“I don’t know. Brother Luotong, you’ve seen so much more than me—you should recognize it, shouldn’t you?”
Shui Miao remained fully alert, yet outwardly calm, silently watching for developments.
Luotong’s soul projection was extremely excited. In his eagerness, he planned to first seize the stone and then fabricate a story to deceive Shui Miao. If deception failed, he would risk everything to break through and escape back to the Immortal Realm, where all would be well.
“It seems to me like it’s just a piece of multicolored stone suitable for forging a nether artifact. I have a top-grade refining furnace in my true form that could purify it perfectly. Once refined, we can forge a Supreme Nether Artifact together,” Luotong said deliberately downplaying the stone’s importance while eagerly stepping forward to grab it.
The Jade Void Sect’s Hua Tianxiong and the thousand-year-old ghost Bai Lian had come here undoubtedly for this very Nuwa Stone. With it, he could forge a Holy Artifact—one surpassing even Supreme Treasures. The closer he got, the more excited he became, unable to suppress his intense desire to possess it, and he instinctively reached out his hand.
Shui Miao quickly advanced a few steps too, ready to strike down Luotong’s soul projection.
Seeing Shui Miao also rushing forward, Luotong’s soul projection suddenly tensed. Hurriedly, he sped forward and snatched the Nuwa Stone, instantly sealing it into a protective nether treasure he carried. Immediately afterward, he vanished into the artifact, taking control and preparing to flee.
“Cursed!”
Shui Miao realized his speed was no match for Luotong’s. He regretted not acting sooner, but fortunately, he had been prepared. His Soul Devouring Force and Immortal Energy surged forth, instantly enveloping the nether treasure where Luotong’s soul projection hid.
Luotong’s soul projection poured all his power into controlling the nether artifact, which could not simply be suppressed by Immortal Energy.
“I don’t know. Brother Luotong, you’re well-traveled and knowledgeable—surely you should recognize it, right?”
Shuimiao remained fully alert yet outwardly composed, quietly observing how things would unfold.
Luotong’s divine spirit was extremely excited, his emotions stirred. As his thoughts churned, he first contemplated seizing the stone for himself, then fabricating lies to deceive Shuimiao. If deception failed, he was prepared to fight his way out and flee back to the immortal realm, where everything would be settled.
“From what I see, it seems to be just a five-colored stone that can be used to forge netherworld artifacts. My true form has an excellent refining furnace that can purify it. Once it’s refined into material, let’s work together to create a supreme netherworld artifact.” Luotong’s divine spirit deliberately downplayed the stone’s significance while simultaneously eagerly stepping toward it.
Hu Tianxiong of the Yuxu Sect and the thousand-year-old female ghost Bailian had come here together, undoubtedly for this Nuwa Stone. With this Nuwa Stone, I could forge a sacred artifact—one that surpasses even supreme magical treasures! The closer he got to the stone, the more excited Luotong became, completely unable to suppress his desire to possess it. He instinctively reached out his hand.
Shuimiao also quickly stepped forward, ready at any moment to strike and destroy Luotong’s divine spirit.
Seeing Shuimiao also moving to seize the stone, Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly grew tense. He hurriedly accelerated, grabbing the Nuwa Stone and swiftly storing it inside a protective nether treasure he carried. Immediately after, he slipped into the treasure and prepared to escape.
“Dammit!”
His speed was far inferior to Luotong’s. Shuimiao regretted not having acted sooner. Thankfully, he had remained vigilant—activating both his soul-devouring power and immortal energy, he instantly enveloped the nether treasure where Luotong’s divine spirit was hiding.
Luotong’s divine spirit exerted full control over the nether artifact. How could mere immortal energy suppress it?
But just as Luotong’s divine spirit broke through the encasement of Shuimiao’s immortal energy and reached the escape passage, everything suddenly went black. In his desperation, Shuimiao had trapped Luotong’s nether treasure inside the supreme nether artifact, the Nether Conch.
“You brat! You actually think you can use my own artifact to trap me? How foolish can you be?”
Luotong’s divine spirit shouted excitedly, immediately spreading his divine sense and exploiting a pre-prepared flaw within the Nether Conch to quickly reclaim it. However, after retrieving the Nether Conch, he discovered it was now encased within another nether artifact!
All the artifacts—every nether artifact within the Ten Yin Kunyuan Formation—had been tampered with by Luotong.
