Qin Ze raised his hand and punched the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf in the abdomen.
Sensing danger, the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf lashed out at Qin Ze with a claw.
Qin Ze hurriedly sidestepped and slammed a fist into the side of the heavenly wolf.
A muffled thud echoed out.
Qin Ze was knocked back a few steps by the tremendous force, while the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf, upon landing, was clearly feeling some pain in its body.
When Lei Ling'er saw Qin Ze, a look of surprise flashed in her eyes.
"Why is it you? What are you doing here?" she asked loudly, recognizing him as well.
Qin Ze wore a speechless expression. "Cut the chatter, dealing with this beast is what matters most."
As he spoke, the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf lunged forward again.
This time, Lei Ling'er was already on guard, her hands gathering ice-attribute martial arts energy.
Qin Ze stepped forward to block the demonic wolf, while Lei Ling'er's ice-attribute spiritual martial power smashed toward the beast's back.
Fighting together in cooperation, although the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf was very strong, Lei Ling'er was no weakling either; her strength was also at the Profound Spirit Realm, matching that of the heavenly wolf.
Having been a combat genius in his past life, Qin Ze—though inferior to Lei Ling'er in cultivation—was able to coordinate with her seamlessly to handle the demonic wolf.
Before long, the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf was panting heavily, unable to put up any further resistance.
"Go to hell!" Lei Ling'er angrily gathered the frost in her palms, intending to kill the demonic wolf.
Qin Ze, however, stopped her.
"Don't deal the fatal blow just yet, there's more to this."
Lei Ling'er withdrew her ice spiritual qi and looked at Qin Ze with some displeasure.
"This beast almost killed me, why would I let it go?"
Stepping forward, Qin Ze first subdued the heavenly wolf and bound it securely, then said, "Aren't you wondering why a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf that cannot be bound to a master would appear here?"
"What do you mean?" Lei Ling'er still didn't understand.
Qin Ze said, "It was already strange enough to have a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf in the woods outside Yuelong City. Now that two have appeared in a row, don't you think something is wrong with this?"
Lei Ling'er fell silent as well.
Thinking it over carefully, she furrowed her brow and said, "You mean someone did this on purpose?"
Qin Ze nodded. "I saw someone bring a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf here with my own eyes, and then release its master-bond."
"Earlier at Ten-Mile Slope, someone also had a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf. I reckon that one was deliberately set loose as well."
Lei Ling'er's brow furrowed tightly.
She had been near Ten-Mile Slope earlier and had indeed seen Lei Longhu leading people to kill a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf with her own eyes.
And now another one appeared outside this valley.
As for her coming to Yuelong City this time, it was because she heard a Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf would appear here and wanted to catch one as a contract beast.
Could it be that this was a trap?
"Are you saying someone wants to kill me? But how could a single Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf possibly kill me?" Lei Ling'er asked.
Qin Ze was rendered somewhat speechless.
*My dear young miss, you literally died in this thing's mouth in your past life.*
*If I hadn't shown up this time, you'd have bought the farm again.*
*Now that you're safe, you're starting to brag.*
Coughing lightly twice, Qin Ze said, "Anyway, we have to do something now, otherwise the person who wants you dead will know you're still alive and will definitely make another move."
After a brief moment of thought, Lei Ling'er agreed that this made sense.
With the enemy in the shadows and them in the light, it was indeed very dangerous.
But what could be done to make the person trying to kill her call off the dogs temporarily?
Seeming to have had a plan all along, Qin Ze dropped a brief "Wait here for me" and quickly headed back into the woods.
When Qin Ze returned to the spot where he had killed Chen Yan, the corpse had already been gnawed beyond recognition by demonic beasts.
That made it all the more useful, however.
Carrying the corpse back to the valley, he untied the bindings on the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf.
Though the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf no longer dared to attack the two of them, upon seeing the corpse on the ground, it immediately began to devour it.
Now all that was missing was Lei Ling'er's outer garment; placing it over the corpse would create the illusion that she had been killed by the heavenly wolf.
Just as he was about to go ask her for the coat, he heard a heavy thud from behind.
Turning his head, he saw that Lei Ling'er had collapsed to the ground, her complexion turning purple.
Qin Ze inwardly cursed, and looking at the paws of the Red-Eyed Heavenly Wolf, sure enough, they were glowing with a faint green light.
The heavenly wolf's claws were poisoned.
No wonder Lei Ling'er had ended up dying in the wolf's jaws in his past life.
With poisoned claws, as long as she was scratched, a protracted battle meant Lei Ling'er was guaranteed to die.
Hurrying to Lei Ling'er's side, Qin Ze asked, "How are you?"
With her brow furrowed tightly, Lei Ling'er replied weakly, "I feel terrible."
Unable to worry about such niceties anymore, Qin Ze pulled open the clothing on Lei Ling'er's shoulder.
"What are you doing!" Lei Ling'er struggled a little and snapped angrily, "How dare you take liberties with me..."
*Where on your body haven't I already seen in my past life?* Qin Ze thought to himself, though he didn't dare say it out loud.
Right now, the wound on her shoulder was pitch black, clearly a sign of poisoning.
Fortunately, the poison wasn't instantly fatal. Since it was applied to the wolf's claws and wolf-type demonic beasts sometimes liked to lick their paws, the man in black hadn't dared to use anything too lethal.
"Let's go, let's find another place first."
Picking Lei Ling'er up in his arms, Qin Ze stripped off her outer garment and tossed it onto the corpse, then quickly made his way elsewhere.
...
At daybreak, Lei Ling'er opened her eyes to find herself lying on the grass.
The pain in her shoulder had subsided significantly, and her body had regained some strength.
Turning her head, she saw Qin Ze sitting nearby.
His legs were crossed, and a stream of qi was circulating around his body, as if he were cultivating some kind of technique.
"Hey..."
Lei Ling'er called out weakly. Qin Ze opened one eye and glanced at her.
"Awake? Are you alright?" Qin Ze asked casually.
Propping up her upper body, Lei Ling'er leaned against a tree.
She noticed that she was no longer wearing her outer tunic, which filled her with some doubt.
"I'm fine. Thank you for saving me. Do you also know how to detoxify poison? How did you save me?" Lei Ling'er asked with a hint of gratitude.
With his eyes still closed, Qin Ze replied nonchalantly, "Your poison was nothing. It just required the union of yin and yang between a man and a woman to cure it."
*Union of yin and yang?*
Lei Ling'er froze.
Those four words felt like four heavy hammers slamming directly into her head.
Though she had been pampered since childhood and hadn't interacted much with men, she still understood what the union of yin and yang meant.
"What... did you say..."
Lei Ling'er's face instantly flushed crimson, her delicate fists clenched tightly, and her entire body trembled slightly.
She could not believe that her chastity had been taken by a strange man out here in the wild mountains.
"Well, you were close to dying from the poison. You tell me, should I have saved you or not?" Qin Ze asked.
Domineering as she usually was, Lei Ling'er knew full well she had been given no choice in the matter.
Even so, tears of grievance welled up and spilled uncontrollably down her cheeks.
Glancing at her, Qin Ze said, "What are you crying for? I was just joking with you. Don't you know whether your own body has been touched or not?"
Lei Ling'er was taken aback.
She checked her physical condition and inspected herself.
Though her outer tunic was gone, the undergarments beneath were still completely intact, which indeed didn't look like anything had happened.
Her anger subsided a bit at that, and she said, "It's a good thing you didn't touch me, or you'd be a dead man."
Qin Ze rolled his eyes. "What, are you disappointed that we didn't perform the union of yin and yang? If so, there's still time."
As he spoke, he made a move to get up.