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

Su Zinong was dizzy and disoriented from the fall, and was momentarily confused.

Firstly, he hadn't made any inappropriate advances towards Qin Xiangxue, nor had he offended her. What was wrong with simply asking her to wear a mask? Yet, she pushed him back a good distance and he fell to the ground, utterly humiliated.

However, at this moment a long sword flashed and arrived. Qin Xiangxue had already drawn her sword and started fighting with the opponent. It turned out that Bai Fengjun had caught up.

Unexpectedly, Qin Xiangxue was so vigilant. She must have practiced the Kidney Water Meridian a lot, which gave her better hearing. She noticed the enemy's sneak attack earlier than Su Zinong and saved his life.

Su Zinong quickly stood up, drew his Thunder Sword, and joined the battle from the side.

At this moment, Bai Fengjun was in high spirits, a far cry from his drunken and sleepy state the day before; his strength had greatly increased. Fortunately, his two helpers hadn't chased after him, otherwise it would have been even more dangerous.

Fortunately, two fingers on his right hand were cut off by Su Zinong, and he was seriously injured, so he was a little sluggish when wielding the sword.

Even so, Bai Fengjun still had the upper hand against the two of them.

This time, Qin Xiangxue and Su Zinong took turns fighting Bai Fengjun head-on, and they were unable to determine a winner for a while, fighting for a full quarter of an hour.

Su Zinong suddenly noticed two people running towards him from over a hundred feet away, who seemed to be Bai Fengjun's helpers.

Su Zinong was extremely anxious. Bai Fengjun's agility was far superior to his and Qin Xiangxue's, and it seemed unlikely that the two of them could escape. He could at least catch one of them.

As the two figures drew closer, Bai Fengjun thrust his sword towards Su Zinong's waist. Su Zinong steeled his resolve, taking a desperate gamble without dodging or evading, gritting his teeth and forcefully thrusting his sword towards Bai Fengjun's chest.

Only a madman would play like that!

Bai Fengjun struck first, followed by Su Zinong. This suicidal attack ultimately disadvantaged Su Zinong, because Bai Fengjun's sword pierced Su Zinong's waist first, rendering him powerless. Even if his sword struck Bai Fengjun, it would only cause superficial wounds, unable to penetrate deeply.

Before Bai Fengjun could think further, he hurriedly increased his inner energy and thrust his longsword at Su Zinong. With a "whoosh," the sword failed to penetrate Su Zinong's body. He was unaware that Su Zinong was wearing Heavenly Silkworm Armor. However, at that moment, Su Zinong endured the pain and thrust his sword forward, piercing straight into Bai Fengjun's chest.

Su Zinong drew his longsword outwards, and Bai Fengjun collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his chest.

Although Su Zinong did not bleed, his waist was in excruciating pain from the shock of the true energy. He frowned and gritted his teeth, clutching his waist with his left hand and barely managing to stand, while using his sword as a support with his right hand.

Bai Fengjun's two fellow disciples had already arrived ten zhang away. Their cultivation was inferior to Bai Fengjun's, and seeing him fall to the ground after being struck by a sword, they knew their own cultivation and strength were far inferior to his. They exchanged glances, turned around, and fled.

Su Zinong could no longer hold on and sat down on the ground, panting heavily.

Qin Xiangxue was taken aback and quickly stepped forward to support his back, asking with great concern, "Are you injured?"

"His energy channels were slightly damaged, but it shouldn't be too serious, just painful." Su Zinong struggled to stand up, but stumbled and fell back to the ground.

Qin Xiangxue used her strength to lift him up, took one of Su Zinong's hands and put it on her shoulder, helping him to stand up.

After Su Zinong caught his breath, the two slowly walked forward.

It took two hours to walk before we reached a small town and settled down in a small inn.

Su Zinong took a pill from his pocket and swallowed it. He then wrote a prescription and asked Qin Xiangxue to buy the medicine. He decocted some of the medicine into a soup and drank it, and applied the rest to the injured area.

