Chapter 565: Who Will Win (4)

Time was too pressing.

The magical artifact had not yet been fully tempered, and its spirit had not yet been nurtured.

In desperation, Shui Miao quickly transported Hui De and Lian Er away, then activated the Fire Dragon Roar, unleashing a powerful bolt of lightning that instantly vaporized a swarm of demonic beasts.

Hui De and Lian Er quickly began channeling their spiritual energy, engaging in fierce battle against the surrounding demonic beasts.

Although there were still many demonic beasts, the brief delay allowed the artifact’s tempering to nearly complete.

Being cautious this time, Shui Miao dared not repeat his previous mistake. He channeled his spiritual energy and collected a large amount of demonic beast blood, storing it all inside his Holy Yuan Ring.

After securing the artifact, Shui Miao quickly pulled Hui De and Lian Er back into the Holy Yuan Ring, then he himself retreated inside to hide.

“That’s a dragon’s roar—there’s a powerful expert here!”

Ao Hong, upon hearing the dragon’s roar caused by Shui Miao’s Fire Dragon Roar, immediately returned despite Long Shen’s objections.

Ao Hong felt that the Demon Matriarch had already been severely weakened and posed no threat anymore.

Through spiritual sensing, that dragon’s roar seemed to have come from an ultimate-grade immortal artifact.

Ao Hong didn’t have any particularly suitable immortal artifacts, so he was eager to obtain one.

As a Tiger Strength Demon Beast was about to smash open the Holy Yuan Ring with a massive hammer, Ao Hong suddenly appeared.

Seeing the Holy Yuan Ring, Ao Hong’s heart stirred. He grabbed the hammer from the Tiger Strength Demon Beast and swung it directly at the ring.

“Boom!”

The Holy Yuan Ring shattered instantly, turning into nothingness.

Yet at the very moment the hammer struck, a streak of black light flashed, slicing a deep wound into Ao Hong’s arm.

“Hahahaha! I never expected my precious blade could complete its final tempering with the blood of an Immortal Emperor!” Shui Miao appeared, looking at the red ghost-headed blade in his hand and laughing joyfully, “A great treasure indeed—an ultimate-grade immortal artifact.”

“Who are you?”

Ao Hong hadn’t even reacted before Shui Miao appeared.

Ao Hong was shocked. Who in this world could move so fast?

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is that I need your dragon blood to temper my immortal artifacts.” Shui Miao suddenly moved, slashing Ao Hong over a hundred times in an instant—so fast that the human eye couldn’t follow. In mere moments, Ao Hong was covered in wounds!

The Time Bead and the Protective Bead had both completed tempering, becoming ultimate-grade immortal artifacts, each with a spirit of its own.

At this moment, Shui Miao was like a dragon meeting water—soaring freely through the skies.

“Damn you! Who exactly are you?”

As Ao Hong felt the pain, he had already turned into a blood-soaked figure. Shocked, he quickly activated his spiritual defenses. He tried to sense Shui Miao’s cultivation level, but Shui Miao gave him no chance. A dragon’s roar echoed, and a ten-colored lightning bolt struck Ao Hong instantly.

“Bang!”

Ao Hong was blasted backward by the immense electric energy, his entire body scorched and charred.

Unfortunately, though Ao Hong was an Immortal Emperor, he had been stripped of his imperial power by the Celestial Court for his crimes. He was, at best, only half an Immortal Emperor.

Thus, when struck by Shui Miao’s most powerful lightning, he experienced numbness throughout his body, unable to channel his spiritual energy.

Seizing this opportunity, Shui Miao fully activated the Time Bead and launched a relentless assault on Ao Hong.

Shui Miao’s terrifying speed left all the surrounding demonic beasts stunned, unable to react.

Just as Ao Hong was beginning to recover from the numbness, Shui Miao launched another Fire Thunder Roar.

Poor Ao Hong, a mighty Immortal Emperor, was mercilessly overwhelmed by Shui Miao, who was only at the Immortal Elder stage, left with no chance to fight back.

Ao Hong’s blood was entirely collected by Shui Miao.

After all, despite being only half an Immortal Emperor, his spiritual power was immense. His body was as tough as an ultimate-grade immortal artifact, making him extremely difficult for Shui Miao to kill.

“Boom!”

Suddenly, Long Shen arrived and launched a surprise attack, sending a powerful electric shock toward Shui Miao.

However, Shui Miao was too fast—he didn’t even land a hit.

Shui Miao turned instantly, launching a counterattack at top speed toward Long Shen. Long Shen had intended to vanish quickly, but having missed his strike, he was caught off guard. The ghost-headed blade howled through the air, cleaving Long Shen’s head clean off!

Long Shen was gravely wounded. His body was nowhere near as resilient as Ao Hong’s.

“Ahh! Our leader has been killed!”

“Great Great Great King is dead… He was killed in just one strike!”

“Run!”

Seeing that Long Shen had been slain in a single blow, all the demonic beasts were terrified.

Once they regained their senses, they scattered in all directions.

In truth, for demonic beasts, a severed head could be reattached—they weren’t truly dead.

