“Shi Shi!

Senior Sister!

My dear wife!

Sneaking in like this isn’t proper, why don’t we just visit directly and discuss matters openly?”

In Small Qiong Peak’s forest, two shadows suddenly stopped, revealing two figures—one tall, one short—both still maintaining techniques to avoid immortal sense detection.

Wu stood before his Dao companion who was a head taller than himself, earnestly persuading: “Little Jiu has grown up, we can’t keep her tied to our side forever.

After all, she’s a nine hundred and sixty-two year, six months, and fifteen-day-old immortal—truly no longer a child!”

Shi, blocked by her Dao companion, slightly rolled her eyes and snorted: “What could we learn from a direct visit?

For matters like this, we must sneak over secretly to see the truth!

Have you forgotten how we discovered Little Six and Little Seven’s affair? If we hadn’t caught them in bed, they’d surely still be denying it!

Quick, hide, don’t expose our tracks!”

Stomping her foot, Shi’s delicate hand grabbed Wu’s collar, lifting him directly;

Their forms transformed again into two shadows, disappearing into the shade.

Wu could only smile bitterly. Though he prided himself on his wisdom and schemes, he was completely helpless before his beloved.

However, they hadn’t crept forward a hundred Zhang before having to stop again;

The two figures appeared on the treetop of a large tree, carefully examining ahead.

“These formations are quite cleverly arranged,” Wu praised, “The formation boundaries almost completely blend with the surrounding environment, only revealing slight spiritual power fluctuations due to less meticulous handling at the edges.”

“Hmm?”

Shi tilted her head, the two small braids tied from her forehead hair swaying gently;

She looked carefully for several moments, then said dismissively:

“Mere Confusion and Spirit-Scrambling Formation, how could it trouble us?

Let’s go, enter the formation.

From your expression, you’re unwilling? Do you want to sleep in bed tonight?”

Hearing this threat, Wu quickly surrendered, hurriedly saying: “I do, I do, of course, I do, it’s rare for you to come out of seclusion, Shi Shi…

Fine!

I’ll go first, I’ll take responsibility if anything happens.”

Wu sighed, instantly submitting to Shi’s ‘tyranny,’ jumping down from the tree first, walking ahead with hands behind his back, absent-mindedly scanning around.

What concerned him now wasn’t whether they could break the formation—he didn’t take Small Qiong Peak’s formations seriously, after all, the peak didn’t even have an immortal, how powerful could their formations be?

He was worried about what if they caught Little Jiu with Fellow Disciple Qi Yuan…

The situation would be extremely awkward.

Especially…

‘Fellow Disciple Qi Yuan is probably eight-tenths likely to fail the heavenly tribulation. Could it be that our little junior sister has just found her Dao companion, only to become a widow directly?

What can be done about this?’

“Walk faster,” Shi urged from behind, “At this dawdling pace, we’ll be too late for everything!”

“Don’t rush, I’ve found the formation exit.”

Wu quickly calculated this formation’s living gate, soon leading Shi out of the first maze formation;

But then, Wu stopped, raising his left hand in a stopping gesture.

“Oh? Is it a chain formation?”

Wu immediately brightened, stroking his chin in endless praise: “Though the front and back are relatively simple maze formations, being able to create a chain formation shows that the formation arranger’s attainment in formation techniques is quite good.”

“So verbose!”

Shi snorted, taking two steps to get ahead of her junior brother;

Spreading her immortal sense, she quickly found this formation’s exit, saying coolly: “Follow.”

Wu smiled helplessly, following behind his Dao companion and senior sister, still pondering in his heart how to handle the situation if they caught something…

Meanwhile, in the dan chamber dozens of Li away.

Li Long Shou, who was organizing poisonous herbs before him, slightly frowned, discreetly glancing at Jiu who was sitting in meditation, pondering briefly in his heart without saying much.

The one beside Senior Uncle Wu should also be one of the Nine Wine Immortals.