Shuimiao’s method of using nether artifacts to encase one another to prevent Luotong’s escape was almost equivalent to returning all the artifacts to Luotong.
The situation was critical, and Shuimiao had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.
Shuimiao knew that any stone that could make Luotong’s divine spirit abandon friendship and righteousness without hesitation could not be an ordinary five-colored stone. It must be the Nuwa Stone Luotong had mentioned earlier. After layering multiple nether artifacts, Shuimiao used the Sacred Ring to encase them all and entered the ring himself. He channeled his soul-devouring power into the artifacts to confront Luotong’s divine spirit.
After reclaiming several nether treasures in a row, Luotong suddenly sensed the soul-devouring power and his heart sank.
Soul-devouring power was extremely sinister, capable of corroding everything.
To reclaim the outer nether treasures, Luotong would need to use the power of his divine spirit, but the soul-devouring power blocked him, guarding the core formation of the nether artifacts and rendering him immobile. If this continued, the soul-devouring power would corrode one artifact after another, and eventually, he would meet his end.
“Shuimiao, you’re still wet behind the ears if you think you can challenge me!”
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly thought of a plan: retreat into the innermost nether artifact and detonate the outermost ones he had refined to break through Shuimiao’s restraints.
“Boom!”
An explosion, deafening and violent, instantly shattered several nether artifacts.
“I’m going all out!”
Shuimiao steeled himself. After all, he had plenty of nether artifacts, while Luotong only controlled a few. If too many were detonated, Luotong would be the one to suffer.
After detonating several nether artifacts in succession, Luotong realized he seemed to have backed himself into a corner.
“Brother Luotong, why must you go to this extent? The Nuwa Stone is so large—why must you hoard it all for yourself? Is abandoning friendship and righteousness for a mere stone really worth it?” Shuimiao’s thoughts flickered, and his voice echoed within the nether realm.
Hearing this, Luotong’s divine spirit replied fiercely, “Shuimiao, stop pretending to be righteous. Don’t you want it too? Do you think I don’t know? If you think a few words will make me hand over the Nuwa Stone to you, you’re naively mistaken. The value of this Nuwa Stone is enough to trigger a war among immortals and gods. Unless you have the ability to destroy me, you will never obtain it.”
Shuimiao shook his head. “Brother Luotong, what if I detonate a few more nether artifacts? Do you think you’ll survive the blasts?”
“Shuimiao… you… you’re ruthless!”
Luotong’s divine spirit anxiously darted his eyes around. Turning to look at the Nuwa Stone, he suddenly had an idea and exclaimed excitedly, “Haha! Shuimiao, you’ve lost this time! I’m going to channel the Nuwa Stone’s energy to connect with my nether artifacts. Even if you detonate nether artifacts—or even supreme magical treasures—you won’t harm me in the slightest!”
As he spoke, Luotong’s divine spirit immediately attempted to draw upon the energy within the Nuwa Stone to nourish his protective nether artifact.
But at that moment, a crisp cracking sound came from the center of the Nuwa Stone.
“Huh? What…?”
Luotong’s divine spirit never expected the Nuwa Stone to make such a sound. Startled, he quickly retreated.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
In his desperation, Shuimiao couldn’t wait for Luotong to channel the Nuwa Stone’s energy. He hurriedly detonated several nether artifacts.
Luotong’s protective nether artifact couldn’t withstand the massive explosive force and instantly cracked!
Surges of immortal energy and soul-devouring power rushed in.
“Brother Luotong, thank you for the reminder. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to capture you so quickly!”
Shuimiao’s consciousness solidified within Luotong’s protective nether artifact, and a wave of soul-devouring power directly enveloped Luotong’s divine spirit.
But Luotong stared blankly at the Nuwa Stone…
Puzzled, Shuimiao also turned to look…
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly spoke with shock: “Shuimiao, we’re both too late!”
“What… what do you mean?”
Shuimiao was baffled and quickly focused on sensing Luotong’s thoughts.
Luotong suddenly sneered. “We’re so foolish. The evil dragon clan is no ordinary group. The four Dragon Sovereigns were originally incredibly powerful, yet now they can’t even defeat Wuchang Yidao. Why didn’t I realize it earlier? They’ve possessed the Nuwa Stone for so long—how could they not use such a treasure?”
