“Boom!”
The deafening roar shook the heavens and stirred ripples across the vast cosmic ocean.
Xing Tian, the Dharma Sovereign, was himself a cultivator at the Xian Di level. With several supreme-grade holy artifacts in his possession, the power released when he self-destructed was beyond imagination.
Xuankong’er possessed profound magical abilities and even carried two innate spirit treasures.
Unfortunately, his protective artifacts were merely one supreme-grade holy artifact and one supreme-grade demonic artifact.
Therefore, this unexpected self-destruction nearly cost Xuankong’er his life.
He never expected that the underestimated Xing Tian would follow him and fight to the death!
All his defensive holy artifacts were shattered, his body severely wounded, and even his innate spirit treasures suffered some damage.
“Cursed!”
“This Shui Miao, I truly raised a tiger only to be plagued by it!”
Xuankong’er wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. He felt anger, regretting his youthful impulsiveness that used Purple Fortune Qi to cultivate this freak, Shui Miao.
Now, protected by the Purple Fortune Qi within the cosmos, even if he wanted to deal with Shui Miao, he himself would suffer misfortune.
The person blessed by the Purple Fortune Qi was indeed so fortunate—it was something Xuankong’er had never anticipated.
Now, the Purple Fortune Qi had penetrated Shui Miao’s very marrow. For Xuankong’er to confront him would be extremely difficult.
Primarily cultivating Yin-element and Water-element spiritual energy, he only started cultivating Yang and other elemental energies after reaching the Immortal Realm. His understanding of the principles of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements was far inferior to Shui Miao’s.
Although he had obtained some of Shui Miao’s memories, he still couldn’t forge artifacts capable of producing Purple Fortune Qi. Even if he forged such artifacts and absorbed and cultivated the Purple Fortune Qi, compared to Shui Miao, he was merely a novice. To surpass Shui Miao was simply impossible.
After all, Shui Miao already had several thousand years of cultivation. What did he have to catch up? Another few thousand years of cultivation?
But cultivation was not feasible—he would perish from the Five Decays of Immortality before then.
Therefore, Xuankong’er had no advantage whatsoever in competing with the Purple Fortune Qi.
“Hmph! I refuse to believe it. Shui Miao, just wait for me. I possess the Source of All Evils. I will use the most vile energies in the world to deal with you. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll activate the Wheel of Reincarnation and destroy you completely!”
Xuankong’er’s murderous intent surged, completely abandoning his previously frivolous attitude.
The Wheel of Reincarnation was the supreme artifact of the ancient immortals. It was extremely profound and required special magical energy to activate.
Xuankong’er had possessed the Wheel of Reincarnation for several thousand years, but he had never managed to activate it.
His previous words were merely outbursts of anger.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
“Explode! Kill Shui Miao!”
Moments later, Xuankong’er gathered five hundred Erlang Divine Soldiers as puppets, scattering in all directions to search for Shui Miao’s trail. He intended to use these puppets to severely wound Shui Miao and relieve his rage.
※※※
The previous deafening explosion revealed Shui Miao’s location.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Shui Miao used artifacts to simulate cosmic energy and quietly fled deeper into the universe…
Faced with this freak, Xuankong’er dared not be careless.
He had even reclaimed the Erlang Divine Soldiers’ puppets—an outcome Shui Miao had not anticipated.
Shui Miao had never felt so tense or fearful. Xuankong’er was simply too powerful.
“Energy… why is there no energy anymore?”
After circling around a few times, Xuankong’er discovered he could no longer sense Shui Miao’s energy.
“Want to escape from my grasp? Not so easy…”
Xuankong’er possessed many mid-grade demonic and immortal artifacts, each with unique functions. He quickly retrieved a large number of artifacts for searching. Soon, one of them, the Mirror of Reflection, detected Shui Miao’s escape route through the Hongyu Chessboard.
“Found you…”
“Explode! Go and kill him!”
Driven mad with rage, Xuankong’er roared furiously. The five hundred Erlang Divine Soldier puppets swiftly pursued Shui Miao.
