Why did you provoke that old man? He's a reincarnation of a deity!

"Shut up, you noisy person." Xiao Nian walked up to him with her cane, sat down on the edge of the bed, and placed two fingers on Zeng Yuanqiao's pulse.

Zeng Yuanqiao obediently shut his mouth. In his entire life, he had only ever respected two people: his father and the white-haired old man in front of him.

The moment Xiao Nian probed with his spiritual energy, he sensed that the fire poison in Zeng Yuanqiao's body had indeed become active again. The poison was spreading outward along the meridians, and it was at least 30% more serious than when he treated him last time.

This old man is really making things difficult for himself. If he hadn't received treatment any later, the fire poison would have spread throughout his body.

"Master Meng, these are all things we've collected recently. Have you seen enough?"

Xiao Nian glanced at the several wooden boxes and cloth bags piled up in the room.

Xiao Fei quickly stepped forward and opened the box. The first box contained spirit stones, neatly stacked and lined with layers of cotton cloth. The low-grade spirit stones gleamed with a faint blue light and covered half of the bottom of the box. Upon closer inspection, there were far more than a hundred of them.

The second box contained medicinal herbs: thousand-year-old purple ginseng, Xuanbing Lingzhi, hundred-year-old Solomon's seal, Tianshan snow lotus, and even purple monkey flower. Each plant was individually wrapped in oil paper, and they were all of excellent quality and of sufficient age. These were all necessary for foundation building.

In a small, exquisite sandalwood box beside it, five mid-grade spirit stones lay quietly.

Xiao Nian nodded. The Zeng family's power and wealth were indeed extraordinary. When he was able to issue that order, he didn't expect to be able to raise the money in a short period of time, but in less than two months, everything was in place, including five mid-grade spirit stones.

"I have the medicinal herbs and spirit stones. Now I need to set up the formation, so all of you should leave."

Zeng Yuanqiao wanted to say something, but Xiao Nian glanced at him and he shut his mouth again.

Xiao Fei led a few servants out of the room and gently closed the door.

Xiao Nian laid the spirit stones out on the ground, arranging them in a circle around Zeng Yuanqiao's bed.

As he drew array patterns on the ground with his fingers, he embedded the five elemental demon cores from his storage bag into five directional nodes, and laid a layer of spiritual energy circulation along the outer perimeter using low-grade spirit stones.

"Perfect timing, the Five Elements Demon Cores will come in handy now."

"Five Elements Exorcising Formation!" Xiao Nian shouted in a low voice.

The principle of the five elements' mutual generation and restraint circulates within this small formation, counteracting the fire poison within Zeng Yuanqiao's body.

"Sit still and don't move."

Zeng Yuanqiao sat cross-legged in the center of the bed.

Xiao Nian placed one palm on his Dazhui acupoint on his back. The moment spiritual energy entered, the spirit stones on the ground simultaneously lit up with five-colored light.

The toxins used in those exotic magic books are actually different elements, and the toxins made from different elements have different effects on the human body.

For example, they call water dihydrogen monoxide.

Xiao Nian only needs to use the power of the Five Elements to combine and decompose these different elements, preferably turning them into hydrogen monoxide or carbon dioxide for the human body to absorb.

The whole process wasn't complicated, but it was meticulous.

Xiao Nian spent four hours relentlessly trying to expel the poison.

When Xiao Nian stopped, most of the spirit stones on the ground had dimmed, and one of the five mid-grade spirit stones was broken. With the help of the Five Elements Demon Core, his movements were not so resistant.

Zeng Yuanqiao's complexion changed from ashen to rosy, and his breathing became long and strong. The fire poison that had plagued him for many years had finally disappeared.

He opened his eyes, looked down at his palms, clenched his fists, stood up and jumped twice.

His movements were so agile that he didn't look like a man in his fifties at all.

"I, Zeng Yuanqiao, am back! I can go into battle and fight the enemy!" Zeng Yuanqiao was very excited.

