Their battle had different winning conditions. Liu Xing's goal was to kill Han Jiulao, while Han Jiulao, despite his earlier declarations, aimed only to escape.

At first, the fight proceeded smoothly. Liu Xing moved like true lightning, attacking Han Jiulao with his stone blade, the crescent attack, his lightning blade, and various bullets from his floating gun, which either brushed Han Jiulao or sank into the sea. While the battle wasn't as thunderous as his clash with the kilometer-high abomination, the speed was actually greater. The spectacle would have baffled Lock Opening cultivators, let alone mortals. Hell, even Core Splitting cultivators would struggle to follow their blurred forms.

But, while they looked equal at first glance, the truth was that Liu Xing gained the advantage with each passing moment. Though both were fast, he was faster, his attacks stronger, his endurance greater. With his gun adding to the assault, Han Jiulao felt as if he were fighting two opponents simultaneously. Wounds began to accumulate on Han Jiulao. Even though he closed them with his black fire, he started breathing harder, his body soaked with sweat, his qi diminishing rapidly. This, combined with his mental exhaustion, drove him to move frantically, growing wilder, like a cornered beast. This time, he truly showed a face desperate for survival.

Han Jiulao teleported sporadically, but aside from direct attacks, he also unleashed barrages of black fire toward Liu Xing from his hands, mouth, and even his feet. Liu Xing guessed the reason. Han Jiulao couldn't land another physical blow, so he resorted to wide-range attacks, hoping one might connect. These attacks, combined with his short-range teleportation—Liu Xing suspected no more than thirty meters—sent projectiles and torrents of fire shooting in all directions, like a malfunctioning rocket launcher swirling chaotically.

Then, around half a minute after their rapid fight began, Han Jiulao let loose a dozen jets of black fire from his mouth. Liu Xing, of course, dodged this volley, but the attacks accidentally shot straight toward the ship where dozens of captive women were held.

Realizing this, Liu Xing—who was in the middle of charging a crescent purple attack—looked back, his eyes widening. The dozen jets of black fire shot like black hornets, moving so fast through the air they created overlapping whistling sounds. The red-haired man saw the danger, pointed, and ordered his shark and whale to deflect the attacks. The whale unleashed a blast of red condensed qi to swipe at the black fire, and the shark struck one jet, causing it to bloom into black fireworks. Yet, four remained.

Seeing the red-haired man was unable to clear all the attacks, Liu Xing turned, summoned his shield, and kicked it so hard the sound of a thunderclap echoed. He launched himself after the remaining four black fires, his heart thumping inside his chest. When he successfully arrived right behind them, he swung his stone blade at three of the black fires, dissolving them into the air. The last one was out of reach, so he shot it with Exploding Fist bullets several meters before it could hit the ship. While the explosion rattled the ship and created tumultuous waves around it, the ship, luckily, remained intact.

As Liu Xing turned and used the ship as a springboard, he sighed in relief. His immediate goal was to kill Han Jiulao, but he could not forget his true objective was to rescue the kidnapped women inside the ship. Hence, the ship needed to remain intact.

"I see now!" Han Jiulao suddenly shouted. "To think the solution was so simple! Disciples, rejoice. You don't need to maintain the Teleportation Formation any longer. I have found the solution to my current predicament!"

Liu Xing narrowed his eyes. "I will not let you go."

Han Jiulao formed a mirthless smile. "You can try. But know that your advantage is gone."

A bad feeling spread through Liu Xing's stomach, as if he had just swallowed a mouthful of foul water. What had Han Jiulao realized? Why was he suddenly confident he could escape? Resolute not to let his enemy escape no matter what, Liu Xing cycled his qi faster and faster, pushing his Lightning Cloak technique to its limit. He summoned his shield and kicked off it rapidly, accelerating faster and faster. He used the shield to move sideways, circling Han Jiulao, and appeared several meters behind the wounded man's form. He let out a shout as he shot a crescent purple qi attack.

Han Jiulao turned his head, still smiling mirthlessly—which made Liu Xing uneasy.

He expected Han Jiulao to teleport away. His eyes were already darting, trying to find where Han Jiulao would reappear, but when Han Jiulao decided to just glide to his right, Liu Xing's eyes widened. When the crescent purple qi sliced off Han Jiulao's entire left arm, he grew confused. Why? Why hadn't he teleported?

