Shui Miao fled frantically, escaping hundreds of miles in a flash.
He found a secluded, desolate mountain and dove inside, changing his appearance into that of a complete stranger. Then, he transferred the aura of a cultivator from his realm onto himself, weaving a large detour before rushing back toward his Tianji Sect.
As he neared the Tianji Sect, cautious as ever, Shui Miao transformed back into his original form deep within the clouds and mist, using the aura of a treant from his realm to disguise himself. Having cultivated the Tianmo Heart Sutra and Mengmo Heart Sutra, his disguises were nearly undetectable to ordinary immortals. Treants possessed a simple aura, barely at the Flying Immortal level, making them easy to overlook.
This time, Shui Miao hadn’t suffered any major losses, but he had been deeply frightened.
He couldn’t believe that the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor actually possessed over a dozen Supreme Treasures!
Shui Miao also realized that the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor had been caught off guard and hadn’t had time to react, which was why he had suffered. If they met again, the outcome wouldn’t be the same.
Just imagining the terrifying power unleashed by dozens of Supreme Treasures working together—what being could possibly withstand it?
After this encounter, Shui Miao fully realized his own weakness.
From this battle, he also learned an important lesson: one must always have sufficient strength at their disposal. If not, one must remain low-key and cautious.
He never wanted to take such a risk again.
However, through this real combat experience, Shui Miao also gained valuable insights, setting a clear direction for his future cultivation. He concluded that he must forge more Supreme Treasures—perhaps even Holy Artifacts—and carry them all on his person, prepared for any danger.
Just like the time in the Rakshasa Sea, when he was hunted by the two Immortal Sovereigns, Huayu Ting and Yuhua Immortal Monarch—if it hadn’t been for the abundance of Hellish Artifacts he carried, he would have been destroyed then and there, never surviving to this day.
Thus, treasures were the foundation of survival in the Immortal Realm.
Upon returning to the Tianji Sect, Shui Miao immediately began preparing to forge a large number of Immortal Artifacts using the remaining materials. This time, however, his approach was completely different from before.
This time, he intended to forge explosive artifacts—ones with devastating self-destruct capabilities rather than ones with complex functions. Normally, to enhance the power of a self-destructing artifact, one simply improved its quality and infused it with large quantities of spirit stones as energy. But Shui Miao believed there was a better way to make the explosion even more terrifying.
As an imaginative cultivator, Shui Miao used the Yin-Yang and Five Elements arrays, combined with refined Yin-Yang and Five Elemental energies, to forge small artifacts infused with various elemental arrays and spiritual energies. These required minimal materials but were designed specifically for explosive experiments.
After some trials, Shui Miao discovered that his idea was entirely correct.
For example, an artifact forged with a Fire Element array, filled with Wood Element energy, produced a massive firewave upon detonation—several times more powerful than a similarly-ranked artifact.
Another example: using a Yin-Yang array and filling it with Yin-Yang energy, the explosion produced Chaos Force—an extremely dense and destructive energy, dozens of times more powerful than a normal explosion of the same rank.
With no shortage of materials, Shui Miao threw himself wholeheartedly into experimentation, determined to create the most devastating explosive artifacts possible.
The already mysterious Tianji Sect now constantly echoed with explosions. Nearby cultivators on surrounding immortal mountains became increasingly anxious and fearful, keeping their distance from the Tianji Sect, unwilling to approach even slightly.
“Boom!”
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shook the very gates of the Tianji Sect!
The shockwave startled many immortals in deep meditation across nearby sects, some even suffering from disrupted cultivation, nearly going mad from the disturbance!
“Who is it?! Who’s fooling around and made me lose focus? I even spat blood!”
“Damn it! What’s going on today? These constant noises—how can anyone cultivate? So inconsiderate!”
“This place is no longer livable. What exactly is the Tianji Sect doing?”
“This can’t be ignored! We must demand an explanation!”
Numerous immortals from nearby sects flew out of their mountains, faces flushed and tempers flaring, all rushing toward the Tianji Sect for answers.
At that moment, a middle-aged cultivator, his robes scorched and his face blackened, flew out from within the Tianji Sect’s mountain.
His disheveled and frantic appearance startled the gathered immortals.
“Esteemed cultivator friends, disaster has struck! Just now, a group of beast bandits forcefully broke into our Tianji Sect, stealing large quantities of pills and spirit stones. The recent explosion was our Sect Leader sacrificing a Supreme Immortal Artifact in a desperate battle with the beasts. We sincerely apologize for disturbing your cultivation. Our sect is currently in chaos, with some beasts still alive—we must return immediately!”
After saying this, the flustered middle-aged cultivator hastily flew back.
