On the table lay a roasted fish, caught from the nearby stream, along with some spirit fruits. The wine was something the two of them had concocted themselves, brewed in bamboo containers. In terms of effect, it couldn’t even be considered average. To a professional brewer of spirit wine, it would be seen as a complete waste of good ingredients. However, the two of them were just using it for casual enjoyment.

After three rounds of drinks, neither had deliberately suppressed the effects, and they were feeling slightly tipsy. Their tongues loosened accordingly.

Wang Yanfeng held a bamboo cup, squinting his eyes as he said, “Both you and I, uncle and nephew, are people who value our lives. But when things truly reach that point, we must fight with everything we’ve got!”

It turned out that the two had already investigated the location of the Condensing Essence Fruit based on Lan Mu’s description. The place was a deep emerald pool, which they called the Jasper Pool. Upon careful investigation, they indeed discovered the fish demon sleeping at the bottom of the pool. Besides that Tier 2 fish demon, there were several smaller demons in the water, seemingly kept by the fish demon as food.

The fish demon’s strength was even greater than Lan Mu had described, having reached the peak of Tier 2 Mid-Grade. However, demonic beasts grow slowly. To advance to Tier 2 High-Grade, the fish demon still needed an opportunity.

That opportunity was the Condensing Essence Fruit. The two had discovered a Condensing Essence Fruit tree in the center of Jasper Pool. The tree was about ten feet tall, resembling a tomato plant, with three bright red Condensing Essence Fruits already growing on it. It seemed they would ripen in less than three years.

At that time, Wang Hao and his companion understood that this fish demon was definitely waiting for the Condensing Essence Fruits to ripen so it could devour them and advance to a Tier 2 High-Grade demonic beast.

Once the fish demon advanced, Wang Hao and his companion would have even less chance of obtaining the Condensing Essence Fruit tree. The Condensing Essence Fruit only bore fruit once every fifty years. If the fish demon ate them, what would they be working for? Wang Hao had his farm, but Wang Yanfeng did not. It would be strange if he weren’t anxious.

Wang Hao couldn’t reveal the secret of his farm to Wang Yanfeng. Once Wang Yanfeng lost his compelling reason to go, Wang Hao wouldn’t be able to get the seeds either. This was unacceptable to Wang Hao.

“There’s still time. It’s not too late for us to wait a bit longer before making our move. Besides, we still have the Golden-Eyed Duck,” Wang Hao comforted him.

The Golden-Eyed Duck was their escape route. However, the Golden-Eyed Duck currently showed no signs of advancing. Could it happen before the Condensing Essence Fruits ripened? That would naturally be best. Then the two could go out to seek help and easily obtain the Condensing Essence Fruit tree. With this merit, they might even each exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill. Wang Hao could also take the opportunity to get his hands on Condensing Essence Fruit seeds. But it was better not to get one’s hopes up too high; otherwise, disappointment would only be greater.

As for sending the Golden-Eyed Duck alone to deliver a message, the risk was too great. The Duan Yuan Mountain Range was teeming with demonic beasts. Once the Golden-Eyed Duck left the valley floor, there was a risk of exposure, which would completely cut off their escape route. Keeping the Golden-Eyed Duck meant they could leave the valley in at most a few years.

After eating and drinking their fill, Wang Yanfeng bid farewell to Wang Hao and went into seclusion to cultivate. Wang Hao went alone to the streamside. Having just finished his own seclusion, he planned to rest for a while. There weren’t many places to go in this canyon; fishing by the stream was his only pastime.

The canyon generally ran north-south. Sunlight only reached it for a short while at noon. On this day, as Wang Hao lay by the stream pretending to nap with his fishing rod beside him, he suddenly heard a distant cry of “Ah!”

Wang Hao jolted awake and looked around in all directions but detected no movement.

“Eighth Uncle is in seclusion, and that voice wasn’t his,” Wang Hao thought, growing more puzzled as his expression shifted. “Could it be that someone has arrived?”

Looking up, he saw a black dot moving along the narrow strip of sky visible at the top of the canyon. “There really is someone,” Wang Hao muttered to himself while calculating pros and cons in his mind. “If this person discovers us, who knows if it will be fortune or misfortune.”

