Era of Pastoral Legends

“Hiss… so cold… so hot…”
It was the height of summer, not the dead of winter, yet a bizarre scene was unfolding—a fourteen-year-old boy curled up, his body radiating heat even as his breath misted in the air, shivering in agony.
This boy, named Chen Mu, was an outer disciple of the Starwatching Valley within the Grand Xia Empire. He had successfully opened his primal meridians at the age of twelve and come to the valley to cultivate. Yet, for reasons unknown, his progress was painfully slow; after two years, he remained only at the initial stage of the Meridian Opening Realm.
But that was not the worst of it. Since beginning his cultivation, Chen Mu had suffered from a strange illness the elders called “Frost-Fire Syndrome.” His body alternated between extremes—at times freezing as if submerged in ice, at others burning like a furnace. This constant battle of cold and heat steadily sapped his life force, though some mysterious power kept him clinging to life. The elders said he might not live past twenty, yet no diagnosis could reveal the illness’s true cause.
“Not good, Chen Mu’s Frost-Fire Syndrome is acting up again. You all keep working, I’ll fetch the steward.”
With a hurried command, one disciple dashed from the herb garden straight toward the Medicine Hall.
Panting, he called out loudly, “Steward Liu! Chen Mu’s Frost-Fire Syndrome has flared up again!”
“What, that rascal Chen is sick again? Come, take me to him!”
Steward Liu Quan, who had been reading leisurely in his rocking chair, tossed aside his book and fan and hurried