Perfect, these two could help him test the specific effects of the surface maze formations.

“Senior Aunt Jiu?”

“I’m here, are we starting?”

“We need to wait a while,” Li Long Shou smiled, “If anyone asks Senior Aunt what you’ve been doing here all this time after you return to Breaking Heaven Peak, please feel free to tell the truth.

However, it would be best to keep the specific formation arrangements and numbers confidential for this disciple.”

“Don’t worry! I understand!

This Senior Aunt isn’t someone who takes benefits without doing the job. Considering how much Beauty’s Charm you just gifted me, I guarantee to keep completely silent!”

Li Long Shou responded with a smile, continuing to adjust the proportions of various herbs.

The Immortal-Fusing Dan would finally begin refining.

However, they still needed to wait for those two True Immortals outside to leave.

…

In the forest.

Two hours after the Wine-named True Immortals entered the formation.

“You break the formation,” Shi mumbled, “I mainly cultivate artifact refining, my formation techniques will never compare to you and Third Senior Brother.”

Wu smiled calmly, walking in front of his beloved, masculine spirit bursting forth from his short stature!

“Stay close to me.

This formation is called the Six-Turn Spirit-Leaping Formation, it’s actually quite basic, just with unusually placed living gates—the exit is above.”

Before finishing his words, Wu had already found the formation exit, leading Shi to jump together and enter the next formation.

Their surroundings immediately inverted up and down…

Another two hours later.

“Strange, we seem to have gone in circles again,” Wu’s expression gradually became serious as he calculated with his fingers, “The twenty-four formations we just passed through are interconnected, but these twenty-four chain formations together form a hidden grand formation.

Following the living gate’s guidance brought us right back to the starting point.

Though this formation method is somewhat clever rather than profound, it’s quite interesting, hmm, very interesting.”

Shi held her forehead with one hand, complaining: “The breaking method! How long has it been?

By your usual timing, this is already three or four times!”

“Ahem,” Wu cleared his throat, “Very well, this poor Daoist will get serious, follow me!”

At that, he grabbed his Dao companion’s hand, quickly stepping into the maze formation again, their figures swiftly disappearing into the dense forest.

Another hour later…

“This doesn’t make sense, this shouldn’t be.”

Wu sat cross-legged in a leaf-covered clearing, constantly calculating with his hands.

Shi stroked her smooth, slightly pointed beautiful chin while pacing back and forth, constantly reciting some formation technique mnemonics, but now unable to help.

The current problem was no longer how to quickly find Jiu in the grand formation;

The key problem now was that they had…

Lost their direction in the chain formation!

Even flying straight up or crawling down would lead to another maze formation!

Going round and round, they couldn’t even find the way out!

Shi said: “Should we just blast open this grand formation?”

“We can’t, are we here to catch people or demolish mountains?”

Wu smiled bitterly: “Besides if word gets out that we, husband and wife, were trapped in Small Qiong Peak where there isn’t even an immortal, where would we put our faces?”

Shi complained: “Aren’t you skilled in formations?”

“These are indeed all very basic formations, but chain formations don’t have fixed solutions, we can only keep exploring to break through, or find flaws between formations.

But the person who arranged these formations has hidden the flaws too perfectly.”

Wu slapped his forehead, “Come on, I’ve thought of a breaking method, let’s try again!”

Thus, another hour later…

Thud!

About five feet above ground, a flat forehead repeatedly hit a tree trunk.

This short Daoist’s eye sockets were sunken inward, his usually bright eyes now full of darkness, his brown Daoist robe stained with some withered grass and fallen leaves, his whole body’s aura trembling in chaos.

He hit the tree trunk with his forehead again, letting out two cold “hehe” laughs, mumbling:

“It must be fake.

This poor Daoist’s previously comprehended formation techniques must all be fake…

Basic formations can form the most profound maze and trapping formations, so this poor Daoist has been walking the wrong path all along…

Has this poor Daoist’s Dao also gone wrong? The Non-Action Scripture must also be wrong.