“Crack!”
Another crisp sound.
Shuimiao quickly focused his attention to examine the Nuwa Stone closely. He discovered a hole in its center, inside which lay a dragon egg. The egg had already cracked—clearly, a young dragon had been incubated by the Nuwa Stone’s energy…
No wonder Luotong’s divine spirit was disheartened. The Nuwa Stone’s energy had been absorbed by this young dragon!
Shuimiao suddenly understood.
But Shuimiao felt that the Nuwa Stone still contained plenty of energy, didn’t it?
How much could a tiny young dragon possibly absorb?
“Right!”
Looking at the dragon egg, Shuimiao suddenly had an idea. He immediately channeled his immortal energy to store the entire Nuwa Stone, along with the dragon egg, into his conceptual planet. Drawing on his previous experience incubating and nurturing a dream demon baby, he thought that since he could act as the dream demon baby’s mother, he could also be this young dragon’s father. Raising it would undoubtedly make it his right-hand ally in the future.
After storing the Nuwa Stone, Shuimiao immediately divided his attention.
On one hand, he focused his consciousness to envelop the young dragon, sensing its thoughts and imparting some memories.
On the other hand, he approached Luotong’s divine spirit. “Brother Luotong, it’s fortunate you’re only a strand of divine consciousness. Otherwise, I truly wouldn’t have the heart to destroy you. But you know too much, and you betrayed our friendship first. I have no choice but to do this to you.”
“Shuimiao, you’re ruthless. Someone like you will either become a ruler or remain obscure forever. I advise you not to act recklessly. Wait until you have enough strength before making your move. Also, considering I brought you here and helped you obtain the Nuwa Stone, can you promise me one thing?”
Luotong’s divine spirit was already very weak. Even without Shuimiao destroying it, he was already fading.
This strand of Luotong’s divine consciousness had, overall, been good to him. Shuimiao nodded. “You once treated me as a brother, so I will also acknowledge you as my elder brother. Whatever it is, just say it. If it’s within my power, I will do my utmost.”
“Thank you… thank you! I hope you can forgive me and still consider me your elder brother. Let us truly be brothers for once.”
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly spoke these words.
Shuimiao was taken aback, feeling that Luotong’s words sounded insincere. Had he suddenly realized that the Nuwa Stone could still be used and held great value?
“You may go…”
After a pause, Shuimiao willed it and released that strand of Luotong’s divine spirit.
He himself controlled the Sacred Ring to shrink and quickly left the dragon palace’s inner sanctum.
Outside, the dragons were still fiercely battling Wuchang Yidao. Wuchang Yidao was gradually losing strength, showing signs of defeat, and wouldn’t last much longer.
At that moment, Luotong’s divine spirit in the dragon palace treasury suddenly laughed and murmured to himself, “Shuimiao, you think I’ve lost? If so, you’re gravely mistaken. I, Luotong, have never lost in my life, and I certainly won’t lose to you! I’ve already figured out your character. Now, I’ll trigger the formation to attract the dragons and take the blame for stealing the Nuwa Stone myself, making you owe me a huge favor. If you succeed one day, I know someone like you won’t forget me. You will repay my true form a hundredfold, a thousandfold—I’m certain of it, because that’s just the kind of person you are!”
Luotong, skilled in schemes, had actually set up a bitter trick for his own true form.
“Roar…”
Luotong’s divine spirit triggered the mechanism, and the dragon palace treasury instantly echoed with deafening dragon roars and alarm signals.
“Foolish brat! Did you really think you could trap me with my own treasure? You must be even more foolish than I thought!”
“I don’t know. Brother Luotong, you’re well-traveled and knowledgeable—surely you should recognize it, right?”
Shuimiao remained fully alert, yet outwardly composed, quietly observing how things would unfold.
Luotong’s divine spirit was extremely excited, his emotions stirred. As his thoughts churned, he first considered pocketing the stone and then fabricating a lie to deceive Shuimiao. If that didn’t work, he was prepared to fight his way out and flee back to the immortal realm, where everything would be settled.
“From what I see, it seems to be just a five-colored stone that could be used to forge netherworld equipment. My true form has an excellent refining furnace perfect for purifying it. Once it’s refined into material, we can work together to create a supreme netherworld artifact.” Luotong’s divine spirit deliberately downplayed the stone’s significance while simultaneously stepping eagerly toward it.
