dmims Chapter 47: Gold Generates Water
Chapter 47: Gold Generates Water
Tieguai Li wrapped his arm around Cheng Xiaojin's waist and dragged him five meters away from the well.
Cheng Xiaojin was as limp as a noodle, her back resting on Tieguai Li's leg, her whole body as cold as frozen meat just taken out of a cold storage.
What is your body temperature?
Master Ma squatted down.
Zhou Banxian put his hand on Cheng Xiaojin's neck and pressed with two fingers for about ten seconds.
"His pulse is weak and thready, his body temperature is barely 35 degrees Celsius, and his hands and feet are ice cold."
"Then we need to warm it up quickly."
Tieguai Li took off his coat and wrapped it around Cheng Xiaojin.
"That's not enough. His metal element is depleted. No matter how much you wrap him up on the outside, it's just scratching the surface. You need to warm him up from the inside."
Before the words were even finished, a figure carrying an enamel pot jogged over from the direction of the east entrance, still wearing an apron and with a piece of scallion stuck to his waist.
It's Tong Kexin.
No one noticed when she arrived.
The enamel pot contained ginger soup, still piping hot. When the lid was lifted, steam billowed up, scattering the moonlight.
"Make way, make way."
Tong Kexin squatted down in front of Cheng Xiaojin, scooped up a spoonful of ginger soup, blew on it twice, and brought it to his lips.
Open your mouth.
Cheng Xiaojin's lips were blue from the cold, and he had to open them twice before they finally did. When the ginger soup was poured in, he choked and coughed twice because of the spiciness.
"Pour it in slowly, don't choke."
"Master Ma said from the side."
"I know, I know, no rush, drink slowly..."
Tong Kexin scooped up another spoonful, as if she were coaxing a child, her wrist as steady as a doctor holding acupuncture needles.
After Cheng Xiaojin drank three spoonfuls, the color of her lips changed from bluish-purple to light purple.
"Why are you here?"
His voice was as hoarse as a broken gong.
"I came because I wanted to, it's none of your business!"
Tong Kexin's voice was stiff, but her hand trembled slightly as she scooped up the ginger soup.
Cheng Xiaojin wanted to laugh, but her lips twitched and she couldn't move them; her tongue remained stiff.
Tieguai Li handed a military blanket from behind, and Tong Kexin took it and wrapped it around Cheng Xiaojin. One layer wasn't enough, so she wrapped him up with another, making him look like a dumpling with three layers of blankets.
Tang Wanqing walked over from twenty meters away.
She walked slower than usual, her left hand clutching the knot of the compass. The copper needle on the compass was still turning, but much slower than last night.
She stopped three steps away from Cheng Xiaojin and looked down at Cheng Xiaojin, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling.
"What method did you use?"
Cheng Xiaojin peeked half her face out from under the blanket.
"W-what?"
"I asked you what method you used. From beginning to end, you didn't recite a single incantation, didn't form a single hand seal, and didn't use any guiding techniques. You just endured it for forty minutes?"
"My method... uses living people as targets."
Tang Wanqing's lips moved twice, but she didn't make a sound.
Tong Kexin stood up, holding the enamel pot, and stood next to Cheng Xiaojin, looking Tang Wanqing up and down.
Who are you?
"Tang Wanqing, a member of the Zhenlong lineage."
"Oh, I've never heard of it..."
Tong Kexin's tone was neither warm nor cold.
"No, I've heard too. You were the one who caused the formation to explode last night, weren't you?"
Tang Wanqing's expression changed slightly.
"My formation indeed failed to suppress the evil energy."
"You couldn't control it, but Cheng Xiaojin did."
Tong Kexin's voice was trembling, not from cold, but from anger. It was the anger that had been building up when she squatted down and touched Cheng Xiaojin's icy hand on her forehead. She had nowhere to vent it, and now this person had just happened to be the one to provoke her.
"You've come here to ask about the Dharma, are you here to learn or to find fault?"
"Sister Tong".
Cheng Xiaojin quickly spoke up.
"Don't mention her. Miss Tang's sealing barrier has been stable all night. Without her protecting me from the outside, I wouldn't have lasted forty minutes inside."
Tong Kexin snorted and stepped aside with the enamel pot in her hand.
Tang Wanqing glanced at Tong Kexin, then at Cheng Xiaojin, opened her mouth briefly, then closed it again, and turned to leave.
