The Sword Master ended the call and casually set down the Communicator. A gray-robed man wearing a bamboo hat, who stood in attendance beside him, stepped forward and spoke quietly.
"My lord, he is merely a nobody. Why trouble yourself with him personally? Let your subordinate go, and I will bring back his head."
The Sword Master shook his head faintly, tapping the edge of the table twice with his fingertips. "Someone who can casually kill an Emperor Realm fiend already ranks among the strongest on Earth today. One careless move, and we might actually come to grief. Besides, the Water God Ruins contain the Water God Origin. I have wanted it for a long time. This is the perfect opportunity to go there, eliminate a potential threat, and obtain the origin. Two birds with one stone."
The gray-robed man said no more and bowed as he stepped aside. The Sword Master rose and straightened his robes, then vanished from the room in a flash.
Deep in the Qilian Mountains, Yun Che had followed the directions and found the entrance to the Water God Ruins. It lay behind a waterfall, completely concealed by the curtain of water. Without the fiend's remnant soul pointing out its location, he probably would have struggled to find it no matter how hard he searched.
Yun Che brushed aside the curtain of water and walked inside. The passage was filled with damp mist carrying a faint trace of water spiritual energy. It was considerably fresher than the spiritual energy outside, without any of the sinister aura of the fiend's temple from earlier.
After following the passage for over a hundred paces, he emerged into another open space. It was a palace built around a natural cavern. Glowing Waterlight Stones were embedded throughout its walls, illuminating