Liu Xing zoomed through the air, the wind rustling his hair. This method of flying was awkward, less like flying and more like being carried by a little bird, and the speed wasn't great. If he'd used his shield, he would probably have arrived already, but he wouldn't complain too much. It was a method he'd invented on the spot and was bound not to be perfect.

As he got closer to Wei Yi and Lihuo, he realized they weren't on equal terms. Thin but long worms extended from Wei Yi's stomach into Lihuo's right foot. The muscles in Lihuo's shoulder twitched, as if he wanted to move his hand, and the muscles in his bicep also twitched, as if he were trying to jump toward Wei Yi but couldn't.

Wei Yi was controlling Lihuo's body, while Lihuo was trying to break free.

"Why?" Lihuo shouted, his face contorted with pure anger. "Why did you betray me? Aren't we friends? Aren't we going to conquer the world together? Why, Wei Yi, why!?" He began to scream, a guttural scream, as if Wei Yi had committed the worst betrayal in human history.

This made Liu Xing realize that perhaps Lihuo had truly thought of Wei Yi as a friend, not merely a demonic cultivator who offered him power. Liu Xing suspected there was real history between them, though he didn't care about Lihuo even a bit. That guy was one of the root causes of this situation and deserved to be betrayed.

Wei Yi snorted. "What? You truly believe we're friends? How naive. You talk as if your brother is the most naive and moronic person in the world, but the reality is, you're more naive and moronic than him! I'm merely a manipulator who came to you in your vulnerable time and tempted you with power. A classic fairy tale. Even a dumbass would know that accepting my offer is equal to selling your soul to a vengeful spirit!"

"Then when you consoled me, cheered me up, and even taught me cultivation," Lihuo's snail eyes began wavering, "all of that was just acting?"

"Of course! You think I want to be your father? No, hell no, I have a son, and this son of mine will become my greatest creation!"

As he shouted that, the giant, reaching its hands toward the meatball, began to groan, as if answering Wei Yi.

"If not for that meddling Purple Moon Sect disciple, he would have been perfect!" Wei Yi's face contorted in anger, he clenched both hands, and the flesh tree growing from his hunchback began squirming, as if its roots were disturbed by a mole.

"I had to rush the job! The lad with the Sun Serpent bloodline is actually rejecting and trying to break free from my control, and that meddling Purple Moon disciple forced me to cut so many corners since the main core would be destroyed if I did nothing. I even had to sacrifice my own cultivation to bring him to life. It's a miracle my son even successfully formed without a core! He should have had at least seven cores, a thousand minds, a thousand faces, and a thousand bloodlines when he opened his eyes. Yet, he is reduced to a being with not even a single core and dormant bloodlines!" He inhaled deeply, trying to rein in his emotions, and flashed a small, refreshing smile. "Still, I'm Wei Yi, master of improvisation. While it's frustrating, the fact that I have successfully awakened my son is a win. I only need three more ingredients to make him at least less imperfect, and you," he pointed at Lihuo. "You're merely one of the ingredients!"

Upon hearing that, Lihuo's expression flickered from anger to sadness to anger again in quick succession. "You, you, how dare you betray me?! How dare you make me your enemy! Wei Yi, I vow I will kill you in the most painful way possible!"

"You can try if you want," Wei Yi laughed, then he swung his right hand, and the worm extending from his stomach to Lihuo's right foot began squirming. "A mere ant doesn't deserve to talk to me or even threaten me!"

The worm connecting them grew larger and larger, like a long balloon being filled with air.

"Wei Yi, you bastard!" Lihuo tried to break free, his muscles twitching like crazy, yet even he, a Sun Refining abomination who could hold Yang Hongyin and the rest of his clan alone, was powerless in front of Wei Yi.

When Liu Xing assessed Wei Yi's qi, he discovered that he wasn't actually at the peak of the Sun Refining realm at all. Instead, he had regressed to the Core Splitting realm. Still, while his qi felt closer to Liu Xing's than to the former emperor's or Lihuo's, he somehow seemed capable of suppressing Lihuo, who was stronger than him.

