Chapter 76 - Treating Feng Lieren

"Do you need a moment to rest after that? That must have hurt…" Zhang Bai started, stunned that she was going to move directly from the brutal healing of her arm to acting as a doctor herself. He'd FELT the crunch of bone as he drove his fist into her arm, he knew how much that must have hurt!

"This is who she is," Feng Xi said softly, letting go of Ao Wen's hand. "The last thing in the world that will stop her when someone needs her is pain."

Moving to Feng Lieren's side, Ao Wen began to pull out some of the longer needles from the set Tao Juan had brought her. Pricking a vein on Feng Lieren's right ankle, Ao Wen held the white basin of water under the wound, watching the blood drip slowly into the water where it formed thick crimson swirls before dispersing into the water. "Hold the basin," she said to Tao Juan. "Xi, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need the purest song of sleep you can play right now," she said earnestly. "What I'm about to do is going to cause your father a great deal of pain. You need to keep him from waking up. Zhang Bai," she continued in the crisp tones of an experienced healer. "I need you to keep him from thrashing around too much. The more he thrashes, the harder this gets. Most important for now is to hold his hips, I'm starting with his legs. Everyone understands?" Ao Wen asked, meeting each person's eyes and receiving a nod before she continued. "Good, then let's begin."

Soft sounds of tranquil zither music filled the air as Feng Xi took a seat at the head of the bed, fingers dancing over the strings, enveloping herself and her father with a soft white glow. The expression of pain never truly left his face but his breathing became more regular and his movements stilled. Zhang Bai placed his hands firmly on Feng Lieren's hips holding the once-powerful Soldier in place as Ao Wen began her treatment. 

With acupressure treatment from the feat, much of the body could be accessed. Given the delicate state of Feng Lieren's bones, Ao Wen didn't want to inflict too much damage over the course of treatment. She was already afraid that this treatment may cause long-term issues with his ability to walk or stand for long periods of time but those were secondary issues to saving his life. His feet could be mended afterward if she needed to. Working slowly at first, her strong and supple fingers began to massage the long line running from behind the joint of the large toe towards the heel. Back and forth her fingers moved, her thumbs pressing firmly into his flesh as though wringing water from a reed. At his ankle, the crimson blood dripping began to change in color, becoming brighter and even redder than before. Each drop that fell into the basin landed thickly, suspending in the water for several moments before gradually turning wispy and dispersing into the rest of the basin. Only after five minutes of grinding and crunching sounds did the blood return to normal. 

The entire time Ao Wen held Feng Lieren's foot, he writhed and twitched in constant spasms of pain. Zhang Bai shifted his position so he could use more of his body to press the elder man into his bed, afraid that his convulsions would disrupt the treatment. Sweat formed on his brows as he worked to balance between restraining and crushing, already feeling that he was harming the once heroic soldier but having little choice if he was to prevent Feng Lieren from disrupting the treatment. At Feng Lieren's head, Feng Xi had closed her eyes, fully immersing herself in the world she created with her music. Opening her eyes meant seeing her proud father's face wracked by agony and her tender heart already couldn't bear the sight. 

Taking the basin from Tao Juan's hands, Ao Wen gently began to pour off the pure water at the top, reducing the volume in the basin and then waiting for the thicker sediment to settle before repeating the process until it became easier to inspect the bright red sludge that had gathered at the bottom of the basin. Dipping her fingers into the sludge she rolled it between thumb and forefinger, feeling its texture and bringing it to her nose to sniff. Finally, she tapped a small drop on her tongue, brows furrowing as she found confirmation for her fears. "This was deliberate," she muttered. Anger threatened to erupt at the confirmation of her worst fears but she stubbornly forced it back down. Right now, she reminded herself, the most important thing is Feng Lieren's treatment. Finding the culprit and dealing with them would have to wait. 

Moving back to Feng Lieren she unrolled the silver needles and began deftly inserting needles along the length of his leg, each one placed with precision and care. "Mother Ye," she said, looking to Feng Xi's mother. "Can you get me four more basins like the first one? I'll be performing treatment on each of his limbs first." The needles she had placed would alter the circulation of blood and energy within Feng Lieren's leg, allowing her to draw the toxins towards the feet and purge much of it from the tissues of the leg. She didn't expect to get everything in one treatment, but the first treatment frequently removed the greatest amount of toxin with each follow up treatment further diluting the concentration within the blood. Once she received the additional basins, she returned to her foot massage, this time persisting for the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn before the blood returned to it's propper color.

Setting the basin aside, Ao Wen retrieved her needles and moved to the next leg, repeating the process before she moved to his arms. Hands were similar to feet in that much of the body could be accessed from the accupoints there, however the amount of toxin she could draw from elsewhere into a hand was considerably less than what she could do from the feet. Each hand took half the time to treat as a foot and produced half the amount of expelled toxin. Looking at Feng Lieren's face, however, it was clear that his pallor was recovering, his skin looking less gray and his breathing flowing more easily. At this stage, Ao Wen didn't dare apply treatment to his torso or head until she had taken other methods to bolster his body. The treatment so far had been enough to preserve his life but considerably more would need to be done to restore his health. 

"Thank you," she said to Zhang Bai and Tao Juan. "I'm afraid I have to impose on both of you to keep secret what you've seen here for some time. Father Feng was poisoned and until we've recovered his health further, I don't want to alert whoever did this to him."

Tao Juan looked at thick bloody sludge at the bottom of the basins and clenched his fists in rage. He hadn't been joking when he said he would gift the sliver needles in repayment for Feng Lieren's actions those years ago. His little sister Tao Lu owed her life to Feng Lieren's rescue. Seeing the hero who had inspired him to pursue cultivation laid low by such vile means left him trembling in rage. "Not a word will pass my lips," he said solemnly. 

"Husband, will he…?" Ye Kexin couldn't bring herself to ask but she had to know. 

"I've treated this condition before," Ao Wen said without naming the toxin. At the Sacred Flame Celestial Temple there were frequently desparate initiates who felt that a medicine suited for second stage cultivators could be used to help them achieve the breakthrough they'd been failing to achieve on their own efforts. The results were like what Ao Wen saw here, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but Senior Brother Huang's tutoring had brought her to many places where such disciples were in need of help to recover from their own mistakes. "Full recovery will take time and I'm only treating the poison right now, I still have to address the old injury from the Greater Ball Lightning Python before he's back to full health. I'm confident though that your husband will hold you in his arms within a week, and if we're fortunate in obtaining resources for his recovery, he'll dance with you by the New Year."