Liu Xing's eyes focused on the giant island belonging to the Mirror Tides Emperor on the map drawn in the ground. The distance from their current location was vast. Flying there carried a high risk of passing over territory occupied by the Nether Lotus Sect. That would be dangerous.

"In the first place, why do you want to go there?" Liu Xing asked, then pointed to a large island nearby. "Why not the other island?"

The girl looked behind her, where the other women huddled, instinctively trying to protect each other. The girl in the blue dress inhaled deeply. "It's simple, really. Because the Mirror Tides Empire is the strongest empire in the area, so it would be the most secure."

The girl continued. "I have heard rumors. For the past year, trade has faced many, many problems. Prices slowly crawled up. Many businesses went under. Many people went missing, and rumors about cultivators abducting people began circulating. I never thought that one day, I would be the victim of it." She paused for a moment. "It's hard to learn about cultivators, but I know many legends about them, whether heroic ones, and also cautionary tales about demonic cultivators. Those guys, they were demonic cultivators? Am I right?"

Liu Xing nodded. Truthfully, their techniques hadn't seemed particularly sinister. Han Jiulao's techniques were teleportation and black fire; Wei Shuren used his hair—similar to the Hei clan of the Twelve Sun Empire—while Hou Qiang, according to the women's stories, seemed to use water techniques. But it was hard to deny since Han Jiulao had confirmed it himself.

"Then, I predict there must be a huge war later," the woman continued, "hence, we need to go to the Mirror Tides Empire. This empire is the strongest in the whole Wild Tide Region. It has big sects within it, and the force of their army is also great. Legend says that if they weren't peaceful and benevolent, the whole area would have fallen into their hands. That's why we need to go there. We are still afraid of being abducted again."

"A great war, huh," Liu Xing rubbed his chin. He hadn't considered a great war, but it was a sound prediction. The remaining powers wouldn't stay silent if the Nether Lotus Sect began to encroach upon their territory. Her concerns, as well as her logic for choosing the Mirror Tides Empire, were sound.

"But if you want to avoid being abducted and avoid a great war, then there's another way," Liu Xing drew a line from the southern side of the map, extending it further south, far, far away from the center of the Wild Tide Region. "The outside."

The woman grimaced. "I... don't know much about the outside world. Information from outside is hard to come by. But, esteemed cultivator... there's also another reason we want to go there, or rather, there's a reason I... want to go there."

Liu Xing let the girl explain herself.

"I want to be a cultivator," she said resolutely, her eyes shining brightly. "The Mirror Tides Empire is one of the empires that is quite open. I know they are always actively recruiting people, either into the sects or even into the Heavenly Army. Moreover," she clenched her hands and ground her teeth for a moment, "sooner or later, the Mirror Tides Empire will have war with the demonic sect that killed my family, our families, and at that time, I want to be there."

Hearing that, something clicked inside his mind. Truthfully, he didn't want to bring them out of the Wild Tide Region, simply because it would take time. Still, he didn't want the women he had saved to fall into danger again and was ready to debate her. If the result of the debate was for Liu Xing to bring them out of the Wild Tide Region, he would do so, albeit hurriedly. But this information made him realize he had made a wrong assumption from the start.

He glanced toward the women behind her. Though huddled, their eyes shone with determination. His conversation hadn't been quiet; they had heard everything.

"To be a cultivator, you need talent." Liu Xing said. "I have heard stories about people who became cultivators when they were already adults, but it's a rare occurrence. Do you think you can become a cultivator?" He stared at the woman in front of him. "Moreover, the war that you predicted, if it truly happens, I imagine it will happen in the near future. Cultivating is not easy, so I doubt even if you become a cultivator right now, you would be part of the war."

"But even so, I want to try," she replied simply.

Liu Xing faced the group behind her. "What about all of you?"

"I also want to try," replied the older sister, her eyes blazing. More and more women voiced their willingness to try to become cultivators, some even vowing to never stop until they destroyed the Nether Lotus Sect.

As he heard their reasons and willingness to try, he could only shake his head. While the majority expressed their desire to become cultivators, one or two seemed reluctant. Still, even those reluctant women wanted revenge by helping the other women—their sisters, as they called themselves. They also wanted to enact justice for the people whose families had been killed.

He reminded them several times that Hou Qiang and Wei Shuren were dead—killed by his own hands. Half the women's specific targets for revenge were already gone. Yet, they insisted on directing their grudge toward the Nether Lotus Sect as a whole. Not to mention the people whose families Han Jiulao had killed. Knowing he was still alive made them louder than the rest.

Liu Xing thought what they were trying to do was futile. If every willing mortal could become a cultivator, then this world would be filled to the brim with cultivators. Still, in the end, he understood their feelings.

They had felt helpless when cultivators abducted them and killed their families, and they didn't want that to happen again. To ensure that, they needed power, and cultivation was all about power. He reckoned the chance of one of them becoming a cultivator was as slim as the width of a strand of hair, but nothing was absolute in the world. Chance and fate existed. Perhaps one of them did have the potential to become a cultivator.

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He glanced at the drawing of the Mirror Tides Empire on the ground.

Even so, understanding their feelings didn't mean he would facilitate them. At least not fully. He was on a time constraint, and bringing the women all the way to the Mirror Tides Empire would hinder him. If they accidentally entered enemy territory, he would need to fight while defending them.

"I cannot bring you all to the Mirror Tides Empire. I have time-sensitive missions, and bringing you would slow me down. So, I will bring you to the nearest city. From there, you can go to the Mirror Tides Empire by yourselves."

