Zhao Yan sent a trickle of qi into his necklace. Once enough had accumulated, he could activate the treasure's power. Overshooting the amount was no problem, but it would be trouble if the attack was not fast or strong enough to at the very least incapacitate Liu Xing.

"Evidence, huh?" Liu Xing said. "I just destroyed the real evidence, but that doesn't mean there isn't any left. I'm quite sure the evidence will present itself naturally. All you need to do is return home and reevaluate the situation."

Zhao Yan suppressed the fear, worry, and doubt in his mind and sneered. "And leave you like that? No way! You're an enemy of the Mirror Tide Empire. Even if my father was a demonic cultivator, you can't just kill him. You also killed dozens of people, and there's no way we'll let you go that easily!"

"I didn't say that I'm innocent," said Liu Xing. "It's true that my shark killed many of you. I also admit that I killed General Zhao Ming. While I believe my reasons are justified, I wouldn't claim that I don't deserve the repercussions. You," he said, looking straight at Zhao Yan. Then, his gaze swept over the soldiers on the ships. "All of you are justified in hating me. After all, I killed your friends, colleagues, and even your family. However," he said, looking back at Zhao Yan. His gaze sharpened to the point that Zhao Yan had to actively fight not to gulp. "I don't want to kill all of you, so don't force me to do it."

Liu Xing had laced his words with qi, ensuring everyone heard them. But it wasn't just his voice that spread like a ripple across the ships; it was also his killing intent, so sharp that Zhao Yan felt as if dozens of invisible cuts already marked his body. If he made one wrong move, those cuts would tear him apart. Fear surged through Zhao Yan's heart. His arms and feet trembled, and his teeth nearly chattered.

Zhao Yan gripped his spear as hard as he could, trying to fight the trembling as he contorted his face into a brave snarl. His heart told him to listen to Liu Xing's words, to do nothing and just let him go. But he didn't want to do that. He loved his father, and even though his father was not particularly fond of him, he knew there was love in his father's heart for him, which made him want to take revenge. Was it wise, though, to avenge him and put himself and others in danger in the process?

The necklace was filled with enough qi, eager to be unleashed upon his enemy. Different thoughts swirled in his mind, making his head spin until he was thoroughly confused, but he decided to latch onto a single emotion and let it guide him.

It was anger, and anger guided him to revenge.

So what if people would be in danger if he decided to attack? If the attack was strong enough to kill Liu Xing, then there would be no problem. Even if he just gravely wounded him, he believed others would jump at the chance to finish him. General Zhao Ming, after all, was a respected and honorable man. There had to be many people who would gladly throw their lives away to avenge him.

"Alright, Liu Xing," Zhao Yan nodded, pretending to agree. "You win. There's no one here that can contend with you. So get out of here and never show your face again!"

His words were rude. If this were not Liu Xing, he wouldn't have dared to say them. They would have been offended, sneered, and killed him outright. But from their brief exchange, he could read what kind of person Liu Xing was, and he knew for a fact that letting out his anger would not offend him. It was rare to see a strong cultivator with a disposition like Liu Xing's, and he inwardly sneered. People like that would be stabbed in the back one day.

Liu Xing nodded to him, then turned his back, facing the hovering stone turtle that was still tied by the ropes. Upon seeing this, Zhao Yan decided that the day Liu Xing would be stabbed in the back was today.

In a swift motion, he touched his necklace and activated its function. Instantly, a yellow ball of qi materialized in front of his chest, and without any prompting, it shot toward Liu Xing.

This yellow ball of qi had a simple effect. It would explode spectacularly on impact. It had a homing ability that would ensure it hit its intended target, although it would lose accuracy the longer it followed a target. It was a glaring weakness, and the treasure's creator had devised a simple solution to amend it. He had made the yellow ball's movement incredibly fast, and since the distance between him and Liu Xing was so short, he might as well have been standing right in front of him.

"Die, you bastard!" Zhao Yan shouted, and Liu Xing turned his head.

Zhao Yan knew for a fact that the lightning that had surrounded Liu Xing was the effect of an enhancement technique, and since there was no lightning around him now, his reflexes would be slower. With the speed of his attack, it could possibly kill Liu Xing.

At that exact moment, the yellow ball of condensed qi hit his back and then exploded into a brilliant yellow light. In an instant, a shockwave traveled outward, pushing him back and making the sails flutter. But while the shockwave was strong enough to send some unfortunate soldiers flying, it was not as powerful as he had hoped. He had thought the explosion would destroy the very ship he was standing on.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

A moment later, the explosion subsided. The bright light that had briefly illuminated the world weakened. Zhao Yan's heart hammered against his chest, and fear spread through his veins. The attack was not as strong as he had hoped. What if Liu Xing wasn't dead or gravely wounded? Still, as fear spread, he dared to hope. After all, a second had passed since the explosion, and he was still alive. "Maybe he is truly dead. His body turned to ash."