Ao Hong, finally catching his breath, was just beginning to channel his spiritual energy when Shui Miao struck him again with the Fire Dragon Roar.

“Trying to escape? Not so fast. Be a good boy, and maybe I won’t kill you.”

Shui Miao temporarily left Ao Hong aside and turned toward Long Shen. This legendary figure of the demonic beast clan had fallen so easily? Could there be a trick?

Thus, Shui Miao focused his mind and began probing Long Shen’s memories.

Due to the Demon Matriarch’s injuries and He Er’s critical condition, the Tianmo Sect was completely unaware of what had transpired here.

Over a hundred thousand demonic beasts remained, trapped within Sacred Demon Mountain, fighting desperately like cornered beasts.

“So you’re already a useless piece of trash. Even after being gravely wounded, you still plotted against others, willing to sacrifice all the demonic beasts for a chance to become an Immortal Emperor? Hmph! Your morality and cultivation are nothing. You deserve to die.” Without mercy, Shui Miao hacked Long Shen into pieces, completely destroying his spiritual essence. He collected all the blood, looted all the treasures, and then tossed the corpse to Hui De for cultivation enhancement.

Long Shen’s treasures contained a vast amount of crystals, refining materials, many low-grade immortal artifacts, and numerous pills.

Shui Miao, with a thought, sent a large quantity of pills to Lian Er, fulfilling his promise with interest—more than tenfold.

Turning back, Shui Miao faced Ao Hong.

Ao Hong, now terrified of Shui Miao, shivered involuntarily. “Brother, we have no grudge between us. There’s no need to be so ruthless, is there?”

“To be honest, I don’t really want to kill you. But can I trust you to leave me in peace?” Shui Miao pondered. Ao Hong was indeed fierce. If it weren’t for his successful artifact forging, he would never have been able to dominate Ao Hong so easily. Now, killing him directly seemed almost too merciful. Perhaps it would be better to keep him alive, using his blood for tempering?

Yet, after thinking further, Shui Miao felt uneasy. After all, Ao Hong was once an Immortal Emperor.

Even when struck repeatedly by the ghost-headed blade, Ao Hong’s flesh was damaged, but his bones remained intact. Keeping such a powerful being close would be like nurturing a tiger—eventually dangerous.

“Great Sage! I am Thousand-legged Insect Demon, begging you, Great Sage, kill him!”

The Thousand-legged Insect Demon crawled out from the pile of demonic corpses.

“You damn traitor! When have I ever treated you poorly that you would betray me?” Seeing the Thousand-legged Insect Demon, Ao Hong’s fury flared.

The Thousand-legged Insect Demon shouted loudly, “Ao Hong, how can you say that? I’ve served you for thousands of years—what have you ever given me? All you’ve ever done is treat me like a beast of burden, a mere servant. What else have you ever given me?” After roaring, he kowtowed before Shui Miao, “Great Sage, please help me kill him. I will repay you with my life, serving you forever.”

“Don’t believe him! He’s just a despicable traitor. He’s said those words to me hundreds of times, only to betray me in the end?” Ao Hong slowly stood up, “Friend, let’s be friends. From now on, we can cooperate. I’ll follow your lead, do anything you ask. Ao Hong always keeps his word—I’m willing to swear a blood oath!”

Even Ao Hong had softened.

“Ahh!”

Shui Miao sighed, “A mighty Immortal Emperor reduced to this state—it’s hard to imagine. Ao Hong, you’ve dared to kill innocent celestial soldiers. I truly cannot afford to be your friend. Now, I’ll give you both a chance. I have business with the Demon Matriarch. If you can escape during this time, then it’s fate sparing you, and we’ll go our separate ways. But if I return and still find you here, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Having said this, Shui Miao turned and left.

For some reason, Shui Miao suddenly felt pity for Ao Hong. He wanted to kill him, yet couldn’t. Leaving him alive was dangerous, so he could only let him go this once.

Since he could forge more immortal artifacts, Shui Miao wasn’t worried about Ao Hong ever becoming a threat to him.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Shui Miao activated the Time Bead, his figure flashing as he arrived at the Tianmo Sect’s forbidden ground.

Though the demonic beasts had lost their leader, their numbers remained staggering. Trapped within Sacred Demon Mountain, they now turned their fury on the Tianmo Sect disciples.

The Demon Matriarch and the others were unaware of the outside battle, still believing the demonic beasts were attacking.

As Shui Miao arrived at the forbidden ground, he found the stone gate tightly shut.

Inside the forbidden area, a massive stone coffin containing the Sacred Demon Corpse suddenly opened on its own…

“Now we are saved!”

“The Sacred Demon Ancestor has finally awakened!”

“Great! The Ancestor is awake—they are doomed…”

“You demonic beasts, you are finished! Hahahaha…”

Seeing this, the Demon Matriarch and the others were overjoyed, quickly kneeling and whispering among themselves.

Unaware of what was happening, Shui Miao approached and casually knocked on the stone gate with a rock.

He hadn’t yet obtained all the Tianmo Sect’s cultivation techniques—how could he leave so easily?

Besides, since he had saved the Tianmo Sect, he felt they should at least show some gratitude.