Battle Through Reverse Morals (2) - Wishing Willow (Patreon)

The appearance of a savior has the strangest way of stirring the will to survive.

Despite feeling like a weak, wet rag of the likes you'd use to mop the kitchen, despite his eminent condition—because no medicine, no technique, no pill or miracle had done jack-shit in alleviating the pain, the thirst, and the gradual process of slow-cooking his body—it seemed that now, for whatever the fuck reasons he had yet to comprehend, an unforeseen deity had decided to gift him a fucking get-out-of-jail-free card, in the shape of a human.

"I can save him."

A confident voice rang out from the hood, like the mighty voice of a shounen-esque hero.

She stood righteously defiant despite the powerful cultivators from the Wei family that had quickly surrounded her from all directions.

The swords were drawn in quick succession, until they looped in a circle around the young woman in a menacing display. She didn't pay them any mind, nor seemed the slightest concerned. What was going through her head, he could only guess.

'Please don't back out now,' Wei Shi sent a quick prayer to the gods, not knowing if they would even listen. But if they didn't, and this hero decided she was in over her head, well, then. It was probably back to the drawing board, or... he'd just rot away here in this manor and die pathetically in the embrace of his mother.

Fuck that shit. No way.

Lady Wei, on the other hand, was anything but hopeful. She eyed the young woman with a distrustful expression. "And who might you be?" she asked, her voice slightly raised in her apprehension. "What business do you have with the Wei family? Speak, before I have your head on a pike."

The girl cocked her head at the threat, a playful, wolfish smile pulling up her lips. "My name is Chu Feng, and I'm a wandering cultivator. I've heard the Young Master of the Wei family is ill with an incurable condition. And I happen to have something that may cure him."

Wei Shi found enough strength to unhinge his jaw in open-mouthed disbelief at that particular name.

"Impossible!" Grandmaster Bai spat, drawing out her flying sword from the scabbard with a shing! "You're a criminal, yet you dare show yourself here and speak such nonsense!"

Chu Feng, the top bountied cultivator in the city, in the flesh.

And then she pulled her hood back, revealing her face.

Her long, black hair was done in a high ponytail, and her features were strikingly beautiful. She had a sharp jawline and a tiny nose, her eyes were like a pair of obsidian stones—dark, deep, and unfathomable.

Chu Feng stood unflinching before the sharpened edges of a dozen gleaming swords.

This bold interloper had stumbled into death's own courtyard with nothing but stolen confidence and apparently suicidal bravado. No way, right?

Lady Wei's fingers curled upon her lap. Her normally serene expression fractured into something cold enough to freeze the morning dew upon those weeping willows they'd just erected Wei Shi beneath.

"A wandering cultivator? Presumption is an ailment more fatal than any my son suffers, girl," she hissed. "But speak. Perhaps fortune has favored your tongue sufficiently to purchase it a few more hours of life."

Wei Shi—whose breath had grown as thin as rice paper struggled against impending suffocation—forced himself to watch through eyes that felt perpetually coated with dust.

"I can vouch for her, Matriarch Wei!"

A young woman pushed through the circle of steel, her plain gray robe fluttering in her wake.

She was no older than eighteen, with earnest eyes and a face that spoke more of kindness than cunning.

"Wei Ying," Grandmaster Bai called, warning clear. "Step away from that criminal at once."

But Wei Ying refused to move. "I can't, Elder Bai. She saved my life when the bandits attacked the caravan, I owe her a debt. And... she truly can help Young Master Shi! I've seen her use herbs I've never even heard of, techniques that defy explanation!"

Chu Feng gave the girl a small nod, her expression never wavering from that maddeningly calm mask. "What she says is true. I know a way to stabilize the Young Master's condition. But it will require your trust."

"Trust?!" Lady Wei's voice rose in pitch, her fury palpable. "You expect me to trust a common criminal, a blight on my city, with my son's life?"

The girl had the audacity to smile, neither overbearing nor subservient. "I don't expect anything, Matriarch. I'm merely offering a choice. Let me try, and if I fail, you can take my head as payment for the insult. But if I succeed..."

Wei Shi felt a strange flutter in his chest.

"You—"

"Let her try."

It took Wei Shi a moment to realize he'd been the one to speak.

His voice was weak, barely audible, yet was firm enough to make the entire courtyard fall silent.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Lady Wei's eyes widened, her lips parted in disbelief. "Shi'er, you can't be serious..."

Wei Shi nodded, his gaze locking with Chu Feng's. With the last shreds of his strength, he moved to take a better look at her. "What do I have to lose? If I'm to die anyway, I'd rather die trying. I don't have long left to live... Mother, please."

Chu Feng's eyes softened, a flicker of respect passing through them.

Lady Wei hesitated, her gaze shifting between her son and the audacious girl standing before her.

Wei Ying looked at Grandmaster Bai pleadingly.

The old woman clicked her tongue, shaking her head in disdain, but sheathing her sword. "We have nothing left to lose."

Wei Shi was an inch from death already. In fact, it was common belief that the young master wouldn't live past the end of the week, if not earlier. 

After a long, tense moment, Lady Wei finally nodded, gnashing her teeth. 

"Very well. You have one chance. Fail, and I'll personally ensure your end is slower and more painful than anything you've ever imagined."

Chu Feng inclined her head, her expression never faltering. "Understood."

And with that, she stepped forward, a small, leather pouch in her hand.

