Li Xuanxuan waited in the neighborhood for a while, only to see blood everywhere, without a trace of any human silhouette. He took out a jade talisman from his storage bag and felt it carefully, murmuring to himself:

"Qiuyang's location is still changing, I wonder if he's still alive or if someone has taken his storage bag…"

After all, Li Qiuyang's mixed Qi cultivation level would hardly allow him to survive long in this market's great calamity. Although Li Xuanxuan hoped with all his heart for his safety, he really didn't have much confidence in it.

Li Xuanxuan clenched his teeth, looking at the slowly moving location of that person on the jade talisman with unease.

After pondering for a moment, he stuffed the jade talisman into a crack in the wall of the street, left a ray of Dharma Light in his hand, and wrote several lines on the wall:

"If Qiuyang comes searching, wait here for a bit."

He then encrypted it with his family's secret technique and hurriedly left.

After walking down the street for a few steps, Li Xuanxuan saw corpses everywhere, young and old, all with tragic deaths, their blood forming pools. Among them, shards of jade bottles were scattered, and two pale white elixirs tainted with blood were emitting a faint glow.

Having been in charge of the shop for many years, he immediately recognized that these were Qi Cultivating Elixirs commonly used by Qi Cultivators—Bright Heart Pills—to calm the mind and assist in cultivation. He hurried forward, picked up the pills, wiped them on his robe, and removed the bloodstains with a spell.

Li Xuanxuan squinted at them, they were smooth and well-crafted, clearly the product of noble families' craftsmanship. However, these elixirs were tinged with blood, and much of their potency had leaked away. Delighted, he sealed the pills in a jade bottle and began to search carefully.

The corpses in the blood pool were shriveled and dull, skin and bones, having had their Qi and cultivation level drained. Li Xuanxuan was indifferent, searching up and down for a while, but the storage bags were long taken by the devil cultivators.

He touched the sleeve of one of the bodies and found it to be made of fine spiritual cloth; the man must have had some background. Without delay, he stripped the body bare and rolled up the robe, stashing it into his storage bag.

Just after Li Xuanxuan finished, he looked up and saw a brightly lit sign across the street, with golden brush strokes that read:

"Pill Pavilion."

Li Xuanxuan felt a surge in his heart, a burning sensation flaring up as he looked at the empty, bloody entrance. His greed stirred, and he thought to himself:

"The devil cultivators have already plundered the Pill Pavilion, coming and going in a hurry. Perhaps they left something behind!"

The Pill Pavilion was the Yu Family's property at Guanyun Peak. Li Xuanxuan had visited just two days before and had been captivated by the wondrous array of elixirs.

Coming back to his senses, Li Xuanxuan proceeded without hesitation. He quickly performed the Concealment Technique and stealthily approached.

In front of the door, a cultivator in brocade clothes knelt with blood pouring out, leaving a pool on the ground. His chest gaped open, his heart removed. Li Xuanxuan recognized this man as the steward of the Yu Family, and shivered internally, thinking to himself:

"If I had not recognized that Thunder Bead and taken the initiative, along with employing a few tricks, I'm afraid everyone from our shop would've had no way to survive… worse off than this man!"

Li Xuanxuan walked past him and searched the counter twice, but it had been thoroughly looted by the devil cultivators, who also fancied spirit stones and naturally didn't leave a single one behind.

Inside the Pill Pavilion was pitch-black, the ground covered in bloodstains and shattered jade bottles. Li Xuanxuan swept his Spiritual Sense over the area and took five sets of robes and six Fetal Breathing Pills, along with one Qi Cultivating Pill.

He glanced back at the naked bodies on the ground, feeling somewhat uncomfortable, and covered them with some fabric before stepping into the back courtyard of the Pill Pavilion.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was even more oppressive, with a section collapsed, exposing bare stone tiles in all directions. Dark red flames silently burned, not very hot, but suffocatingly irritating to the ears and nostrils.

"Warm but not scorching, constant flares of Fiend Fire; it's a Fire Vein… that's it, the Yu Family must have a Pill Room here and hence drew a Fire Vein over…"

Though the Li Family did not yet have a Pill Room, Li Xuanxuan recognized the Fiend Fire within it. Presumably, it had been ruined by those devil cultivators who stole away the Pill Furnaces. Without the Pill Furnaces and formations to suppress it, the Earth Fire erupted, turning it into this state.

He applied a Taoist Spell over his nose and mouth and stepped inside. He shifted the broken beams aside and was greeted by a surge of dark red flames. Indeed, the Pill Furnaces from both Pill Rooms had been taken, leaving behind glowing dark red Fire Veins.

