Shui Miao arrived at the immortal palace of Tai Chang Zhenren. Relying on his memories, he headed straight to the secret chamber and successfully located his father’s sealed life talisman.
Without hesitation, Shui Miao placed the talisman into his supreme innate treasure and immediately summoned the finest spiritual energy to nourish his father’s soul.
At that moment, Tai Xuan Zhenren appeared.
“Brother, what… are you doing?”
Tai Xuan Zhenren suddenly materialized behind Shui Miao, his expression grave as he stared at him.
Shui Miao’s heart stirred, his mind racing. He quickly replied, “Brother, you’re here! That Tai Chang Zhenren was such a despicable person. I wanted to destroy his life talisman so he could never be reborn. Someone like him would only bring disaster to our Yu Xu Sect!”
“Brother…”
Tai Xuan Zhenren’s eyebrows twitched. “Brother, what do you think of me?”
“Great! You’ve always been great to me, brother. Why are you asking this?” Shui Miao feigned confusion.
“Hmph!”
Tai Xuan Zhenren snorted angrily. “Stop trying to fool me. That mountain earlier, the sudden appearance of Ao Hong—was that you summoning him? Or are you Ao Hong yourself!?”
Clearly, Tai Xuan Zhenren was only guessing.
“How could I be Ao Hong?”
Shui Miao’s mind raced. At this moment, he needed to give Tai Xuan Zhenren a reasonable explanation.
After a pause, he smiled apologetically and said, “Brother, it’s not what you think. Ao Hong is an Immortal Emperor, while I’m merely a newly promoted Immortal Sovereign. How could I possibly summon him? Obviously, Ao Hong came to steal the treasures from our Immortal Treasury to arm his demonic beast army. I just happened to leave the Treasury at the right time. My abilities are limited, and I couldn’t help the sect much. I even embarrassed you earlier, so… I think I should leave the Yu Xu Sect.”
Shui Miao used a strategic retreat to temporarily suppress the issue.
He felt some regret. He shouldn’t have been in such a hurry to kill Hua Tianxiong—he should have obtained his memories first to uncover the plot between Hua Tianxiong and the thousand-year-old ghost Bai Lian. However, Shui Miao believed that someone like Hua Tianxiong wouldn’t die so easily. He must have hidden many life talismans elsewhere. Staying in the Yu Xu Sect would give him the perfect opportunity to target Hua Tianxiong again.
“Uh…”
Seeing Shui Miao’s intention to leave, Tai Xuan Zhenren was momentarily stunned.
He thought to himself: driving Zhao Tianyi away at this moment would greatly damage the Yu Xu Sect’s reputation, making it harder to recruit powerful experts in the future. Moreover, even if Zhao Tianyi had some issues, he hadn’t done anything harmful to their faction. On the contrary, he had severely damaged the Hua Yuting faction—wasn’t that exactly what their side wanted to see?
“Brother, don’t take offense. I’m just a bit confused.”
Tai Xuan Zhenren quickly clasped his hands together, trying to stop Shui Miao. “Today’s incident is indeed suspicious. Even if Ao Hong is powerful, how could he break through our formation defenses without any warning and kill his way in? But rest assured, this matter will be thoroughly investigated. I’m sure the higher-ups will send experts at the Immortal Emperor level, equipped with artifacts capable of reversing time, to uncover the truth.”
“I don’t know how powerful those Immortal Emperor-level experts are. Perhaps Ao Hong really followed me here. Anyway, since I have a grudge with Ao Hong, and before I cause any more damage to the sect, I should leave.”
Hearing Tai Xuan Zhenren’s words, Shui Miao felt that staying in the sect and being restricted wouldn’t be beneficial. It would be better to hide his tracks and observe the situation quietly from the shadows.
“This…”
Tai Xuan Zhenren was taken aback. He thought that if Zhao Tianyi indeed had problems and such great abilities, his purpose wouldn’t merely be to deal with someone like Hua Tianxiong. Therefore, he wouldn’t leave. But in reality, Zhao Tianyi had indeed taken off his fine robes, put down his treasures, and left without hesitation.
Watching Zhao Tianyi leave, Tai Xuan Zhenren asked himself, Could I have been wrong?
※※※
After leaving, Shui Miao headed straight for the wilderness, found a secluded mountain, entered it, transformed back into his original form, and then quietly slipped out to find Jiao Gong.
So far, the only thing Shui Miao didn’t fully understand was the time-reversal formation.
Therefore, he had to find a way to understand how the time-reversal formation worked. If the Immortal and Divine Realm truly possessed powerful artifacts capable of reversing time, that would be a serious issue.
Shui Miao knew that Jiao Gong possessed an artifact that allowed him to observe the lower realms and reverse time.
As the head of the Fire and Thunder Department, Jiao Gong was on duty in the Fire and Thunder Institute every day.
