Snow White

The two of them talked about martial techniques for nearly two hours.

Li Yuan took the initiative to stop, letting her continue cultivating and recover her condition.

As for himself, he conserved his strength as much as possible.

With little food left, every bit of energy saved counted.

As dusk approached, he applied medicine to Xia Zhao's wounds again.

By tomorrow, the wounds should be fully scabbed over.

Judging from Xia Zhao's condition, the infection no longer affected her much.

He just wanted to treat the wounds thoroughly to prevent any further problems.

Over the next few days, Li Yuan went out for about two hours each day.

He observed the surrounding environment, preparing in advance for any unexpected dangers.

Li Yuan's worries were less about the beasts.

Rather, it was the people and the force hidden behind this incident.

He had to make it back alive—he couldn't die here!

He had barely earned his spot in the Youth Martial Tournament; he couldn't lose his life before even attending.

There were still regrets he hadn't made up for.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan's resolve hardened even further.

During these days, Li Yuan and Xia Zhao grew increasingly familiar.

When Xia Zhao rested, she would sit with Li Yuan by the observation point.

They chatted while keeping an eye on their surroundings.

In their conversations over these days, Xia Zhao offered no guidance on martial technique comprehension.

Instead, it was she who gained much from listening to Li Yuan.

The Feather Blade she practiced was an extremely difficult saber technique.

Its difficulty even surpassed that of Cloud Extreme Fist.

Yet after hearing her describe and explain this challenging technique, Li Yuan gave her pointers.

He even solved a problem that had troubled her for a long time.

On the sixth day, just before nightfall, Xia Zhao took a keychain from her old clothes.

On the keychain hung a USB drive.

She removed the drive and handed it to Li Yuan.

"Luckily it was on me and didn't get lost with the package.

Inside is a cultivation technique that an elder in my family stumbled upon.

My elders and I could barely make sense of its contents.

Maybe you can read it and see if you gain anything.

But don't force it—it might just be nonsense."

After saying this, Xia Zhao suddenly thought of something else.

She quickly added a few more words.

Once they got out, she would still find a basic cultivation method for Li Yuan.

She was giving him this now only because she felt his insight was truly remarkable.

Even something no one had ever understood might yield some clues to him.

Li Yuan accepted the USB drive and expressed his thanks.

Their chat wasn't over yet; Xia Zhao continued talking about the cultivation technique on the drive.

The technique was called Heavenly Refining Body.

Xia Zhao shared what she knew about it, hoping it might inspire Li Yuan when he studied it later.

Li Yuan listened carefully, but as he heard her out, he felt the problems she mentioned were significant.

After finishing, Xia Zhao casually brought up an amusing story about the technique.

"This technique nearly caused a huge mess.

Four Grandmasters fell out, even coming to blows.

But after all that fighting, it was all for nothing.

No one could understand it, and several Grandmasters said it was complete gibberish..."

When Xia Zhao got to this part, she couldn't help but laugh.

"The rumors made it sound so fierce, like you'd have to fight half to death to get it, but in the end it was all for nothing.

Even the top experts of the world are still troubled by external things."

Their daily chats never lasted too long, kept within two hours.

Li Yuan's compressed food and water had already been consumed by two-thirds.

There would still be pressure ahead, so they needed to conserve.

The good news was that Xia Zhao was recovering every day, and it was visible that her condition was improving.

You could tell just from her complexion.

At the same time, she also looked a bit more beautiful.

Wearing Li Yuan's loose clothes, her excellent figure and fair skin were faintly visible.

At times like this, Li Yuan would usually turn his head away, forcing himself to focus on other things.

Xia Zhao, as a top-tier martial artist, naturally had sharp perception.

She didn't call him out on it.

She just curled the corner of her mouth slightly, secretly smiling to herself.

On the sixth day of hiding in the Observation Station.

Xia Zhao had moved her cultivation, rest, and sleep to be next to Li Yuan.

In terms of martial arts strength, she was definitely several times stronger than him.

Even now, she was still considerably stronger than Li Yuan.

But sitting close beside him gave her a rare sense of safety.

For her, this kind of safety was indeed hard to come by.

Besides, being next to Li Yuan brought a lot of amusing little things.

For example, whenever she lowered her head and bent over, Li Yuan would catch a glimpse and then get all conflicted.

Wanting to look, but too embarrassed to...

These playful little moments could only happen here.

If they really made it out alive, she, Xia Zhao, would return to her usual self—aloof, calm, and indifferent.

The sixth day passed peacefully.

One night later, the seventh day arrived.

All the poison in Xia Zhao's body had been completely purged.

From now on, the focus was on fully recovering her condition and restoring her strength to the Eighth Grade of martial arts.

Feeling her own state, Xia Zhao planned to reduce her food intake.

She divided the remaining food into two portions, letting Li Yuan eat a bit more than before.

Without needing to fight the toxins in her body, her daily consumption would also be much lower.

But Li Yuan still insisted she eat more.

If they truly wanted to escape from this place, in the end, it would have to rely on her.

His own condition wouldn't determine the final outcome.

Xia Zhao didn't argue. She just ate halfway through, then suddenly shoved the food toward Li Yuan's mouth.

Li Yuan was a bit startled and instinctively shrank back.

"Disgusted? Or afraid of letting someone back home down?" Xia Zhao teased.

When she first said it, it was meant to be lighthearted and casual.

But after the words came out, she herself paused for a moment.

Xia Zhao suddenly realized that she had always assumed Li Yuan was single, without ever actually confirming it.

Li Yuan and she were about the same age, both already thirty.

For a martial arts prodigy like Xia Zhao, this was still the golden age for cultivation.

Which of the prodigies would marry and start a family so young?

But Li Yuan was only Fifth Grade at thirty—acceptable, but certainly not outstanding.

Martial arts improvement didn't grow linearly with age.

After thirty-five, a martial artist's progress would slow down more and more.

Geniuses reached the peak of Fifth Grade in their early twenties.

They would definitely advance to Sixth Grade before thirty.

After that, each realm breakthrough took years or even decades.

Li Yuan's comprehension was indeed excellent, but with this level of martial strength, it was possible he had married and settled down early.

Coming back to her senses, Xia Zhao felt a tightness in her chest, an unease.

Her gaze fell on Li Yuan, and she was waiting.

Though she didn't want to admit it, Xia Zhao knew she was hoping Li Yuan would give a negative answer.

"The only family I'm tied to are my parents, and they probably wouldn't mind this sort of thing.

I just think there's no need to make me take an extra portion.

No matter how full I eat, I don't have the ability to deal with mutated beasts..."