Chapter 1012: The Hand of God, Sea Mirage Pearl; Both Enter the Trap, King Yan of Jiang

"Shui Gui?"

Huang Quan's voice came through.

Meng Po felt awkward. She looked up at Shui Gui. Seeing his subtly encouraging gaze, she hesitated before speaking, "Huang Quan, it's me, Meng Po. You might need to come to Gu Yin Ya to pick me up..."

"Hmm?"

"Cough, cough, the process was a bit complicated and hard to explain in a few words, but it was Shui Gui who saved me..."

Silence fell on the other end.

Shui Gui, who had been holding back for a long time, finally burst into laughter.

With a wave of his hand, he didn't let Meng Po continue. He summoned the communication pearl and abruptly cut off the connection, preventing Huang Quan from asking further questions and stopping Meng Po from saying too much.

"What happened?"

Meng Po was cut off mid-sentence and looked over in confusion.

Shui Gui leaned closer again. Beneath his golden mask, the sharp contours of his face were outlined, his hair swaying, exuding a captivating masculine charm.

Instead of answering directly, he restrained his smile and asked in a husky, serious voice, "Meng Po, do you trust me?"

Meng Po was still lost in the man's allure, and his words left her baffled. She nodded hastily.

Shui Gui sighed and shook his head. "Then let me teach you a lesson. You might have heard it before, but you haven't practiced it on me..."

As he spoke, Shui Gui suddenly stepped forward, cupped Meng Po's face, and pressed his lips to her ear. As her cheeks and earlobes quickly flushed with heat, he lowered his voice and whispered,

"In this world, don't trust anyone, not even your benefactor. Do you understand?"

The gentle voice made her heart flutter.

Meng Po trembled at the warm breath, feeling a strange sensation in her chest and body.

But once she processed Shui Gui's words, it was as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her mind, freezing it completely and making her body rigid like a corpse.

"You..."

He didn't give her a chance.

After delivering his advice, in the next second...

"Thud."

Shui Gui struck with a knife-hand chop, and Meng Po fainted.

"How naive."

Shui Gui shook his head with a chuckle, scooped her up horizontally, straightened his back, and took a few steps to the edge of the Gu Yin Ya ruins. He gazed out at the sea of clouds below the cliff, his expression tinged with emotion.

"The plan unfolded surprisingly smoothly...

"This is a bad sign. Who knows if it might lead to extreme prosperity bringing extreme decline?

"But I have to admit, it felt great.

"Now it all depends on whether Jiang Shi Ban Sheng or Yan Wang arrives first. I'm really looking forward to it..."

The evening sunlight bathed the Gu Yin Ya ruins.

The dim glow fell on Meng Po's limp body, highlighting the lingering shock on her delicate face.

It also shone on the contours of Shui Gui's face beneath his golden mask, adding a painterly beauty to the slight upward curve of his lips.

The scene was quite warm.

But if any members of the Ye Mao organization, like Yuan Hai Sheng, saw this romantic moment on Gu Yin Ya, they would surely...

Feel sheer terror!

Because in the Ye Mao organization, even though everyone respected the elegant and refined leader, their fear remained undiminished.

There, a saying always circulated:

Shui Gui's smile means life or death is uncertain.

"Hah!"

After sighing, Shui Gui acted without hesitation. He tossed the unconscious Meng Po into the sea of clouds below the cliff, as casually as he had discarded Tian Ren Wu Shui earlier.

Once that was done, he activated the Shui Xi Ao Yi array under his feet, reached into the void, and yanked out three or four figures from the heavenly dao.

"Damn!"

These stowaways, at the Zhan Dao and Tai Xu levels, had been eavesdropping and were shocked by Shui Gui's communication. But they never imagined someone below Ban Sheng could pull them out so easily, and they panicked instantly.

Before they could even utter "Senior, spare us," Shui Gui tossed them into the deep sea one by one, like worthless trash.

No need to ask.

Shui Gui knew Gu Yin Ya was too significant and would attract many Zhan Dao and Tai Xu experts.

Among them, most were assassins from San Zhu Xiang, coming for the black gold bounty on Xu Xiao Shou.

But if they dared to come, they had to be prepared to become sacrifices.

Otherwise, what was the point of Shui Gui staying at Gu Yin Ya without leaving?

"What a busy job..."

Shaking his head, Shui Gui turned back with a stern expression, looking toward the sky behind him.

By his calculation, Jiang Shi Ban Sheng and Yan Wang Huang Quan should be arriving soon.

He had made two contacts earlier—one with Jiang Shi Ban Sheng and one with Yan Wang Huang Quan.

