Long Xiao thought for a long time and realized that he couldn't break the formation with normal methods. The principle of this formation was different from Chinese formations, and it was unlikely to break it without understanding its core.
There were many unconventional ways to break formations, and Long Xiao chose one that was convenient for him.
The formation was set up with trees. As long as these large trees were destroyed, the formation would naturally break.
The forest was full of large trees, each with a diameter of more than half a meter. Destroying all of them would be extremely difficult.
While it was arduous for others to destroy one tree, it was effortless for Long Xiao.
Long Xiao walked towards a large tree, ready to start, when the 'Crimson Flame Insect' flew over, its wings fluttering.
After Long Xiao was captured by the Southern Palace Patriarch, the Patriarch searched his body. The 'Crimson Flame Insect' escaped when the Patriarch wasn't paying attention.
Seeing the 'Crimson Flame Insect', Long Xiao chuckled and said, "Little fellow, set it ablaze."
The 'Crimson Flame Insect' nodded, flew towards the large tree, and flapped its wings, instantly turning the tree into a fiery torch.
"Long Xiao, are you an idiot? You're in the forest, setting a fire will burn you to death."
Long Xiao looked around but couldn't find the speaker. He put on a look of desperation and said, "If I burn to death, so be it. I'm not afraid."
The 'Crimson Flame Insect' ignited several more trees, and the temperature in the forest instantly rose.
Long Xiao observed his surroundings carefully but still couldn't find where the speaker was hiding.
"It's lit, it's just a little hot, hahaha."
Long Xiao laughed wildly as he scanned his surroundings. This time, no one spoke to him, suggesting the speaker might have left the forest.
Long Xiao shouted a few more times, and seeing no response, he reached out and grabbed a large tree. The tree rapidly withered and lost its life.
The dry tree was extremely brittle. Long Xiao struck it with his palm, and it instantly turned into powder.
After destroying over twenty large trees, Long Xiao's vital energy had also increased significantly.
A large clearing appeared in the middle of the forest, and the formation was no more.
"Little fellow, let's go," Long Xiao shouted happily.
The 'Crimson Flame Insect' landed on Long Xiao's shoulder, hopped a few times joyfully, and burrowed into his clothes.
Emerging from the forest, they found themselves in a desolate mountainous area, filled with jagged rocks and sparse, lonely small trees standing on the barren slopes.
Long Xiao oriented himself and had just started to walk down the slope when he felt someone approaching from behind.
Long Xiao turned around and saw a palm strike his neck. With a bang, Long Xiao's vision went black, and he fell to the ground.
"Long Xiao isn't that difficult to catch. This guy is a bit unusual; we need to increase the dosage, otherwise, it'll be hard to control him."
The speaker was a middle-aged man with a full beard. He kicked Long Xiao, and only when Long Xiao didn't move did he feel relieved.
Standing beside the bearded man was a short European with bright yellow hair.
The bearded man hoisted Long Xiao onto his shoulder and followed the short man down the mountain.
At the entrance to the Southern Palace Estate, the disciples of the Southern Palace family were few and far between, having been killed. Nangong Qin Yu was furious, but he was no match for Old Daoist Xiao, so he had to suppress his anger.
The Heavenly Realm experts from other families had no intention of killing Nangong Qin Yu. They continued to slaughter the Southern Palace family's disciples, hoping to force Nangong Qin Yu to hand over Long Xiao.
Xiao Ming, along with the members of the Mad Saber Sect, killed Southern Palace family disciples for a while before returning to the Southern Palace Estate with Meiling.
The Southern Palace family was the foremost martial arts family, so they couldn't be destitute. Xiao Ming thought that since they had come, they shouldn't leave empty-handed.
Meiling now did whatever Xiao Ming said. If Xiao Ming said to go, she would follow without asking what they were going to do.
The two soon arrived at the villa where Nangong Qin Yu lived. Meiling said, "Xiao Ming, are you planning to rob the Southern Palace family?"
Xiao Ming nodded and said, "We've come this far; it would be a shame not to rob them. The Southern Palace family must have a treasury. If we're lucky, we might find it."
The two searched Nangong Qin Yu's villa but didn't find the treasury they were hoping for. They only found some antiques in Nangong Qin Yu's study.
Xiao Ming was not interested in antiques. He told Meiling to take anything that was easy to carry and leave what was inconvenient.
As they reached the study door, Xiao Ming noticed two large vases placed by the entrance and felt a little puzzled.
"Why are such large vases placed here?"
Xiao Ming murmured to himself as he walked around the vases, not noticing anything special about them.
Meiling, carrying a large pile of items, saw Xiao Ming circling the vases and asked, "Xiao Ming, what's so special about these vases?"
"Nothing much, I just think these vases are peculiar and shouldn't be placed here."
Meiling put down her load and also circled the vases. The two vases looked ordinary, with nothing special to them.
Meiling kicked one of the vases and said, "Just a broken vase, what's there to see."
With a bang, the vase shattered, revealing two stones with a metallic luster hidden within a cavity.
"Two worthless stones considered treasures, hidden so securely," Meiling said, looking at the stones.
Seeing the two stones, Xiao Ming thought that Brother Long had been looking for stones containing the Five Elements' energy. These stones had a metallic luster, making them likely to be stones containing extremely pure gold attribute energy.
"Hidden so securely, they must be treasures," Xiao Ming said, picking up the stones and carefully tucking them into his embrace.
Meiling picked up the items from the floor again, and Xiao Ming kicked the other vase.
The vase shattered, revealing nothing inside, which greatly disappointed Xiao Ming.
Their gains from Nangong Qin Yu's villa were meager, so the two began to roam around the Southern Palace Estate, checking any place they suspected might be hiding something.
After searching the Southern Palace Estate for over an hour, they didn't find many valuable items.
Disappointed, they came to the entrance of the Southern Palace Estate. Old Daoist Xiao had already killed Nangong Qin Yu. The entrance of the Southern Palace Estate was littered with corpses and blood.
As Xiao Ming exchanged a few words with Old Daoist Xiao, people from the Mad Saber Sect approached them.
"Young Master, the Southern Palace family members have been almost wiped out."
"Did you find my Brother Long?" Xiao Ming asked anxiously.
Everyone shook their heads. Xiao Ming looked at Old Daoist Xiao, who said, "Don't look at me, he didn't reveal himself under duress."
"The Southern Palace Patriarch is not in the Southern Palace Estate. Their hiding place must be nearby. Find them," Xiao Ming said.
All the members of the Mad Saber Sect dispersed, heading in all directions to search for the Southern Palace Patriarch's hiding place.
Xiao Ming and the others waited at the entrance of the Southern Palace Estate for a while longer before Luo Tianshui, who had set the fires, returned.
"Meiling, you should have stayed with me to set fires. Why did you run back?" Luo Tianshui complained.
Meiling chuckled and said, "It's not fun following you. It's more fun following Brother Xiao Ming."
Luo Tianshui glanced at Xiao Ming and said, "You must have had quite a harvest this time."
Xiao Ming was feeling frustrated because he hadn't found many valuable items. Hearing Luo Tianshui's words, Xiao Ming started to complain.
"I didn't expect the Southern Palace family to be so poor. Now that the Southern Palace family has fallen, we should take some time to raid their companies. We should be able to gain quite a bit."