Shui Miao was already well-acquainted with many Thunder Deities and went directly to find Jiao Gong.
When Jiao Gong learned that Shui Miao wanted to examine the Spiritual Communication Mirror, he immediately looked troubled: “Brother, you’re really making me anxious. Look at you, last time I asked you to forge me an immortal artifact, you secretly forged one for yourself. That completely violates the professional ethics of a forger! And you keep causing trouble everywhere, aren’t you deliberately trying to harm me? Now, you even want to look at the Spiritual Communication Mirror…”
Jiao Gong’s tone clearly showed his displeasure.
What did that mean?
Shui Miao’s mind raced and he realized that Jiao Gong was greedy and not particularly upright. Suddenly speaking like this, could he be hinting for a bribe?
“Hehe, brother, I was just curious!” Shui Miao took out a spatial ring and gave it to Jiao Gong. “Brother, I already told you I won’t use the lightning array anymore. Why don’t you believe me? This time I just want to take a look at the structure of the Spiritual Communication Mirror, nothing else.”
The ring contained many spirit stones.
Jiao Gong sensed the ring and then pushed it back to Shui Miao, his small eyes glinting. “Look at you, giving me spirit stones for what? You keep them for yourself. But if you’re going to forge a Spiritual Communication Mirror, remember to forge one for me too.” Jiao Gong finally revealed his true intentions.
“Oh, is that all? No problem, no problem.” Shui Miao smiled knowingly. “Oh, by the way, brother, I’m currently gathering materials to forge a protective artifact that can reverse time. When I’m done, I’ll make sure to bring you one too.” Just then, Shui Miao suddenly thought of his loved ones and friends in the lower realms. He had a sudden idea and decided to bribe Jiao Gong to look after his family and friends.
“Great! Oh my, you’re truly my good brother!”
Jiao Gong became instantly excited.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shui Miao mentioned his request to have Jiao Gong look after his loved ones and friends.
After hearing it, Jiao Gong was momentarily stunned. “Brother, this matter is both easy and difficult!”
“Brother, what do you mean?”
Seeing Jiao Gong’s expression, Shui Miao immediately grew serious.
Jiao Gong whispered, “Our Fire and Thunder Institute is responsible for overseeing the ascension and lightning punishment of demonic immortals, but the matter of human cultivators becoming immortals doesn’t fall under my jurisdiction. We belong to the Dong Yuan Jade Abyss Mansion, whereas human cultivators are under the Shi Yang Institute, which is part of the Nine Heavens Response Mansion. The Shi Yang Institute has the Tai Yi Thunder Departments. Coincidentally, I’m friends with Gong Du, the director of the Shi Yang Institute. However, Gong Du is quite unique—he’s only interested in high-grade pills from major sects and nothing else. Right now, we’re practically penniless; where on earth can we find such pills to appease him?”
Jiao Gong looked like a penniless nobody.
Shui Miao, however, rubbed his nose. “It’s just a pill; I have a way to handle it. But now, show me the Spiritual Communication Mirror first.”
“Fine, fine!”
Seeing Shui Miao’s determination, Jiao Gong had no reason to hesitate.
Immediately, Jiao Gong led Shui Miao into the back hall and brought out the Spiritual Communication Mirror.
Shui Miao focused his mind and sensed the formation inside the Spiritual Communication Mirror. Soon, he grasped the operating principles of the formation. “Strange, this time-reversal formation seems very weak and difficult to achieve good results.”
“Hehe, brother, this is just a mirror for sensing demonic beings in the lower realms. It’s not a specialized artifact for deducing and displaying past events. If you want to forge an artifact that can see past events, you need the Xuan Tian Deduction Formation. But I heard that the power of that formation is also very limited. It’s easy to deduce weak cultivators, but powerful ones can’t be deduced at all. Moreover, strong cultivators can sense the deduction and destroy the artifact with a mere thought. So, such an artifact isn’t very useful.”
Having spent many years in the Immortal Realm, Jiao Gong knew a lot.
If that was the case, even they wouldn’t easily be able to deduce me, Shui Miao thought. “Brother, do you know where I can learn the Xuan Tian Deduction Formation?”
“Hmm…”
Jiao Gong tapped his head with his finger. “In theory, your master, the Forging Sage King Luo Tong, definitely knows this formation. But he lets you cultivate on your own. How about this—you can try your luck at the Nine Heavens Xuan Men of the Nine Heavens Lady Xuan Nu. I heard that the sect leader Xuan Yin is very approachable.”
“The Nine Heavens Xuan Men of the Nine Heavens Lady Xuan Nu!”
Shui Miao’s thoughts raced, recalling his previous dream filled with hidden mysteries. He immediately nodded. “Good! I’ll go there now!”
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