Shui Miao attacked the Sanqing Sect with the force of a violent storm, leaving them no chance to counterattack. Worse still, the sect members ended up fighting amongst themselves.
Meanwhile, Tian Dou Xing Jun mistook Xing Kui and Xing Ba for Shui Miao and the Tian Ji Zun Zhe’s puppets. He frantically attacked them with his supreme holy artifact—a meteor hammer—chasing after them relentlessly.
Xing Kui and Xing Ba were thrown into chaos, dodging repeatedly and finally forced to fight back in self-defense.
In secret, Shui Miao took advantage of the situation, occasionally activating the Hongyu Chessboard to strike a few blows at Xing Kui and Xing Ba, placing them at a clear disadvantage.
“Shui Miao, seeing your master, why don’t you come and pay your respects immediately?”
Suddenly, from Shui Miao’s right side, the Saint Forger King Luo Tong appeared like a ghost.
Luo Tong showed no fluctuations of energy, appearing ordinary, yet exuding an aura of mystery and unfathomable depth.
“Who are you?”
Shui Miao turned and saw Luo Tong, his heart immediately startled. He swept his spiritual senses outward, only to find them vanish like a cow sinking into the sea, without a trace.
He must possess some kind of artifact I’ve never encountered before.
Instantly on high alert, Shui Miao did not dare to be careless.
“Do you not even recognize me anymore? In the Luosha Realm, my avatar taught you the art of forging. Have you already forgotten that? Or perhaps, you never respected me as your master at all?” Luo Tong spoke slowly, his intention being twofold: to buy time and to gauge Shui Miao’s strength before making his move.
“…”
Shui Miao’s mind raced. Why was Luo Tong appearing now, speaking so deliberately? Was he trying to rescue the elders of the Sanqing Sect? Or was he probing his strength? Or perhaps he was deliberately distracting him while Xuan Chizi struck from the shadows?
After a pause, Shui Miao suddenly sneered coldly, “If you really were my master Luo Tong, I would naturally pay my respects. But you exude a sinister aura, clearly a practitioner of evil ways. Hmph! You think disguising yourself as my master will fool me? Don’t you fear I might kill you outright?”
“You still don’t believe I am Luo Tong?” Luo Tong was slightly taken aback, then nodded, “Fine then. If that’s the case, why don’t you try to destroy me and see how strong you’ve really become?”
Confident and unimpressed, Luo Tong showed no fear of Shui Miao.
Indeed, under normal circumstances, a master would always underestimate his disciple.
Luo Tong had a rough estimate of Shui Miao’s abilities. After all, it had only been a few years. He couldn’t believe Shui Miao had improved that much. Besides, he sensed Shui Miao was only at the Xianweng Realm.
“Really?”
Shui Miao suddenly felt uncertain. Seeing Luo Tong’s confidence, he wondered what exactly he was relying on.
At the same time, Shui Miao had already prepared the Hongyu Chessboard, ready to strike at any moment.
Luo Tong merely smiled faintly, “Enough talk. If you have the skill, break through my Yin-Yang Protection Artifact first.”
“Fine!”
Shui Miao’s mind surged, immediately activating the Mie Kong Formation and launching it directly at Luo Tong.
The Mie Kong Formation’s penetrative power was astonishing. It could pierce directly into artifacts, shattering their spirit cores and disrupting their formations. It was the signature artifact of Xingtian Falun from Punishment City, rendering all other artifacts powerless before it.
“Buzz…”
The immense power of the Mie Kong Formation engulfed Luo Tong in an instant. The spirit cores of several artifacts on his body were shattered, their internal formations destroyed. One by one, they fell apart into useless scraps.
“This is the Mie Kong Formation! And not just any version—this is the one released by an ultimate holy artifact, combining the power of numerous Xian Di Realm experts!!” Luo Tong, the Saint Forger King, was suddenly overwhelmed with shock. He muttered to himself in disbelief before turning to Shui Miao with a mixture of fury and astonishment, saying, “You brat, you’ve indeed surpassed your master! Hiding your strength, concealing so many Xian Di experts inside you, and even obtaining the Celestial Court’s secret techniques from Punishment City. But don’t get too arrogant just yet. You’ve only destroyed some of my minor artifacts. The real treasures—you haven’t even laid eyes on them.”
Suddenly, Luo Tong’s body trembled, and with a wave of black energy, his black robe shattered and flew apart, revealing a simple-looking cloth garment underneath… Upon seeing the material, Shui Miao immediately recalled the mysterious sack given to him by Lord Laozi through Ling Shuai.
Indeed, it was made of the exact same mysterious fabric.
A material that couldn’t even be burned in a refining furnace, and against which ordinary formations were utterly ineffective.
“What is that?”
Shui Miao couldn’t help but ask.
“Ha ha ha ha!”
Seeing Shui Miao’s ignorance, Luo Tong suddenly burst into wild laughter, “I thought you were really something, but you still don’t understand the true essence of formations. If you want to know what this is, you’ll have to kneel down and pay me proper respects as your master first.”
Luo Tong, well aware of a forger’s obsession with materials and formations, boldly blackmailed Shui Miao with confidence.
“Heh…”
Unexpectedly, Shui Miao merely smiled faintly.
