Chapter 22

"Exactly what is Xiao Zheng up to? His tendons and meridians look like they're broken."

Su Jingdan took a step forward, wanting to approach Zheng Shiwing, but Wu Dong blocked her, saying, "Old Zheng should be fine."

"Is he really fine?" Su Jingdan's beautiful eyes were filled with doubt. From her perspective as a quasi-spiritual doctor, he looked like he was not far from death.

Wu Dong nodded silently, though he was also unsure if Zheng Shiwing was truly fine as he said.

But his intuition told him that Zheng Shiwing's "Eight Desolate Steps" were likely practiced this way. Since he said he was fine, he must be fine!

Lying on the ground, Zheng Shiwing took deep breaths and silently activated his soul seed, which began to beat "thump, thump, thump."

The spiritual energy in his dantian, as if drawn, continuously flowed to his broken meridians, and with the help of the soul seed, began to repair his body.

The broken meridians were quickly repaired. Compared to before, they were even thicker.

"Again!"

Zheng Shiwing flipped and leaped up, drawing the Shadowless Blade and swinging it as he had before.

"This..."

Everyone stared at Zheng Shiwing, who was pale-faced, in shock.

The "crack" sound a moment ago was clearly the sound of tendons and bones breaking. Such injuries would take at least five to six days to recover from.

But this person... recovered in no time! Could it be that his injuries were not as severe as everyone thought?

"Clang!"

"Spit!"

Amid the shock of the crowd, Zheng Shiwing was once again thrown out by his own saber technique.

Injured again? Is this training? Everyone looked at each other, completely forgetting to move forward, just staring at Zheng Shiwing to see how long it would take for him to get up this time.

After about the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, Zheng Shiwing jumped up again, full of energy, and began to wield the Shadowless Blade once more!

Thrown out! Spitting blood! Recovering! Jumping up! Swinging the blade! Thrown out again! Over and over...

The crowd, after a long period of adaptation, all muttered the same two words: "Freak."

For a long time, Zheng Shiwing remained in this state, moving forward with the team.

In continuous training, the injuries caused by the Shadowless Blade became less severe, no longer as serious as at the beginning.

When a first-stage strange beast appeared, he would always charge forward with the Shadowless Blade, using a somewhat clumsy saber technique to kill the beast, then bounce and tumble like a monkey, continuing to heal his injuries on the side.

The crowd, initially full of confusion, gradually became numb and accustomed. As long as Zheng Shiwing did not call for help, no one would step forward to assist.

After crossing two more hills, the team finally arrived at the place where Su Jingdan would advance—Camel Peak.

Two small hills that looked like camel humps were covered with various kinds of spiritual herbs. In the breeze, the herbs swayed back and forth on the hilltops.

The strong scent of medicinal herbs continuously wafted from the hilltops.

Su Jingdan closed her eyes and quietly felt the scent of the herbs entering her nostrils, "Heavenly Spirit Grass, Heavenly Spirit Mushroom, Black Blood Ginseng... They are all here. The records in the pharmacopoeia are indeed correct."

She opened her eyes excitedly, looked at Zheng Shiwing with gratitude, and ran up the small hill to begin gathering the herbs needed for her advancement.

The others, led by Zheng Shiwing, conducted a thorough search of the nearby hills and hillsides to ensure that Su Jingdan would not be disturbed by strange beasts during her advancement.

As they dealt with the strange beasts on Camel Peak, Su Jingdan finished gathering the herbs needed for her advancement and placed them on a hill between the two small hills, which would serve as the site for her advancement.

Zheng Shiwing led the group to a forest not far from the hill, partly to avoid disturbing Su Jingdan's advancement and partly to be able to rush to her aid if she encountered danger.

Only Su Jingdan remained on the hill.

Her face was flushed. She looked around to make sure that Zheng Shiwing and the others would not return, then placed her delicate hands on her clothes and began to take them off one by one.

To advance to a spiritual doctor, she needed to absorb a large amount of spiritual medicine, and the clothes on her body would block the medicine from entering. She had to take them off.

As the clothes were removed one by one, her beautiful and slender figure was fully exposed to the air.

Her skin, smooth like milk, and her curves, like lines drawn with a pen, her beautiful breasts, like a smaller version of the two hills of Camel Peak, were full and plump.

The lush area below her slim waist was even more eye-catching.

She spread a lotus leaf on the ground, sat down in a cross-legged position, and activated the "Spiritual Medicine Technique." The spiritual medicine from the herbs in front of her flew into her body like steam.

"Everyone, rest here."

Leading the team to a relatively open area, Zheng Shiwing had the members stop.

Since entering the mountains, everyone had been in a state of high alert. Now that they had reached their destination, they could finally relax.

They each found a tree to lean against, sat down, and soon fell asleep.

Zheng Shiwing walked to a place far from the team and began to train again.

This cycle of training and injury had gradually brought him closer to mastering the "Shadowless Blade." He believed it would not be long before he could master this technique.

Swinging the Shadowless Blade, he trained like a madman.

"Swish, swish!"

Time passed slowly.

A faint scent of medicine continuously wafted from the distance.