The woman in the blue dress tried to reason with him, arguing that his turtle was fast and they wouldn't be a nuisance. Some of them even tried to seduce him, promising him a... good time. Yet, he remained adamant.

"Here," he pointed to a nearby island on the map. "I will bring all of you to this island. From there, you can move by yourselves. I understand that you all are worried about your new lives, so I will give you some spirit stones. With these funds, you can try to reach the Mirror Tides Empire or build new lives. Just remember that all of you were lucky. It would be a shame to throw your lives away."

The women tried to argue, but Liu Xing decided to close his eyes, ignoring all their reasoning and pleas. Tide Walker, who seemed to have its belly full, nested on his head like a well-fed bird ready to rest. The shark's happy feeling was a stark contrast to the pleading women he ignored. Truthfully, he felt a little bad about their current situation, but he successfully detached himself and thought logically. While their desire for revenge was justified, it wasn't his duty to accommodate them.

Finally, the commotion died down, and the woman in the blue dress sighed. "Esteemed cultivator, I understand that what we asked was too much, but are you so heartless as to deny our desire for revenge?"

Liu Xing opened his eyes. He stared her down, then the women huddled behind her, who looked back at him with various expressions. Some looked somber, some still tried to seduce him with alluring smiles, while others began to shoot him nasty looks, as if he were a parent denying a birthday present. He decided to cycle his qi and project it outward. The pressure was so thin that a Lock Opening cultivator wouldn't be intimidated, but for these girls, it might as well have been the sky descending upon their shoulders.

As his qi slammed into them, their eyes widened, their feet began trembling, and beads of sweat formed on their cheeks, chins, noses, and foreheads. A second later, more than ten women fell to their rears, their legs seemingly losing all power. Their expressions twisted into immense terror, as if an angry god had descended before them.

These women had gotten carried away. It was as if, because Liu Xing had been soft with them, they felt they could demand much from him. He understood this might be their way of processing grief, yet it felt as if they were trying to use and manipulate him.

"My decision is final."

All the women gulped. Liu Xing faced the woman in the blue dress in front of him, expecting her to say something. As if understanding his feeling, the woman gulped, nodded, and with a trembling voice said, "We... we understand."

He nodded and released the pressure. "Good. Prepare yourselves. I'll give you five minutes before we depart."

"Y-yes," they said in unison.

Liu Xing turned his body and began to walk away. His intimidation had been a bit too... successful. Some of them had accidentally soiled themselves.

As he walked, his footsteps echoing between the crashing waves, he thought about his actions.

His decision to intimidate them felt necessary, if harsh. Some wanted to become cultivators and enact revenge, yet they didn't seem to understand the vast gap between their current power as mortals and that of cultivators. It was hard to become a cultivator without proper foundation and resources. They were like frogs wanting to fly, thinking flapping their feet was enough. His intimidation could be considered a reality check and had no doubt some were probably rethinking their decision to seek vengeance.

"Revenge," Liu Xing muttered and inhaled deeply. That was a strong emotion. People could do anything for it.

The shark decided to stop nesting on his head and began swimming beside him. Their connection felt a bit stronger, and he decided to feed the shark again as he waited.

The shark gladly ate the rotating ball of qi that suddenly appeared in the air. To avoid monotony, Liu Xing varied the location where he formed the qi ball. Soon, the shark was zipping through the air—left and right, up and down—with a happy expression.

Seeing the happy shark, his heart felt a bit lighter, and he stopped thinking so much about the women and their revenge.

But instead of feeling content, another anxiety surfaced. There was still a mark on his body, one that broadcast his location and enabled Han Jiulao, as well as the Nether Lotus Sect, to know where he was.

He needed to remove it as soon as possible.

Intending to do just that, he looked inwardly, trying to find the mark. He traced all his qi paths but found nothing. He then peered into his consciousness using the Flowing Meditation Method. Instantly, he found what he was looking for.

Inside the vast white space of his consciousness, where his two cores circled and chased each other at a constant speed, he saw a black dot nestled in the center. It acted as if it was a sun orbited by two planets. Its shape resembled a ball of ink with several hairy, cockroach-like feet, and it had three eyes that darted left and right as if trying to satisfy some alien curiosity.

Looking at that... creature, Liu Xing frowned. He knew about marks. Masters usually placed them on disciples to monitor them, and if the disciple was killed, the master could enact revenge. He had heard it took significant resources to mark a disciple, so only the most valuable ones received marks. In the Purple Moon Sect, he suspected plenty of people bore marks. Hell, perhaps Wang Miau and those three other inner disciples had marks; if he killed them, he might be marked by their fearsome elders. Still, he suspected usual marks wouldn't look like that. It looked almost alive, like a parasite.

He tried to observe it more carefully and soon noticed a detail he hadn't seen at first. This creature, this mark, emitted something thin into the surrounding white space. As he watched, his brows furrowed more. It was as if the creature was trying to pollute the surrounding area with some substance, and that substance felt almost familiar. It looked almost like thin black smoke.

Deciding to check thoroughly, he sat down and fully immersed himself in his consciousness. With all his focus inward, he could see the black smoke it emitted more clearly, and suspicion began to grow in his heart.

Han Jiulao could use black fire and teleportation, but that wasn't all. He could create illusions too, ones that made him invisible. Liu Xing had forgotten about the invisibility technique, thinking it was just another normal technique. But what if it wasn't? After all, the black smoke this mark emitted was akin to the black smoke emitted by Ji Dongyang.

"There's no way, right?" His heart began to beat faster. But the more he observed the black creature, the more certain he became.

That mark was the darkness.

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