Lin Han was causing a ruckus inside the "Evil Dog Formation," creating quite a spectacle.

Shi Sheng took advantage of the distraction Lin Han had caused, drawing the enemy's attention away, and stealthily passed through the three hundred li of Heavenly Dog Meadow to reach the Divine Wood Palace.

His journey wasn't smooth either; although he was invisible, the various real and illusory changes of the array still affected him.

Back then, Shi Feiyang had taken four magical treasures from the Shaqing Immortal Mansion—Purple and Blue Douluo Fire, Heavenly Heart Double Rings, Three Talents Clearing Circle, and Mystics Yin Slip. He kept the Douluo Fire for his own use, gave the Yang Ring of the Heavenly Heart to Shi Sheng, the Three Talents Clearing Circle to Mo Zhui and his brothers, and the Mystics Yin Slip had been unused.

The Mystics Yin Slip's nature was rather unique; Shi Feiyang speculated that it was a scroll from heaven that had not been used, and someone had refined it into a magical treasure. He contemplated it for a long time, originally intending to inscribe talismanic engravings like the Circulation God Talisman upon it. However, later on, distracted by other magical treasures, he never got around to it and eventually handed it over to Shi Sheng as well, teaching him how to use it.

Shi Sheng had engraved the Circulation Golden Talisman on it and, after years of sacrificial refinement, had added many marvelous uses to it.

Holding the Mystics Yin Slip now, he released a purifying light for invisibility and stealth. Fortunately, the array wasn't targeted at him. With Lin Han at the other side using the Soundless Divine Thunder to shatter the Stone Peak, which served as the array's focal point, and drawing the array's power towards himself, Shi Sheng's task was made considerably easier. He circled around and reached the front of the Divine Wood Palace.

All the red-haired disciples inside had been drawn away to watch the fight on Heavenly Dog Meadow, leaving not even a servant in the palace.

The more useless the person, the more they enjoyed watching the excitement at times like this!

Shi Sheng swaggered into the Divine Wood Palace and examined each place.

The Divine Wood Palace was built against the backdrop of the Heavenly Dog Cliff. The front part was a palace made of wood and stone structure, while the rear portion inside the rock wall was a cavern dwelling.

Shi Sheng expressed his disdain as he looked around: "They left leftover bones here—how foul-smelling... And these beast teeth, an entire box of them. What's the point of collecting these things if they can't be refined into magical treasures?... This beast hide is growing hair... The handwriting is atrocious, written on burlap no less—is this meant for refining a Demon Banner? I'll burn it for him, so he won't harm others with it..."

He had come to rescue someone and searched room by room, from the palace's exterior to the inner cavern dwelling. The palace was split into three floors, and the cavern dwelling was a labyrinth of passages.

The disciples of the Red-haired Ancestor totaled in the several dozens, and including the servants and slaves, there were over a hundred people in total. They normally lived, ate, slept, practiced, engaged in alchemy, refined gu, and crafted knives, with plenty of rooms and stone chambers.

He wasn't searching blindly; he calculated the general direction with his fingers and finally found the chamber where Situ Ping and the others were imprisoned.

As it turned out, the Red-haired Ancestor hadn't completely lost his sanity. He didn't just let Situ Ping and the others succumb to poisoning. Instead, he saved them with elixirs, confiscated their flying swords and magical treasures, and temporarily imprisoned them here.

Outside the prison cell, there was a protective array. As Shi Sheng approached, a sharp howl issued from the cave entrance, and blood-red knife lights flew chaotically through the passage.

Shi Sheng protected himself with the Taibai Split Light Sword, coupled with the Mystics Yin Slip, keeping the knife lights three feet from his body. Then he began casting to break the prohibition.

The cell was deep within the stone cave. Outside, Lin Han was breaking the formation, causing landslides and thunderous noise, so the little commotion caused by Shi Sheng went unnoticed by the onlookers.

In about the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Shi Sheng ground the flying knives to dust, rendering the array flawed and greatly diminishing its power. With additional casting, he returned the remainder to their proper place within the rocks.

Using the Mystics Yin Slip, he then opened the cave door.

Inside, the four people including Situ Ping were all sitting in meditation. They had been poisoned by the Five Cloud Peach Blossom Miasma.

Once, Ling Xuehong had accidentally been exposed to some of this deadly poison mist and had nearly died. Even as a disciple of Master Fen Tuo, and with one of the two elders of Song Mountain, Bai Guyi, present, they were helpless.

The Red-haired Ancestor had collected these poison mists, found ways to remove impurities, purified them, and then added other toxic substances with life-altering properties, making them a million times more potent than the "wild" version!

The most ingenious part was that these toxins had become controllable. The Red-haired Ancestor had used millennium-old reed lotus to refine an antidote, capable of controlling the severity of the poison at will—if he wished someone alive, they would live; if he wanted them dead, they would die. He could also induce a state of half-dead, three-quarters dead, or nearly dead.

Right now, the three including Situ Ping were in a seven-tenths dead state— their primordial qi scattered, spirits disheartened, limbs feeble, foreheads feverish. Strongly maintaining their meditative poses despite the long duration had been of no use, and they were still in agonizing pain.

Among these four, Luo Lu had been a disciple the longest and had the deepest mana, followed by Situ Ping, whom Yi Xiu had procured many spiritual medicines to reinforce his body and cleanse his marrow, increasing his effort.

Qiu Zhixian and Ouyang Hong were swaying in their meditation, on the brink of collapse.

Seeing Shi Sheng enter, the four were surprised: "How did you get in here?"

In their minds, they were in such dire straits that, unless their own masters arrived, there was no other way out.

They had even discussed that the arrival of a single master wouldn't make a difference since the Red-haired Ancestor was too brutal. It would probably require the joint efforts of their masters—Jiang Shu, Ling Hun, Yi Xiu—along with Shi Feiyang, employing both coaxing and coercion, to rescue them.

