Chapter 23

"Please...," Su Jingdan's voice, which was very low, was tinged with a mix of urgency and shyness. If she had the strength now, she would have dressed herself! How could she have asked a man for help?

Zheng Shiyi, blushing, quickly picked up the clothes and came to Su Jingdan's back. He then realized that dressing a woman was more difficult than practicing the Shadowless Blade technique.

First, dressing face-to-face?

This was clearly impossible! That would mean seeing everything!

Closing his eyes and dressing from the front? That would easily lead to touching places he shouldn't.

From behind? Zheng Shiyi found this to be a very challenging task. In the midst of the chaos of dressing, he inevitably touched many places he shouldn't.

Each touch made Zheng Shiyi feel his blood boiling, a primal force stimulating him.

Su Jingdan's heart was pounding, and she wanted to remind Zheng Shiyi that he was about to touch her sensitive areas, but she was too shy to speak.

This was the first time in her life that she had been held by a man and dressed by a man.

She was so embarrassed that she wished she could dig a hole and bury herself.

Every time Zheng Shiyi helped her put on a piece of clothing, her heart rate increased several times...

Although it didn't take long for Zheng Shiyi to dress her, it felt like an eternity to her.

Zheng Shiyi stood beside Su Jingdan and awkwardly apologized, "I'm sorry..."

Su Jingdan's face was flushed, and she lowered her head, speaking softly, "I know you were forced to do it. If you hadn't, I might have died from the venom. Thank you for saving me."

"Miss Su Jingdan, are you okay?"

The group who rushed down surrounded Su Jingdan, expressing their concerns.

Su Jingdan shook her head and said softly, "I'm fine. Thanks to Brother Zheng's timely help."

"Are you okay?" Wu Dong glanced at Zheng Shiyi, whose expression was strange, and then at Su Jingdan, who had her head lowered. He nudged Zheng Shiyi's shoulder and said, "Did you do something to her?"

Zheng Shiyi raised his arm and pushed Wu Dong's big head away, saying weakly, "What are you thinking?"

Wu Dong suspiciously looked at Zheng Shiyi and Su Jingdan, increasingly feeling that there was some secret between them.

When Su Jingdan had recovered, the team set off on their return journey.

Zheng Shiyi continued to practice the "Shadowless Blade" as before. The others chatted and laughed, discussing the gains from this trip into the mountains.

Su Jingdan's face was flushed, and she walked at the back of the group, occasionally glancing at Zheng Shiyi, who had fallen to the ground.

"It's the Poison Horned Lizard again!"

The people at the front suddenly screamed.

Poison Horned Lizard! A second-stage beast!

On the way in, someone had almost been killed by its venom.

As soon as the beast appeared, everyone cautiously stepped back to avoid its venom range.

Zheng Shiyi, swaying, a hint of satisfaction on his lips, moved like a greased shadow, wielding the Shadowless Blade and charging forward.

"Brother, this guy is poisonous, be careful!"

Although Zheng Shiyi had used the Shadowless Blade to kill beasts before, most of them were first-stage beasts. Wu Dong cautiously reminded him, fearing that Zheng Shiyi would be hit by the Poison Horned Lizard's venom.

A strong wind rushed past them as the Poison Horned Lizard roared and charged at the small figure rushing towards it.

A cold light flashed before its eyes, and a large, icy blade slashed down from its side!

"Crack!"

The Poison Horned Lizard's head rolled to Zheng Shiyi's feet, its eyes still filled with the confusion of an intelligent being.

Until its death, the Poison Horned Lizard could not understand why a faint shadow of a blade was all it saw before its head was severed.

The Shadowless Blade, as fast as lightning! When practiced to perfection, it can kill an opponent without a trace!

Dead?

The group stared dumbfounded at Zheng Shiyi standing beside the Poison Horned Lizard. That blade! It was so fast! Could Zheng Shiyi, who had been falling and getting injured while practicing the blade, have reached such a level of power?

"This blade technique is really too fast, so fast that the naked eye can't see it!"

"No wonder he has been practicing this technique for so many days!"

Looking at the blood dripping from the Shadowless Blade, the group began to understand that the blade shadow came from the Shadowless Blade, and the Poison Horned Lizard's head was cut off by the Shadowless Blade!

Zheng Shiyi looked at the rolling head of the Poison Horned Lizard and nodded in satisfaction.

"Big Brother Zheng, this is the beast core of the Poison Horned Lizard!" A martial artist removed the beast core and handed it to Zheng Shiyi.

Zheng Shiyi waved his hand and smiled, "You keep it. I just wanted to test the power of this blade technique."

"Ah?" The martial artist was surprised and repeatedly bowed, "Thank you, Big Brother Zheng."

This is a second-stage beast core!

On the way in, Huang He, Su Xing, and Zhou Qiang had bullied everyone to get second-stage beast cores.

Unlike the current Zheng Shiyi, who not only didn't snatch the second-stage beast core but also didn't want the one they had obtained.

The group looked at Zheng Shiyi again, feeling more gratitude and admiration.

Su Jingdan's face was still flushed, and she looked at Zheng Shiyi thoughtfully, coming to him and speaking softly, "Big Brother Zheng, I want to discuss something with you."

