Chapter 679: Kill

Shui Miao did not bring everyone into his Realm Planet because the Realm Planet itself was not safe either.

Moreover, these people were no small fries. They were former city rulers of the Celestial Court, each of noble status and great power. It wouldn’t be appropriate to keep them confined inside the Realm Planet all the time, so having them come out to lend a hand here and there wasn’t a bad idea.

“Hmph! The Four Heavenly Kings, huh…”

Xuankong suddenly unleashed a powerful surge of Yin-based energy that enveloped the Four Heavenly Kings. In an instant, they dissolved into streams of spiritual energy. “Haha! Just as I suspected—they were all fake! All of them were spirit-stone puppets created from Xianling Zhi Shi!”

“That’s right. I remember my master once told me that our senior senior was skilled in forging techniques. He creates puppets from spirit stones, and it’s almost impossible for ordinary people to detect them. Even I was fooled just now.”

Ci’en Daoist felt somewhat embarrassed. His first move had been a disgrace—he failed to recognize a puppet forged by his own senior师兄师. How would he ever hold his head up again?

“Let’s head to the First Heaven and drag out that scheming old villain, Laozi.” Since the puppets were made by Laozi, destroying them would surely alert him. Shui Miao, catching on quickly, shouted loudly.

Xuankong was also eager to confront Laozi.

Laozi actually dared to plot schemes right before my eyes? I won’t easily swallow such an insult! Xuankong’s eyes flared with fury, and he immediately shouted, “Follow me! I’ll lead the way!” He had already melted down his previous先天 treasures and reforged them into a new treasure called the Kong Ming Drum, and with that, he vanished towards the First Heaven.

The First Heaven had changed. The celestial cities were gone, replaced by a single, massive, golden palace of grand magnificence.

Surrounding the palace were countless armored celestial soldiers and generals, guarding every inch.

At this moment, numerous immortals were converging from all directions, as if rushing to a grand feast, heading straight into the palace.

Xuankong appeared directly at the palace gates.

Shui Miao and the others quickly followed.

“Who goes there!?”

“Dare you trespass upon the Lingxiao Palace! Seize them!”

A group of celestial soldiers and generals, seeing a stranger exuding a strong aura of evil, immediately surrounded them.

“Boom! Boom boom…”

Xuankong struck his Kong Ming Drum a few times toward the soldiers. Upon hearing the deep, resonant sounds, their bodies trembled and then disintegrated into nothingness.

The drumbeats were neither loud nor piercing, yet their effect was devastating—completely unexpected by everyone.

Xuankong was a master craftsman, especially skilled in forging puppets. Having opposed the Celestial Court before, he was very familiar with Laozi’s techniques. That’s why he forged the Kong Ming Drum, specifically designed to counter Laozi’s spirit-stone puppets.

Then, Xuankong enlarged the drum and began striking it furiously.

In an instant, all the celestial soldiers and generals around the Lingxiao Palace vanished.

Even the immortals rushing toward the palace were gone too, because they were all puppets forged by Laozi.

“This isn’t right!”

Seeing Xuankong cut through the enemies like a hot knife through butter, Shui Miao suddenly grew alert.

Given Laozi’s cultivation level, if he was truly the mastermind behind everything, he would have anticipated their arrival. If he knew they’d come, why would he only deploy puppets? Shouldn’t there be many real ancient immortals instead? Could there be a trap?

Or perhaps… the Lingxiao Palace itself was a self-destruct artifact!?

Shui Miao’s mind raced as he focused his spiritual sense to scan the palace.

Now, Shui Miao could channel the power of his Realm Planet, and his perception abilities had increased exponentially.

As soon as he extended his consciousness, Shui Miao detected the entire structure of the Lingxiao Palace—it was an enormous celestial city, within which a massive destruction formation was hidden. The formation’s structure was identical to the one he used when forging destructive celestial artifacts. Moreover, inside one of the rooms, he sensed Chong Yuanzi, bound and imprisoned.

“How interesting! He actually copied my forging techniques!”

Shui Miao’s eyes gleamed. He immediately channeled his spiritual power to alter the formation.

Whenever Shui Miao forged a treasure, he left a hidden backdoor. If someone imitated or stole it, he could instantly change the formation structure within the artifact using his spiritual force, rendering it useless.

“Boom!”

A deep, muffled explosion echoed from the Lingxiao Palace as its core formation was disrupted by Shui Miao’s spiritual force.

“It’s done! The Lingxiao Palace was a self-destruct celestial city, but now it’s harmless—I’ve altered its formation with my mind.” Shui Miao quickly sent the message to Xuankong. This massive celestial city was forged entirely from Tianyuan Stones—possessing it was like having the materials to forge countless supreme-grade holy artifacts.

“A trap indeed!”

Xuankong quickly retreated.