Situ Ping asked, "Has my master arrived?"

Luo Lu also inquired, "Has my master come to meet the Red-haired Ancestor?"

He thought that Jiang Shu was negotiating with the Red-haired Ancestor and had reached an agreement, allowing Shi Sheng to escort them out for a meeting.

Shi Sheng, however, said, "None of your masters have come; they probably don't even know about this. Only Lin Han and I are here."

The four of them were shocked to hear this, "How come there are only the two of you? Did you sneak in here? That's way too dangerous!"

Shi Sheng briefly said, "Senior Brother Lin is outside breaking their arrays and drawing their attention away. I quietly sneaked in to rescue you all. Let's get going quickly."

The quartet felt deeply disappointed after listening.

Luo Lu said, "We've all been poisoned by the Five Cloud Peach Blossom Miasma; our true qi has dissipated and our hands and feet are too weak to walk. Besides, this is the lair of the Red-haired Ancestor, and it's crawling with his people. You won't be able to escape with the four of us."

Qiu Zhixian, trying to convince him, added, "Shi Daoist, you better just leave quickly by yourself. This place is a dragon's lair and a tiger's den. You could be discovered by them at any time. Hurry back the way you came, and join Senior Brother Lin. If you really want to save us, please go to Qingcheng Mountain and inform our master."

Shi Sheng refused to accept this: "The Red-haired Old Monster has been... been seduced away by my aunt, and the rest of his disciples and grand-disciples were drawn outside by Senior Brother Lin. Even if they come back, I'm not afraid! As for the poison of the peach blossom miasma..."

He took out a gourd, poured out a Detoxification Elixir, and handed it to Luo Lu: "You try this one first and see; it's specifically designed to counteract the poison of herbs."

Luo Lu took the elixir, swallowed it, and after a while, his spirits returned. The nausea, dizziness, and lightheadedness in his chest all subsided, but his true qi was still scattered, and his limbs still weak and soft.

Shi Sheng then took out a porcelain bottle, poured out a Spirit Pill, and handed it to Situ Ping: "Try this one, which can counteract the poison concocted by sorcery."

After taking it, Situ Ping did feel some strength returning to his limbs, and his true qi could gather back to his dantian, but the nausea in his chest became even worse, and he staggered as he tried to walk.

Shi Sheng then took out a square jade box, mixed it with water from the gourd, and employed a spell to form a water bubble, which he sent to the mouth of Ouyang Hong: "This one will definitely work!"

Ouyang Hong opened his mouth and swallowed the water bubble. Indeed, a wave of coolness directly penetrated his viscera, first eliminating the nauseating discomfort, then quickly clearing his mind and reducing the dizziness. He began to feel strength returning to his limbs as he moved them around.

"This one works!" Ouyang Hong said happily.

Shi Sheng had them each take the remaining medicine. After a moment, all four of them were standing up, feeling refreshed and invigorated.

They were all astonished and praised Shi Sheng's spiritual medicine effusively.

But Shi Sheng was somewhat downcast: "The first two were concocted by myself; this one was given to me by my master, and it's the only box I have."

Luo Lu and Qiu Zhixian, who often heard legends about Shi Feiyang, and whose master was a sworn brother of Shi Feiyang, had an even closer relationship with him than the Snow Mountain Sect.

"It turns out to be personally made by Master Shi; no wonder it has such miraculous effects!"

Seeing that Shi Sheng wasn't begrudging the use of the medicine, Qiu Zhixian comforted him: "You've been taught by Master Shi, so in the future, you will surely be able to concoct such immortal medicines yourself."

The four were ready to leave with Shi Sheng immediately, but Shi Sheng asked: "Are your flying swords and magical treasures still with you? Let's fight our way out together."

Qiu Zhixian said, "All our belongings, including our Qiankun Bags, have been taken. You'll have to lead the way, and we'll follow behind using spells, doing our best to avoid encountering enemies. Otherwise, we'll have to rely on spellcasting to defend ourselves and get by."

"Can you sense where your belongings are now?"

Their flying swords and magical treasures were bonded with their primordial qi, and if others took them, they couldn't use them without re-refining them.

They tried to sense their belongings and found that they were not far away.

"Let's not directly summon them back, so as not to alarm the enemy by moving through walls. We'll go and find them instead."

The five of them used the connection with their flying sword magical treasures to locate another stone chamber. They broke the prohibition to enter and saw that all their flying sword magical treasures were there, but the Qiankun Bags were gone and must have been forcibly opened and divided by others long ago.

Fortunately, these four didn't share the same habits as Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang roamed all over the world without a fixed home, so he carried all his belongings in his Qiankun Bag or Qiankun Box, making any place he went his home.

Traditional sword immortals of the world usually kept more belongings in their own immortal mansions, with only the necessities in their Qiankun Bags.

Of course, this was also because their mana was not strong enough, and the space inside the Qiankun Bags they refined was too small.

The items in these four Qiankun Bags were not particularly valuable anyway.

Shi Sheng, who shared the same habit as Shi Feiyang, assumed that the Qiankun Bags contained all their possessions and was so anxious that he stamped his feet.

After all, these four had been helping them and had gotten into this trouble; if they really lost all their accumulated possessions since beginning their cultivation, that would be a huge loss. How was he supposed to compensate them?

"Since you've lost your belongings, let's see what the Red-haired Ancestor has in his house. We'll take whatever catches our eye to compensate for our losses a bit."

The four of them could only laugh and cry at the suggestion: "Being lucky enough to escape with our lives is already a great fortune; why bother with anything else? Let's hurry and leave. Isn't Senior Brother Lin still trapped in their arrays? We can't delay any longer."

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