Luo Tong was taken aback, “What are you laughing at? It’s impossible… You couldn’t possibly know…”
“Hmph!” Shui Miao snorted coldly, “I’m laughing at how old you are, yet your thinking is still so outdated. You’re not even worthy of being the Saint Forger King. You think you can fool me with such a rag? And you even associate with disciples of the evil path? The Demon Emperor Wu Yezhi is my sworn brother, yet you’re consorting with his apprentice. You’re such a loser—does your old man even know?”
“What did you say? What are you talking about?”
The more Luo Tong listened, the more confused he became. Shui Miao’s words were full of implications, shocking and bewildering.
Shui Miao grinned, suddenly unleashing a massive surge of purple fortune energy to envelop Luo Tong.
In truth, Shui Miao was bluffing. He was spouting nonsense to confuse Luo Tong, distracting him before launching a sudden attack.
Once the purple fortune energy surged forth, Shui Miao immediately used half the power of his Xian Di Realm spirit artifacts to suppress Luo Tong, while activating the Mengmo Heart Technique, aiming to infiltrate Luo Tong’s mind and extract his memories.
Though the cloth garment protected Luo Tong’s body, his head and limbs were still exposed.
Therefore, Shui Miao chose to employ the invisible and all-pervading purple fortune energy.
Having seen Luo Tong’s soul form before, Shui Miao knew he wasn’t an evil practitioner. Luo Tong’s current behavior must be due to Xuan Chizi’s control. Therefore, the purple fortune energy was the perfect choice.
Moreover, Shui Miao only used half his spirit artifact power to guard against a sudden attack from Xuan Chizi.
“You brat! How despicable of you! Attacking your own master! Such grave disrespect!”
Luo Tong screamed frantically, desperately activating his supreme holy and demonic artifacts to resist Shui Miao’s suppression. However, having been caught off guard, he still found himself at a major disadvantage.
Surprisingly, Luo Tong had thirty-six supreme holy and demonic artifacts on him.
He activated all of them at once, channeling the power of their spirit cores, and managed to halt Shui Miao’s assault.
“Ha ha ha! Shui Miao, you’re still too young! Although we may have a similar number of holy artifacts, my formations are far more profound than yours. Moreover, I’ve integrated all my artifacts into a unified formation, amplifying their power. Now, it’s my turn to counterattack!”
Having gauged Shui Miao’s strength, Luo Tong made up his mind to take him down.
Instantly, Shui Miao’s energy began to retreat, and Luo Tong turned the tide, overwhelming Shui Miao with a flood of power…
“Master, you really talk too much…”
In desperation, Shui Miao suddenly activated the Hongyu Chessboard made entirely of low-grade holy artifacts to guard against a sneak attack from Xuan Chizi. Then, he unleashed all his Xian Di Realm spirit artifacts and the collective power of everyone within his artistic realm, launching a fierce counterattack against Luo Tong. In an instant, Luo Tong’s energy was crushed and forced back into his body…
This time, Luo Tong was utterly horrified!
He never expected Shui Miao to command such immense power, leaving him completely defenseless.
Shui Miao quickly suppressed all of Luo Tong’s supreme holy artifacts, refining and absorbing them one by one…
Luo Tong was now powerless to reverse the situation, yet he still silently resisted—fighting for his pride in his final stand.
Shui Miao remained vigilant, continuing to suppress and absorb Luo Tong’s artifacts with meticulous care.
However, absorbing artifacts required a great deal of time.
Though Luo Tong appeared motionless on the surface, he was secretly buying time. If he could hold out for an hour, Xuan Chizi would complete the Chi Lian Technique, turning the tide. Judging from the current pace, by the time Shui Miao absorbed all the artifacts, an hour would have nearly passed.
Thus, Luo Tong chose silence.
Yet not long after, Shui Miao began to sense something amiss. Many of the formations within Luo Tong’s holy artifacts were exquisitely profound, and he could have used them to counterattack. Yet he didn’t. Instead, he focused solely on resisting the refinement process, clearly trying to buy time.
Realizing this, Shui Miao’s heart jolted.
Immediately, he changed tactics, once again employing the Mengmo Heart Technique on Luo Tong.
Luo Tong had been concentrating on resisting the refinement of his artifacts when Shui Miao suddenly shifted focus and invaded his mind. Caught off guard, his thoughts became hazy and confused… Just like before with Tian Dou Xing Jun, Shui Miao used the same technique on Luo Tong, and soon, Luo Tong was ensnared, his mind clouded.
However, since Luo Tong’s mental power was also formidable, Shui Miao couldn’t directly read his memories yet. He could only induce a drowsy, sleep-like state. To fully extract his memories would take a tremendous amount of time—dozens of hours or more.
Thus, Shui Miao swiftly retreated with Luo Tong into the Time Tower, reversing time to deal with him slowly.
Inside the Time Tower, Shui Miao exerted his full power to suppress Luo Tong’s thoughts and spiritual energy.
But suddenly, Luo Tong let out a chilling, cackling laugh…
“Shui Miao, you’re such a fool!”
Luo Tong’s voice echoed coldly within Shui Miao’s mind, “Do you really think I’ve survived all these years for nothing? If anyone could access my memories, how could I still be alive today? Well… After all, we are master and disciple, and you’ve turned out so well, I can’t let you die without knowing the truth. Let me tell you—today, if you hadn’t entered my mind, you might have defeated me. But now that you’re inside, you’re doomed. Because hidden within my thoughts is a very special artifact—a replica of the Demon Emperor’s Wan’e Gu…”
As Luo Tong’s voice rang out, Shui Miao suddenly sensed a strange, blood-red energy silently seeping into his own mind!
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