The walnut-sized spirit boat rapidly expanded to eight meters long and two meters wide, floating in the air to catch the five of them securely.
Gu Ningyun tossed ten low-grade spirit stones into the spirit boat's core, activating its protective shield to ensure the vessel's surface would not be corroded.
Temporarily out of danger, Mu Chenze produced an ever-bright pearl, turning the pitch-black stomach as bright as day.
“There's a hole over there.”
Following Mu Chenze's finger, Gu Ningyun turned and saw a man-sized opening in the stomach wall. Blood seeped slowly from it, trickling down the wall into the pool of dark green gastric acid.
The opening had not yet healed; it looked like it had been bitten open recently.
Could a Red-Spotted Sea Iguana suffer from a gastric perforation?
Gu Ningyun steered the spirit boat closer, and the scent of an unfamiliar sea beast wafted toward them.
“The edges of the hole are jagged. Some sea beast bit its way through.”
Mu Chenze brought the ever-bright pearl closer. “Should we go in and look? We might be able to follow the path out.”
The protective shields from their disciple jade tokens would only last for fifteen minutes. If they didn't escape the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana within that time, they would be corroded by the toxins.
Exiting through this hole was an opportunity, but it also came with significant risks.
A sea beast capable of biting through the stomach wall of a rank three Red-Spotted Sea Iguana was certainly no simple creature. If they followed its trail out, they would likely encounter it.
Gu Ningyun stared at the dark red blood. “Wen Xuan, I remember the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 mentioned that the liver blood of a Red-Spotted Sea Iguana can neutralize its own venom. Do you know the specifics of how to consume it?”
“It is best refined into a pill. If we lack the environment for alchemy, we can mix it with a warm-natured Purple Sun Flower to neutralize the blood's cold essence and consume the liver blood directly in an emergency.”
Wen Xuan took out five Purple Sun Flowers and gave one to each person. “This emergency method has two drawbacks. First, the energy in the blood of a rank three sea beast will put a certain amount of strain on our bodies, though we should be able to handle it since we have practiced body refining. The second drawback is that the human body cannot fully absorb the liver blood this way, leading to waste.”
Gu Ningyun’s divine sense had already followed the ruptured vessel, tracing the flow of the blood.
According to the internal structure diagram of a Red-Spotted Sea Iguana in the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》, this damaged vessel was the left gastric vein, which flowed toward the hepatic portal vein.
Gu Ningyun shared her observations and thoughts. “If we go through this rupture, we can reach the liver in less than seven or eight minutes.”
Within the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana, now that they were safe from the gastric acid, the iguana's toxins were their greatest threat.
Everyone agreed. “This method is more secure. It’s feasible.”
Wen Xuan was the first to enter the rupture. “No abnormalities. It's clear to pass.”
Mu Chenze, Jiang Yao, and Jun Luo jumped in after her.
Once the four were inside, Gu Ningyun jumped into the rupture and stowed the spirit boat.
They navigated the winding path of the blood flow. Before long, Gu Ningyun felt a different kind of fluid mixing into the blood.
She tossed out a sea spider leg, and it was not corroded.
The method was indeed working.
After walking a few more steps, Wen Xuan stopped. “The liver blood here is the purest, providing the best detoxification effect and the gentlest spirit energy.”
They filled enough porcelain bottles with liver blood. With their greatest crisis resolved, the five finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Retracing their steps through the blood vessel, Gu Ningyun released the spirit boat, and the group returned to the space above the stomach.
“When the protective shield has about five minutes left, if we still haven't escaped the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana, we will consume the liver blood. Once we do, its detoxifying energy will flow through our bodies with our spirit energy, and the iguana's toxins will no longer pose a threat to us.”
Wen Xuan explained softly, “If we can avoid direct consumption, it's better not to.”
The other four naturally had no objections.
Currently in the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana’s stomach, they had three potential paths out.
The first was to head up the esophagus and exit through the mouth. However, the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana was not dead; if they tried to leave through its mouth, they would surely be discovered. Those four rows of teeth could easily take their lives, making it a poor choice.
The second path was to follow the hole in the stomach wall. But Gu Ningyun’s divine sense had already explored that bitten-out tunnel; it was winding and seemed endless, making the hope of escape slim.
The final path was to pass through the gastric acid and the duodenum to exit through the cloaca before the protective shields vanished.
Thinking about what they would face on that path, all five of them wrinkled their noses.
Despite their internal discomfort, they did not hesitate. They leaped off the spirit boat together, plunging toward the gastric acid.
The protective shield of an earth-rank high-grade defense array could withstand even a Soul Emergence True Monarch. The shields of the Xiaoyao disciple jade tokens were even stronger than the array at the Cloud Residence, so they certainly wouldn't be corroded by the gastric acid of a rank three demon beast.
Just as the five were about to fall into the acid, the previously calm stomach space suddenly surged. But after a single violent churn, it returned to stillness, as if forcibly suppressed by something.
“What’s happening?”
As soon as Jiang Yao spoke, a three-meter-wide gash suddenly tore open in the side of the stomach wall.
Cyan wind spirit energy whipped into a rapidly spinning tornado. After boring through the stomach, it perfectly enveloped the five of them in its calm center.
Gu Ningyun felt her body lifted by a gentle breeze. The tornado pulled out like a nail being removed, carrying the five of them out of the Red-Spotted Sea Iguana’s body.
As the tornado dissipated, the clearing breeze forcibly smoothed the seawater that had been churned up by the wind.
The gentle wind spirit energy carried them several meters through the water, bringing them before two Golden Core Perfected Persons.
Gu Ningyun immediately spotted the familiar blue disciple jade tokens hanging from their waists, along with the identity information engraved upon them.
It was the two Golden Core Perfected Persons who had been secretly escorting them!
“The disciples thank Perfected Person Shen and Perfected Person Shu for the rescue.”
Before the five could salute, a wave of gentle spirit energy held them up.
Shen Banxi looked them over carefully. Seeing they were uninjured, he gave a warm smile. “It was nothing.”
Meeting Gu Ningyun’s round, almond-shaped eyes, his fingers twitched. Finally, he couldn't resist ruffling her head. “Do you have questions?”
What a sin, he thought. This future Peak Master successor was also his future little junior sister. Ruffling her head while she was still a little one shouldn't be considered disrespectful, right?
They say a teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime; if the master is absent, the elder brother is like a father. Having watched over this future little junior sister for the entire journey, Shen Banxi felt his heart overflowing with brotherly affection as she stared at him with those clear, round eyes.
“The first among us to activate the disciple jade token's shield was Jun Luo,” Gu Ningyun said. “When you rescued us, Jun Luo's shield had exactly five minutes remaining. I am curious if that was a coincidence or for some other reason.”
As soon as she finished, Mu Chenze and the other three also cast curious glances.
“You even noticed that.” Shen Banxi smiled slightly. “The escort mission has requirements. Unless it is a moment of life and death, we are not to intervene.”
What counted as a moment of life and death?
Thinking of the precisely timed rescue, Gu Ningyun vaguely understood.
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