His whole body felt as if it had fallen apart, and he couldn't exert any strength. With great difficulty, he managed to prop himself up against the surrounding area and sit up, but when he tried to move his hands and feet, he felt a sharp pain. He stretched out his hand without seeing his fingers, and in front of him was a complete darkness.

  His left hand was still holding the Seven Star Sword, and his right hand was holding the scabbard. Both hands were already numb. "Where is this?" Cha Wenbin muttered to himself.

  He rubbed his temples hard, took a few deep breaths, and found that apart from the soreness caused by muscle fatigue, all parts of his body were still working. He rubbed his face with his hands several times, and began to recall what had happened before.

  Zha Wenbin vaguely remembered that he was entangled with the giant ape at the top of the waterfall, and in the chaos, they both fell off the cliff. The ape tightly grasped his shoulder, just before hitting the water, Zha Wenbin drew out the Seven Star Sword, seemingly stabbing the ape, and then together they plunged into the water with a loud "boom".

  The massive impact sent him plummeting to the bottom of the water, and he felt an infinite pressure rushing towards him. His body was battered by the shockwave from the surface, leaving him completely powerless. He only remembered seeing something in the water before closing his eyes, but couldn't recall what it was.

  His body was still very weak, Zha Wenbin simply didn't think about it anymore, closed his eyes and slept for a while.

  In his dream, Cha Wenbin dreamed of the little black dog Heizi that he had gotten from his uncle. Heizi was very affectionate and kept jumping into his arms and rolling around. Perhaps it had been a long time since they last met, so Cha Wenbin bent down to hug its head, which made Heizi even more excited, constantly licking his face with its tongue. Cha Wenbin couldn't help but laugh and scold: "Heizi, it's ticklish, stop licking, it's ticklish..."

  Hei Zi could ignore all that and continued to lick, Cha Wenbin felt his face was wet, this feeling was so real, it didn't feel like a dream at all.

  Suddenly, he was startled awake by this feeling, and after a brief wetness on his face, a tingling sensation came, and before he could even touch his own cheek with his hand, a pair of eyes the size of bronze bells were staring at him, two dark green orbs shining brightly in the darkness. Then, his right cheek was licked again, not rough like Hei Zi's tongue, but instead even smoother.

  "What's going on!" Zhang Wenbin shouted loudly.

  That green thing was startled by the cry, and immediately flashed back, retreated a few steps, and then stood still again. Only its green eyes flickered, just like fireflies, but much bigger than fireflies.

  Zha Wenbin hastily patted his chest, his hands rummaging wildly, fortunately, the Qiankun bag was still there. While trembling and touching the package, he nervously stared at the pair of eyes in front of him, afraid of a sudden situation. After a moment, he finally found what he wanted - a lighter.

  This thing was made by him himself, and for some reason, Wen Bin always couldn't get used to these modern matches or lighters. In his eyes, fire born from natural things was the real fire. So every day he would cut down small bamboo shoots, use the bamboo joints to make segments, and then soak them in water with sweet potato vines until they became thick. Then he would take them out and pound them flat, add cotton, papyrus, and other flammable materials, and pound them flat again. Next, he would dry them in the sun, and mix sulfur, phosphorus, incense, camphor, and various spices together, shape them into long strips, twist them into ropes, and roast them by the fire at night. However, there was a trick to this: when they were about to catch fire but hadn't yet, he would stuff them into bamboo tubes. When you wanted to use them, just shake them a bit and they would light up.

  Actually, the talismans he threw out and caught fire also followed this principle, only the material of the paper was special. In the past, there were people who specialized in making this kind of paper, but by his generation, this craftsmanship had basically been lost, and he had to make it himself. Making this paper is much more difficult than making a lighter, otherwise, if you put it in your pocket, it would catch fire immediately. It requires the paper to ignite only at the moment when it is thrown out and comes into contact with air friction, which is also one of the few remaining skills that his sect's Taoist ancestors must have possessed.

  The lighter was turned over, and Cha Wenbin pulled out the plug in front, put it to his mouth and blocked it with his hand, blew a breath into his mouth, and immediately a small flame came up, red in color. As time passed, it slowly became the yellow flame we usually see.

  With the light, it was as if he had a bottom line. Cha Wenbin slightly moved the lighter forward, but before he could see clearly the pair of eyes, a loud "boom" sound came, startling him so much that his body retreated again, and his back happened to hit a protruding rock on the stone wall, causing him to inhale sharply in pain.