Upon hearing this, the gathered immortals were shocked and quickly returned to their sects, ordering increased security around their pill storerooms and spirit stone vaults.
Inside the Tianji Sect, the flustered middle-aged cultivator transformed back into Shui Miao.
The grand hall of the Tianji Sect had been completely destroyed!
Yet, on Shui Miao’s face, a wild, excited grin spread.
Lian’er and several managers flew over quickly…
Before anyone could speak, Shui Miao raised his hand and shouted joyfully, “Don’t panic, everyone! That explosion was just the result of my successful test of a powerful new weapon. For this artifact, destroying the grand hall is a small price to pay—even destroying the entire immortal mountain would be worth it. Continue with your duties, I’ll handle this.”
“Yes, sir!”
Though puzzled about what had truly happened, Lian’er and the other managers were greatly encouraged by Shui Miao’s words.
With a thought, Shui Miao gathered all the debris from the destroyed hall, placing it into his refining furnace to melt down.
Then, he forged a new hall exactly like the previous one and placed it in the same spot.
Back inside the grand hall, Shui Miao still couldn’t contain his excitement.
Just now, he had conducted a bold experiment.
He forged an Immortal Artifact, embedding within it a Yin-Yang and Five Elements Counteracting Array, creating a Mid-Rank Immortal Artifact. Then, he infused it with spirit stones, allowing the array to convert the stones into a massive amount of decaying energy. As the decaying energy accumulated, it even condensed into a highly corrosive Soul-Eating Force!
Just as the artifact was about to collapse, Shui Miao triggered its self-destruction—the resulting explosion was hundreds of times more powerful than a similarly-ranked artifact!
Shui Miao himself was stunned by the blast!
The protective arrays within his Time-Protecting Artifact were instantly shattered, and his robes were completely charred.
Such power!
And this was just a casually forged artifact.
What if he upgraded it to a Supreme Treasure, added a spirit core, hundreds of arrays, and an immense amount of decaying energy—what kind of explosion would that produce?
It was easy to imagine—the power would rival the combined explosion of hundreds of Supreme Treasures!
“…”
Thinking about the terrifying weapon he had created, even Shui Miao was stunned.
This was his ultimate card—his absolute trump card!
He decided to name this artifact the “Doom Artifact.”
Excited, Shui Miao quickly repaired his Time-Protecting Artifact and used the remaining materials to forge another Doom Artifact!
After awakening its spirit, its quality turned out to be Supreme!
Overjoyed, Shui Miao immediately infused it with a large quantity of spirit stones, performed a blood-binding ritual, and carried it as his ultimate secret weapon.
“Now that I have the Super Doom Artifact, I also need a high-quality sword. Without a fast sword, I won’t be able to escape quickly enough.” Shui Miao exhaled, muttering to himself, “Yes, I should go find Bushiang and the others to see if I can get some Tianyuan Stones. I need to forge a couple more protective artifacts and a top-tier sword—its quality must not be inferior to the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor’s!”
After muttering to himself, Shui Miao immediately transformed into an ordinary immortal and flew out of the Tianji Sect.
The painful experience of being chased by the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor had deeply impressed upon him the importance of speed.
So this time, he must obtain a Supreme Treasure sword.
※※※
Xiandu Mountain
Numerous golden-armored warriors and yellow-robed laborers were repairing Xiandu Mountain, replacing pavilions, terraces, trees, and flowers destroyed by the shockwave.
As Shui Miao entered Xiandu Mountain and saw its completely altered landscape, he was momentarily stunned.
The destruction reminded him of old photos he had seen online—images of Japanese cities devastated by atomic bombs!
“Sigh! This explosion was truly catastrophic!”
“Preliminary estimates suggest that at least tens of thousands of immortals were killed—Kunpeng Immortal Emperor himself seems to have suffered serious injuries!”
“Brother, what exactly happened today?”
“Yeah, big brother, how did Xiandu Mountain end up like this?”
“This is too terrifying! I’m afraid to even step foot in Xiandu Mountain anymore…”
Nearby, a group of immortals surrounded a few heavenly soldiers and generals, discussing the explosion.
Shui Miao now exuded the aura of an ordinary immortal, appearing as a middle-aged stranger, so he wasn’t afraid of being recognized. He casually walked over to eavesdrop.
One of the heavenly generals shook his head, “Perhaps the Kunpeng Immortal Emperor offended some high-level expert. I don’t know the exact details, but one thing is certain—this was definitely caused by a self-destructing Supreme Treasure. Otherwise, such massive destruction wouldn’t have been possible.”
“Hey everyone, I’ve got some inside information—wanna hear it?”
Suddenly, an old man-like immortal flew over, looking mysterious and secretive, as if he knew all the hidden details.
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