The Yao Emperor and His Human Doctor.

Chapter 1 - The Dowager Empress is Ill.

The symptoms appeared progressively. A brief feeling of discomfort, nausea, an indisposition there, another here. And suddenly Empress Dowager Qiang Ling began to wither away. Her appetite disappeared and her facial skin lost its shine and freshness. The Dowager Empress was already of a certain age, but nothing that could justify her sudden illness.

Furthermore, it was uncommon for dragons to get sick. Obviously Qiang Yong, her son, ran after excited doctors to treat her before the condition worsened.
Faced with the Dragon Emperor's request, many doctors came forward, although they trembled from head to toe in fear of failure. Soon, the Dowager Empress underwent several acupuncture sessions and drank all kinds of herbal drinks.

At first each doctor did their best to give a diagnosis, but the symptoms were very general. The first treatments alleviated the discomfort, and in one of them the Dowager Empress even managed to go out to sunbathe in the courtyard for a few hours. However, after a few weeks, the symptoms returned, worse, and the poor dragon succumbed back to bed.

Her stomach hurt and burned, to the point of making her let a few tears fall silently down her pale and thin face. At night waves of fever hit her and she woke up drenched in sweat. Faced with such a bleak scenario, Qiang Yong who was known for not having such a pleasant temperament, roared at the doctors in the Main Hall of his stronghold.

"HOW HAVE NONE OF YOU BEEN ABLE TO CURE HER UNTIL NOW?" The doctors knelt before him, certain that this was the day they would lose their heads. During the conflict between humans and yao, Qiang Yong had shed a lot of blood, even from prominent cultivators. If the human Emperor had not given in and proposed a peace agreement, how far would that war have extended? Nobody knew how to answer.

Despite everything, Qiang Yong really was very practical and rational. Yao lives had also been lost and it would be less exhausting to live in peace with those inferior humans than to waste time trying to exterminate them. After all, to him, humans were nothing more than a mere pest that spread rapidly in the rice field. No matter how many he killed, there always seemed to be hundreds to replace them.

Not receiving a satisfactory response from the distinguished doctors, Qiang Yong ordered his servants to look for healers and any yao who had any knowledge of medicine, herbs or the like. Thus, but an extensive group of yao were brought to evaluate the Empress Dowager. It didn't matter where they came from, anyone who knew a yao who fit the profile described had to introduce them immediately.

The results were no better than the first. At this moment, even Qiang Yong felt his strength sagging. Every morning he visited his mother, trying to appear carefree, but Qiang Ling herself already saw signs of tiredness and helplessness in her beloved son.
"Yong-er, don't be like that." She comforted him.
"This old woman won't leave you that easily. There's no reason to be sad."

Qiang Yong bit his lower lip, trying his best not to let his heart break at those words. He caressed her cheek affectionately. "Actually, you look a little better. I'll have them bring you something light to eat."
The Dowager Empress wanted to refuse but seeing her son looking so pitiful she nodded, even though she knew that in an instant she would spill everything.

But she would sternly forbid the maid to tell this to the Emperor. She has enough worries for her son, who already carried such a heavy burden of ruling the yao world. This was not something she wanted in his life. During the war,  Qiang Yong was just a General. If Emperor Yao at that time had not died at the hands of that treacherous human cultivator, his son would never have occupied such an unfortunate position.

All she wanted was for him to have an ordinary life, for him to find someone to love and for him to be reciprocated. And who knows, maybe she would have grandchildren to take care of. But Qiang Yong was surrounded by problems, having to resolve disputes between the Yao and small conflicts between them and human peasants. Yes, in addition he still had the yao who disobeyed the peace agreement and killed humans in revenge for their past losses.

The Empress Dowager had never met a human in person, but she didn't hate them like her son. In her opinion, they were weak creatures, who used the weapons they had to survive, but that did not justify them resorting to vile means to do so. Either way, that was beside the point at the moment, she was the one bringing trouble to her son now.

While Qiang Yong was there, the Empress forced herself to swallow the broth, but could not bear even the first spoonful. Her insides felt like they were being pulled out from the inside out, and she vomited the food along with blood. The situation had reached a critical point. Emperor Yao stands up in panic, running after someone to help her.
"Yong-er!" She called him. "Don't go! Leave it alone, I'm really fine, I don't feel any pain, it's just nausea." Qiang Ling lay back down, too weak to continue speaking.

Qiang Yong tried to regain his composure and tried to reassure her. "Yes, I know. I just want them to see if there's a way to lessen the nausea."
"No, please. No more doctors. Just stay here with me." The Empress Dowager asked and Qiang Yong obeyed like a good son, but inside his heart was in tatters.

He didn't dare try to make her eat again and she also only asked for some tea, which gave him no hope of future improvement. At night, the Emperor retired to the South Pavilion, which had a garden at the back, and sat meditative. It was a silent place and few servants walked around. His figure disappeared in the shadows of the columns and his presence was imperceptible.

However, he soon realized that he was not alone. Two shadows wandered helplessly around the Pavilion. They were two of the Empress's servants. She whimpered words swallowed by sobs, while someone tried in vain to comfort her.

"Don't be like that A-Zong, you'll see, everything will end well."
Qiang Yong heard one of them speak and sighed bitterly. He wanted to be able to believe a prognosis like that. "You don't even want to be visited by another doctor!"
"This is temporary, I'm sure that if the Master finds someone competent he can convince them to consult."
There was a brief silence and Qiang Yong thought he could finally meditate in peace.

Then the servant spoke again, this time so quietly that he couldn't help but strain his ears to hear. Generally the words spoken in secret were the most important.
"That last doctor yao... the fox... before he left he said there was an alternative we could try..."
"Forget it! Master will decapitate you if you suggest it!" The other servant immediately reprimanded her.

Qiang Yong felt a bad feeling but still got up slowly. His mother was vomiting blood and wouldn't get out of bed. What did he have to lose? What couldn't he accept at that point? The Emperor came out of the shadows and the two servants, sitting on a bench a little ahead, turned at the same time and the color in their faces disappeared at the same moment.

"What did Dr. Fox suggest to you before he left?" Qiang Yong questioned them, with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

Author's Note:

Hello! I'm happy to be able to publish another story!🥰 I love stories about cultivation and Chinese mythology, and although there are similarities between the texts I wrote, they take place in different worlds and contexts. I hope you like this plot! Good reading!

We treat the term yao here in this novel as a class of anthromorphic creatures with supernatural capabilities acquired by their species or cultivation, not to be confused with the definition of demons or evil spirits.