Shui Gui had promised both a "surprise."

For Jiang Shi Ban Sheng, he needed to convey that Yan Wang had already entered the depths, while avoiding suspicion by offering Tian Ren Wu Shui and Meng Po as extra gifts.

For Yan Wang Huang Quan, he had to return Meng Po, but also ensure Huang Quan entered the depths to lure Jiang Shi Ban Sheng in for real.

This seemed contradictory.

How to pull it off? Empty promises? Deceive these two as if they were fools?

"Heh..."

As Shui Gui thought about it, he laughed.

For anyone else, delivering these two conflicting outcomes would be impossible.

But as the master of Shui Xi Ao Yi, when Shui Gui planned to be a double agent, he already had a solution.

"Click."

From his spatial ring, he pulled out two fist-sized, sea-blue pearls, one in each hand, and pressed them against his temples, beginning to visualize scenes with his eyes closed.

These were "Hai Shen Zhu."

Items that could only be created at great cost after perfecting Shui Xi Ao Yi.

They had almost no combat use, but their sole function was to create incredibly realistic illusions—absolute illusions that even non-Ao Yi masters couldn't see through!

Manifesting fantasies into real scenes and perfecting all details was incredibly difficult for most people.

But Shui Gui was experienced at this, as if he'd done it many times. In just a few breaths, he completed the illusion.

Then, with a slap, he activated the two Hai Shen Zhu, perfectly integrating the fantasy scenes into the heavenly dao, waiting for someone to trigger them.

"Who will arrive first?"

Shui Gui murmured to himself, his eyes full of anticipation.

Once everything was set, he turned around, facing away from the sea of clouds below the cliff.

With a wave of his hand, Gu Yin Ya exploded with a "boom," leaving traces everywhere that suggested a great battle had occurred.

In his smile, Shui Gui imagined the expressions of those two upon seeing the battle scars and the scenes from the Hai Shen Zhu... He lamented that he couldn't witness it himself, which was truly a pity.

Suddenly...

"Pfft..."

He spat out blood, his condition plummeting to exhaustion, as if struck by a palm. His body flew backward and plunged into the sea of clouds, vanishing from sight.

A quarter of an hour later.

The clouds on the horizon of Gu Yin Ya gathered, forming an elderly figure hidden in the mist, his true appearance concealed.

"Ben Sheng has come as promised. Is the surprise prepared by Shui Gui, my friend, still here?"

The hearty laughter of Ban Sheng Jiang Bu Yi echoed, and then he stepped out from the clouds, landing on Gu Yin Ya.

The silent response made his smile freeze.

"Where is he?

"Was there a battle?"

Jiang Bu Yi scanned his surroundings. Gu Yin Ya was shattered everywhere, completely different from his last visit.

This was clearly the sign of a major fight!

And Shui Gui not coming out to meet him confirmed Jiang Bu Yi's suspicion.

"Did something happen after he contacted me?"

Jiang Bu Yi sensed something was off.

This was too coincidental.

In such a short time, who could have struck Shui Gui... leaving no trace?

He took out his communication pearl and tried to connect.

"Du..."

"Du..."

"Du..."

After a long while, there was no response from the other end.

Jiang Bu Yi was certain now—Shui Gui must be in real trouble; otherwise, he wouldn't dare ignore him.

"Who could have made a move?"

Jiang Bu Yi narrowed his eyes, already forming guesses in his mind.

Could it be that when Shui Gui captured Yan Wang and prepared to offer them as gifts, he was counterattacked?

By Yan Wang Huang Quan?

Thinking this, Jiang Bu Yi didn't hesitate for a second and acted decisively.

"Cloud Seal!"

With a wave of his hand, clouds from the horizon gathered above Gu Yin Ya, forming a hazy barrier that sealed off any external surveillance.

Ordinary people might just speculate wildly and go astray without a response.

But a Ban Sheng was different.

Ban Sheng power had the ability of "retrospection."

Even though Jiang Bu Yi wasn't of the time-space attribute and couldn't achieve perfect "time-space retrospection" to see everything as it happened, the principle remained: "Anything that exists leaves traces."

And the testimony of the sky and heavenly dao was more reliable than any words.

Jiang Bu Yi's eyes turned serious as he formed a seal with one hand.

"Cloud Mist Retrospection!"

With just one seal, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged, transforming into a few vague cloud mist figures on Gu Yin Ya, with rainbows adding color to distinguish them.

Exactly!

Jiang Bu Yi was making the heavenly dao answer for him—what exactly had happened here!

The scenes played out rapidly.

