Playboy: Medical and Martial Master

A faint fragrance wafted through the air. In the night, the beautiful legs wrapped in sheer stockings shimmered with a subtle sheen, hazy and mysterious, sparking the imagination.

Sun Zhe stared at the succubus-like beauty before him, his breathing growing rapid. The Yang Qi within him stirred restlessly, making him feel as if his entire body was about to ignite. Yet he still restrained his desire, gritting his teeth and forcing himself to look away.

”Sister-in-law, we can’t go on like this!” he said with a bitter smile. ”I can’t resist this kind of temptation. You should get dressed.”

Bai Ran spoke urgently, ”Do you have any idea what’s happening right now? You’re still worried about that?!”

”Ah Zhe, my mother was tortured to death by this exact Ice and Fire True Qi… I watched helplessly as she suffered. I know how terrible it is.”

Sun Zhe sighed, glanced at the camp not far away, and suddenly said, ”Sister-in-law, I can tell you really love Brother Huang. We can’t do this anymore.”

Hearing this, Bai Ran smiled self-deprecatingly. ”That’s right. It wasn’t until today that I realized how pathetic I am. Knowing what he was doing to me behind my back, I just silently endured it. I’ve held on this long… maybe because, subconsciously, I’m terrified of truly losing him.”

”But Ah Zhe, none of that matters now. I just want to help you. I don’t want a tragedy like my mother’s to happen again.”

As she spoke, she walked right up to Sun Zhe and wrapped her arms around his waist. ”Ah Zhe, just consider this my repayment for you saving his life today, okay?”

With her soft, fragrant body in his arms and her scent filling his nostrils, Sun Zhe could no longer hold back. Tossing all caution to the wind, he pulled her into a fierce embrace and pressed her against a tree.

”Ah Zhe, don’t be so rough. Slow down. I need to circulate my power to transfer my Yin Essence to you. It’s the only way to suppress the Ice and Fire True Qi.”

Suddenly, a long, soul-stirring moan echoed from the dark forest.

Under Sun Zhe’s powerful thrusts, the large tree shook violently, its leaves rustling as they rained down. Bai Ran seemed unable to bear the assault. Her beautiful eyes were misty, and her hands clawed red marks onto Sun Zhe’s shoulders. In just half an hour, she was thoroughly defeated.

After a long while, Bai Ran stood up with difficulty, her cheeks flushed, the afterglow of passion not yet faded. She reached back, using the hair tie on her wrist to pull her long, loose hair into a ponytail. Looking at Sun Zhe, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground circulating his energy to digest the Yin Essence, she asked with concern, ”Ah Zhe, are you feeling any better?”

At her words, Sun Zhe exhaled a breath of intermingled hot and cold air. He looked up at Bai Ran, and couldn’t help but think of Han Xinyue. He realized Bai Ran’s method of suppressing the Ice and Fire True Qi was exactly the same as Han Xinyue’s! Han Xinyue had used this same method in the airplane lavatory!

He asked, ”Sister-in-law, are you from the Jade Fox Sect?”

Hearing this, Bai Ran’s expression turned slightly cold. She was quiet for a moment before shaking her head. ”I’m not, but my mother was. Everything I know, she taught me.”

”I see,” Sun Zhe nodded, not pressing further.

Bai Ran huffed coquettishly. She suddenly crumpled the torn black stockings into a ball and tossed them to him, her face blushing as she said, ”They’re a gift. I might have worn them for two days, but I still smell sweet. Don’t you dare just throw them away. That would pollute the environment.”

Sun Zhe caught the soft bundle as it flew toward him, momentarily speechless. He truly didn’t understand why these women, one after another, insisted on leaving him with trophies after their defeat. What was the deal with that?

Bai Ran pursed her lips, then abruptly turned her head away, pretending to be serious as she said, ”After tonight, let’s not do this again.”

”Okay.”

”Anyway,” Bai Ran continued, ”I hope you can refine that elixir you mentioned soon and get rid of the Ice and Fire True Qi.”

Sun Zhe nodded.

”You go get some sleep. I’ll stand guard.”

”I still have to dig for White Silk Hulus.”

***

「The next day.」

At the crack of dawn, the three of them packed their things and prepared for the climb. Since Huang Qiangang was injured and had limited mobility, and Sun Zhe was not supposed to engage in strenuous activity after just suppressing his Ice and Fire True Qi, the main task fell to Bai Ran.