“Not good! They’ve discovered us…”
While stealthily fleeing, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a large group of puppets rushing toward him. He quickly activated several self-destruct artifacts, triggering a series of explosions that destroyed many puppets.
“So you finally revealed your tail, Shui Miao! I want you to kneel before me and beg for mercy!” Xuankong’er’s consciousness flashed as he directly controlled the puppets to surround Shui Miao from behind, then charged toward him simultaneously to self-destruct, leaving Shui Miao unable to defend against the onslaught.
In desperation, Shui Miao poured all his energy into the chessboard formation, unleashing powerful attacks against the puppets and Xuankong’er…
However, there were too many puppets. A large number of them darted into the chessboard formation amidst the chaos, exploding one after another. The entire formation shook violently. Fortunately, Shui Miao had reinforced the defensive arrays when forging the chessboard, so it wouldn’t be completely destroyed by these puppets.
“Xuankong’er, is this all your capability? I suggest you recall all these puppets before it’s too late. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your efforts and resources, hurting no one but yourself.”
Shui Miao circulated his energy, continuously repairing the damaged parts of the chessboard with forging materials.
“Hahaha! Shui Miao, you really don’t know your place. I possess innate spirit treasures in my hands. You probably don’t even know what innate spirit treasures are. How dare you challenge me? Since you think your broken chessboard is so powerful, let me show you the might of innate spirit treasures…”
Xuankong’er proudly summoned the Soul-Confusing Mirror, directly opening the Hongyu Chessboard.
Instantly, everyone felt dizzy and disoriented.
However, Shui Miao, whose mental power was extremely strong, remained somewhat lucid.
“Xuankong’er, I admit you’re ruthless!”
When unable to fight, retreat. With a determined heart, Shui Miao immediately circulated his energy to envelop everyone, activated the Heaven-Soaring Talisman, and instantly returned to the First Heaven.
“Eh? This Shui Miao, he just abandoned his Hongyu Chessboard?”
Feeling the magical fluctuations from the chessboard but sensing that Shui Miao and his companions were gone, Xuankong’er was momentarily stunned.
The Hongyu Chessboard was a supreme artifact forged from dozens of supreme-grade holy artifacts, both offensive and defensive. Even Xuankong’er himself was tempted by it. How could Shui Miao just abandon it so easily?
“Wait… Could it be that…”
“Boom!”
Before Xuankong’er could finish his thought, the Hongyu Chessboard self-destructed!
Shui Miao made a bold move, sacrificing the Hongyu Chessboard to kill Xuankong’er!
※※※
This self-destruction was incredibly powerful, comparable to a planetary explosion.
Xuankong’er couldn’t dodge in time and was directly hit.
His immortal-demonic body was completely destroyed in the explosion.
His two innate spirit treasures were also severely damaged, and all his other artifacts were completely destroyed!
This was a devastating loss for Xuankong’er.
However, Xuankong’er was no ordinary person. The life talisman hidden within his innate spirit treasures released his soul, which used pills to regenerate. In an extremely short time, his immortal-demonic body recovered thirty percent of his magical power. After recovering, he immediately searched for the two innate spirit treasures that had suffered one-third damage, his hatred endless like the cascading waters of the Ninth Heaven.
“Shui Miao, you bastard!”
“You’re not human at all. You’re a self-destructing madman! You damaged my innate spirit treasures. I will make you pay a thousandfold, ten thousandfold in return!”
“Ahhhhhh…”
Furious, Xuankong’er screamed in agony, then took out a Heaven-Soaring Talisman from his realm space and instantly returned to the First Heaven.
Within the First Heaven, among the five immortal cities, the Golden City was already gone.
“He transformed the Golden City into a self-destructing city. Could he still intend to use this self-destruct technique against me?”
Seeing the disappearance of the Golden City, Xuankong’er couldn’t help but feel his scalp tingling.
He activated his time-altering artifact within his realm space, forging a Mirror of Reflection to track Shui Miao. Then, he melted down the innate spirit treasure that could replicate puppets, forging a protective spirit treasure bead to guard against Shui Miao’s next surprise attack.
