About a year and a half ago, when he had finally adjusted to his life as Liu Xing, he had earnestly begun to accumulate sect points. He could no longer take the safe, easy missions inside the sect—running errands for elders, sweeping the grounds, or washing mountains of dishes. He needed to advance, and that meant he needed resources. Back then, his life was a frantic scramble of running and hiding; there was no time to relax. It felt as if the world was trying to sink its fangs into his neck, leaving him constantly exhausted and unable to think. Looking back, that period felt like being trapped in a prison full of beasts that could eat him alive.

One of his bullies, Luo Ji, had decided it would be fun to force Liu Xing to accept a mission to exterminate a "small" boar that was terrorizing a village near Dawn Moon City. Since the boar was disrupting a caravan route, the task landed with the Purple Moon Sect and needed to be completed by an outer disciple. Afraid of being beaten to death by his bullies, Liu Xing had no choice but to go. Though he knew the boar was a spirit beast, he figured fighting it was better than fighting Luo Ji and his cohorts. Still, seeing Luo Ji's smirk as he ordered him to go, he knew the mission was a trap.

The encounter with that "little" boar had been a revelation.

He had found it in the middle of the city, its red fur gleaming under a thunderous sky, its mouth drenched with blood as it crunched on two screaming villagers. What stunned him, aside from its terrifying nature, was its sheer size. It was triple that of a house, with tusks as big as his body. At that moment, he had been rooted to the spot, his mind struggling to comprehend how a boar could grow so large. The battle that followed was less a fight and more a desperate struggle for survival, most of it a blur in his mind, though the adrenaline and fear remained vivid to this day.

Now, seeing this giant abomination made his heart pound just as it had the first time he saw that boar. How the hell could something so big have been underground?

The humanoid giant pulled itself from the ground like a swimmer heaving himself from a pool. The ground trembled as its torso rose like a great white tower reaching toward the heavens. It pulled its two giant feet free, and when its entire body was out, it began to rise higher and higher, until even Liu Xing, standing atop his shield in the sky, had to look up, its head brushing against the ceiling of the Royal Barrier. Its skin was the pale white of a corpse from head to toe. In the middle of its stomach, a single yellow eye, identical to those on the snake-limbed abominations, stared out with childlike curiosity. It was so big and so tall that it must have been at least a kilometer high!

Soon, he noticed hundreds of faces dotting the skin like faint tattoos—men, women, children, their expressions ranging from happiness to anger. One face on its left shoulder, a woman's, struck him with a jolt of recognition.

"It's made from them," he muttered, eyes wide. "It's made from the snake-limbed abominations!"

It was the face he had attacked first, the one he had burned but never managed to kill. He looked properly at the empty pink eye sockets on the giant abomination's face, realizing they were made from the flesh of the worms that had swarmed the former golden castle!

With his heart thundering in his chest, a thousand questions flooded his mind. Why had this thing emerged? What was Wei Yi's intention? Were the other Sun Refining abominations already fused with it? Where was Wei Yi? Questions came and went like flashes of lightning. He forced them down, latching onto the only one that mattered.

"What do I do now?"

This thing felt like a well of qi, like a dragon vein of the world itself. Yet, standing in its presence felt wrong, as if he was mere centimeters from a giant bonfire that should have burned him to ash, but all he felt was a distant warmth. How could a bonfire so large not emanate scorching heat? How could this thing emit such tremendous qi and yet feel so... off?

He wanted to observe it more closely, to unravel the wrongness, but he shook his head and focused. He found his answer, and though it made his stomach churn, he held onto it.

His goal hadn't changed. He had to kill Wei Yi, and to do that, he had to kill this giant.

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Having decided what to do, the question of how remained. Killing it seemed impossible, but he was certain the wrongness he felt was the key. His eyes roamed its body, searching for weaknesses. The central eye, its soft-looking eye sockets, its lanky legs—all were potential targets. If he cut off a leg, it probably couldn't stand, limiting its mobility. As he cataloged its weaknesses, a sliver of confidence returned. He could also turn invisible. In previous fights, invisibility had been useless, but that was no longer the case.

"Liu Xing!" a shout made him look down. He saw Prince Yang Jinyan, Yang Suyin, and the rest of the clan inside the twelve-headed firebird, flying toward him. "Did you see Lihuo? That bastard is suddenly gone!"

Soon, the firebird arrived, its wings beating slowly to hover in front of him. Up close, Liu Xing saw it wasn't made of normal fire, but a gentle, warm light, like the morning sun. He glanced at the crown Yang Hongyin wore and saw that six of its gems were now transparent. Only half its qi remained.

He refocused on the prince. "What do you mean, gone?"

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

The prince's words clicked into place.

The darkness that had shrouded the Twelve Sun Armor, the way Wei Yi had materialized from nowhere—it was all connected. Wei Yi was using darkness to hide.

Liu Xing stopped his train of thought and scanned the area. If Lihuo's disappearance was Wei Yi's doing, then only he could see them. He channeled qi to his eyes, checking each rupture in the ground, each hole and rubble pile.

"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 grin on his face, ready to jump.

"Shit!" Liu Xing cursed. This wasn't the time to fight him. "We switch! You fight the former emperor! I'll find Lihuo and Wei Yi. They're hiding using the darkness!"

Seeing his father reduced to an abomination, Prince Yang Jinyan's eyes trembled. A flicker of anger and annoyance passed through them before they steeled over. "Alright. Hong'er, give me some control. 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 arrived beside him. The distance had been vast, yet he covered it in less than a second. To mortal eyes, his movement was instantaneous.

Already counting the timing, Liu Xing moved to the side. The punch, shrouded in blackish light, exploded the air. At the same time, Yang Hongyin extended her hand, and six heads of the firebird spat out six orange miniature suns that swiftly struck the emperor. Prince Yang Jinyan then let out a mighty roar, and the remaining six heads opened their mouths, creating one large sun and holding it, waiting for the right time to attack.

While the Yang clan engaged the former emperor in a battle that shook the earth, 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 searching for a hidden heretic. His eyes flickered between the giant and the floating meatball. The pale giant began to wail in response to the meatball, its hands moving sluggishly toward it as if trying to catch a hummingbird.

His mind subconsciously tried to decipher what was wrong with the giant when his eyes finally caught a speck of blackness on its neck. At a glance, it looked like a mole, but after a second, he saw it fluctuating.

He sharpened his focus, and the image resolved.

The black mist was obstructing two people. One was a creature with exposed red muscle, the upper half of its face like a snail's. Lihuo's robes were torn and burned, and from his position, Liu Xing could see his expression of panic and frustration directed at the old man before him. The old man wore a white and black robe. His hair was white, his back hunched. The most prominent thing about him was the fleshy tree growing from his back, extending two meters into the sky with branches bearing fruits that looked like tumors with faces.

Liu Xing refocused on the old man's face, a hundred percent sure this was Wei Yi. From Bai Lin, he knew Wei Yi was a young, talented cultivator; from the prince, a formidable, mature one. Now, he was an old man. This demonic cultivator was aging at a tremendous rate. The old man wore a smirk of disdain, like a master manipulator who had just executed his plan. Liu Xing couldn't hear their conversation over the battle, but it didn't matter.

He finally had his target.

Summoning his gun, Liu Xing willed it invisible, then ordered the invisibility to spread to himself. A moment later, he was gone. Since using his shield would reveal his presence, he wrapped his hand and the gun in potent qi, then hurled them—and himself—like a living bullet toward Wei Yi and Lihuo.

He had a feeling this final fight would not 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.

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