“Where do you think you’re going!”

Yue Rong formed a seal with both hands, and the remnants of the Thick Earth Dual Aspect Formation beneath her feet flared up with a bright yellow light, creating a massive yellow circle that enveloped the one-horned man and a tall, thin elder beside him.

At the same time, Madam Gu San summoned a small golden axe, which transformed into a large axe shadow about ten meters long, cleaving down towards the one-horned man.

The one-horned man abruptly turned around, shaking his sleeve to release a small green flag. The flag expanded rapidly in the wind, transforming into a massive object several meters wide, emitting countless green clouds that supported the yellow circle.

A beam of yellow light as thick as a bowl shot out from the horn on his forehead, colliding with Madam Gu San’s golden axe.

With a loud “clang,” the golden axe was sent flying, and its sharp blade turned a stony gray.

“Petrification technique!” Madam Gu San was startled and quickly retrieved her axe to inspect it.

The tall, thin elder halted his steps and summoned a black short spike, which turned into a black light and shot towards Madam Gu San.

But at that moment, the elder’s eyes suddenly became dazed, then quickly cleared up again.

The black spike abruptly changed direction, aiming straight for the one-horned man’s lower back.

The one-horned man sensed the danger and immediately sidestepped, avoiding the spike. At the same time, a layer of yellow light rose from his body.

However, with a “puff,” the yellow light was torn apart, and his lower back felt a chill as a black short spear pierced through his abdomen, blood splattering everywhere!

This all happened in a flash, and despite the one-horned man’s cultivation being slightly higher than the tall elder’s, he couldn’t defend against this sneak attack.

“Lin Po, what are you doing?” The one-horned man turned angrily, a beam of yellow light shooting from his horn and piercing the elder’s chest, creating a blood flower the size of a bowl, with the surrounding flesh turning to stone.

However, the tall elder seemed unfazed, advancing instead of retreating. A flash of white light in his hand revealed seven or eight red runes, which shattered into pieces, summoning seven or eight firebirds the size of millstones, high-level firebird runes.

The firebirds shot out like arrows, hitting the one-horned man at point-blank range.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” Explosions rang out, engulfing the one-horned man in flames.

“Senior Brother Fang!” The other Returning to Origin Sect disciples finally reacted, exclaiming in shock.

The tall elder didn’t attack the one-horned man further but turned and rushed towards the Crimson Gold Centipede.

“Stop Lin Po!” The one-horned man’s weak voice came from within the flames.

The other Returning to Origin Sect cultivators, who were initially heading towards the one-horned man, now pounced on the tall elder.

However, the ground in front of them suddenly split open, and Hua Zhi emerged, waving her hands. Two long, purple-black vines shot out from her sleeves, covered in purple flowers, sweeping towards them like whips.

A fragrant scent spread, and the Returning to Origin Sect cultivators felt weak as they approached, recalling Zuo Qinghui’s earlier words and dodging as if avoiding a plague.

Steward Liao, the Wang brothers, and Cui Wuran also tried to approach but were blocked by Yue Rong, Shi Chuan, Zuo Qinghui, and Madam Gu San. For a moment, various magical artifacts and spells clashed fiercely in mid-air, creating sparks and blocking Steward Liao and the others.

The tall elder had already reached the Crimson Gold Centipede, striking one of its eyes with the black short spike.

The Crimson Gold Centipede roared in anger, spewing a cloud of dark green poison that engulfed the tall elder.

The elder didn’t dodge, and his body quickly rotted, falling to the ground.

The Crimson Gold Centipede opened its mouth and swallowed the elder whole.

Everyone present was shocked, and the Returning to Origin Sect disciples were stunned.

The flames around the one-horned man had extinguished, and he sat on the ground, half of his body charred but still alive.

“General Gold Centipede, kill them all, leave no one alive!” The one-horned man took out a green rune and stuck it to his wound, slowly standing up and speaking coldly.

The Crimson Gold Centipede’s eyes flashed with a strange light before returning to normal, its massive body lunging towards Zuo Qinghui, Yue Rong, and the others.

The Returning to Origin Sect cultivators quickly took out antidote elixirs, swallowed them, and donned masks to protect their noses and mouths, following the Crimson Gold Centipede closely.

Shi Chuan’s eyes showed fear as he suddenly broke away from the battle, summoning a fiery red flying sword to lift him into the air.

The flying sword turned into a red streak, flying dozens of meters away in an instant, clearly intending to flee.

Madam Gu San cursed loudly at this, and Yue Rong frowned.

“Ignore him, prepare to retreat,” Zuo Qinghui’s indifferent voice transmitted to Yue Rong and Madam Gu San, surprising them both.

Just as he finished speaking, a sudden change occurred!

The Crimson Gold Centipede, which was lunging towards Yue Rong and the others, suddenly changed direction, heading straight for Steward Liao and the others, spewing a cloud of dark green poison.

Caught off guard, the four were engulfed in the poison, screaming in pain.

The Crimson Gold Centipede darted into the poison cloud, biting Cui Wuran, who was desperately resisting the poison, and swallowing him whole.

The centipede then twisted its body, its long tail sweeping towards the Returning to Origin Sect members.

The ground nearby split open, and thick vines shot out, covered in purple poisonous flowers, sweeping towards the Returning to Origin Sect cultivators and forcing them to retreat again.

