago were, on the surface, exactly that and no more — Anu, hearing them, had taken great comfort in them at face value. But Ziyuan's heart saw clearly through to the truth beneath: Elder Mu's real purpose in coming, most likely, was for his sake.

　　It was only by borrowing the pretext of Anu's connection to him that he had come to see him at all — otherwise, how could Elder Mu possibly find time to tend to every mortal illness under heaven?

　　"Mu Five! Mu Six!" Elder Mu beckoned, signaling the two senior disciples to come forward and pay their respects to Ziyuan.

　　Mu Five and Mu Six came promptly forward at his word, walking straight up to Ziyuan and preparing to kneel and kowtow before him.

　　"Mu Five and Mu Six pay their respects to the honored guest." Just as they were about to kneel, Ziyuan hurried to his feet and caught hold of both of them.

　　"We are away from home — there's no need for such formality." Ziyuan kept his words discreet, but the two of them understood his meaning well enough: such a full ceremonial bow was proper etiquette among Celestial beings, but here in the mortal world, it was better to dispense with such elaborate courtesies.

　　As it happened, Elder Mu had ten disciples in all, drawn from many different places — some from the Celestial Clan, some from the demon clan — and each had a name of their own; but before Elder Mu, he always preferred to address them simply by the order in which they had entered his tutelage. His eldest disciple, the Medicine King, remained behind at the Medicine Hut in the Celestial Court in his master's stead. Elder Mu himself, together with his wife, made his long-term home at the Langhuan Immortal Abode on Mount Kunlun with his other eight disciples, venturing out from time to time to practice medicine as an itinerant healer. The last to enter his tutelage, naturally, was Xiaoyi, who had not yet fully taken human form and, bearing his own particular mission, remained even now in the Mist Forest. On this journey to Yan City with seven of his disciples, Elder Mu had left the steadiest and most level-headed among them, Mu Two, behind on Mount Kunlun to manage the affairs of the Immortal Abode.

　　"The epidemic here in Yan City has already largely run its course. Those who have recovered well enough have already begun taking their medicine home these past several days to continue their treatment there; the rest should be able to return home within another five or six days as well. If it pleases the honored guest to stay and lend a hand until matters here are settled, perhaps the two of us might sit down for a game or two of chess together afterward — what do you say?"

　　Elder Mu's eyes crinkled with a kindly warmth as he extended the invitation to Ziyuan.

　　"I am honored by Elder Mu's regard, and would not presume to decline." Ziyuan folded his hands and lowered his eyes respectfully.

　　Elder Mu nodded, and summoned Mu Five, instructing him to take Anu to the larger tent outside to find Manchun and her husband; he then called for Mu Six and sent him off to fetch two sets of coarse hempen cotton jackets, so that once Anu had seen Manchun, the two of them could change and join in the last of the medical work still to be done.

　　Anu, overjoyed, hurried off after Mu Five without delay. Ziyuan watched her retreating figure with a smile until she was out of sight, then turned slowly back around, only to find Elder Mu's gaze already fixed on him, deep with meaning.

　　No one else remained in the tent now.

　　"The road ahead was once shrouded in uncertainty; now, at last, things grow clearer. Truly, as they say — 'every sip, every peck, is fated beforehand.' The Asura King refuses to accept his fate, will not listen to reason, and thrashes about to no purpose — in the end, what is destined cannot be avoided." Elder Mu stroked his beard and gave a wry smile.

　　So it was true — Elder Mu had indeed come here for Ziyuan's sake.

　　Ziyuan understood this well enough in his own heart, and met Elder Mu's gaze steadily, without flinching. In the old man's eyes there was scrutiny, there was probing inquiry, and mixed in besides, both admiration and a sigh of resignation.

　　Ziyuan said nothing, his expression composed, his heart perfectly clear. What Elder Mu had left unsaid, how could he fail to understand?

　　"Well, no matter... In another five or six days, once the crowds outside have dispersed, we can sit down together through the night and talk our fill over the chessboard."

　　"Yes." Ziyuan nodded. He understood that Elder Mu, following the thread of this fated encounter, had come specially to see him, and surely had things he meant to say. Curing a mortal epidemic was, for Elder Mu, the simplest of matters — he who moved freely across all Three Realms, what need had he to go to such trouble over a trifling mortal plague? This whole undertaking, plainly, was nothing more than a way for him to conceal his true identity, using the guise of tending mortals as cover for a single purpose: to come down to the mortal world and meet him face to face. Ziyuan understood this well, and knew too that such a chance came perhaps once in a thousand years — even a single word or phrase from Elder Mu would be of tremendous value, let alone an entire night's conversation by candlelight. That a man as wise and unfettered as Elder Mu should take the initiative to seek him out — perhaps, at last, there was some path opening toward resolving the enmity between the Celestial Clan and the Asura Clan after all.

　　So he thought to himself.

　　And so, once Mu Six brought the coarse cloth garments, Ziyuan changed into them without a word of complaint, and without waiting for Anu's return, followed Mu Six out to lend his help among the various tents. Anu, for her part, finding Manchun and her husband safe and sound and soon to welcome a new life into the world, felt her heart at ease, and threw herself into the work with unusual vigor upon her return — boiling medicine, delivering it, feeding it to patients, with Ziyuan at her side the whole while. The five or six days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and it was only once the tents stood empty at last that she realized, with a start, just how quickly the time had flown.