Chapter 31 Leaving the Palace
Summers in the capital are long and scorching, but this does not dampen the spirits of the city's inhabitants. Every three to five days, Taoist temples, wealthy families, and even officials hold lantern festivals of varying sizes. People put down their daytime burdens, bring their families, and stroll along the bustling main streets, wandering through the brothels and theaters, enjoying the festivities with nature.
This lantern festival wasn't for celebrating a holiday; it was funded by a wealthy family in the city to expand the Shao family's connections. But what they never expected was that it would attract the Emperor himself.
"Your Majesty, the scale and decorations of this lantern festival are rather crude, and I'm afraid it will hardly please Your Majesty. If Your Majesty is dissatisfied in any way, please forgive me. I will certainly improve it as soon as possible so that Your Majesty can enjoy it to the fullest!" Although the head of the Shao family was quite satisfied with the lantern festival he had organized, after all, he had spent a lot of money and prepared for several months. However, that was only compared with other wealthy merchants. Compared with the imperial family, it was naturally inferior.
The head of the Shao family was so nervous that his tongue almost tied in knots, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
King Zhen waved his hand and said, "As long as the people are happy. This time I am traveling incognito, so do not spread the word that I am here."
The head of the Shao family hurriedly agreed, and sheepishly gave up the idea of having his two granddaughters appear before the Emperor.
He originally thought that the emperor hadn't brought any female relatives with him, which was a good opportunity.
"This elegant seat is reserved for Your Majesty. I will not allow any unauthorized persons to disturb you," the steward said with a fawning smile, rubbing his hands together.
"No need, I'll go for a stroll later. Just don't do anything fancy." King Zhen lowered his voice, and at the same time, his imposing aura pressed down on the head of the family like a mountain.
"!!" The head of the household immediately knelt down. "This humble servant dares not! This humble servant understands, and will certainly not allow such filthy things or people to appear at the lantern festival!" The head of the household's back was immediately soaked with cold sweat, and he barely managed to keep his voice steady as he replied.
The King of Zhen gazed at the Phoenix Tower not far away, his eyes cold and clear. He scoffed silently, then flicked his sleeves and descended the long staircase adorned with colorful lanterns.
Tonight, the moon is bright and the breeze is gentle, but the cicadas' chirping is sparse, drowned out by the clamor of street vendors, acrobatics, storytelling, riddle-solving, and shadow puppetry. A thousand lanterns illuminate the scene, creating a myriad of images, from towering bamboo and wooden lanterns to tiny water lanterns held by thin sheets of paper, resembling flowers, trees, galloping horses, and floating stars. The darkness of the long streets and alleys is dispelled by the dragon of lights, and people, briefly forgetting their worries, immerse themselves in a vibrant tapestry of lights.
Meanwhile, in a relatively quiet corner, there was a stall selling dragon beard candy. Because the price tag was marked with Chinese characters, few people paid attention to it. Also, because the stall owner had an arrogant look and seemed to be a gangster, there were curious people, but no one stopped to watch.
After a while, a young man dressed in a red and black outfit appeared in front of the stall.
The light cast shadows on his near-perfect bone structure, absorbed by his bright red outer robe, reflecting off his snow-white skin and giving it a peach-blossom hue. His black hair was tied into a bun, with two ribbons, one black and one red, hanging down, intertwining with the back half of his gold-chained headband and swaying slightly along with the gold beads on his ears. At first glance, he looked like a pampered young nobleman; at second glance, he seemed like a noble prince from a foreign land; and at last glance, he seemed most fitting for the image of an ethereal fairy from a fairy tale.
The boy lowered his golden eyes, his gaze sweeping over the sugar balls that resembled snow-white dragon whiskers, but he only looked and remained silent for a long time.
The dragon beard candy vendor didn't usually like to greet customers, but seeing how interested the boy was yet unwilling to buy, the vendor couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you buying?"
Upon hearing this, the boy raised his eyes, his tone somewhat puzzling, and looked at the stall owner, saying, "I have no money."
"How can you buy something if you don't have money?" That makes sense. The stall owner nodded in agreement.
But then he thought, there's no point in just looking at it, so he couldn't help but scratch his head.