Hu Tianxiong of the Yuxu Sect and the thousand-year-old female ghost Bailian had come here together—undoubtedly for this Nuwa Stone. With this Nuwa Stone, I could forge a sacred artifact, something even beyond supreme magical treasures! The closer he got to the stone, the more excited Luotong became, completely unable to suppress his desire to possess it. He couldn’t help but reach out his hand.
Shuimiao also quickly stepped forward, ready at any moment to strike and destroy Luotong’s divine spirit.
Seeing Shuimiao also moving to seize the stone, Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly grew tense. He hurriedly accelerated, grabbing the Nuwa Stone and swiftly storing it inside one of his protective netherworld treasures. Immediately after, he slipped into the treasure himself and prepared to make his escape.
“Dammit!”
Shuimiao’s speed was far inferior to Luotong’s. Regretting that he hadn’t acted sooner, he focused his mind—fortunately, he had been prepared. Channeling both his soul-devouring power and immortal energy, he instantly enveloped the netherworld treasure where Luotong’s divine spirit was hiding.
Luotong’s divine spirit exerted full control over the netherworld artifact—how could mere immortal energy suppress it?
But just as Luotong’s divine spirit broke through the encasement of Shuimiao’s immortal energy and reached the exit, everything suddenly went black. In his desperation, Shuimiao had managed to trap Luotong’s netherworld treasure inside the supreme netherworld treasure—the Nether Sea Conch.
“You brat! You actually think you can use my own artifact to trap me? How foolish can you be?”
Luotong’s divine spirit shouted excitedly, immediately spreading his divine sense and utilizing a pre-prepared flaw within the Nether Sea Conch to quickly reclaim it. However, once he retrieved the conch, he discovered it was now enveloped by yet another netherworld artifact!
Every magical treasure, all the netherworld artifacts within the Ten Yin Kunyuan Formation, had been tampered with by Luotong.
Shuimiao’s method of using one netherworld artifact to encase another in an attempt to stop Luotong’s escape was practically equivalent to returning all the artifacts to him.
The situation was critical, and Shuimiao had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure.
Shuimiao knew that any stone that could make Luotong’s divine spirit abandon friendship and righteousness without hesitation couldn’t possibly be just an ordinary five-colored stone. It had to be the Nuwa Stone Luotong had mentioned earlier. After layering multiple netherworld artifacts, Shuimiao used the Sacred Origin Ring to encase them all, then entered the ring himself. He channeled his soul-devouring power into the artifacts to confront Luotong’s divine spirit.
After reclaiming several netherworld treasures in a row, Luotong suddenly sensed the soul-devouring power and his heart sank.
Soul-devouring power was extremely sinister, capable of corroding everything.
To reclaim the outer netherworld treasures, Luotong would need to use the power of his divine spirit, but the soul-devouring power blocked him, guarding the core formation of the netherworld artifacts and rendering him immobile. If this continued, the soul-devouring power would corrode one artifact after another, and eventually, he would be doomed.
“Shuimiao, you’re still wet behind the ears if you think you can challenge me!”
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly thought of a plan: retreat into the innermost netherworld artifact and detonate the outermost ones he had refined to break through Shuimiao’s confinement.
“Boom!”
An explosion, deafening and violent, instantly shattered several netherworld artifacts.
“I’m all in!”
Shuimiao steeled himself. After all, he had plenty of netherworld artifacts at his disposal, while Luotong only controlled a few. If too many were detonated, it would be Luotong who suffered.
After several consecutive detonations, Luotong realized he seemed to have backed himself into a corner.
“Brother Luotong, why go to such extremes? The Nuwa Stone is so large—why must you keep it all for yourself? Is abandoning friendship and righteousness for the sake of a stone really worth it?” Shuimiao’s thoughts stirred, and his voice echoed within the netherworld realm.
Hearing this, Luotong’s divine spirit replied fiercely, “Shuimiao, stop pretending to be righteous. Don’t you want it too? Do you think I don’t know? If you think a few words will make me hand over the Nuwa Stone, you’re incredibly naive. The value of this Nuwa Stone is enough to trigger a war among immortals and gods. So, unless you have what it takes to destroy me, you’ll never get your hands on it.”
Shuimiao shook his head. “Brother Luotong, what if I detonate a few more netherworld artifacts? Do you think you’ll survive the blasts?”
