Fortunately, Li Xuanxuan had already raised his axe high, and with a fierce strike, a brittle snap was heard, the frail creature split into two, collapsing onto the ground, wailing:

"Mercy, Immortal Sir! Mercy, Immortal Sir! I was wrong! I was..."

Li Xuanxuan was just catching his breath when the little monkey, terrified, turned his head back, wielded the verdant green jade mallet twice, and smashed the creature's two halves into mush. Not daring to delay any further, Li Xuanxuan conjured up a Fire Technique.

"Boom..."

As his Fire Technique struck down, it burned the Devil Cultivator's body to a charred crisp. He grabbed the monkey's bloody hand and whispered lowly:

"Let's go!"

His voice was rough and unrecognizable, even to himself, but the monkey nodded its head, pulled out a black and gold Storage Bag, and handed it to Li Xuanxuan—it was the Devil Cultivator's belongings.

"Good monkey."

After securing the items, man and monkey ran wildly out of the blaze, rushing into an untouched cottage in the nearby neighborhood. There they finally collapsed, beginning to regulate their Qi and heal their wounds.

"Damn it..."

It had been many years since Li Xuanxuan had cursed out loud. Now, as he uttered those raspy words, he felt a surge of joyous tears about to fall. His stagnant Cultivation Level for so many years was faintly trembling.

Li Xuanxuan had just started to regulate his Qi when he suddenly realized something, pulling the monkey aside:

"You stay here and heal."

Seeing the monkey nod, Li Xuanxuan placed a couple of Elixirs in front of him and carefully stepped out. After circling a couple of streets, he indeed saw someone anxiously standing where the hiding place for the Jade Pendant was.

The Pill Pavilion had collapsed, Fiend Fire spread everywhere, Spiritual Sense was restricted in the surrounding streets, and Li Xuanxuan's eyes were scorched by the fire, making it difficult to see clearly. However, the other person had already spotted him, and Li Xuanxuan was so startled that he thought of running.

"Is it you, Xuanxuan?!"

Li Qiuyang likewise was cowering, bit his teeth and called out, to which Li Xuanxuan responded with tearful joy in a raspy voice: 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Qiuyang!!"

Li Qiuyang took a step forward, and immediately jumped back, incredulously exclaiming:

"Xuanxuan?!"

The person in front of him was limping, his face withered, his body emaciated, eyes half-gray, half-white, covered in black blood and blisters of all sizes, his hair and eyebrows completely gone, and blood still dripping from his sleeves—he looked like a corpse pulled from a fire.

If Li Xuanxuan hadn't called his own name, Li Qiuyang would never have dared to believe it. He just stood there dumbfounded, as Li Xuanxuan was about to speak, the ground began to shake violently.

"Rumble!"

Crevices appeared in the Great Formation in the sky, and the expressions of both men changed. Li Qiuyang said urgently:

"Xuanxuan! Let's go!"

Li Xuanxuan's complexion shifted multiple times and replied:

"Wait! Wait!"

Flapping his bloody sleeve, he started a breeze and darted deeper into the street. Li Qiuyang stomped his foot in frustration and quickly followed. Just as they turned the corner, they saw Li Xuanxuan leading the monkey towards them.

"Ah!"

Li Qiuyang was stunned for a moment, looking at the monkey who was equally blackened and blistered. The monkey, however, got startled by him, showed a fierce look, and raised its jade mallet to strike.

"Ah?"

Li Qiuyang was shocked, backing up continuously, as Li Xuanxuan shouted:

"He's one of us! One of us!"

The old man shouted to restrain the monkey, and the two men and the monkey sped low across the ground. Li Xuanxuan yelled:

"The Formation is breaking! We need to slip away through the Pill Pavilion!"

"Once the Great Formation is broken, the Devil Cultivators outside will swarm in. With Fiend Fire obstructing Spiritual Sense, it will be chaos, and no one will be able to find us!"

As he spoke these words, he suddenly awoke to a realization. He took out the black and gold Storage Bag from his waist, gathered his robe, and poured out a heap of sparkling items, some sharp Magic Artifacts poking through the fabric and stabbing into his skin.

Enduring the pain, Li Xuanxuan hastily stuffed the Magic Artifacts and Jade Slips into his own Storage Bag, then threw the remaining odds and ends along with the black and gold Storage Bag, scattering them across the ground.