"Um, maybe don't take off your underwear just yet..."
When Li Yuan saw Xia Zhao reach to undo it, he hurriedly stopped her.
At the same time, Li Yuan stepped closer and pressed a spot on the back of her shoulder.
With someone else touching her there, and no clothing covering the area, the sensation should have been extremely obvious.
Yet Xia Zhao discovered that patch of skin seemed to have lost all feeling, leaving only numbness.
"There's a finger-length wound. It's infected and inflamed, and it's still spreading outward."
Li Yuan described everything he saw.
His earlier guess had been correct. She really did have an unhealed wound on her body, and it was infected and inflamed.
For a martial artist, infection and inflammation were extremely rare.
Much less for a talented martial artist like Xia Zhao, who had reached Eighth Grade in her early thirties and possessed an exceptional physique.
If this had happened, it had to be the Mutant Beast's venom at work.
It had greatly weakened her immune system.
"You rest. I'll go find medicine."
Li Yuan gave only that instruction before leaving the Observation Station.
Border Records documented many useful medicinal herbs. Li Yuan could only search according to what the book described.
Watching Li Yuan leave, Xia Zhao's expression grew even more pessimistic.
She had already been forcing herself to hold on in that state earlier.
Finding suitable medicinal herbs in the wilderness required an extensive knowledge of herbs.
First, one had to know which herbs were suitable.
Second, one had to know where those herbs grew.
Finally, one had to know how to use them.
Xia Zhao was an Eighth Grade martial artist. Ordinary medicinal herbs could help Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade martial artists.
But at Eighth Grade, they were completely ineffective.
With all of Xia Zhao's wilderness experience, even she would have found it difficult to locate something suitable herself.
Shaking her head, Xia Zhao stopped herself from dwelling on it.
She was not dead yet, so she should first think about how to stay alive.
She removed her close-fitting clothes and put on Li Yuan's clean garments.
They were loose, comfortable, and smelled nice.
Judging by how she felt, changing into clean clothes really did make her much more comfortable.
All she could do now was proceed step by step and try to recover.
Li Yuan left at nine in the morning and did not return until six in the evening.
After more than nine hours, Li Yuan entered the Observation Station holding a handful of herbs.
He looked even dirtier than when he had left and utterly bedraggled.
Who knew what he had gone through to find those herbs.
Seeing this, Xia Zhao froze for a moment.
Then she immediately and sensibly lifted her clothes.
Out here in the wilderness, they certainly could not light a fire for illumination.
They had to finish applying the medicine before the sky went completely dark.
Li Yuan stuffed the herbs he had gathered into his mouth, chewed them into a pulp, and applied them to the wound.
The numb wound naturally still could not feel anything.
No matter what kind of medicine it was, it needed time to be absorbed.
After applying the medicine, Li Yuan returned to the observation point to monitor the situation outside.
Another night passed.
As soon as dawn broke, Li Yuan went to check on Xia Zhao.
She was awake as well, and she looked much better than yesterday.
Lifting her clothes, Li Yuan examined the wound.
Quite a bit of the inflamed wound had begun to scab over.
"It seems I've regained some feeling..."
Xia Zhao was delighted too. She had not expected it to truly work.
Li Yuan took her hand and had her touch the wound herself.
When she felt the scabbed areas, most of her earlier pessimism was swept away.
Li Yuan then chewed up more herbs and applied them to the wound.
After finishing all that, Xia Zhao had Li Yuan rest while she watched the surrounding area.
In less than five minutes, Li Yuan had fallen asleep against the wall.
Looking at Li Yuan's sleeping face, dirty though it was, Xia Zhao felt that this man was actually rather pleasing to the eye.
After sleeping for three hours, Li Yuan woke up on his own.
He had Xia Zhao cultivate and recover while he continued observing the dangerous environment around them.
This was their third day hiding in the Observation Station, and the two had clearly become much more familiar with each other.
Whenever Xia Zhao rested, they would begin chatting about Martial Dao cultivation.
Li Yuan was not shy about it. Since he had such an opportunity to seek guidance, why would he not seize it?
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Li Yuan began asking about all sorts of techniques for dealing with Fierce Beasts.
Especially those techniques not recorded in books.
He also asked whether there were any methods to improve quickly in the Martial Dao realm at Fifth Grade.
Reaching Eighth Grade at her age was definitely not something resources alone could accomplish.
Xia Zhao came from an extraordinary background and had abundant cultivation resources. Li Yuan believed that.
But her Martial Dao talents were undoubtedly top-tier as well.
No amount of resources could produce a Martial Dao genius of this level.
As a teacher at Lingshan No.1 High School, he was even more certain of that.
Her guidance was absolutely practical experience that had been tested and proven immensely useful.
Xia Zhao did not hold anything back. She told him about every obstacle she had encountered while at Fifth Grade.
As long as she could remember it, she concealed nothing.
She even gave Li Yuan tips on advancing to Sixth Grade.
There was quite a significant gap between Sixth Grade and Fifth Grade.
Breaking through into Sixth Grade was far more difficult than before.
As they talked, Xia Zhao casually asked which basic cultivation method Li Yuan practiced.
The advancement of one's Martial Dao realm had much to do with one's basic cultivation method.
"The Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique..."
"I mean the basic cultivation method you're currently using.
The introductory method from childhood does not matter much."
Xia Zhao cut in and motioned for Li Yuan to talk about his current situation.
"My main cultivation method right now is also the Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique..."
As he answered, Li Yuan even circulated it to demonstrate.
Seeing this, Xia Zhao's face filled with confusion.
"The blade intent you used that day reached that level, and your mastery of the Cloud Treading Step far surpasses ordinary people.
Yet you practice the Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique?"
To Xia Zhao, it was a cultivation method so basic it had been taken to the extreme.
She had found it somewhat beneath her even as a child.
Yet this martial artist before her, whom she thought was rather impressive, was still using the Zhou Tian Dao Yin Technique.
"The basic cultivation method I use unfortunately cannot be passed on to you.
If we can get out, I'll definitely find a suitable one for you."
Since she could offer no help in that regard, Xia Zhao changed the subject.
She began explaining martial techniques to Li Yuan, including ways to deal with all kinds of common techniques.
Xia Zhao had noticed that Li Yuan used the Six Martial Chain Blade, so she took the opportunity to offer him some guidance on blade techniques.
But after discussing it with Li Yuan for a while, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
The problem was not Li Yuan, but her.
Xia Zhao had originally thought she was guiding Li Yuan.
Yet as they continued talking, she found that Li Yuan was tactfully telling her that she had misunderstood.
The crucial part was that, after thinking it over carefully, she found what Li Yuan said was indeed more reasonable.
Their conversation deepened.
As they continued talking, Xia Zhao discovered that whenever it came to martial techniques Li Yuan had studied, her understanding was inferior to his.
She even brought up the martial techniques she commonly used for discussion.
Li Yuan merely listened to what she said and immediately grasped the core points.
Including the difficulties of the techniques and their subtle intricacies.
He truly identified all of those things just by listening to her talk...
Before you continue