Inside the carriage, Xiangli Baoyu watched Shenxun intently as she cracked melon seeds.
Xiangli Youming explained, "She has been frail since childhood and rarely goes out. Her father dotes on her. She heard about your two visits to my house and insisted on coming along when she knew I was coming to see you. If you don't like it, don't let her come next time."
"No, I quite like it." Yuan Qi didn't give a reason and started talking about other things.
They arrived at Xiangli Mansion quickly.
Xiangli Youming took Yuan Qi directly to the residence of his elder brother, Xiangli Jiuyou.
A white-haired man in an official robe is taking the pulse of a seven or eight-year-old child by the bedside.
The toddler on the bed opened his eyes and stared blankly at the top of the tent, seemingly unresponsive to his surroundings.
The toddler had delicate features and lay there motionless.
Xiangli Mu and Xiangli Jiuyou both stared intently at the imperial physician, his every move captivating their attention.
The imperial physician took the pulse for quite a while before stopping, and stood up with a puzzled look on his face: "Young Master's pulse is fine, and there is no blood stasis in his brain. Head of the Xiangli family, Young Master Xiangli, is the young master possessed by an evil spirit?"
Xiangli Youming spoke up at this moment: "Father, elder brother, Daoist Yuanqi has arrived."
The imperial physician frowned as he looked at Yuan Qi. Could this be the little celestial master Yuan Qi that everyone was talking about all day?
Isn't this just a baby? How much skill can it possibly have? He'll have to stay and see for himself today.
Xianglimu made way for Yuan Qi: "Little Celestial Master, look at this, what happened to my grandson? Three days ago, when he was practicing his kung fu, he accidentally bumped his head on the arm of the wooden stake. The sound was quite loud, and a big bump appeared on his head. He only cried out in pain before he fainted."
"After the family physician examined her, he said there was nothing seriously wrong, but after waking up, she became like this, with a dull gaze, not speaking or eating or drinking, and even needing to be served when she needs to use the toilet. She's completely like... a dead person, and she's lost a lot of weight in just three days. Many doctors have seen her, but none of them can find anything wrong. Today, I even specially invited Physician Hua."
Physician Hua was the foremost physician in the palace, possessing superb medical skills and fifty years of experience: "There was indeed nothing abnormal in the pulse."
Yuan Qi could tell at a glance that the person lying on the bed was missing a soul. She didn't say anything and went to the bedside to take his pulse.
Those present were somewhat surprised; how could someone so young know how to diagnose pulses?
However, Yuan Qi withdrew his hand in a moment: "My soul and the hidden arrow were taken away by someone, which is why I am like this."
Everyone present was quite surprised. Xiangli Jiuyou, concerned about his son, couldn't help but ask, "What are human soul and life essence?"
Yuan Qi said, “Humans have three souls and seven spirits. The three souls are the Heavenly Soul, the Earthly Soul, and the Human Soul. The Heavenly Soul governs life, the Earthly Soul governs wisdom, and the Human Soul governs calamities and decline. The seven spirits are Corpse Dog, Hidden Arrow, Sparrow Yin, Devouring Thief, Non-Poison, Purifying Filth, and Stinky Lung. In terms of emotions, they correspond to joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire. Hidden Arrow is the Spirit of Life that governs the seven spirits. Now, his soul and spirit of life have been taken away. If they are not retrieved in time, he will die in seven days.”
Everyone was confused, but they roughly understood that Xiangli Zhuoyue on the bed had had one of his souls and one of his spirits taken away, and if they were not retrieved within seven days, he would die.
Three days of the seven days have passed, leaving four days remaining.
Xiangli Jiuyou was very worried. This son was his eldest son, and also the son he thought had the potential to surpass Xiangli Youming. He was intelligent and had exceptional talent. How could he have been betrayed?
He was very worried that his son couldn't be saved: "Young Taoist priest, is it possible to find him? How can we find him?"
Xianglimu was also very anxious. Although his eldest son had always been at odds with his youngest son, and he was very dissatisfied with his eldest son because of this, he was just as worried about this incident.
"Little Celestial Master, my grandson is the eldest grandson of the family, named Xiangli Zhuoyue. He is the most intelligent and talented in cultivation among the grandchildren. He has only just turned seven years old when he suffered this misfortune. You must save him. He is so young."
Xiangli Jiuyou also said from the side, "Little Celestial Master, just tell me how and where to look, and I'll send someone over right away."
As he spoke, he turned to call someone.
Yuan Qi forced a smile that made his teeth disappear, and tugged at his sleeve: "No rush, take me to see where he hit his head first."
Seeing that smile, Xiangli Jiuyou could no longer be anxious. He felt inexplicably at ease: "Okay, I'll take you there."
The person who knocked Xiangli Zhuoyue unconscious was just an ordinary wooden dummy; the point of direct impact was one of the dummy's arms.
Xiangli Jiuyou pointed to the wooden arm and said, "It's this arm, at the very edge. You see, there's still a little bloodstain here, from Zhuoyue's head. After the accident, I told people not to touch this area anymore."
Yuan Qi stared at the black bloodstain, about half the size of her fingernail, imagining what Xiangli Zhuoyue looked like when he was practicing martial arts.
She also knows the technique of drawing people away, but she directly faces the victim and uses a soul mirror or other magical artifacts.
Even without directly facing the victim, one must use magical artifacts to remotely extract the soul. Only a master like her can do this, but a magic array must be set up beforehand.
But that consumes a lot of spiritual energy, making it the least cost-effective method.
Moreover, if there are external factors interfering, it is easy to fail, so the magic tool used to extract the soul must still be inside.
Seeing her so lost in thought, Xiangli Jiuyou felt that she might have figured something out.
He described his son's martial arts habits: "It's all because I saw his outstanding talent that I pushed him too hard. I made him get up at 3 AM every day, practice horse stance for half an hour, and then practice boxing for an hour. He knew how to work hard and added an extra hour of practice time for himself every day. Maybe he was too tired and accidentally hit his head. Sigh, it's all my fault."
Yuan Qi glanced at him and said indignantly, "You know he'll get tired, right? You treat him as a tool for power struggles, without considering his feelings at all. What's the point of working so hard? What do you have that he can inherit? You can't even get what you want yourself, so it's wrong to pin your hopes on your son!"
Xiangli Jiuyou: "!"
I asked you to come here to help me save my son, not to give me life advice!
Xiangli Mu happened to walk over as well, and strongly disagreed: "Little Celestial Master, you are mistaken. If the men of my Xiangli clan have outstanding talents, they should work harder so that they can stand out in the future. If they live a mediocre and lazy life, wouldn't they be wasting such good talents?"
Yuan Qi snorted and glared at them fiercely: "Did you even ask him what he thought?"
Sighing inwardly, she thought, "Everyone envies the Xiangli family, who are born superior. But who would know that being a child of the Xiangli family isn't easy?"
"Snap!" Yuan Qi broke off one of the wooden dummy's arms.
Such a small child, yet so strong!
Yuan Qi carefully examined the severed area of the arm and indeed discovered a clue.
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