"Senior Hagon, we have a request. Earlier in the valley, three of our fellow sect members were poisoned by He Wendao's lethal toxin, and our detoxification elixirs had no effect. We thought they would be saved once we returned to the sect, but with such a delay, their lives are now hanging by a thread. I wonder if you could lend a hand in their treatment?" Luo Shan hesitated for a moment, then gave a fist and palm salute, pleading for help.

"I'm not skilled at detoxifying, but I can try. Where are they?" Yuan Ming asked.

The three Shengye Sect disciples lay unconscious, carried over by others. Their cheeks were marked with several patches of dark green poison spots, similar to those Shengye Sect disciples who had been killed by poison, weak breathing, clearly unable to hold on much longer.

After a brief examination, Yuan Ming sighed internally; the various detoxification elixirs he carried were quite ordinary and incapable of curing such a strange toxin.

Just as he was about to refuse, he suddenly thought of Hua Zhi and transmitted a message, "Hua Zhi, after absorbing Black Toad, do you still possess the ability to draw out fierce toxins?"

"Is master asking me to save these Shengye Sect disciples? That's a trifle," Hua Zhi replied telepathically.

"Alright, take them to the room inside," Yuan Ming said, standing up and speaking to Luo Shan.

Overjoyed, Luo Shan promptly took action personally, along with several other disciples, to move the three Shengye Sect disciples into a room.

Yuan Ming ushered everyone out, closed the door, and set up a Concealment Barrier.

Then, he slapped his Spiritual Beast Bag at his waist, and Hua Zhi extended three vine tendrils from within the bag, each piercing into the body of the poisoned individuals.

The trio merely twitched briefly, then the poison spots on their skin began to fade at a rate visible to the naked eye, quickly dissipating a great deal until they nearly matched the surrounding healthy skin.

But at that moment, an unexpected change occurred!

The spots, which had almost vanished, suddenly darkened once more, and in a moment, they returned to their original state.

"Eh! How strange, very strange indeed."

Hua Zhi let out a surprised murmur, wriggling out of the Spiritual Beast Bag with several vines extending from both arms, piercing into various parts of the three bodies as she muttered incantations and activated her full demonic power. A faint green light emanated from the many vines.

This time, the poison spots disappeared at an exceptionally rapid pace without any pause in between, and Hua Zhi continued to cast and maintain for a quarter of an hour after the spots had faded to match the healthy skin color.

Now, the three Shengye Sect disciples no longer had any poison spots on their bodies; their cheeks regained a healthy flush, and their breathing stabilized.

"This poison inside these three is quite strange, isn't it? Tell me about it," Yuan Ming approached Hua Zhi and asked after she had finished.

"The fierce toxin in these people is not particularly strong. However, it's as if the poison is a living thing; it has taken root in their flesh and feeds on their Qi-Blood power. If it's not entirely removed at once, it can regenerate continuously, and it greatly depletes the already weak life force of the poisoned individuals," Hua Zhi transmitted back.

"A toxin like a living thing?" Yuan Ming murmured in surprise, stroking his chin.

In his years of refining Poisonous Incense, he had studied intense toxins quite extensively, yet he had never encountered such a peculiar one that could swallow Qi-Blood and grow stronger.

"Master, if you're interested, you might as well examine He Wendao's storage magic tool; perhaps you could find some clues," Hua Zhi suggested telepathically.

Yuan Ming had this in mind. He immediately instructed Luo Shan and others waiting outside the door to come in and carry the three disciples who were out of danger away.

After Yuan Ming sat down cross-legged inside the room again, he used the Silver Token to open a silver light screen before taking out the storage magic tools of Bai Ye, Lu Shen, He Wendao, and Shi Dian.

He took out all the items inside and started to check them carefully.

He was on a mission at his grandmother's behest, which he thought would be a leisurely task aside from strenuous cultivation to relax the mind and body, but it almost cost him his life. Fortunately, the outcome was unexpectedly rewarding. Not only did he save his cousin, but he also found a windfall.

All four people were Foundation Establishment Cultivators rich in assets. Just the Spirit Stones alone amounted to over four thousand, not to mention the bountiful spiritual materials, magical artifacts, and elixirs.

Yuan Ming picked out the items useful to him first: five bottles of Harmonization Liquid Pills that would advance his Foundation Establishment cultivation, one large piece of spiritual material, three top-grade magical tools, and one set of an array.

The Harmonization Liquid Pill goes without saying; he would have been continuously purchasing them had he wished to carry on with his cultivation. This sudden windfall had saved him a considerable expense.

The spiritual material was a gold scale as big as a grinding stone, with wave-shaped spiritual patterns across it, seemingly from some giant beast. When he probed it with his Divine Sense, he could distinctly feel the strong Spiritual Power fluctuations radiating from it, which far surpassed that of a Second-level Demon Beast.

"Could it be the scale of a third-level Demon Beast? So large, I wonder what kind of demon beast it is?" Yuan Ming examined the item closely.

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

Being familiar with various demon beasts, Yuan Ming conjectured from the patterns that this scale might be that of the mythical Flood Dragon, which was inherently powerful and typically at least a Third-level Demon Beast once it reached adulthood.

After a moment's thought, Yuan Ming took out the Black Needle Magical Artifact, channeling thirty percent of his Mana to test it on the edge of the golden scale.

