Beauty's Heart Stirs, A Treasure Hunt Pact!

At that moment, Xiao Yi Xian was carefully bandaging the wound of a mercenary with an injured arm, her movements gentle and focused.

Her pure, pitiable aura seemed utterly out of place in this crude apothecary reeking of blood and medicinal herbs, yet somehow blended perfectly into it.

Xiao Yao's gaze lingered on her, and a trace of tenderness and resolve rose in his heart.

The Calamity Poison Body is originally an exceptional mutated constitution for the path of poison, yet in this world, it has become a death sentence feared by all.

Xiao Yi Xian, I will rewrite the fate of your life!

He did not go up to disturb her immediately. Instead, he stood quietly to one side and watched her tend to the wounds of one fierce-looking mercenary after another. Regardless of who they were, she maintained that same gentleness and patience, like a pure white lotus rising unstained from the mud, cleansing the filth of this place.

At last, the injured people in the medicine shop gradually dispersed.

Only then did Xiao Yao slowly step forward, wearing just the right amount of sickly pallor on his face as he coughed softly twice.

"Cough, cough... Healer Xiao Yi Xian, could... could you take a look at me?"

Xiao Yi Xian looked up at the sound. When she saw Xiao Yao's face clearly, her clear eyes brightened slightly.

The young man before her had refined, handsome features and an extraordinary, ethereal bearing, like an immortal walking among mortals. His eyes were as deep as the starry sky, and even his pale complexion could not conceal his outstanding presence.

Since beginning her medical practice, this was the first time she had seen someone so... handsome.

"Sir, please sit." Xiao Yi Xian quickly came to her senses, her pretty face flushing slightly as she pointed to a wooden stool nearby. "Please hold out your hand. I'll take your pulse."

"Thank you."

Xiao Yao sat down as instructed and placed his wrist on the table.

A cool, soft touch came from his wrist. Xiao Yi Xian's slender, jade-like fingers rested gently on his pulse. She wore a focused expression, her long eyelashes trembling faintly, looking utterly adorable.

"Hm?"

A moment later, a puzzled expression appeared on Xiao Yi Xian's face.

"Sir, your pulse... is very strange. It appears calm and steady, while your vitality is astonishingly vigorous. But upon closer examination, there seems to be a faint sense of weakness... Forgive my limited medical skill, but I truly cannot tell what ailment you have."

What astonished her was the vast, ocean-like vitality of Xiao Yao's Innate Dao Body. The weakness she sensed was merely an illusion Xiao Yao had forcibly simulated with his mana.

Hearing this, Xiao Yao deliberately sighed with a troubled expression.

"Alas, you do not know the whole story, Healer. I came to the Monster Mountain Range to train. A few days ago, I accidentally fell into a bottomless cliff. I thought I was certain to die, but who would have thought that there would be another world beneath it, filled with rare flowers and strange herbs, as well as a mysterious cave..."

He deliberately paused there and observed Xiao Yi Xian's reaction.

Sure enough!

When she heard the words "cliff," "rare flowers and strange herbs," and "mysterious cave," ripples instantly stirred in Xiao Yi Xian's formerly calm eyes. The fingers resting on his wrist tightened slightly as well.

Naturally, that subtle change did not escape Xiao Yao's eyes.

He laughed inwardly, but his face still carried the look of someone shaken by a near-death experience as he continued, "I was badly injured at the time, so I casually picked some herbs beneath the cliff and swallowed them. Who knew their medicinal properties would be so overbearing? Though my injuries healed, my body has felt somewhat wrong ever since. Sigh, I do not know whether that place is a blessed land or a deadly one."

"Beneath that cliff... there really is such a valley?" Xiao Yi Xian's voice carried a trace of tension and urgency that even she had not noticed.

This concerned her very life!

Over the years, she had secretly searched for inheritances of medical arts and pill refining, hoping to discover the truth behind her strange constitution. Only recently had she found information claiming that beneath a cliff in the mountain range lay the inheritance cave of a powerful alchemist, the place most likely to contain what she needed! But it was close to the inner region of the Monster Mountain Range and extremely dangerous. She had planned to sneak in and investigate when the three major mercenary groups next entered the mountains.

Xiao Yao took in every one of her reactions and understood at once, though he pretended to be puzzled as he asked, "Yes, that place is very unusual. But why is Healer so interested in it?"

"I..." Xiao Yi Xian was immediately at a loss for words. She could hardly tell a stranger she had just met that she possessed a bizarre constitution and even needed to fight poison with poison, could she?

She took a deep breath and suppressed the excitement in her heart. A sincere look of concern appeared on her pretty face as she advised, "Sir, the Monster Mountain Range is filled with danger. Such perilous cliffs are often guarded by powerful magical beasts. Your survival this time was already an immense stroke of luck. For your own safety, it would be best... not to go back to such a place."

Her words came from the heart. Although she longed for that place, her kind nature would not allow her to watch this handsome young man throw away his life at such a young age.

Seeing the sincere kindness in her clear eyes, Xiao Yao felt as though the softest part of his heart had been deeply touched.

He smiled gently and spoke with confidence.

"Thank you for your concern, Xiao Yi Xian. I will remember your kindness, but you need not worry about my strength!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stopped concealing his aura and revealed it.

