“What! What did you say?”
Shui Miao was shocked.
Upon hearing Bai Lian’s words, Bu Yi and Meng San Niang couldn’t help exchanging glances.
Bu Yi quickly sent a telepathic message to Meng San Niang, “San Niang, I know this woman named Bai Lian. She is a thousand-year-old female ghost, no ordinary foe. She once had a complicated relationship with Shui Miao. I feel her behavior today is quite abnormal. Can you sense her thoughts and uncover what sinister plot she might be planning?”
“No problem. The older the ghost, the less likely they are to escape my grasp.”
Confidently, Meng San Niang immediately activated her Dream Demon cultivation technique, subtly sensing Bai Lian’s thoughts without anyone noticing.
Bai Lian slowly approached Shui Miao, “Now that it’s come to this, there’s no need for me to hide anything from you anymore. Truthfully, I had already suspected that the one secretly giving you Primordial Qi was him. However, whether he wants to take you as a disciple or use you for some ulterior motive is something I don’t yet know.”
“Explain yourself clearly—could this just be your guesswork?” Shui Miao quickly pressed.
Bai Lian stopped a few meters away from Shui Miao. “It was just a guess, but I have evidence.”
“What evidence!?”
Shui Miao’s mind raced. He felt Bai Lian had no reason to deceive him.
“I can tell you, but you must agree to one condition: help me forge an ultimate temporal artifact. Alternatively, you could kill me and extract the information directly from my mind.” Bai Lian’s eyes revealed a mix of envy and resentment. Previously, she had regarded this young boy as unworthy of her attention, yet now he had surpassed her, a change she found difficult to accept. “Now, you hold the power.”
“No, I’m not a bloodthirsty demon. Besides, my greatest wish right now is to avenge my father. As for my own affairs, I actually don’t care that much. Even if Laozi truly intends to use me, I wouldn’t mind being used. However, if you can provide the materials, I’m willing to consider forging you an artifact.” Shui Miao replied readily, effectively agreeing.
Bai Lian frowned, “I don’t understand. Why would you willingly be used? If you care so little about this, why would you agree to forge me a divine weapon?”
“Simple. I pity you.” Shui Miao answered bluntly.
Upon hearing this, Bai Lian’s eyebrows furrowed angrily, and she shouted, “Who asked for your pity? You should pity yourself instead. Being used by others yet willing to be used—now you’re the one deserving pity.”
Bai Lian had a fiery temper and couldn’t tolerate such words. She felt her lofty status had been tainted.
Shui Miao spoke sincerely. A woman who had missed her chance at immortality due to an impure heart, separated from her beloved across the mortal and immortal realms, and who had spent a thousand years cultivating without softening her harsh temperament—such a person was inherently deserving of pity.
Quickly thinking, Shui Miao continued, “Worthy of pity? Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake? What wrong have I done? Have I ever misled an innocent child? Did you help my father just to make him repay you? To make him die for you? Have I ever been as despicable as you, using others’ lives to achieve my own ends? You failed to ascend because of your own faults, yet you blame others. You even dare to claim that Laozi, the very one who gave you your abilities, is your enemy. You cannot distinguish right from wrong, good from evil. How could someone like you deserve the affection of Ling Shuai?”
“Shui Miao, you bastard! Do you know who you’re talking to?” Bai Lian grew increasingly furious. She could tell these accusations had come from the dwarves, but she hadn’t expected Shui Miao to dare lecture her like this.
Shui Miao scoffed, “What? You think I should respect my elders and treat the young with tenderness? Should I fawn over you and treat you with care? You’re wrong. Drop your self-righteous sense of superiority. Life is equal. You must admit your mistakes. Refusing to acknowledge your wrongdoing—that’s your shame. Back then, did you really think Laozi didn’t know Ling Shuai would pass his techniques to you when he taught them to him? He knew. He wanted to cultivate you, but you were selfish, thinking only of yourself. That’s why someone like you could never ascend. And now, you still refuse to repent, hurting not only Ling Shuai’s heart but also your master Laozi’s.”