The one-horned man was shocked, but no matter how he called, the Crimson Gold Centipede ignored him. Yue Rong and Madam Gu San were both surprised and delighted.

“Quickly, let’s go!” Zuo Qinghui transmitted to the two women, waving his hand to release two sword-shaped golden lights.

The golden lights brushed past Yue Rong and Madam Gu San, revealing two tiny, thread-like transparent insects.

Madam Gu San looked puzzled, clearly unaware of when these insects had attached themselves to them.

“What about you, Daoist Zuo?” Yue Rong asked gratefully.

“I have my own way to escape, you two go quickly!” Zuo Qinghui urged.

“Thank you, Daoist Zuo. We will repay this great favor in the future!” Yue Rong bowed to Zuo Qinghui, summoning a silver bird-shaped flying carriage.

The two women jumped into the carriage and activated it together.

The bird-shaped carriage shot out, transforming into a brilliant silver light that soared into the sky.

Zuo Qinghui’s figure flickered, appearing next to Hua Zhi the next moment.

The Crimson Gold Centipede quickly swam over, and Zuo Qinghui and Hua Zhi jumped onto its back, releasing several green runes that stuck to the centipede, all of which were speed-enhancing runes like Lightening and Swift Wind runes.

The Crimson Gold Centipede’s body became lighter, its hundred legs moving rapidly, turning its long body into a blurred golden shadow, not much slower than Yue Rong’s bird-shaped carriage.

In a series of rapid changes, Zuo Qinghui and the others disappeared in the blink of an eye!

“Damn it, forget the others, chase the Crimson Gold Centipede!” The one-horned man shouted anxiously.

But at that moment, thick white fog suddenly appeared around them, engulfing everything and preventing their spiritual consciousness from spreading.

Already unnerved by Zuo Qinghui’s strange methods, they instinctively stopped, fearing an ambush.

“Don’t stop! If the Crimson Gold Centipede is taken, we’re all dead. Chase!” The one-horned man, having barely stopped his bleeding, led the charge.

The others gritted their teeth and followed, soon emerging from the white fog without incident.

However, the Crimson Gold Centipede was nowhere to be seen, and there were no traces left on the ground.

“The Crimson Gold Centipede can’t fly, how could there be no traces? Could it have been put into a spirit beast bag? Impossible!” The one-horned man looked incredulous.

“Senior Brother Fang, what do we do now?” A square-faced man beside him asked fearfully.

They had come on someone’s orders to capture the cultivators of Quicksand City, but now their targets had all escaped, and they had lost three people. The Crimson Gold Centipede had been taken by the enemy using strange methods. Returning like this would be disastrous.

The others also looked to the one-horned man, who was at a loss.

Steward Liao and the Wang brothers flew over, their bodies covered in poison spots, their eyes showing the fear of having narrowly escaped death.

The one-horned man glanced at them but said nothing.

“I still have one smoke thread insect left, attached to that Fire Yuan Sect boy,” a short female cultivator suddenly said.

“Chase him, we must catch him!” The one-horned man ordered decisively.

A red-haired youth summoned a white flying boat, carrying the group as they sped towards the direction Shi Chuan had fled.

…

After the one-horned man and his group left, the ground rippled, revealing the tracks of the centipede.

Not far away, the ground split open, and the Crimson Gold Centipede slowly emerged.

A yellow light flashed on the sand, and Zuo Qinghui, Hua Zhi, and Yuan Ming appeared.

“Master, since you’re here, why let them go? It would have been easy to capture them,” Hua Zhi asked Yuan Ming, puzzled.

“They’re disciples of the Returning to Origin Sect. Killing them all would cause too much trouble, and I don’t have time to clean up the mess. My target is the Crimson Gold Centipede; capturing it is enough,” Yuan Ming said calmly, turning to the centipede.

The Crimson Gold Centipede opened its mouth, spitting out two people, the tall elder and Cui Wuran.

Yuan Ming needed to question them, so he hadn’t let the centipede use its poison to dissolve them. Instead, he had extracted the poison from their bodies.

The two were still alive but barely breathing.

Yuan Ming approached Cui Wuran, placing his palm on his head and using a soul-searching technique.

Cui Wuran had clearly been colluding with these people for a long time. Yesterday’s exchange meeting was a trap set by him, so what he said at the meeting could be false.

Since it involved the Golden Elixir, Yuan Ming had to determine whether the two methods were genuine.

Black light flickered in Yuan Ming’s palm, and he quickly found the memories of the two auxiliary Golden Elixir methods, breathing a sigh of relief.

Judging from Cui Wuran’s memories, both methods were genuine, though the Flower Transplantation Technique was missing many details.

This secret technique had indeed been found on a corpse in the desert, but it wasn’t discovered by chance; it also came from the Returning to Origin Sect cultivators.

Cui Wuran had been colluding with the Returning to Origin Sect cultivators for years. These cultivators had been capturing Foundation Establishment stage cultivators in the Black Wind Desert for unknown reasons.

The Black Wind Desert was chaotic and lawless, with cultivators frequently disappearing, so even when someone was caught, it didn’t attract much attention.

Cui Wuran had joined them years ago when he was destitute, seizing the opportunity to earn a rich reward by luring cultivators into the desert and delivering them to the Returning to Origin Sect.

Just like today, if not for Yuan Ming’s presence, the enemy would have succeeded.