Volume 1: Life is but a first meeting

  Volume 2: The wind rises and the sky grows cold

  Chapter 113: Encounter with life

  When the second day's dawn arrived, but outside was still a continuous heavy rain, making the sky and earth a blur. In the crack of this small mountain, Su Ming's face was tired, but his eyes were bright.

  On his right hand, there was a cluster of black liquid rolling around, as if trying to coagulate together, but after several attempts, it still couldn't be compatible.

  Su Ming's heart was as calm as an ancient well, controlling the flames in his hand. In an instant, he suddenly made the flames surge and expand, forming a fireball that completely covered up the blackness inside.

  After a while, Su Ming's face turned pale. He was weak and the prolonged use of the fire in his body made him almost unbearable. At this moment, he was panting heavily, and the flames on his right hand slowly dissipated. Finally, three black medicinal stones appeared in his palm.

  Waft after waft of medicinal fragrance assailed his nostrils, and the scent invigorated Su Ming's spirits. He held the three medicinal stones in front of him and examined them carefully for a few moments. Although they were not green, the fragrance was familiar to Su Ming. Without hesitation, he picked one up and put it into his mouth. The stone still retained some heat from the fire, but it did not harm Su Ming.

  As soon as he entered, Su Ming closed his eyes and silently sensed for a while.

  "It's a bit different, but it's indeed Qing Chen San." Su Ming muttered to himself, putting away the two grains of Qing Chen San that he had stabbed down. He sat cross-legged, waiting for the fatigue in his body to dissipate greatly before looking at the pile of herbs in front of him with a resolute expression.

  "Since the Qingchen San can be refined from the lightning-struck tree heart, it should also be possible to refine this Nánlí Sǎn. I don't know its effect, but I think there's a 70% chance that it won't increase one's Qi and blood like the Shān Líng Sǎn. After all, after opening the second door, among the three medicinal stones given, the Náshén Sǎn can be ignored, the Shān Líng increases Qi and blood, so this Nánlí is unlikely to have a repeated effect." Su Míng rubbed his temples, most of his hopes were placed on this Nánlí Sǎn. If he analyzed it incorrectly, he would have to forcibly leave this place in his weakened state and search for a way to recover outside.

  To ensure the success of refining Nan Lidisan, Su Ming did not immediately start refining, but instead rested for a long time until the sky outside turned dark again. After a whole day of recuperation, Su Ming began to refine this possibly crucial Nan Lidisan.

  Time slowly passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by. Su Ming had been staying in this unfamiliar place for almost two months now, especially during the last half month when his body had grown weaker due to refining medicine stones.

  But this was his first attempt at refining the Nan Li San, and it was inevitable that he would fail. However, under his tireless efforts, on this day half a month later, he successfully refined two grains of Nan Li San.

  Su Ming's face was pale, his eyes calm, as he gazed at the two purple medicinal stones in his hand, which were obviously larger than Qing Chen's scattered dust by more than a fistful. There was no medicinal fragrance on them, and they looked very ordinary.

  Su Ming hesitated for a moment before resolutely taking out a pellet, without any hesitation putting it into his mouth. After going through so many things, Su Ming was no longer a child, he had his own analysis, from the refining of medicinal stones, except for that accidental refining of the Blood Dan, all other things did not have any harm, and most importantly, he did not have the luxury to waste one pellet to experiment.

  The purple medicinal stone did not immediately dissolve after entering Su Ming's mouth, but instead slowly melted, carrying a bitter taste, spreading down his throat and into his body. Afterwards, Su Ming took out a Clear Dust Pellet and swallowed it.

  After doing all this, he sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, circulating the Qi and blood in his body to feel the effects of the scattered Southern Departure.

  Time passed bit by bit, and after half a time, Su Ming suddenly shook his body. The 243 blood lines on his body instantly emerged, but only more than 80 of them were bright red, while the rest were dull.

  Su Ming's body shook more violently, his face twisted in agony. A moment later, he suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of black blood. The black blood fell to the ground, emitting a putrid smell.

  At the moment when the blood was sprayed out, Su Ming's complexion had some redness, and the dull blood lines on his body immediately had nearly ten of them seemingly gaining new life, no longer dull, but slowly having a brilliant red glow.

  After a long time, Su Ming's breathing calmed down, and he looked at the last grain of Nan Li San in his hand.

  "This Nandilao medicine is effective in healing injuries! If I could refine it before the tribal war..." Su Ming closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

  In the depths of the rainforest mountains, Su Ming settled down and rarely went out. Each time he did was when his herbs were used up or when he had no more Shenguang branches left, only then would he go out to search for them.

  Fortunately, this rainforest is very large, and the occurrence of lightning-struck trees is not rare. Often, a single lightning-struck tree can provide him with a large amount of material for refinement.

  Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, another year has passed.

  This year, there was also a half-year period without rain, but no snow that Su Ming was familiar with, as if this place was a place without cold winters.

  His injuries were really too severe. In a year's time, with the help of a large amount of Nan Li San, he was only able to recover his Qi and blood to over 190 strands, still some distance from his peak.