A place like this canyon, remote and uninhabited, was a natural setting for murder and treasure robbery. Moreover, judging by the other party’s speed of movement, it didn’t seem like they had fallen into the canyon; it was very likely a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As if fearing something would come true, that person seemed to have spotted Wang Hao and headed straight towards him. As the target drew closer, Wang Hao could roughly make out that it was a woman dressed in red robes, riding on what appeared to be a long silk ribbon.

“No… this doesn’t look like a Foundation Establishment cultivator,” Wang Hao widened his eyes as he watched the wobbly figure descend. Even an injured Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn’t fly so unsteadily.

Just as Wang Hao suspected, when the woman flew directly above Wang Hao at about three hundred meters high—around a hundred zhang—she could no longer maintain control and plummeted headfirst down.

“To save or not to save? That is a question!” An even bigger problem was that before Wang Hao could decide, the woman took action herself: she clapped her hands forcefully together repeatedly.

“Damn! No grievance or enmity between us… attacking upon first sight is…” Wang Hao dodged aside only to realize she wasn’t attacking him; she seemed to be using the recoil force from casting spells to counteract her falling speed.

However, this clearly wasn’t very effective. In just a blink of an eye, the woman plunged into the stream with a loud splash.

Wang Hao winced just watching. The stream was less than two meters deep; at her speed, she must have hit bottom.

Sure enough, red blood soon appeared in the water, and moments later the woman floated up, motionless, clearly unconscious.

After waiting another while and still seeing no movement, Wang Hao finally approached. “Young lady, I am here to rescue you. If you are conscious, please do not resist!”

After another pause, Wang Hao used magic to drag her ashore.

The woman lay on the bank, her head tilted away. Only when Wang Hao walked over did he see clearly that this person was actually Li Derong.

For a moment, he was too stunned to speak. “What an incredible coincidence!”

However, both families were near Qingniu Market, often entering the Duan Yuan Mountain Range. It wasn’t uncommon for clan members to encounter each other occasionally. But falling into the same section of canyon? That probability was truly extremely low.

Could this be fate? Gazing at Li Derong’s pale yet still lovely face, Wang Hao couldn’t help but think.

Since they knew each other—not even considering their families’ marital ties—just based on having fought side by side several times, Wang Hao naturally wouldn’t stand by idly.

After trying unsuccessfully again to wake Li Derong up, he carried her back to his wooden hut, placed her on the bed, and used his Spiritual Power to dry her clothes. Only then did he discover she had wounds on her arm and abdomen.

If awake, a cultivator could easily stop bleeding by circulating energy. But in her current state, without bandaging, she might lose too much blood; death wasn’t impossible either.

“I’ll just act with integrity; cultivators shouldn’t be bound by mundane etiquette.” Wang Hao shook his head self-deprecatingly, took out clean clothes, and tore them into strips.

After applying medicine and bandaging her wounds, he fed her several healing pills.

“Miss Li, this is all I can do! Rest well now; farewell!”

Wang Hao dared not stay inside the hut; otherwise, when Li Derong woke up, wouldn’t there be some huge misunderstanding drama?

When Li Derong regained consciousness from her coma, it was already noon two days later. Finding herself lying in an unfamiliar room filled her with both shock and joy: joy because she had survived; shock because she didn’t know where this place was or who had saved her.

While falling, she had seen someone below, but at that moment, she focused solely on survival without paying much attention.

She checked her clothing but found no signs of having been tampered with, which eased her mind considerably. Thinking silently that her rescuer must be a decent person, she prepared to go out and express thanks.

But getting off the bed pulled at her wounds, causing her delicate brows to furrow slightly. Only then did she notice bandages covering her injuries. Vaguely recalling seeing a male figure during her fall, instantly her face turned frosty cold!

Blessed with good aptitude and diligent since childhood, she was barely twenty years old and already a top Qi Refining cultivator among the Li Clan. At twenty-seven, reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining, usually not just juniors, but even peers treated her respectfully. Few dared approach closely. Today, she was actually touched by a man…