Mysterious Taoist

'I've never been this near to a siren. The beauty is really one of a kind,' Qiaolian secretly thought while giving her a meticulous glance. They somehow end up standing in a much higher place than the rooftop of the collapsed building.

"The empress is really me. There is no true or false empress. That scum from Scarlet Islands had stolen all the strings on my tails and taken over my authority."

Qiaolian furrowed her brows. Based on the aura of this siren, there was no way she would be the empress. However, her expression was actually full of sincerity!

"Could it be that you are afflicted by a mind illusion? Or... that power of the elixir field within you had backfired and started consuming your sanity? It's better if you wake up from your illusion."

"Ahh... I am really the ruler of this empire. But, I am also a forged practitioner. I have a divine bloodline but the elixir field within me is from one of the strongest cultivators in the sea. This empire is merely at the bottom because the cultivation world looks down on forge practitioners."

"We are not related but, I must say... whoever manipulated your mind... did excellent work! You can convince yourself of all that nonsense but not me. I know why this empire is in the open sea. It has nothing to do with forged cultivation. You better wake up before that illusion consumed your sanity."

Qiaolian could not help but praise the master who used a Melody of Manipulation in this female siren. The entire mind was totally pursued by a new identity. She was really certain of the false pretense was true and started living it like it was her reality!

"Wake up? Hahaha, the empress won't wake up! Hahahaha,"

Upon seeing the mindless expression on the siren's face, Qiaolian reached her neck with her bare hand and squeezed it. "You are delaying my time... Pay it with your life! Perhaps, only death can save you from the Melody of Manipulation!"

The sound of neck bones cracking followed but the siren had revealed a provocative smile at Qiaolian.

Instead of showing a painful expression, she was actually having a delighted face! Her blue eyes showed an indescribable emotion before they slowly turned lifeless.

Qiaolian's dark aura engulfed her body and for a moment, she realized that this siren was just a pawn for her to circulate more of her inner force! She was actually deceived!

"Impressive scheme! You are waiting for me to exhaust my inner force? Very well!" Qiaolian yelled and closed her eyes. In an instant, the burst of a dark aura spread to the entire city.

In just less than a minute, the deep blue environment turned into complete darkness. Her aura outstretched until the sea water around turned pitch black.

Those sea monsters who were inside their place were quick to react to the absence of light in their empire.

"Where are the light beads? Ignite the light!"

"The pearl lamps are not working! What's happening?"

"This is the retribution of our empress!!! This is her punishment for our rebellion!"

"Why is our empire so dark? I can't ignite all the pearl beads!"

Qiaolian carefully listened to them. After a while, she infused her inner force into her voice and asked, "What had happened to the Empress of the Open Sea?"

Strangely, the entire city turned in complete silent. And the overwhelming darkness dominated the place. But, Qiaolian's normal black eyes had actually evolved into a bright silver, glimmering around the darkness as if looking for an open prey.

"Who are you intruder?" a mysterious voice sounded above. Not within the sea but perhaps, someone who was riding a boat. But, such a question was directed to Qiaolian as if this person could see her directly from eye to eye.

This time, Qiaolian's intuition had told her. The person was the source of the Hex Mile of Tears formation!

The black aura quickly moved from the bottom of the sea and shot upwards. Then, it caught the person and dragged him down.

"Wait! I can't swim!" The person spoke but everything was too sudden for him to react. And he already reached in front of Qiaolian. "Intruder!!! Who are you?!"

"No need to panic. As long as the water is full of my aura, you can normally breathe," Qiaolian whispered in a cold tone. "You set a malicious formation of Hex Mile of Tears in the Heng Continent. Two locals were afflicted and the sea waters were also spreading the illness. What's your goal?"

The man was in fact a Taoist master. Or at least, that was how Qiaolian assessed him after one glance. He was holding a wooden staff with a black butterfly carved on top of it.

"I need souls to revive the Empress of the Open Sea. She was betrayed by her kind and was killed."

"No... That empress... she was under the Hex Mile of Tears formation. But, she used Declination of Suffering... Ohhh---- wait, I made a mistake." Qiaolian paused and bite the side of her lips. "It was you who used the Declination of Suffering and not her. You transferred the Hex Mile of Tears formation from the empress to the body of two locals from the Heng Continent! Yet, the suffering was too great. So, you've used blood to channel the rest of the formation in the seawater and let the waves carry it!"

"So what? I am merely helping the Empire of the Open Sea! If the Empress won't be revived, the entire ocean would be compromised!" the man stated while tightly gripping his wooden staff.

"And let the Heng Continent suffer? That is your help?" Qiaolian probed further with slight disbelief in her tone.

"The Heng Continent is a small place. Only three regions. No one will notice if the inhabitants will perish! But if the Empress of the Open Sea won't be revived, imagine the devastation in the entire ocean? I have no solution but pick them as sacrifice!" the man answered and tried to look at Qiaolian. However, her body was already surrounded by a dense mist aura, concealing her entire figure. Only the silver light in her eyes was noticeable to her.

"You've picked the wrong place to be a sacrifice!" Qiaolian stated and slap the man. But, before her hand could touch him, the man was quick to block her hand using his wooden staff.

"It doesn't matter if it's the wrong continent. I just needed to revive the Empress of the Open Sea!" the man chuckled and started attacking Qiaolian. "Your inner force will soon be used up. Hehehe... Do you think you can fight against me?"