He thrust both hands toward the sky. Instantly, a blinding light spread outward. Liu Xing's black hair whipped back as the ground around his feet sank and cracked, spreading outward as if trying to hold his weight. From the center of his hands, a ball of lightning shot a concentrated bolt toward the sky, creating a white pillar that pierced the heavens. An explosion occurred, creating a shockwave that spread around. The lake in front of Liu Xing lurched, creating a massive wave that ran to the other side. This shockwave also hit Bai Lin's hut. His roof blew away, some of his walls flew off, and even Bai Lin himself almost got blown away if he hadn't held onto the wall in front of him.

Bai Lin's heart beat so fast it felt like it would explode any second, and adrenaline coursed through his body, making the world seem a bit slower. His eyes focused on the pillar of light that extended high into the sky. Tonight the sky was clear, but if there had been clouds above, they would have parted, creating a hole in the sky.

Then, his eyes returned to Liu Xing, who smiled while laughing madly.

Seeing this, Bai Lin realized he had misjudged Liu Xing. This youngster wasn't an ordinary disciple from one of the five great sects. He was a monster. A terrifying monster! And he had asked for help so casually, as if asking a relative.

Bai Lin started to shiver. If he had known Liu Xing had this immense power, he would have been more polite. Luckily, Liu Xing wasn't offended. If he had been, Bai Lin's life would be over.

After several moments, that mighty attack receded. The blowing wind and waves on top of the lake started to slow down.

Liu Xing sighed deeply, as if he had just finished eating the most delicious meal in the world. He started looking around, and when his eyes met Bai Lin's, Bai Lin's heart stopped beating. What would happen to him now? Was Liu Xing offended because Bai Lin had been peeking?

But before he got an answer, Liu Xing clasped his hands and bowed.

Without thinking, Bai Lin stood straight and started to bow himself. He didn't know what was happening. His body just moved on its own.

When Bai Lin raised his head, Liu Xing was already gone, vanished as if he were a ghost. His eyes snapped toward the Red Lotus Staff, realizing that the staff that had let him live comfortably for dozens of years was now gone.

Bai Lin sighed in relief. It seemed like Liu Xing had left.

For a moment, Bai Lin thought he didn't want to meet Liu Xing again. He was too strong. Too terrifying. But then, he remembered that Liu Xing had agreed to help investigate Wei Yi and would come back in a month at the earliest.

That Wei Yi was strong. The strongest person Bai Lin had ever seen. And while he couldn't be sure whether Liu Xing's last attack could finish Wei Yi, at the very least he knew that Liu Xing was as talented as, or even more talented than, Wei Yi.

Turning around, he realized that most of his belongings had blown away, but the altar in the middle of the room with his grandson's painting was still intact.

***

Running away like a thief who'd been caught, Liu Xing moved as fast as possible. To his right and left was a vast grassland, perfect for galloping horses. The path Liu Xing followed cut through the grassland, separating the two sides.

"Man, I blew away that old man Bai Lin's house!" Liu Xing exclaimed.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Liu Xing had gotten carried away. These Thunderstrike Gauntlets gave him the chance to try a famous technique from one of his favorite shows. With the qi from the gun, he could easily shape that attack, whether he wanted a focused strike or one that targeted multiple enemies.

The last strike was an experiment to test how many bullets he could feed into the gauntlets. He thought the strike could be scaled infinitely, but it seemed the limit was eighteen bullets. More than that, and Liu Xing felt the gauntlets would break.

Still, when he unleashed the last attack, he didn't think the effect would be that great. That pillar of light was so tall and created a shockwave that rattled everything around him. Even Bai Lin's hut was blown away. When he saw that little hut now roofless and the walls on its left and right had flown off somewhere, and seeing Bai Lin with his huge eyes and trembling body, Liu Xing was afraid that Bai Lin was trying to contain his anger, so he ran away shamelessly.

True, Bai Lin was weak. But that guy had easily offered Liu Xing a Heaven Grade technique. Who knew how many Heaven Grade Techniques he had, and perhaps he was actually a strong cultivator trying to hide his power.

The point was, after Liu Xing blew away Bai Lin's hut, it was time to go.

Looking up, Liu Xing saw the moon was still out. It was probably still the middle of the night.

"Now, what to do?"

Liu Xing held his token and opened the interface. The list of treasures hadn't changed much. There were seven treasures still nearby, but when Liu Xing checked, all of them were either treasures to help cultivation, herbs and pills, or miscellaneous tools, like that Gold Dragon Cauldron.

In his quest to defeat Wei Yi and get a Heaven Grade Technique, he decided to get as many treasures as he could that would help him defeat Wei Yi, and the Gold Dragon Cauldron and other nearby treasures certainly wouldn't help.

Since he confirmed that his gun could enhance the effect of the treasures, albeit in a roundabout way, he decided to deck himself out with treasures that either increased his attack power or defensive capability.

Since the treasures nearby didn't meet his requirements, he decided not to retrieve the items and was now left with two choices.

First, he could rest. While he still had a lot of energy, rest was a fine choice. Rest would make his body fresh and his mind sharper. Or second, he could run to his next destination.

After thinking for a moment, while rest was tempting, Liu Xing decided he wouldn't waste more time. While his main focus was still to win this race and become an inner disciple, he also wanted to get that Heaven Grade Technique. These two desires of his were now combined, making this race slightly more difficult, since he needed to get as many treasures as he could, but only treasures that could help him defeat Wei Yi.

Nodding, Liu Xing opened up his interface and found the nearest item that met his requirements was in a city called Second Gray Cloud City. Liu Xing remembered that this city was north of Mystic Moon City. Adjusting his direction, Liu Xing cycled the qi inside his body so he could run faster.

While he wanted to arrive as fast as possible, Liu Xing decided not to run at full power. The reason was that he wanted to read the Statue Summoning Technique. He still didn't know what grade this technique was, but he was sure this technique would strengthen him, so there was no reason to delay reading it.

As he ran, Liu Xing grabbed the book from his spatial bag As he held it, Liu Xing realized that the book was thin, as if it only had twenty or fewer pages, and the cover was rough to the touch, as if created from a weird mixture of paper, almost feeling like cardboard, with fine hairs that he could feel with his fingers.

While he ran, Liu Xing opened the book and read the introductory chapter. As he read the chapter, Liu Xing's eyebrows rose.

Instead of a summary of what the technique was, the first chapter was actually a short paragraph:

"The joy of love is the joy of life. People cannot live without love, and yet, not all love is equal. My love for my parents is deep, but not as deep as my love for my creation. My love for my lover is meager, and she suffered because of it, and I want to fix it, but I cannot, since my heart is in the hands of my creation. When I lost all the people who loved me, I thought I would be okay, since I still have my creation. But then I realized that while I wholeheartedly love it, it would not return my love, because it's a creation. A being incapable of love."

Liu Xing read it several times more. He even recited it, trying to decipher the meaning. But what he understood was that the one who wrote this technique was probably an artist. And since the technique name was Statue Summoning Technique, there was a high chance that he was a sculptor. A sculptor who had an all-consuming love for the statues he made, until he neglected his parents and his lover.