The cloud mist figure representing Tian Ren Wu Shui in an orange mask was no match for the sky-blue cloud mist figure of Shui Gui and jumped into the sea of clouds, following Yan Wang's leader Huang Quan.

This matched what Shui Gui had said in the communication pearl.

At that moment, the cloud mist figure of Shui Gui held the green cloud mist figure representing Meng Po.

He held her hostage and used the communication pearl to contact Jiang Bu Yi.

"The incident must have happened right after the contact ended..."

Jiang Bu Yi watched quietly, eager to know what occurred next.

Sure enough.

As soon as the communication ended, after a few breaths, a golden cloud mist figure descended.

"Huang Quan?"

The surprised voice of the cloud mist Shui Gui helped Jiang Bu Yi confirm the identity.

Shui Gui continued, "Weren't you already in the deep sea below Gu Yin Ya?"

"Hah, just a time-space clone. I didn't expect you to actually believe it!" Huang Quan responded with a cold laugh. "I never thought a mere Ye Mao group would dare attack someone from Yan Wang!"

Boom...

The battle erupted instantly.

Huang Quan was clearly here to reclaim Meng Po from Shui Gui's hands, but Shui Gui intended to offer her as a gift to Jiang Bu Yi, so he wouldn't let go.

Thus, the two clashed...

Jiang Bu Yi watched silently, pondering.

"So, the Yan Wang Huang Quan that Shui Gui mentioned entering the deep sea was just a time-space clone... Unexpected, yet logical.

"After all, there's a forbidden seal down there. Even I initially planned to send only a Ban Sheng clone to avoid risks."

The fight was spectacular.

Shui Xi Ao Yi versus time-space attributes made Jiang Bu Yi marvel at how powerful the younger generation had become.

But he wasn't interested in the battle details and quickly fast-forwarded to the end.

No matter how strong Shui Xi Ao Yi was, it couldn't overcome the combination of time and space, the two supreme attributes.

In the end, Shui Gui took a punch, spat out blood with a "pfft," and flew backward into the sea of clouds—the deep sea forbidden seal.

"So that's what happened; no wonder he didn't respond to me..." Jiang Bu Yi understood.

The scene wasn't over yet.

The golden cloud mist figure of Huang Quan rescued the green cloud mist figure of Meng Po, took her away, thought for a moment, and also jumped into the sea of clouds.

Because below, there was another Yan Wang member waiting to be saved—the orange cloud mist figure, Tian Ren Wu Shui.

"Cloud Mist Retrospection" ended.

The retrospection concluded.

Jiang Bu Yi fell into deep thought.

Yan Wang Huang Quan's strength was far greater than he expected.

The strangeness of time-space attributes meant it wasn't something a mere Ban Sheng clone could handle.

Now that Huang Quan's true body had entered the deep sea, the only way to get him was...

"I have to go down myself!"

Jiang Bu Yi looked toward the sea of clouds, a hint of wariness in his eyes.

He had heard of the forbidden seal's power.

But without entering the tiger's den, how could he catch the tiger cub?

Even a Tai Xu like Huang Quan dared to go down.

For the sake of Lei Jia Tong, with such a grand layout, and only one step left, what was there to hesitate about?

In the forbidden seal, time-space attributes wouldn't work. As a Ban Sheng, how could he lose to a Tai Xu?

"Hah!"

Without delay, Jiang Bu Yi leaped into the sea of clouds.

He had to find Yan Wang Huang Quan quickly.

Because with Huang Quan's abilities, once he found the last Yan Wang member, Tian Ren Wu Shui, he might escape the forbidden seal in no time.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Wearing a golden robe, carrying a knife and a sword on his back, and donning a golden mask, Huang Quan arrived late and landed on Gu Yin Ya.

"Ban Sheng power..."

The aura around was still strong, and Huang Quan immediately sensed the Ban Sheng presence.

He had arrived half a quarter of an hour ago.

But back then, the Ban Sheng power on Gu Yin Ya was too overwhelming; he hadn't dared approach.

Only now, as the Ban Sheng pressure faded, indicating the Ban Sheng had left, did Huang Quan dare to land on Gu Yin Ya.

The ruined environment came into view.

At a glance, Huang Quan knew something had gone wrong.

Shui Gui's last communication had included Meng Po's voice, but it cut off after two sentences, suggesting an accident.

A Ban Sheng wouldn't act lightly.

But with real Ban Sheng remnants here, there was only one explanation: during the communication, Jiang Shi Ban Sheng arrived, Shui Gui was overpowered, and danger ensued.

Thus, Huang Quan didn't linger. He turned and dove into the sea of clouds below the cliff.