Chapter 43 Trapped

With heavy injuries weighing him down, unable to move, only a slight tremble in his arms.

In a swift motion, he retrieves a blood bodhi from his pocket. Just as Tianling said, the blood bodhi is a healing elixir that should alleviate his injuries.

With great difficulty, he places the blood bodhi into his mouth.

Gently swallowing, indeed, the blood bodhi transforms into a surge of intense heat, swiftly filling his entire body. Now at the fourth level of innate strength, he can naturally resist the energy of the blood bodhi. Once able to resist, he feels that the fiery energy is not as aggressive as before, as if continuously nurturing his body.

After an hour, just an hour, his body has significantly improved. The sunken chest has completely recovered, except for Tianling who still lies asleep on his chest.

With a bitter smile, Zhongshan gently sits up, adjusting Tianling's position. Tianling's clothes are now disheveled, her chest exposed, the two snow-white mounds playfully bouncing in the air.

Zhongshan shakes his head, gently covering her up, to prevent any embarrassment when she wakes up later.

However, during this process, his fingers unavoidably brush against her, causing Zhongshan's old face to blush unconsciously.

Finally, after burning incense, he finishes tidying Tianling's clothes, then looks at his own attire.

His clothes have been torn to shreds by Tianling.

Shaking his head, Zhongshan props Tianling against a large rock. Lying back.

Gently rising, he tears off his clothes and tosses them into the magma pool, standing there naked. He retrieves another set of clothes from his storage bracelet and slowly dresses.

Although Tianling hasn't woken up yet, when Zhongshan props her against the rock, she stirs as if waking from a dream, a very embarrassing dream. Tianling dreamed that she had stripped herself, then stripped Zhongshan, and then hugged and kissed him.

Upon waking, Tianling's face flushes red. "Why did I dream of such a thing? What happened before?" Suddenly, Tianling seems to recall.

She remembers Zhongshan crashing into the wall, getting injured, and then she threw herself at him, not only failing to save him but also tearing off his clothes, even her own, and even kissing his chest. With this realization, Tianling is completely stunned.

"No, no, how could I do such a thing? It must have been a dream, yes, it was a dream, it must have been a dream."

Tianling keeps reassuring herself.

While she continues to hypnotize herself, suddenly, Tianling hears a strange sound.

"Rip~~~"

It sounds like clothes being torn. Rip, rip, rip.

A series of sounds finally make Tianling open her eyes, curiously looking in the direction of the sound.

At a glance, she sees Zhongshan with his back to her, naked, tossing his torn clothes into the magma pool.

Seeing this scene, Tianling is dumbfounded. Her little mouth opens, almost screaming. Then immediately shuts her eyes tight.

"I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything." Tianling keeps chanting to herself.

But when she hears Zhongshan's sporadic clothing sounds, for some reason, Tianling, even to herself, unclear why, opens her eyes slightly, squinting to see Zhongshan's body not far away.

"Zhongshan's body looks so good!" Unconsciously, a thought pops into Tianling's mind.

As soon as she thought about it, Tianling's face flushed, quickly closing her eyes. How could this happen? She mustn't look, she mustn't look, Tianling tightly shut her eyes.

Zhongshan quickly dressed himself. Turning around, he happened to see Tianling with her eyes tightly shut. Zhongshan was speechless for a moment; her eyes were shut so tightly that wrinkles appeared. Did this fool not realize she was awake?

"When did you wake up?" Zhongshan asked.

"I didn't see anything, I didn't see anything," Tianling immediately replied.

Watching Tianling, Zhongshan was once again rendered speechless. A strange feeling filled his heart as he thought back to Tianling's rascally behavior earlier. Zhongshan could only shake his head helplessly.

"Alright, I understand, you didn't see anything."

Gently opening her eyes and seeing Zhongshan's smile, Tianling quickly said, "I didn't see anything." But her tone was much weaker.

"Well, my injuries aren't fully healed yet. I'll meditate for a bit. You go change your clothes," Zhongshan said.

With that, Zhongshan found a corner and sat down cross-legged to meditate.

It was only then that the still dazed Tianling realized her clothes were also in a state of disarray.

"Oh, how did this happen?" Tianling exclaimed in shock.

"Just got torn during the fight on the ground," Zhongshan said, before closing his eyes to meditate.

Was he going to say he tore them himself? Zhongshan certainly wouldn't say that.

Tianling didn't bother looking for the old man either. She quickly found a corner to avoid Zhongshan's gaze, took out a set of clothes, and changed.

As Zhongshan meditated once again, after half an hour, he woke up. There was still some pain in his body, but overall, he felt much better. Opening his eyes, he saw Tianling looking anxious.