She was incredibly agile, easily scaling the fifty-meter-high cliff. Along the way, she drove several pitons into the rock face to secure a climbing rope. Once she reached the top, she used the rope to slowly haul Huang Qiangang and Sun Zhe up.

After reaching the Life-breaking Cliff, the three took a brief rest before continuing their journey. This time, Bai Ran took the lead, hacking a path through the overgrown vegetation. Meanwhile, Sun Zhe and Huang Qiangang, the two grown men, swaggered leisurely behind her like a pair of grand lords.

Holding the map, Huang Qiangang told Sun Zhe, ”The terrain ahead is a continuous downward slope. It’s quite large, not too steep, and stretches for about ten kilometers. It ends in a swampy basin, and that’s the Bone Stone Forest.”

Sun Zhe asked curiously, ”Is there a story behind the name ’Bone Stone Forest’?”

Huang Qiangang replied, ”It’s because there are many enormous bone fossils there.”

”How enormous?”

Huang Qiangang countered with a question, ”Doctor Sun, do you think a blue whale is big?”

Sun Zhe nodded. ”Of course. The blue whale is currently the largest animal on Earth, bar none.”

Huang Qiangang suddenly laughed. ”Well, when you see those bone fossils, you’ll find that a blue whale is nothing but a kid brother by comparison.”

Sun Zhe was astonished. ”Could they be dinosaur fossils?”

Huang Qiangang shook his head, a sense of wonder in his voice. ”I truly can’t imagine… before humans ever appeared, what kind of creatures roamed this planet? Doctor Sun, the place we’re about to step into is a true Life Forbidden Zone! The poisonous insects and fierce beasts are countless, not to mention the miasma that can kill you without a trace. We have to be careful, or one misstep could be our last.”

Sun Zhe took out the White Silk Hulus he had gathered, handing two pieces to Huang Qiangang. ”Keep this on you, and smell it from time to time.”

”This thing can protect against miasma?”

Sun Zhe nodded with a smile. ”You don’t have to believe me, but you should believe my medicine.”

They continued on, stopping and starting along the way. Around noon, the trio halted their advance, finding a stream to rest beside and prepare some food before moving on. Claiming to be the injured party, Sun Zhe and Huang Qiangang were utterly shameless. They sat down and refused to move, openly loafing about while pretending to discuss the map.

Squatting a short distance away, Bai Ran gathered firewood and started a fire. She occasionally glanced at the two childish men. It would be nice if they were both my husbands, she thought privately. Then we could have two at once, one in the front and one in the back… Just thinking about it was thrilling. She couldn’t imagine a happier life. But, of course, that was just a fantasy.

Bai Ran pushed the unrealistic thought from her mind and called out, ”Ah Zhe, come over here a second.”

Hearing her, Sun Zhe put down the map and walked over. ”What is it, Sister-in-law?”

”The fire’s lit. Can you help add some firewood? I need to step away for a moment.”

Sun Zhe figured she needed to relieve herself, so he didn’t ask any questions. He obediently started finding sticks to toss onto the fire. Bai Ran gave him a flirtatious wink before heading downstream along the creek.

”AH!”

She hadn’t gone far before she let out a sudden scream. ”You two, get over here! Quick!”

Sun Zhe and Huang Qiangang exchanged a look and scrambled to their feet, rushing toward her.

”What’s wrong, Ranran?”

When they reached Bai Ran’s side, Sun Zhe followed her pointed finger and immediately frowned. Lying in the grass by the stream was a large, disgusting heap of filth! Looking closer, he could make out a human skull within the foul mass, rotted away until only a few flaps of skin remained.

Sun Zhe took one look before turning away and dry-heaving. The indescribable stench was so powerful it made his head throb with pain. He had seen and even handled corpses before, but he had never seen anything so grotesquely decomposed.

”Brother Huang, how on earth did this person die? And why are they squeezed into a lump like that?”

Huang Qiangang covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, crouching down to examine the scene. His gaze suddenly sharpened, and he said in a solemn tone, ”This is a pile of dung. And this person… is part of it.”

Hearing this, Sun Zhe’s eyes widened. He whipped his head around to look at Huang Qiangang, his expression demanding an explanation. ”What animal’s droppings could possibly be this big?”

Huang Qiangang snapped a branch from a nearby tree and poked at the massive pile. ”Based on my experience… this should be from a snake.” His heart sank as he looked at Sun Zhe. ”We need to be extremely careful. There must be a giant snake nearby. This dung is still fresh. It was likely left here not long ago—within the last two hours.”