"What a pity."

Redirecting a Fire Vein was a troublesome affair. It had cost the Yu Family a lot of spirit stones to bring these two Fire Veins here. Li Xuanxuan sighed and was about to leave when he faintly heard groaning sounds.

"Hmm?"

He paused, slightly startled, and turned his ear to listen. Following the sound, he saw a fluffy arm hanging in the ruins, extending weakly with sharp black nails, feebly pushing against a large stone on top of it. Li Xuanxuan's heart raced as he thought to himself:

"A demon?!"

In the Yu Family's marketplace, how could there still be a demon alive? Li Xuanxuan peered cautiously, noticing that there was no Demonic Qi on the demon's body, but rather a genuine mana. His heart leaped with this realization:

"This place naturally couldn't have demons! It must be a Spiritual Beast that was either guarding the Yu Family's storage or helping with chores!"

Elated, he took a step forward, pressed his palm hard against the stone, and blasted it into smithereens. Underneath, the demon turned its body, revealing a face resembling that of the Thunder God.

"A Spirit Monkey?"

The monkey looked exhausted, its eyes bloodshot and face full of wrinkles, but its eyes were exceptionally clear and even seemed somewhat venerable. It stared at Li Xuanxuan with tear-filled eyes, heaving breaths like a bellows.

Li Xuanxuan grasped the monkey's furry hand and was surprised to find that the Spiritual Beast actually had a Fourth Layer of Qi Cultivation, higher than his own. However, it was poisoned by Fiend Fire, wounded, and was barely clinging to life.

As he observed the monkey's tear-streaked face and grateful expressions, he felt a surge of emotion. He fumbled in his sleeve and took out two healing pills, saying warmly:

"Here!"

The Spirit Monkey was incredibly astute, hunching its back and puckering its lips, hastily swallowing the two Elixirs, and then stumbled through gestures, struggling to move, making a clattering sound of metal scraping.

Only then did Li Xuanxuan realize that the monkey's neck was locked in an iron collar, cold and heavy. At its feet lay a Jade Pestle and a chipped, emerald-green Mortar. They seemed like treasures beyond value.

Upon closer inspection, both were Qi Cultivation Level Magic Artifacts, used specifically for grinding herbs, exceedingly rare and favored by Alchemists, and quite valuable. Just these two Magic Artifacts alone were worth more than any Elixir.

Li Xuanxuan was immediately filled with joy, unable to help himself as he exclaimed:

"Good monkey! With these two items, my dear Ming'er will be spared a lot of trouble!"

Suppressing his delight, Li Xuanxuan tucked the two items into his Storage Bag. The monkey had already prostrated itself, peeling back the charred fur on its back to show him several wounds the size of fingers, oozing black blood, quite horrifying to behold.

He suddenly understood, applying medicine to the monkey while using three Spells to alleviate its injuries. Observing the Spirit Monkey's condition, he guessed to himself:

"This Spiritual Beast most likely was a child serving the Yu Family by minding their medicine and fire. Who knows which corner it hid in during the Devils' Spell Battle, managing to survive..."

As he felt the monkey's burnt and blistered fur and thought of the Fiend Fire pervading its body, his heart lurched with realization:

"It must have squeezed into the Earth Fire vein! What a clever monkey, enduring such agony!"

Within the Earth Fire vein, not only was there Fiend Fire and other malevolent forces, but the Spirit Mechanism was also chaotic, disrupting Spiritual Sense. The fact that the monkey knew to hide there and could endure such excruciating pain...

While Li Xuanxuan was still marveling, the monkey began digging frantically on the ground, quickly unearthing a charred corpse, and retrieved a glowing Jade Tablet from the deceased's sleeve.

"Click."

In just a few moments, the monkey had used the Jade Tablet to unlock the iron Spirit Ring from its neck and handed it, along with the tablet, to Li Xuanxuan. It then sat down and began to recuperate.

Li Xuanxuan glanced at the items only briefly before the monkey suddenly opened its eyes and twitched its ears, a hint of fear flashing in its big eyes. Silently, it started to gesture again, imitating the motion of laboriously grinding medicine.

Li Xuanxuan's heart tightened abruptly. He stowed the items away in an instant, stretched his Spiritual Sense to its limit, and stayed motionless in a corner. Meanwhile, the monkey looked anxious, cautiously refraining from making any noise as it alternated between bowing and miming the grinding of medicine.

Li Xuanxuan paused for a moment before quickly drawing the Jade Pestle from around his waist and pushing it into the monkey's hands. The creature nodded, took the Magic Artifact, and swiftly burrowed into the ruins.