About a year and a half ago, William, who had finally adjusted to his life as Liu Xing, earnestly began to accumulate sect points. He couldn't choose another safe and easy mission inside the sect, like running errands for elders who needed packages sent to nearby towns, sweeping the entire sect clean, or even washing mountains of dishes. No. He needed to advance, hence he needed more resources.

Back then, Liu Xing's life was full of running and hiding; there was no time for him to relax. It felt like the world was trying to bury its fangs into his neck and suck out all his blood, leaving him constantly tired and not thinking too much. Looking back, this period felt like being inside a prison full of beasts that could eat him alive—a dark time when he was too busy surviving to truly look at the world.

At that time, one of his bullies, Luo Ji, decided that it would be fun for Liu Xing to accept a mission to exterminate a "small" boar that was terrorizing a small village near Dawn Moon City. Since the boar was disturbing a caravan route, the task, while not high priority, landed in the Purple Moon Sect to be completed by a lowly outer disciple. Liu Xing, who was afraid of being beaten to death by his bullies, had no choice but to complete this mission alone. While he was aware that this boar was a spirit beast, he thought it was still merely a boar and fighting it is better than fighting Luo Ji and his cohorts. Still, he knew, seeing Luo Ji's smirk as he ordered him to go, that the mission would be trouble.

The encounter with the "little" boar was quite special because it opened his eyes a little.

Liu Xing encountered this boar in the middle of the city, its red fur gleaming under the thunderous sky, its mouth drenched with blood as it crunched two screaming villagers. One of the things that stunned him about this boar, aside from its terrifying nature, was its sheer size, triple that of a house, with tusks as big as his body. At that time, his body had rooted to the spot, his mind trying to decipher how a boar could grow this big.

The following battle was less of a fight and more a desperate struggle for survival, most of it a blur in his mind, although the adrenaline, fear, and anxiety of that time remained vivid to this day.

Now, seeing this abomination, at least a kilometer in height, made Liu Xing's eyes widen and his heart thump like the first time he saw that boar. How the hell could something this big be underground?

This humanoid giant began to pull itself from the ground like a swimmer getting out of a pool. The ground trembled as it emerged, its body rising like a giant white tower reaching toward the heavens. Then, it pulled its two giant feet from the ground, and when its entire body was free, it began to rise, higher and higher, until even Liu Xing, standing atop his shield in the sky, needed to look up just to see it crouching, as the Royal Barrier was too low for it.

Liu Xing's eyes scanned the giant. Its body was covered in the pale white skin from head to toe, the color of a corpse. In the middle of its stomach, a giant yellow eye looked around with curiosity, like a child seeing the world for the first time. This giant yellow eye was similar to the ones on the arms of the snake-limb abominations—in fact, it looked identical, only larger. Then, Liu Xing noticed details he'd missed before. The giant's skin, while seemingly smooth, was dotted with many faces, each probably as big as him, though tiny compared to the giant's size, with expressions ranging from happiness to anger. There were faces of women, men, children, and the elderly, all with myriad expressions. They almost looked like faint tattoos. One of the faces on its left shoulder, that of a woman, struck Liu Xing with realization.

"This thing, it's made from the snaked-limbs abominations," he muttered, eyes wide.

That face was the one he'd attacked first, the one that had been burned and charred, the one he'd targeted but never managed to kill. Liu Xing looked properly at the empty pink eye sockets on the giant abomination's face, realizing they were made from the pink flesh of the worms that had swarmed the former golden castle.

With his heart thundering in his chest, a thousand questions swam in his head. Why had this thing suddenly emerged? Was it truly made from the worms and snaked-limb abominations? And most importantly, what was Wei Yi's intention with this thing? Were the Sun Refining abomination wearing Yang clan robes and Bai Lin's grandson already fused with it? Where was Wei Yi?

Questions came and went like flashes of lightning on a stormy day, and Liu Xing's mind felt overheated. Still, he tried to decide on the most important question and latch onto it.

"What do I need to do?" Liu Xing muttered.

