In a certain area of the Wild Tide Region's sea, a peculiar sight would make any onlooker stop dead in their tracks.

Under a beautiful night sky filled with glittering stars, a giant stone turtle floated atop the lazy waves. Its eyes were green jewels that reflected the beautiful night sky, glittering as if the turtle were truly alive. On its shell, women slept peacefully, sharing blankets. The gentle rocking of the turtle on the waves was like a mother cradling her child. The night was cold enough to kill any mortal who carelessly dived into the sea, yet the women, some using their thin blankets as beds rather than covers, slept peacefully.

All of this was because an almost transparent bubble of qi covered the entire giant turtle. The one who had created it sat cross-legged atop the stone turtle's head. He gazed at the sky with a thoughtful expression, as if trying to decipher a secret of the universe.

He was Liu Xing, and while he wasn't trying to decipher the secrets of the universe, he was lost in deep thought. He replayed the day's events in his mind, analyzing what he had done right, what he had done wrong, and what he would do if given the chance to live it all again. Would he help the islanders fight the demonic cultivators, knowing that in the end, half of them wanted him dead? Or would he decide to ignore them and go on his merry way?

He decided he would still help. The end result hadn't been good, but he had saved many people and killed many demonic cultivators. One of his cores was almost fully saturated, shortening his path to the third stage of the Core Splitting realm. Still, a petty part of him wished he had ignored them. Let them learn that without him, they would have lost. Instead of being angry that the Bewitching Princess had escaped, they would have felt the despair of their own complete defeat.

Liu Xing sighed, "I really, really need to move on from this thought."

Truth be told, he had mulled this over many times. He'd thought about it before the meeting that turned sour and nearly ended in another fight, and again after he fled Blue Emerald Island with Yu Yongrui and the group of women now called the Purple Flowers. After all, it wasn't every day that Liu Xing became a target of such profound hatred and hostility. The intensity of their sharp eyes and murderous intent had overwhelmed him. It was as if letting Bewitching Princess go was a sin so great it would condemn the entire world to hell.

"I can see where that hatred comes from, though" Liu Xing muttered.

From their perspective, the Nether Lotus Sect had suddenly come to their home, massacred prominent clans and sects, enslaved mortals and cultivators alike to refine them into pills, and forced the survivors into hiding. He was sure every person at that meeting, whether they sided with Lady Oracle or Lan Haishen, had lost friends and family to the Nether Lotus Sect. They must have been seething with rage while in hiding, and it all culminated in that day's battle. The Nether Lotus Sect elders—especially Bewitching Princess—must have been the target of immense hatred. Some had likely vowed to never stop until they had killed those elders. And so, having a chance to kill the last remaining Nether Lotus Sect elder, only to see her go, was like a slap in the face.

Still, while their hatred toward Bewitching Princess was understandable, their hatred toward him should not have elicited that dark and furious response. It was as if they had decided that Liu Xing, too, was responsible for the deaths of the island's people. It was to the point that he thought they were being manipulated.

Liu Xing eyes darting across the sky for a single red star. When he found it, he guided his stone turtle toward its light.

A frustrated sigh came from the other side of the turtle.

Liu Xing turned and saw Yu Yongrui sitting near the turtle's tail. His long dark hair was tied into a ponytail, and he wore a pitch-black robe, as if dressed for a funeral. His sharp, intense eyes gazed at two communication orbs on the floor.

Liu Xing walked toward him. In the entire meeting, Yu Yongrui hadn't said anything. When Liu Xing pulled him onto the back of the turtle, he hadn't said anything either.

As he walked, Liu Xing reminded himself that Yu Yongrui had been almost hostile, his gaze so sharp it felt like he wanted to kill him. Still, it seemed Yu Yongrui knew that if Liu Xing had left him on the island, he would be dead. Since he was still recovering, he realized the only way for him to survive was to hide behind Liu Xing's protection, and so, he just silently sat there.

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That being said, when Liu Xing decided to contact Elder Zhang Zhenking and found that his communication orb, which he had obtained in the Twelve Sun Empire, would not turn on, Yu Yongrui offered to see if he could fix it.