The world seemed to quiet down at that moment.

The fatigue on the faces of the sleeping team members was swept away, replaced by relaxation and joy.

Zheng Shiwing quietly felt the tranquility of the moment, a smile of joy on his lips, "She succeeded."

"Roar!"

"Help!"

A fierce roar broke the tranquility, followed by Su Jingdan's cry for help.

"Trouble!"

Zheng Shiwing quickly picked up the Shadowless Blade and ran toward the small hill.

The sleeping team members, hearing the cry for help, also woke up and ran toward the source of the cry.

Zheng Shiwing quickly ran up the hill.

At the edge of the forest clearing on the hill, Su Jingdan was sitting there completely naked.

Her full breasts, with skin as smooth as milk, were particularly noticeable in the sunlight.

Her delicate hands, placed on her abdomen, covered the mysterious garden.

A drop of crystalline liquid, formed from the condensed spiritual medicine, hung from her long eyelashes, her cheeks flushed, and she was breathing heavily.

It was said that when a spiritual doctor's apprentice advanced to a spiritual doctor, it would attract nearby strange beasts.

Before her advancement, Zheng Shiwing and the others had already driven away or killed the strange beasts in the area.

But she never expected that a strange beast with fur the same color as the trees had hidden just a dozen meters away from her. If it had not moved and growled, she would not have been able to detect it.

After the low growl, the strange beast revealed its body.

It had snake eyes, a hawk's beak, and a wolf's mouth. Its body was large and bulky, looking like a bloated toad from a distance.

It moved its seemingly clumsy body step by step toward Su Jingdan, drooling from the corners of its mouth.

A spiritual doctor! To any strange beast, it was the most nourishing existence!

A spiritual doctor! With blood that no herb could match, this blood was invaluable to strange beasts, allowing them to evolve into demon beasts!

A spiritual doctor! Always protected by powerful warriors!

Now, a spiritual doctor without the protection of warriors had appeared... The Bull Demon Toad licked its lips.

Can anyone come to save me? Su Jingdan sat weakly on the grass, her cries for help were made with all her strength. She had no energy left to call out again...

Now, she could only hope that her cries for help would be heard by Zheng Shiwing and the others, who would come to her aid as soon as possible.

"Roar!"

The Bull Demon Toad opened its massive mouth, and a toxic liquid, capable of killing a person, spewed out, aiming directly at Su Jingdan.

With a powerful push from its strong hind legs, it pounced toward Su Jingdan.

"Bad!"

Zheng Shiwing leaped into the air, rushing toward Su Jingdan.

If the strange beast only attacked with its body, he was confident he could strike it back before it hit Su Jingdan.

But now, the strange beast was also attacking with toxic liquid. If he did not pull Su Jingdan out of the range of the toxic liquid... she might die from the poison!

In a flash, Zheng Shiwing had no choice but to sprint toward Su Jingdan.

It's over! Su Jingdan, seeing the toxic liquid in the air, closed her eyes in despair. In her current state, there was no way she could avoid it!

"Swish!"

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms reached out from behind her, locking onto her smooth and soft breasts.

The owner of these arms, with a powerful push, rolled her several times on the ground, escaping the space surrounded by the toxic liquid.

"Hisss!"

The lotus leaf where Su Jingdan had been sitting was corroded by the toxic liquid, turning into a foul-smelling pus.

The Bull Demon Toad, leaping through the air, let out an angry roar and pounced in the direction Su Jingdan had rolled.

Zheng Shiwing placed Su Jingdan on another lotus leaf and, with the Shadowless Blade he had practiced countless times, instinctively slashed out!

A snow-white, blinding blade light burst forth, and the Bull Demon Toad's body exploded with hundreds of fist-sized lumps, resembling goosebumps on a person in fear.

However, the Bull Demon Toad's goosebumps were far uglier than a person's by a thousand times!

The strange beast's instinct for danger made it sense the threat of death. It tried to stop its momentum, but its body, in the air, could not stop.

In a moment of life and death, the Bull Demon Toad took a deep breath, and its body rapidly expanded! Expanded! Expanded! The entire toad's skin, under the expansion, became elastic!

Su Jingdan knew this was the Bull Demon Toad's special defensive ability! Impervious to blades and swords! She wanted to warn Zheng Shiwing, but her thoughts were not as fast as his blade!

"Spit!"

The Shadowless Blade struck the Bull Demon Toad's expanded body. The tough, resilient toad skin, known for being impervious to blades and bullets, became as fragile as tofu, and the Shadowless Blade instantly split it in two.

The massive head of the beast hit the ground with a heavy thud.

"Quickly, go protect Miss Su Jingdan!"

As the strange beast fell, the others who had followed arrived at the hilltop. When they reached the top, they saw Su Jingdan naked.

Su Jingdan's face was as red as if it could squeeze out water, and she shyly said to Zheng Shiwing, "I can't move my body. Can you help me put on my clothes?"

Put on clothes? Zheng Shiwing suddenly realized he had encountered a task a hundred times more difficult than killing the Bull Demon Toad!

Because... Zheng Shiwing realized he had never dressed a girl before! Or rather... he had never even undressed a girl.