Zhou Banxian remained squatting beside the well without moving.
His bronze compass rested on the ground, the needle no longer turning, pointing steadily due north.
Cheng Xiaojin noticed that his expression was off.
"Uncle Zhou."
Zhou Banxian stood up, holding the wine pot in his hand, unscrewing the lid and screwing it back on.
He walked up to Cheng Xiaojin and squatted down, his voice extremely low.
"What did you feel at the bottom of the well just now?"
"After the evil energy dissipated, the iron bead vibrated again."
"What kind of earthquake was it?"
"It's slow, heavy, one beat at a time, like a heartbeat."
Zhou Banxian gripped the wine pot tightly.
"Anything else?"
"That's it, just for a moment, and then it stopped."
Zhou Banxian was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"That thing isn't malevolent energy."
Cheng Xiaojin sat on the floor wrapped in a blanket, his teeth still chattering.
"What is that?"
"You diverted the negative energy of the Yin water, and the pressure at the water outlet has eased. Something that hasn't been touched for six hundred years... has been sensed."
"What is it?"
Zhou Banxian didn't answer, but turned to look at Master Ma.
Mr. Ma stood in the shadows ten meters away, clutching his enamel mug in his hand, without taking a single sip.
The courtyard was quiet for a while.
Master Ma walked over and squatted down in front of Cheng Xiaojin.
His eyes were indistinct in the moonlight, but Cheng Xiaojin could feel the weight of his gaze.
"Show me your hand."
Cheng Xiaojin pulled her right hand out from under the blanket.
The gray color on my fingers had mostly faded, but a faint bluish-brown tinge remained on my fingertips, and my nails were two shades darker than normal.
Master Ma grasped his hand, turned it over, and pressed his thumb against his fingertips.
"Do you still have the sense of touch?"
Cheng Xiaojin rubbed the fleece of the blanket with her fingertips.
"Yes, but it's a bit duller than usual."
He paused for a moment when he said that.
It's a bit dull.
He makes a living with these hands, using the touch of his fingertips to distinguish the thickness of the oxide layer and the age of the rust. He can tell the real from the fake by running a finger across the iron surface.
If his hands are ruined, he won't even be able to set up a street stall.
Master Ma released his grip without saying a word.
Tong Kexin chimed in from the side.
"What do you mean 'a little dull'? What happened to your hand?"
"It's okay, I'm just numb from the cold."
"You're kidding me, who can have numb hands in the middle of summer?"
"It's really nothing, you'll be fine after a while."
Tong Kexin stared at him for a while, then slammed the enamel pot on the ground.
"Cheng Xiaojin, if you dare to lie to me, you just wait."
Master Ma stood up.
The lid of the teacup scraped against the rim of the cup, making a muffled sound.
"Go down the well and take a look tomorrow."
Cheng Xiaojin looked up.
"Go down the well?"
There should be something on the well wall.
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure, but when you were clearing away the evil spirits just now, this well was cleansed for the first time in six hundred years by someone using the Xin metal element. If there are inscriptions or markings on the well wall that were previously covered by mineral layers and were not visible, they should be visible now."
Tieguai Li added a sentence from behind.
"I have the ropes and slings ready, they're eight meters deep. I'll go down to drive the piles tomorrow, then you can go down."
Cheng Xiaojin was wrapped in a blanket, his teeth chattering.
"Mr. Ma, do you know what that heartbeat-like noise at the bottom of the well is?"
Master Ma stopped lifting the lid of his teacup.
"We'll talk after you go down and look at the well wall."
Tong Kexin exploded in anger.
"What do you mean, 'go down the well'? He's frozen like this, and you still want to send him down the well?"
"Tomorrow, not tonight."
Master Ma glanced at Tong Kexin.
"Girl, please take care of him tonight. Don't let him fall asleep. After his Qi is depleted, his body temperature is too low. If he falls asleep, he might not be able to get up."
Tong Kexin's expression changed.
She squatted down next to Cheng Xiaojin and reached out to touch his forehead.
It's icy.
"Okay, I'll stay by his side."
When she said that, it was hard to tell whether her tone was one of heartache or something else.
Cheng Xiaojin leaned against the blanket, his eyelids so heavy he could barely keep them open. His phone was digging into his hip, and he hadn't replied to the text message from Liulichang on the screen.
In the distance, towards area C, a well gurgled out from somewhere.