According to Chi Juntian, the "Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring" is a creation of the Demon Realm, so it makes sense for it to be in the Demon Emperor's Palace.

That being said, to obtain the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring, they would have to go to Xingluo Abyss - inevitably coming face to face with the owner. It was unknown how powerful this Demon Realm ruler was, but the Xingluo Abyss in the Demon Realm was equivalent to Mount Huandang in the Immortal Dao. Since he was able to become an emperor, his strength must be exceptional.

Chen Weichen looked at Marquis Youshui.

She lowered her head, her gaze fixed on the ground. A deep red flower was inserted in her hair bun, with wisps of eerie black energy slithering from the base of the petals, faster and faster.

Chen Weichen glanced at Ye Jiuya and saw that he was also looking at Marquis Youshui.

A sense of warning gradually grew in his heart as he tightened his grip on the sword.

In the Demon Realm, the viciousness of infighting and life-and-death battles far exceeded that of the Immortal Realm.

If the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring was a precious treasure, anyone wanting to steal it would sneak in quietly without revealing any information, and the next step would be to kill Marquis Youshui to silence her.

If it was like the Jinxiu Ashes, which carried the luck of the realm but had no special use, it might raise suspicions in Marquis Youshui.

The room was extremely quiet, with only the sound of breathing rising and falling.

The stars twinkled on the horizon.

Suddenly, a piercing screech rang in Chen Weichen's ears.

A hint of cold laughter appeared on the woman's face. In an instant, her body bent like a snake, her pale fingers stabbing towards his throat.

Chen Weichen was already on guard. He drew his sword to block, and the peerless sword clashed against Marquis Youshui's snow-white wrist with a loud clang, as if metal had struck stone.

The woman was knocked back a few steps by the force. She said hoarsely, "Where did this rogue cultivator come from, to try to swindle the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring!"

Heavy, cold energy locked the entire room, making one feel as if they were at the bottom of a deep pool.

Her cultivation was indeed not weak. From what could be seen in that one strike, her realm was at least equivalent to a second-tier martial cultivator in the Immortal Realm.

But Ye Jiuya's cultivation-turned-sword was no ordinary object. Even if Chen Weichen could no longer consume his vital energy to unleash the sword that shattered the void in Guixu, he could still fight her to a draw.

Her first strike failed, and the energy around her surged as she was clearly gathering strength for another attack.

However, Chen Weichen spoke, "Madam, where did I slip up?"

The woman's face was filled with chilling laughter. "The luck on your body, upon careful observation, clearly comes from an external object - the Demon Realm has not had such a treasure for many years. Hand it over, and I may spare your life."

"Madam," Chen Weichen's voice seemed to be sighing, "Having poor judgment can ruin things."

The woman no longer had the docile appearance from before. She raised her chin, showing a hint of disdainful arrogance. "I'd like to see how long you can keep up this act."

Chen Weichen slowly untied the exquisite brocade pouch containing the Annihilation Incense, Jinxiu Ashes, and Xiuyun Water from his waist and set it aside. "Madam, take another look."

Marquis Youshui coldly watched as he removed the pouch containing the supreme inverse calamity energy, but in the next moment, she discovered that the luck on his body had barely diminished at all.

She was shocked and lost color.

Chen Weichen was very confident in the misfortune on his body. Having roughly understood the personality of the woman in front of him, who was soft on the strong and hard on the weak, he looked at her at his leisure.

Marquis Youshui felt that she had indeed provoked a formidable figure this time. In a fluster, she turned to flee towards the door.

The cold white flying sword left his hand in an instant, its sword energy dazzling, blocking her path.

"Madam," Chen Weichen's voice rang out leisurely behind her, "You said earlier that I came to swindle the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring. What made you say that?"

Seeing that she was no match, Marquis Youshui weighed her options and turned around, lowering her head again. "I failed to recognize that you are a reclusive expert, sir. Please forgive me."

Chen Weichen raised an eyebrow. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Marquis Youshui kept her eyes lowered. "Sir, twenty years ago, after the Emperor ascended the throne, he no longer monopolized the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring like the previous emperors, but instead distributed it to the various marquises every year. I have limited knowledge and thought you were a rogue cultivator without any sect affiliation, and had obtained a treasure carrying the luck of the realm from somewhere. I assumed you wanted to pretend to have profound cultivation to swindle the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring from me."

"I indeed have no sect affiliation and do not associate with other demon cultivators," Chen Weichen said calmly. "I stumbled upon cultivation on my own and heard that the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring could aid my practice, so I wanted to ask Madam about it. I have no other intentions."

"Sir, that is only a one-sided statement," Marquis Youshui said. "That person must not know much about the Demon Dao. With your current cultivation, the spring water distributed to the marquises would be like a drop in the bucket for you. If you want to use the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring to avoid heavenly retribution, you need to become the Demon Emperor and possess the entire spring."

