Chapter 1012: God's Masterstroke The Miraculous Pearl, Both Trapped in the Jar by King Jiang and Lord Yan

"Shuigui?" Huang Quan's voice echoed.

Meng Po felt awkward. She glanced at Shuigui, who offered a slightly encouraging look, and after a long moment of hesitation, she finally spoke: "Lord Huang Quan, it's me, Meng Po. You might need to come to Guyin Cliff to pick me up..."

"Hmm?"

"Ahem, the process was a bit complicated, hard to explain in a few words, but Shuigui saved me..."

Silence fell on the other end.

Hearing this, Shuigui, who had been suppressing his laughter for a long time, finally burst out laughing. With a flick of his hand, he stopped Meng Po from speaking further. He summoned the communication bead and casually cut the connection, preventing Huang Quan from asking more questions and ensuring Meng Po didn't reveal too much.

"What happened?" Meng Po looked on, confused by the sudden disconnection.

Shuigui leaned closer again. Beneath his golden mask, his chiseled facial features, framed by his swaying hair, exuded a captivating masculine charm. He didn't answer her question directly. Instead, he suppressed his smile and asked in a low, serious voice, "Meng Po, do you trust me?"

Meng Po, still captivated by his allure, was so bewildered by his question that even her nod was rushed.

Shuigui sighed, shaking his head. "Then let me teach you a principle now. You might have heard it, but it won't apply to me..."

As he spoke, Shuigui suddenly stepped forward, cupped Meng Po's face, and brought his lips to her ear. As her cheeks and earlobes rapidly flushed hot, he lowered his voice and whispered, breathing out: "In this world, don't trust anyone, not even your benefactor. Understand?"

The soft voice sent a shiver through her. Meng Po trembled at his warm breath, feeling an unusual sensation throughout her body. But once she fully grasped the meaning of Shuigui's words, her mind froze as if doused with ice water, and her body became stiff, like a corpse.

"You..."

He gave her no chance. After delivering his advice, the very next second...

*Thud.*

Shuigui delivered a swift chop with his hand, and Meng Po passed out.

"Naïve." Shuigui shook his head, a wry smile escaping him. He scooped her up horizontally, straightened his back, and after a few steps, stopped at the edge of the Guyin Cliff ruins. His gaze swept over the sea of clouds in the chasm, his expression tinged with wistfulness.

"The plan is unfolding remarkably smoothly... This is not a good sign, though. I wonder if things will turn sour after reaching their peak? But I have to admit, it's very satisfying. Now, it's just a matter of seeing whether Half-Saint Jiang or Huang Quan, the King of Hell, arrives first. I'm truly looking forward to it..."

The lingering glow of the setting sun cast its light on the Guyin Cliff ruins. The dim, yellow light poured over Meng Po's prostrate form, highlighting the lingering terror on her delicate face. It also fell upon the contours of Shuigui's face beneath his golden mask, where the slight upward curve of his lips added an almost painterly beauty. The scene was remarkably tranquil.

However, if a Night Cat member like Yuan Haisheng were to witness this romantic and heartwarming scene on Guyin Cliff, they would surely be terrified! For within the Night Cat organization, despite everyone's deep respect for their gentle and refined leader, their fear remained undiminished. A saying forever circulated among them: "When Shuigui smiles, life and death are unpredictable."

"Hmph!" After his wistful moment, Shuigui became utterly decisive, tossing Meng Po into the sea of clouds below the cliff with the same casual indifference he had shown when discarding the Five Heavenly Declines earlier.

Having done this, a water-attribute profound array pattern spun beneath his feet. With a grab into the void, he abruptly pulled out three or four figures from the Heavenly Dao.

"Holy crap!" These Transcendent and Grand Void realm trespassers had been secretly listening, astonished by the content of Shuigui's communication. They never imagined that someone below the Half-Saint realm could pull them out so easily, and they were immediately overcome with terror. But before they could even utter "Senior, spare me," Shuigui tossed them one by one into the deep sea, like trash.

There was no need to ask. Shuigui knew that Guyin Cliff was too significant and would attract many Transcendent and Grand Void realm individuals. More than half of them were Three Incense assassins, drawn by Xu Xiaoshou's black gold bounty. But if they dared to come, they had to be prepared to become sacrifices. Otherwise, what would be the point of Shuigui staying at Guyin Cliff without leaving for a moment?

"Truly a busy job..." Shuigui shook his head and, without a smile, turned to look at the sky behind him.

Calculating the time, Half-Saint Jiang and Huang Quan, the King of Hell, should be arriving soon. He had just made two calls: one to Half-Saint Jiang, and the other to Huang Quan, the King of Hell. Shuigui had promised "surprises" to both parties.

