The first thought that came to Shui Miao’s mind was that the Immortal Emperor must have been observing this immortal artifact.
Yet he couldn’t quite understand—if it had indeed been the Immortal Emperor’s gaze, shouldn’t his Xiao Tiandou Four Symbols Formation have given some kind of warning? At least a little?
The expression on Immortal Venerated Master Hu was extremely strange.
Shui Miao could not discern any answers from his face.
But soon, the imperial aura and yellow light vanished, and Immortal Venerated Master Hu’s expression quickly returned to normal.
“Hurry, perform blood-binding!”
After a flash of light, Shui Miao noticed that the Ice-Sealing Domain artifact had suddenly stirred, so he quickly urged Hu to perform the blood-binding ritual.
Immortal Venerated Master Hu’s heart stirred, and immediately he performed the blood-binding.
“What is its quality? What was that yellow light just now?” The higher the quality of the immortal artifact, the harder it was to sense its exact level. Only the person who performed the blood-binding could know its true nature.
Immortal Venerated Master Hu broke into a delighted smile, excitedly saying, “It’s a Supreme-grade artifact—only one step away from becoming a Saint-grade artifact! That yellow light was it drawing in imperial energy. Oh, you probably don’t know, but the spirit of a Saint-grade artifact is born with the cultivation level of an Immortal Emperor. Unfortunately, it’s still one step short. But this is already great! I will nourish it with the best spiritual energy and pills to make it grow stronger and stronger.”
“Oh… I see…”
Shui Miao knew that artifact spirits could cultivate, and they were extremely loyal. Naturally born artifact spirits never betrayed their masters, unlike those captured and tamed artificially, which were unpredictable.
Seeing Hu store the artifact inside his body, Shui Miao secretly became wary. What if Hu decided to kill him now that he had obtained the artifact?
After all, one must always be cautious of others.
Immortal Venerated Master Hu was too caught up in his joy. After a while, he handed a ring to Shui Miao, saying, “Brother, you’ve done me a huge favor. I will definitely repay you for this kindness. Here are some spirit stones for you—please accept them! Ah, I’m just so happy. I’m going to tell my daughter the good news. I’ll take my leave now, but I’ll come back later with more rare treasures.”
“Immortal Venerated Master, you’re too kind. Thank you!”
Shui Miao was also delighted—not only had he profited handsomely, but he had also received a gift, making it a truly rewarding day.
Inside the ring were countless spirit stones.
Now, no matter how many spirit stones he had, Shui Miao had a place to use them.
After seeing Hu off, Shui Miao immediately began forging his own ultimate immortal artifact.
The Illusion Demon Formation, Time Formation, Protective Formation, Tiandou Four Symbols Formation, and the Ice-Sealing Domain artifact—all their essences would be fused into one. This would be an astonishingly powerful weapon. Shui Miao would pour his entire mind, his understanding of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, and all the Nuwa Stones into forging a unique, life-bound artifact of his very own.
All the Tianyuan Stones were smelted.
All the Nuwa Stones were smelted.
Even the previously fragmented artifacts were smelted together.
Nuwa Stones were originally extremely difficult to smelt, but within this Supreme-grade artifact furnace, they became manageable.
Life-bound artifacts were completely different from ordinary artifacts.
A life-bound artifact was one whose spirit was nurtured by the user’s own soul.
Its power was immense—double that of a normal artifact spirit. Moreover, the cultivator and the artifact spirit could mutually enhance each other’s cultivation.
In other words, if the artifact Shui Miao forged became a Saint-grade artifact with a spirit possessing the power of an Immortal Emperor, then Shui Miao could gain imperial energy from the spirit, allowing him to break through his current cultivation and ascend to the level of Immortal Venerated Master, or even Immortal Emperor.
Thus, this was Shui Miao’s absolute opportunity.
Inside the Time Pagoda, under intense heat, all the materials combined according to Shui Miao’s will, forming formations of unimaginable complexity. Yet, under the immense power of his spiritual force, everything came together in perfect order. He’er watched in awe, unable to learn, and could only focus on studying sword formation techniques nearby.
Not everyone could master the art of artifact forging.
If not for Shui Miao’s solid foundation rooted in Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements, he would never have reached this point.
Time passed like water dripping through stone…
The vast sky spun by in the blink of an eye…
Inside the Time Pagoda, after a full sixteen days, Shui Miao finally gathered all the components of his life-bound artifact. Then, he released all his dragon blood to temper the artifact, infusing it with intense spiritual energy!
This artifact, which Shui Miao had poured his heart into, was shaped like a sphere over three meters in diameter, fusing all of his essence.
Watching the artifact awaken in the dragon blood, Shui Miao’s heart pounded with excitement.
At his will, all the Tianyuan Pills suddenly transformed into medicinal vapor, continuously flowing into the artifact.
“Uh…”
Within the artifact was a fragment of Shui Miao’s soul essence. He clearly sensed something unexpected happening.
In theory, this was just an artifact meant to cultivate a single spirit.
But suddenly, Shui Miao discovered that two spirits were forming inside the artifact—both born from his own soul essence. However, one was white, and the other was black, resembling the yin-yang taijitu!
They were frantically absorbing vast amounts of immortal energy and medicinal vapor.
