.* Without encountering any obstacles, Huang Mao smoothly left the city and sprinted rapidly toward the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

"Stop!" Xiao Long commanded.

Huang Mao halted his steps and couldn't help but ask, "Boss, why are we stopping?"

"Set up a formation!"

Xiao Long crawled out from his sleeve, burrowed into the ground, and swiftly tossed a large number of spirit stones from his inventory, burying them underground to construct a massive formation.

The terrain here was rugged, surrounded by mountains and connected to the earth's veins, making it an ideal place to set up a formation.

Xiao Long could sense that more than one group was tracking him, and he didn't believe the Fire Cloud Sect would let him leave so easily. He had no choice but to set up a tenth-level Spiritual Qi Killing Formation to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Attack formations consume the most spirit stones; a tenth-level attack formation would cost at least a million middle-grade spirit stones. Xiao Long still had three million middle-grade spirit stones and ten thousand upper-grade spirit stones, more than enough.

"Your spirit stones have reached the amount required to upgrade your technique. Would you like to upgrade?"

"Ding! Your 'Azure Dragon Tome' has been upgraded to the sixth level, consuming one million middle-grade spirit stones!"

To speed up the formation process, Xiao Long deliberately spent a million middle-grade spirit stones to upgrade the Azure Dragon Tome to the sixth level, just one step away from the perfect seventh level.

A large number of spirit stones poured into the earth's veins like beans from a bamboo tube, forming a massive formation base that encompassed an area of one mile in radius.

Xiao Long's formation skills were no weaker than his alchemy skills, ranking among the top on the Shenzhou Continent. He simplified various complex steps, even multitasking to complete many steps simultaneously.

When the last spirit stone fell, the formation's light shone brightly, constructing countless mysterious trajectories before finally hiding within the earth.

In the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, the formation was completed.

This type of formation is the most basic Spiritual Qi Killing Formation, requiring only spirit stones to construct, which saves many steps by not needing additional formation materials.

The basic formation has obvious drawbacks: its killing methods are singular, and its power is insufficient, making it easy to break by a formation master. But even so, it's still a tenth-level killing formation, more than enough to deal with the ignorant fools of the Fire Cloud Sect. Except for Xue Wuqing, no one else could withstand it.

Seeing that there were still spirit stones left, Xiao Long set up a simple tenth-level shielding formation and a tenth-level trapping formation on top of the Spiritual Qi Killing Formation, along with an eighth-level illusion formation. In this way, the three million middle-grade spirit stones were exhausted, leaving only ten thousand upper-grade spirit stones.@@novelbin@@

For other formation masters, completing these formations would take at least ten days to half a month, but in Xiao Long's hands, it only took the time of a stick of incense.

Huang Mao felt a bit of heartache; so many precious spirit stones, just gone like that?

"Don't worry, soon someone will willingly bring spirit stones over. Just wait," Xiao Long said calmly.

Xiao Long looked into the distance and saw two figures gradually approaching, then burrowed underground to hide.

As the two approached, unexpectedly, it was Gu Sha and Vulture.

Seeing Huang Mao standing still, Gu Sha smiled, cupped his fists, and respectfully said, "Junior Gu Sha from the Hidden Poison Sect greets Lord Xiao!"

"Vulture from the Hidden Poison Sect greets Lord Xiao," Vulture also cupped his hands.

Hidden Poison Sect!

When Xiao Long used Soul Devouring Control on Su Ya, he obtained part of her memory and naturally knew that the Hidden Poison Sect was also one of the four major sects, closest to the Fire Cloud Sect. They were usually at each other's throats, acting viciously and ruthlessly, not good people.

"What brings you two here?" Huang Mao asked coldly.

Gu Sha cupped his fists and continued, "If I'm not mistaken, Lord Xiao should be a third-grade alchemist."

Huang Mao's heart skipped a beat; how did he figure that out?

Sensing Huang Mao's reaction, Gu Sha laughed and explained, "Haha! No need to be nervous, my lord. I mean no harm."

"Judging from the Qi Condensing Pills I bought, the fragrance was overflowing, and the quality was excellent, clearly freshly made. Moreover, third-grade pills are rare, and for four to appear simultaneously at the Fire Cloud Auction, there must be a third-grade alchemist passing through. Coupled with President Wan's attitude towards Lord Xiao, I dared to guess that Lord Xiao is the third-grade alchemist."

Gu Sha's words were almost spot-on, but he got the wrong person; Huang Mao wasn't the alchemist, Xiao Long was.

"Hehe, that's right! I am the third-grade alchemist. What do you want?" Huang Mao admitted straightforwardly.

Gu Sha's eyes lit up; it was indeed him!

Discovering a third-grade alchemist was a major event in the Tianfeng Kingdom!

As esteemed as the Tianfeng Pill King, what a presence he had in the Capital? On par with the emperor, even the sect leaders of the four major sects had to show him respect.

If the Hidden Poison Sect could win over someone like the Tianfeng Pill King, who would they fear in the Tianfeng Kingdom? Even the royal family in the Capital could be challenged.

"Lord Xiao, on behalf of the Hidden Poison Sect, I formally invite you to become an honorary elder of our sect. If you agree, from now on, your enemies will be the great enemies of the Hidden Poison Sect. The mere Fire Cloud Sect can be wiped out with a flip of the hand!" Gu Sha said with a smile, cupping his fists.

In his view, such an offer was impossible for Lord Xiao to refuse.

The Tianfeng Pill King was different; besides his extraordinary alchemy skills, he was also an Innate Expert.

This Lord Xiao, however, was only at the first level of the Qi Condensing Realm. He might know some special techniques, but Gu Sha didn't take him seriously. If Liao Huoyun had been burned alive like his son, he might be more cautious, but since that didn't happen, it showed that this person didn't have the ability to kill an Innate Expert.

With excellent alchemy skills but lacking strong power, Gu Sha had ten thousand ways to make him submit. The Hidden Poison Sect wasn't skilled in much, but they were quite adept at controlling others.

"What if I refuse?" Huang Mao asked, looking at him with interest.

Gu Sha showed no anger, instead calmly saying, "I believe you won't refuse!"

He glanced back, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Suddenly, a voice boomed from the sky, like thunder exploding in everyone's ears.

"Little thief, for offending my Fire Cloud Sect, I will cut you into a thousand pieces!"

After the voice, a large group of figures wearing red Fire Cloud robes appeared in the sky, rushing over, each exuding an unfathomable aura. At a glance, there were more than twenty of them!

A quick scan revealed that the weakest among them was at the fifth level of the Qi Condensing Realm, while the strongest was Xue Wuqing at the peak of the tenth level of the Qi Condensing Realm. Besides him, there were two other elders at the tenth level.

These people were the elders of the Fire Cloud Sect, gathering more than half of the sect's power.

A smile played on Xiao Long's lips.

These were waves of experience points!

With twenty people above the fifth level of the Qi Condensing Realm, it should be enough to level him up to a Demon General, maybe even two levels!

He really had to thank the Fire Cloud Sect for sending such a generous gift!