Wei WuXian moved from his position by Lan QiRen's feet to his side. As he freed one hand from its warming pocket, Wei WuXian looked over to Healer Zhang.
"May I?" he asked, gesturing to the Grandmaster's pulse point.
The expression on the Healer's face did not reflect any confidence, but neither did it reflect any especial wariness. Just a kind of exhausted wistfulness perhaps, at best.
"Certainly. Do not check the resentful energy until you are finished with any other examination. It tends to be rather... responsive... and you are unlikely to reach any other findings once it has been accessed." Clearly the Healer had concerns, but he politely stepped back against one wall and allowed Wei WuXian free movement about his patient.
With a quick look at the Twin Jades, and a nod to the Healer, Wei WuXian picked up the Grandmaster's wrist and carefully placed his fingertips to read his pulse. No dedicated Healer training had ever been part of Wei WuXian's education, but the simple basics of skills necessary to monitor his own and others' spiritual energies together with specific common emergent procedures had been part of his Cultivator training from boyhood. Unerringly, he found the traces he sought and settled in to see what could be found.
At first Wei WuXian permitted a passive read of the pulse thrumming through the Grandmaster's veins. Strong, but with a strangely sluggish element, as if being held back. This was not uncommon in Cultivators who suffered grievous injury but was a concern in this case for there was no visible injury to Lan QiRen. Additionally, in normal circumstances a healthy Cultivator would suffer such slowing only briefly; few were so seriously injured their Core could not address the damage with a day or two. The Grandmaster had lain in stasis for many weeks now. The hesitant quality of the pulse indicated a major anomaly, which – for lack of any other known possibility – Wei WuXian could only ascribe to the suspected presence of Yin Iron and resentful energy. He followed the pulse through the quiet body before him and found no blockages, no injuries.
Shifting focus and realigning his grasp, Wei WuXian ever so gently let slip the merest whisper of spiritual energy into the Grandmaster. Delicately he followed the pathways; he travelled the Meridians and tasted of the emptiness. The spiritual energy that should have been flowing through the body was virtually absent. Mere ghosts persisted, as if former floods had reduced to a damp stain. There should have been a generous outpouring, the result of a lifetime of Cultivation. He gently placed the hand back into its warm covering and moved to the other side of the bed. Taking the Grandmaster's other hand, Wei WuXian repeated the process. First the pulse, then the spiritual inspection. The results did not vary.
Wei WuXian replaced the Grandmaster's hand in the warming pocket and turned to the Healer.
"Healer Zhang, am I correct in saying the pulse is being restricted and that the Qi is blocked from his pathways?"
Healer Zhang stepped up from where he had quietly waited, leaning against the wall, and rejoined Wei WuXian at his patient's side.
"Yes. The pulse is strong enough, but the natural energy within it is being held back or diverted somehow. The Qi is being locked away from use and the Meridians are all but bare. The pulses show enough activity to sustain life, but no more. There is no spiritual energy supporting the Grandmaster's Cultivation. It's as if that aspect has been somehow locked away from his access."
"Do you have a preferred way to inspect the Qi and Core? Is there a method you've found safer or any warning I should hear before trying to assess the resentful energy?"
Healer Zhang gave a tiny shrug of one shoulder, almost involuntary, and shook his head. "Not really, Master Wei. I've found no approach any more successful than any other in reading the energy. All attempts from any angle always agitate the resentful energy, and I find it very hard to check the status without feeling I am risking the stability of the stasis itself."
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WangXian Untamed
FanfictionA sunny meadow above a waterfall, soulmates meeting after too long apart - this was not the end, but the beginning. Fates and Clans did their worst but nothing could come between Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi. The two men would keep their vows to stan...
