“Senior Ha Gong, we have a favor to ask. Earlier in the valley, three of our fellow disciples were poisoned by He Wendao’s potent toxin. Our antidotes have been ineffective, and we thought returning to our sect would bring them treatment. However, with such delay, their lives now hang by a thread. May I inquire if you could lend your aid in their healing?” Luo Shan hesitated before bowing respectfully with clasped hands, pleading earnestly.

“I’m not skilled in detoxification, but I can try. Where are they?” Yuan Ming inquired.

Three unconscious disciples from the Shengye Sect were carried over, their cheeks marred with patches of dark, bluish-black poison spots, similar to those who had been poisoned to death. Their breathing was faint, indicating they wouldn’t last much longer.

After a brief examination, Yuan Ming sighed internally. The detoxifying pills he carried were too common to counteract such a bizarre toxin.

He was about to refuse when he suddenly thought of Huazhi. He sent a message telepathically, “Huazhi, after absorbing the Black Toad, do you still possess the ability to draw out potent toxins?”

“Do you wish for me to save these Shengye Sect disciples, Master? It’s a trivial matter,” Huazhi responded telepathically.

“Very well, take them to the room inside,” Yuan Ming said, rising to address Luo Shan.

Overjoyed, Luo Shan quickly took action with several other disciples to move the three poisoned ones into a room.

Yuan Ming ushered everyone out, closed the door, and erected a concealed barrier.

He then slapped his spirit beast pouch, and Huazhi extended three vines from within, each piercing into one of the poisoned disciples.

The three merely twitched slightly, then the poison spots on their skin began to fade at a visible rate, quickly dissipating until they were nearly indistinguishable from the surrounding skin.

But at that moment, an unexpected change occurred!

The poison spots, which had almost vanished, darkened once again and returned to their original state in an instant.

“Eh! How very strange indeed,” Huazhi murmured, emerging fully from the spirit beast pouch. She extended dozens of tendrils into the bodies of the three, chanting under her breath and activating her demonic power, which caused a faint green glow to emanate from the vines.

This time, the poison spots disappeared rapidly without pause, and after they had faded to match the healthy skin tone, Huazhi continued her spell for a quarter of an hour.

By then, the poison spots on the three Shengye Sect disciples had vanished completely, their cheeks regained a healthy flush, and their breathing stabilized.

“This poison within them is quite peculiar, isn’t it? Tell me more,” Yuan Ming approached Huazhi after she finished her task.

“The toxicity of the poison affecting the three is not overly strong, but it behaves like a living entity, taking root in their flesh and feeding on their vital energy. If one cannot extract the toxin in one go, it will regenerate continuously, significantly depleting the already weak life force of the poisoned,” Huazhi explained telepathically.

“A living entity-like toxin?” Yuan Ming stroked his chin, murmuring in surprise.

He had studied various poisons over the years due to his work on toxic incense but had never encountered such a bizarre toxin that could consume vital energy to strengthen itself.

“If you’re interested, Master, you might find clues in He Wendao’s storage device,” Huazhi suggested telepathically.

Yuan Ming had the same thought and immediately instructed Luo Shan and the others waiting outside to come in and take the three disciples who were now out of danger.

Once Yuan Ming sat down cross-legged in the room again, he used a silver token to open a silver light screen and took out the storage devices of Bai Ye, Lu Shen, He Wendao, and Shi Dian.

He emptied the contents and began to carefully inventory them.

This task, initially thought to be a minor mission to relax during his arduous cultivation at his grandmother’s request, almost cost him his life. Fortunately, the outcome was more thrilling than dangerous, not only saving his cousin but also yielding an unexpected bounty.

All four were Foundation Establishment cultivators with considerable wealth. Just the spirit stones alone amounted to over four thousand, not to mention the various spiritual materials, magical instruments, and pills.

Yuan Ming selected the items useful to him: five bottles of Consolidation Pills to advance Foundation Establishment cultivation, a large piece of spiritual material, three high-grade magical instruments, and a set of formation arrays.

The Consolidation Pills were self-explanatory; he would have continued to purchase them for his cultivation, so this windfall saved him a significant expense.

The spiritual material was a golden scale, as large as a millstone, adorned with wave-like golden spiritual patterns, seemingly from some giant beast. Upon probing with his divine sense, he could feel the powerful spiritual energy fluctuations, far exceeding that of a second-level demonic beast.

“Could this be a scale from a third-level demonic beast? How massive, and from which beast might it come?” Yuan Ming examined the item closely.

The golden scale was quite heavy, weighing about fifty pounds.

Familiar with various demonic beasts, Yuan Ming deduced from the patterns that the scale likely belonged to a Flood Dragon, a naturally powerful creature that typically reached third-level upon maturity.

After some contemplation, Yuan Ming summoned a black needle magical instrument and channeled thirty percent of his power to strike the edge of the golden scale.