For Half-Saint Jiang, he needed to present the conclusion that the King of Hell had already gone into the water. To avoid suspicion, he would also offer the Five Heavenly Declines and Meng Po as extra gifts. For Huang Quan, the King of Hell, he needed to return Meng Po, but at the same time, he had to ensure Huang Quan entered the water, which would then lure Half-Saint Jiang to truly descend. This seemed to be a contradictory situation.

How would he do it? By conjuring something from nothing? Treat these two as fools and simply deceive them?

"Heh heh..." Shuigui smiled as he pondered. These seemingly impossible dual outcomes would be unattainable for anyone else. But Shuigui was a master of water-attribute profundity, and when he planned to become a double agent, he already had a solution.

*Plop.* He pulled out two fist-sized, sea-blue beads from his spatial ring. Holding one in each hand, he pressed them against his temples and closed his eyes, beginning to visualize the scene.

These were "Sea Mirage Beads." They could only be crafted at great cost after mastering water-attribute profundity. Their combat utility was almost zero, but their sole purpose was to create illusions so realistic they were indistinguishable from reality—absolute illusions that only a master of profundity could see through! Materializing fantasies into realistic scenes and perfecting every detail would be an impossible task for ordinary people. Yet, Shuigui was intimately familiar with the process, as if he had done such things countless times. In just a few breaths, he completed the illusion's materialization. Then, he clapped the two "Sea Mirage Beads" together, and the illusory scenes seamlessly integrated into the Heavenly Dao, waiting for someone to trigger them.

"Who will arrive first?" Shuigui muttered to himself, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Once all preparations were complete, he turned, his back to the sea of clouds in the chasm. With a wave of his hand, Guyin Cliff exploded with a *boom*, revealing extensive traces of a major battle.

Imagining the expressions of the two when they saw the battle traces and the scenes provided by the "Sea Mirage Beads," Shuigui sighed, truly regretting that he wouldn't be able to witness it himself.

Suddenly.

He spat out a mouthful of blood, his condition instantly becoming extremely weak. As if struck by a powerful palm, he flew backward, tumbling into the sea of clouds below the cliff and vanishing from sight.

A quarter of an hour later.

From the horizon around Guyin Cliff, clouds gathered, forming the figure of an old man, hidden within the mist, his true face unseen.

"This Half-Saint has arrived as promised. Is the surprise, young friend Shuigui, still intact?" Half-Saint Jiang Buyi's hearty laughter rang out, and then he strode quickly from the mists, landing on Guyin Cliff.

The deathly silence that met him caused the smile on his face to freeze. "Where is he? Was there a battle?"

Jiang Buyi looked around, seeing Guyin Cliff shattered everywhere, completely different from his last visit. This was undoubtedly evidence of a major battle! The fact that Shuigui, the Night Cat, hadn't come out to greet him in time also confirmed Jiang Buyi's suspicions.

"Did something happen after he contacted me?" Jiang Buyi sensed something amiss. Was this too much of a coincidence? Who could have defeated Shuigui, the Night Cat, and made him disappear without a trace in such a short time?

He pulled out his communication bead and initiated a call. "Hello..." "Hello..." "Hello..." After a long wait, there was no response from the other end of the communication bead. Jiang Buyi then concluded that Shuigui must truly be in trouble; otherwise, he wouldn't dare to neglect him.

"Who could have attacked?" Jiang Buyi's eyes narrowed slightly, a hypothesis already forming in his mind. Could it be that Shuigui, when he captured the two individuals from the King of Hell's faction and was preparing them as a gift, encountered a counterattack? A counterattack from Huang Quan, the King of Hell? With this thought, Jiang Buyi wasted no time and decisively took action.

"Cloud Fixation!" With a wave of his hand, the clouds on the horizon gathered, forming a hazy barrier above Guyin Cliff, sealing off all potential outside prying.

Ordinary people, without a response, might only be left to make wild guesses and thus be led astray. Half-Saints were different. The power of a Half-Saint possessed the ability of "retrace." Even though Jiang Buyi didn't possess time-space attributes and couldn't perfectly "retrace time and space" to see every original scene, "everything that exists leaves a trace." The testimony of the sky and the Heavenly Dao was far more real than anything spoken by people.

Jiang Buyi's eyes hardened, and he formed a hand seal with one hand. "Cloud Mist Reconfiguration!"

With just one hand seal, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth roared, transforming into a few ethereal cloud figures above Guyin Cliff. Rosy clouds then gave these figures color, allowing for better differentiation. Excellent! What Jiang Buyi intended to do was let the Heavenly Dao answer what had truly transpired in this place moments ago!

The scenes flickered by at light speed. The answer provided by the Heavenly Dao materialized. The cloud figure representing the orange-masked Five Heavenly Declines, unable to contend with the sky-blue cloud figure representing Shuigui, leaped into the sea of clouds below the cliff, following in the footsteps of Huang Quan, the King of Hell. This matched the information Shuigui had conveyed via his communication bead. At this moment, the cloud figure representing Shuigui held a green cloud figure representing Meng Po. He held this figure captive, pulled out his communication bead, and completed the call with Jiang Buyi.