He soon had his answer. Han Jiulao formed a black fireball before his mouth. It swirled ominously, like a miniature sun made from black fire, and then he roared.

The ball spat out thousands of smaller black fire projectiles. But, instead of being aimed at him, all these attacks shot toward the ship!

Liu Xing's eyes widened. He suddenly understood he had misjudged the situation!

His winning conditions were twofold, not singular. Secure the women and kill Han Jiulao. As the fight progressed, since he had successfully pressured Han Jiulao, he had thought the women were already safe. But the stray attack from before had made Han Jiulao realize they were not. They were still within range.

As thousands of black fire projectiles shot toward the ship, Liu Xing gritted his teeth and launched himself to intercept them. He passed Han Jiulao, showing his back to his enemy.

As Liu Xing accelerated, thinking about how he could protect the ship from thousands of black fireballs—each the size of a basketball—raining down on it, he heard Han Jiulao shout. "Activating Teleportation Key!"

Liu Xing turned his head for a moment and saw a golden light begin shrouding Han Jiulao's body. The light felt strange, simultaneously cold and hot. It made the air churn, and he could also feel Han Jiulao cycling his qi, trying to activate some kind of technique. By his estimation, this teleportation needed around five seconds to activate. For the next five seconds, he deduced, Han Jiulao could not move. It was a perfect opportunity to attack him. Yet, Liu Xing maximized his Lightning Cloak, gritted his teeth, and kicked off his shield so fast and so hard that multiple thunderclaps echoed and he moved away from Han Jiulao.

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Liu Xing began to shout as he extended his lightning blade, whipping at the black fires, destroying them with well-angled crescent purple qi attacks, as well as raining down rapidly shot bullets from his floating gun. The red-haired man, though his eyes were wide with panic, also didn't stand idly by. He shouted in a trembling, panicked voice, ordering his whale and shark to destroy all the black fires.

As the black fires raining down toward the ship were destroyed one by one, Liu Xing moved like lightning, whittling down the barrage. A shout sounded from behind. "I, Han Jiulao, vow to hunt down and kill you. No matter where you go, no matter who protects you, I will come and rip your heart out with my own hand!"

Liu Xing gritted his teeth. In his mind, he urged himself to move faster, faster, faster! The world became increasingly blurry. He destroyed the black fires from behind, like a predator chasing wasps. In the midst of his endeavor, he realized that not all of the attacks would hit the ship. Some would hit the water; he ignored them. The first black fire that successfully evaded all their defenses struck the ship. It hit one of the sails, and a fire bloomed from the impact point, beginning to spread.

"Faster!" Liu Xing shouted. He could not let any more black fire hit the ship. He feared one might accidentally hit the women. And so, with all his might, he zig-zagged through the air so fast that his form—invisible but leaking black smoke—looked like a ghost. The black fires were rapidly destroyed by their combined efforts. When only ten remained, moving together, he shouted to the red-haired man.

"Destroy them!" Trusting the red-haired man, he summoned his shield, turned, and launched himself toward the still-glowing Han Jiulao. In the air, he repeatedly summoned and kicked off his shield, accelerating faster and faster before appearing in front of Han Jiulao while he was shrouded in golden light that shone so brightly it made him almost translucent.

With a shout, Liu Xing swung his stone blade diagonally. He no longer cared about killing Han Jiulao with his gun. He just wanted Han Jiulao dead. His stone blade cut Han Jiulao's shoulder. A flicker of pain crossed Han Jiulao's face. Yet, Han Jiulao showed no desperation.

"Han Jiulao!" Liu Xing shouted as he slashed diagonally again.

"Remember my vow," Han Jiulao said with a mirthless smile. Then, a golden pillar descended, swallowed him, and he... vanished. His stone blade, which had successfully cut Han Jiulao's shoulder, was soaked with reddish-black blood.

Liu Xing let out a frustrated sound. Just a second more, just one more second, and he could have cut Han Jiulao down completely.

As Liu Xing clenched his stone blade harder, he heard a panicked voice from behind. Summoning his shield and landing on it, he turned toward the ship. He saw the middle of the deck burning with dark fire, and that another hole had been blasted open.

