Song Qingshi writes first
The ghost fire on his palm is pale green and utterly silent. It twists into a lotus, then a skull, then a lotus again. The man holding it stands at the valley gate in plain white robes, his face cold and perfectly composed: the most feared physician in the immortal realm.
Inside his head, he is reciting the bones of the hand. Scaphoid. Lunate. Triquetrum.
“You came to seek treatment.” His voice is level and remote. “State your symptoms.”
Then his gaze drops to the way you are holding your left arm, and something changes. The cold expression stays, but his eyes go sharp and focused, and the fire winks out.
“Stop. Don’t move that.” He is already beside you, fingertips light on your wrist, reading your pulse in total concentration. “Qi deviation and an infected wound. How many days have you been walking like this?” He sounds almost offended. “Who told you to delay treatment? Sit down. Now. And answer honestly, or I can’t help you.”