Near Blackwater Wharf, within a secluded courtyard.
Elder Yu He of the Earth Origin Sect had a face like dark water, the rage in his chest nearly bursting forth.
He suddenly raised his head and fixed his gaze on Miao Zhiheng before him.
The atmosphere in the courtyard was so oppressive it seemed to have frozen solid.
Miao Zhiheng's scalp went numb beneath that stare, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back. He hurriedly bowed. "Senior Yu, I... I truly don't know! When this kid received the pearl from Uncle Yu that day, it was already like this. If I speak even half a false word, may heaven strike me with thunder!"
After they had narrowly escaped alive from the Nether Guards that day, the fake treasure pearl Yu Jiayao had "obtained" and that fragmentary text had naturally been handed over once Yu He arrived.
Who would have thought that Elder Yu, seasoned as he was, would see through the crude disguise after only a brief examination?
The fake pearl possessed only the outer form. Its interior was utterly empty, clearly forged from some special metal mixed with stone powder. It was heavy enough, but devoid of all spiritual resonance.
As for that so-called fragmentary text, it was riddled with holes. Its qi-circulation methods were full of errors. If anyone truly cultivated according to it, they would be fortunate not to suffer qi deviation; it held no value whatsoever.
Yu He flew into a rage, convinced that someone had switched the items midway.
They had lingered here and searched for several days, nearly turning Blackwater Wharf upside down. Not only had they failed to find the slightest trace of the Netherworld Guards, they had not even caught sight of another suspicious figure. It was as though those two men, along