This thing was like a well of qi, or even a dragon vein of the world. It felt like its body was suffused with the world's qi, so dense was the qi emanating from it. Yet, after bathing in its presence for a moment, he realized that something was wrong. He felt like he was standing mere centimeters from a giant bonfire, which should have burned him to ash, yet he only felt a distant warmth, not even enough to redden his skin, which was impossible. How could a giant bonfire not emanate strong heat? How could this thing emit such a tremendous amount of qi and yet feel so... wrong?

Liu Xing wanted to observe this thing more closely, to unravel the wrongness, but he shook his head and tried to focus. He still didn't have an answer to the main question: what did he need to do right now?

Liu Xing inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself, and found an answer.

Thinking about this answer made his chest feel like it would burst. The hairs on his body stood on end, and his stomach churned like an ocean in a storm. Yet, Liu Xing gritted his teeth and held onto this answer. After all, there was no better one. What he needed to do hadn't changed. He needed to kill Wei Yi, and by extension, he would kill this giant.

Having decided what to do, the question of how remained. Killing it seemed almost impossible, but he was sure the wrongness he felt was the key. His eyes roamed over the giant's body, searching for weaknesses. The giant eye in its torso was definitely one to target, as were its eye sockets. They looked soft; perhaps he could blow its head off with exploding bullets. Its lanky feet also seemed like a weakness. If he cut one off, it couldn't stand, probably limiting its mobility—not that it could move comfortably, given its size and the Royal Barrier limiting it.

Stolen novel; please report.

As he cataloged the giant's weaknesses, a little confidence bloomed in his chest. He could also turn himself invisible. In previous fights, invisibility had been useless since he needed to be seen to be a target. That wasn't the case anymore.

"Liu Xing!" a shout made him look down. He saw Prince Yang Jinyan, Yang Suyin, and the rest of the clan members inside the twelve-headed firebird, with Yang Suyin nestled in the middle of one of the bird's heads. They were flying toward him. "Did you see Lihuo? That bastard is suddenly gone!"

Soon, the firebird arrived near him. It beat its wings slowly to hover in front of him, creating a gentle vortex of wind. Up close, Liu Xing realized this bird wasn't made of normal fire but a gentle, warm one, like the morning sun. He glanced at the crown Yang Hongyin was wearing, seeing that six of its gems were now transparent. Only half of its qi remained.

Liu Xing refocused on the prince. "What do you mean he's suddenly gone?"

"He just vanished! One moment he was there, the next he was gone. It reminded me of how Wei Yi, that demonic cultivator, suddenly materialized before attacking my father!" He touched his neck. "It's also similar to when my father's head suddenly materialized and bit my neck."

Upon hearing Prince Yang Jinyan's explanation, Liu Xing suddenly remembered the Twelve Sun Armor shrouded in darkness. That armor's appearance in this conflict was so sudden. There was no way he'd thought this empire he'd accidentally visited was connected to the main mission to defeat the darkness, nor did he think this empire and this conflict had the slightest connection to Ji Dongyang's sect. Yet, there was darkness in the golden castle, sealed away by the second emperor. At this point, Liu Xing strongly suspected that Wei Yi was using darkness to make himself invisible. Hell, perhaps the darkness that shrouded the Twelve Sun Armor was what he was after, what should have been the core of the giant meatball still floating in the air, mouth open wide, wailing a sorrowful song.

Liu Xing stopped his train of thought and looked around. If Lihuo's disappearance was Wei Yi's doing using darkness, then only he could see them.

He channeled qi to his eyes and looked around, checking each rupture in the ground, each hole and rubble pile, trying to find Lihuo and possibly Wei Yi.

"Incoming!" Yang Suyin shouted from inside the firebird, pointing to the right.

Liu Xing snapped his eyes over in time to see the former emperor, a forced grin on his face, ready to jump.