"Um... could you excuse me for a moment? I need to undress and apply medicine," Su Zinong said.

"Oh, still shy? It's not like I haven't seen it before. Besides, what's wrong with applying it to the side of your stomach and waist?" Qin Xiangxue said dismissively.

“Didn’t you say that you, a young woman, cherish your reputation and are worried that people will gossip about you and make it difficult for you to get married in the future?” Su Zinong said.

"You still remember what I said in Lishui City, haha, not bad! It's okay, I'm not too worried now. Look at me, I'm as beautiful as a flower, why should I worry about not being able to get married?" Qin Xiangxue boasted.

As she spoke, she untied Su Zinong's robe. Su Zinong was only wearing a pair of shorts underneath. He was a little embarrassed but didn't turn his head away, staring at Qin Xiangxue.

After applying the medicine and bandaging the wound, she helped Su Zinong put on his robe. Her face was already flushed, and she looked even more stunning in the candlelight.

"So beautiful!" Su Zinong exclaimed, "My saliva is practically dripping onto the ground."

"You have to hold back," Qin Xiangxue smiled. "Get some rest and don't overthink things."

"When Bai Fengjun launched his sneak attack today, didn't you save my life? I have no way to repay you, so I should repay you with my body," Su Zinong said jokingly.

"You were attacked by that person because of me. Today you risked your life to help me kill my enemy. I should repay you. I also want to..." Qin Xiangxue hesitated, but ultimately held back and didn't say anything more.

Three days later, Su Zinong's injuries had improved considerably. He sat up and slowly circulated his internal energy to clear the blocked meridians.

"Let's rest for a couple more days before we talk about it, there's no rush," Qin Xiangxue said.

Two days later, Su Zinong had recovered to about 70-80% of his original strength and walked slowly with Qin Xiangxue southward.

"What do we need to prepare?" Qin Xiangxue asked.

"Prepare a pot of glutinous rice wine to take with the medicine when we find it," Su Zinong said with a smile.

Actually, some preparation is necessary, but it's not necessary to have everything ready beforehand. In the small town at the foot of Lingshan Mountain, I bought a lot of hiking gear, shoes, clothing, mosquito repellent, and so on.

"Do you know the way?" Qin Xiangxue asked.

"Oh, don't worry, that Ling Mountain is huge, I can find it with my eyes closed," Su Zinong said, waving his hand.

Sure enough, in less than an hour, they arrived at a large mountain. The two were overjoyed; they had thought it would be difficult to find, but they had found it so easily. They happily went into the mountain to search for traces of the elixir.

They searched until evening but still found nothing. The mountain looked unremarkable; apart from being relatively high and large, it had nothing special about it.

But seeing the sun setting and it getting late, we had no choice but to descend the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain stood a dilapidated temple. Su Zinong glimpsed a plaque remaining on the temple, with four red characters that read "Maozishan Temple".

Su Zinong was dumbfounded; he had come to the wrong place!

He scratched his head, turned around, and blocked Qin Shangxue's view, saying, "It's getting late. Let's hurry back to the inn in town to spend the night and come back tomorrow!"

Qin Xiangxue didn't find the plaque of the dilapidated temple. Seeing that it was indeed late, she had no choice but to nod in agreement.

Su Zinong thought he had successfully deceived everyone, so he hurriedly pulled Qin Xiangxue away to avoid her discovering the plaque.

Unexpectedly, Qin Xiangxue said, "We brought some dry food. Why don't we spend the night in this dilapidated temple and go find medicine first thing tomorrow morning?"

"No, no, no! How can a virgin like you spend the night with a handsome young man in a deserted temple in the middle of the night? If things escalate like dry wood and ignite, people will gossip, and you'll never be able to get married," Su Zinong quickly said, his tone laced with threat.

"Didn't I tell you I wasn't worried anymore?" Qin Xiangxue noticed Su Zinong's strange behavior, pushed him aside, and looked at the dilapidated temple in front of her. She saw a plaque that read "Hat Mountain Temple"...