Hiding inside a puppet shell and sneaking into the ancient immortal city was indeed a feasible plan for Shui Miao.
Under normal circumstances, an immortal’s aura would definitely be detected.
But Shui Miao was different. Shui Miao possessed Soul Devouring Power, an extremely yin and sinister force, even more malevolent than that of evil cultivators.
Shui Tianyi glanced back at the damaged puppet shells, feeling instantly frustrated and conflicted.
“Sister, why don’t you just enter the treasure of the Small Chessboard Formation? If I obtain any treasures, I’ll split them evenly with you, half for each of us.”
Shui Miao focused his mind, activating his spiritual energy, and wore the puppet shell over his body.
He then summoned a surge of Soul Devouring Power, instantly making himself indistinguishable from an evil cultivator.
“Alright, you better keep your word—half for each of us, no going back. Also, Shui Miao, I suddenly realized that being your sister is really a disadvantage—it makes me sound older. From now on, just call me Yiyi.”
Shui Tianyi started scheming inwardly. Calling each other “sister” and “brother” wasn’t conducive to their emotional development.
“…”
Indeed, a woman in love becomes less rational… Without responding, Shui Miao directly sealed Shui Tianyi into the Small Chessboard Formation.
Then, he activated his Soul Devouring Power to conceal his aura and immediately headed toward the ancient immortal city.
With his Soul Devouring Power and numerous treasures for protection, Shui Miao could easily venture deep into the Immortal-Demon Realm.
Ten miles of distance in the Immortal Realm could be traversed in the blink of an eye, but here, it would take several times longer.
Before long, following the memories of the puppet’s soul, Shui Miao located the ancient immortal city.
The ancient immortal city was an incredibly vast metropolis, once the glorious symbol of the ancient Immortal Realm. Now, however, the entire city lay silently buried in the grayish-black soil of the Immortal-Demon Realm, corroded by endless malevolent energies, appearing broken and worn with age. As Shui Miao entered the city, he saw a massive ten-meter-wide crater in the center, its twisted and grotesque Tianyuan stone still evoking the ferocity of the ancient Immortal-Demon War.
Clearly, the crater had pierced straight through the city’s core.
Passing through numerous bustling puppets, Shui Miao stood at the edge of the crater, observing it with his mind racing. The strike had truly been heaven-shaking and ghost-piercing, so precise and devastating that it had directly shattered the ancient city’s core formation. It was hard to imagine what kind of divine weapon or technique could have been so accurate and powerful as to destroy the greatest immortal city of the ancient Immortal Realm.
This Immortal-Demon Realm was truly a place teeming with hidden masters!
From this, it was evident that the immortals had suffered a major defeat in the ancient war.
“Wait a second…”
Suddenly, a thought struck Shui Miao. Could it be that the heavenly court had concealed the truth of the Immortal-Demon War, making immortals believe the Immortal-Demon Realm was merely a trivial place?
Why else would ancient immortals come here for battle? Could it be that they discovered the Immortal-Demon Realm was the key to escaping beyond the Nine Heavens?
Doubts and speculations followed one after another.
Shui Miao felt as if he were slowly peeling back the mysterious veil of the Three Realms. If he continued deeper into the Immortal-Demon Realm, he was sure he would uncover the answers.
“It’s him! It’s him who stole my puppet armor!”
A sudden roar interrupted Shui Miao’s thoughts.
Shui Miao immediately sensed a large group of puppets, including the soul of the puppet he had recently destroyed.
“Kill him! He’s an immortal!”
“Kill!”
Two puppets charged straight at Shui Miao.
Without even turning, Shui Miao struck both palms outward, unleashing two waves of Soul Devouring Power that instantly engulfed the puppets, devouring their souls.
“Ahh!”
“He’s not an immortal!”
“He’s using the Soul Devouring Power of the ancient Hei Ming God! Yes, that’s definitely it! I recognize it…”
“How is this possible? Isn’t Hei Ming God supposed to have perished in the ancient Immortal-Demon War?”
“…”
Each puppet surprisingly possessed knowledge, and they all recognized Hei Ming God.
Shui Miao turned around and looked at the crowd, suddenly declaring, “I have returned. Your Hei Ming God has returned. This time, I have come back with the Immortal-Demon Body. Thank you for remembering me!”
“Boom!”
Suddenly, the puppet shell on Shui Miao’s body exploded.
He no longer needed the puppet disguise, for he had found a better excuse—the Immortal-Demon Body.
“The Immortal-Demon Body!”
“Ahh! It really is the Immortal-Demon Body!”
“Hei Ming God has returned! This is truly unbelievable!”
“Your humble servants pay homage to Hei Ming God…”
“…”
A group of evil cultivators knelt before Shui Miao in utmost reverence.
Soon, even more puppets rushed out to bow…
Shui Miao was momentarily stunned. How could this happen?
