“Hahaha!” Bai Sheng laughed heartily.

Ning Tao did not react at all, keeping the empty expression and gaze on his face.

Bai Sheng stopped after laughing for a while, saying sinisterly, “Who asked you to betray me! Those who do so can only die! Don't you all like him? It must not feel nice to be killed by him personally, right?”

He was obviously not speaking to Ning Tao, but rather, to Qing Zhui and Bai Jing.

Ning Tao did not react at all.

Bai Sheng continued speaking, “Now, use your knife to split your own throat open.”

Ning Tao did not hesitate at all. He lifted his right arm, which was holding onto the Blade of the Solar Eclipse, and promptly cut his own throat. He held onto his own throat, blood flowing out from between his fingers. He swayed and then collapsed.

Lying on the floor, Ning Tao's eyes were wide open like he had died with grievances and regrets. He could not see Bai Sheng's expression, only a bit of the glow from the hologram.

“Hahaha! Dare to challenge me? You've only been cultivating for how many years? I don't even need to kill you personally!” Bai Sheng's laughter came from the study table.

Ning Tao held his breath, not making a noise.

After another two minutes, Bai Sheng's voice came from the study table again. “Ning Tao? Ning Tao?”

Ning Tao scowled inwardly. “This d.a.m.ned old sly fox! You've already seen me slit my throat personally, but you still want to see if I'm dead?”

“Ning Tao, I know you're still alive. Stand up.” Bai Sheng's voice came again. It was then followed by a series of spell chanting.

The mysterious energy had never disappeared. In fact, it seemed to have increased significantly. An eerie voice resounded in Ning Tao's head, wanting him to stand up. This energy was growing stronger continuously!

Ning Tao recited internally, “I rest within the womb, listening to the sound of the Way.”

“Dong!”

A mysterious bell faraway resounded in his consciousness. The sound of the Way was sonorous, its sound waves had washed away all the “ghostly voices” in his consciousness like a tide. Even some of his own thoughts and desires had left him, his entire being was immersed in this world of nothingness.

After another two minutes, Ning Tao heard Bai Sheng's voice. “I see that you're really dead. Wait until I have figured out the origin of your clinic, then I will take it over personally.”

The glow on the table surface had disappeared after the voice spoke.

Ning Tao did not get up immediately. He thought to himself, “What was that energy force? The Sky Clinic had no reaction. If I did not have 'Your Text' as a protection, I would have feared being unable to shake off the demonic control. If it were already this way for me, then wouldn't the millionaires, politicians, and socialites who have acquired the Apocalypse Smart.w.a.tch be worse off?!”

After a few minutes, the Apocalypse Smart.w.a.tch made no sound at all. Ning Tao then got up from the ground. Just at that moment, that b.u.t.ton cell was glowing and heating up. It was going to explode!

The Apocalypse Smart.w.a.tch was going to be destroyed, they were not leaving any opportunity for people to study and investigate it!

Ning Tao waved the blade and struck at the dismantled watch. With a crack, the broken watch was further broken into pieces, smashed to smithereens. Yet the b.u.t.ton cell was still glowing and heating. The acc.u.mulated energy was growing stronger.

Before Ning Tao could handle it, a howling sound came from the good-evil tripod. Along with the sound, that b.u.t.ton cell exploded apart. In that instant, the disintegrated b.u.t.ton cell had released a mysterious energy. A frightening noise likened to ghastly howling and crying could vaguely be heard.

Ning Tao's heart skipped a beat. “Could it be the energy of spirits?”

In a split second, Ning Tao activated the state of looking with his eyes, and he captured an eerie image. The image seemed to be like the blue smoke of the good-evil tripod, but there was a silhouette of a figure, with a head and a body!

The next moment, the energy inside the b.u.t.ton cell was completely depleted.

Ning Tao did not have the chance to properly study whether or not it was the energy of the souls. It was, after all, only a guess, but there was no way to verify it.

Right after, Ning Tao picked up all the broken pieces and put them into the rotten broken tripod. He then returned to the rental apartment.

Seeing that Ning Tao's face was covered in blood, Bai Jing and Qing Zhui, who were watching the live stream of the Asian Science Technology Forum in the living room, were frightened. Qing Zhui had even frantically approached him, her voice full of concern. “What happened to you, Brother Ning?”

Ning Tao got straight to the point. “That watch is for controlling people indeed. There might be energy of a spirit contained inside the battery. Bai Sheng has a receptor to control all the Tianqi Smart.w.a.tches. He had managed to control me with the watch just now. He made me first kill you two, then myself.”

Bai Jing glanced at Ning Tao's injured hand. “So you pretended to be manipulated by him and put on a performance for him?”

Ning Tao nodded. “I guess he'll send someone to come and investigate. You two should stay at home and not go anywhere in the meantime. If anyone comes, it would be best if you deceived them. If you can't, then kill them.”

