Wait a minute, where is my master?

"This person is quite interesting,"

After Liu Laoliu had disappeared, the Old Dean, watching the shattered one-time Teleportation Array on the ground, couldn't help but shake his head and laugh.

Jin Xu nodded in agreement, yet remained silent.

He took a few steps forward, arriving at a stone platform half his height, and reached out to pick up a hexagonal jade plaque resting on the platform, examining it for a moment.

Then, he pressed it back into the groove on the platform.

The groove and the hexagonal jade plaque fit together seamlessly.

The next moment,

Streams of intricate flowing light spread out in all directions from beneath the platform, as fast as shooting stars.

"Hum!!"

As the platform was activated, the ground began to tremble slightly, and the numerous sands and gravels on the Gobi desert also started to vibrate.

About after three breaths,

The intricate flowing light that had spread across the ground suddenly rose up, one after another, creating a sequence of indistinct yet oddly comforting strange sounds that emerged from nowhere between heaven and earth.

Heavenly Clarity and Earthly Turbidity, the blooming of a blue lotus, a solemn Taoist, scriptures in motion, and other ethereal illusions, began to incessantly appear and vanish from the sky alongside these comforting sounds.

The entire Gobi desert seemed, for a moment, to have transformed into a kind of Cave Heaven Blessed Land and Immortal Cultivation Holy Mansion.

If someone were to fly over this eight-thousand-li-wide Gobi desert at this time, they would find that starting from the center, extending outward for a thousand li, it was all enveloped in this mysterious Formation.

Standing behind the young Taoist, the Old Dean, upon seeing this Formation activated, couldn't help but speak up again.

"Although Great Xia was established not long ago, there are indeed many capable and unique individuals. Such a multiple overlapping intricate Formation was constructed in less than a half month.

"The younger generation is to be feared indeed."

Perhaps it was due to the influence of the Formation, but at this moment, Yan Chu's voice sounded much more gentle and calm than before.

At this moment, Jin Xu was not affected by the multiple overlapping Formations. He casually echoed the Old Dean's words, and after looking around for a moment, prepared to return to Xuanxu Temple to administer the yellow 'Strengthening Pill' to the Big Willow Tree.

However...

His expression suddenly changed when he saw the illusion of the 'solemn Taoist', and his steps toward the temple's gate halted.

"Why the hell does this illusion use my face?!"

Looking at the illusion in mid-air that resembled himself by eighty percent, Jin Xu couldn't help but internally complain.

The Old Dean seemed to have noticed this situation as well.

However, he showed no particular reaction, and it was unclear whether he was more unperturbed due to the influence of the Formation or if he truly believed it was entirely reasonable for the young Taoist to become an illusion.

"..."

Jin Xu fell silent for a moment and chose to ignore this phenomenon, proceeding to push the door open and enter the temple.

The Old Dean followed closely, and the two soon arrived in the backyard, beneath the Sleeping Big Willow Tree next to the stone table.

Looking at Guan Ling, who appeared just like an ordinary willow tree, Jin Xu inexplicably felt a sense of having lived through a past life.

He shook his head slightly, reached into his storage bracelet, and took out a crystal box containing seven 'Strengthening Pills'. He carefully picked out the yellow one and then put the box back.

Afterward, Jin Xu took out a jade bottle holding over fifteen thousand pills and a storage bag containing a thousand talismans, placed them on the stone table for later use, and carefully hung the Glazed Book Page, previously given to him by the Old Dean, on a branch of the Big Willow Tree.

Then, after contemplating for a moment, he poured the large vat of Desire Suppressing Pill that had turned into medicine liquid onto the base of the Big Willow Tree.

After doing all this, he turned to the Old Dean and warned him.

"Senior Yan, I'm about to start, please be careful later."

"You just go ahead and do your thing, Old Liu can take care of himself."

After all, he was of the Mahayana Realm in cultivation, and although he wasn't as skilled as the young Taoist, Yan Chu was still confident he wouldn't hold him back; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to follow him to the center of this Gobi desert.

Even though Jin Xu felt that Yan Chu probably didn't need his care, just to be safe, he still casually created a Golden Spiritual Power Light Shield around him.

It never hurts to be cautious.

If anything went wrong, Qingmu Academy would be left without a dean.

With all preparations complete, the young Taoist carefully lifted the yellow 'Strengthening Pill' with spiritual power and placed it on the exposed roots of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow.

The moment they made contact, the 'Strengthening Pill' dissolved into thin air.

Seeing this, Jin Xu instinctively grabbed the jade bottle on the stone table, ready for emergencies.

However, a few breaths later, the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow showed no signs of activity. Just when he thought the medicine might be expired or the other party was too severely injured for the medicine to work,

The trunk of the Big Willow Tree suddenly began to tremble, and the branches, only half lush, also started to shake violently.

"It seems to be working."

The young Taoist muttered to himself, with one hand popping the cork of the jade bottle, ready to act at any moment.

But a breath later, the branches of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow started to wither and yellow, and in the blink of an eye, the lush branches that Little White had nibbled on, all fell from the top of the tree.

"Hiss!"

Jin Xu was startled, and a white light appeared on his empty hand in an instant, with a faint silver light also emerging in his eyes.

Having dared to use the 'Strengthening Pill' to treat the elder Big Willow Tree, he naturally had a foolproof strategy. If the side effects of the medicine couldn't be countered by their many preparations, Jin Xu would use the 'Body Purification Skill' to treat the medicinal power as impurities and expel it from the body of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow.

However, this would mean that the medicinal power meant to be therapeutic would also be purified away.

"Young Taoist, how is Elder Willow doing?"

Although the young Taoist had informed the Old Dean of his contingency measures, seeing the situation with the Serenity Willow looking wrong, and although Jin Xu had invoked the 'Body Purification Skill,' he hadn't yet taken action, he could not help but remind him through a spiritual transmission.

"Senior Yan, do not panic, Elder Guan Ling's condition should still be alright."

The young Taoist looked up and down the trunk of the Big Willow Tree with silver-colored eyes, answering without turning his head.

"The situation is still alright?"

Hearing this, Yan Chu looked doubtfully at the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow, which was already drying up and shrinking. In his perception, the tree had just instantaneously lost its vitality, appearing to be beyond saving.

How could that be considered 'alright'?

But out of trust in Jin Xu, he held back from speaking further and silently waited.

On Jin Xu's side, he was initially startled by the wilting condition of the Big Willow Tree.

However, once he activated his Spiritual Eyes, he noticed the wilting and falling of the branches.

Was just an appearance.

At this moment, a rich and overwhelming surge of vitality was rapidly moving through the trunk and roots of the Ten-thousand-year-old Heart Calming Willow.

The huge black crack in its Divine Soul was also quickly dissolving at a visible speed.