  Those green eyes also moved forward a few steps, almost sticking to his face. Holding the lighter, the first thing that came into view was a huge mouth with two small nostrils above it. Cha Wenbin looked up and saw that those eyes were staring at him.

  "Three-legged toad?" Cha Wenbin only then saw the true face of those eyes, not others, but that three-legged toad who had met him several times and saved his life from great harm, because the string of white copper coins on its mouth was more obvious than ever.

  "Whoosh", the toad's big mouth opened wide, and a thick tongue suddenly shot out towards Zhang Wenbin. His face was wet again, all sticky and gooey. Only then did he realize that the toad had been licking his cheek all along.

  Zha Wenbin reached out to touch it, and apart from the sticky feeling that wasn't very comfortable, it was actually quite cool and refreshing. He held up his lighter to examine his body and found that his thigh hurt a lot. After taking off his pants and touching it again, he felt that kind of cooling comfort once more. His numb and painful thigh suddenly stopped hurting, and he immediately thought that maybe the three-legged frog's saliva was actually a good medicine for treating injuries. If so, then this toad licking its own face had been saving its own life all along?

  Thinking of this, I couldn't care about the disgusting feeling anymore. I rubbed my face to wipe off the saliva left by the toad and applied it to all the sore spots on my body, as if using it as a liniment. Not to mention that after applying it, a cool sensation spread, it was so comfortable, and in a short while, I felt that my external injuries were all healed. In my heart, I thought that spiritual objects are indeed spiritual, even their saliva has the magical effect of healing wounds.

  The toad remained squatting in front of him, Cha Wenbin plucked up the courage to stretch out his left hand and slowly reached towards its nose tip. The toad didn't dodge, when his finger touched it for a moment, those green big eyes closed.

  Cha Wenbin was quite surprised and tried to touch it again. The three-legged frog did not resist, but instead enjoyed itself by lowering its body slightly, making it easier for him to touch. This completely exceeded Cha Wenbin's expectations. From lightly touching its nose, he slowly extended his hand to its forehead, and his heart became more and more relaxed. In the end, it was just like treating Hei Zi, and even more obedient than Hei Zi. Every time he stopped, the frog would open its eyes, and when he stroked it again, it would close them. The cooperation between the two was incredibly smooth.

  Cha Wenbin didn't care if San Zu heard or understood, and casually said: "Buddy, it was you who saved me, I must thank you properly."

  The toad listened to him finish, opened his big mouth and let out a "croak" as if responding to his conversation. This made Zhang Wenbin temporarily forget his situation and burst into laughter. The man and the toad were enjoying each other's company in this unknown place.

  After a long time, he finally remembered to take a look at where he was. His body didn't hurt anymore. He picked up the lighter and took a look around. Not far away, there was a reflective light coming from somewhere. He ran over to take a look and found that it was the flashlight lens he had brought with him.

  He picked up the flashlight and slapped it hard with his hand, making a "slap" sound. A beam of bright light shot out, presumably because the filament had been broken when it fell into the water earlier, but now it was connected again after being slapped.

  With the flashlight, Cha Wenbin finally saw the entire place clearly. Behind him was a deep cave, and in front of him on the ground was a small pool of water, with an opening of only about two or three meters in diameter.

  Zha Wenbin was just about to walk over and take a look when the frog suddenly jumped out from behind him, leaped into the water, and instantly disappeared without a trace. While he was still puzzled, the frog emerged from the water again and jumped back beside him.

  Cha Wenbin stroked the toad's head, which was about the same height as his own, and chuckled: "Pal, you mean we came from that hole to here?"

  The toad let out a "croak" and seemed to have confirmed his answer. Cha Wenbin chuckled and looked at the seemingly bottomless deep hole behind him, "Hey, do you know what's back there?"

  After finishing, he looked at the toad, but this time the toad didn't respond to him, only moving its head left and right, as if thinking about something. Cha Wenbin looked at that appearance and muttered to himself: "I'm really stupid, you're a toad, how can you understand my words?" After finishing speaking, he prepared to pick up his own bundle and planned to leave from the water pool again.

  "Ribbit! Ribbit!" The toad let out a loud cry, and Zhang Wenbin turned his head to look. It was facing the cave entrance, calling out nonstop. Whatever, even if it's a magical three-legged toad, it's still just a toad. He picked up his treasured sword, and suddenly saw something shiny next to the scabbard. "Huh?" What is this? Zhang Wenbin bent down to pick it up...

  read3;