"The incident must have occurred just as the communication ended..." Jiang Buyi watched silently, eager to know what happened right after the call concluded. Sure enough. As soon as the communication bead disconnected, just a few breaths later, another golden cloud figure appeared at the location.

"Huang Quan?" The surprised voice of the cloud figure Shuigui helped Jiang Buyi confirm the newcomer's identity. His questions continued as Shuigui then added, "Haven't you already entered the deep sea beneath Guyin Cliff?"

"Heh, merely a time-space clone. I didn't expect you to actually believe it!" Huang Quan sneered in response. "I never thought a mere Night Cat would dare to lay hands on someone from my King of Hell faction!"

*Boom...*

A fierce battle instantly erupted. Huang Quan had clearly come to reclaim Meng Po from Shuigui's grasp. But Shuigui had already intended to present her as a gift to Jiang Buyi, so how could he surrender her? And so, the two sides began to clash...

Jiang Buyi watched quietly, pondering to himself. "So, Huang Quan, the King of Hell, whom Shuigui kept mentioning as having entered the deep sea, was merely a time-space clone... unexpected, yet entirely logical. After all, there's a Forbidden Magic Barrier down there; even my initial plan was just to send a Half-Saint clone down to prevent any unforeseen circumstances."

The battle was spectacular. The clash between water-attribute profundity and time-space attributes made Jiang Buyi lament the true power of today's youth. However, he had no interest in the battle details, quickly fast-forwarding to the conclusion.

No matter how potent water-attribute profundity was, it ultimately couldn't withstand the combination of the two strongest attributes: time and space. Shuigui eventually took a punch, spitting out a mouthful of blood with a *thud*, and was sent flying backward into the sea of clouds below the cliff, which was the deep sea Forbidden Magic Barrier.

"So he was also knocked down. No wonder he didn't reply to me..." Jiang Buyi understood.

The scene hadn't ended yet. The golden cloud figure representing Huang Quan rescued the green cloud figure representing Meng Po, then took her away. After a moment's thought, he also jumped into the sea of clouds below the cliff. Because below, another member of the King of Hell's faction, the orange cloud figure of the Five Heavenly Declines, awaited rescue.

"Cloud Mist Reconfiguration" concluded. The scene playback finally ended. Jiang Buyi fell into deep thought.

The formidable combat power of Huang Quan, the King of Hell, greatly exceeded his expectations. The enigmatic nature of time-space attributes clearly meant that a Half-Saint clone couldn't easily subdue him. Now that Huang Quan's true body had entered the deep sea, there was only one remaining possibility to get to him...

"I, too, must descend in my true form!" Gazing at the sea of clouds below the cliff, a slight apprehension flickered in Jiang Buyi's eyes. He had indeed heard of the formidable nature of the Forbidden Magic Barrier. However, "one cannot catch tiger cubs without entering the tiger's den." Even Huang Quan, a Grand Void realm expert, dared to go down. For the sake of the Tear Clan's child, he had laid such an elaborate plan. Now, with only the final step remaining, what was there to hesitate about? Beneath the Forbidden Magic Barrier, time-space attributes were unusable. Could a dignified Half-Saint truly fail to defeat a Grand Void realm expert there?

"Hmph!" Without hesitation, Jiang Buyi leaped, plunging into the sea of clouds below the cliff.

He had to find Huang Quan, the King of Hell, quickly. Because Huang Quan's abilities were too formidable; it was highly probable that once he found the last King of Hell member, the Five Heavenly Declines, Huang Quan would swiftly escape the Forbidden Magic Barrier.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Huang Quan, arriving late, his back bearing a saber and a sword, clad in a golden robe, and wearing a golden mask, descended onto Guyin Cliff.

"Half-Saint power..." The surrounding aura was still thick with power, and Huang Quan immediately sensed the Half-Saint's might. He had arrived half an hour earlier. But at that time, the Half-Saint's power on Guyin Cliff was too overwhelming for him to approach. Only now, as the Half-Saint's pressure gradually dissipated, signaling the Half-Saint's departure, did Huang Quan dare to land on Guyin Cliff.

The dilapidated surroundings met his gaze. With a single glance, Huang Quan knew something had happened. Shuigui's last communication via the bead had included Meng Po's voice, but after only two sentences, the connection abruptly cut off, indicating some unforeseen incident. A Half-Saint wouldn't intervene so easily. However, the genuine residual Half-Saint power still lingered on Guyin Cliff, leaving only one explanation: during the communication, Half-Saint Jiang had arrived, Shuigui was overwhelmed, and danger ensued.