Chapter 7: Parting ways

"This is the Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill produced by our Ji family's Changchun Hall." Ji Wenyue opened the medicine box and glanced at it, then said without thinking.

"Damn, the elder of the Hundred Medicine Hall actually keeps your Ji family's medicine pills close to his body!" Xia Daoming was very surprised.

"Where can the Hundred Medicine Hall compare to our Ji family in medicine refining? I refined this Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill according to an incomplete ancient prescription, and it has a very strong effect of strengthening and nourishing blood and Qi.

It's a pity that the medicinal materials required to refine this medicine pill are very precious, and it can only be refined in small quantities. The price is very expensive, two hundred taels of silver per pill, even so, it is still in short supply." Ji Wenyue said with a trace of pride.

"Two hundred taels per pill!" Xia Daoming couldn't help but gasp upon hearing this.

Before looting the Blood Wolf Hall, his entire net worth was not enough to buy one Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill.

"No wonder the Hundred Medicine Hall wanted to kidnap you!" After gasping, Xia Daoming sighed.

"The quality of this Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill is average. Every time our Ji family refines medicine, we will leave behind high-quality Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pills, specifically for direct family members to take.

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

"It seems that in the future, if I need any nourishing medicine pills, I have to find you to buy them." Xia Daoming said while asking for the box containing four Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pills.

"Brother Xia is joking, my life was saved by you, if you need any medicine pills in the future, just tell me directly." Ji Wenyue hurriedly said.

Xia Daoming smiled noncommittally, handed the meat roll he had just rolled to Ji Wenyue and said: "Eat another one."

"Thank you, Big Brother." Ji Wenyue took the meat roll, this time she didn't avoid it, but sat down close to Xia Daoming.

"Sitting so close? Aren't you afraid that I will be beastly?" Xia Daoming glanced at the chest.

"Big Brother is joking, you are a good person, you definitely won't." Ji Wenyue smiled awkwardly, but her butt quietly moved further away, making Xia Daoming speechless.

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

Soon, the two were full.

"Sleep, we have to continue our journey tomorrow!" Xia Daoming pointed to the single-person tent behind him and said.

"Ah, no, no need, I'm not sleepy." Ji Wenyue looked at the single-person tent behind her, her heart trembled, and she blurted out.

"Don't worry, I'm covered in sweat, if you want to squeeze into a tent with me, I don't want to! Take turns sleeping! You sleep in the first half of the night, I sleep in the second half!" Xia Daoming curled his lips and said.

"Thank you, Big Brother!" Ji Wenyue realized she had thought too much, said with a red face, and hurriedly drilled into the tent.

After Ji Wenyue drilled into the tent, Xia Daoming threw a Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill into his mouth and operated the "Dragon Snake Art".

An hour later, Xia Daoming slowly opened his eyes, his mood quite complicated, not knowing whether to be happy or depressed.

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

Since then, he hadn't eaten less beast meat to nourish and strengthen blood and Qi, but now more than thirty days had passed, and the meridians were only strengthened to forty percent of the ninth level, which could not be compared with the improvement speed of consuming the Dragon-Pattern Purple Blood Ginseng while fleeing.

The improvement effect of this Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill was considered quite good. After one pill, the meridians were strengthened to fifty percent of the ninth level, an increase of ten percent at once.

But compared to its high price, such an effect was still far from Xia Daoming's expectations.

You know, he is only in the fourth-rank Wu Shi realm now.

By the time he reaches the fifth-rank Wu Shi realm, I'm afraid that even if he throws all six thousand taels of silver (Xia Daoming touched some money from Liao Min and others), he can only complete two levels of meridian strengthening.

And for each martial artist realm, the system can perform nine levels of meridian strengthening.

"No wonder they say poor scholars and rich martial artists, practicing martial arts is really expensive, especially this system of mine is a gold-swallowing beast!"

"Let's not worry about that for now, strengthening meridians and improving strength is the top priority." Soon, Xia Daoming no longer struggled with the problem of money, took out another Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill and threw it into his mouth, and sat cross-legged to operate the "Dragon Snake Art" again.

Fortunately, Ji Wenyue didn't see this scene, otherwise her eyes would definitely have to widen.

The medicinal power of this Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill is fierce. Not to mention a fourth-rank Wu Shi, even a fifth-rank Wu Shi would have meridian distension and pain after taking one, and would need to wait at least three to five days before taking the second one, otherwise the meridians would inevitably be damaged by the impact of the medicinal power.

As a result, Xia Daoming was only a fourth-rank Wu Shi, and after only an hour, he took the second one immediately.

This time, Xia Daoming took longer to resolve the medicinal power, and only opened his eyes two hours later.

Xia Daoming looked back at the tent, faintly hearing Ji Wenyue's dream talk and snoring, couldn't help but shake his head, and simply took out another Three-Yuan Blood-Returning Pill and threw it into his mouth.

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

"Ah!"

As soon as she opened her eyes, Ji Wenyue screamed and drilled out of the tent in a hurry.

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

The sky was full of red clouds.

