“Sister, what should we do? This mist and bloody rain seem relentless!”
Shui Miao gradually realized that the mist and bloody rain were closely trailing behind, as if deliberately orchestrated by someone, driving him toward a specific destination. This situation was getting out of hand.
“I’ve never encountered anything like this before, but I’ve heard of such phenomena—it should just be a natural occurrence,” Shui Tianyi replied, though her voice lacked confidence.
Hearing this, Shui Miao immediately shook his head. “This ‘natural occurrence’ is way too strange. Sister, give me one of the ancient divine artifacts you carry—the one with the least damage.”
“Alright!”
Shui Tianyi had already guessed Shui Miao’s intentions and summoned an ancient war drum.
The drum itself wasn’t damaged, but its core spirit and internal formations had been destroyed.
Shui Miao extended his divine consciousness into the drum. The formations were mostly ruined, making it impossible to determine its quality, but it was at least a Saint-grade artifact. Its shell was forged from Tianyuan stone and could likely withstand the toxic mist and bloody rain for a while.
Without hesitation, Shui Miao and Shui Tianyi entered the war drum, then retreated further into a spatial ring, and finally into the Time Tower inside the ring. There, they reversed time and began learning how to forge demonic artifacts.
In the Xian-Mo Realm, demonic artifacts were unique. Their forging materials weren’t Tianyuan stones, but Yinji stones and Yin Yuan stones. The flames used to forge them weren’t ordinary furnace flames, but rather Ten Yin Evil Fire.
Inside the demonic artifact furnace was an evil spirit. When Shui Miao attempted to subdue it, the spirit transformed into a black-robed old man and appeared before him.
“Friend, your cultivation is impressive, and you’ve even developed Soul Devouring Force, making you practically half a member of the Xian-Mo Realm. You can try to subdue me, but I have one condition: if you refuse, I’ll self-destruct, and you’ll gain nothing.”
“What condition?” Shui Miao wasn’t surprised the spirit would make demands—he actually thought it was quite clever.
“Simple. Feed me your blood essence and divine spirit so I can grow stronger. If you agree, I’ll help you wholeheartedly. Refuse, and I walk away,” the black-robed spirit said coldly, clearly unafraid that Shui Miao might reject.
Shui Miao frowned. Through his spiritual senses, he detected that the toxic mist and bloody rain were already corroding the war drum.
“Fine, I agree. But if you betray me, I swear I’ll destroy you.”
Shui Miao immediately offered a fragment of his divine spirit and essence blood.
“Of course, I won’t go back on my word…”
The black-robed spirit swiftly devoured the offering. His form began to change, and to Shui Miao’s shock, he transformed into an exact replica of Shui Miao himself.
“Wow, wow… Brother Shui Miao, your memories sure are rich! Don’t worry, I said I’d help you, and I will. Let me get to know you a bit better first…” The spirit, now in Shui Miao’s form, spoke in a strange tone before sitting cross-legged and beginning to probe into Shui Miao’s memories.
A sense of unease immediately rose in Shui Miao’s heart. If this evil spirit gained access to all his memories and secrets, it would become uncontrollable.
“Shui Miao, I think you’re nurturing a super demon here. If you’re not careful, we could destroy ourselves. Remember, all demons in the Xian-Mo Realm are evil, and this spirit is no exception,” Shui Tianyi warned urgently through a mental transmission.
Shui Miao’s mind stirred, and he immediately activated the Chasing Light Mirror within his spiritual realm. Time rapidly passed in the mirror’s vision, revealing a scene where the spirit fled into the furnace, then released the Ten Yin Evil Fire to kill both Shui Miao and Shui Tianyi.
Startled by this vision, Shui Miao quickly summoned a surge of purple fortune energy to envelop the spirit. Upon contact, the spirit panicked. “Shui Miao, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me? The outside is full of toxic mist and bloody rain! If you kill me now, who will forge the demonic artifact for you? Without it, you’ll die here. Do you really want to die?”
“Calm down. I’m just helping you cultivate. Stay calm… stay calm…”
Shui Miao played his own trick, using a powerful dream demon technique to hypnotize the spirit and begin reading its memories.
“Crack!”
Suddenly, the ancient war drum was completely corroded through. Toxic mist poured in rapidly, followed by the torrential bloody rain.
The Saint Yuan Ring was utterly powerless against this corrosive force.
Sensing the danger, Shui Miao quickly wrapped the Time Tower with several less important artifacts to buy himself some time.
The spirit’s memories were, as he himself claimed, extremely rich—mostly about forging techniques. But this spirit had originally been the soul of an ancient furnace, capable of forging countless artifacts and possessing knowledge of many powerful figures in the Xian-Mo Realm.
It turned out that the Xian-Mo Realm, like the Immortal Realm, had nine heavens. Within it were the Great Demon Emperor and many lesser demon emperors ruling different regions. This place was considered an entrance to the Immortal Realm from the fifth heaven of the Xian-Mo Realm.
In the last great war between the Xian-Mo and Immortal Realms, the Immortal Realm had suffered a crushing defeat. The Xian-Mo Realm had gained control over the Immortal Realm and the great channel between the two realms.
To Shui Miao’s surprise, the spirit’s memories revealed that many ancient immortals had defected to the Xian-Mo Realm during the war, which was the real reason for the great defeat of the ancient immortals and the destruction of the ancient immortal city.
But even more shocking was the revelation of a secret hidden within this great channel.
In the center of the channel was a vast range of holy mountains stretching for ten thousand miles. At the heart of these mountains stood a colossal peak reaching the heavens. Spiraling upward around this peak was a grand platform. At the summit of this peak stood a perfectly sealed Holy Gate. This gate opened once every ten thousand years, and once passed through, one would achieve true liberation.
However, only ten people could enter the gate each time.
As for where one would end up after passing through, no one knew—because no one had ever returned.
What was certain, though, was that seated in meditation atop the grand platform were countless ancient Saint Sovereigns and supreme beings.
“Shui Miao, what are you doing? The Time Tower is about to collapse!”
Shui Tianyi suddenly shouted, snapping Shui Miao out of his thoughts.
So immersed was he in the spirit’s memories that he had nearly forgotten his own perilous situation.
Coming to his senses, Shui Miao immediately realized the Time Tower was on the verge of destruction.
“Whoosh!”
Suddenly, a hole was corroded through the tower, and torrents of toxic mist and bloody rain surged inside.
“Damn it!”
A heavy feeling settled in Shui Miao’s heart. He had been far too careless this time!
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