Just as the vendor was about to offer the boy a piece out of compassion, a very tall man, dressed in a red and black brocade robe, walked gracefully over. He then stood beside the boy, turning his head slightly to the side. The light shone on the man's sharply defined profile, amplifying his chillingly solemn and aloof demeanor, yet his gaze towards the boy revealed a hint of intimacy.
"Want to eat this?" the Poison King asked.
Shinju glanced back a few times and noticed that only the Emperor had arrived. He pointed to the side, indicating that the Emperor should come over there with him to talk, "Why is it just Your Majesty alone?"
"The guards are all hidden in the shadows; they won't appear unless there's a reason," the Emperor said.
He knew that, of course, but he thought there would be a group of people accompanying the emperor. So it was just him and the emperor? Shinju was confused.
"Tonight, you may summon me, King Zhen," King Zhen said again.
"The King of Zhen?" Shinju couldn't help but recall that time when he practiced calligraphy. The two characters "Zhen Mo" were indeed referring to the Emperor himself.
Shinju said, "King of Poison is good."
The King of Poison made Majutsu open his hand, then placed a few gold leaves in his palm, saying, "Go buy some if you want to eat them."
A gold leaf? One of those would probably be enough to empty all the food stalls at the lantern festival. Even if you cut it into gold crumbs, the dragon beard candy vendors wouldn't have enough change...
Shinjuku looked at the King of Blades again with the same look he gave a spendthrift, "Don't you have any copper coins? Silver coins will do too."
"No," King Zhen replied matter-of-factly.
"..." Shinju only accepted one gold leaf, and stuffed the rest back into the hands of the King of Poison, and then did not go to the dragon beard candy stall.
"You don't like it?"
Shinjuku shook his head.
The King of Zhen was unsure what he meant.
The next moment, Shinju asked, "When will this lantern festival end?"
Shinju had not forgotten the purpose of his trip and was preoccupied with finding the two old Taoist priests, so he wanted to get away from here as soon as possible.
Upon hearing this, the Prince of Zhen's expression suddenly turned cold, his gaze narrowing slightly as he asked, "Qing'er, you're already fed up?"
Shinju was stunned. He hadn't expected the King of Poison to be so perceptive. But he wasn't stupid. He quickly made an excuse to clarify, "Aren't you going to participate in the ritual tomorrow? I was just afraid that I would forget the time and disturb your rest."
Judging from the expression on the King of Poison's face, it was impossible to tell whether he believed Shinju's words or not, but he did not seem angry.
Maju breathed a sigh of relief and headed towards the main street.
"You didn't even notice that?" King Zhen chuckled and shook his head, then slowly followed.
It had been a long time since Zhen Su had participated in such a grand lantern festival. In the cultivation world, regular and irregular events were organized by various sects, such as the Heavenly Lantern Festival and the Shangji Festival. The scale and extravagance of these events were beyond the reach of the mortal world. But the peace that was priceless, the brief moments without fighting and hatred, brought happiness to everyone.
At the lantern festival, people carry all kinds of lanterns, including traditional palace lanterns, lotus-shaped lanterns, goldfish-shaped lanterns, and all sorts of strange and wonderful lanterns such as rolling lanterns and revolving lanterns. There is nothing that craftsmen cannot make, only things that people cannot imagine.
Masaku encountered a little girl carrying a crab lantern with each leg swaying, while her older brother held a lobster lantern that bounced up and down. Both were exquisitely crafted, with flexible joints, and looked lifelike.
The brother and sister had walked quite a distance when Shinjuku was still looking back. The King of Poison saw this and silently led his men toward the lantern stall.
There wasn't enough stock of these lamps, and they started browsing later than the peak time for people to enter. So when Masaki and his friends arrived at the stall, they found that there was only one crab lamp left. It was only because it had a broken leg that the price hadn't been reduced much, which is why no one had bought it.
"Let's walk a little further ahead and see if there are any more for sale," said the King of Poison.
To my surprise, the shop owner said, "This lantern festival is organized by Boss Shao. Boss Shao is famous for his love of toads that bring wealth, so most of the lanterns at this festival sell toads. These days, there are also many other shops selling crab lanterns, not just mine, but probably not many others either, and most of them are already sold out!"
I see. No wonder I didn't see many on the road, except for that brother and sister with crab lanterns.
This crab lamp emits a very special blue light, quite different from the bright red one the little girl had.