Wei Yi cackled madly. "Soon, you will be perfected, my son! Grab the main core! Be whole again!"

Liu Xing gripped his stone blade and licked his lips, his chest beating like a war drum. Their conversation was full of information, and Liu Liu Xing needed time to digest it all, but one thing struck his mind like an arrow.

He snapped his head toward the giant, which, from this position, could be seen holding the meatball so gently, as if it were a wounded bird it wanted to heal. He finally realized the wrongness he'd sensed from the giant: it was merely at the Lock Opening realm.

This realization was crazy and would sound dumb if he uttered it aloud. How could a being so big, brimming with qi, still be at the Lock Opening realm? Yet, the wrongness he felt, and Wei Yi's words, made Liu Xing strongly believe his conclusion.

That "son" of Wei Yi was a being made from thousands of snake-limb and worm abominations, which had eaten many people with bloodlines. A being like that, if perfect, would be utterly terrifying, but the wrongness it exuded was a sign that it was still imperfect, still a being that was just taking its first steps in cultivation. Yet, this condition wouldn't last forever. That giant meatball was the main core, and Liu Xing suspected that once the giant absorbed it, it would break through straight to the Core Splitting realm. This possibility was terrifying, and it would make his chances of winning and killing this thing plummet to zero.

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The worm extending from his gut was now swallowing Lihuo whole, bulging like an anaconda that had swallowed a cow, with only Lihuo's head remaining. Lihuo's snail eyes squirted yellow liquid, and his expression was a mix of sadness, anger, and betrayal, grimacing and crying like a father killed by his favorite son, while Wei Yi laughed madly as if he had already won.

Liu Xing gripped his stone blade tightly, the distance between him and Wei Yi shrinking. Ten meters, nine meters, eight meters. The speed wasn't ideal, but he would soon arrive. His heart beat faster, anxiety spiking. He had a golden chance to kill Wei Yi in a single strike. With his invisibility, his thin presence, and the fact that Wei Yi wasn't yet a Sun Refining cultivator, he should be able to cut him with his stone blade. Even then, he imagined it would still be hard to kill the pale white giant, but at least there would be no mastermind controlling it.

When Liu Xing was only about four meters from Wei Yi, he plunged into the black mist surrounding Wei Yi and Lihuo and let go of the potent qi that was dragging his gun and him. His momentum was still alive, and Liu Xing was thrown toward Wei Yi as he slashed the stone blade. The slash was simple, intended to hit Wei Yi's back first, sever his backbone, and come out from his stomach. There was no fancy blade technique, and while there was a little qi in his stone blade, it didn't glow purple. Still, Liu Xing had no doubt the stone blade would cut Wei Yi like a sharp knife slicing tofu.

Adrenaline spiked in his body, and the nervousness and anxiety made him cycle his qi faster, making the world a little slower than normal. He could see with certainty that Wei Yi hadn't realized he was there, still laughing at Lihuo, unaware that his death was approaching. But when his blade was only a moment from hitting Wei Yi's back, the flesh tree growing from his hunchback suddenly moved. The branch made from a person covered by a thousand pustules moved to the side, and the momentum made Wei Yi fall slightly to the side, like a tree whose root was uprooted by a strong wind. Liu Xing's blade only grazed Wei Yi's back.

Seeing his blade miss the target, Liu Xing's eyes widened and he instinctively tried to adjust the trajectory of his blade in a desperate attempt to correct his strike. But instead of cutting Wei Yi in two, he only cut off the hand of the branch-person who had saved Wei Yi at the last second, making it fly into the air. With his heart still beating fast, Liu Xing saw that Wei Yi had stopped his laughter and snapped his head toward him.

