"What are you talking about? Are you saying you don't realize your face looks like a snail's?"

"Shut up!" he shouted. "I'm far more handsome than you! I won't tolerate another insult!"

His eyes twitching again, spurting yellow liquid around. Seeing this, Liu Xing knew, without a doubt, that Yang Lihuo was not the mastermind of this plan, nor even Wei Yi's associate. Liu Xing had imagined that while Yang Lihuo was not the mastermind, he at least would have some semblance of control, considering he was the one who let Wei Yi rampage inside the Twelve Sun Empire. Liu Xing thought that he would at least benefit from this whole ordeal. Perhaps Yang Lihuo would be reborn into something that could achieve immortality faster. Yet, the facts told otherwise. Yang Lihuo was merely a puppet. A puppet that didn't realize he was being controlled and turned into an abomination. Perhaps there was no rebirth for him. Perhaps it was just a ploy from Wei Yi to control Yang Lihuo.

"You're being mind-controlled," Prince Yang Jinyan muttered weakly, his wide eyes reflecting sudden realization.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lihuo snorted. "I'm not mind-controlled. Is this some cheap trick to distract me? It won't work!"

"Touch your face and tell me what you feel," Prince Yang Jinyan said firmly. "Because I can see clearly that the upper half of your face is definitely a snail's face!"

Yang Lihuo, to his surprise, did what his older brother told. He touched his face like an annoyed little brother, dragging his finger around his face. "Smooth and perfect skin. I don't understand your ploy, but it's useless!"

"It seems he didn't notice that his appearance had changed," Yang Hongyin said.

Yang Jinyan inhaled deeply. "My anger dissipated a bit for him, but it didn't change the situation. This man is not my brother anymore, nor is he part of the Twelve Sun Empire. He is a traitor that needs to be put down."

"Big talk for a dead man!" Lihuo smirked, and his eyes squirted yellow liquid that splashed around.

"Prince," Yang Suyin pointed to the man on Yang Lihuo's right—the one who didn't have a head and had a hole in his chest. "That's the Emperor."

"And those are the Elders," another clan member pointed at the abomination on Lihuo's left, the one that had four heads.

Prince Yang Jinyan's eyes lingered on the man without a head for a moment and clenched his hands hard. The anger that had dissipated a little bit was now blazing with fury again, although he suspected the anger was probably directed more at Wei Yi instead of Lihuo.

Liu Xing assessed the abominations around and behind Lihuo. The former emperor and former elders were at the Sun Refining realm, while Lihuo himself was at the Core Splitting realm, having at least two cores, since his qi was more than Liu Xing's.

The army behind him was not uniform—there were weak abominations that he suspected were transformed from normal civilians, but also some that felt dangerous despite being at the Lock Opening realm. Liu Xing's eyes scanned the army more thoroughly, and he could not see a single snake-limbed abomination or even worms. His mind worked harder to decipher the meaning, and a hypothesis was formed.

"Prince, I think Wei Yi is trying to distract us."

"Everyone, gather!" Prince Yang Jinyan shouted. With this shout, all the remaining Yang clan members created a row behind him. "Continue your explanation."

"I think Wei Yi is trying to distract us from our goal. Our main goal is to save Elder Yang Zhaoyan. He is the one who deployed the Royal Barrier, and this Royal Barrier is important for the sacrifice that would happen. We assumed that this sacrifice was to make Lihuo undergo a rebirth. But, with his condition right now, I think it's fair to assume that the one who would undergo a rebirth is not Lihuo, but Wei Yi himself. Thus, he sent Lihuo to stop us here."

Prince Yang Jinyan thought for a moment, then nodded. "His army is also not as formidable as the snake-limbed army. They are a dispensable army to hinder us from ruining his plan."

"Exactly."

Liu Xing suspected that beyond Lihuo's army, there were other snake-limbed, worm, and Sun Refining abominations. The way to save Elder Yang Zhaoyan and ruin Wei Yi's plan was still quite long. Still, at the very least, Liu Xing understood the hierarchy of the enemy. Wei Yi was at the top of the hierarchy. The enemy he had to make sure was dead was Wei Yi, while the others were merely under his control.

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As he thought this, the ground, the wall, and everything suddenly trembled. Each second that passed, the tremor grew bigger until he felt as if he were standing atop a running horse. Dust began to fall from the roof, the ground began to crack, and the walls groaned, louder and louder. Liu Xing's heart began to race. Was this it? The thing that made him anxious? Was it Wei Yi's ultimate weapon? A giant spirit beast tearing the golden castle apart?

"Haha! It has begun!" Wei Yi shouted. "It's not perfect. The plan needs to be accelerated further, but it's still better than nothing. Jinyan, despicable clan, and you, meddling Purple Moon Sect disciple, you're about to witness my rebirth. My new body!"