“Shuimiao… you… you’re ruthless!”
Luotong’s divine spirit anxiously glanced around before turning his attention to the Nuwa Stone. A sudden idea struck him, and he exclaimed excitedly, “Haha! Shuimiao, you’ve lost this time! I’m going to channel the Nuwa Stone’s energy to connect with my netherworld artifacts. Even if you detonate netherworld artifacts or even supreme magical treasures, you won’t harm me in the slightest!”
As he spoke, Luotong’s divine spirit immediately attempted to draw upon the energy within the Nuwa Stone to nourish his protective netherworld artifact.
But at that moment, a crisp cracking sound came from the center of the Nuwa Stone.
“Huh… what…”
Luotong’s divine spirit never expected the Nuwa Stone to make such a sound. Startled, he quickly retreated.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
In a panic, Shuimiao couldn’t wait for Luotong to channel the Nuwa Stone’s energy. He hurriedly detonated several netherworld artifacts.
Luotong’s protective netherworld artifact couldn’t withstand the massive explosive force and instantly cracked!
Streams of immortal energy and soul-devouring power surged in.
“Brother Luotong, thank you for the reminder. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to capture you so quickly!”
Shuimiao’s consciousness took form within Luotong’s protective netherworld artifact, and a wave of soul-devouring power directly enveloped Luotong’s divine spirit.
But Luotong stared blankly at the Nuwa Stone…
Puzzled, Shuimiao also turned to look at the Nuwa Stone…
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly spoke, his face filled with shock. “Shuimiao, we’re both too late!”
“What… what do you mean?”
Shuimiao was utterly confused and quickly focused his mind to sense Luotong’s thoughts.
Luotong suddenly sneered. “We’re such fools. The evil dragon clan is no ordinary group. Those four Dragon Sovereigns were originally incredibly powerful, yet now they can’t even defeat Wuchang Yidao. Why didn’t I realize it earlier? They’ve possessed the Nuwa Stone for so long—how could they not use such a rare treasure?”
“Crack!”
Another crisp sound rang out.
Shuimiao quickly focused his energy to examine the Nuwa Stone closely and discovered a hole in its center. Inside the hole was a dragon egg, which had now cracked open. Clearly, a young dragon had been incubated by the Nuwa Stone’s energy and had hatched…
No wonder Luotong’s divine spirit was disheartened—the energy of the Nuwa Stone had been absorbed by this young dragon!
Shuimiao suddenly understood.
But Shuimiao felt that the Nuwa Stone still had plenty of energy, didn’t it?
How much could a tiny young dragon possibly absorb?
“Right!”
Gazing at the dragon egg, Shuimiao was struck by a sudden inspiration. Without hesitation, he summoned his immortal energy to store both the Nuwa Stone and the dragon egg within his realm star. Recalling his past experience of incubating and nurturing the dream demon baby, he reasoned that if he could serve as the dream demon baby’s mother, he could also take on the role of this young dragon’s father. Raising it in the future would undoubtedly forge a formidable ally.
After storing the Nuwa Stone, Shuimiao immediately divided his attention.
On one hand, he focused his consciousness to envelop the young dragon, sensing its thoughts and implanting some memories.
On the other hand, he approached Luotong’s divine spirit. “Brother Luotong, it’s fortunate you’re only a strand of divine spirit. Otherwise, I truly wouldn’t have the heart to destroy you. But you know too much, and you betrayed our friendship first. I have no choice but to do this to you!”
“Shuimiao, you’re ruthless. Someone like you will either become a ruler or remain obscure forever. I advise you not to act recklessly. Wait until you have enough strength before you make your move. Also, considering I brought you here and helped you obtain the Nuwa Stone, could you promise me one thing?”
Luotong’s divine spirit was already very weak. Even without Shuimiao taking action, he was on the verge of collapse.
This strand of Luotong’s divine spirit had, overall, been good to him. Shuimiao nodded. “You once treated me as a brother, so I’ll still acknowledge you as an elder brother. Whatever it is, just say it. If it’s within my power, I’ll do my utmost.”
“Thank you… thank you! I hope you can forgive me and still consider me your elder brother. Let’s truly be brothers for once.”
Luotong’s divine spirit suddenly said these words.
Shuimiao was taken aback, feeling that Luotong’s words sounded insincere. Had he suddenly realized that the Nuwa Stone could still be used and held great value?