Nine-Star Dou Grandmaster!

A sharp, domineering aura soared into the sky!

Boom!

A powerful surge of Dou Qi erupted from him, carefully avoiding Xiao Yi Xian before violently sweeping through the entire Myriad Medicine Studio!

This aura was countless times stronger than Mu Li, the leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, who spent his days living on the edge of a blade!

Displaying this much strength was just right. Anything more would have been excessive.

Inside the medicine shop, every clerk sorting medicinal herbs, as well as several mercenaries who had just entered, paled in horror beneath the sudden pressure and staggered back again and again!

"Th-this is... Peak Da Dou Shi?!"

"My heavens! There's actually such a young Da Dou Shi?!"

"Who... who exactly is he?!"

Cries of shock rose one after another! Everyone's gaze gathered upon the young figure who remained seated so calmly, their eyes filled with disbelief!

In a place like Qingshan Town, a Dou Shi was already strong enough to establish a sizable mercenary group and dominate the area! As for such a young Peak Da Dou Shi, they did not even dare imagine what he might achieve in the future!

Feeling that terrifying aura from so close by, Xiao Yi Xian's little mouth fell open as she froze completely. She had never imagined that this refined young gentleman before her was actually such a terrifyingly powerful young prodigy!

Xiao Yao slowly withdrew his aura, as though everything that had just happened had been nothing but an illusion.

He looked at the dumbfounded Xiao Yi Xian, the warm, teasing smile returning to his face as he abruptly changed the subject.

"Miss Xiao Yi Xian, do you think I am qualified now to explore beneath that cliff once more?"

This sudden turn left Xiao Yi Xian unable to react for a moment.

He's so strong. Then all the treasures in that cave will surely belong to him. If I want the pill scripture inheritance, won't I have to beg him for it? I wonder what conditions he'll demand then...

Xiao Yi Xian's thoughts ran wild for a moment, her mind thrown into chaos by Xiao Yao's prodigious strength.

Xiao Yao did not wait for her answer before throwing out another temptation she could not refuse.

"I have long heard that you are deeply knowledgeable about all kinds of rare flowers and strange herbs, Xiao Yi Xian, and that you are a highly skilled healer renowned throughout the region. There may be many treasures beneath that cliff, but I do not understand medicinal herbs and might miss the true treasures. So..."

He stood and formally extended an invitation to Xiao Yi Xian.

"I would like to formally invite you to explore that treasure ground with me. As payment, whatever we obtain on this journey, whether medicinal herbs or other treasures, you and I will... split it fifty-fifty. What do you say?"

Fifty-fifty!

Those four words struck Xiao Yi Xian and the surrounding eavesdroppers like a thunderbolt, making them all suck in a breath of cold air!

The value of treasures within the Monster Mountain Range was impossible to estimate. Not only could she travel with a Peak Da Dou Shi powerhouse, but she could also share the treasures he found! And on a fifty-fifty split! He was actually willing to give half the gains to a healer?

Such generosity, such boldness, was simply unheard of!

At that moment, Xiao Yi Xian's heart began pounding uncontrollably!

Go!

A voice screamed wildly within her heart!

This was not just for the generous reward, but for herself as well! For the faint hope of controlling her bizarre poison body and escaping her destined fate!

"I... I'm willing!"

The words almost left her mouth without thought. Only after she said them did Xiao Yi Xian realize that she had seemed far too eager. Her pretty face instantly flushed all the way to her ears, but her eyes shone with a light unlike anything before.

She raised her head to meet Xiao Yao's deep, smiling eyes. Pursing her lips, she asked softly with a hint of wariness and probing, "You... you're treating me so well because... because you want to court me?"

The moment she blurted that out, Xiao Yi Xian came to her senses and felt as though her heart were about to leap out of her throat.

The surrounding mercenaries widened their eyes, their faces filled with utter despair. Xiao Yao even seemed to hear a few hearts breaking, followed by miserable wails.

Rather than denying it, Xiao Yao chuckled.

Beneath the sunlight, his refined and handsome face appeared particularly open and sincere.

"Hahahaha!"

"Xiao Yi Xian, you are so kind and so beautiful. Is it not only natural that I would come to admire you?" His gaze was frank and burning, devoid of even a trace of lewdness, holding only pure appreciation. "Could it be that kind-hearted Xiao Yi Xian will not give me a chance to pursue you?"

Such a direct and honest answer instead left Xiao Yi Xian completely flustered.

Looking at Xiao Yao's handsome face so close to her own and feeling his burning gaze, she felt her cheeks become frighteningly hot. Her heart raced madly in her chest like a startled deer.

"I... I still need to finish treating the patients here... and I need to... to go back and prepare some things..."

She changed the subject incoherently, no longer daring to look into Xiao Yao's eyes.

Seeing this, Xiao Yao stopped teasing her. He merely smiled gently and said, "It's all right. I'll wait for you. As it happens, I know a little about medicinal herbs myself, so I'll help you out here."

With that, he truly walked over to the medicine cabinets and began skillfully identifying and organizing the herbs in the medicine shop.

Looking at Xiao Yao's focused profile and catching the faint fragrance wafting from him, an unprecedented and unfamiliar feeling rose in Xiao Yi Xian's heart.

Perhaps...

Following him really would be a good choice.