As Lihuo shouted, cracks spread horizontally across the walls. A massive surge of qi erupted from below, and the roof of the underground chamber began to rise. The walls cracked and groaned under the strain, as if the golden castle itself was trying to break free of its chains.

From the outside, the golden castle—a building hundreds of meters high with majestic walls—began to float. The bottom of the castle was torn apart, as if an invisible giant was ripping it out of the ground. The bottom of the castle looked jagged like uneven shark teeth. Red qi pulsed around the castle, and as it floated higher, flesh began to grow rapidly around it. The texture was grotesque, like wriggling fish scales dancing to a disturbing rhythm as it transformed into a giant ball.

Looking up at the giant castle transformed into a massive red meatball, Liu Xing's eyes wide as saucers, he finally understood why the castle was covered in meat and flesh.

The castle itself would become a spirit beast.

He now comprehended why, despite knowing he was inside, no snake-limbed abominations pursued him, and why Wei Yi had accelerated his plan. In hindsight, it was obvious. The castle's interior resembled a giant monster's innards. Since fighting Liu Xing inside would destroy the castle, Wei Yi had controlled the abominations and ordered them to retreat underground.

Gritting his teeth, Liu Xing realized that if he had known this information earlier, he would have chosen to enter the castle with Prince Yang Jinyan and help him retrieve the Twelve Sun Armor—perhaps even planning to destroy the castle itself.

But what was done was done. What was the best course of action now?

An ugly laugh erupted, and Liu Xing turned to face the former Yang Lihuo—a man whose upper face resembled a green snail. He laughed like a bully who kicks, hits, robs, and humiliates others. At first, Liu Xing felt anger, but it soon gave way to pity. What a pitiful creature. He was nothing more than a naive pig who foolishly believed that the world existed to serve him. In reality, he was just another pig being fattened for slaughter.

"Attack!" The former Yang Lihuo shouted.

Abominations rushed toward a nineteen-person group. The former emperor, now headless, led the assault. Sun Refining abominations with four heads stood beside Yang Lihuo, who smirked with an ugly, self-assured smile. Above, the castle had transformed completely into a giant meatball, with scales dancing until two long slits formed, revealing two massive red eyes dozens of meters in diameter. Looking closer, the red parts were not mere coloration but wriggling worms.

"Hong'er in front, the rest behind me!" Yang Jinyan commanded. The Yang clan members immediately complied.

The giant meatball in the sky complicated the situation immensely. The qi surrounding it was so intense that Liu Xing felt like a tiny toad in front of a massive tsunami. Without Wei Yi, the giant meatball above would be nothing. However, he couldn't ignore it either. They had to act, but how?

Liu Xing considered splitting their group. He would pursue Wei Yi while the Yang clan dealt with the approaching army. But was that wise?

"Prince, what do you want me to do?" Liu Xing asked.

"You’ll play a role similar to Hong’er’s. It’s simple: rampage. Kill every enemy in your path. Sow chaos. Split their forces into smaller groups."

"That’s it?" Liu Xing asked. Rampaging seemed straightforward—almost too easy.

Prince Yang Jinyan patted him on the shoulder. "Leave the strategy to me. My immediate target is him." He pointed at Lihuo, who stood atop a floating, jellyfish-like abomination, looking down with imperious disdain. "I want to rip his throat out with my bare hands. So clear the way for me."

The plan sounded crude but effective. Lihuo was the army’s general—if killed, the abominations might devolve into mindless beasts.

"What about that?" Liu Xing pointed to the giant meatball hovering ominously above.

"That’s obviously a threat we’ll have to deal with," Prince Yang Jinyan admitted, "but right now, our priority is this army. They’ve got two Sun Refining abominations. We’d be decimated if we split our group."

Liu Xing nodded. He couldn’t find fault in the prince’s reasoning. "Understood," he said, locking eyes on a particularly menacing abomination. "I’ll do what I can."

Stepping forward, he gripped his stone blade tightly, channeling qi until it blazed with a purple light, almost like fire.

"Let’s start," the prince said.

Without hesitation, Liu Xing swung his blade, unleashing a massive crescent of purple qi that towered like a multi-story building. The blazing light bathed the battlefield in violet hues.

The former emperor suddenly glowed with a bright yellow aura. Liu Xing realized he needed to eliminate this abomination to clear a path for Prince Yang Jinyan to reach his former younger brother.

When the emperor's fist met the purple crescent, an explosion of gold and purple energies pushed against each other. Gradually, Liu Xing's attack slowed, then stopped. Gold and purple colors locked in a standstill before shattering into billions of fragments with a brilliant light and the sound of breaking glass.