Thunder connects heaven and earth.
Lin Ji's long sword fiercely pierces the body of the pig dragon, guiding the power of thunder to completely envelop the demonic body of the pig dragon.
"Ah!!"
Accompanied by the pig dragon's painful cry.
The scorching heat of the thunder evaporates the toxic rain in mid-air that has not yet fallen.
Clearly, around is still pouring rain, but precisely around where the thunder falls, not a drop of rain falls.
"Head Lin?!" Ling'er's eyes widened in surprise.
Lin Ji, however, had no time to pay attention to these two girls.
Having achieved success with one sword strike, naturally, he had to press on and kill this pig dragon.
Lin Ji retracted his long sword, looking at the purple blood spraying from the pig dragon's wound, his expression changed slightly, and he quickly retreated.
Shortly after, he saw the blood falling on the ground, corroding small holes of various sizes on the ground.
"Quite poisonous." Lin Ji muttered to himself.
Taking advantage of this moment, it seemed that the pig dragon also knew Lin Ji's strength, dragging its injured body and swiftly plunging into the Liang River.
Seeing this scene, Lin Ji pointed his sword towards the Liang River.
Another thunderbolt fell directly into the surging river.
The river water instantly exploded, countless fish and shrimp leaping up, but the pig dragon was nowhere to be seen.
"Good." Lin Ji breathed a sigh of relief and sheathed his sword.
In the sky, the heavy rain only slightly weakened, but the toxic rain faintly reappeared.
"Heh, already injured and still not willing to give up?" Lin Ji expanded his spiritual energy, enveloping himself, Zhong Xiaoyan, and Ling'er, blocking the toxic rain outside.
After doing all this, he finally had time to check the conditions of Zhong Xiaoyan and Ling'er.
At this moment, Zhong Xiaoyan had already fallen into a coma due to exhaustion, with many parts of her body already injured by the previous toxic rain.
Ling'er's condition was not much better.
"I passed by a cave on my way here. This toxic rain is fierce, let's go hide there first."
Saving people was the priority now. Lin Ji lifted Zhong Xiaoyan's legs and back, carrying her, and left with Ling'er.
Inside the cave.
Lin Ji casually threw the dry firewood he found in the cave into the fire, leaning against the stone wall, yawning without worry.
On the other side of the fire, Zhong Xiaoyan rested her head on Ling'er's thigh. Although she had already woken up, she was reluctant to open her eyes.
"Will you still be so stubborn in the future?" Lin Ji asked casually.
No one responded.
Ling'er sighed softly.
"Miss, this time we were wrong. If it weren't for Head Lin, we would have been in big trouble."
Zhong Xiaoyan helplessly opened her eyes. When she saw Lin Ji looking at her, she subconsciously looked away, not daring to meet his gaze.
"What's wrong? Capable of slaying demons and monsters, but not capable of admitting mistakes?" Lin Ji raised his eyebrows and chuckled lightly.
"I, I..."
Zhong Xiaoyan hesitated for a long time, unable to speak.
In the end, she just turned her head away without looking at Lin Ji.
Shaking his head with a smile, Lin Ji could tell that this girl seemed to be a bit concerned about her reputation, so he didn't bother to provoke her with words.
"That pig dragon only had the strength of the third realm. Even though it had the advantage by the river, you shouldn't have been in such a sorry state."
"The toxic rain is hard to resist, and besides..."
"And besides, you haven't mastered your family's Fire of Separation. Even though the rain was a bit heavy, being able to extinguish your Fire of Separation with just that much rain, how dare you venture out of your home and wander outside?"
The Zhong Family of Xiangzhou, a reputable cultivation family.
The most famous was their family's fire techniques, especially the iconic Fire of Separation. Lin Ji had heard of it, so it was obvious that Zhong Xiaoyan should come from the Zhong Family of Xiangzhou.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Xiaoyan couldn't bear it any longer.
"Nonsense! Clearly, I was in a hurry on the road and consumed too much energy, so that's why..."
"Do you believe that yourself?" Lin Ji rolled his eyes.
