When Tristan arrived at the Flying Sword Sect, he didn’t start the process immediately; he waited until midnight. At that hour, only the guards would be on watch, and the rest of the sect would be in a deep sleep.

The disciples of the First Flying Dao rarely faced extreme risks; their training was less intense, and they didn’t receive very dangerous missions. Meanwhile, those of the Second Dao were absent, so there would be minimal activity in the medical facilities.

Tristan believed he could carry out his plans unnoticed; he didn’t want to explain his knowledge to the people of the sect, as the risk of someone suspecting it was related to dark arts was not insignificant.

His first concern was assessing Yue and Jaeng's condition. Upon inspecting their bodies, he noticed that their wounds were healing at an impressive speed. The scars that marked their skin had become subtler, almost imperceptible.

'This must be a result of the healers' Light magic,' he thought as he observed their recovery. 'The effect of continuous healing seems to be more efficient than the immediate effect I saw previously.'

He touched their skin, noting it was a bit cold.

'The downside,' he reflected, 'is that this process must have taken a toll on their bodies, which are already very weakened.'

Tristan took one of the blood jars made by old Moeh. The jar had a spout with a small hole at the top, and he carefully attached tubes to it, securing them with string to control the flow. The needle was firmly connected with wax, and, with great precision, he inserted it into their veins in an instant.

The jars were then hung upside down on the wall of the room. Tristan would stay there until dawn to ensure the process continued without interruption. In the end, he would store and hide everything to avoid any suspicion.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]

Before dawn, Tristan had already left the medical room. There was still plenty of blood remaining, so he would return at midnight again.

He opened his bag and looked at the blue flowers inside; it was time to work on a new project.

Tristan descended the mountain and found a place a bit away from the sect to have privacy. He lit a fire and then threw some stones on top of it to heat them. Then he put out the fire, leaving only the embers. He placed the sleep flowers in a pot and set them on top of the stones to slowly dehydrate them.

He left it there for a few hours while he did other things.

When he returned, he took the dried flowers and crushed them in a mortar until they turned into a powder.

He placed the powder in a sturdy glass container and added some of the purest alcohol he had found in the sect. He stirred the mixture vigorously; if the plant's biology was at all similar to plants from Earth, the alcohol would help dissolve the main substance responsible for the sedative and pain-relieving effects.

Tristan took the container back to the sect. He would let the solution rest until the next day, occasionally stirring it to maximize the extraction.

The second day began. Tristan checked on Yue, noticing that the color had partially returned to her face though she was still in a deep sleep, which dampened his hopes.

Later that day, he took his container and poured its contents onto a linen cloth to separate the liquid from the plant residues. Next, he added vinegar to the mixture; as an acidic solution, the vinegar would help convert the flower’s substance into water-soluble salts. He poured enough vinegar to cover the alcoholic extract and stirred the solution thoroughly.

After some time, he poured the solution into a steel pot and placed it over a gentle fire to heat it slowly.

After all the alcohol had evaporated, Tristan poured the blue liquid into a small glass container and let it rest for a while. Slowly, he saw the blue substance crystallize into small salts at the bottom of the jar.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

At the end of the process, he carefully removed the vinegar, leaving only the blue salts at the bottom. After collecting and drying them, he divided the salts into three small glass vials, each about the size of a thumb, and sealed them.

That night, besides blood, Tristan also injected a bit of saline solution into their veins to keep them hydrated.

On the morning of the third day, to his surprise, Yue and Jaeng finally woke up.

As soon as they were examined by the healers, Tristan visited them immediately.

He was currently sitting on Yue's bed.

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

“I feel a bit sluggish and tired, but I think I'm okay.” She sighed, “The healers said we’ll need to rest for the next few weeks.”

“Well, be grateful you’re alive.” He recalled how the wave of monsters had engulfed her body; she was very lucky to have survived this time.

“Do you have any other symptoms? Like fever, diarrhea, nausea, or itching in strange places?”