"Shit!" Liu Xing cursed. This wasn't the time to fight the second emperor. Right now, Wei Yi is more important. "We need to switch opponents! You guys fight the former emperor while I find and eliminate Lihuo and possibly Wei Yi! They're probably hiding using similar darkness to what shrouds the Twelve Sun Armor."

Seeing his father reduced to an abomination, Prince Yang Jinyan's eyes trembled. A flicker of anger, then annoyance, then anger again, then calmness passed through his eyes. In the end, he nodded, his eyes steeled. "Alright. Hong'er, give me some control of this firebird. I know my father's abilities best. The rest of you, help as much as you can. Every attack counts!"

As he finished, the former emperor, as usual, arrived beside him. The distance had been quite far, yet he arrived in less than a second. To mortal eyes, his movement was near-instantaneous.

Already counting the timing, Liu Xing moved to the side. The punch, shrouded in blackish light, exploded the air, and at the same time, Yang Hongyin extended her hand, making six heads of the firebird spit out six orange miniature suns that moved swiftly and hit the emperor dead on. Prince Yang Jinyan then shouted, his shout loud and bloodcurdling, as if letting out all his pent-up emotion, and the remaining six heads of the firebird opened their mouths, creating one large sun in front of them and held it, waiting for the right time to attack.

Upon seeing this the fight that has begun between the former emperor and the Yang clan, Liu Xing turned his head, channeled more potent qi through his Lightning Cloak Technique, and moved from shield to shield like a pinball.

He sharpened his eyes, sweeping the area like a god trying to find a hidden heretic. From time to time, his eyes flickered toward the giant and the floating, rotating meatball. The pale giant began to wail, answering the meatball's wail, its hands moving sluggishly toward the meatball, as if trying to catch a hummingbird.

Liu Xing's mind was subconsciously trying to decipher what was wrong with that giant, to unravel the mystery, when his eyes finally caught something.

Liu Xing summoned his shield in front of him and kicked it to kill his momentum. Then, as he landed on top of upturned earth, his eyes laser-focused on the back of the white giant. Behind its neck, Liu Xing saw a speck of blackness. At a glance, it looked like a mole, but after seeing it for a full second, Liu Xing was certain the blackness was fluctuating. He sharpened his eyes, trying to zoom in, and finally saw them clearly.

The darkness, spreading like a black mist, was obstructing two people. One was a creature with exposed red muscle, and the upper half of his face was like a snail's. His robes were torn and burned in many areas, and some of his exposed red muscles were charred black. From his position, Liu Xing could see half of Lihuo's face, and it showed a mix of panic and frustration directed at the old man in front of him.

The old man wore a white and black robe. His hair was white, and his back was hunched. But the most prominent thing about him was the fleshy tree growing from his hunched back. It extended about two meters into the sky, had several branches, and bore many hanging fruits that looked like tumors with faces growing on them. One of its branches was actually a person, squirming, with many pustules all over him.

Liu Xing refocused on the old man's face, a hundred percent sure this was Wei Yi. From Bai Lin, Liu Xing knew Wei Yi was a young and talented cultivator; from Prince Yang Jinyan, he knew Wei Yi was a formidable cultivator who looked mature; and now, he was an old man. Even an idiot would be certain that this demonic cultivator was aging at a tremendous rate.

The old man had a smirk of disdain on his face, like a master manipulator who had just successfully executed his plan. He couldn't hear his conversation with Lihuo since the former emperor and the twelve-headed bird were now locked in a battle that made the ground tremble each second, but it was alright.

He finally had his target in sight, and he intended to kill him.

Summoning his gun to his left hand again, Liu Xing willed it to become invisible, then ordered the invisibility to spread into him. A moment later, he was fully invisible, his presence so thin it was almost gone.

Since using his shield made his presence known, he needed to fly silently, but since he didn't know how, the best he could do was wrap the gun and his left hand in potent qi, then hurl the gun and himself toward Wei Yi and Lihuo.

Liu Xing had a feeling that the final fight wouldn't be as smooth as he hoped, but he would make sure that, in the end, he would win, and Wei Yi and Lihuo would become blood smears on the giant's corpse.