Under the morning glow, a man was turning his back to her, slicing smoked meat into a pot. The pot was steaming, floating with the aroma of meat and noodles.

Looking at this scene, a subtle emotion that couldn't be described slowly grew in her heart.

Her gaze was a bit dazed.

Last night, at first she was terrified, tossing and turning and unable to sleep, worried that the man outside would suddenly drill in.

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

"Get up, the noodles are just ready!" Xia Daoming said without looking back.

"Ah, Brother Xia, you are cooking noodles for me, I'm really sorry, sorry, I overslept." Ji Wenyue woke up with a start upon hearing this, and said with a flushed face.

Xia Daoming looked at Ji Wenyue with a very subtle and complicated gaze upon hearing this.

Ji Wenyue was looked at inexplicably by Xia Daoming.

After breakfast, the two rode their horses on the road again.

This day, Ji Wenyue no longer avoided Xia Daoming's gaze, and even intentionally or unintentionally puffed out her chest proudly, making Xia Daoming's anger rise, wanting to be non-voyeuristic, but this desert was boundless, and it was really boring. If there was a young beauty by his side and he didn't appreciate it, it seemed too stupid.

Another day without results.

The man and woman spent the night in the wilderness again.

By the bonfire, Ji Wenyue was very close to Xia Daoming.

Xia Daoming quietly moved his butt and opened the distance.

Does he really think he doesn't move when sitting in his lap?

"Brother, is it you on top and me on the bottom tonight?" Seeing that the time was almost up, Ji Wenyue asked.

"Cough cough, um, okay." Xia Daoming almost spat out a mouthful of tea.

This time, Ji Wenyue didn't oversleep and got up on time in the second half of the night to take shifts.

Xia Daoming didn't stand on ceremony with her.

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

Outside the city, horse teams and camel teams were winding towards the city.

"Finally saw Eya City!" Xia Daoming breathed a sigh of relief, also full of excitement.

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

After saying that, she clamped the horse's belly with her legs and rushed down the sand dune.

"Do you want to throw yourself into the net?" Xia Daoming shouted.

"Neigh!"

Ji Wenyue hurriedly pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and returned to the sand dune.

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

"You are a smart person, haven't you ever thought that the five-hundred-year-old Phoenix Jade Grass might just be a bait to lure you here?" Xia Daoming asked with a sneer.

Ji Wenyue's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and after a long time, she said: "I treated Manager Wang of the Ji family well, he shouldn't..."

"Not doing it is naturally the best, but what if he has really betrayed the Ji family?" Xia Daoming interrupted.

"Does Brother Xia mean we won't enter Eya City?" Ji Wenyue said with a dejected expression.

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

"Hmm, I know, Xiongfeng City is a large city in the north, and there is also a branch of our Changchun Hall there, with a clan uncle of mine sitting in charge." Ji Wenyue looked around and nodded quickly.

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

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

"We will part ways outside Xiongfeng City." Xia Daoming said.

"Ah!"

"Ah what ah, you Miss Ji don't care about reputation, but I haven't married yet, I can't ruin my innocent reputation, and I don't want to be on the Hundred Medicine Hall's pursuit list." Xia Daoming said.

Ji Wenyue looked at Xia Daoming, her mouth opened, and she didn't know how to respond.

Two days later.

Three miles outside Xiongfeng City.

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

"We will part ways here, you enter the city." Xia Daoming said.

Ji Wenyue's delicate body trembled slightly, and she turned her head to look at Xia Daoming with a complicated gaze.

Drifting in the desert, every day she dreamed of arriving at the city early, being able to take a comfortable bath and sleep.

But when this day really came, she didn't know why a trace of inexplicable reluctance suddenly rose in her heart.

"Brother Xia really won't enter the city with me?"

Xia Daoming didn't answer, just raised the horse whip in his hand and whipped the horse Ji Wenyue was riding.

The horse galloped towards Xiongfeng City.

"Brother, where can I find you in the future?" Ji Wenyue pulled the reins and shouted back.

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

The Mang Mountains run through Mangzhou, stretching for tens of thousands of miles.

The mountain is steep in the north and gentle in the south.

The north side is almost all thousand-zhang cliffs and precipices, standing upright like cut, hard to find vegetation and gentle slopes to climb.

The south side is undulating mountains, layers of peaks, lush forests, clouds and mist, magnificent, and another scene.

Not only that, poisonous insects and snakes breed in the mountains, jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards inhabit, and even demonic beasts appear. If you are not a powerful person, you dare not go deep and cross the Mang Mountains.

Therefore, to cross the Mang Mountains from north to south, you can only pass through the natural channels formed by those cliffs and canyons.

Red Flame Valley is one of them.

Every spring, many shrubs with red leaves and red flowers grow on the cliffs on both sides of Red Flame Valley.

In summer, these shrubs will be full of red fruits.

So every spring and summer, the mountains and plains of this valley are fiery red, as if countless clusters of flames are burning, hence the name Red Flame Valley.

One month later.

Xia Daoming arrived at Red Flame Valley, dusty and tired. ===== CHAPTER 8 =====