He prefers this one.
"Your Majesty—uh, has the Prince of Zhen chosen any of the cups?" Shinju thought for a moment. He was here to accompany the Emperor, so why had he chosen one first?
The King of Poison gazed into the golden eyes of the True Monk, which reflected blue light, and felt a depth he had never seen before. As he looked, he almost fell into them.
The King of Poison withdrew his gaze, pointed with his long arm at the crab lantern that Shinju was weighing in his hand.
Shinjuku was slightly taken aback, but quickly suppressed his strange expression. He took out a gold leaf, and with a flick of his fingertip, as sharp as a bamboo knife, cut off a neat strip of gold thread. He handed it to the shopkeeper, saying, "Shopkeeper, I want this."
The owner has a regular stall here, so he has plenty of money to give change. However, when he saw the rare gold leaf, his eyes lit up, and he became a little embarrassed. He asked if he could help them fix the leg, but it might take some time.
"Take time?" Masakatsu shook his head vigorously upon hearing this, "No need, no need."
Then he handed the crab lantern to the Poison King.
To everyone's surprise, the King of Poison didn't accept it at all, saying, "Why must I personally carry the lantern?"
"..." It seems so. Although he still doesn't know what role he's playing for the Poison King during this incognito trip, he can't possibly overstep the Emperor's authority. He's just been careless and lost his composure again.
Masakyu obediently took the crab lantern back to his side, shook it gently, and chuckled as he watched it sway erratically with its limp.
The King of Poison's gaze softened, but before Shinju could look up at him, he turned and strode forward.
After strolling around for a while, soon Majutsu not only carried a lantern, but also had a serving of tea fried dough twists in his hand. These were golden-brown, crispy fried dough twists made from wheat flour, and many people bought them as a snack.
Shinjuku ate as he walked, and to avoid leaving any crumbs, he ate very quickly. But when he finished, he realized he hadn't left any for the King of Poison.
He then went to a shop selling fried dough twists, bought another portion, tried a bite himself first, and then handed it to the Poison King.
The King of Zhen thought he was just being greedy, but to his surprise, the second serving was for himself. Normally, the King of Zhen would never touch these street foods, but since he'd already offered them to him…
The King of Poison didn't reach out to take it; despite the oiled paper underneath, he still showed a look of disgust. Helpless, Shinjuku had no choice but to let him eat it with his own hands.
Just then, with a shout, molten iron was thrown into the air from the open space in front of the two men, instantly bursting into a dazzling shower of golden sparks, drawing gasps of amazement from the crowd.
The young man and the man, both dressed in red and black, were clearly outlined against the suddenly dazzling background: one with bright eyes and white teeth, the other with sharp eyebrows and deep-set eyes. Those gazes that had been silently observing them now burned like molten iron.
Shinjuku, with his keen senses, noticed it and tried to withdraw his hand, but the King of Poison was used to eating slowly and had not yet finished, so he could only continue to hold it up.
As the iron flower performance came to an end, the Poison King finally finished eating. He took out a handkerchief to wipe the bits of dough and tea oil from his lips, taking the opportunity to hide the smile that had crept onto his lips.
As Shinjuku heard the drums of the Imperial City Drum Tower sound once again, he sighed inwardly: It's Hai hour (9-11 PM).
Perhaps it was Shinju's anxiety that infected the King of Zhen, who said, "I want to go back and rest."
Shinjuku quickly chimed in, "Okay!"
The King of Zhen also had a mansion outside the palace. Although it was not as luxurious as the palace, it was still magnificent, with carved beams and painted rafters, showing his nobility.
Upon returning to the palace, the palace servants who had been waiting for him gathered around him, busily but orderly helping the Prince of Zhen change his clothes and serving him tea.
Before long, when King Zhen sat down in the main hall, he discovered that Masakatsu was nowhere to be seen.
King Zhen gritted his teeth inwardly, thinking: I originally wanted that kid to serve me during my bath, but he's disappeared in no time.
He snapped his fingers and whispered, "Go find them." Two bodyguards with silver "scorpion" badges around their waists vanished from the roof beams in a flash.
The lantern festival in the city is still going on. The main street is crowded with people, and the lights are on tirelessly, day and night, illuminating the surroundings in a bright red, as if they can dispel all darkness.
