Parting Ways

"This is a Three Yuan Blood Return Pill from our Ji Family's Evergreen Hall," Ji Wenyue said without hesitation after opening the medicine box and glancing inside.

"Whoa, an elder from Hundred Herbs Hall personally collected your Ji Family's pills!" Xia Daoming was very surprised.

"How can our Ji Family compare to Hundred Herbs Hall when it comes to refining medicine? This Three Yuan Blood Return Pill was refined by me based on a fragmented ancient formula, and it has a strong effect of strengthening and nourishing qi and blood.

Unfortunately, the medicinal ingredients required to refine this pill are very precious, so it can only be refined in small quantities and is very expensive, costing two hundred taels of silver per pill. Even so, it's still in short supply," Ji Wenyue said with a hint of pride.

"Two hundred taels a pill!" Xia Daoming couldn't help but gasp when he heard that.

Before he had looted Blood Wolf Hall, his entire fortune wasn't enough to buy a single Three Yuan Blood Return Pill.

"No wonder Hundred Herbs Hall wanted to kidnap you!" Xia Daoming sighed after catching his breath.

"The quality of this Three Yuan Blood Return Pill is average. Our Ji Family always reserves the high-quality Three Yuan Blood Return Pills for the direct descendants of the family.

It's a shame I didn't bring them out this time, otherwise, I could have let you try them, Brother Xia, to see the effect," Ji Wenyue said.

"It seems that from now on, if I need any tonic pills, I'll have to buy them specifically from you," Xia Daoming said, reaching out to take back the box containing the four Three Yuan Blood Return Pills.

"Brother Xia is joking. My life was saved by you. If you need any pills in the future, just ask me directly," Ji Wenyue quickly replied.

Xia Daoming smiled noncommittally and handed Ji Wenyue the meat-filled pancake he had just rolled, saying, "Have another one."

"Thank you, Brother," Ji Wenyue took the meat-filled pancake. This time, she didn't shy away and sat closer to Xia Daoming.

"So close? Aren't you afraid I'll go wild?" Xia Daoming glanced at her chest.

"Brother is joking. You're a good person, you definitely wouldn't," Ji Wenyue said with an awkward laugh, but she subtly shifted her bottom a little further away, leaving Xia Daoming speechless.

Women really are good at saying one thing and meaning another!

Soon, the two of them were full.

"Let's sleep, we still have to travel tomorrow!" Xia Daoming gestured to the single tent behind him.

"Ah, no, you don't need to. I'm not sleepy," Ji Wenyue glanced at the tent behind her, her heart trembling, and blurted out.

"Don't worry, you're all sweaty. I wouldn't want to share a tent with you! We'll take turns sleeping! You take the first half of the night, and I'll take the second half!" Xia Daoming said with a curl of his lip.

"Thank you, Brother!" Ji Wenyue finally realized she had overthought things. Blushing, she said it and quickly got up and crawled into the tent.

After Ji Wenyue entered the tent, Xia Daoming took out a Three Yuan Blood Return Pill, popped it into his mouth, and then began circulating the "Dragon Serpent Art."

An hour later, Xia Daoming slowly opened his eyes, his mood quite complex, unsure whether to be happy or depressed.

When he left Black Stone City, his meridian strengthening progress was at twenty percent of level nine.

Since then, he had eaten plenty of nourishing beast meat to strengthen his blood every day, but more than thirty days had passed, and his meridians had only strengthened to forty percent of level nine, which was nowhere near the improvement speed he had experienced while consuming the Dragon-Patterned Purple Blood Ginseng during his escape.

The improvement effect of this Three Yuan Blood Return Pill was quite good, as one pill had already strengthened his meridians to fifty percent of level nine, an increase of ten percent.

However, considering its high price, this effect was still far from Xia Daoming's expectations.

After all, he was only a Fourth-Rank Martial Master at the moment.

When he reached the Fifth-Rank Martial Master realm, even if he spent all six thousand taels of silver (Xia Daoming had acquired some money from Liao Min and others), he would only be able to complete two levels of meridian strengthening.

And for each Martial Master realm, the system allowed for nine levels of meridian strengthening.

"No wonder they say scholarly pursuits are poor and martial arts are rich. Practicing martial arts is truly expensive, especially with my system being such a money-guzzler!"

"I won't worry about it for now. Strengthening my meridians and improving my strength is the top priority." Soon, Xia Daoming stopped dwelling on the money issue, took out another Three Yuan Blood Return Pill, popped it into his mouth, and sat cross-legged to circulate the "Dragon Serpent Art" again.

Fortunately, Ji Wenyue didn't see this scene, otherwise, her eyes would have surely widened in disbelief.

The medicinal power of the Three Yuan Blood Return Pill was fierce. Let alone a Fourth-Rank Martial Master, even a Fifth-Rank Martial Master would experience meridian distension and pain after taking one pill and would need at least three to five days before they could take a second one, otherwise, their meridians would inevitably be damaged by the impact of the medicinal power.

As a result, Xia Daoming, who was only a Fourth-Rank Martial Master, took a second pill within just an hour.

This time, Xia Daoming took longer to dissolve the medicinal power, opening his eyes after two hours.

Xia Daoming glanced back at the tent. Faintly, he seemed to hear Ji Wenyue murmuring in her sleep and her soft snores. He couldn't help but shake his head and simply took out another Three Yuan Blood Return Pill and put it in his mouth.

Inside the tent, Ji Wenyue stretched and then slowly opened her eyes.

"Ah!"

As soon as she opened her eyes, Ji Wenyue let out a scream and scrambled out of the tent in a hurry.

In the distance, a segment of the sun's fiery red outline was slowly emerging from the horizon.