At first, he felt quite pleased, but as time passed and the kneeling figures refused to rise while more kept bowing, he began to suspect something was off. Even if Hei Ming God had truly existed, could he have been this powerful? Pondering this, Shui Miao immediately activated the Light-Chasing Mirror, reversing the formation’s power to foresee future events.
In the Light-Chasing Mirror, the puppets kept increasing until they formed a massive swarm, eventually arranging into a gigantic sphere.
Then, all the puppets launched a coordinated attack, swarming Shui Miao like ants overwhelming an elephant.
“What the! It’s a trap!”
Shui Miao was shocked. He quickly activated the Small Chessboard Formation, unleashing a massive surge of Soul Devouring Power. He directed this storm of devouring energy throughout the ancient immortal city, sweeping every corner and sending countless puppets flying into the air.
Soon, the ancient immortal city fell silent, littered with puppet debris.
However, not long after, countless puppets began emerging from the crater in the city’s center.
“What the hell! Did I just stir up a hornet’s nest?”
Shui Miao hurriedly summoned another storm of Soul Devouring Power, sending it deep into the crater below.
After a long while—nearly half an hour—the ancient immortal city was finally quiet again, covered in puppet remains.
Shui Miao immediately extended his spiritual sense for investigation and suddenly discovered that beneath the ancient city lay another city.
This city turned out to be the Demon God’s Castle of the Immortal-Demon Sect!
The crater in the ancient city hadn’t been struck from above—it had been drilled upward from deep underground.
“Fascinating! I never expected to discover two great cities at once.”
Shui Miao immediately transformed the Small Chessboard Formation into the Red Sun Formation and dove straight down into the Demon God’s Castle beneath the earth.
“Whoosh!”
A shadow darted away quickly…
“Who goes there? Stop right there!”
Shui Miao focused his mind and chased relentlessly with the Divine Light Protection Bead.
“Don’t chase me! I surrender! I surrender!”
The dark figure suddenly halted, crouching on the ground with his hands over his head, trembling in fear.
Shui Miao stopped about five or six meters away, narrowing his eyes and activating his spiritual energy to remove the puppet armor from the figure. Beneath it was a creature—a short dwarf with large eyes, fair skin, and a mouth full of large red teeth: “What the hell are you?”
“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” the red-toothed dwarf pleaded frantically, waving his hands in terror. “I’m just a blacksmith of the Blood Demon Race, specializing in forging puppet armor. My superiors have all fled. They were the ones controlling the puppets to attack you. I’m innocent! Please spare me!”
“A blacksmith of the Blood Demon Race?”
Shui Miao’s mind stirred as he nodded, “Alright, I believe you’re innocent, and I won’t kill the innocent. But I’m a bit skeptical about your words, so I need you to cooperate with me a bit. Let me verify whether you’re telling the truth or lying to me.”
“How… how should I cooperate?” the red-toothed dwarf asked hesitantly.
Shui Miao nodded and gently said, “Close your eyes, relax your mind, relax… and relax more…”
Surprisingly, the red-toothed dwarf obeyed.
Under Shui Miao’s Dream Demon Mind Technique, he soon fell into a daze and fell asleep…
Shui Miao successfully infiltrated his mind and stole his memories.
“Hahaha! Great, great! So much useful information!”
By acquiring the red-toothed dwarf’s memories, Shui Miao became extremely excited.
Although this red-toothed dwarf was merely a lowly blacksmith, he had witnessed many things. Most importantly, he knew how to forge demonic treasures and artifacts of the Immortal-Demon Realm—exactly what Shui Miao urgently needed.
“Whoosh!”
After obtaining the red-toothed dwarf’s memories, Shui Miao immediately vanished into the depths of the Demon God’s Castle, where he spotted a demonic artifact-forging cauldron, numerous materials, and several Demon God formations.
To Shui Miao, all of these were treasures.
Without hesitation, he activated his spiritual energy and sealed everything into the Realm of Time Tower for storage.
Then, he released Holy Mother Shui Tianyi, and together they looted the castle extensively before departing contentedly.
This expedition had yielded immense rewards.
Shui Tianyi found many treasures—ancient divine artifacts, though all were damaged. She didn’t know their true power, but she firmly believed Shui Miao could repair them.
Shui Miao, on the other hand, discovered a large collection of formation manuals and collected many structures for future use.
High above the Immortal-Demon Realm, a triumphant Shui Miao and Shui Tianyi sped through the air, hurrying back home.
However, as the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. As they flew, the weather in the Immortal-Demon Realm suddenly changed. The grayish-brown land began emitting thick, highly corrosive black mist, while the sky rained down even more corrosive crimson rain, capable of corroding even time-protecting treasures.
To make matters worse, the black mist and crimson rain severely obstructed visibility and interfered with their spiritual senses, causing both Shui Miao and Shui Tianyi to lose their way.
With no choice, the two fled into the depths of the Immortal-Demon Realm, dodging the mist and rain.
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