However, the darkness under the night sky does not disappear; it simply slips into more hidden corners.
.
Phoenix Pavilion.
"Hey, young master, do you know where you are? You can't just wander around like this."
A young playboy was stopped by the doorman of Phoenix Pavilion. He angrily shook off the doorman's hand and clicked his tongue, saying, "Who are you from out of town? Don't you know who I am?"
The doorman smiled. "How old are you, young master? Do you have an invitation?"
"What kind of bullshit restaurant requires an invitation to enter! Do you know who my father is?! You dare to stop me?!"
Enraged, the playboy suddenly raised his leg to kick the doorman, but the doorman had already given a signal to the thugs inside.
"Mmm mmm mmm!!—" The playboy was gagged and dragged to an alley outside, where the sounds of punches and kicks followed.
Shinjuku witnessed the whole thing from the rooftops nearby and began to ponder silently.
He finally managed to use the Emperor's gold leaf to buy intelligence at the teahouse, learning that Fu Yin and Fen Bi were in the Phoenix Pavilion tonight. But how was he going to get in?
Each floor of the Phoenix Pavilion was patrolled by thugs, forming an impenetrable encirclement. Breaking in from the outside wasn't impossible; they could be taken down one by one at lightning speed. However, the risk of being discovered was extremely high. After all, he couldn't simply make people disappear out of thin air. If anyone noticed anything amiss, it would inevitably cause internal turmoil, making it even harder to approach the two cautious old Taoist priests.
Moreover, the building's exterior was deliberately constructed with eaves that made it difficult to find a foothold. It not only had golden bells on the eaves but also sharp, pointed roof ornaments, designed to protect against assassins, thieves, and birds—it could defend against anything that came its way.
Breaking through the main gate requires an invitation. He could easily buy one now and sneak in, but for a Taoist priest to occupy such a high position, an invitation alone wouldn't suffice…
After much deliberation, Shinjuku decided to activate all five senses to their maximum and eavesdrop directly from the spot to investigate the situation before seeking another solution.
Inside the Phoenix Pavilion, graceful figures swayed in the breeze, accompanied by the soft sounds of silk and bamboo instruments. The aroma of wine mingled with the scent of clothing, yet it was difficult to penetrate into the VIP suites on the top floor.
"Eunuch Chao, is this sound barrier really so that people outside can't hear us?" Fen Bi asked curiously, while his large, fat hands kept wandering and teasing the young man's clothes in his arms.
"Really? You can try it outside if you don't believe me." Master Chao sipped his wine, and as he listened to the sweet voice, he suddenly remembered something, and his smile vanished.
"Oh dear, don't be angry, don't be angry. How could I not trust you? Since you're so reliable, then I won't hold back!" Fen Bi said cheerfully, but as soon as he finished speaking, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he glanced at the courtesan.
Then Fen Bi said, "This emperor is just too easy to fool..."
Before he could finish speaking, the courtesan heard two words, and the wine cup slipped from his hand, rolling to the floor with a clatter. His eyes widened in terror, tears welling in his eyes. "I didn't mean to... I... I didn't hear it on purpose..."
Fen Bi grinned cruelly, "Is that so?"
Master Chao sighed softly. Who couldn't see that this old fellow was doing it on purpose? What kind of righteous cultivator was he? He was even more bloodthirsty than the martial arts world. Countless souls had perished under his blade.
With a "rip," the clothes tore open, and with another "plop," blood splattered on the wall, and a "human bench" lay on the ground where Fen Bi had laid his legs out to dry.
Sitting opposite him, Fu Yin didn't even raise his eyebrows. He picked up a scallion from the table and started eating it with the dog meat.
Manager Chao's brows furrowed even more, vaguely sensing that these two old men were trying to intimidate him.
It was common for eunuchs to be looked down upon, but he decided not to bother with them for the time being, as he had come to see them this time for a rather important matter.
The newly appointed Lingtai Lang of the Imperial Observatory, after observing the stars, calculated the person who had been hindering their plans. This person appeared out of nowhere, extremely strange, and at the same time, he was also the emperor's double omens of good and bad fortune.
"When two flags are close together, misfortune may be hidden within fortune; when two flags unite, the inferior will ultimately overthrow the superior, hastening their demise."
This is how Lingtai Lang's fate was predicted.