“You may go…”
After a pause, Shuimiao focused his mind and released that strand of Luotong’s divine spirit.
He himself controlled the Sacred Origin Ring to shrink and quickly left the dragon palace’s inner sanctum.
Outside, the dragons were still fiercely battling Wuchang Yidao. Wuchang Yidao was gradually losing strength, showing signs of defeat, and wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
At that moment, Luotong’s divine spirit in the dragon palace treasury suddenly laughed and murmured to himself, “Shuimiao, you think I’ve lost? If that’s what you believe, you’re gravely mistaken. I, Luotong, have never lost in my life, and I certainly won’t lose to you! I’ve already figured out your character. Now, I’ll trigger the formation to summon the dragons and take the blame for stealing the Nuwa Stone upon myself, making you owe me a huge favor. If you succeed one day, I know someone like you won’t forget me. You’ll definitely repay my true form a hundredfold, a thousandfold—I’m sure of it, because that’s the kind of person you are!”
Luotong, adept in strategizing, had ingeniously devised a ruse of self-inflicted injury for his own true form.
“Roar…”
Luotong’s divine spirit triggered the mechanism, and the dragon palace treasury instantly echoed with deafening dragon roars and alarm sounds.
All the treasures, every single nether artifact within the Ten Yin Kun Yuan Formation, had been tampered with by Luotong.
Shui Miao’s method of trapping nether artifacts within other nether artifacts was practically handing all the treasures back to Luotong.
With the situation growing dire, Shui Miao had no choice but to resort to this last-ditch effort.
Shui Miao knew that a stone capable of making Luotong abandon all loyalty couldn’t possibly be an ordinary multicolored stone—it had to be the Nuwa Stone he initially mentioned. Wrapping layer upon layer of nether artifacts around it, Shui Miao then used the Holy Yuan Ring to encase the entire stack. He then entered the Holy Yuan Ring himself, channeling his Soul Devouring Force into the artifacts to fight against Luotong’s soul projection.
After reclaiming several nether artifacts, Luotong suddenly sensed the Soul Devouring Force and his heart sank.
The Soul Devouring Force was extremely sinister, capable of corroding everything.
To retrieve the outermost artifacts, Luotong needed to channel his soul projection’s power, but the Soul Devouring Force blocked him, guarding the core formation of the nether artifacts and leaving him unable to move. If this continued, the Soul Devouring Force would corrode one nether artifact after another, and he would eventually perish.
“You’re still wet behind the ears if you think you can challenge me, Shui Miao!”
Suddenly, Luotong’s soul projection devised a plan. He withdrew into the innermost nether artifact and triggered a self-destruction of the outermost one, breaking through Shui Miao’s seal.
“Boom!”
A deafening explosion instantly shattered several nether artifacts.
“I’m all in!”
Shui Miao steeled his resolve. After all, he had many nether artifacts at his disposal, while Luotong controlled only a few. If too many were detonated, it would only harm Luotong himself.
After several consecutive explosions, Luotong realized he had backed himself into a dead end.
“Brother Luotong, why must you do this? That Nuwa Stone is huge—why must you hoard it all for yourself? Is betraying our brotherhood really worth it just for a stone?”
Shui Miao’s thoughts echoed within the nether realm.
Luotong’s soul projection spat back angrily, “Don’t pretend with me, Shui Miao! Don’t think I don’t know you want it too! If you think a few words will make me hand over the Nuwa Stone, you’re a fool! This stone alone is worth sparking a war between immortals and gods. Unless you can kill me, you’ll never get your hands on it!”
Shui Miao shook his head. “Brother Luotong, tell me—after all these self-destructs, do you think you’ll be blown out?”
“Shui Miao… you… you’re ruthless!”
Luotong’s soul projection panicked, eyes darting. Suddenly, he turned back toward the Nuwa Stone, an idea sparking in his mind.
“Haha! Shui Miao, this time you’ve lost! I’m going to link my nether artifact with the Nuwa Stone’s power. Not even if you blow up Supreme Treasures will you harm me now!”
As he spoke, Luotong’s soul projection began drawing the Nuwa Stone’s energy to reinforce his protective artifact.
But suddenly, a sharp cracking sound came from the center of the Nuwa Stone!
“Eh… what…?”
