The deflated cultivator refused to give up and vowed to turn the tables.

"Okay, are we going to find the Fire Spirit Mushroom?" Mo Xiaohua said. She was obviously familiar with the methods for treating cold poison, and the Fire Spirit Mushroom was one of the medicines that could help.

"Dream on, I already dug up that fire spirit mushroom," Su Zinong said.

"Ah, then what's the point of going?" Mo Xiaohua asked.

"Since that place can nurture the Fire Spirit Mushroom, it may also nurture other immortal herbs, and there may even be a second Fire Spirit Mushroom," Su Zinong speculated.

“That makes sense, but what effects did you get after eating the Fire Spirit Mushroom?” Mo Xiaohua asked with curiosity, even wanting to bite Su Zinong’s hand.

"I didn't eat them. I didn't actually pick them myself; a friend who was with me picked them," Su Zinong said calmly.

"Is this Miss Qin Xiangxue?" Mo Xiaohua asked. She clearly knew her to some extent.

"Yes, she advanced to a minor realm after eating it," Su Zinong said calmly.

"So what's your relationship with her?" Mo Xiaohua asked Su Zinong with wide eyes.

“Friend, good friend,” Su Zinong said, taking a deep breath.

“Ah, she’s a good friend, and I’m just a friend, there’s a difference of one word!” Mo Xiaohua said.

"There's nothing we can do about it. We don't know who made this arrangement." Su Zinong looked up at the sky.

***

Lingshan.

Su Zinong went straight to Maozishan, also known as Dalingshan. He even went into the temple to kneel and worship, but the old immortal He was not there.

If the old immortal were here, what would he say to me? Would he ask if I and Miss Mo were destined to be together? Or would he tell me if there were any more elixirs? Su Zinong couldn't help but let his mind wander.

There couldn't be more thousand-year-old fire spirit mushrooms; there was only one. After Su Zinong and Qin Xiangxue harvested it, there were no more thousand-year-old fire spirit mushrooms on Mount Ling.

There are still flowers.

Su Zinong casually picked a bunch of flowers and handed them to Mo Xiaohua, saying, "Your name is Xiaohua, so I picked some flowers for you!" Su Zinong was afraid she would be unhappy, after all, she had come from afar and was leaving empty-handed. Giving her a bunch of flowers was a way of comforting her.

Unexpectedly, Mo Xiaohua was very happy, seemingly even happier than when she was holding a thousand-year-old fire spirit mushroom.

When they turned around, they found several small Ganoderma lucidum plants. They looked very similar to the Ganoderma lucidum that Qin Xiangxue had eaten, only smaller in size, and seemed to be only a few decades old.

“Let’s pick two, and keep the rest!” Su Zinong said. “Although this isn’t a thousand-year-old fire lingzhi, it should still be considered a type of fire lingzhi and will have some medicinal effects.”

Mo Xiaohua ate one of the plants first. After more than an hour, her body warmed up, and Su Zinong told her to immediately circulate her internal energy.

"It's hot," Mo Xiaohua murmured softly, her voice low.

Oh dear, Su Zinong was startled: he had forgotten the medicinal effects of Qin Xiangxue after she ate the Fire Spirit Mushroom, and was looking around for cool water.

Fortunately, this Ganoderma lucidum is only a few decades old, so its effects are vastly different and its medicinal properties are much smaller. Therefore, Mo Xiaohua was not as exaggerated as Qin Xiangxue was at the time; she was just a little distracted.

Su Zinong gave her some cold water and told her to concentrate on her studies and not to let her mind wander.

Two hours later, Mo Xiaohua calmed down and asked, "How did you know I was overthinking?"

“I consider myself a semi-doctor,” Su Zinong said, “and I have some understanding of the properties of various medicines.”

"So, that thousand-year-old fire spirit mushroom must have very strong medicinal properties?" Mo Xiaohua asked.

"Of course, it's ten times or even a hundred times more effective! But don't get the wrong idea, what you're thinking didn't happen. I tied her up with vines and threw her into a pond." Su Zinong said, still a little amused.

"You're so stupid!" Mo Xiaohua said. "If it were me, I would hate you in my heart."

"Let him hate me if he wants to!" Su Zinong said, slightly saddened.

