The tunes of “Liu Qing Niang” (literally the Lady of the Green Willow) wafted heavily over the eaves of a zither lessons classroom in the university; the sad, sorrowful tune cast a blanket of gloom and melancholy across the whole room. Never did anyone expect that the instructor for zither lessons, Yang Na, would be urgently hospitalized that night after playing this song.

A piece of a wooden block was unearthed from the ground; an ancient relic found during the excavation of the school grounds which was part of the university’s recent expansion project. By a stroke of coincidence, the Archaeology lecturer was present, and he called out frantically for the construction workers to handle the wooden block with care. After cleaning it, it was discovered that it was the board of an ancient zither! The age-old instrument was then delivered to Yang Na, the lecturer in charge of Ethnomusicology, for further examination and study. Judging by the number of strings able to be fixed upon on the zither, Yang Na concluded that the zither had come from a time no later than the Song Dynasty. Zithers had only five strings when it was first invented. As time went on, zither eventually had more strings added until it was thirteen in the Song Dynasty. Zithers nowadays have twenty-one strings altogether. With a fresh set of strings installed, at the pestering of her students, Yang Na played a song—the “Liu Qing Niang”. None of them knew that the song had become the deathly requiem that had almost heralded their demise.

After her collapse, Yang Na was rushed to the hospital immediately. But in the following days, students began to faint and lose consciousness. As days went by, more and more students were sent to the same hospitals and everyone exhibited the very same symptoms as their lecturer, Yang Na. All of them were suffering from breathing problems and unconsciousness. By the end of the week, almost all of the students of the zither class were all ridden with the same strange illness. These were the very same students who were present when Yang Na played the “Liu Qing Niang” song.

At the same time, I received a call from the university, bidding me to return to school to collect my graduation certificate. At the university, I encountered the mysterious zither of archaic origins and came to know of the strange illness that plagued the entire class and the story of what happened. With the help of a junior, I was led to the hospital where my teacher, Yang Na, was at, where I found everyone kept in quarantine for examination. Not long later, the junior girl revealed, she and another junior girl were absent from class that day; hence they had escaped from the curse of the deathly requiem that now was trying to ensnare the lives of the entire class.

I went to the doctor and requested to speak to him to find out more about everyone’s conditions. Unexpectedly, everyone was experiencing similar signs of unconsciousness and breathing problems. But only the teacher, Yang Na, was suffering from heavier symptoms. After the talk, I requested permission from the doctor to visit Yang Na, citing my identity as her former student. With the doctor’s consent, I came to the quarantine area where I found the corridor of the quarantine ward was filled with many people. Noticing the distressed and concerned expressions on their faces, I knew that they could only be the family members of the afflicted still inside.

With my Spirit Sight, I was able to perceive the flow of spiritual energies. Lo and behold! There was indeed a colossal scud of dark mist hanging overhead the unconscious patients. From outside the windows of the ward, I could see that they were tainted by the foul spiritual energies swirling above them. This must be the reason that they were still out cold.

I drifted to the end of the corridor and extracted my Spirit Gourd, the magical tool that my father had given to me, and muttered some incantations. I unstoppered my Gourd and felt a strong pulling force emitting from within the Gourd, a force trying to suck in everything like a black hole. I walked in the direction of the other end of the corridor, passing by the quarantine ward while strands of foul spiritual energies were drawn from under the doors into my Gourd.

I reached the other end of the corridor and returned the stopper to my Gourd. As I wrung the cover of my Gourd tightly, jubilant cries came from the quarantine ward, screaming, “They’re up! They have wakened up!” Not far away at another corner, excited whoops of joys too came, saying, “Everyone this side is waking up too!” The hurried patters of footfalls of the doctors and nurses came swiftly towards the direction of the quarantine ward.

After some time of waiting, the doctor walked out through the doors of the ward after seeing his last patient. He had been going through every patient over the previous ten minutes. He yanked off his face mask and reported to the worried parents waiting near the stairway, “All the patients have regained consciousness. But we still need some time observing them. With everyone having the same symptoms, we have to be wary in case this could be a new epidemic. Hence we will still have to keep everyone here under quarantine.” A shaky voice came from the midst of the anxious crowd suddenly. “My wife is still not up, Doctor? How is she?” The voice came from a man grieving over his wife, upset that she was still unconscious. This must be Yang Na’s husband. I went to her ward quietly and looked through the window. An oxygen mask was clasped over her face and she was still passed out. I heard the doctor said, “Your wife’s condition is a tad serious compared to the others. Although she’s still not yet awake, have no fear! I’m sure she will be up very soon.” However, his words did little to put ease into me. Noticing the beads of sweat forming on his forehead, I knew that Yang Na’s condition was much worse than what the doctor could allow himself to convey!