So the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring was a treasure used by demon cultivators to escape heavenly retribution.

Come to think of it - Chen Weichen thought to himself - if the Demon Realm's emperors and marquises were also disliked by the Heavenly Dao like himself, ascending the throne one day and falling off a cliff to their death the next - it would be utterly ridiculous.

And this woman in front of him held some of the Nine Abyss Heavenly Spring in her hands. So when he inquired about the location of the spring without much knowledge, he exposed a flaw, causing her to mistakenly believe that he was trying to force her to hand over the spring water in her possession.

If he truly had the ability, he could have killed her, seized the marquis position, and naturally obtained an endless supply of the Nine Abyss Spring. But instead, he asked her for it, turning it into a clumsy joke. Moreover, some of the luck on his body originated from the Jinxiu Ashes and Annihilation Incense. Anyone with a bit of intelligence would determine that the person in front of them was an unskilled swindler.

Fortunately, this Marquis Youshui first fought him to a draw, then became flustered upon seeing his true luck, and assumed he was a reclusive expert who had been in seclusion for many years and was unaware of the current state of the Demon Realm. Without Young Master Chen having to come up with an excuse himself, she filled in the gaps for him.

Since things had come to this point, he naturally had to continue the act.

Chen Weichen frowned. "Is that so?"

"Yes, sir," Marquis Youshui saw the doubt in his eyes and gritted her teeth, taking out an exquisite jade bottle and presenting it with both hands. "You'll know with one look."

Chen Weichen opened the bottle and saw that the spring water inside was clear, no different from ordinary water. Yet the constant pressure of heavenly retribution on his body seemed to lighten slightly.

He put away the bottle. "Better than nothing."

Marquis Youshui's Nine Abyss Spring Water had been taken, causing her heart to clench. However, the person in front of her indeed had profound cultivation, so she dared to be angry but not to speak.

"Take me to the Demon Emperor's Palace tomorrow," Chen Weichen said to her. "When I become the Demon Emperor, I'll give you a whole vat in return."

Marquis Youshui swallowed her anger and replied with a subdued "Yes", lowering her head as he retreated.

Earlier today, she had first thought that His Majesty had arrived and came to ingratiate herself. Who would have thought the situation would change, and she would encounter a brazen thief trying to steal the Nine Abyss Spring Water, infuriating her. In the end, she actually met a true expert who could rival the Demon Emperor, but gained no benefits and even lost the spring water - as she walked, she began to suffer heavenly retribution, tripping hard over a pebble. A black snake in the grass opened its mouth to bite her. In her anger, she immediately used magic to shatter the snake into thousands of pieces.

Today's misstep was due to losing her composure in front of His Majesty, and it was indeed her own fault for being outmatched and losing the spring water. Fortunately, she had not brought all the spring water with her, and there was still a bottle in the palace - as for whether that person could truly defeat the Demon Emperor, it had nothing to do with her. Tomorrow she would send a carriage to secretly deliver him near Xingluo Abyss and sever ties. That vat of Nine Abyss Spring Water was truly too much to hope for.

Chen Weichen watched the heavily deceived Marquis Youshui leave, a slightly wicked smile on his face.

He came back to his senses and turned his attention to Ye Jiuya.

He regretted making the atmosphere between them awkward earlier and took the initiative to strike up a conversation: "Brother Ye, if we hadn't scared her off just now and it came to blows, what would our chances of winning be?"

Ye Jiuya: "Having not seen your true skills, I do not know."

Chen Weichen sighed: "I definitely can't beat her myself and can only use your cultivation to bluff."

When he had exchanged a move with Marquis Youshui using the sword earlier, she had not recognized it as an item from the immortal realm. In other words, if the cultivation was returned to Ye Jiuya and he made a move as a sword cultivator, he likely would not be recognized either - after all, the monk in Jinxiu City had said that although the Sword Pavilion was one of the three pillars of the immortal way, the way of the sword was not connected to immortals.

However, Ye Jiuya's fate was definitely not tied to misfortune and calamity, so it was best to be cautious. For now, it was best to keep Ye Jiuya in a state without any cultivation to avoid attracting attention from others.

"It turns out fate is used to gauge cultivation here, and not making a move doesn't mean you won't be exposed," Chen Weichen said. "It's a good thing I came with you. If it was Lady Lu, any knowledgeable person would be able to tell at a glance that she was not from the demon realm, and then there would be endless trouble."

Ye Jiuya looked at him and said, "Thank you."

Chen Weichen dropped the lofty air he had put on earlier when pretending to be an expert. He took off his outer robe and hung it to the side, then lazily flopped onto the bed, burying himself under the covers. His voice carried a soft nasal tone: "Brother Ye, it's time to sleep."

He said nothing more. When Ye Jiuya also lay down, thinking he had already fallen asleep, a voice was heard.

"Ye Jiuya, there is no need for thanks between you and me."

When Chen Weichen said this, his tone was extremely light.