Liu Xing gritted his teeth, wondering how to attack next, when the branch-person flailed his one remaining arm, his yellow serpentine eyes looking around anxiously, as if searching for the thing that had tried to harm his master. But a moment later, after Liu Xing clearly saw the face full of pustules, his body stiffened.

He stood near Wei Yi, his eyes wide open, his heartbeat so fast it felt like his heart was frantically pumping blood to his brain, trying to process what he was seeing, trying to make his body move and not freeze in horror. But the shock was too great.

That was Elder Yang Zhaoyan!

Elder Yang Zhaoyan, once strong and dignified, was now fused with the flesh tree. His face gaunt under the pustules. His eyes are yellow and anxious. Liu Xing realized that Elder Yang Zhaoyan wasn't looking for him to protect Wei Yi; no, the shine in his eyes told a different story.

"Kill me," he whispered, "kill me, kill me, kill me!"

He looked around, trying to find him, trying to reach the sweet embrace of death, but even when his face was right in front of the former Elder Yang Zhaoyan, he couldn't see him. Liu Xing was still invisible, which made him wonder for a moment how the heck he'd been detected and how Wei Yi had evaded.

Still, he dismissed this question and gritted his teeth, anxiety replaced by anger. His eyes snapped toward Wei Yi, who was looking around with narrowed eyes, trying to find him. This guy was a menace; too many lives had been lost because of him, and Liu Xing vowed that only one of them would live to see another day.

Steeling his heart, Liu Xing crouched, his left hand gripping the black gun so tightly his palm turned pale white. He pointed the stone blade in his right hand toward Wei Yi, activated the Lightning Cloak Technique, filled his gun with Lightning Palm bullets, and pulled the trigger six times.

Six lightning bullets flew toward Wei Yi, who, while he snapped his head toward the bullets, didn't have time to dodge. The bullets hit him dead in the chest. Electricity exploded from the point of impact, and thick ropes of lightning tied and paralyzed him. He screamed, and Liu Xing jumped as hard as he could, rushing through the air until the black swirling mist in front of him parted, making way for him.

"Who dares to attack me?!" Wei Yi shouted as he tried to bring his two palms together. But before they could meet, Liu Xing appeared in front of him, his blade slashing horizontally with the intention of decapitating Wei Yi.

Liu Xing saw the former Elder Yang Zhaoyan move, both of his palms swirling with black fire, and before his stone blade could cut Wei Yi's neck, a thick plate that looked like solidified air materialized right in front of his blade, protecting Wei Yi's neck.

When his stone blade hit the plate, a loud "ping" was heard, and for a moment, his blade stopped, before it cut through this little barrier. But this small window of time gave Wei Yi a chance to react, and he ducked under the blade, only the tips of his white hair getting cut. But while Wei Yi ducked, the tree growing from his hunchback was in the blade's path, and no amount of ducking could save it. So, Liu Xing gritted his teeth and swung the blade as hard as he could. It bit into the base of the flesh tree. The tree was hard, but not hard enough. In less than a second, the tree was severed. The tree's stump burst with a geyser of blood, while the flesh tree, along with Elder Yang Zhaoyan, fell.

Liu Xing saw Elder Yang Zhaoyan flash a small smile, as if he were happy to die. Seeing his expression, Liu Xing's anger toward Wei Yi bubbled up, and he changed the blade's trajectory, bringing it down toward Wei Yi.

Wei Yi's palms finally met, and he was suddenly encased in a box made from a blue barrier. When Liu Xing's stone blade hit the barrier, a spark flashed, and the barrier held for a moment before cracking and bursting into a thousand points of light.

Wei Yi rolled to the side, the stump on his back still bursting with blood. "Who? How can you see me? And how come I cannot see you?!"

Liu Xing answered by charging his stone blade with qi, making it glow purple, and sending a crescent of purple qi toward Wei Yi's face. Without stopping, Liu Xing also sent six Exploding Fist bullets and kicked the ground, flying toward him.

"Wei Yi!" Liu Xing shouted, anger lacing his voice. "Prepare to die!"