The speed at which they absorbed the energy was shocking—far beyond what Shui Miao had imagined.
Shui Miao’s mind raced, and he quickly transformed all his stored pills into medicinal vapor, even using up all the spirit stones that Hu had given him to feed the spirits.
“How could this happen?”
Feeling the spirits continuously growing, endlessly absorbing energy, Shui Miao was stunned, his understanding completely overturned.
He had never heard of such a phenomenon before.
It felt less like two artifact spirits and more like two beings—absorbing spiritual energy and growing stronger step by step!
Fortunately, Shui Miao had an abundance of spiritual energy.
Their cultivation rapidly broke through, quickly reaching the level of an Immortal Venerated Master.
They continued absorbing immortal energy and medicinal vapor.
The artifact itself grew stronger and stronger, its power increasing rapidly.
Shui Miao was almost afraid to move the artifact outside, fearing it might drain all the spiritual energy from the immortal mountains.
He couldn’t stay here any longer!
The spirit stones might not be enough, and there was no one familiar here to help. He had to leave.
Shui Miao made a swift decision, immediately exiting the Time Pagoda. He mentally informed Lian’er of his departure, then activated the Time Pearl and headed straight for the Wastelands. He did this because around the Ten-Thousand Immortal Mountains, there were many other immortal mountains he could split open to extract the spirit stones inside.
Luckily, Hu had given him a full ring of spirit stones before leaving.
“Boom!”
Before Shui Miao could fly out of the Ten-Thousand Immortal Mountains, he sensed his spirit stones running low. Immediately, he used the Fire Dragon Blast to smash into an immortal mountain that had no immortals residing within.
The mountain didn’t contain many spirit stones, but it was enough to relieve his immediate need.
The explosion startled nearby wandering immortals residing in nearby mountains.
Shui Miao, moving at an undetectable speed, snatched the spirit stones from these immortals, though unfortunately, they were quite poor.
Just as Shui Miao was growing anxious about obtaining more spirit stones, he spotted a passing immortal. Upon sensing his spiritual presence, Shui Miao immediately recognized him!
“It’s him…”
“Oh my god! It’s actually him!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered—he was the head of the Yuxu Sect, the one who had framed him before.
“What a coincidence! What is he doing here?”
“Robbery—I should rob him. He must have valuable things on him!”
Shui Miao’s mind raced. He quickly concealed himself in a nearby immortal mountain, transformed his appearance into a fat, evil dragon beast, and blocked the head’s path.
“This mountain was carved by me, these trees planted by me. If you wish to pass, leave your treasures behind!”
The Yuxu head was slightly startled but quickly smiled and said, “Friend, friend, no misunderstanding! I’m just here recruiting disciples. I don’t have anything valuable on me.”
“Cut the crap! Whether you have anything or not isn’t for you to decide—let me check!”
Shui Miao stepped forward, ready to act violently.
“I’m the head of the Yuxu Sect. How dare you—”
The head was shocked and tried to flee, but Shui Miao chased after him and smashed a rock against the back of his head.
This head was truly pathetic—knocked unconscious in one hit.
Shui Miao searched him and found only some recruitment notices from the Yuxu Sect, no pills or spirit stones. So this guy was just out here putting up ads! Shui Miao, knowing how greedy the man was, refused to believe he had nothing valuable. He focused his mind and forcibly entered the man’s consciousness, searching his memories. He discovered that the man had hidden a large stash of spirit stones and medicinal herbs within his spiritual realm. Quickly, Shui Miao used the Tianmo cultivation technique to control him, extracting all the spirit stones and medicinal pills.
He struck gold!
Shui Miao gained a massive haul and immediately vanished.
From a distance, Shui Miao found a desolate mountain, summoned his treasures, and laid out a massive amount of spirit stones and medicinal herbs.
Before long, the artifact emitted a mysterious yellow glow, and a massive surge of imperial energy descended from the heavens!
“Haha!”
“Great! It’s about to become a Saint-grade artifact!”
Shui Miao was ecstatic. He sensed both spirits receiving the imperial energy. But soon, just like Hu’s artifact, the imperial energy vanished!
“What the hell!?”
Shui Miao’s heart sank. Why had the imperial energy disappeared when the artifact was clearly on the verge of becoming a Saint-grade artifact?
There must be a conspiracy!
Shui Miao immediately suspected that experts from the First Heaven must have cut off the flow of imperial energy.
Damn it!
The artifact had already taken form, and the spirits had stopped absorbing immortal energy and medicinal vapor.
It was a Supreme-grade artifact—only one step away from becoming a Saint-grade artifact.
Shui Miao stored the artifact within his body, feeling deeply resentful.
But immediately afterward, due to the mutual enhancement between his cultivation and the artifact spirits, his immortal energy transformed, and his power surged.
“Uh…”
“I… I think I’m about to ascend to Immortal Venerated Master?”
“Boom!”
Suddenly, Shui Miao felt his head “buzz” as if struck by lightning. A powerful force surged into his brain, spreading throughout his entire body, enveloping him completely.
Pain…
Indescribable pain coursed through Shui Miao’s nerves, as if his skin was being peeled off!
A buzzing sound continuously rang in his ears, and the pain in his body became increasingly severe. Shui Miao had no idea what was happening—why was this sudden transformation occurring to him!?
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