"Bastard!" The tumor fruit snarled at him, and three things happened simultaneously. First, Liu Xing's stone blade sliced through the fruit and split it in two. Second, the former Elder Yang Zhaoyan swung both of his hands to the side like a dancer. Third, a blue barrier suddenly materialized beside the worm and Lihuo and pushed them out of the way of his crescent purple qi.

Ignoring the fact that he missed his attack on Lihuo, Liu Xing cranked up the Lightning Cloak Technique and slashed at the tumor fruits from the flesh tree, thinking that Wei Yi would definitely emerge from another fruit. In less than a second, Liu Xing sliced all the fruits in half, then cut all the branches of the flesh tree, until what remained was a stunted tree with a single thick branch where Elder Yang Zhaoyan was merged. He suspected if Wei Yi emerged again, he would be controlling Elder Yang Zhaoyan's body.

Gritting his teeth, Liu Xing jumped into the air and aimed his gun downward. He'd learned from the previous attack that cutting Wei Yi wasn't working, so he needed a bigger attack. His plan was to hit it first with Lightning Palm bullets, then strike it with his Thunderstrike gauntlets to pulverize it to dust.

As Liu Xing thought this, a black blur suddenly moved in his peripheral vision. He snapped his eyes to it and saw a head with bat wings flapping crazily behind it. It was Wei Yi's head, complete with a snarling expression, desperately flying toward the worm and Lihuo. Seeing this, Liu Xing's heart beat faster. Was his calculation wrong? Had Wei Yi abandoned the flesh tree and decided to move using his head only?

Looking down, he saw that the tree and the former Elder Yang Zhaoyan began bubbling, as if their bodies were made not of exposed flesh, but boiling water. Upon seeing this, Liu Xing knew his calculation was partially correct. Wei Yi would use this flesh tree, but instead of controlling it directly, he would control it remotely. It would regenerate again and again, buying time for the head to grab the worm and Lihuo and carry them off.

Deciding that killing the flesh tree wasn't the optimal decision, Liu Xing summoned his shield in the air, rotated his body, and kicked it. His instinct told him to intercept the head flying toward Lihuo instead of dealing with Elder Yang Zhaoyan, and he trusted his instinct.

In less than a moment, Liu Xing arrived right in front of the head. Wei Yi's eyes widened in surprise, but without missing a beat, it dove down, trying to maneuver around him. Liu Xing aimed his gun down and pulled the trigger. A blue bolt shot Wei Yi's head right in the forehead, making the head hit the ground hard, ropes of electricity binding it. Seeing the head paralyzed, Liu Xing sent potent qi to his left gauntlet, tossed the gun up, materialized a ball of lightning the size of an egg, and aimed it downward toward the downed Wei Yi's head.

But before Liu Xing could send a lightning strike to pulverize the head, the flesh tree, still bubbling, suddenly moved. One moment it was standing several meters away, the next it was right beside Liu Xing. Elder Yang Zhaoyan, still with an empty expression, swung both hands at him. Seeing this, Liu Xing gritted his teeth, sent some stable qi to his side, but didn't dodge. Instead, he sent a palm strike downward.

Right when Elder Yang Zhaoyan hit him, his bones rattled, his body lurched, and a mouthful of blood jumped from his mouth, he successfully launched his attack toward Wei Yi's head. The pillar of lightning descended, but because of the elder's attack, it was slightly off. Instead of hitting the head dead center, what happened was a pillar of lightning qi the size of a thigh hit only the left side of Wei Yi. Wei Yi screamed, and Elder Yang Zhaoyan swung his hand again, this time with a much stronger swing, strong enough to throw him aside.

Seeing this attack in his peripheral vision, Liu Xing kicked the ground and jumped into the air, catching his gun as he did so, and looking down.

Wei Yi's head's left side was now dust; he looked like a crescent moon, and the remaining eye glaring hatefully at him.

"Bastard!" the half-head shouted. "Attack!"

With his shout, the flesh tree stopped bubbling, and hands began to emerge from every centimeter of its body, growing longer and longer, like branches growing rapidly. Two large, muscled feet emerged from the bottom, contrasting with the lanky hands around it. Then, with a powerful kick, the flesh tree flew toward him. Each of the hands began glowing black, and Liu Xing knew he was going to deploy some kind of barrier.

"Elder Yang Zhaoyan, if you can hear me, please step aside!" Liu Xing shouted.

The elder shot toward him like a rocket, and instead of answering, the hands growing from the tree began swinging.

"Shit!"

Liu Xing aimed his left hand, filled it with Exploding Fist bullets, and pulled the trigger six times. Six blue bolts flew downward like six lightning bolts trying to hit a single tree. Several of Elder Yang Zhaoyan's hands stopped moving, and three-layer barriers materialized in front of the abomination. When the six bullets hit, the explosion destroyed all three layers, but from the billowing smoke, Elder Yang Zhaoyan arrived.

Liu Xing summoned his shield, maneuvering around like a lightning pinball, his eyes locked on Wei Yi's head. He had reached the worm and Lihuo and was carrying them away in his teeth.

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Liu Xing clenched the handle of his stone blade tightly. This fight couldn't go on like this forever. Wei Yi had many tricks to stall for time. He could split his body and control Elder Yang Zhaoyan at the same time.

Once again, Liu Xing had to do two things at once. He had to deal with Elder Yang Zhaoyan as well as attack Wei Yi. This situation was frustrating. Why did something always get in his way every time he needed to act?

"Focus!" Liu Xing shouted.