At that moment, dark clouds began rising from all directions across the First Heaven…

With a sweep of his divine consciousness, Xuankong couldn’t help but feel slightly startled. “Looks like we’re surrounded. This is Laozi’s tenfold ambush. Each of those clouds hides a hundred thousand celestial soldiers and generals, along with many ancient immortals. They’re serious this time. Since the self-destruct city failed to kill us, they’re resorting to brute force. Now, the decisive battle is upon us. What’s your plan, Shui Miao?”

“What plan? Just give me some time to forge a weapon.”

Shui Miao’s mind flashed, and he immediately flew into the celestial city.

Wenchang Dijun and the others quickly followed him into the Lingxiao Palace.

“What a coincidence—I also need to forge something.”

Xuankong sneered coldly and entered the palace as well.

“Big brother, what should I do?”

Ci’en suddenly panicked, not knowing what to do.

Xuankong turned back and snapped, “What else can you do? We originally had the Wheel of Reincarnation, which would have allowed us to smoothly reform the Three Realms. But now you’ve lost it, so what choice do we have but to fight? Oh, right—you claimed to be a disciple of Hongjun Daoist, didn’t you? Then Laozi is your senior. Why don’t you go talk to him? Have a nice little chat with your senior and see whether he’ll listen to your preaching?”

“…”

Ci’en was momentarily stunned, realizing he might have made a grave mistake.

“No! My master would never be wrong. Master took the Wheel of Reincarnation because he wanted to repair it…”

“Enough! If he wanted to repair it, he would’ve done it long ago. Don’t give me that nonsense. He didn’t take it to repair—it was to steal.”

“You—you’re lying! My master is also your master. How dare you slander him like this?”

“Get lost, you idiot! If you’ve got guts, have your master come and kill me himself!”

“…”

Xuankong and Ci’en began arguing. Xuankong was clearly short-tempered and impatient, and he no longer trusted Ci’en.

Ci’en was stunned by Xuankong’s harsh words.

He had always believed his big brother would treat him kindly, but now it was clear that his “big brother” had never truly accepted him as family.

“Fine! I’ll go talk to him. I refuse to believe my senior brother would kill me.” Ci’en turned to leave but suddenly remembered something and stopped. “Oh, and my master said—if I die, he will personally come and destroy both of you.”

“What!?”

Ci’en, furious, immediately flew out of the Lingxiao Palace to confront Laozi.

Xuankong, however, was momentarily stunned. Hongjun Daoist had actually said something like that!?

“Big brother, don’t think too much. Just calm down and go with the flow. Our power is still weak now. When we grow strong enough, there’ll be no need for restraint.”

Shui Miao suddenly sent a mental transmission to Xuankong.

It seemed Shui Miao had planned this all along. After all, with the Purple Fortune Qi protecting him, his decisions were never wrong. Xuankong’s heart stirred slightly and simply replied, “Alright,” before entering the Tower of Time to forge his treasures.

With time pressing, Shui Miao immediately summoned his blue cold flame, melted down raw materials into liquid, and forged a supreme-grade cosmic chessboard.

“Stop! Everyone, stop at once!”

High above the Lingxiao Palace, Ci’en gathered his spiritual energy and called out loudly, “Senior Brother Laozi! I am Ci’en, the new disciple of our Master. Please come out and speak with me for a moment!”

The surrounding dark clouds immediately halted.

A white-robed elder suddenly appeared in the sky, standing before Ci’en.

“Are you Ci’en, the new disciple?”

The elder exuded an aura of sages, with white hair and a youthful face. He was none other than the supreme expert of the Celestial Court—Laozi.

“Yes! Are you my senior brother?” Ci’en looked at Laozi with excitement.

Seeing Ci’en’s naive expression, Laozi couldn’t help but frown slightly. “Yes, I am your senior brother. How did you end up here? Why did our master send you along with them?”

“Oh Senior Brother, it’s like this—our master has sent us to the Celestial Court to reform the immortal realm, reestablish order, and bring peace to the world. I will share everything I know with you, Senior Brother. Please follow our master’s will.”

Without hesitation, the naive Ci’en transmitted all his knowledge to Laozi.

After receiving the information, Laozi pondered gravely for a moment, then stroked his beard and chuckled. “I understand our master’s intentions now. Now, Ci’en, it’s time for you to stand by me.”

“Uh… What do you mean, Senior Brother?”

Ci’en was utterly confused, unable to grasp the true meaning behind Laozi’s words.

“Nothing much. From now on, just follow my orders. Our master only let you join them to gather intelligence. Now that we have everything we need, there’s no need for you to stay with them anymore. If you trust me, stand with me, and together we shall eliminate them—ensuring peace for the Three Realms forever.”

With a wave of his hand, Laozi summoned a powerful gust of wind that swept Ci’en behind the celestial army.

Then, Laozi raised a red triangular command flag and bellowed with authority, “Kill them all!”