"What's wrong?" Zhongshan asked as he got up.

"Zhongshan, what happened when I was unconscious? What about that old man? Also, our last way out is blocked. The cave is completely sealed. What do we do?" Tianling asked worriedly.

"That old man? He accidentally jumped into the magma and died," Zhongshan said with a hint of disbelief. Yes, that old man's death was quite unfortunate. Jumped into the magma? Even Zhongshan couldn't help but break into a cold sweat at the thought.

"He fell in?" Tianling immediately looked towards the magma.

Zhongshan also came over to take a look. Upon seeing it, Zhongshan's eyes suddenly lit up. What was that?

The old man fell in and was already dead, beyond dead even, his remains completely gone. Even with his formidable cultivation, in his confusion, he wouldn't have had any protective measures. Falling into magma, wouldn't he have been incinerated?

However, amidst the magma where the old man fell, there was now a floating piece of paper.

A piece of paper? How could it survive in the magma?

Tianling waved her hand, and with a slight suction, the paper, along with a clump of magma, floated ashore.

As it landed at Zhongshan's feet, a large amount of magma splashed.

After the magma dried, Zhongshan dared to pick it up gently. Tianling also came over to take a look. On the peculiar paper, there were some tiny characters written.

Fourth-grade pill formula: Rampage Pill.

This was the top line of words. Below it were a large number of medicinal ingredients and the method of refining.

"Fourth-grade pill?" Tianling exclaimed in astonishment.

"What's wrong?" Zhongshan frowned.

"What kind of paper is this? It's not even damaged by magma. Although the Rampage Pill formula is scarce, it shouldn't be this outlandish. I think the value of this paper exceeds that of the pill formula. It's really extravagant," Tianling shook her head and commented continuously.

Watching Tianling's behavior, Zhongshan couldn't help but chuckle. He gently took it and put it away.

A fourth-grade pill formula, using such good paper, might have unexpected effects.

As for Tianling, seeing Zhongshan put away the pill formula, she didn't say much. She just spat a few times towards where the old man had fallen, still harboring some resentment.

"Zhongshan, how do we get out? The cave collapsed, we can't get out," Tianling showed her anxiety again.

Zhongshan walked over to take a look and sure enough, the cave had completely collapsed. There was no way out. With a depth of over a thousand meters, even if they could climb up, it would be thousands of meters away. Zhongshan was speechless.

Now, it seemed impossible to return the way they came.

What to do? Zhongshan looked around and found no other exit, only the passage leading directly above the magma pool, a pathway to the volcano's mouth.

Zhongshan looked up.

A kilometer, no, three kilometers. From this opening upwards, it would be at least three kilometers, and the walls were extremely smooth and hard. How could they ascend like this?

The bottom was completely blocked. There was only this three-kilometer straight passage.

"Ling'er, do you still have your red silk? Can it carry you?" Zhongshan asked.

"The red silk is broken, it needs to be repaired. It will take at least two months. After two months, it can carry me alone, but can we hold out for two months?" Tianling looked distressed.

Seeing Tianling like this, Zhongshan felt helpless. He quickly checked his own food, then Tianling's food and water. In the end, he could only reluctantly come to a conclusion: one month, at most one month. The food and water could only last for one month, and Tianling needed two months to go out.

What to do?

"By the way, did your father give you any self-rescue items?" Zhongshan asked with a frown.

"He gave me some powerful treasures, like the jade talisman from that day, but there's nothing for flying. What do we do if we can't fly out? Zhongshan, are we going to die here?" Tianling immediately became anxious.

"I'll think about it, I'll think about it," Zhongshan pondered, wondering what to do.

We can't fly up, can we? Fly? Hot air balloon, make a hot air balloon? Forget it, although the temperature here is very high, and hot air rises, but how can we make a hot air balloon now? Besides, even if there were one, with the cave sealed, the air inside would become thinner and thinner. Even if there were a hot air balloon, it wouldn't be able to fly up.

Heat? Thin air?

Thinking of this, Zhongshan's eyes suddenly lit up, a bold idea surging into his mind.

"Zhongshan, do you have a solution?" Tianling seemed to have a blind admiration for Zhongshan now. As Zhongshan's expression changed, she immediately became excited, quickly asking.

"Wait a moment, let me think," Zhongshan said with excitement, repeatedly thinking about that crazy idea in his mind.

"Okay," Tianling immediately nodded eagerly, patiently watching.

Finally, after repeatedly deliberating, Zhongshan was sure it could work. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"How is it?" Tianling immediately asked eagerly.

"My injuries haven't healed yet. Tomorrow, I'll take you out," Zhongshan smiled mysteriously, teasingly.