“I don’t know. Brother Luotong, you’ve seen so much more of the world—you should recognize it, right?”
Shui Miao remained fully alert, yet outwardly calm, silently watching how things would unfold.
Luotong’s soul projection was extremely excited. In his eagerness, he planned first to seize the stone, 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—then all would be well.
“It seems to me like it’s just a piece of multicolored stone suitable for forging into a nether artifact. I have a top-quality refining furnace in my true form that could purify it. After refining, we could forge a Supreme Nether Artifact together,” Luotong said deliberately downplaying the stone’s value, yet he hurriedly stepped forward toward it.
There was no doubt that Hua Tianxiong from the Jade Void Sect and the thousand-year-old ghost Bai Lian had come here for this very Nuwa Stone. With it, he could forge a Holy Artifact—one that would surpass even Supreme Treasures! The closer he drew, the more excited Luotong became. He could no longer suppress his longing to possess it and instinctively reached out his hand.
Shui Miao also quickly stepped forward, ready to strike down Luotong’s soul projection at any moment.
Seeing Shui Miao also rushing in, Luotong suddenly tensed. He hastened, grabbing the Nuwa Stone and instantly sealing it into a protective nether treasure he carried. Then, in a flash, he vanished into the treasure, immediately taking control of it to escape.
“Cursed!”
Realizing his speed was no match for Luotong’s, Shui Miao regretted not acting first. But 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, pouring all his focus into controlling the nether artifact, was not so easily subdued by mere Immortal energy.
Just as Luotong’s soul projection broke free from Shui Miao’s immortal energy and reached the escape tunnel, he suddenly saw darkness—Shui Miao, in desperation, had drawn Luotong’s nether treasure into the supreme nether treasure, the Nether Sea Conch.
“Foolish boy! Did you really think you could trap me with my own treasure? You’re even more foolish than I thought!”
Luotong’s soul projection shouted in excitement. He immediately spread his divine senses, exploiting a loophole he had secretly prepared within the Nether Sea Conch, quickly reclaiming it. But the moment he did, he discovered—the Conch itself had been wrapped by another nether artifact!
All the treasures, every single nether artifact within the Yin-Kun Array, had been tampered with by Luotong.
Shui Miao’s method of using nether artifacts to trap other nether artifacts was practically handing all the treasures back to Luotong.
With the situation reaching a critical point, Shui Miao had no choice but to resort to this last-ditch method.
Shui Miao knew that a stone capable of making Luotong abandon all sense of brotherhood so readily could not possibly be an ordinary multicolored stone—it had to be the Nuwa Stone. Wrapping layer upon layer of nether artifacts, Shui Miao then used the Holy Yuan Ring to encase the entire stack, before entering the ring himself. He channeled his Soul Devouring Force into the nether artifacts to confront 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 reclaim the outermost artifacts, Luotong needed to channel his soul projection’s power, but the Soul Devouring Force blocked him, protecting the core formation of the trapped artifacts and leaving him helpless. If this continued, the Soul Devouring Force would corrode one nether artifact after another—eventually leading to his doom.
“You think you can defeat me? You haven’t even grown your feathers yet!”
Luotong’s soul projection suddenly thought of a plan. He retreated deep into the innermost nether artifact and caused the outermost one he had already refined to self-destruct, breaking free from Shui Miao’s seal.
“Boom!”
A deafening explosion instantly shattered several nether artifacts.
“I’ll risk it!”
Shui Miao steeled his heart. He had plenty of nether artifacts, while Luotong controlled only a few. If too many artifacts self-destructed, the one who would suffer most would be Luotong himself.
After several consecutive self-destructions, Luotong realized he had backed himself into a dead end.
“Brother Luotong, why must you do this? The Nuwa Stone is huge—why must you hoard it all for yourself? Is it really worth betraying our brotherhood for a mere stone?”
Shui Miao’s thoughts echoed within the nether realm.
Luotong’s soul projection spat back, “Don’t pretend with me, Shui Miao! You want it too, don’t you? Don’t think I don’t know. If you think a few words will make me hand over the Nuwa Stone, you’re too naive. This stone is worth sparking a war between immortals and gods. Unless you have the strength to kill me, you’ll never get it!”