Seeing that Zhong Xiaoyan still wanted to argue, Lin Ji waved his hand and said, "Alright, you're amazing, just honestly focus on recovering."
The cave fell into silence.
Seeing that Ling'er was taking care of Zhong Xiaoyan, Lin Ji greeted them and left the cave.
After a while, he returned to the cave with two unlucky rabbits.
Skillfully skinning and gutting them.
He found two dry branches in the cave, pierced the rabbits with them, and roasted them over the fire.
Then, he searched in his arms for a tightly wrapped small paper package.
Opening the package, the fragrance of cumin and chili powder immediately spread out.
Zhong Xiaoyan, who was pretending to sleep, was attracted and subconsciously looked at Lin Ji.
Her stomach grumbled uncontrollably.
"I'm not hungry, just... just..."
"Just craving?" Lin Ji chuckled.
Zhong Xiaoyan's face turned red instantly, struggling to sit up, staring blankly at Lin Ji as he sprinkled the seasoning on the rabbits.
The meat oil kept dripping into the fire.
"Why do you carry seasoning with you?" Zhong Xiaoyan found nothing to say.
"I went on a business trip not long ago, and I had it with me at that time," Lin Ji casually replied.
"How long is not long ago? Don't you change your clothes?" Zhong Xiaoyan widened her eyes, not knowing whether to look at Lin Ji or the rabbits.
"If my clothes get dirty, a wash of spiritual energy will do. Even if I've reached the Spiritual Realm, do I still need to change clothes every day?" Lin Ji looked at Zhong Xiaoyan in surprise.
Zhong Xiaoyan fell silent, just finding things to say.
After a while, the rabbits were cooked.
Lin Ji handed one over.
Unable to wait, Zhong Xiaoyan broke off a leg for Ling'er and then hugged the rabbit to start eating.
A cultivator of the third realm generally wouldn't be hungry to this extent unless they were naturally gluttonous like Lin Ji, or like Zhong Xiaoyan, exhausted both physically and spiritually to the point of exhaustion.
Soon, the bones of the two rabbits were thrown into the fire, making their final contribution.
After filling her stomach, Zhong Xiaoyan felt a bit more energetic.
"What about the pig dragon?"
"Since we're here, let's go take a look tomorrow during the day. It's best to kill it." Lin Ji also wanted to get rid of this pig dragon. This monster must have caused a lot of trouble for the people. If he could successfully kill it, he might receive a gift from the heavens and might even advance to the fourth realm earlier.
After saying this, Lin Ji ignored Zhong Xiaoyan, leaned against the stone wall, closed his eyes, and prepared himself.
Seeing this, Zhong Xiaoyan and Ling'er glanced at each other.
"Miss, you should apologize to Head Lin."
Ling'er whispered, "If it weren't for Head Lin, we would have been done for."
"Mind your own business, do you need to say that?" Zhong Xiaoyan glared at Ling'er.
Where did she not know this truth? Wasn't it just a matter of pride?
The rain had already diminished significantly in the latter half of the night.
After daybreak, Lin Ji and Zhong Xiaoyan left the cave and headed towards the Liang River. Ling'er's cultivation was too low to be of much help, so she was asked to wait in the cave.
"The rain has stopped." Zhong Xiaoyan said, looking at the clear sky.
"Perhaps the pig dragon is injured and needs to recover, so it had to retract its powers." Lin Ji looked at the muddy roads around and sighed lightly, "Dragon breeds are truly unreasonable. They can use such magical abilities as controlling the weather even at the third realm."
"Not all dragon breeds can do that. This pig dragon is rare." Zhong Xiaoyan said.
As they spoke, the two of them could already see the Liang River from afar.
Before they could discuss how to deal with the pig dragon, Lin Ji's expression changed.
On the side of the river in the distance, a huge monster with a snake body and pig head lay quietly by the river, motionless.
Purple blood flowed all over the ground.
Beside the pig dragon's body, a figure in a black robe was quietly watching them.
A slightly hoarse voice sounded.
"Monster Hunter of Qingyang County?"