Chapter 614: A Big Incident?

The formation deployed by Xingjue was grand and awe-inspiring, enough to instill fear.

However, in reality, Xingjue had not come specifically for Shui Miao. He was merely a captain assigned to lead a patrol team.

The Ninth Heaven was in chaos, and the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor had been seriously injured.

To prevent an even greater disturbance, the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor had entrusted Xinglang with assisting the heavenly soldiers and generals in maintaining order.

After receiving intelligence about Shui Miao, Xingjue had deliberately volunteered to lead a patrol across the Immortal Realm. His intention was to create the illusion of having a powerful force behind him, so that he could later negotiate privately with Shui Miao. Xingjue was a clever man, and when valuable intelligence was involved, he naturally wanted to make the most of it for maximum benefit.

Sanqing Sect’s Elder Xingjue?

Shui Miao furrowed his brows slightly, puzzled. He didn’t even know this person—how could Xingjue know so much about him?

Since the other side had spoken first, it would be impolite not to respond. Shui Miao called back across the distance, “Elder Xingjue, I’m truly sorry, but our Sect Leader is currently in retreat for cultivation. If you have anything to say, please speak directly with me. I am his junior disciple, and I will relay every word to the Sect Leader without omission.”

“Elder Xingjue, exactly what is this Tianji Sect? Why are they so secretive? Are you personally acquainted with their Sect Leader?” Hearing the reply, General Yang Lie directly asked Elder Xingjue.

Yang Lie was a straightforward warrior, and his voice was loud.

Elder Xingjue quickly smiled and replied, “He’s an old friend of mine. He’s a master of formations, but his personality is a bit peculiar—he dislikes meeting strangers and doesn’t want others to see his sect, so he’s created all these elaborate formations around this immortal mountain just to appear mysterious. Nothing serious, really. General Yang, you all go ahead first. I’ll just say a couple of words and then catch up.”

Elder Xingjue intentionally lowered his voice.

“Oh, I see. Actually, we’ve been aimlessly patrolling with nothing to do, so if you have business to attend to, Elder Xingjue, please go ahead. There’s no need for you to follow us,” Yang Lie said truthfully. After all, their daily patrols were merely for show.

“Alright, alright…”

Yang Lie’s loud voice exposed Xingjue’s true intentions, leaving him slightly embarrassed. He quickly signaled his subordinates to take his place.

After the main group had departed, Xingjue turned around and saw Shui Miao already standing behind him.

However, Shui Miao now wore a cold, emotionless expression.

“Elder Xingjue, I didn’t expect you to be such an old friend of our Sect Leader,” Shui Miao asked curiously.

Elder Xingjue glanced at Shui Miao and, sensing his high cultivation level, quickly approached and whispered conspiratorially, “Brother, you must be Shui Miao’s junior disciple. I’ve come here with something extremely urgent to tell him. Please let him know that a fellow named Ao Shuang has come to the Immortal Realm spreading rumors—that your senior brother stole the Dragon Clan’s Nuwastone, and he was captured by me and imprisoned. Let your senior brother come find me, and I’ll explain everything.”

“Uh… okay, sure…”

Shui Miao’s heart jolted. Now he understood Xingjue’s true purpose.

Xingjue bowed slightly, then turned to fly after the group.

“Wait…”

“Elder Xingjue, my Sect Leader senior brother has already ended his retreat.” Shui Miao suddenly called out. This matter was too important to delay.

Xingjue was taken aback and quickly returned, “He’s already out? What a coincidence!”

“Yes, quite a coincidence. Please follow me, Elder.”

Shui Miao nodded, then deactivated the formation and led Elder Xingjue into the immortal mountain.

Without hesitation, Elder Xingjue followed Shui Miao into the sect’s inner hall, entering a secret stone chamber.

Inside the chamber were stone chairs and tables. Shui Miao gestured for Xingjue to sit.

He himself sat down as well.

Elder Xingjue was slightly puzzled. “Fellow Daoist, where is your senior brother?”

“Elder Xingjue, I am Shui Miao. Thank you for capturing Ao Shuang. Hand him over to me, and I’ll give you a generous reward.” Shui Miao took a deep breath and summoned a large quantity of spirit stones from his magical artifact.

Seeing the spirit stones, Elder Xingjue smiled, stroking his beard. “Fellow Daoist, don’t joke with me. From Ao Shuang, I learned that Shui Miao cultivates the dual energies of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. You can’t fool me. I won’t say anything unless I see Shui Miao himself.”

“Fine then…”

Shui Miao exhaled slowly and transformed completely into his original form, fully releasing his aura.

“Is… is it really you?”

Feeling the immense and mysterious aura radiating from Shui Miao—seemingly even stronger than his own—Elder Xingjue was shocked and immediately stood up. At the same time, a supreme-grade immortal artifact on his body was subtly activated.

“Elder Xingjue, are you a bit nervous?”

Shui Miao furrowed his brows. Something felt off. Logically, if Xingjue had dared to come here, he shouldn’t be this frightened.