Qing Zhui grabbed the fruit knife on the coffee table and swiftly cut Bai Jing's back.

“What are you doing?” Bai Jing looked at Qing Zhui in shock.

Qing Zhui said in a seemingly serious manner, “I learned this from Brother Ning. Show some blood, so if anybody comes and sees that there's blood in the house, they'll easily believe that Brother Ning had already killed us.”

Bai Jing glared at Qing Zhui. “How smart are you, huh? You've learned well. Then why didn't you cut yourself?”

Qing Zhui said, “Quick, walk around in the house and spill some blood around.”

Bai Jing: “…”

Was this absorbing the good things of someone you were constantly around?

After Ning Tao was done instructing Bai Jing and Qing Zhui, he returned to the Sky Clinic. He opened a convenient door to the House of Sword Pavilion Cave then entered carrying the rotten broken tripod.

Bai Sheng had intended to destroy the Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch, but Ning Tao would have to agree to it.

After arriving at the House of Sword Pavilion Cave, Ning Tao had started searching for spiritual ingredients. However, after searching around, he recalled in disappointment that he had used up most of the useful spiritual materials when he was cultivating the G.o.d's Will electric motorbike. He was only left with medicinal spiritual material, spiritual soil, and half of the cloudy ore.

What could be the outcome of using medicinal spiritual materials, spiritual soil, and cloudy ore to cultivate an Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch?

Ning Tao pondered over this question, then he could no longer be bothered. All his equipment had been cultivated haphazardly, like the G.o.d's Will electric motorbike, Mauser pistol, and Blade of the Solar Eclipse, but didn't they all turn out really well?

He first added a bit of spiritual soil, and the four devil's kidneys that he had picked. He picked a petal from the white-jade holy lotus, followed by a piece of the cloudy ore, and lastly, a bit of Flower of the Night and moss spiritual materials…

Who knew what adding this amalgamation of materials into the rotten broken tripod could cultivate? He only had a single thought, which was to get down to cultivating!

Black and white alchemy fire emerged from the rotten broken tripod, consuming the fragments of the Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch. Even though he could not see the watch, Ning Tao could sense the intense reaction happening between the blend of spiritual materials and the Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch pieces inside the tripod.

The process went on for half an hour before it ended.

Ning Tao took the Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch out of the rotten broken tripod. It had been repaired, as good as new. There were no signs of it having been broken, but it was clearly no longer the same Apocalypse smart.w.a.tch it was. It used to be silver and its clock face was crystalline. But after it was “reborn” from the rotten broken tripod, it was entirely jet black, with little spots of green and white patterns. It could have been because of the spiritual soil and white-jade holy lotus petal, but the material of the clock face was no longer simply crystalline, it looked more like chrysoprase. Furthermore, it had clearly become heavier.

Ning Tao put the repaired watch on his left wrist. It was the first time in his life that he had worn a watch. He put it on and tried to activate it. After pressing its start b.u.t.ton, its chrysoprase-like clock face emanated a faint glow. Such a glow was visible in the dimly lit House of Sword Pavilion Cave. If it were outdoors under the sun, it would have been barely visible.

There were no text, no timing, and no Telco signal.

Ning Tao was disappointed. “There's nothing at all. Could it have failed?”

He pressed a few more b.u.t.tons. There was still no reaction.

Ning Tao smiled wryly and shook his head. It seemed like his haphazard methods were not going to be successful with every attempt. The cultivation this time had failed.

After returning to the Sky Clinic, Ning Tao placed the rotten broken tripod back on the shelf. He then subconsciously looked at the watch on his wrist. Yet it was only with that glance that he realized what he had forgotten. Subsequently, he charged the watch with a bit of spiritual power.

The watch vibrated once, then contents appeared on the clock face. However, it was neither the time nor a signal bar, nor a heartbeat count, but rather, spots that resembled snowflakes. There were countless snowflakes floating in the air like it was a live wallpaper on a phone screen.

Ning Tao tried to click on the snowflakes on the clock face, but there was no reaction, unfortunately. He poked it a few more times, and it was still the same. He shook his head in defeat and gave up. He had thought that there could have been a different outcome after charging it with some spiritual power, but it seemed like he was wrong. What was the significance of a mere “live wallpaper” to him?

After leaving the Sky Clinic, a middle-aged woman was walking over in his direction on Hakka Alley.

Ning Tao looked at the auntie. He came down from the steps after verifying that it was just a normal auntie, then walked toward the rental apartment. When he came face to face with the auntie, he looked down at the poodle that the auntie was walking.

The poodle started barking at Ning Tao. “Woof woof woof… woof woof woof…”

In that instant, the watch on Ning Tao's wrist vibrated lightly, and in his consciousness, a voice rang out. “Fool, what are you looking at? Keep looking and I'll bite you!”

Ning Tao was stunned.