Xuankong’er had been frightened by the self-destruction attacks.
If it happened a few more times and his innate spirit treasures were destroyed, he would truly be finished.
As thoughts raced through his mind, Xuankong’er suddenly circulated his energy and gathered the remaining four empty immortal cities of the First Heaven, absorbing them into his realm space. “Hmph! Shui Miao, you like self-destruction? I’ll play along. I’ll forge self-destructing holy artifacts too, making you taste your own medicine. No matter how lucky you are, you won’t escape this attack.”
Vowing fiercely, Xuankong’er decided to use the enemy’s tactics against them and retaliate against Shui Miao.
At this moment, Shui Miao, to avoid endangering the Three Realms, had already left the Immortal Realm. As he flew deeper into the universe, he pondered how to deal with his archenemy, Xuankong’er.
Shui Miao was very clear that his previous success was mainly due to Xuankong’er’s underestimation and carelessness.
Now the situation was different. Xuankong’er had abandoned his arrogance, and his attacks would inevitably become even fiercer!
In such circumstances, it was time to rely on sheer strength.
After much deliberation, Shui Miao realized that no artifact could kill Xuankong’er. The only option was the Thirty-Six Stratagems: fleeing was the best strategy.
With no other choice, he had to forge an artifact capable of extremely fast flight.
Before encountering Xuankong’er, Shui Miao had already prepared this idea, transforming the profound principles of the Heaven-Soaring Talisman into arrays, which could greatly accelerate flight speed and even allow spatial jumps.
Now, with Xuankong’er not yet in pursuit, it was the perfect time for forging.
As time passed, both Shui Miao and Xuankong’er were forging artifacts, racing against time, as if competing.
However, experience prevailed. Xuankong’er completed his desired artifact first—a protective spirit treasure bead forged from over ten artifacts, along with five hundred self-destructing holy artifacts, all of lower grade. Then, following Shui Miao’s energy trail, he once again ventured deep into the cosmos…
Soon, Xuankong’er found Shui Miao again.
At this moment, Shui Miao only had a few artifacts left.
What was he doing?
Had he truly run out of options?
Or was he devising a scheme to lure Xuankong’er in for another self-destruction?
Seeing Shui Miao standing alone in the cosmos, Xuankong’er’s thoughts became complex. At one moment, he considered whether he was overreacting—perhaps this opponent wasn’t worth deploying five hundred self-destructing holy artifacts. The next moment, he suspected that Shui Miao was luring him in to trigger another city self-destruction, attempting mutual annihilation!
“Hmm? What is that?”
As Xuankong’er pondered, he suddenly noticed a brilliant starlight radiating from Shui Miao, causing his heart to jolt. What new trick was this?
“Hahaha! Xuankong’er, you’re truly foolish. If you had attacked me immediately upon seeing me, you might still have had a chance to kill me. But you hesitated for a few seconds. Just a few seconds, and you’ll never catch up to me again!”
Shui Miao turned around, laughing at Xuankong’er with obvious provocation.
“You brat, I’ll see what tricks you have up your sleeve…”
Before Xuankong’er finished speaking, he suddenly activated the five hundred self-destructing holy artifacts, sending them flying toward Shui Miao.
However, before his words fully faded, Shui Miao’s body suddenly transformed into a streak of starlight and vanished in an instant!
“So fast… incredibly fast…”
“Could it be that he reclaimed the Golden City specifically to forge a fleeing artifact, while I forged countless self-destructing holy artifacts…”
No matter how many or how powerful the self-destructing artifacts were, if they couldn’t catch up with Shui Miao, what good were they?
Xuankong’er suddenly realized how foolish he had been, failing to anticipate Shui Miao’s intentions.
“Hahaha! This speed is amazing!”
Shui Miao was delighted. His current flight speed was at least ten times faster than before. With this speed, he could easily leave Xuankong’er far behind.
“Shui Miao, I will catch up to you!”
Xuankong’er was no ordinary opponent. He immediately entered his time-altering artifact to research and forge a swift-flying artifact.
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