Chapter 652: Dark Matter Space

The Ten Thousand Evils’ Curse is the supreme artifact of the demonic realm, the treasure that the Demon Emperor Wu Yazi used to guard his domain.

Now, a replica of the Ten Thousand Evils’ Curse had actually appeared on Luotong’s body. This was truly a shocking occurrence.

Upon hearing this, Shui Miao was immediately taken aback. Instinctively, he activated a large amount of Purple Fortune Qi to envelop the blood-colored energy.

The aura released by the Ten Thousand Evils’ Curse was naturally supremely evil and malevolent.

However, the Purple Fortune Qi was supremely yang and righteous, precisely the counteracting force to this kind of evil energy.

“It’s useless. The Purple Fortune Qi cannot suppress the evil of the Ten Thousand Evils. This time, you’re destined to lose. Hahaha…” Luotong laughed arrogantly, then continued, “Shui Miao, actually I don’t want to kill you. If you swear to obey me, I will spare you. Then we, master and apprentice, can conquer the world together. Wouldn’t it be better if we dominated both the immortal and demonic realms?”

Luotong was a man full of ambition.

He simply hadn’t had the opportunity or the allies until now.

Indeed, the Purple Fortune Qi could not suppress the evils of the Ten Thousand Evils. However, Shui Miao possessed a Ming Bao (spiritual treasure) acquired from the Black and White Guards of the Netherworld, which had the ability to automatically transform into any energy form capable of countering opposing forces. While secretly activating the Ming Bao to handle the situation, Shui Miao replied to Luo Tong, “You’re right. Rather than allowing those evil spirits to control both the immortal and demonic realms, it would indeed be better for you to take control. However, how can I be sure your words are truthful? You have already become a servant to those evil spirits—how can I place my trust in you?”

“Absurd! Who is their servant? I’m only associating with them temporarily as a strategic move to gain their trust. As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles,” Luotong immediately retorted.

Negotiation required time, and in the meantime, Luotong stopped further activation of the evil energy from the Ten Thousand Evils to attack Shui Miao.

After a pause, Luotong continued, “Shui Miao, you have to admit that our master-apprentice relationship is an undeniable fact. Of course, I’m not trying to use this status to pressure you. My point is that we can trust each other. If we join forces, we can definitely conquer both the immortal and demonic realms. You can rule the immortal realm, and I can manage the demonic realm, or we can switch roles if you prefer.”

“Master, isn’t it too early to talk about dividing the immortal and demonic realms now?”

The spiritual treasure was operating at high speed, continuously adjusting and transforming to counteract the evil energy of the Ten Thousand Evils. Shui Miao, with a thought, continued to stall for time with Luotong. “Right now, from what I know, there are still many ancient immortals hidden throughout the immortal realm. They could rise up against us at any moment. Moreover, the Demon Emperor Wu Yazi is extremely fierce. Without going into the distant past, take Xuan Chizi, Wu Yazi’s senior disciple, who is currently in the immortal city cultivating the Chi Lian technique. Can you handle him?”

Shui Miao knew that Xuan Chizi was cultivating the Chi Lian technique and had expected a sneak attack. Since Xuan Chizi hadn’t emerged, it was obvious that he was indeed cultivating the Chi Lian technique.

“…”

Upon hearing Shui Miao’s words, Luotong’s heart sank immediately. He hadn’t expected Shui Miao to know so much.

After a pause, Luotong responded, “The ancient immortals of the immortal realm are nothing to fear. I have already deciphered the forging method of the Yin Yang Yuan stones, so they cannot harm us. As for the Demon Emperor Wu Yazi, he is also not a threat, because I have already obtained the cultivation method of the Chi Lian technique. As for Xuan Chizi, there’s no need to worry about him either. He still needs two more hours to complete his cultivation of the Chi Lian technique. Therefore, as long as we unite, we don’t need to fear him and can eliminate him before he completes the Chi Lian technique.”

Luotong intentionally extended the time from one hour to two hours in order to gain more time for Xuan Chizi.

At this point, Luotong had been completely bewitched by Xuan Chizi’s special spell.

Everything he was saying now was nothing but deception, merely a tactic to buy time.

In reality, the so-called Ten Thousand Evils’ Curse he mentioned was just a malevolent energy. He wanted to use this malevolent energy to intimidate Shui Miao, then tempt him into hesitation, hoping that an hour would quickly pass.

Shui Miao was somewhat skeptical about Luotong’s words but was particularly interested in what he said about the Yin Yang Yuan stones.

The冥宝 (spiritual treasure) was operating secretly, and half of the transformation process had already been completed.

“Master, the Yin Yang Yuan stone you mentioned is actually the piece of cloth you are wearing?” Shui Miao decided to test him.

As the hour swiftly drew to a close, noticing Shui Miao’s keen interest in the Yin Yang Yuan stone, Luotong chuckled and said leisurely, “Since you, my boy, still recognize me as your master, I’ll share a bit more with you… Long, long ago, before heaven and earth came into existence, the universe was dark and chaotic, resembling a colossal egg. Within this immense egg, Pangu was nurtured. After being nurtured there for tens of thousands of years, one day he finally awoke. Seeing the darkness surrounding him, he felt fear and crafted an axe, then swung it powerfully at the darkness before him…”

“Master, I’ve heard the story of Pangu creating heaven and earth. You don’t need to go into such detail, do you?”