Xingjue had been genuinely startled by Shui Miao’s aura. According to Ao Shuang’s memories, Shui Miao wasn’t supposed to be this powerful. Swallowing hard, he stammered, “It’s nothing, really. I just… I just didn’t expect Shui Miao, Senior Brother, to have such profound cultivation.”

Xingjue’s eyes flickered with shifting thoughts, schemes rapidly forming in his mind.

He had originally assumed Shui Miao’s strength was mediocre, and that he could easily overpower him, allowing him to confidently negotiate terms.

But now, clearly, Shui Miao was far superior. All his previous plans were now useless.

“Elder, please relax. Let’s communicate through spiritual resonance.”

Suddenly standing up, Shui Miao instantly appeared in front of Elder Xingjue. He had decided not to waste any more words on this hesitant, scheming Xingjue. Since all he would say were lies, Shui Miao preferred to directly employ his Dream Demon cultivation technique to enter Xingjue’s mind, extract the information, and then act accordingly.

Elder Xingjue was taken aback and had no time to react before his thoughts became muddled.

With the power of an Immortal Emperor-tier artifact spirit, Shui Miao directly entered Xingjue’s consciousness and immediately obtained a wealth of information.

“So, you are such a treacherous and calculating person!”

“You hide spatial artifacts in your dwelling, intending to negotiate with me first, extract benefits, and then keep demanding more endlessly… You never even intended to hand over Ao Shuang…”

“Well played, Elder Xingjue! What a perfect plan you’ve made!”

Shui Miao’s voice echoed in Xingjue’s mind.

Xingjue was terrified. He had never experienced such overwhelming pressure. He couldn’t even focus to respond. His mind was filled with fear.

“Hmm?”

“Xingjue, you’re carrying quite a lot of refining materials!”

“What… Haha! I never expected this! The Sanqing Sect has actually amassed such a vast amount of forging materials and pills, hiding all these treasures in an unassuming immortal beast mountain…”

“Excellent, Xingjue. You’ve brought me quite the gift this time!”

As Shui Miao probed deeper into Xingjue’s memories, he uncovered many secrets of the Sanqing Sect.

With a flicker of thought, Shui Miao eased the mental pressure on Xingjue and directly said, “Xingjue, you’ve been a mere elder in the Sanqing Sect for many years. At this rate, by the time of your death, you’ll barely have acquired another supreme-grade immortal artifact. Now, I offer you an opportunity. Let’s work together from inside and outside, seize all the Sanqing Sect’s forging materials and pills, and I will give you three Emperor-tier artifacts. How does that sound?”

With so many resources, forging three Emperor-tier artifacts would be easy—perhaps even three hundred.

“Yes, yes, I agree! I’ll cooperate! I’ll betray the Sanqing Sect from within!”

Elder Xingjue had no choice but to agree.

“However, considering your fickle nature, your talent for deception, and your tendency for scheming, I must place a self-destruct immortal artifact inside your spiritual realm. I assure you, as long as you cooperate, I will later remove the self-destruct artifact from your soul and give you the three Emperor-tier artifacts.”

Without giving Elder Xingjue a chance to protest, Shui Miao immediately took all the forging materials and medicinal herbs from him.

Right there in the stone chamber, he forged a supreme-grade self-destruct annihilation artifact and placed it within Xingjue’s spiritual realm.

Elder Xingjue had never expected that instead of gaining an advantage, he would end up in such a predicament!

“You may return now. Tonight, we’ll act from within and outside to retrieve those materials. Remember, if you dare to scheme against me, the annihilation artifact within your spiritual realm will detonate, completely destroying you—even your life talisman. You should know about the explosion at Kunlun Sect. The power of this self-destruct artifact is no different.”

The self-destruct artifact Shui Miao had created had already developed an artifact spirit, and it was bound to him through a drop of his blood.

If Xingjue ever disobeyed, the spirit would trigger the explosion immediately.

“Shui Miao, you’re ruthless! Now I finally understand why Ao Shuang hates you so much. But don’t worry—I’m not Ao Shuang. I’m willing to follow a powerful figure like you. In this chaotic immortal world, only someone like you can restore order to the Three Realms. No more words—I’ll go back now and deal with Ao Shuang first.”

Bowing deeply to Shui Miao, Xingjue’s tone and expression were now filled with sincerity.

“Good! Elder Xingjue, rest assured. Since you’ve obtained Ao Shuang’s memories, you should know my character. I always keep my word.”

Shui Miao escorted Elder Xingjue directly to the outskirts of the immortal mountain.

“I believe you…”

Elder Xingjue bowed once more and turned to leave. His figure appeared extremely dejected. He had spent his entire life scheming against others, yet today he had been completely outmaneuvered by Shui Miao. Only he could truly understand the bitterness of this moment.

“Ao Shuang, this is entirely your own doing!”

Watching Xingjue’s retreating figure, Shui Miao felt a deep sense of emotion.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, a gust of wind howled through the air, and a red flash appeared before Shui Miao.

Hong Lian had returned in a rush, her face filled with shock and panic. Seeing Shui Miao, she immediately blurted out, “Shui Miao, something terrible has happened—Holy Mother Shuitianyi is in grave danger…”