Hehe…

So this poor Daoist is only this level of True Immortal, hehe…”

Shi beside him was completely at a loss, not knowing what to say, hurriedly kneeling on one knee forward, embracing her Dao companion.

“Junior Brother, don’t frighten me, we can just blast open the grand formation.”

“No, absolutely not.

Someone who can arrange such a grand formation, how could they not guard against direct attacks, it might immediately transform into a killing formation…

Senior Sister?”

Wu’s lips trembled as he looked up at the beautiful immortal maiden before him, smiling tragically.

“So I’ve never been worthy of you.”

Shi hurriedly hugged Wu tighter, “Don’t say such things, we’ve sworn to the Great Dao, never to part for all eternity!”

“I am not wor—”

Whoosh—

A gentle breeze passed by, and the forest suddenly filled with white mist, but these mists swiftly retreated;

At the same time, they heard the conversation from not far away:

“Senior Aunt Jiu, let’s practice once, later when I put these two herbs into the furnace, you should…”

“Mm, no problem.”

Wu and Shi exchanged glances, the latter immediately using techniques to transform them into two shadows, moving toward the sound’s source.

Soon, they discovered that their previous position was only a hundred Zhang from Jiu whom they were looking for!

Hiding behind a large tree, these two quietly peeked toward the dan chamber;

Now because they were about to begin refining dans, the windows on both sides of the chamber were open, and from Wu and Shi’s angle they could see Li Long Shou and Jiu discussing something in front of the dan furnace.

It was already near dusk, and a slanting ray of Western sunlight shone through the window onto Jiu.

She stood with hands behind her back, left toe pointing to the ground, body slightly leaning forward, carefully listening to the tall figure before her explain the detailed steps for refining Dans later.

In the sunlight, the tips of her hair that just fell on her shoulders reflected fine light, her skin glowing warmly, her starlike eyes clear and bright;

Her slender neck, graceful figure, her whole being radiating ethereal beauty.

And beside her, that male cultivator wearing an azure robe with hair simply bound in a Daoist band… skip.

Wu showed confusion as he whispered: “Nephew Long Shou? Could these formations be…”

As soon as he spoke, his mouth was immediately covered by a delicate hand, Shi beside him laughed softly, transmitting: “Shh!

Let’s go, we’ll talk when we get back, don’t disturb them.”

Wu was immediately confused, “We’re leaving just like this?”

“What else?

He’s quite handsome, this junior.

Looks quite reliable too, just that his cultivation is only at the Return to Void realm… but that’s not a problem.”

Shi smiled slightly, pulling Wu as they began using stealth techniques.

Just then, a tender green leaf left its home, swaying down to land on Wu’s head…

…

They’ve finally left.

Li Long Shou breathed a sigh of relief internally, activating the surrounding formations again, and checking various parts of the formations several times.

Fortunately, nothing was exposed.

The trapping formation’s effect was unexpectedly good, and the information the trapping formation itself transmitted to intruders also matched Li Long Shou’s original expectations.

“Let’s begin refining dans.”

He said this, then turned to walk to a nearby clearing, taking out the treasure bag marked ‘Mysterious Eleven’, shaking it before him, and dropping a pile of items onto the ground.

A magical equipment treasure garment shaped like a spacesuit, the Ten Thousand Poison Gloves that could withstand most ‘fierce poison’ corrosion, poison-avoiding talismans, poison-dispelling spirit pills, corrosion-resistant tweezers and clips, oddly shaped containers…

“What are these?” Jiu asked puzzled.

“Some necessary preparations for refining poison dans,” Li Long Shou said with a smile, “I’ve prepared a set for Senior Aunt too, let’s put them on together.

Though Senior Aunt’s immortal power is profound, poison can penetrate anywhere, better to be careful.”

“Alright, little nephew is quite thoughtful of this Senior Aunt.”

Jiu blinked, full of curiosity as she came over from the side.