Shui Miao became alert, increasingly sensing that Luotong was stalling for time and that his claim of wanting to join forces was a lie.

Luotong paused slightly but didn’t get angry. He smiled and steered the conversation back on track, “What I want to emphasize is that Pangu actually created only a small realm of consciousness. Compared to the entire universe, it was insignificant. In other words, the world we live in is actually situated between reality and virtuality, much like our own individual realms of consciousness—small and enclosed within a vast expanse of heaven and earth. The Yin Yang Yuan stone I mentioned earlier is, in fact, a yuan stone existing beyond our realm.”

Luotong’s implication was that Pangu was a cultivator, and the Three Realms were Pangu’s realm of consciousness!

This was a very imaginative theory, which greatly surprised Shui Miao.

However, by now, the Ming Qi (spiritual artifact) had transformed into an energy capable of countering the evil aura of the Ten Thousand Evils. It turned out to be a mass of pitch-black Soul Devouring Force!

That’s right, the Soul Devouring Force.

This outcome astonished Shui Miao greatly.

The Soul Devouring Force could devour all spiritual energies, including the evil spirit energy of the Ten Thousand Evils.

Never did he expect that the most powerful spiritual energy in the Three Realms had been cultivated by him from the very beginning?

Shui Miao’s emotions were complex. Instantly, he gathered a large amount of pure Soul Devouring Force and directly devoured the evil aura of the Ten Thousand Evils.

“What?”

Feeling the sudden disappearance of the evil aura, Luotong was greatly shocked, “Shui Miao, how did you do that?”

“Hehe, it’s very simple…”

After devouring and refining the evil aura of the Ten Thousand Evils, the Soul Devouring Force’s power greatly increased. Following Shui Miao’s will, a massive amount of Soul Devouring Force was generated. They quickly left Shui Miao’s body and entered Luotong’s, advancing like an irresistible tide, devouring Luotong’s spiritual power, refining his treasures, and even entering his spiritual world to directly devour his spiritual energy.

Luotong was greatly shocked and completely lost control, “Shui Miao, you, how dare you scheme against your own master!”

“Hehe, Master, I don’t really like what you just said. Weren’t you also deceiving me? If you really wanted to ally with me, you wouldn’t have wasted so much time talking nonsense. You should have taken me to confront Xuan Chizi immediately. But you didn’t. Therefore, I concluded that you were merely stalling for time for your master, Xuan Chizi. Now, I’m simply using your own methods against you. How is that despicable?”

As Shui Miao finished speaking, he immediately unleashed the Soul Devouring Force with full power, launching a fierce attack.

Soon, Luotong completely lost the ability to resist.

The Soul Devouring Force penetrated deep into Luotong’s thoughts and came into contact with a familiar evil spiritual presence, which was the evil root left behind by Xuan Chizi in Luotong’s spiritual world.

Without hesitation, Shui Miao immediately enveloped and devoured this evil spiritual presence.

After the devouring, Luotong instantly regained his senses. Once清醒, Luotong hurriedly said, “Shui Miao, quickly go into the immortal city. Xuan Chizi will complete the Chi Lian technique within an hour. You must destroy him within this hour. There’s not much time left now. Hurry up!”

“Master, don’t worry. We are currently inside the Time Tower.”

Seeing Luotong regain his senses, Shui Miao felt a wave of relief. However, instead of immediately confronting Xuan Chizi, Shui Miao continued to delve into Luotong’s memories… Luotong’s memories were extremely valuable, containing much knowledge that Shui Miao needed.

For example, the material of that brocade bag.

Also, some mysterious formations that Luotong knew but Shui Miao did not.

Moments later, through Luotong’s memories, Shui Miao learned that the forging of the cloth was actually not complicated. The materials were not Yin Yang Yuan stones, but a kind of black matter extracted from black holes. These materials had a unique characteristic: similar to cultivators, they possessed their own inner spatial realms. These materials had vast internal spaces. To refine and forge them, one had to simultaneously smelt their internal spaces, which required a significant amount of time and furnace fire.

Previously, Shui Miao had treated the brocade bag as an ordinary material, and the smelting time had not been sufficient.

Now, Shui Miao finally understood that it was the internal space of the black hole that was the culprit. No wonder ordinary spiritual techniques had no effect on these materials—they had simply been absorbed!

In addition, from Luotong’s memories, Shui Miao learned that the true source of yin energy in this world was actually the dark matter emitted by black hole materials.

Dark matter could also be referred to as yin, and yin energy was present everywhere, extremely mysterious.

Thus, Shui Miao finally completely understood why the spatial realms of Netherworld cultivators were larger than those of immortals.

No wonder his own spatial realm could transform into a massive planet. It was all due to the abundance of dark matter!

“Haha! So that’s how it is! So that’s how it is!”

“Master, I’m really grateful to you for helping me overcome my confusion and learn so much. Don’t worry, I promised your doppelgänger’s spiritual essence not to kill you. However, the situation is a bit special now. All the materials, treasures, and pills on your body, I’ll temporarily keep them safe for you. After I defeat Xuan Chizi and the Demon Emperor Wu Yazi, I’ll return them to you.”

Having understood many truths, Shui Miao felt a wave of relief and immediately left the Time Tower, heading straight toward the San Qing Sect immortal city…