Zheng Shiyi paused his joy at mastering the first form of the Shadowless Blade and looked at her curiously, "Go ahead."

Su Jingdan fidgeted with her fists and said, "Can I be your personal spirit physician?"

"Personal spirit physician?" Zheng Shiyi was surprised. An intern spirit physician and a personal spirit physician were completely different concepts!

Especially for someone like Su Jingdan, an independent spirit physician not affiliated with any organization, she was in high demand wherever she went! Many forces were willing to pay a high price to hire her.

Not to mention outer disciples! Even inner disciples who were not the most elite did not have the qualifications to have her as their personal spirit physician!

A spirit physician was often a matter of life and death for a martial artist, even a matter of several lives!

Moreover, for a martial artist stuck at a bottleneck, a spirit physician was like a savior, the only one who could prepare rare spirit medicines to help them break through and reach higher realms.

Therefore, every cultivator hoped to get closer to a spirit physician.

With Su Jingdan's status as a spirit physician, finding a partner stronger than Zheng Shiyi would be very easy.

Feeling Zheng Shiyi's confusion, Su Jingdan said, "Big Brother Zheng, with my status as a spirit physician, it would indeed be very easy to find a partner stronger than you!"

"But I don't know these people. Huang He almost killed me, and I don't want a partner like that."

"You are the strongest in the team, but you are not like Huang He, who is high and mighty. You don't fight with others for beast cores, and you don't bully others because of your strength."

"When danger comes, you are always the first to step forward. You have saved the team and me. You have the strength to defeat Huang He. Any of these points is enough for me to choose you."

"If I become your personal spirit physician, you can protect me, and when I need to advance, you can take care of everything. In return, I can provide you with the spirit medicines you need to break through bottlenecks and heal injuries. Do you still need to hesitate?"

Su Jingdan looked at Zheng Shiyi expectantly.

Healing? Zheng Shiyi frowned slightly. With his special martial soul, his body could heal quickly after injuries, so the spirit medicines provided by a spirit physician were not very useful.

But when facing a bottleneck, these medicines became crucial.

Many strong cultivators would try to get close to a spirit physician to get help in breaking through bottlenecks.

Su Jingdan had been quite nice to everyone on this trip.

Zheng Shiyi scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, "You've seen my cultivation level, which is not very high at the moment. But I will work hard to become stronger and match your status as a spirit physician. In the future, please take care of me."

Su Jingdan breathed a sigh of relief. Her tense heart finally relaxed after Zheng Shiyi's agreement.

As they got closer to the entrance, the beasts they encountered became weaker, and the team's progress speed increased. Soon, they walked out of the Immortal Spirit Mountains.

Everyone's faces were filled with joy. This trip into the mountains had yielded a large number of beast cores, more than any other trip they had made.

Many people looked at Zheng Shiyi with gratitude. If it weren't for this new recruit, they wouldn't have obtained any beast cores, let alone walked out of the mountains!

The group decided that even after the team disbanded, they would still support Zheng Shiyi and stay in touch with him. In the future, Zheng Shiyi would surely have an important position in the Xuanming Sect!

Wu Dong hummed a tune, walking beside Zheng Shiyi, and casually draped his arm over his shoulder, saying, "Brother, we've been in the mountains for so many days. Qiu Tianlang's head must be rotting by now. Let's go and claim the reward."

"Sure," Zheng Shiyi nodded.

He had been busy practicing the Shadowless Blade and had forgotten about this.

Originally, everyone was about to disperse, but when they heard that Zheng Shiyi was going to claim the reward, they immediately changed their minds and excitedly followed, eager to see what Qiu Tianlang's head could be exchanged for.

Led by Wu Dong, the group of over thirty people quickly arrived at the sect's reward exchange area.

Many disciples who had contributed to the sect were waiting at the entrance to claim their rewards. Seeing the group of over thirty people approaching, they courteously made way.

The person in charge of the reward exchange was a kind-eyed, green-robed old man named Su Li, who was currently exchanging rewards based on the contributions of the disciples.

Zheng Shiyi stepped forward.

Su Li looked up, a bit puzzled. This should be a new disciple, and it was unlikely that he had made any contributions to the sect.

"What contribution have you made?" Su Li hid his curiosity in his words.

Zheng Shiyi brought the package in his hand to Su Li, bowed respectfully, and said, "Senior, this is Qiu Tianlang's head."

"Qiu Tianlang's head!"

Zheng Shiyi's voice was not loud, but it caused a commotion among the surrounding disciples.

"Qiu Tianlang is one of the top twenty wanted criminals on the sect's wanted list. Not to mention killing him, even providing information about his whereabouts would earn a substantial reward."

"Many inner disciples have conducted extensive searches in places where Qiu Tianlang might be."

"They searched and searched but never found Qiu Tianlang, let alone killed him!"

"Who would have thought that this young man, who doesn't seem very powerful, would bring Qiu Tianlang's head!"

The disciples standing beside Zheng Shiyi were all surprised, their mouths agape.

Many disciples who were about to leave stopped and turned their heads, curious to see who had killed Qiu Tianlang.