"Alright." Xiao Nian swept the remaining spirit stone fragments on the ground into her storage bag. "The fire poison in your body has been completely removed by the power of the five elements. It won't recur, and you no longer need to be afraid of fighting against foreign magicians."

He paused for a moment, then said, "A portion of the power of the Five Elements remains in your meridians, so your body is now even stronger than before you were poisoned."

Zeng Yuanqiao froze for two seconds, then slammed his fist into the wall, instantly creating a large hole in it with his true energy.

His eyes instantly reddened, his lips trembled a few times, and in the end he could only manage to utter, "Sir, your great kindness will never be forgotten by me."

Xiao Nian waved his hand.

"I asked you to collect these medicinal herbs because I need them; consider it payment for the treatment."

Of course, he didn't punish Zeng Yuanqiao to make him grateful. This old man was the head of the Zeng family in this generation, and his connections and influence in the Central Plains would be of great help to Xiao Nian in what he would do in the future.

Zeng Yuanqiao calmed himself down, took a deep breath, and spoke:

"Sir, there is one more thing. The last ingredient on your list is a 500-year-old Ganoderma lucidum."

"We've found out where it is. It's in the hands of a nobleman in the southwest. His surname is Wang, and his ancestors were founding heroes of the Great Xia Dynasty. Although his family has declined in recent years, they still have the things passed down from their ancestors. He's going to hold a banquet at his mansion soon, ostensibly to celebrate his daughter's birthday, but actually to take the opportunity to sell a batch of ancestral property for money. Huo Yunzhi is in that batch of goods."

He walked to the desk, took out a gold-embossed invitation from the drawer, and handed it to Xiao Nian: "If you, sir, can represent the Zeng family at this event and acquire that Fire Cloud Ganoderma in the Zeng family's name, the Zeng family will cover all the costs. You only need to go to the Southwest and bid for that medicinal herb."

Southwest is a collective term for five provinces, and Jiangbei Province also belongs to the Southwest region.

Xiao Nian took the invitation and glanced at it.

The handwriting was neat and beautiful, and a vermilion "王" (Wang) private seal was affixed at the end.

The time is five days later, and the location is Queensland City in the southwest.

"Five days?" Xiao Nian folded the invitation and put it in her pocket. "That's enough time. But I need to bring a few people."

Zeng Yuanqiao immediately nodded: "Take whatever you like. Xiao Fei will accompany you, and we'll assign you two guards. You can have as many carriages as you want."

"Xiao Fei is fine." Xiao Nian didn't like too many people following him; he had too many secrets.

The burly guy Xiaofei is relatively more reliable.

"By the way, Master, I would like my granddaughter to become your disciple. What do you think? She is my most beloved junior."

"Granddaughter?" Xiao Nian thought of the domineering Zeng Zixuan. For some reason, she was so hostile towards him. But none of that mattered. The Heavenly Venerable was confident that no matter who was a dragon or a tiger, they had to kneel before him.

Seeing that Xiao Nian remained silent, Zeng Yuanqiao grew anxious: "Master Meng, I will do everything in my power to send you cultivation resources. She is my only favorite junior, and I hope you can accept her as your disciple. I will repay you by serving you like a slave in my next life."

He was about to kneel down when Xiao Nian's spiritual power helped him up.

"Don't be so polite. My tuition isn't cheap. Let her take a look."

Xiao Nian meant that since the Zeng family was so rich and had so many resources, they had to take advantage of them. After he finished speaking, he slowly walked out.

He was already planning in his mind the final ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill. Once it was refined, he would be able to officially attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Since the Zeng family is so sincere, he only needs to make one trip.

As for that royal banquet in Queensland, who cares about nobility or anything like that? Once the food is on the table, it's naturally up to the highest bidder.

Xiao Fei followed behind him, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Mr. Meng, should I send someone to the southwest to make some arrangements beforehand? I know a few people in the Wang family, so I can at least get some information."

"No need, buying things is just buying things. We've brought enough banknotes. If they need anything else, I have plenty of ways to handle it." This was Xiao Nian's strong confidence.