Logically speaking, since this person will only bring about his own destruction if he continues to entangle with the emperor, there is no need to specifically target him. Having him around actually serves their goal of destroying the emperor.
However, letting this person remain hidden would put them at a significant disadvantage. Furthermore, after Lin Wu learned of the calculation, he became unusually insistent that he find this person.
Left with no other option, he had to ask the fortune teller to do another divination. The fortune teller then told him a difficult and obscure mantra about fate, which he studied repeatedly for a long time before finally deciphering it. It meant that tonight, the auspicious and inauspicious stars would approach the old Taoist priest. If he set up a barrier that could shield one of the five senses and surround the old Taoist priest, the auspicious and inauspicious stars would dim for seven days.
Then, by observing which person in the palace shows unusual behavior for seven consecutive days, one can determine that this person is the true embodiment of the auspicious and inauspicious double omen star!
On the other side, when Shinju discovered the existence of the sound barrier, he was also taken aback, wondering if Master Nest or Eunuch Lin were also there.
He silently infiltrated the sound barrier and found that Master Chao was indeed there. But Master Chao was chatting with the old Taoist priests about all sorts of things, but he didn't mention the ritual for tomorrow, nor did he provide any clues about the Heart-Nourishing Pill.
"..." This can't go on forever.
After pondering for a moment, Zhen Su thought that the Heart-Nourishing Pill would surely be displayed at tomorrow's ceremony. If the pill was gone, the old Taoist would surely find a way to get a new one. Ideally, the Taoist would go to the place where the raw materials were stored and refine it again. If that didn't work, there would still be pills readily available, and he could just steal one for them whenever he saw one.
We acted immediately.
Since he was stealing elixirs rather than eavesdropping, he didn't need to worry about being discovered by bystanders. He just needed to leave before the old Taoist priest noticed.
So Shinju stepped on the sharp-edged Chiwen and leaped up layer by layer until he reached the top of the Phoenix Tower.
The thugs on the top floor were especially numerous. Shinjuku used his internal energy to strike their acupoints from a distance, rendering them unable to move. The burly men looked terrified as if they had seen an evil spirit, but they couldn't utter a sound and could only watch helplessly as Shinjuku went into the inner room.
Shinju activated his six senses, intending to locate the Heart-Nourishing Pill. However, the instant he activated it, a strong metallic friction seemed to occur between his six senses and the sound barrier, causing Shinju to feel a sharp pain in his head. This discomfort quickly subsided, and Shinju dismissed it, continuing to penetrate the sound barrier with his six senses. He then discovered four people inside the room, but one of them was already lifeless; his blue and red meridians were no longer flowing. The Heart-Nourishing Pill was on the fat Taoist priest who was stepping on this person.
...What a vicious fellow. Bloodshot veins crept into the whites of Shinju's eyes, while his golden eyes, like the swords of a swordsman, were tempered with a merciless sword intent.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shinju quietly pushed open the door a crack and lightly tapped the ankle of the steward, who was facing away from the door, with a pebble. The steward involuntarily pulled his leg back, flipped open the tablecloth, and looked down at his feet.
As soon as he made a move, Shinju froze his bent-over posture from a distance. Fuyin and Wenbi were naturally curious about what he was doing, and they also looked down at the table.
In the blink of an eye, Shinju moved like a ghost, silently appearing behind Fenbi. He patted Fenbi's left shoulder, and just as Fenbi thought it was Fuyin who had patted him and straightened up to look at Fuyin, Shinju swiftly took the wooden box containing the Heart-Nourishing Pill from Fenbi's right lapel.
Immediately afterward, a mocking laugh from an innocent young man suddenly rang out in the room. Before Wenbi could react, a sharp pain shot through his face as he was forcefully crushed into the meat and fish dishes on the table.
Two bone fragments pierced his nose, causing him to burst into tears instantly. His face was covered in sticky, thickened soup and nosebleeds, making him look utterly pathetic. The worst pain was in his neck, which felt as if it were about to break. Wenbi wanted to move but couldn't.
By the time the two people next to them realized something was wrong, all that was left in the room was a draft of air coming in through the open door.
"!!" Master Chao was shocked and thought to himself, "This is bad! The two ominous stars have come?"
