Xuanjian: I am the tenth son of Zhenchi, and I plot to seize the throne from Zhenlong.

"He's not a demonic cultivator?"

Kong Yan quickly dodged a sword aura, feeling a sense of unease. This male cultivator, covered in blood, was actually some kind of righteous cultivator.

He was used to bullying the weak and fearing the strong, so he hurriedly pulled a bead out of his pocket, unleashed a gust of wind, and blew it towards Su Ming, who was chasing after the Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator.

Su Ming didn't dodge. He simply waved his hand, and a curtain of fire emerged from his side. A fierce wind blew up and burst into a large ball of fire that enveloped Su Ming. Within the fireball, he simply drew his sword lightly and controlled the fire with one hand.

The next instant, a sword aura carrying gray-red flames was unleashed by him. The Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator was unable to dodge in time and could only form a blood shield by hand seals, but he was also cleaved in two.

Kong Yan's heart skipped a beat. He quickly activated the magic weapon in his hand, his eyes darting around. Suddenly, he spotted the female cultivator still standing on the ground, and his face lit up with joy: "Stop him! I'll go catch that woman!"

He laughed and rushed toward the stone wall. Judging from the male cultivator's appearance, he guessed that he had also captured the female cultivator and was preparing to enjoy her. He was going down to subdue her this time, not hoping that the male cultivator would submit, but just hoping that they could escape.

He made a mistake this time; this person was not someone they could easily capture. Letting him go was fine; other demonic cultivators would inevitably pass by later, so there was no need to fight this person to the death.

As for the dead Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator, that's the rule in the desert now: the dead are worthless, and if you run into one, you're just out of luck. Afterwards, you give a couple of fat sheep to the group of demonic cultivators, and that's it.

As they got closer, Kong Yan could even see the terror on the female cultivator's face. His smile grew even more sinister as he thought he could probably get a few more spirit stones later.

The next instant, his sinister smile was interrupted by an iron axe that suddenly flew from the edge of the stone wall beside him. Startled, he barely managed to dodge it. The iron axe grazed his ear, tearing off half of his ear before bursting forth with lightning.

He screamed in agony as one of his eyes exploded into a pool of blood. His demonic energy was amplified by the lightning, causing him to lose his balance and crash straight into the cliff.

Kong Yan, his head bleeding profusely, let out a strange howl and used all his strength to activate the magic weapon in his hand. The fierce wind scraped bloody marks on his body, but it also allowed him to avoid another iron axe that came crashing down.

He screamed a few times, but his aura suddenly intensified, and his anger surged as he shouted, "Quick, stop them! I'll cast the spell! Do they think I'm made of clay?!"

The other demonic cultivators, who were about to split up and escape, stopped in their tracks upon hearing this. After a moment's hesitation, they all activated their black mist blood shields, but they didn't use any offensive spells. They only wanted to delay the two of them.

Kong Yan made several hand seals, and his aura was condensed to the extreme. Su Ming was being desperately blocked by two demonic cultivators at the fourth level of Qi Refining. Unable to stop them in time, he had no choice but to make hand seals to create a fire curtain to prepare to defend himself.

"Go!"

Suddenly, the black-robed cultivator in mid-air roared. Without any demonic wind or bloodstains, he instantly transformed into a cloud of black mist. With a gust of evil wind from his magic weapon, he was detached from the stone forest in an instant.

"Kong Yan! You will die a horrible death!"

A strange look flashed across Su Ming's face. He raised his hand and summoned the fire curtain onto his sword. The two demonic cultivators at the fourth level of Qi Refining blocked him too fiercely, and his spiritual power was insufficient. Only one of them managed to escape, while the other cursed loudly before he died.

"Stop chasing..."

Su Ming landed on the ground, somewhat exhausted, and quietly began to regulate his breathing after taking a healing pill. Fighting so many demonic cultivators at once, even if they were only at the level of miscellaneous qi cultivators, they were bound to suffer some injuries.

Yu Yuxi hesitated and landed to the side, tossing the iron axe in her hand. She was thinking about whether she should take this opportunity to give Su Ming a blow so that she could bring him back to the sect.

As time passed, the iron axe she tossed in her hand began to crackle with lightning. Only then did Su Ming spit out a mouthful of foul blood and cough loudly.

Yu Yuxi was startled and quickly put away her magical artifact to help him up. She had been so focused on recovering her spiritual energy below that she hadn't really noticed how many injuries Su Ming had sustained while fighting above.

"You didn't..."

Her expression changed the moment she touched Su Ming's arm. She sensed that his spiritual energy was thick and smooth, and his blood and qi were stable, so he didn't look like he was seriously injured.

Yu Yuxi felt a sense of foreboding and was about to flee when she saw a smile flash across Su Ming's face. He suddenly grabbed half of her cheek with his claw and pinched it, sending a pill into her mouth, which instantly turned into a medicinal liquid that went down her throat.

Just as she was about to struggle to vomit, a hand on her cheek closed her lips, and Su Ming's other hand was also busy, gently patting her back.

"Gulp~"

Yu Yuxi was pushed to the ground. Su Ming clapped his hands, stood up, and slowly straightened his robes.

"You... shameless!" Feeling the spiritual energy in her body slowly beginning to subside, Yu Yuxi's eyes reddened.

She tried to build up a gust of wind to escape, but Su Ming lightly grabbed her ankle and pulled her down.

Seeing Yu Yuxi lying motionless on the ground, Su Ming walked over to take a look and laughed, "Tsk tsk tsk, why is a Qi Refining cultivator crying?"

"You...I..." Yu Yuxi quickly wiped her eyes, sat up straight, and said angrily, "What do you want in return for letting me go?"

Su Ming avoided looking into the female cultivator's eyes: "I said, I'll release you when we reach the edge of the desert."

Yu Yuxi was furious, but she was also thinking about the real person's orders. She felt extremely wronged: "Then why did you give me the Spirit Dispersing Pill? If the two of us were to fight, you could have left quickly without me holding you back."

Su Ming smiled inexplicably: "What do you think? Also, I was in such a hurry to escape last night that I overlooked something. Go change your clothes; this outfit is too conspicuous. From now on, you'll be my maid."

Seeing that Yu Yuxi did not move for a long time, Su Ming couldn't help but frown: "Do you still want to live? There are still people waiting to eliminate demons and protect the righteous in the desert. I just don't want to get into trouble, but that doesn't mean I can't kill you."

"You...give me my clothes! You took all my storage bag!"

Su Ming coughed lightly, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his face. He scratched his head and took out a set of his spare robes.

Yu Yuxi took the robe but didn't move, her face showing helplessness: "How am I supposed to change if you're staring at me like that?"

"Oh, oh." Su Ming also felt that his brain was suddenly not working properly, and he just turned his head blankly.

Yu Yuxi's face was flushed with anger, and the tips of her ears turned slightly red. She could only find a corner to change her clothes, while inwardly crying out, "Master... what should I do now? This person is completely unresponsive and only wants to leave..."

"Follow him."

With just a brief three-word response, Yu Yuxi felt a slight sense of relief. At least her master hadn't given up on his plans here, and her life should be safe.

After dawdling and changing her clothes, Yu Yuxi raised an eyebrow. Seeing that Su Ming was still standing there blankly, he probably hadn't used his spiritual sense to scan her. A smile appeared on her face, and she was about to kick him.

*Smack!*

She was grabbed by the ankle and pushed to the ground.

"See me with your spiritual sense!"

"Of course, what if you take the opportunity to run away?"