"Eating this one Ganoderma lucidum should last for half a month or a month," Su Zinong thought to himself.

"Eat the other one in half a month," Su Zinong instructed.

"Mmm," Mo Xiaohua replied obediently.

"Why are you still wearing men's clothes?" Su Zinong asked.

“Aren’t we going to the far south? When there are fewer and fewer people around, I’ll change back into women’s clothes,” Mo Xiaohua said.

They traveled south. The two were not in a hurry, and walked slowly, staying in towns for a few days whenever they came across one.

After traveling and exploring for fifteen days, we arrived in Tengcheng.

"It's quite interesting here; women are superior to men. In many families, boys are raised as girls, and they even eat a certain herb that gradually makes men behave like women," Su Zinong said. He thought to himself: Maybe I should get some of these herbs to take back to Huang Chenghe.

Mo Xiaohua's eyes widened in surprise, like a curious child: "How do you know everything? Have you been here before?"

"I've never been here before, but I've been to the area before and heard people talk about it," Su Zinong shook his head.

The people here have dark skin and are generally thin. Most of them make a living by fishing, while some farm.

"Don't eat anything recklessly," Mo Xiaohua said with a smile. "What if you eat one of those herbs and turn into a woman? But you looked quite beautiful in women's clothes that day, haha."

"Don't talk nonsense, or I'll put some more itching powder in your bathwater, and you'll know what that feels like," Su Zinong said with a smile.

Mo Xiaohua trembled at the memory of those two itchy moments, as if her whole body was itching. "You dare?"

"What wouldn't I dare to do?" Su Zinong said smugly.

The scenery here is truly beautiful, especially the sand on the beach, which is fine, soft, and clean, and the seawater is a deep blue color—this is the Azure Sea.

With nothing else to do, Su Zinong practiced his martial arts, sometimes for four or five hours a day.

Mo Xiaohua's grilled fish skills are indeed quite good, at least a notch above that little witch's.

"It's absolutely delicious!" Su Zinong exclaimed, smacking his lips repeatedly as he ate.

"Thank you!" Mo Xiaohua said. "I didn't expect you to be able to compliment people."

"I'm actually quite good at praising people. Even if someone's grilling is terrible, I'll still praise them for ages," Su Zinong said with a smile.

"You!" Mo Xiaohua was a little angry.

“But this time it’s really delicious.” Su Zinong patted her back to comfort her.

Mo Xiaohua also practiced her skills. The climate here was hot and the sun was strong. Her cold poison hadn't flared up recently, as if it had disappeared, and she had almost forgotten that she had cold poison in her body.

There are also hot springs here, but of course they can't compare to the hot springs used for practicing martial arts at Chaoxia Mountain. However, they are still warm and comfortable to soak in.

"Aren't you uncomfortable taking a bath with your clothes on?" Su Zinong asked, his eyes fixed on Mo Xiaohua, his gaze moving up and down.

"I'm going to get angry if you keep looking!" Mo Xiaohua said. She remembered the time when the cold poison flared up and Su Zinong took off her clothes.

“Look at those local women, they all take off their clothes to soak in the water, only wearing a small undergarment. I think this is their custom, they are used to it and don’t think there’s anything wrong with it,” Su Zinong said. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” At this moment, he was also only wearing a pair of shorts, his upper body bare, revealing his strong muscles.

“They are them, and I am me,” Mo Xiaohua said, wiping the water droplets from her forehead.

Su Zinong originally wanted to go to sea to catch fish, but he didn't go because he saw that Mo Xiaohua had been poisoned by cold. Most of the animals in the sea are cold in nature, and even ordinary fish that he bought needed to be grilled before he dared to give them to her, so as not to trigger her cold poison.

Fortunately, there is plenty of mugwort here, and it is very easy to pick. Although the medicine is very common, it is of great help to Mo Xiaohua's cold poison. Su Zinong made her eat a bowl of mugwort soup every day.

"Have you gotten used to the heat here?" Su Zinong asked. "We've been here for half a month now."

“There’s nothing I’m not used to,” Mo Xiaohua asked, puzzled. “Why do you ask that?”

Su Zinong calmly said, "Because we're going to a place ten times hotter than here, we're bringing you here to prepare you..."