The liquid burned like acid as soon as it touched his tongue. Luo Lin almost spit it out on reflex but he hurriedly pressed his lips shut and covered his mouth with his hands, making sure that not even a single drop would be spilled. His body froze up though and the pain seemed to spread out into his limbs.

He really wanted to ask whether Taishu Min was sure that this would be able to heal Shen Lei instead of torturing him even further but since his mouth was full, there was no way to say a single word. In any case, she had warned him about this.

He pushed off the useless thoughts and then used his spiritual energy to wrap around the liquid, carefully forming it into the shape of a small pill. This way, it would be easier to push it into and then through Shen Lei’s body.

Having done this, he leaned down, gently grabbing Shen Lei’s head. He tilted it a little and then grabbed his jaw, gently opening his lips before he put his own against them. The pill formed with the blood of the red priest slipped down his tongue, entering Shen Lei’s mouth.

Luo Lin made sure that he kept it connected with a faint threat of his spiritual energy and then tilted Shen Lei’s head up further, trying to make sure that he didn’t worsen his injuries.

Now, he was getting to the toughest part of this. If it stayed in his mouth, this wouldn’t help at all. It needed to go down his throat. Luo Lin furrowed his brows, sweat starting to coat his forehead. He only had one chance. If this didn’t work out or if he did anything wrong, he would kill him.

He took a faint breath and slowly exhaled while he thickened that thread of spiritual energy behind the pill, using it to push the pill further unto his mouth until it reached the soft skin at the back. Now, it needed to go down.

Luo Lin’s fingers around Shen Lei’s neck trembled and he tried to compose himself, thinning the thread of spiritual energy out again and letting the pill drop.

Shen Lei’s breath hitched, making Luo Lin panic. He didn’t know what to do for a moment and could only rush to pull the pill back up. The thread of spiritual energy ripped, making it drop back down.

Luo Lin yelped and hastily pressed forward with the remaining energy, closing off the entrance to his windpipe so he wouldn’t choke. The pill actually tumbled the right way and he heaved a sigh of relief. He pulled back his energy, formed it into a small ball, and pushed it down as well, making the pill go down further. Only when he was sure that the pill was far enough down that Shen Lei body could do the rest did he carefully pull the rest of his spiritual energy out.

At this point, his whole body was shuddering. He finally understood why healing somebody with spiritual energy was a skill that people only rarely learned. It was difficult. Much more than he could have imagined.

Everything he had done right now had relied on his rough understanding of how the human body worked, not what he was able to see from inside. With every push, he could have caused some kind of internal injury. In fact, he might have just gotten lucky that he managed to make it.

Luo Lin closed his eyes and lowered his head further until he faintly touched Shen Lei’s forehead with his own. He still couldn’t believe that he had really done this. He wanted to take a look but he didn’t dare to, already imagining the worst. "Is it working?" His voice was trembling and he really didn’t know what to do.

Zhi Guan reached out and grabbed him by the shoulders, patting them two or three times in an attempt to calm him. "It’s working. Look at him."

Luo Lin really opened his eyes at that and he could actually see how the scratches on Shen Lei’s face closed up right in front of his eyes. He turned his head and saw the grievous wounds on his torso regenerate as well. New flesh grew, cuts were filled out, new skin regrowing on top, slowly making it seem as if there had never been any injury in the first place.

Luo Lin stared in wonder, not sure what to make of this. It … it seemed impossible. Even the strongest of potions that they had been given as resources from their Masters weren’t able to do something like this. Yes, they could close some small cuts and they could close a wound. But not something like this. To actually regrow flesh, that was … well, he had never seen something like this.

He looked up at the disciple of the Zhen Yan Sect, hoping for some kind of explanation.

Taishu Min also watched as Shen Lei visibly healed in front of them, finally looking as if he had never gotten into a fight at all. Well, save for the ripped clothes and the dried blood and dirt.

She looked up, not actually at Luo Lin but at Zhi Guan instead. "His bones were broken so they regrew as well. Unfortunately, because of the way he was lying, they did so in the wrong way. We’ll have to break those and then use the resources that martial brother Mei gathered to help that heal. He will need time to recuperate on his own afterward though."

Luo Lin looked from her to Zhi Guan and then back again. "Why didn’t you say something before?" He grabbed Shen Lei’s arm, not wanting to hurt him again after he had just been healed.

Taishu Min shook her head though. "I would have if that had been an option. But you saw what kind of condition he was in: He was barely holding on. Do you really think we could have taken the time to straighten out his bones first? Not to mention that we might have caused further injuries. Who knows if he really would’ve made it?

"I know it hurts you to see this but it’s really for the best. If we leave things as they are now, it will be much more difficult later on. Thankfully, most of his bones seem to have regrown right. There are only two that we will have to deal with. As long as he stays in bed for a couple of weeks, it should be alright again. Maybe we can even get some resources that will aid this after everything else is sorted out."

Luo Lin wasn’t happy but he understood what she was saying. Thus, he turned to his senior martial brother, looking at him pleadingly. He himself might also be a cultivator and it wasn’t like he wouldn’t have the strength to do this but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Zhi Guan nodded and then inched closer, grabbing Shen Lei’s arm. He looked at his face and then closed his own eyes before he twisted.

Luo Lin yelped when the crack sounded and looked away, covering his eyes. He just couldn’t look at this. Taishu Min nodded though and motioned for Zhi Guan to continue while she set out to straighten the bones that he had broken again.

In this way, they soon managed to restore Shen Lei’s body to how it was supposed to be. They made a makeshift splint as well to stabilize the bones and then dug through their bags to also make something they could use to transport him without aggravating the recent breaks. Then, they turned to Elder Baili for further decisions.