“You bastard! Don’t you know who I am? I’m your mother!”
Bai Lian was visibly furious and deeply agitated.
“What… what…”
Hearing this, Shui Miao was stunned, his thoughts grinding to a halt.
Shui Miao was actually the son of the thousand-year-old female ghost Bai Lian?
Bu Yi was also momentarily stunned.
Meng San Niang, however, furrowed her brows tightly.
The thousand-year-old female ghost wept—deeply and sorrowfully.
“…”
Shui Miao wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.
After crying for a while, the thousand-year-old female ghost Bai Lian sorrowfully said to Shui Miao, “You think I’m that selfish? You think you truly know the truth? I had a child with him, but Laozi separated us. I committed suicide, and the child died in my womb. You are the soul of that unborn child. I have been nurturing you ever since. Later, I met your father and found him resembled him greatly, so I let you reincarnate!”
“Shui Miao…”
Suddenly, Meng San Niang sent a telepathic message to Shui Miao, transmitting the true thoughts of Bai Lian that she had sensed.
“Enough!”
Receiving Meng San Niang’s thoughts, Shui Miao immediately understood everything and roared in anger, “Bai Lian, you’ve gone too far! I treated you sincerely, yet you repeatedly mocked and confused me, dragging me into your twisted schemes to manipulate me. Let me tell you, I now know exactly what you’re thinking. I had thought you pitiful and felt sympathy for you, but now I see you’re truly evil—you’re the demon.”
“What are you talking about? I’m your mother!” The thousand-year-old female ghost Bai Lian still looked wronged.
Meng San Niang stepped forward coldly, “Bai Lian, I am the Dream Demon. I know every thought in your mind. Stop pretending.”
“…”
Hearing this, Bai Lian was momentarily stunned.
“Bai Lian, in my life I have entered countless souls’ dreams, but you are the darkest and most terrifying I’ve encountered. You appear to be a good person, an innocent victim, but in reality, you’re extremely selfish, holding grudges for the smallest slights, possessing a heart smaller than a needle’s tip. Yet, you’re a master of pretense. Oh, and weren’t you fond of watching plays since childhood? You often performed plays alone when no one was around. This was something only you knew, but now I know, and so does Shui Miao.” Meng San Niang smirked, raising her eyebrows. “Bai Lian, you’ve only cultivated for over a thousand years, while I’ve cultivated for several thousand. Your thoughts can’t hide from me. Now, will you let me expose your disgraceful secrets one by one, or will you wisely shut up and leave?”
“…”
Realizing her plot had been uncovered, Bai Lian hastily stepped back, her expression a mix of emotions.
“Evil woman, you were the one who killed my father! I want blood for blood!”
Shui Miao clenched his fists tightly. Within the Supreme Artifact, a storm brewed, and a giant black hand appeared above the thousand-year-old female ghost Bai Lian.
“Shui Miao, you can’t kill me, because I’ve cast a curse on you. If I die, you will certainly die too, along with all your loved ones and friends!” Bai Lian screamed hysterically.
“Oh! She’s lying to you again.”
Meng San Niang sighed helplessly.
“You dare curse my loved ones at the moment of your death!”
Shui Miao gritted his teeth, suddenly shifting his will. The giant black hand swiftly lunged toward Bai Lian.
“Whoosh!”
“Ahh…”
Just as Shui Miao was about to kill Bai Lian and she screamed in terror, a flash of white light passed, and Bai Lian vanished instantly!
“What! How… how is this possible? Who could have rescued someone inside this Supreme Artifact?”
Shui Miao was stunned beyond belief. After all, this was an enhanced Supreme Artifact! To rescue someone in such circumstances required an unimaginably terrifying power.
“Huh? What is that…”
Bu Yi hurried forward and grabbed a withered yellow leaf drifting down from the air. There was a line of small characters written on it…
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage