Chapter 75 - Healing the Healer

In the rain outside, Feng Xi paced nervously, waiting for the messenger she'd sent to return with the dextrous Tao Juan and his promised silver needles. The figure that first emerged from the rain, however, wasn't the messenger or Tao Juan, but the soaked to the bone and breathless Zhang Bai. "Fairy Feng," he said with a brief bow. "I brought something to help," he said, holding up the box containing the Bone Mending pill. 

"Is that a pill?" Feng Xi said, her eyes opening wide. Pills were an incredibly rare sight in Turning Leaf town where the only person capable of concocting them was Independent Alchemist Wai Dan, the local representative of the Alchemy Consortium. Moreover, while Wai Dan could technically concoct pills, he failed as often as one time in five and frequently demanded exorbitant fees for his services. As a result, most of the pills circulating in Turning Leaf town had actually been acquired by wealthy families from alchemists in larger cities and were kept as family treasures against great emergencies. For Zhang Bai to have pulled out a pill at this point was an extraordinary gesture, but how did he know that this pill would help? "We don't even know what's wrong with my father yet though, how could this," Feng Xi started to ask. 

"It's not for Feng Lieren," Zhang Bai interrupted. "At least, not directly. I'm sure my father pulled this out with the intention of helping your father, but this is a Bone Mending Pill for Fairy Ao," he explained. "My father felt that her odds of successfully treating your father would improve if she had the use of both arms." 

"Fairy Feng," an uncertain voice called out of the rain as Tao Juan splashed across the cobblestone street to the emerald lacquered gates of the Feng residence. "I have the silver needles," he said between deep gasps for air. "Tell Fairy Ao that she doesn't owe me anything for these," he added. "If they help save Feng Lieren then I've repaid a small part of the debt my family owes him for his protection in the years when Phantom Smoke Vultures hunted children playing in the hills."

"Thank you," she said, taking the roll of needles and gesturing for both young men to follow her. "Wen may need other things if you can help. I need to start playing music to ease Father's pain so…" 

Back in Feng Lieren's room, Ao Wen had stripped back the ailing man's clothing and was gently washing his body as she inspected for signs of needle marks, insect bites, or other clues about the administration of the poison. When the door opened to reveal Feng Xi and both young men, Ao Wen raised a brow in question. 

"Zhang Bai brought a Bone Mending Pill for you," Feng Xi explained, handing over the silver needles. "It's from his father to help in treating father." 

"I see," Ao Wen said with a brief nod. "I don't have time to be proper, so thank you and I need help before I take the pill," she said in a rush. Feeling along her arm she found the point where the break had begun to fuse back together, poorly and improperly. "Okay, here," she said, holding her arm in front of Zhang Bai. "In a moment, I'm going to undo the nerve block that's been stopping me from feeling anything happening to this arm. Then, you're going to break my arm," she said firmly, looking directly into his murky green eyes. "It's important that you break it where I tell you to, I need to break loose the parts of the bones that have begun to heal improperly so the pill doesn't waste its medicinal energy undoing the healing that has already occurred." This was a lesson she'd learned well from her Senior Sister Qi Yue. Medicinal pills like the Bone Mending Pill could straighten out improperly fused bones like the ones in her arm but they would expend more of the pill energy to do so. By putting her arm into an optimal state for the pill to perform its function, less energy would be wasted and the results of the pill would be better. In this case, that meant her arm needed to be freshly broken for the pill to produce the best possible results. 

"You want me to what?" Zhang Bai said in shock. "I," he started then stopped, seeing the entreating look in her eyes. He'd rushed over here to help, hadn't he? He'd said he wanted to be strong enough to be worthy of her, hadn't he? He thought that meant fighting spirit beasts by her side but what if it meant inflicting pain so she could truly heal? The man in him couldn't bear to let a woman suffer but if he didn't do this, wouldn't it just be more suffering in the end? Mustering his resolve to help the way she needed, he asked a single question. "Do you want something to bite down on?"

"No, but," Ao Wen turned her pleading eyes to Feng Xi. "Let me squeeze your hand with my good hand, okay? I'm just going to look at you, so hang onto me okay? And once Zhang Bai breaks my arm, you need to be the one to feed me the pill," she added, not having confidence in herself to stay clear-headed enough to retrieve the pill in the middle of the pain. 

"Of course," Feng Xi said putting a gentle hand on Ao Wen's cheek before taking her right hand in both of hers. "Squeeze as hard as you need to." 

Moments later a loud SNAP was heard as Zhang Bai summoned his iridescent green martial energy to break Ao Wen's toughened bones. He'd been terrified of using too much force only to realize that he had barely used enough! And that was striking at a point that was already broken! Just how crushing was the bite of the Rage Queen? 

Pain blossomed in Ao Wen's arm sending her vision swimming as every instinct in her body cried out to snatch her broken arm away from Zhang Bai. Moments later, soft fingers pressed on her lips, sliding a cool milky white pill into her mouth. Gulping down the pill, Ao Wen focused on moving the healing energy where it needed to go. The process of healing broken bones with a pill was painful all by itself as flesh twitched out of the way of shifting bone, fragments and lost shards of bone were pushed outward through the skin leaving a collection of small bloody wounds where a loose shard of splintered bone had been pushed out before falling to the floor. Through all of this, Ao Wen said not a word, just clinging fiercely to Feng Xi's hands. Several minutes later, she finally managed to let go, turning to look at her bruised and battered left arm but finding that she could once again move it freely and that it was only a bit sore rather than a source of near-overwhelming agony. "Thank you, both of you," she said faintly as she stood to retrieve the silver needles. "Now, there's work to do."