Luotong never expected the Nuwa Stone to make a sound. Startled, he quickly retreated.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
In desperation, Shui Miao detonated several more nether artifacts before Luotong could fully activate the Nuwa Stone.
The protective nether artifact surrounding Luotong couldn’t withstand the explosion and cracked open!
A surge of Immortal Energy and Soul Devouring Force rushed in!
“Brother Luotong, thank you for the reminder. Without it, I never could’ve captured you so quickly!”
Shui Miao’s consciousness solidified within Luotong’s protective artifact, and a wave of Soul Devouring Force enveloped Luotong’s soul projection.
But Luotong stared blankly at the Nuwa Stone…
Shui Miao, puzzled, also turned to look.
Luotong’s soul projection suddenly exclaimed in shock, “Shui Miao, we were too late!”
“What do you mean?”
Shui Miao was confused and quickly focused his mind to sense Luotong’s thoughts.
Luotong sneered, “We were fools. The Evil Dragon Clan is no ordinary foe. Those four Dragon Lords were formidable, yet now they can’t even stand against Wu Chang Yi Dao (the Reaper’s Blade). Why didn’t I realize it earlier? If they had the Nuwa Stone for so long, how could they possibly leave such a treasure unused?”
“Crack!”
Another sharp sound.
Shui Miao focused intently on the Nuwa Stone and noticed a hole in its center. Inside lay a dragon egg, now cracked open—clearly, a young dragon had hatched from it, nourished by the Nuwa Stone’s energy.
Now he understood why Luotong was so disheartened—the Nuwa Stone’s power had already been absorbed by the young dragon!
Shui Miao suddenly realized—wasn’t there still plenty of energy left in the Nuwa Stone?
A small dragon pup couldn’t have absorbed much, could it?
“Right!”
Looking at the dragon egg, an idea struck Shui Miao. He immediately channeled his Immortal Energy, sealing both the Nuwa Stone and the egg into his Realm Planet. Having previously nurtured the Dream Demon Baby, he thought—if he could be a mother to the Dream Demon, he could be a father to this young dragon. Raising it would make it a powerful ally in the future.
After sealing the Nuwa Stone away, Shui Miao split his focus.
He extended his consciousness toward the young dragon, sensing its thoughts and implanting memories into it.
Then he approached Luotong’s soul projection.
“Brother Luotong, I’m glad you’re only a soul projection. Otherwise, I’d truly hesitate to destroy you. But now you know too much, and since you betrayed me first, I have no choice but to do this.”
“Shui Miao, you’re ruthless. You’re either destined to rule or destined to remain in obscurity. I advise you to wait until your strength is sufficient before taking action. Also, considering I helped you reach here and obtain the Nuwa Stone, will you grant me one final request?”
Luotong’s soul projection was already extremely weak, barely holding on without needing Shui Miao to finish him off.
Overall, this fragment of Luotong’s soul had treated him well. Shui Miao nodded. “You once treated me as a brother, and I will still call you my elder brother. Speak your request—I’ll do everything in my power to fulfill it.”
“Thank you… thank you! I hope you can forgive me and still accept me as your elder brother. Let’s be true brothers, just once.”
Luotong’s soul projection suddenly said.
Shui Miao hesitated. Something about Luotong’s words felt insincere. Had he realized the Nuwa Stone still had great potential and value?
“Go…”
After a pause, Shui Miao released Luotong’s soul projection.
He then shrunk the Holy Yuan Ring and swiftly departed from the Dragon Palace’s inner sanctum.
Outside, the dragons were still battling Wu Chang Yi Dao, who was gradually losing ground and nearing defeat.
At that moment, Luotong’s soul projection inside the Dragon Palace treasure vault suddenly laughed.
“Shui Miao, do you really think I’ve lost? If you do, you’re gravely mistaken. I’ve never lost in my life, and I won’t start with you! I’ve studied your character well. Now I’ll activate the formation, summon the dragons, and take the blame for stealing the Nuwa Stone, making you owe me a huge favor. One day, when you succeed, I know you won’t forget me. You’ll repay my true form a hundredfold, even a thousandfold. You’re that kind of person!”
Luotong, ever the schemer, had orchestrated a bitter plan for his own true form.
“Roar…”
Luotong’s soul projection triggered the mechanism, and the Dragon Palace treasure vault erupted with deafening dragon roars and alarm cries.
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