Meanwhile, a dark silhouette had approached without a sound owing to his extraordinary martial arts skills. Nevertheless, Kiyomi had recognised this man's footfall creeping up behind their backs.
A hand had gripped Li Ji's shoulder and a muffled voice followed: "Indeed, a fine night to kill someone."
Almost in unison with the man's action, Kiyomi covered his ears as he inched away; and right on cue Li Ji gave a resounding shrill sound of fright.
The menacing man did not expect at all that this woman had already turned around to kick him in the shin, angrily cursing!
Li Ji was exceptionally good-natured, however there were three things that particularly infuriated her: A guest arriving late and overstaying, men scrabbling round their mouth for bits of food stuck between their teeth, the thin little wailing of a mosquito keeping you awake at night, and Jian playing tricks! Yes, indeed, there were four things that most infuriated her.
"Well my lady, isn't that the kick of a fierce warrior..."—Li Ji was getting ready to kick him again and wipe that teasing smile off his face!—"Show me how freaking strong you are."—he manoeuvred around her kick—"…all right, let's move on… I am so scared…"—she punched him in the shoulder.
Jian wiggled an eyebrow to match the cheeky gleam in his own eyes. "Aiya! You have quite a bad temper. I nearly dropped our little kitty."
"I don't have a short temper, I just have a quick reaction to stupidity!" She scrunched her nose and humphed.
Kiyomi was greatly delighted that Jian had returned with the calico cat who now safely cradled into his arms. Jian directed his attention to her hind leg. "She has a small limp."
The elfin cat was quivering, ears flattened sideways, and yelping drawn-out meows. Kiyomi hugged her closely and rubbed the injured leg. "Li Ji will make you fell better."—Emika huffed at those words.
Heading back home, Kiyomi trailed behind his friends, chuckling to himself as he watched them bickering back and forth like a pair of capricious teenagers.
Soon the chuckles morphed into coughing spells.
Li Ji and Jian turned around and looked at him, then they both glanced at each other before staring back at the prince. Their eyes were so full of concern: Beneath the moonlight, his complexion when viewed against the jet black of his loose hair, did look rather pallid. With every two or three steps they turned back twice to check on him.
Kiyomi was walking slightly slower and raising his hand every so often to rub his forehead. His entire forehead was covered in sweat and pounded with a dull ache. His breathing became uneven and shallow. Pain swirled in him, rushing deep within the marrow of his bones. His illness, this wracking pain, he endured time and time again, except that this time something definitely felt amiss, as if every breath could be his dying breath.
They had hurried toward him as he collapsed knees first onto the ground. His lips had changed colour, black blood dying his teeth. The blood dripped, staining his white garment. His voice was so torn it was but a whisper. "Li Ji, please..." And he handed over his beloved cat.
Jian threw his arms around the prince, lifting him off the floor, then he flung him on his back. Li Ji was anxious, anxious to the point that she did not hold back her tears. She even sought consolation by hugging closely the soft calico cat against her chest. And their anguished brought their feet running as if a fierce ghost was chasing after them.
Kiyomi felt as if claws were moving slowly inside him and tearing his flesh apart from his bones. It was beyond his ability to endure and he wanted to scream out, but at the end he didn't have the strength to do so. All the while he experienced a sensation that something was crawling, biting, and stinging on and under the skin around his heart.
Such was the pain that violent contortions caused his body to fall from the bed not once, but thrice.
At last the numbing medicine prepared by Li Ji had taken effect. His muscles gradually relaxed and his back and limbs straightened up. She was reluctant to feed him this potent drug for it was highly addictive, and if taken once too often it could corrode the organs and also destroy the remaining pools of Qi.
She was now able to read the pulse on his wrist which felt so cold to the touch like the depths of winter—the pulse was sinking, slippery and choppy.
She needed to confirm the diagnosis, so she also took his carotid pulse—wiry, disappearing with slight pressure, but hurried.
The worry was all over written on her face. There was something wrong happening in his body that she didn't understand. 'Or could my pulse diagnosis be incorrect?'
She frantically rolled up Kiyomi's sleeve and felt the brachial pulse—short and thready, less than three beats per breath! And she even felt the pulse on the top of the feet—wide and strong, forceless.
Jian stopped Li Ji with a hand to her shoulder, his gaze questioning and eyebrows raised so high that his eyes slightly popped out.
"The pulse I read from his wrist, neck, elbow, and foot, fluctuate abnormally from one to another and is in total disharmony. It is as if I am feeling the pulse of four different individuals.… However, I can assert that a lack of Qi will cause death…"
Jian stared at her, uncomprehending. Or perhaps he thought he must have misheard her words.
"Death? One minute he is gazing at the moon, and the next minute he is dying! How could that be?!"
Without wasting one more second, Li Ji took a long and slender silver needle out of her small acupuncture pouch, and one by one, she started to pierce the twelve major meridian points with acute precision.
The last of the needles inserted in its respective trigger point Li Ji moved on to the next step—Qi regeneration and restoration of its steady flow into the meridians.
To this effect, she needed to use an advanced technique of needles manipulation to speed up Qi formation. All physicians practiced acupuncture but only a few mastered the sub-technique called 'oscillations of the meridians'. Li Ji manipulated the needles like strumming the strings of a guzheng. Plucking one part of it sending vibrations along the length of each string. Plucked with the proper technique the strings produced a beautiful sound.
However, improper oscillating and releasing of the needles created dissonance and threatened the patient's recovery.
Tension slowly crawled down her spine, and even the tips of her toes were tense. She had been so focused that pearls of sweat covered her forehead, her neck also.
Jian observed an almost human reaction of fear in the she-cat's actions—rigid back, ears flattened, tail erect, pupils dilated, drawn-out yowls.
Emika agonised over the possibility that she might be accountable for the prince's critical condition. Yes, she saw that the Mind-Seal was already starting to dematerialised before the forty-nine days required! ' How so? At this rate… I should be able to completely remove the seal very soon. When that happens I can begin to avenge you and renounce my life in the benefits of your redemption.' She softly rubbed her warm cheek on his lifeless hand and a tear trickled. 'Please, you cannot die now… Could I dare to expect forgiveness from you...'
The cat's whimpers chipping away at her concentration, Li Ji harrumphed and glared at Jian, therefore he came to the conclusion that he should probably shoo the calico cat away before another incoming of her dagger eyes.
This time, Emika made no noise as she padded along towards the bed. Her eyes were indeed not lying! The stardust-like barrier around his body was flickering and undulated between a translucent shade of molten gold and fire-white.
The last needle was being pulled out, when, quickly and unexpectedly, Jian began to jump about as if he was treading barefoot over a bed of hot embers. He tore the cord with the stone on it from his neck and flung the scorching orb on the floor.
To their shock the tanzanite stone had never radiated heat when it activated, only a luminous shade of royal-blue. Next, a lively fire-white flash blinded their sight. During that brief instant, the entire room was ablaze with daylight. Then, in the blink of an eye, the luminescent orb had returned to its dull and cold state.
Between wakefulness and dormancy, Kiyomi was shivering and moaning various incoherent words.
"Emika—"
He suddenly called out this name! The hand holding the last of the silver needles was uncontrollably trembling, goosebumps rising on her arms.
Heat shot through his insides, bringing Jian to his full height. How he loathed that name!
A jolt of electricity had passed through Emika—he called out my name! Despite a sore ankle, she jumped onto the bed and pressed softly her front paws on his chest.