Ding Run heard the seriousness in Zu An’s tone, and there seemed to be some sort of ancient and profound meaning hidden within the motion of his palms as well. Although the dragon had disappeared in a flash, he was certain that it was a real dragon!

From the name of the skill alone, he was able to tell that this ‘Dragonslaying Eighteen Palms’ technique could cause even a dragon to yield. This kid was an absolute monster!

He hadn’t been able to defeat Zu An even with his full strength, which had left him doubting himself. Now that he had pulled out this Dragonslaying Eighteen Palms technique, he was properly scared out of his wits.

He was already carrying a serious injury, and did not dare to continue fighting. He picked up his blade and ran for his life.

As a professional killer, his top priority was staying alive. No amount of caution was considered excessive. That was why he ran for his life. He would wait until he had fully recovered, then seek this fellow out to settle matters once and for all.

With a few large leaps, his retreating figure quickly vanished into the distance.

All those who remained stared blankly after him. What in the world was going on? The most famous hitman in the world, a top-notch expert, had been chased away by Zu An?

Zu An sighed in relief. Clearly, he had only been bluffing. That Dragonslaying Eighteen Palms or whatever was just some bullshit he’d come up with. He knew that, if he’d summoned the red dragon again, Ding Run might realize that it was just a corpse.

“Ah Zu, you’re incredible!” Zheng Dan’s red lips were parted wide with shock. She was the only one here who knew the truth behind this red dragon. She never expected that he could make use of the corpse so effectively!

“Haha, you’re too kind. I have even more powerful skills in reserve.” There wasn’t the least bit of humility in Zu An’s tone.

Pei Mianman sighed in admiration. “Ah Zu, you’re always so full of surprises. Compared to you, all those so-called talented geniuses are completely overshadowed.”

Zu An was on cloud nine. “Oh my god, yes, right there. That’s what I like to hear. Keep it coming!”

“You’re so annoying!” Pei Mianman’s body was shaking from his teasing, and everyone else’s eyes couldn’t help but track her every motion.

A blush colored Sang Qien’s charming face. She cursed that woman in her heart for being a vixen, and then she looked at Zu An curiously. “How did you do it?”

Zu An chuckled. “Do you really want to know? Call me big brother, and I’ll tell you.”

“Hmph!” Sang Qien’s face turned red. To be honest, if there weren’t so many people around, she wouldn’t have minded calling him big brother. But her real big brother was nearby, and the two of them hated each other’s guts. How could she possibly give in to his request in such a situation?

Sang Qian erupted in anger. “You! Stop teasing my little sister!”

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 601 Rage points!

Zu An immediately became unhappy. “Yo, are you blind? She was the one who asked me a question first. If you keep shouting like an idiot, I’m gonna smack you to death.”

“You!” Sang Qian was so angry that he almost leapt out to challenge him. However, he remembered how Zu An had just scared off Ding Run, and recalled the appearance of that terrifying dragon as well. Both of these things made him wary of Zu An’s slap, and he held his tongue. However, the resentment he felt didn’t decrease in the slightest.

You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 444… 444… 444…

Zu An was overjoyed. This fellow had given him a really decent amount of Rage points over these past few days, which made him seem quite cute.

He helped Pei Mianman and Zheng Dan to their feet. “Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine.” The two women replied, and exchanged glances.

The two of them weren't complete strangers. They were both quite well known in Brightmoon City, and they were fellow students at the academy.

However, they only nodded towards each other. They shared no deeper friendship to speak of.

As if sensing the awkwardness, Zu An said, “What do you mean, you’re fine? Look at yourselves! Big Manman, you have some blood on your chest. Let me help you with that…”

“Get lost!” Pei Mianman pushed the pervert away. This fellow is always so despicable.

Zu An chuckled. He took out two pills and gave one to each of them. “Take it easy. These are Divine Physician Ji’s Soul Return Pills. They’re pretty good.”

“Thank you!” The two women had heard about Divine Physician Ji’s extraordinary medicine. Neither refused him, and both took the pills he offered.

Sang Qien blinked. She was rather stunned that neither one of the girls had hesitated before swallowing the medicine.

They were women, and extremely beautiful women at that! Yet, they ingested any random thing that they received from this man! That could only mean that they really trusted him.

The girl with the huge breasts is one thing, but Zheng Dan is my sister-in-law…

She turned around to give Sang Qian a look. Oh, my poor big brother!

Zu An’s teasing voice interrupted her thoughts. “Miss Sang, do you want one too?”

“I don’t!” Sang Qien gave an angry huff and turned her head away. This fellow was clearly trying to tease her! How could she shamelessly accept it?