  This year, Su Ming had gone out several times to search for herbs and saw footprints of people, even once he saw a team of more than ten people hunting a giant python in the rainforest.

  These barbarians are mostly in the fifth or sixth layer of Blood Condensation, among them only one young man has reached the seventh layer of Blood Condensation. Judging from the expressions of those around him, this person should have some reputation.

  Their clothing was not animal hides, but coarse hemp robes. Most of them held spears in their hands as weapons, and few used bows. On the wrists of these people, almost every one had a black bell tied to it, but it didn't make any sound.

  Everyone's wrist had one bell, but the young man's wrist had two. However, Su Ming noticed that among these people, there was a teenager in the fifth layer of the Congealed Blood Realm, pale and looking sickly, being protected by others. On his wrist, Su Ming saw four bells.

  This is a tribe completely different from Wushan and Fengquan. When Su Ming observed them, he didn't get too close, but even so, it still caught the attention of the young man in the seventh layer of Congealed Blood. The youth did not speak up immediately, but instead seemed unintentionally to move closer to where Su Ming was during the battle.

  But in Su Ming's eyes, these actions were somewhat childish. With a flicker of his body, he suddenly left, and at his speed, these people couldn't stop him at all.

  Su Ming did not bother with these people and continued to search for herbs. As the sky grew darker, he encountered this group of people again on his way back to the mountain cave.

  At this moment, they protected the young man with four bells in it and set up a simple leather tent in the rain forest, as if to spend the night.

  The young man on the seventh layer of congealed blood was holding a spear, leaning against a heavenly awning, his eyes flashing with vigilance as he gazed around.

  On a large hill in the distance, Su Ming crouched there, gazing at this group of people, his eyes slowly flashing with light. Although his cultivation had not fully recovered yet, he still possessed the strength to engage in one battle. He wanted to know what place this was and which tribes were nearby.

  Moreover, this group of people is obviously very xenophobic. If he rashly goes forward, I'm afraid the other party will not listen to his words, but directly kill him.

  In the blink of an eye, Su Ming lowered his head and quietly retreated into the rainforest, disappearing from view. Time slowly passed, and after a while, when this group of people lit a bonfire to dispel the damp air, the young man leaning against the tree suddenly changed color and grasped the spear in his hand tightly.

  At the same time, several others also suddenly became aware of something and changed their expressions. Immediately following this, a beast's roar suddenly came from deep within the rainforest. A creature that resembled a tiger but had a spine covered in sharp, half-foot-long quills burst out and charged towards these people, bellowing and pouncing on them.

  "Black Thorn Beast!" Some of those people immediately cried out in surprise, and the scene was momentarily thrown into chaos.

  "This beast likes fire and will soon extinguish the flames." The young man from the seventh layer of Congealed Blood immediately spoke up, holding a spear in his right hand as he charged towards the wild beast. Although this beast was powerful, it was only equivalent to the seventh layer of Congealed Blood, so the young man could fight it head-on.

  But just as he left the crowd and was about to engage in battle with the black thorn, the other tribesmen extinguished the bonfires, causing the surroundings to suddenly plunge into darkness. In that brief moment when people's vision was temporarily unadapted, a figure burst out at lightning speed and rushed towards the young man being protected in the crowd.

  Its speed was so fast that in the instant it took for these people to react, it had already approached the young man. Before the young man could resist, the incoming figure pressed a palm on his neck, knocking him unconscious and tucked him under its arm, disappearing in an instant.

  Those people were stunned for a moment, and their expressions changed drastically. Even the young man's face turned gloomy in an instant. He was about to pursue, but he couldn't drive away the Black Thorn Beast for the time being. With this delay, the figure that had entered the thicket with the youth had already gone far away.

  Su Ming sped through the rainforest, with the youth tucked under his arm. He had no grudge against these people and wouldn't kill them without reason. Even if they were wild beasts brought by his choice, it was still possible for this group of people to drive them away without anyone dying.

  His goal was just this young man, and his identity must be extraordinary. He must know a lot of things, Su Ming needed to know what this place was, and he could only do so by doing this.

  "Ask out what I want to know, and then let him go." Su Ming's figure flashed in the thicket, rushing far away, after circling around, he came to a secluded corner of the rainforest, put down the young man, squatted down and looked at the young man, as if he had an epiphany.

  When he first saw the young man, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong. Now, as he approached him, his suspicions were confirmed. After a moment's hesitation, Su Ming took out a grain of Nan Lidisan and Qingchensan from his bosom and put them into the young man's mouth.

  He slowly backed away a few steps, took out a piece of animal hide from the tattered bag in his arms, which was left over from the wild beasts he had hunted for food this year, and put it on his body, covering his face and body. He sat down on a wooden block not far from the young man.

  He picked up a small piece of wood beside him with his right hand, and gently flicked it. The wood flew straight to the boy's brow, without much force, but enough to wake him up.

  The young man winced in pain, opened his eyes with a dazed expression, but quickly calmed down. Although his face was pale and sickly, he didn't show any fear, instead gazing at Su Ming who sat beside him, covered with animal hides.

  "Who are you!"

  Added v volume, some tedious, can't quite understand, or add the volume name before each chapter.