His eyes widened. Panicked, Liu Xing dismissed his invisibility, kicked off his shield, and landed violently on the deck. While his landing didn't create another hole, the ship trembled beneath him. Looking around, he saw the black fire spreading and smoke billowing from the completely burning sail.

He hurried toward the smaller hole, probably created by a black fire projectile that hadn't been destroyed while shooting a glare toward the panicked red-haired man.

"Didn't I say to destroy them all? Why did one successfully hit the ship?!" Liu Xing shouted.

The man, who looked as if he were about to jump through the larger hole, glared back at him. "It's not my fault that you let the fires land here! They were too fast!"

"Your shark and whale could have handled it," Liu Xing said coldly.

He had seen both creatures' swift movements. If the whale had unleashed a swiping attack toward the ten black fires, it could have destroyed the majority, and the shark could have destroyed the remaining ones. Moreover, both of them had been directly in the path of the ten projectiles. The fact that there was only one additional hole meant nine had been destroyed while only one had landed.

"Well, they couldn't! They were not fast enough to destroy all of them. You should not have turned your back to us and attacked the enemy! You should have destroyed his attack first!"

Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He was furious. Not only had he failed to kill Han Jiulao, but he had also allowed the ship to be hit. He'd thought he could count on this guy; the whale and the shark had looked reliable, but it seemed he had overestimated both the man and the spirit beasts he commanded.

He reached the smoking hole and peeked down, checking on the women in the hold below. Black fire was spreading inside. The women huddled together at the far end of the hold, watching the spreading fire in horror, pushing each other back, terrified the black fire could easily turn them to ash—which was a fair assumption. The fire came from a powerful cultivator, and the women below were merely mortals.

The red-haired man dove down into the depth of the ship and landed beside the spreading fire. "Ling'er! I've come to save you!"

A woman wearing a fine blue dress came out from the crowd and hugged him. "Idiot! Where have you been? I was afraid that I would be sold and become a slave."

The red-haired man smiled. "I'm sorry to let you experience this. I am indeed an idiot, but this idiot has come to save you. Let's go." He pulled the girl.

"Wait, how about them?" Ling'er asked, turning her head. "We can't leave them here."

"Don't worry," The red-haired man smiled, threw a nasty glare toward Liu Xing, then smiled back at his supposed sister. "That guy will handle the rest of them."

Without another word, the red-haired man jumped back out, carrying his sister. High in the air, the whale swooped down, allowing them to land on its back. As the whale swam through the air, moving farther from the ship, the red-haired man put the girl down, smiling. She began to cry, and they hugged each other tightly.

Liu Xing stared, flabbergasted. For a moment, he could not comprehend what had just happened. Had that guy truly come down, pulled out his 'sister', abandoned the rest of the women, and essentially sailed off into the sunset? Was that what he had just seen? Hadn't the man even spared a glance for the other women, who had looked to him as a savior, only to have their expressions turn ashen when they realized he was leaving them behind?

He ground his teeth. At that moment, he realized the red-haired man had never been an ally. Instead, he was just a prick who only cared about his sister—although, for supposed siblings, they shared a disturbing intimacy. As he thought this, he saw their silhouettes pressing together in the distance, as if they were kissing, and felt profound disgust.

Liu Xing inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. After calming himself, he looked down toward the women below. They were still backing away from the fire, holding their breath, as if Liu Xing could save only one of them and would let the rest perish.

In answer, Liu Xing filled his still-floating gun with bullets, absorbed the potent qi, and pushed it out from his body. He used this qi to encase all the women, making them squeak as if an invisible, ghostly force touched them. Then, he willed the qi encasing them to lift them up. One by one, they flew out from the hole in the deck. But instead of setting them down on the still-burning deck, Liu Xing summoned his turtle statue, sent qi into it, making it grow as large as the ship and float beside it in the air. Then he gently placed all twenty-nine women onto the turtle's broad shell.

As Liu Xing landed on the head of his turtle, he shot a glare toward the flying whale in the distance.

He would remember that red-haired man's face. He had a gut feeling they would meet again, and when they did, he promised himself he would break the bastard's nose.

"E-esteemed cultivator," one of the women called to him.

Liu Xing inhaled deeply, trying to calm his mind so he wouldn't look too irritated, and turned his head. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but there's a... shark following behind you."

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