The doctor spun on his heels and turned to leave. But I knew. I knew that the deadlock threatening their lives were far from over. I saw a parent of one of the students suddenly and saw that her eyes were red and watery. I recognized the student she was looking at; a girl named Su Yixuan. This gave me an idea. I immediately ran, chasing after the doctor. The junior girl who had come with me to the hospital, seeing that I had made pursuit suddenly without a word, followed just behind me, scuttling swiftly together with me.

I called after the doctor as I ran. Finally, when I caught up to him, he stopped, but his eyes conveyed nothing but anxiety and fear without any need to say anything. From his trembling eyes that tried to avoid contact with mine, I knew. The problems were far from the end! I questioned the doctor, “Tell me the truth about my fellow students, doctor. How are they?” The doctor looked fearfully at me and managed but a few words. “Y-you, you are…” I made up a story. The plan that I thought up just moments ago. “I am a fellow student of theirs, the boyfriend of the patient Su Yixuan. I did not dare ask you about this earlier because her parents are present and they are immensely worried. But your look tells me that they are…” As I spoke, the junior girl beside me was agape with shock. “Oh my, Senior… So you and Su Yixuan are…” I shot her a silencing glare and gestured for her to stop. The doctor gasped unconvincingly. “N-no, no! There’s nothing wrong! It’s only an infection…” With my eyes squinted I came very close to him and whispered, “Speak the truth, doctor. Surely you remember the Hippocratic Oath you’d taken when you take up this calling to be a physician.”

Somehow, my words seemed to resonate strongly with him for it seemed to have done the trick. Cold sweat trickled noiselessly down his forehead as I held him in a fixed stare eye-to-eye. Seconds ticked by until he finally heaved a heavy breath and squeaked. “Bad. All of them are in bad shape, truth be told. It is a virus that we have yet to identify, one that affects human’s breathing. None of our antibiotics seem to be working, and everyone’s condition is deteriorating. For some reason, everyone has woken up. But your teacher, the one surnamed Yang, I’m afraid she’s…” But the doctor’s voice seemed to harden with renewed resolve suddenly as he said, “But relax. We have set up a task force to look into this matter and find out any remedies as soon as possible…” I cut him short at once and said, “I know a physician who’s extremely skilled in Chinese medicine. He’s a master when it comes to dealing with weird and strange illnesses.” There was a glimmer of interest that flashed for a brief instant in the doctor’s eyes. “Which medical institute is he from? All would be well if we’re able to…”

In truth, the person that I was talking about was another counselor from the National Studies Institute. As I had mentioned earlier, the counselors at the Institute consist of my father, Old Man Chen, Uncle Quan, and lastly, another old man. He was the Institute’s counselor in the field of Chinese medicine, Xie Bingyi. Despite being also a man who had seen the same amount of winter and summers as Old Man Chen, Master Xie looked very much younger and spirited than his colleague. His prowess in the field of Chinese medicine was second to none, with most of the skills that he possessed a trove of carefully hoarded knowledge from his family’s dawning years. This would also explain his lack of professional educational credentials, despite his unrivaled expertise. But he was known in the town for being a short fuse; a prideful person who was quick to anger. Ever refusing to treat common ailments and minor maladies, he was infamous of guarding his secrets with utmost jealousy and zeal, evading even from helping the poor and needy by becoming a barefoot doctor. But he was also known to be an honest man. He would never withhold the truth of his patients, even if a sickness or disease was beyond his abilities to cure. He would say, “This illness is out of my powers! Go seek someone else for help!” Therefore his name began to spread, and everyone knew that he was a person who spoke only the truth. Patients who sought for his help consider him a worthy gamble, for he only treated patients that he has confidence in helping.

I replied to the doctor, “He’s not any specialist from any medical institution. But he’s famous for being able to handle weird and strange illnesses. He’s from the Wu Zhong County…” The doctor interjected suddenly with surprise. “Could it be the Old Man Xie from the National Studies Institute? But he is never amenable to treating patients outdoor, and I’m afraid that the current conditions of the patients do not permit…” I shook my head and calm him down. “Relax. I have my ways.” I took out my phone and dialed Old Man Xie’s number…