His mind could not wander. He had to find a way to fight two battles at the same time, and an idea came to him. He can control his gun to attack Wei Yi while fending off Elder Yang Zhaoyan. This idea wasn't perfect, and it actually gave away his invisibility, but at least he could simulate fighting two opponents at the same time. But this realization also gave him another idea.

Liu Xing's heart beat faster. He would use both ideas. Rather, these two ideas complemented each other.

"Yang Suyin!" Liu Xing laced his voice with qi and shouted as loud as possible. The shout rippled the air around him, as if he were at the center of a lake where a large stone had fallen. "Help me fight this bastard!"

The second idea was simple: since he couldn't fight two battles at the same time, why not ask for help? After all, he wasn't fighting alone.

Liu Xing glanced at the fire bird that Xia Hongyin had conjured; it was still controlled by Yang Hongyin and Prince Yang Jinyan and was still exchanging attacks with the former emperor. But he could clearly see Yang Suyin turn his head toward him. Their positions weren't too far apart. Liu Xing was closer to the left shoulder of the pale white giant, while the fire bird was fighting near its left ear. In a moment, he saw Yang Suyin's eyes calculating the situation, and he nodded and turned into a yellow light, streaking toward him.

Seeing this, Liu Xing grinned. Now for the first idea.

Liu Xing encased the gun in potent qi and threw it toward Wei Yi, who was flying desperately while carrying Lihuo with his teeth, as if the worm were a sack. He controlled the gun with his intent, filled it with Lightning Palm bullets, and began shooting at Wei Yi. Seeing blue bolts coming at him, Wei Yi maneuvered to the left, dodging the attack, right toward Yang Suyin, who transformed from yellow light back into a human and swung his sword at the head.

Wei Yi maneuvered again, dodging Yang Suyin's sword, and Liu Xing shot him again, which he dodged again. It was a bit frustrating, but it was all right. The tide of the battle was changing. Wei Yi's head was probably weak, but still stronger than Yang Suyin. Liu Xing believed Yang Suyin alone couldn't defeat it, but that was where his gun came in. While the gun still needed to be in his peripheral vision to be controlled, at least now he could fight two enemies at the same time.

Grinning fiercely, Liu Xing held the handle of the stone blade with both hands. He was still ricocheting around Elder Yang Zhaoyan like a pinball, and when he was right behind him, Liu Xing kicked his shield and shot toward him.

He needed to end this fight fast, and to do that, he didn't need to kill the elder. He just needed to throw him far away for a moment, so he could gang up on Wei Yi's head.

Liu Xing swung his blade toward the back of his opponent. Elder Yang Zhaoyan tried to turn his new body, and while he was late, almost all the hands jutting out from his back were swinging, creating several layers of barriers. When his stone blade hit the barrier, it tore through them like a bat through a mirror, creating a cacophony of glass breaking, before successfully cutting a dozen hands.

Liu Xing jumped to the side, summoned a shield to make him fly right above his enemy, then summoned his shield again to come down while swinging his blade, intending to split the elder in two. This time, the elder or the hands didn't have time to react, and his blade cut several dozen hands before cutting right into the top of the flesh tree. As he shouted, the blade sliced into the flesh tree, cutting deep like an axe into a tree trunk. He saw Elder Yang Zhaoyan's hands swing at him, and before the blade could reach halfway, Liu Xing drew his sword back and jumped aside.

As he landed on the white ground with a face pattern, he saw a box made from red light materialize right where he had been, and inside the box was a black liquid that looked like it could corrode everything in this world.

"All right, I think I get the idea."

Liu Xing glanced at Wei Yi's head, which was flying and zigzagging, dodging Yang Suyin, who was zipping around in streaks of light, and his gun.

"It seems this flesh tree is similar to my gun."

Similar in the sense that it was controlled remotely. Without direct orders, its movements were predictable, and this gave Liu Xing an idea on how to control his gun, like planting some kind of basic directive on how to move.

"At least this predictability gives me an edge."

Licking his lips, Liu Xing jumped toward the elder and swung his blade. He cut some hands; the elder tried to lock him inside a barrier, but before it could materialize, Liu Xing zipped to the other side and resumed his attacks. With this movement, Liu Xing repeatedly landed hits on the flesh tree. The hands could each materialize a barrier, but their power was weak, and unless stacked, his stone blade could cut through them easily.

From here, Liu Xing began trimming the hands, until, several moments later, only a handful remained.

Liu Xing was now face to face with Elder Yang Zhaoyan. His eyes were still empty, and seeing this, Liu Xing gritted his teeth while holding the stone blade, which he filled with qi until it shone brilliantly purple.

"Eat this!" Liu Xing shouted, swinging the blade, sending a crescent purple qi toward Elder Yang Zhaoyan.

Elder Yang Zhaoyan's hands moved, and a dozen colorful barriers materialized. When the crescent purple qi hit the barrier, some broke into tiny fragments, while most held up. Still, the sheer power of the attack dragged the barriers and the flesh tree back, and a moment later, all the barriers broke and successfully threw the flesh tree into the air. Liu Xing saw his attack bite into the flesh tree, but before he could see if it was split in two, he turned.

He ordered his gun to fire at Wei Yi, who desperately dodged, and saw a streak of yellow light coming at this flying head. In a flash of an idea, Liu Xing summoned his shield, but not under his feet, but in front of Wei Yi's path.

As the shield with the glowing green gem materialized, Wei Yi's eyes widened and he crashed into it, coming to a halt. Yang Suyin transformed back into a human, and with a single swing of his blade, he split Wei Yi's head in two. The worm carrying Lihuo fell out of his mouth, and Wei Yi's split head fell like two leaves.