“Now’s not the time for that. We’re not out of the woods yet. It’s important to recover our fighting strength as quickly as possible.” Zu An grabbed her hand and placed a pill in her palm.

This girl had helped him undo his seal and fought alongside the other two girls. There was no way he wouldn’t repay this favor.

Her hand does feel pretty nice though…

Sang Qien was stunned. She too recognized that this was indeed what was most important at the moment. Even though she had her own medicine, it wasn’t as good as Divine Physician Ji’s pills.

As such, she stretched out her hand. “Give me two more!”

Zu An inhaled sharply. This woman really was blunt. He thought for a bit, then said, “I can only give you one more.”

There was no way he would give Sang Qian something so precious.

Sang Qien frowned, clearly catching his meaning. She didn’t say anything in reply, but took the medicine and hurried over to her family members. She offered up both of the pills and said quietly, “Father, big brother, take this medicine, quickly.”

Sang Qian took the pill and swallowed it at once. Sang Hong frowned and said, “What about you?”

Sang Qien looked at Zu An, who was a distance away. “I have my own ways.”

Sang Hong knew that his daughter possessed sharp wits, so he didn’t worry too much about her. He took the Soul Return Pill as well and began to regulate his breathing.

Unfortunately, he had overly taxed his body even after suffering serious injuries, and it wasn’t easy for him to recover, even with such incredible medicine.

Sang Qien walked back to Zu An, her hands behind her back. She didn’t say anything, but sat down and began to regulate her own breathing.

Zu An frowned. “You gave that pill to your brother?”

“Yup.” Sang Qien nodded, but gave no other reaction.

“Why aren’t you asking me for another one?” Zu An asked curiously.

Sang Qien opened her eyes and said slowly, “I’m already grateful that you gave me two pills. You also made it clear that you didn’t want to give my big brother one, so I took on the responsibility by choosing to give mine to him. There’s no way I would be so shameless as to ask you for another one.”

Zu An was astonished. “I didn’t expect the young miss to have such integrity. Your character is far superior to your brother’s. Whatever. I’ve always been more partial to the fairer sex. I’ll give you another one.”

“That’s… I couldn’t let you do something like that.” Sang Qien looked troubled, but her heart was secretly overjoyed. Sure enough, this fellow’s weakness was pretty girls.

Zu An chuckled. “It’s no big deal. We’re all grasshoppers stranded on the same boat right now, so we should be helping each other out.”

He gave her another Soul Return Pill.

Sang Qien didn’t refuse him, but reached out her hand instead. “Thank you, big brother Zu.”

Zu An laughed heartily. “You’re welcome!”

The truth finally hit Zu An when he saw Sang Qien return to Sang Hong’s side. He had fallen for this young woman’s trap! Why would she have walked all the way over and taken a seat near him if she really wasn’t interested in his medicine?

Instead of getting angry, he found himself growing more interested in her. Her big brother was rather rude and impetuous, but this younger sister was quite clever.

He shook his head. There’s no point in thinking about all this right now. He sat down to regulate his breathing and focus on recovery. He didn’t take any medicine himself. His Primordial Origin Sutra was constantly repairing his body, so he wasn’t in any urgent need of treatment. Moreover, staying in his current condition would grant him a buff from the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. Since the danger had yet to truly pass, it was best to be a little more cautious.

He noticed with pleasant surprise that the fifth step of his fifth formation was about twenty percent filled. This was probably the result of the previous beatings he’d suffered, as well as the most recent fight.

This fifth step required a whopping 2,178,309 Ki Fruits to fill up! Twenty percent of that was equivalent to more than forty thousand Ki Fruits. If this were converted into Rage Points, it would become an even more ridiculous number.

I guess being beaten up really is much more effective than just eating Ki Fruits.

However, what surprised him the most was that the increase in his level of cultivation wasn’t quite the same each time he was seriously injured. After all, he had been left in a far worse state when he’d faced Mi Li in the dungeon. Yet, if he converted the progress he’d made back then into Rage points, it would be considerably less than this most recent round.

Does it increase by a percentage of my current cultivation?

Zu An couldn’t figure out how this system worked at all.

Despite all this, he still rejoiced. Even though getting beaten up to increase his cultivation wasn’t the most glamorous, he could kill two birds with one stone and get on the good side of young women. Just look at how moved Zheng Dan had been when he used his own body to shield her!

It wasn’t just her, either. Even Sang Qien’s opinion of him had changed.

He was giggling to himself when an old man’s voice suddenly cut through the air. “Who was it that killed my clansman?!”