Soon, Liu Xing arrived and sat down in front of Yu Yongrui. He looked at the two communication orbs on the ground—one his, the other Yu Yongrui's—and assessed the situation.

"It seems it's truly broken, huh?" Liu Xing asked.

"It's not broken," Yu Yongrui shook his head. "The qi it contains is intact and is tuned correctly. It should work."

"Yet, it didn't," Liu Xing answered calmly. There were two implications for why the comms orbs didn't work. The optimistic possibility was that they were simply out of range, but he knew the second was more likely. "Something is jamming the communication orbs, preventing information from leaking outside."

He believed the second possibility was true because the Nether Lotus Sect had been rampaging through the Wild Tide Region for months. But rather than his own sect dealing with the situation, the only local news about Purple Moon Sect was about an elder who was currently backing the Nether Lotus Sect. If that rumor was true, then he knew that this elder must have prevented information from leaking out somehow. Jamming the communication orbs would be one way to do that.

Yu Yongrui gave him back the communication orb. He took it and inserted it into his spatial bag. Upon seeing the gesture, Yu Yongrui's eyes narrowed, his gaze lingering on the spatial bag with interest. Liu Xing, in turn, glanced at the spatial ring on Yu Yongrui's right thumb. It was silver and adorned with several small jewels. A moment later, their eyes met, and Liu Xing offered an empty smile.

"So, Yu Yongrui, since you're in the mood to talk, would you like to exchange information with me? I'm curious about why you are here, in this Wild Tide Region."

Yu Yongrui narrowed his eyes further. The waves rocked the turtle statue up and down, making their black hair swing. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Almost half a minute passed, and it seemed Yu Yongrui had no intention of divulging information about himself, which was a sensible and logical thing to do. Still, Liu Xing suspected that the reason he was here was the same as his own. He was probably also tasked with retrieving the Heaven Severing Pill. The Purple Moon Sect often sharpened its disciples' fangs through competition. Since this mission was likely a test, it would be more interesting for the sect to pit several disciples against each other. He would not be surprised if Yan Yu and Shen Ye were also here in the Wild Tide Region.

"Don't wanna talk about it, huh? Fine," Liu Xing said. "Then let's talk about something else."

Yu Yongrui didn't reply. Instead, he flicked his right wrist, and instantly, his own communication orb vanished as if it were a mere illusion. Liu Xing took this gesture as a signal to keep talking.

"Yu Yongrui," Liu Xing continued, "if you were in my position today, what would you do? Would you let mortals and a cultivator die, or risk it all and try to kill your enemy?"

"Didn't you already spend your time thinking about this?" he snorted. "Such a trivial thing. If you have time, it's better for you to cultivate."

"Just humor me for now," Liu Xing replied. "After all, I'm your senior, both in age and cultivation. Moreover, there's a chance we cannot speak again. You and I know that we're in the same competition. And since I know you would not hesitate to kill me when the time comes, I have decided that I will not hold back either."

Yu Yongrui instantly cycled his qi. His gaze was cold, like a snake hiding in a bush, waiting to ambush its prey. In return, Liu Xing flashed a ferocious smile and cycled his own qi. His was vaster and denser. Comparing their qi was like comparing a tiger to a kitten. Upon feeling Liu Xing's qi, Yu Yongrui's expression remained calm, but Liu Xing heard his heartbeat quicken slightly.

A moment later, both of them suppressed their qi, and Yu Yongrui finally answered. "I don't know if your choice was right or not. The one who made that choice is you, so the one who can decide is you and only you. But if I were in your position, I would have made a choice with a simple thought behind it."

"Oh, what is it?" Liu Xing asked.

"Simple. It's all about benefits."

Liu Xing pressed his lips together.

"If saving mortals benefits me, I will save them. If killing a demonic cultivator is more beneficial for me, then I will choose it over saving mortals. If none of them benefited me, then I would do nothing."

"What a ruthless way of thinking," Liu Xing commented.

"It's the path I choose to follow. My loyalty lies with me and only me. Everything in this world exists to serve my existence. I will do anything to achieve immortality. Whether it's saving mortals and killing demonic cultivators, or saving demonic cultivators and killing mortals, if it benefits me, I will do it." His eyes sharpened. "If it means killing a person that has saved me, then that is what I will do."

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