“Out of the way! Clear the emergency lobby for the Supreme Ancestor of the Sima Clan!”
The heavy double jade doors of Taichu Immortal Hospital were shoved open with a desperate kick.
Young Master Sima Ao staggered into the bright, marble-tiled lobby, panting like a dying mule in summer heat.
His fine silk robes were torn to shreds and caked with greasy soot. Sweat cut muddy channels down his pale, twitching cheeks. Behind him, he hauled a shattered oak door-board by a fraying length of blackened hemp rope, leaving a dark trail of ash across the pristine floor.
Tied to the door-board was Supreme Ancestor Sima Kun.
The ancient ancestor was completely black from head to toe, resembling a scorched log pulled from a blast furnace. Puffs of acrid gray smoke vented from his ears every time he breathed. Through the split flesh of his chest, his cracked Nascent Soul flickered weakly like a dying oil wick in a gale.
Behind Sima Ao, three dozen terrified retainers hauled nine more broken carts into the hospital lobby. On each cart lay one of the remaining nine crispy aristocratic ancestors, groaning in sheer agony.
“Dr. Gu!” Sima Ao screamed, his voice cracking into a panicked shriek that echoed off the white marble pillars. “Where is the chief physician?! My grandfather’s Nascent Soul is cracked! Move these peasant patients out of the way and heal him right now!”