This person's skill is truly astonishing; no wonder he was able to break the sound barrier. As for which school or sect this person belongs to, it's completely unheard of.
He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't experienced it himself.
"Where did this scoundrel come from?! My Nourishing Heart Pill is gone!!" Fu Yin was furious. He usually pretended to be calm, but now he couldn't stay composed, his eyes flashing with malice. When he realized that Steward Chao seemed to know something, he suddenly grabbed Steward Chao by the collar. "You know who he is, don't you? Did you lure him here?! Spit out what you know right now! If you dare to hide even a single word, I'll kill you!"
Manager Chao's face turned slightly purple, and after a moment, he nodded.
Shinju was happy to see them fight amongst themselves. He found a secluded spot outside the building, discarded the wooden box, and kept only the Heart-Nourishing Pill.
Absorbing the poison was not difficult for him. The inky toxin slowly flowed from his heart along his fingertips to his palm. He had already sensed how potent the pill was, but after personally consuming it, he discovered that its toxicity was equivalent to 20% of the amount needed to repair his dantian, far more than he had anticipated. However, so much poison could not be refined in a short time, so he first used a poison membrane to seal away the toxins of the Heart-Nourishing Pill, to be processed slowly later.
"You saw it yourself, that person can break our sound barrier. It won't do anyone any good to say it now. But I can tell you, it was someone from above who sent us to protect you." Master Chao swallowed hard and tried his best to explain.
Fu Yin stared at him suspiciously; his pale left eye, with no visible pupil, looked extremely eerie. Master Chao pretended to be frightened and continued to persuade him, "How could our family be a traitor? We've been following our master for so many years, and with that man's skills, there's no need for our family to cooperate."
Fu Yin was speechless for a moment.
"Right now, the elixir is more important. The ritual must be held at the end of the 9-11 AM tomorrow. But we can't guarantee that person won't show up again. Let us continue to protect you two."
Fu Yin was too lazy to refute what he had actually protected them for. He used his elbow to massage Wen Bi's meridians, and Wen Bi finally recovered from the numbness and pain.
A twisted hatred gradually surfaced on Wenbi's swollen face. "He better not show up again. If I catch him, he'll be sorry!"
.
After an incense stick's time, the three drove to a desolate place. Shinju used his lightness skill to chase after them, but suddenly realized they had disappeared. He activated his five senses and realized they had activated the sound barrier and gone underground.
"What's the point of stealing a single pill? Does he think it's some rare and precious elixir? We have plenty of other materials here."
"Shh! He can hear you," Master Chao warned.
Wenbi paused, then said angrily, "Then why did you open the sound barrier?"
"..." It was difficult for Master Chao to explain that it was Lingtai Lang's instruction, although he also wanted to know how to make the person "dimmed" for seven days if the sound barrier was ineffective.
“There’s only one passage and one door underground, and they’re both locked. He can’t get in. If he had, my brother and I would have known.”
When Chief Chao realized that being excluded was tantamount to questioning his abilities, he was displeased and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Let's trap him like a turtle in a jar. So what if he hears? Let him come in if he dares!" Wenbi said disdainfully. "But I doubt he'll come. If he takes the pill and finds out it's not a divine medicine at all, he'll probably turn green with envy. Hahaha, going to all that trouble to steal a worthless pill, he's just as stupid as the emperor."
Shinjuku, who was standing directly above them, narrowed his eyes slightly upon hearing this.
Let's see who the real idiot is.
Shinjuku opened and closed his eyes, instantly expanding his six senses to surround the entire underground chamber.
When the six senses collided with the sound barrier, a resounding clang that could pierce the mind was produced once again. This time, it caused Shinjuku an even greater headache; with each inch the six senses penetrated, his hands clenched tighter.
The veins on his forehead throbbed faintly, and even golden light shone through his snow-white skin. Shinju felt his vision blurring, and strange currents of energy swirled around him.
"Something's not right...something's not right..."
However, since my six senses have already invaded more than half of my senses, it would be too cowardly to give up now.
However, a slight headache... Shinju gritted his teeth and endured the feeling of a sharp hammer being swung into his skull with tremendous force.
Its six senses completely broke through the sound barrier, searching for ink spots underground.