"Do you mind... clearing the area? I'd like some privacy for what I'm about to do."

Lady Wei's eyes flashed dangerously, but she nodded. "Everyone, back off! No one is to approach the area!" she turned towards Chu Feng. "And if you so much as breathe wrong, girl..."

"I'll keep that in mind," Chu Feng said, her voice laced with dry humor.

Every guard withdrew hesitatingly, making sure no one else but Lady Wei, Grandmaster Bai, and the two women—Chu Feng and Wei Ying—were left in the immediate vicinity.

Lady Wei had half a mind to relocate her son back to his chamber, but he vehemently refused, saying that if he were to die today, he'd want it to be beneath the willow tree. At that, Lady Wei lost her stern composure and teared up a little, cupping his face and whispering words of encouragement.

Chu Feng knelt beside Wei Shi, her hands gentle as she began to peel back the blanket covering his chest.

Everyone held their breaths as the young, rogue cultivator examined the young man with a professional air.

Inwardly, though, she was quite startled by the beauty of the young man before her. His skin was pale, almost translucent, and his features were delicate, like a porcelain doll. His eyes were half-lidded, but she could see the sharpness in them despite his weakened state.

Even his hair, once no doubt lustrous and full, was now a dull, faded red, clinging to his forehead in damp strands.

Still, he was the most beautiful man she'd ever laid eyes on. She couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for him. He was wasting away before his time, all because of some cruel twist of fate.

'The heavens are truly unfair,' she thought.

She placed her hand over his chest, and Wei Shi winced, his body tensing under her touch.

"Don't worry," she said softly, "this won't hurt... much."

Wei Shi let out a humorless chuckle, his eyes closing briefly. "I'll take your word for it."

Chu Feng smiled and focused her attention on her task.

She could feel the heat emanating from his body, even through the silk robe, and the tell-tale signs of internal damage caused by a rapid deterioration in his condition.

Slowly, carefully, she unbuttoned the top, exposing his smooth, creamy flesh. She could hear gasps of surprise from behind her, no doubt from the fact that this noble young master possessed the kind of looks that made women and men alike swoon.

Reaching into the pouch, she pulled out a small, crystalline vial filled with a silvery, shimmering liquid. It was the essence of the Moonlight Orchid, a rare, elusive flower that only bloomed in the dead of night, under the light of a blue moon. 

By itself, the essence would've done little to save the man's life, but Chu Feng had other plans. With the vial in one hand, she placed the other over the man's chest, right above his heart.

"Are you ready?" she asked, her gaze meeting his.

Wei Shi nodded, his eyes locking with hers. 

Chu Feng took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

Slowly, she poured the contents of the vial into his mouth, and at the same time, channeled a stream of pure, cold Qi into his body, focusing on his meridians. The trick here was her own cultivation method.

The effect was immediate.

His eyes flew open, and he let out a choked gasp, his body arching as the liquid and Qi combined, coursing through his veins like an icy shockwave. He felt as if he were frozen in place, unable to breathe, unable to think.

The scorching fever that had been slow-cooking his internal organs vanished in a violent, shivering flash.

A thick layer of frost bloomed instantly across the skin of his chest, radiating outward in icy fractal patterns.

"Ah..." he wheezed, a puff of visible white steam escaping his blueing lips.

"Hold on!" Chu Feng barked, her brow beading with sweat as she pressed both palms firmly against his sternum, channeling her own Qi to fight against the rampaging clash of Yin and Yang elements.

Behind them, Lady Wei stepped forward instinctively, a hand flying to her mouth. Grandmaster Bai reached for her sword again, ready to decapitate the girl if a single eyelash of the young master dropped off.

Chu Feng didn't move.

She just kept pushing her Qi, a steady, relentless torrent of cool energy flowing into his body.

After enough time for an incense stick to burn, Wei Shi felt his body shake violently, his teeth chattering. His lower regions contracted violently under the thermal shock, nearly tearing the poor thing off.

'Oh god,' Wei Shi thought hysterically, 'if I'm going to die castrated by frostbite, I am going to fucking haunt everyone!'

But then, just as suddenly as it began, the convulsions stopped. Something inside of him just kind of... calmed down and retreated. 

His breathing evened out, and the frost on his chest receded, leaving behind a faint, silvery sheen on his skin that could've either been sweat or water. Chu Feng subtly gulped at the sight. 

Wei Shi blinked. He was breathing.

​Alive. 

And for the first time since waking up in this body, he didn't feel like he was about to be cooked alive from the inside out. 

The heat was gone.

The fever had subsided.

He was... okay?

A weight lifted off his chest, and Wei Shi let out a slow, relieved sigh. He could actually breathe without feeling like his organs were shriveling up and dying.

"Thank you," he whispered hoarsely, looking at her with clear eyes.

Chu Feng nodded, her expression pinched with slight anxiety and the exertion of such powerful and precise Qi manipulation. One could imagine the burden of expectation placed on her shoulders, and the outcome of failure.

"Thank you..."

He whispered again, and Chu Feng broke out into a smile... that turned into an amused huff when Wei Shi's eyes struggled to stay open, like someone under anesthesia fighting off its effects. Maybe he was still scared that, upon closing them, he'd never open them again. 

"Rest now." Chu Feng smiled slightly. "You'll be okay."

"Really?"

"Really."

Truly, miraculously... he would be okay.

His eyes fluttered shut. 

The branch of the willow tree overhead broke from its main limb and fell down on Wei Shi's chest.