I asked you to go down the mountain and get married, not to shock the world!

"Hehe, this is an essential item for our sect disciples when they travel,"

While Ye Chuhan deftly applied the smear to her own and Ji Zhou's faces, she said smugly, "Although it can't hide from a careful divine sense, it's definitely unrecognizable at first glance when mixed in with a crowd."

Ji Zhou endured the increasingly obvious numbness in the wound on his left arm, cooperated in changing clothes, and let Ye Chuhan do whatever he wanted to his face.

Soon, two ordinary-looking, simply dressed young men appeared, their demeanor and appearance quite different from their previous ones.

"The poison on your arm..."

Ye Chuhan frowned as he looked at Ji Zhou's slightly blackened wound and began rummaging through his storage ring again. "I remember I brought an antidote pill... Ah, found it!"

He took out a small white jade bottle, poured out a bright green pill that emitted a cool fragrance, and said, "Take this quickly. This is the Cleansing Spirit Detoxification Pill. It's quite effective against this kind of insidious toxin."

Jizhou took the pill and swallowed it without hesitation.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and a cool current quickly flowed to the limbs and bones, greatly reducing the numbness and itching of the wound on the left arm, and the black color began to fade slowly.

He breathed a sigh of relief: "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Ye Chuhan waved his hand.

Ji Zhou, suppressing his discomfort, continued, "We need to focus on our current mission. As for Qingcheng Yufa Sect and those guys, let's not get entangled with them for now. Our main task is to avoid their notice and conduct our reconnaissance in the core area."

Ye Chuhan nodded: "Okay, I'll do whatever you say. Tell me, what should we do next?"

Ji Zhou glanced at the map and pointed to a mark. "Let's go to Ash Hill to avoid the brunt of the attack. The spiritual energy there is thin, and monsters rarely come. It's easy to be overlooked."

“We can rest there and wait for me to expel the remaining poison. I can also use this opportunity to disguise myself as a low-level rogue cultivator who is going there to try his luck at mining, so as to avoid being noticed.”

"Great idea!" Ye Chuhan's eyes lit up. "I remember there's a small path from Ash Hill that can detour to the flank of the core area, which would be perfect for avoiding any checkpoints they might have set up!"

With the plan settled, the two quickly got to work.

Soon, having disguised themselves, they disappeared into the dense forest.

The two stopped using their movement techniques to travel quickly and instead trudged along the rugged mountain path like ordinary cultivators with low spiritual power.

Jizhou deliberately concealed his aura, even making his face appear paler. Although his left arm had been detoxified, it was still casually bandaged with a strip of cloth, making him appear as if he was searching for medicine while injured.

Ye Chuhan played the role of scouting ahead and helping his companions, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily, his posture perfectly appropriate.

The closer one gets to Ash Hill, the sparser the surrounding vegetation becomes, and a faint, scorching smell, like the afterglow of extinguished fireworks, permeates the air, while the spiritual energy becomes sluggish and thin.

Looking around, large tracts of land appeared an unhealthy gray-black, with jagged rocks and only some drought-resistant thorny plants growing tenaciously.

"This place... truly lives up to its reputation, it's deathly still."

Ye Chuhan lowered his voice and subconsciously tightened his collar, as if he felt that the temperature here was several degrees lower than outside.

“The more it is like this, the safer it is,” Ji Zhou said in a low voice, his sharp gaze sweeping over the strange rocks and ravines. “Find a secluded place; I need some time to completely get rid of the remaining poison.”

The two found a foothold deep within a huge crevice in the rock wall, which looked as if it had been cleaved by a knife.

The entrance is narrow, but the interior is surprisingly spacious, large enough to accommodate several people, and it is also sheltered from the wind and extremely secluded.

As soon as he entered, Jizhou could no longer hold on, and sat down cross-legged, his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

"The poison on that needle was more potent than expected. The Qingling Detoxification Pill suppressed most of it, but a trace of cold energy remained deep within the meridians, which must be expelled as soon as possible."

"You can focus on your practice; I'll protect you."

Ye Chuhan nodded solemnly, set up a simple small array at the entrance of the crack to warn and conceal his aura, then gripped his short blade and stood ready.

Ji Zhou closed his eyes and concentrated. The wind-elemental spiritual power within his body flowed like a gentle stream, carefully cleansing the meridians of his left arm and forcing the stubborn, cold energy towards his fingertips little by little.

The process was slow and painful. Wisps of black energy seeped from his fingertips and dripped onto the ground, making a slight hissing sound and corroding several small pits.

Time passes slowly in silence.

The deathly silence of Ashhill seemed to swallow up all sound, with only the occasional gust of wind blowing through the cracks bringing a mournful echo.

About half an hour later, Jizhou suddenly opened his eyes, let out a long sigh of relief, the last wisp of black energy at his fingertips dissipated, and the numbness in his left arm finally disappeared completely, restoring its flexibility.

"How are you? Is everything alright?" Ye Chuhan immediately turned around and asked with concern.

"I'm fine now." Ji Zhou stretched his left arm, and his eyes regained some of their sparkle. "We shouldn't stay here any longer. Let's rest for a while and then set off to find that path."

Ye Chuhan nodded: "Okay."

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Luo Yang slammed his palm into the charred rock beside him, leaving a clear handprint, and gravel fell in a flurry. His face was ashen, and his chest heaved slightly with rage.

"Damn it! Which mouse hole did those two slippery creatures disappear into?!"

He growled, his voice echoing far and wide across the desolate, lifeless Ash Hill, carrying a resounding, unwilling tone.

Several disciples of the Qingcheng Imperial Law Sect stood around with their hands at their sides, not daring to utter a sound.

They had searched the area repeatedly, even combing through it with their divine senses, but found nothing except for a few faint, almost nonexistent spiritual energy fluctuations and some signs of activity by low-level rogue cultivators.

"Senior Brother Luo, could it be... that they're no longer here?" a disciple asked cautiously. "Perhaps they used some secret technique we don't know about and bypassed us?"

"Impossible!" Luo Yang denied it outright, his eyes turning sinister. "The main paths leading to the core area are all being watched by our people. They think they can get through unnoticed? Not so easy! The terrain of Ash Hill is complex; there must be hiding places or secret passages that we haven't discovered!"

He forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath of the anxious air, and his brain raced.

Ji Zhou and Ye Chuhan first caused a massive explosion that disrupted the beast tide, then escaped using a strange sandstorm illusion, and now they have vanished without a trace right under their noses... Their resourcefulness and methods are far beyond what ordinary sect disciples can match.

"Mingchuan... Hmph, you've certainly raised two fine dogs!"

Luo Yang cursed inwardly.

"Next time I catch those two, I'll definitely kill them both in one blow!"