“No? Why would I feel something like that?” She asked, confused.

He shrugged.

“Enjoy your time recovering. I’ll see you again next month, probably.” Tristan said as he got up from the bed and headed toward the door.

“What? What do you mean by that? Where are you going?” Yue asked.

“To gather some magical herbs,” Tristan replied briefly.

He felt a bit amused seeing the shocked expressions on their faces.

“You’re going to that place alone? Are you crazy?” Jaeng exclaimed, finding Tristan’s words absurd. “Even if you reach the peaks alone, that place will likely turn into a battlefield between disciples from various sects; even you couldn’t handle all that on your own.”

“He’s right; it’s too risky. Why don’t you wait until I recover so I can help you on the trip?” Yue suggested.

“Did you forget what Master Sheng said? The magical herbs from the misty peaks reach their peak growth in the autumn and wither at the end of the season. Besides, if I take too long, the other disciples might take all the herbs.”

Tristan decided to be considerate and gave her this answer, though he didn’t like justifying his actions.

“You don’t need to worry; it’s not like I’m planning a suicide mission for a few stupid herbs. I choose my battles carefully and know my limits.”

He continued walking out.

“If the situation looks too difficult, I won’t hesitate to leave. It’s a journey of a few weeks, but if these herbs are as good as I’ve heard, my cultivation level will advance in months or more.” He thought about his seemingly impossible goals. “It’s a risk worth taking for me.”

Seeing the conviction in his eyes, Yue fell silent, giving up on trying to stop him; she simply looked at him with concern.

“Hey, Dusk, could you do me a favor?” Jaeng said, “If you could tell my family that I’ve woken up, I’d be very grateful.”

Tristan nodded and walked out the door.

image [https://i.imgur.com/CJALaUN.png]

He went to the sect’s library and took several maps with different routes. Drawing a straight line between Zaguhan and the region of the misty peaks, someone with the speed of a martial artist could get there in about three weeks.

Of course, traveling this way wasn’t possible outside the major countries. Monsters capable of destroying cities with a single breath roamed that world, and it only took a bit of bad luck to encounter one of them.

Underestimating the danger of the monsters was akin to suicide.

'If it weren’t for the mountain range surrounding it, a city as weak as Zaguhan would have probably been destroyed long ago.'

He and Yue had already decided on a direction, but now that he was alone and the other disciples were already far ahead of him, he thought it best to look for another path.

'If I decide to take the safer routes, I might only arrive by late autumn.'

Tristan wondered why the sect masters hadn’t informed them earlier to increase their chances of finding the herbs, so he decided to investigate this matter.

Almost all the students of the Second Dao from the other sects left at the same time. 'Unlike me, who had no idea this kind of thing existed because I only arrived recently, the children of noble families definitely knew about this annual event. Even so, they waited until the beginning of autumn.'

'This means that accepting the need to take risks to achieve a goal is part of these crazy people’s ritual.'

For a moment, he reflected on the discrepancy between the customs of that place and the county where he lived.

'Whatever, I should be grateful for this strange culture. If it were in the west, east, or south, I wouldn’t even have a chance to touch these herbs.' He remembered that in the western, eastern, and southern regions, rulers held a monopoly on all natural resources.

'I hope they never learn of this place; they’d cross the central region in a second if they heard about a place like the misty peaks.'

Tristan began reading about the riskier routes in the books and also researched the histories of those places in his Divine Fragment.

After comparing all the options, he felt confident in a specific route. Most of the possible problems on that path seemed to have a reasonable risk. 'Except for this danger zone,' there hadn’t been sightings of monsters with calamity-level powers there, but the environment itself could be just as bad.

However, Tristan was confident that with his skills, he could have a better chance of survival in that place.

With a route decided, he made all the preparations for the journey, taking everything he thought would be necessary.

Before leaving Zaguhan, he walked toward where Jaeng’s family lived to inform them he had awakened.