Mourning Soul Puppet
The wheezing black bear king would've been declared dead had Tie Hanyi not crash landed on it, garnering a groan. Tie Hanyi, however, was closer to fading than the bear was. Because the bear was double the size of a human being, Tie Hanyi appeared to be in a worse state than he probably was in. Even if the blood spilling from the bear wasn't visible, the scent couldn't have gone unnoticed. Tie Hanyi was barely able to raise an arm and gesture.
"Brother Tie!"
Ming Feizhen pulled Ye Luo back as she took off. She turned back and raged, "What do you want?!"
"This isn't the right time," answered Ming Feizhen, in a chilly voice. "I'll treat Ol' Tie. The rest of you… monitor the surroundings closely."
Ye Luo was exasperated, but, indeed, she shouldn't have touched him when he was bleeding profusely for there was no telling where his wound or wounds were. Ming Feizhen sneaked over to Tie Hanyi with a torch and checked Tie Hanyi's wounds. He calmly stated, "It's an internal injury… The assailant is dangerous. Stay alert."
Working faster than naked eyes could keep up with, Ming Feizhen determined the nature of Tie Hanyi's wounds, staunched the bleeding, tore off clothing and smeared on herbs procedurally. The trio watching almost changed their impression of doctors watching him in action.
Long Zaitian: "You can determine health problems?"
Ming Feizhen coldly shut Long Zaitian down: "Anyone with eyes can."
Ming Feizhen's poor combat skills were public knowledge - courtesy of Su Xiao - but was known for having a good head on his shoulders. At the end of the day, he had to have some redeeming feature. Given he was Mount Daluo's disciple, he had to have divination, medical or some sort of skill. Of the three largest sect's, Mount Daluo was strictest with their acceptances, after all.
Su Xiao wouldn't be surprised if Ming Feizhen showed another miscellaneous skill since the former had seen plenty from the latter. Nevertheless, he smiled sweetly when he saw Ming Feizhen reveal his medical skills until an ominous wind blew.
Long Zaitian couldn't let it go because he was suspicious of Ming Feizhen, but he refrained from asking since the circumstances didn't allow. He called, "Who's there? Please show yourself."
Su Xiao: "Come out if you're so tough."
All they heard was the wind's howl. Su Xiao was too inexperienced and didn't do anything but watch. Experienced, Long Zaitian and Ye Luo stealthily summoned their energy to expand their surveillance area. Alas, they didn't find the assailant. They, instead, magnified their fear. It was safe to conclude the person who attacked Tie Hanyi was nearby if they threw him onto the black bear. If they were unable to pick up anyone, then the culprit wasn't just a notch or two above them.
"He's safe for now," notified Ming Feizhen, rising to his feet. "This isn't enough to patch him up because the wound is bad. We'll need to ask Master to liberate the clogs in his meridians in order to avoid other issues cropping up later on."
"You know who the perpetrator is?" questioned Ye Luo.
"You think I'm a deity or something? How should I know…? That being said, based on the wounds, Ol' Tie… didn't last three exchanges."
"Three exchanges?! They must be the deity!" exclaimed Long Zaitian.
The scent of blood permeated the air all of a sudden. A huge black bear king wouldn't even have such a strong smell.
"Bears!" declared Ye Luo. "Bears are closing in on us!"
The others soon spotted flashes of yellow. As if five wasn't troublesome enough, they saw over ten huge bears that blades would have trouble penetrating. Ye Luo asserted, "They're black bears from Beijiang. There's a tiny chance we'd come across even one in the Central Plain. Someone imported them into the Central Plain!"
In comparison to the black bear king in the middle of the sloth of bears, the others were essentially children.
Long Zaitian, a veteran of dealing with pinched, engaged his quick wits and had an inkling. He shifted his gaze to Ming Feizhen and questioned, "Ming Feizhen, how did you beat the black bear king?"
Long Zaitian didn't want to ask for Ming Feizhen's help, but he needed Ming Feizhen's strength to get them out of the pickle. Before he got a response, nonetheless, Ye Luo called, "Someone is coming!"
"You have to be kidding me…"
Su Xiao looked out of sorts as he muttered, "You…?"
She waddled the way a zombie would, but she had the eyes of a murderer. They recognised the sword in her hand. She was the person they had been searching for: Shen Yiren.
Glossary
* Long Zaitian: "You can determine health problems?" - In Chinese, diagnosing and its variants uses the verb "to look". That's why Ming Feizhen answers anyone with eyes could. Literally translated, diagnosing a condition would be "Looking at a condition." I hope the translation doesn't cause confusion.