Shui Miao shook his head. “Brother Luotong, tell me—if I keep blowing up these nether artifacts, will you eventually be thrown out?”
“Shui Miao… you… you’re ruthless!”
Luotong’s soul projection panicked, his eyes darting. Suddenly, he turned back to the Nuwa Stone and shouted excitedly, “Haha! Shui Miao, this time you’ve lost! I’ll link my nether artifact with the Nuwa Stone’s aura. 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 crack echoed from the center of the Nuwa Stone!
“Eh… what…?”
Luotong’s soul projection was so startled he hastily retreated.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Shui Miao, sensing the urgency, immediately triggered several more self-destructions.
Luotong’s protective nether artifact could not withstand the immense force and cracked open!
A surge of Immortal energy and Soul Devouring Force rushed in!
“Brother Luotong, thank you for the reminder. Without it, I could never have captured you so quickly!”
Shui Miao’s consciousness materialized within Luotong’s protective artifact, and a stream of Soul Devouring Force wrapped around Luotong’s soul projection.
But Luotong stared blankly at the Nuwa Stone…
Shui Miao, puzzled, turned to look as well.
Luotong’s soul projection suddenly exclaimed in shock, “Shui Miao, we’re too late!”
“What do you mean?”
Shui Miao was confused, quickly focusing to sense Luotong’s thoughts.
Luotong sneered, “We’re fools. The Evil Dragon Clan isn’t ordinary. Those four Dragon Lords were formidable, yet now they can’t even handle a single strike from the Reaper’s Blade. Why didn’t I realize it earlier? They’ve possessed the Nuwa Stone for so long—how could they not have used its power?”
“Crack!”
Another sharp sound.
Shui Miao focused intently on the Nuwa Stone and discovered a hole in its center, where a dragon egg lay. The egg had already cracked open—the aura of the Nuwa Stone had hatched a young dragon.
No wonder Luotong had lost heart—the Nuwa Stone’s aura had already been absorbed by the young dragon!
Shui Miao suddenly understood.
But he thought, surely the Nuwa Stone still held plenty of aura left?
A small dragon couldn’t have absorbed much.
“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 Star. Having previously raised the nightmare demon baby, Mengmo, he thought—if he could be Mengmo’s mother, he could also become this young dragon’s father. Raising it would make it an invaluable ally.
After sealing the Nuwa Stone, Shui Miao split his focus.
He wrapped his consciousness around the young dragon, sensing its thoughts and implanting memories.
Then he approached Luotong’s soul projection. “Brother Luotong, I’m glad you’re only a soul projection. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have the heart to destroy you. But now that you know too much and betrayed our trust 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, in light of the fact that I brought you here and helped you obtain the Nuwa Stone, would you grant me one last favor?”
Luotong’s soul projection was already very weak—no longer needing Shui Miao to destroy him.
Considering the overall kindness this soul projection had shown him, Shui Miao nodded. “You once treated me as a brother, so I will still call you brother. Speak your request—I’ll do my best to fulfill it.”
“Thank you! Thank you! I hope you can forgive me and still see me as your brother. Let’s truly be brothers one last time.”
Luotong’s soul projection suddenly said.
Shui Miao hesitated. Something about Luotong’s words felt insincere. Was it because he realized the Nuwa Stone might still hold 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 the Reaper’s Blade, which was gradually faltering and nearing defeat.
At that moment, Luotong’s soul projection inside the Dragon Palace’s treasure vault suddenly laughed. He murmured to himself, “Shui Miao, do you think I’ve lost? If you do, you’re gravely mistaken. I’ve never lost in my life—and I won’t lose to you either! I’ve studied your character thoroughly. Now I’ll activate the formation, summon the dragons, and take the blame for stealing the Nuwa Stone. That way, you’ll owe me a huge favor. One day, when you succeed, I know you won’t forget me. You’ll repay my true self a hundredfold, even a thousandfold. You’re just that kind of person!”
Luotong, ever the schemer, had orchestrated a bitter ruse against his own true self.
“Roar…”
Luotong’s soul projection triggered the mechanism. The Dragon Palace’s treasure vault erupted with deafening dragon roars and alarm cries.
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