113: With a single finger, the world is transformed; the stone gate remains closed.

At the bone-chilling bottom of the Snow Nest, the altar was menacing and the prison cell was mournful. A sinister, baleful aura intertwined with an air of despair and Death Qi, forming a bizarre and cruel contrast with the surrounding pure white, deathly silent snow.

Chen Feng stared at the 'Spirit Mediums' and his fellow Taoist elder from the same sect, chained and on the brink of death within the stone chamber. His eyes nearly split with rage as a fire of anger, fear, and guilt burned in his chest, almost erupting from his throat. He instinctively took a step forward but was stopped by Li Muchen's raised hand.

'Don't rush. Saving them is urgent, but we cannot act recklessly.' Li Muchen's voice remained calm yet carried a steady, convincing power. His Divine Sense had long since, like the most precise scalpel, meticulously dissected the structure and the flow of Qi within the altar, stone pillars, blood pool, and even the entire mountain hollow's Formation before him.

This 'Sacred Altar' was clearly one of the core nodes of the great Formation, intricately connected to the entire Snow Nest's 'Gather Yin, Lock Spirit' composite array. Disturbing one part would affect the whole. Forcibly destroying the altar or triggering the prison cell could instantly provoke a backlash from the Formation or alert the array-setter far away.

He needed to find the safest point of entry that could also maximize information gathering.

His gaze swept over the eight black stone pillars again, especially the five immortals' tokens enshrined atop them (a fox head, a desiccated weasel corpse, a hedgehog skeleton, a snake skin, and rat whiskers) and the other three items with vastly different yet similarly ancient and evil auras (a gray-white stone slab riddled with holes, a charred fragment of a wooden staff, and a rusted bronze bell).

These items were not merely symbols or decorations; they were the crucial 'anchors' and 'mediums' maintaining the altar's connection to the great Formation and guiding specific energies.

Under his meticulous Divine Sense investigation, Li Muchen discovered that the rusted bronze bell and the Restriction on the prison cell's stone door shared an extremely subtle energy linkage.

Meanwhile, the gray-white stone slab faintly resonated, as if connected to a vast, ancient, and oppressive existence deep beneath the mountain hollow. As for the charred wooden staff fragment, the aura it emitted actually shared some origin with the 'Tongyou Spirit-Guiding Incense' used by the Grey-robed figures by the river last night, yet it was more refined and ancient.

'The core hub of this place's Formation likely isn't here,' Li Muchen realized inwardly. The Snow Nest seemed more like a meticulously arranged 'preparatory altar' or 'reception platform.' The true 'main altar' or the covenant core, the 'covenant stone,' was probably hidden in a more secretive location with more concentrated earth vein spiritual energy. Everything here, including the imprisoned Spirit Mediums, was preparation for the grand ritual on the night of the full moon.

But for now, they had to save people first.

He signaled for Chen Feng to step back a few paces, then slowly walked towards the stone chamber imprisoning the five Spirit Mediums and the old Taoist from Changchun Temple. His steps seemed casual, but each one precisely avoided several barely visible, venomous Restriction rune carvings hidden on the ground.

Stopping three feet from the thick stone door of the chamber, Li Muchen observed it. The door was cast from some black metal, its surface smooth with no keyhole, but covered in dark red patterns sharing the same origin as the altar's runes.

These patterns now flowed with a faint light at an extremely slow pace, clearly in an active state. Not only were they exceptionally sturdy, but they were also linked to the bronze bell and the entire peripheral great Formation. Forcible destruction would surely provoke backlash.

He extended his right index finger, its tip condensing a point of pure, concentrated, yet unreleased pale golden light, like the most exquisite carving tool. He aimed it at a node in the center of the stone door that seemed identical to the other runes but, in Li Muchen's Divine Sense, showed a faint 'Qi stagnation.' He gently tapped the air towards it.

This tap, seemingly effortless, contained Li Muchen's profound understanding of the Huangting dao rhyme, rune Formations, and the flow of Qi within this great Formation.

That point of golden light silently merged into the rune node, not triggering violent energy conflict, but rather like a drop of water entering boiling oil, instantly setting off a chain reaction of precise 'neutralization' and 'counterflow'!

The dark red rune light on the stone door suddenly became chaotic, like ripples spreading across water struck by a stone! The smoothly operating Restriction energy instantly became disordered, conflicted, and then began canceling each other out!

*Crack... crackle...*

Faint cracking sounds came from within the stone door. Centered on the node Li Muchen had tapped, the dark red runes rapidly dimmed, extinguished, and spread outward. In just a few breaths, the Restriction's spiritual light on the entire door completely dissipated, leaving only the cold, dead metal slab.

Only then did Li Muchen step forward, placing his palm against the door and applying slight force.

*Creak—*

The heavy stone door slowly swung inward, releasing a wave of foul air mixed with the smells of mildew, blood, excrement, and despair.

The scene inside the stone chamber was even more shocking up close.

Five young men and women were shackled with rough iron chains binding their hands and feet to iron rings on the wall. Their clothes were tattered, their bodies covered in bruises and scabbed wounds, especially their wrists, where old and new knife marks overlapped, clearly from repeated bloodletting.

They were emaciated, their eyes vacant, showing almost no reaction to the door opening or Li Muchen's arrival, only a primal cowering and fear.

The old Taoist from Changchun Temple in the corner was in slightly better condition, but his face was sallow, his Taoist robe torn, and his exposed arms also bore bloodletting marks.

His cultivation was likely not low. Though weak now, he retained some awareness. When the door opened and he saw not a Grey-robed cultist but a composed, blue-robed Taoist outside, a glimmer of disbelief suddenly sparked in his muddy eyes.

'You... who are you...' the old Taoist's voice was hoarse and dry, like a broken bellows.

'Do not be alarmed, Elder. We are here to save you.' Chen Feng, unable to restrain himself any longer, rushed in. Seeing the Changchun Temple insignia on the old Taoist's robe, he grew even more agitated. 'Are you a Senior from Changchun Temple? I am Chen Feng; I once stayed at the temple!'

'Chen... Chen Feng?' The old Taoist was stunned, seeming to recall something, his expression complex—relieved yet urgent. 'Quick... quick, leave! This place is perilous, unlike any other! They... they will send someone to inspect soon!'

'Rest assured, Elder. There is no one outside for now.' Li Muchen entered the stone chamber, his gaze sweeping the interior before settling on the iron chains binding the captives and the wall rings.

These chains were not ordinary iron; they were mixed with some sinister material that suppressed living essence and absorbed blood Qi. The locks also had simple restraining runes.

He pointed his fingers like a sword, slashing several times through the air. Several condensed golden Sword Qi streaks shot from his fingertips, striking with perfect accuracy at the junctions between the chains and locks, and the bases of the wall rings.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

The sound of metal clashing rang out. Before the golden Sword Qi imbued with dao rhyme of breaking evil and sharpness, those evil-iron-mixed, rune-carved chains snapped like rotten wood and dry grass! The wall rings were also sliced off cleanly at the base, the cuts smooth as mirrors.

Freed from the Restraint and suppression of the sinister chains, the five prisoners groaned softly and collapsed to the ground, too weak to even stand. But the dead numbness in their eyes was finally replaced by a faint glimmer of light named 'hope.'