{somethings are not usually in our control, and life can get so upside down and weird that it would take a significant amount of strength to push through. And some times we're forced to survive, not live, survive! With nothing to depend on but wits and strength, upon sheer grit and focus. How we face up to such challenges, and what we become after shows what it truly means to be alive, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.}
The first thing they did was to make sure the cell door was shut tight, and that if need be they could also find their way out. The cell itself was relatively large cave that was no different than a living space, it was hard to call this a prison we it seems the cell door wasn't built to keep someone locked in, but rather to keep something locked out.
After making a few arrangements to the place, Alex and Louis had popped Yun Fao's dislocated arm back into it's socket, the young man had gritted his teeth through the pain, but Alex knew he was in quite a bit of pain as there was a rather nasty swelling left behind, with the skin being purplish black.
Alex decided to finally start his first foray into Alchemy by making a simple healing concoction. It wasn't a healing pill or a health potion like those kinds mages made, just something to soothe the pain and bring the swelling down.
An alchemical furnace wasn't needed for this. So Yun Fao went to rest over a stone bed with Louis moving to keep watch over the entrance. It was unspoken, but Alex knew they were all worried about their comrades, the others they had left on the trail down the mountain under the assault of those scaled gryphons. They were not talking about it because they all felt bad for leaving them behind, but they all three of them knew they barely survived that fall, so it was practically every man for himself.
RED STRIPPED BASIL and NIRVANIC MINT were simple healing herbs, there were basic, but theirs uses were varied as they could be used both in the production of spirit pills and health potions. However to be able to reach the potency of those two medicines, the plants have to be raised in a very special way, however this was just a crude invention, sure it's a method that has been used before, especially when humans first discovered Alchemy, but Alex had other plans in mind.
Mixing two herbs was not as simple as putting them together in a small mortar and smashing them to pull with a pestle, a bonding agent was required to be able to facilitate the chemical reaction that would turn this fool into a proper healing paste, and luckily for Alex there was an abundance of such bonding agent all around him.
Alex pulled out a small pestle and mortar from his storage ring, and placed in two sets of RED STRIPPED BASIL and four of NIRVANIC MINT. The mint was akin to a weed as any part of it that survived a harvest, be it a root, a stem, or even an edge of a leaf, would always grow back into a full plant and in any sort of weather or soil, and it also grew quite fast too. The basil was that much harder to grow as it's red stripes are formed from life blood. In the wild this herb would grow in places that animals or demonic beasts have died before, but in a controlled environment it is grown by being fed blood of either the alchemist or herbalist raising the plant, or by feeding it blood from slain beasts. The herbs raised in such a fashion are actually much more valuable and powerful in effects that those raised in the wild as they can properly cross the threshold to become spirit plants.
Anyway two sets of the basil for healing and four sets of the mint for the pain, Alex wouldn't be needing that much mint, but he felt it would be that much easier for Yun Fao to deal with the pain, and since they were not going anywhere anytime soon, the few hours of numbness the resulting healing agent would cause should not be a problem, as he would heal a bit better.
Alex placed the plants into the mortar and began to grind at them with his pestle, however his movements weren't erratic as his wrist moved clockwise and again clockwise in small steady motions. But it was just the grinding of both herbs to lasts that mattered, it was what came next that truly drew his attention, and that was sending his qi into the herbs to raise their efficacy and bond them properly. Simple Qi can not be used, it has to have an attribute, so it would either be that of your spirit root of the attribute of your cultivation technique.
And in this case Alex was in luck, he had trace amount of wood qi in his body, making him a natural alchemist, and combined with the rejuvenating and cleansing energy of the (WUDANG HEART SUTRA) then Alex had all of the tools he needed. But the young man had meridians more compact that most, there were thicker and expanded and closed like a beating heart, it made it hard for Alex to properly control the pouring of his Qi, which was he found a method and made it a rhythm.
He moved his wrists according to the sound of his heartbeat, letting his Qi flow out of his hands whenever his meridians expanded and sending it into the herbs. After 30 minutes of this pain staking task, which in a way was an exercise in control, white vapor began to rise from the pestle and the tool within it, and with it came s cool breezy feeling that covered the cave they were in.
Alex sat back and wiped his hands on his forehead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes to reorient himself for a second. The amount of focus needed to minutely control your outflow of energy, as opposed to blasting them out during combat was Insane, though Alex had this feeling that if proper control of energy can be achieved, especially on the battlefield a cultivators fighting prowess would increase by at least 50% and they should be able to fight twice as long.
Alex picked the pestle up, he could feel a trace of Qi from the thick green paste within, not to mention the mint seemed like it was clearing his lungs and sinuses which was what mint actually did. He could have used another healing plant like dandelion roots of leaves, but those were much stronger than basil and would come in handy a little bit later, especially since they had no idea how long they'll be stuck here.
Alex crouched over the very much awake Yun Fao and gave a cursory look at the purple bruising and swelling on his shoulder and right arm. They may have popped it back in place, but it looked like there was a lot more damage done, heck Alex suspected they didn't do it right, but the healing paste should help not just sooth his pain and bring down the swelling, but should probably help realign his bones back or make it easy for them to do it properly.
"Is this going to hurt?" Yun Fao asked, with his brows covered with sweat. Alex blinked at him in Innocence and then answered.
"I don't know, It's my first time doing this." And then he moved.