Chu Hongluan felt a blur before her eyes, and she was already in front of the large cave.
Looking at the hundred or so formations within formations before him, he was speechless with emotion.
"Don't worry, a few small formations can't stop me."
Chu Hongluan nudged him in the chest with her elbow: "Stop pretending."
Liu Jinghong's lips curled up silently.
"I can sense the High Priest's presence. She should be in the cave. Breaking the formation now would easily alert her. Let's wait until we get back and exchange information with everyone."
Liu Jinghong nodded, then gave another hexagram with the character "乾": "乾, the stars shift and the constellations change."
In a flash, the two were back in their cell.
Wang Sheng glanced at Liu Jinghong's hand around Chu Hongluan's waist and felt a pang in his heart: "So you two aren't hiding from people anymore?"
"Even an ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her in-laws, so why should she avoid them?"
Liu Jinghong's heart skipped a beat. While she was secretly overjoyed, she also felt that something was amiss.
Soon after, the others returned one after another.
"how?"
Qiao Yue glared at Li Dazhuang angrily and said indignantly, "It's all his fault! He's so big, there's nowhere for him to hide! We just went out and ran into the patrolling guards, so we had to hide here and there. We almost got discovered several times! We were afraid we'd go too far and wouldn't be able to get back in time, so we turned back early..."
Chu Hongluan smiled and said, "It's alright, it was my oversight. But at least now we know that the Wu Clan's territory is guarded and patrolled at night, and the guards are very densely distributed, so it's not good to confront them head-on."
Chu Hongluan then turned to Song Nanhe, whose expression was grim: "I found the grotto where Chunxiao lives, with the words 'Holy Maiden Palace' carved on it. But the grotto is heavily guarded, with four Nascent Soul cultivators and nearly twenty Golden Core cultivators."
At this point, Song Nanhe almost gritted his teeth: "Besides that, I also sensed an extremely powerful aura inside the cave. I suspect there's another expert inside, keeping a close watch on Chunxiao, monitoring her every move. I can't get close to the cave at all, and I haven't been able to see Chunxiao. I wonder how she is now..."
Chu Hongluan's eyes darkened slightly, and her brows furrowed unconsciously: "This is a bit troublesome. I originally planned to contact Chunxiao first and then make a plan. But now Chunxiao doesn't know that we were deliberately captured, and she must be extremely worried."
After a moment of silence, she spoke again: "Let's act tonight, there's no need to wait any longer."
Chu Hongluan first asked Liu Jinghong for a firework talisman, and then, using the dim light of the wall lamp in the prison, she used her finger as a pen to draw a simple topographical map on the muddy ground, marking the prison, the snake pit, and the location where their cloud boat was moored.
This was what she and Liu Jinghong gained from their trip.
Her delicate face was half in light and half in shadow, her long eyelashes casting a shadow, her expression serious and earnest.
"Song Nanhe, mark the location of the Holy Maiden's Palace."
Song Nanhe did as instructed.
After he finished marking and returned to his original position, Chu Hongluan slowly spoke: "Can you understand it?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Chu Hongluan pointed to the landmark of the Snake Cave: "This is the Snake Cave. The source of eleven spiritual veins is here. The High Priest's residence is also here. There is no one guarding the Snake Cave, but it is surrounded by a hundred arrays within arrays. Senior Brother can break the arrays, but it will take time. So someone needs to lure the High Priest away first."
Chu Hongluan's gaze swept across everyone's faces, finally settling on Li Dazhuang.
There was no other reason than that Li Dazhuang's face practically screamed: Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!
"Li Dazhuang".
"Here!" Li Dazhuang said, head held high and chest puffed out.
"Before we act, I'll have my eldest brother use a puppet talisman to transform into someone who's 'absent,' pretending to be unconscious. After we leave, you must find a way to cause a commotion in the prison, the bigger the better. If the High Priest comes in person, try to stall her as much as possible."
"yes!"
“Song Nanhe, you are quick-witted, so stay here and work with Li Dazhuang. The High Priest is sensitive and suspicious, and Li Dazhuang alone will not be able to hold out for long.”
"Yes." Song Nanhe nodded slightly.
“Senior brother, come with me to the snake cave. Once the high priest is lured away, these hundred arrays within arrays will be yours to handle.”
"Don't worry, junior sister."
"What? What?" Qiao Yue was so anxious that she scratched her head and cheeks.
"Qiao Yue".
"exist!"
Chu Hongluan moved her finger from the landmark of the snake cave to the place where the cloud boat was parked: "Three miles west of the cave, there is an open space where our cloud boat is parked. Qiao Yue, you are more agile. You can avoid the patrolling guards and sneak into the cloud boat without any problem, right?"
"no problem!"
"Don't make any rash moves after infiltrating. Wait for my signal." She raised the firework talisman in her hand higher: "When the fireworks bloom, that will be the time I obtain the spiritual vein! The Qian hexagram will help us leave the snake pit immediately and head to the Saintess Palace to rescue people. Qiao Yue, remember, once the fireworks rise into the sky, you must immediately take the cloud boat to the Saintess Palace to provide support!"
"yes!"
"Senior brother, give her the 'key'."
Liu Jinghong pulled off the golden bead adorning the jade pendant at her waist and handed it to Qiao Yue: "This is the energy core of the cloud boat, which I brought out. Take it to the cloud boat, recite the incantation, and you can control the cloud boat to move at will."
"Qiao Yue will not fail in her mission!"
The atmosphere suddenly became lively.
Chu Hongluan smiled helplessly and turned to the last person: "Elder Wangsheng."
Wang Sheng lay on the pile of straw, pretending to sleep. When she called him, he reluctantly responded with a "humph".
"The High Priest is only at the early stage of the Tribulation Transcending Realm. You are no match for him in a direct confrontation, but it shouldn't be difficult for you to escape with two people, right? You will remain in the dungeon. The safety of my two disciples, Song Nanhe and Li Dazhuang, is entrusted to you. When the fireworks light up the sky, you will lead them quickly to the Holy Maiden Temple and reunite with us!"
"Fine—" Wang Sheng dragged out the word "fine," muttering as he turned over, saying in a sarcastic tone, "Anyway, this old man is just destined to be a busybody..."
After waiting for a while, Liu Jinghong saw that Chu Hongluan had finished assigning tasks, so she quickly took out three puppet talismans and ignited them. In the blink of an eye, three figures appeared, whose appearance and clothing were exactly the same as Liu Jinghong, Chu Hongluan and Qiao Yue.
Liu Jinghong made them lie down haphazardly, and after confirming that Chu Hongluan really had nothing more to say, she blatantly pulled them into her arms and said, "Then we'll take our leave first!"
With that, he gave Qiao Yue a provocative look and then vanished on the spot with a bang.
"...I'm going to kill him!"
"calm."
"......"
Meanwhile, Liu Jinghong and his companion had arrived outside the snake cave and used a boulder to conceal themselves.
In the darkness, the two were very close together, and the other's breathing and heartbeat could be clearly heard.
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