With a light sound, the scale trembled but remained unmarked.

Nodding slightly, Yuan Ming increased his power to fifty percent and even seventy percent, but the golden scale remained unscathed under the black needle’s assault.

Determined, Yuan Ming channeled his full power, turning the black needle into a slender afterimage that fiercely struck the golden scale.

With a loud “clang,” the scale was sent flying, showing only a shallow white spot where it was hit, far from being pierced through.

“Excellent stuff!”

Yuan Ming was inwardly delighted. The golden scale was incredibly hard and durable, possibly the toughest spiritual material he had encountered since entering the world of cultivation. It could be used to craft a superior defensive magical instrument.

He stored the scale and turned his attention to the three high-grade magical instruments: Lu Shen’s Earth Subduing Mace, a blue ring, and a green flying sword.

Examining the Earth Subduing Mace, he found it to be a heavy, earth-attribute high-grade magical instrument with formidable attack power.

Yuan Ming could only swing the mace a few times with his strength; it was not suitable for him, and its attributes did not match his own.

Considering selling it, Yuan Ming suddenly thought of the Diamond Ape.

The mutated white ape had plenty of strength, making the mace an ideal weapon for it. He tossed it into the spirit beast pouch for the ape, giving it instructions.

Next, he picked up the blue ring. After probing it with his divine sense, he quickly understood its properties.

The blue ring, named “True Water Ring,” was a water-attribute support magical instrument obtained from Shi Dian’s storage device. It had no offensive capabilities but could moisten the body, repel fire, and provide warmth when worn, making it a rather fine high-grade magical instrument.

Yuan Ming initially planned to wear it himself, but considering Huazhi’s recent injuries and having just given the Diamond Ape a magical instrument, he decided to bestow the ring upon Huazhi.

High-grade magical instruments were quite precious, and both the Diamond Ape and Huazhi were pleased with their new acquisitions.

Finally, Yuan Ming carefully picked up the green flying sword, a poisonous sword obtained from He Wendao.

He Wendao had used this sword to attack the Shengye Sect disciples, killing several. The three who were poisoned and unconscious were also injured by this sword.

Yuan Ming carefully examined the green flying sword, which was entirely emerald green and seemed to be made from a type of green jade. The three symbols inscribed on the sword were all poison-incubating runes.

Yuan Ming’s eyes lit up. The annotations in Master Heimu’s forging notes mentioned these poison-incubating runes, which, as the name suggests, could preserve and nurture the potent toxins within materials, preventing them from dissipating.

Ordinary poisonous magical instruments would suffice with one poison-incubating rune, but this flying sword had three, indicating that the materials used to forge it were exceptionally toxic, beyond the control of a single rune.

Yuan Ming carefully probed every part of the flying sword, which contained intense and active poison, like countless tiny insects eager to break free and harm others.

“What is the material of this flying sword, and what exactly is the toxin within?”

Unable to figure it out, he carefully stored it away and turned his attention to the last item, the Bronze Thunder Pattern Array.

This array was different from common array tools like Yuan Ming’s Thousand Knot Water Rope Array; the patterns were engraved on seven bronze pillars, making it easier to set up and less prone to damage.

However, crafting such specialized array tools required high expertise from the array master, indicating that the creator of this Bronze Thunder Pattern Array was quite formidable.

Yuan Ming carefully inspected the seven bronze pillars and found the array master’s signature on the bottom of one: Xiao Jiu.

“Xiao Jiu? It seems this Bronze Thunder Pattern Array comes from the Xiao family of Red Lotus Island,” Yuan Ming thought to himself.

The power of the Bronze Thunder Pattern Array was astonishing; even he had nearly perished within it. Perhaps the greatest gain from this adventure was this array.

To unleash the full power of this array, thunder-attribute spirit stones were needed. Fortunately, he had three high-grade thunder-attribute spirit stones that might prove useful in the future.

He pondered silently and stored the array away.

Yuan Ming organized the other items as well, storing them accordingly. The floor was soon cleared, leaving only a giant sword broken in two, which was Shi Dian’s bronze giant sword.

The sword, forged from thunder-attribute spiritual material, was broken but still contained remnants of thunderous power.

Yuan Ming was somewhat at a loss on how to deal with the sword. To repair it required not only high forging skills but also similar types of spiritual materials, which were extremely rare and unlikely to be found in the markets of Xiaohu City.

But it seemed a waste to simply discard or sell it.

“Leiyu, being a thunder-attribute spirit beast, might be able to absorb the thunderous power within this giant sword?” Yuan Ming suddenly had an idea.

He threw the two pieces of the sword into Leiyu’s spirit beast pouch. Sensing the thunderous power within, Leiyu immediately pounced on it, absorbing the green thunder from the sword.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming nodded and closed his eyes to immerse himself in cultivation.

As he had anticipated, the return journey was smooth sailing. A few days later, the group arrived at the gates of the Shengye Sect.