The chamber wasn't large, but it was densely packed with stones, wine jars filled with medicinal herbs, and other miscellaneous alchemical materials. The stone area resembled a small inkwell, quite spectacular, while the ink spots from the other poisonous substances looked like a flock of crows perched in the trees, spaced far apart from the trees, yet huddled together in a dense mass on the branches.
This amount of poison is unprecedented!
According to Zhen Su's rough calculations, if he could refine and absorb all of them, he could not only repair his dantian, but perhaps also form half a poison pill. Furthermore, if he could obtain the pill formula and refine all these poisonous and non-poisonous materials into it to produce a pill containing poison, the toxicity would increase dramatically, and he might even be able to directly form the poison pill in his body to perfection!
Inside the secret room.
Fu Yin barely processed the raw materials, simply tossing them into the furnace without regard to order, proportions, or heat, only saying, "Wait half an hour."
Then let the alchemy furnace burn on its own.
"Those scoundrels probably won't dare come back, since there's been no movement."
The three sat facing each other, speechless. But as soon as Fen Bi finished speaking, a tremor came from the ceiling above them, and lime began to fall. The tremors grew stronger and the sound became louder.
“There’s nothing here, and this is a stone-built underground house…” Fenbi was confused.
The sounds overhead were real and terrifying, as if a giant was swinging a hammer and smashing the ground. The sounds echoed incessantly in the dark, secret room, making it even more eerie.
The tremors grew stronger with each impact, as if striking their wildly beating chests. Finally, with a series of thuds, the entire stone surface above them collapsed with a deafening roar.
"Ahhh—" Now none of them could sit still anymore and immediately wanted to run away, but the lock on the secret chamber door was very complicated. They finally managed to open it, but in an instant, they were buried by large and small stones falling from above.
At this moment, Shinju descended from the sky, flipped over the shattered stones, and found that the three people were still breathing, but had all fainted, saving him the trouble of finishing them off with a hand strike.
The stove and its surroundings were undamaged, and it was still burning inside.
Shinju felt a splitting headache and couldn't think straight, not even remembering the elixir formula he had just glimpsed. He simply and crudely threw whatever was available into the elixir furnace, and directly absorbed the toxins from anything that couldn't fit.
"Are my six senses about to fail again?" Shinju asked himself suddenly, tormented by a headache.
Then he turned the firepower up to the maximum to speed up the refining process.
With his consciousness fading, Shinjuku explored the limits of his sense loss, absorbed most of the poison pills he had refined, and then processed them in the same way, temporarily storing them in his body.
As time flowed and space shifted, things gradually became unpredictable, and Shinjuku felt as if he had returned to the ground.
"No, I'm about to completely lose my six senses, but I can't be exposed..."
Masakatsu, still half-asleep, stared at the abyss-like muddy ground and began to dig with his bare hands.
.
The seven guards, each wearing a silver "scorpion" badge, returned in formation to report that they had all failed to achieve their objective.
"Useless—" King Zhen mobilized all the elite troops under his Golden Guard, but who would have thought that no one could find Zhen Su's whereabouts? Two hours had passed since he parted ways with Zhen Su, and even Yun Guang's two old geezers had been found, yet Zhen Su remained elusive.
The guards were taken aback. They were used to being rewarded and praised, and this was the first time they had been scolded so harshly by their lord.
The King of Poison tried his best to suppress any bad premonitions and said in a deep voice, "Get out of here and keep looking!"
After they had completely left, a crimson-purple light appeared on the forehead of the Poison King, surrounded by flowing black threads of light that intertwined and then dissipated. Amidst the shimmering light, a giant obsidian-armored scorpion as long as an arm instantly materialized before the Poison King.
The giant scorpion waved its pincer-like claws.
Immediately afterward, three bolts of platinum lightning struck down from the sky above the mansion. The Poison King swiftly raised his hand, and a burnt smell instantly filled the room. He grabbed a handkerchief, bit one side with his teeth, and carelessly wrapped it around his smoking hand twice. Then, with a leap, he and the giant scorpion vanished from the mansion.
After an incense stick has burned.
The Poison King found a desolate place with a collapse in the center. The Poison King's heart tightened. However, the giant scorpion bypassed the place, walking and stopping, and finally stopped in front of a small, inconspicuous patch of mud with fresh signs of filling.
The King of Poison's lower lip trembled slightly, and a sound escaped his throat with difficulty:
"Qing'er?"
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