The sky was filled with a rosy glow.

Under the morning glow, a man was standing with his back to her, slicing smoked meat into the pot. Steam rose from the pot, carrying the aroma of meat and noodles.

Looking at this scene, an indescribable subtle emotion slowly grew in her heart.

Last night, at first, she was on edge, tossing and turning, worried that the man outside would suddenly barge in.

Later, she was so sleepy that she didn't know how she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up, it was already dawn.

"Wake up, the noodles are ready too!" Xia Daoming said without turning his head.

"Ah, Brother Xia, I'm really sorry, so sorry, I overslept," Ji Wenyue said, jolted awake, her face flushed with shame.

After breakfast, the two of them mounted their horses and continued on their way.

This day, Ji Wenyue no longer avoided Xia Daoming's gaze. She even deliberately puffed out her chest with pride, which sent Xia Daoming's temper soaring. He wanted to avert his eyes, but the desert was vast and monotonous, and it seemed foolish not to appreciate the beautiful young woman beside him.

Another day yielded no results.

A man and a woman once again camped out in the wild.

Beside the campfire, Ji Wenyue sat very close to Xia Daoming.

Xia Daoming quietly shifted his rear, widening the distance.

Did you really think I'm immune to temptation?

"Big Brother, are we still doing the 'you on top, me on bottom' tonight?" Ji Wenyue asked as the time approached.

"Cough, cough, yes, we can," Xia Daoming almost spat out his tea.

This time, Ji Wenyue didn't oversleep and woke up on time for her shift in the latter half of the night.

Xia Daoming didn't stand on ceremony with her.

"Look quickly, Brother Xia, that's Eya City! Eya City!" On top of a sand dune, Ji Wenyue excitedly pointed at the city nestled in an oasis in the distance.

Outside the city, caravans of horses and camels were slowly making their way towards it.

"Finally, Eya City!" Xia Daoming breathed a sigh of relief, his face also filled with excitement.

"Brother Xia, let's hurry and enter the city!" Ji Wenyue urged.

With that, she squeezed her horse's belly and rushed down the sand dune.

"Are you trying to walk into a trap?" Xia Daoming called out.

"Neigh!"

Ji Wenyue urgently pulled the reins, turned her horse around, and returned to the sand dune.

"Brother Xia, what do you mean by that?"

"You're a smart person, haven't you considered that the Five-Hundred-Year Phoenix Jade Grass might just be bait to lure you here?" Xia Daoming asked with a cold smile.

Ji Wenyue's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. After a long pause, she said, "My Ji family treated Shopkeeper Wang well; he shouldn't..."

"It would be best if he didn't, but what if he has indeed betrayed the Ji family?" Xia Daoming interrupted.

"Brother Xia means we're not entering Eya City?" Ji Wenyue asked, her expression dejected.

"Since we've seen Eya City, you should know how to get to Xiongfeng City by now, right?" Xia Daoming asked instead of answering.

"Yes, I know. Xiongfeng City is a major city in the northern region, and we have a branch of Evergreen Hall there. One of my uncles is in charge," Ji Wenyue said, looking around and nodding quickly.

"Then you lead the way," Xia Daoming said.

"Thank you, Brother Xia!" Ji Wenyue said gratefully.

"We'll go our separate ways once we reach Xiongfeng City," Xia Daoming said.

"Ah!"

"What 'ah'? You, Miss Ji, don't care about your reputation, but I'm not married yet. I can't ruin my reputation, and I don't want to end up on Hundred Herbs Hall's kill list," Xia Daoming said.

Ji Wenyue looked at Xia Daoming, her mouth opening and closing, speechless.

Two days later.

Three miles outside Xiongfeng City.

Ji Wenyue and Xia Daoming rode side-by-side, gazing into the distance.

"We'll part ways here. You go into the city," Xia Daoming said.

Ji Wenyue's delicate body trembled slightly, and she turned to look at Xia Daoming with a complex expression.

Wandering in the desert, every day she dreamed of reaching a city sooner so she could take a comfortable bath and sleep.

But now that the day had arrived, she inexplicably felt a pang of reluctance.

"Brother Xia, aren't you really coming into the city with me?"

Xia Daoming didn't answer. Instead, he raised his horsewhip and struck the horse Ji Wenyue was riding.

The horse galloped towards Xiongfeng City.

"Brother, where will I find you in the future?" Ji Wenyue reined in her horse and called back.

"You don't need to look for me. I'll find you," Xia Daoming waved his hand and, without looking back, galloped his horse towards another city gate.

The Vast Mountain Range stretches across Mangzhou Prefecture, spanning tens of thousands of miles.

The mountains are steep to the north and gentle to the south.

The northern side is almost entirely sheer cliffs and precipices, standing vertically like carved walls, with scarce vegetation and no gentle slopes for climbing.

The southern side, however, features rolling hills, layers of peaks, lush forests, swirling clouds and mist, and a magnificent, ever-changing landscape.

Furthermore, the mountains are teeming with poisonous insects and snakes, inhabited by jackals, wolves, and tigers, and even frequented by demonic beasts. Those who are not powerful dare not venture deep into or cross the Vast Mountain Range.

To travel north and south across the Vast Mountain Range, one must pass through the natural passages formed by cliffs and canyons.

Crimson Flame Valley is one such passage.

Every spring, many shrubs with red leaves and red flowers sprout on both sides of the cliffs in Crimson Flame Valley.

By summer, these shrubs are covered in red fruit.

Thus, during spring and summer each year, the valley is carpeted in fiery red, as if countless flames were burning, earning it the name Crimson Flame Valley.

One month later.

Xia Daoming arrived at Crimson Flame Valley, dusty and travel-worn.