With a slight sound, the golden scale trembled, but there was not even a mark on the surface.

Yuan Ming nodded slightly, then increased his Mana to fifty percent and even seventy percent. The golden scale remained unscathed under the Black Needle's assault.

Determined, Yuan Ming pushed his Mana to its full capacity, turning the Black Needle into a subtle shadow that fiercely pierced the golden scale.

"Clang!" A great sound rang out as the golden scale was struck and sent flying. The struck area showed only a shallow white spot, far from being penetrated.

"A fine piece!"

Yuan Ming was inwardly delighted. This golden scale was exceptionally hard and durable, probably the toughest spiritual material he had come across since stepping foot into the Cultivation World. It was suitable for refining a top-grade defensive magical artifact.

He picked up the scale, then turned his attention to the three top-grade magical artifacts, which were Lu Shen's Earth Burying Mallet, a blue ring, and a green flying sword.

He picked up the Earth Burying Mallet to examine it. It was a top-grade Earth Attribute magical artifact, extremely heavy at four to five hundred pounds, and possessed exceptionally strong offensive power.

Yuan Ming held the mallet, but with his strength, he could only swing it a few times with difficulty; it was not handy for him, and its attribute also did not match his own.

Yuan Ming considered selling it, but then thought of Vajra.

This mutated White Ape had plenty of strength. The Earth Burying Mallet seemed perfectly suited for it, so he immediately tossed it into the Spiritual Beast Bag where Vajra was and gave a command.

Yuan Ming then picked up the blue ring. His Divine Sense entered it, and quickly, the artifact's details were clear to him.

He had obtained this blue ring from Shi Dian's storage magic tool, and it was inscribed with a name: "True Water Ring," a Water Attribute auxiliary magical artifact with no offensive effects. When worn, it had the effects of nourishing the body, fire resistance, and protection against the cold, making it quite a fine top-grade magical tool.

Yuan Ming had initially planned to wear it himself, but considering that Hua Zhi had suffered serious injuries and that he had just given Vajra a magical artifact, it wouldn't be fair to favor one over the other, so he granted the ring to Hua Zhi.

Top-grade magical tools were quite precious; with Vajra and Hua Zhi each receiving one, they both played with the tools joyfully.

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

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

Yuan Ming carefully inspected the green flying sword. The entire sword was emerald green, seemingly refined from some type of Green Jade, with three runes inscribed on its body, all of which were Poison Incubation Runes.

Yuan Ming's eyes lit up. Master Hei Mu's Artifact Refining Manual had notes on the Poison Incubation Rune, which, as the name implies, helped preserve and gently cultivate the deadly poison within the materials, preventing it from dissipating.

A typical poisonous magical artifact with one Poison Incubation Rune would be sufficient, but this flying sword was inscribed with three such runes, indicating that the materials used to refine this sword were alarmingly toxic, something one rune could not contain.

Yuan Ming closely examined every part of the flying sword, which contained a strong and highly active potent poison, as if countless tiny insects were fighting to free themselves from the sword's hold and poison people to death.

"What is this sword made from that its poison is so intense?"

He couldn't figure it out, but he took care as he stored it away and turned his attention to the last artifact, the Bronze Thunder Pattern Array.

This array set, unlike the ordinary array tools such as Yuan Ming's Thousand Knot Water Rope Array, had its Array Patterns carved on seven bronze pillars, making installation much easier and less prone to damage.

However, crafting such specialized array tools set high demands on the Array Master, indicating that the creator of this Bronze Thunder Pattern Array was particularly skilled.

Yuan Ming carefully checked the seven bronze pillars and found the signature of the Array Master on the bottom of one pillar: 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 might of the Bronze Thunder Pattern Array was astonishing, almost causing his downfall when he was trapped in it. This adventure's greatest gain might just be this array set.

To bring out the full power of this array, Thunder Attribute Spirit Stones were needed. He just happened to have three high-grade Thunder Attribute Spirit Stones, which might prove to be very useful in the future.

He estimated in his mind and packed away the array set.

Yuan Ming sorted through the remaining items, each neatly stored away, and the ground soon cleared up, leaving behind only a giant sword broken in two, the very same Bronze Giant Sword of Shi Dian.

This sword was refined from Thunder Attribute spiritual materials and, although broken, retained much of the power of thunder and lightning within it.

Yuan Ming was somewhat troubled by what to do with this sword. The Bronze Giant Sword was damaged, and to repair it, aside from a very high level of Artifact Refining skills, similar types of spiritual materials were necessary for the restoration – a feat nearly impossible to achieve within Little Lake City's Square Market.

But abandoning or selling it seemed too wasteful.

"Could Lei Yu, being a Thunder Attribute spirit beast, possibly absorb the power of thunder and lightning from this giant sword?" Yuan Ming suddenly had an idea.

So he threw the two broken pieces into Lei Yu's Spiritual Beast Bag. Sensing the thunder and lightning power within the giant sword, Lei Yu immediately pounced on it, beginning to absorb the Green Thunder within.

Yuan Ming saw this and nodded his head, then closed his eyes and immersed himself in cultivation.

Just as he had anticipated, the journey back was smooth sailing. After several days, the group arrived at the gates of the Shengye Sect.

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