Soon, he saw the spot where Liu Xing had stood. The wooden planks were charred, which meant the attack hadn't even been strong enough to destroy them, which also meant there was no way Liu Xing could have died from it. As his heartbeat intensified a hundredfold.

Liu Xing was nowhere to be seen. It was as if he had been turned into fine dust, leaving nothing behind, which was absurd.

As he looked around for a hint of Liu Xing, the ropes tying the stone turtle began to snap, one by one, as if cut by a ghost. The turtle began to rise higher, the remaining ropes hanging from its feet. But then, something weird happened. One of the ropes began to vanish. At first, it was just the end of the rope, but then the entire thing disappeared, as if painted with invisibility. Then, this invisibility began to swallow the stone turtle whole. Slowly but surely, the turtle turned invisible, as if a giant, unseen curtain were enveloping it. A moment later, the stone turtle and its passengers had vanished entirely. In the sky, there was nothing aside from several flying birds, clouds, and the blue expanse.

"He's… gone," he muttered.

He knew for a fact that Liu Xing was still alive. He had merely turned invisible, then made his stone turtle and his women invisible too. But as he looked up, thinking that perhaps the stone turtle was still there, the anger that churned in his heart was replaced by an unease that made his stomach churn, as if he had just drunk a bottle of bad wine.

That invisibility was not normal. It felt deeply unnatural, to the point that he thought it wasn't a technique, but something else entirely. Yet it also felt quite familiar. It was as if he had been exposed to this invisibility on many occasions but had just dismissed the feeling as unimportant. Now, it was so important that he clung to it.

"A demonic cultivator," he muttered.

If people said his father was a demonic cultivator, he would never agree with them. Even with evidence, he would deny it as long as he lived. Still, while his mouth would deny it, his heart knew better. Even now, with so many thoughts swirling in his mind, he began to consider the idea that his father was truly a demonic cultivator who had been killing people for months. That invisibility Liu Xing used… was perhaps similar to whatever his father had used to kill people without being caught.

Zhao Yan gritted his teeth, his heart rebelling against his logic, trying to overwhelm him with fury again. But since Liu Xing, the target of his hatred, was already gone, that anger had lost some of its fangs, allowing his mind to contemplate what had just happened.

At that moment, his captain suddenly came to him and slapped him. The slap was so strong that Zhao Yan was thrown several meters to the side. Then the captain began to berate him for his actions against Liu Xing. "What if he had decided to kill all of us because of you?! Are our lives worth less than your revenge?!"

Zhao Yan replied, "He killed my father! What kind of son would I be if I just let him go like that?!"

"Your father was a serial killer and a demonic cultivator!"

Zhao Yan attacked the man, and while he was quite accomplished among his peers, he was no match for the captain, one of ten men who served directly under his father. He was beaten black and blue, then bound and locked in the brig below deck. While the captain didn't use a talisman to suppress his qi, Zhao Yan didn't dare to break his bonds, and so he let himself remain tied as he contemplated what had happened.

And Zhao Yan... was truly lost.

When the ships arrived at the port and news of Zhao Ming's death spread, accompanied by reports that he was a demonic cultivator, Zhao Yan was still tied up on the ship. Several hours later, he was brought into an interrogation room, where an officer freed him and asked him to tell the truth. Zhao Yan, of course, refuted the news about his father, and while the officer nodded at his tale, his family's home was raided by officers later that night, and they found damning evidence against Zhao Ming.

One of the latest disappearances had been a prince. He was merely eighteen years old, not particularly talented, and fortieth in line to become emperor. He had been missing for a month, and while people knew he was likely dead, his body had not been found.

Until today.

It turned out his remains were in a hidden chamber below his father's cultivation room. His body was laid on a table, already rotten and missing large amounts of flesh and organs. It was as if someone had been eating the man, which, from a bite mark on one of his arms, was likely what had happened to him.

Zhao Yan was devastated when he saw this evidence. He was promptly tied, dragged, and thrown into a prison, his cultivation sealed with a talisman and his clothes stripped from him.

There, he began to weep. Tears wetted his face, and snot covered it. His mind was in shambles, as if an apocalypse had torn his world apart, leaving him without direction. He didn't know what to focus on, and the world spun and spun until he was dizzy enough to throw up.

"Pathetic," a man suddenly said.

Zhao Yan, understanding that something to anchor his mind had arrived, turned his head toward the newcomer.

"Do you really need this guy? I don't see anything special about him."

The man who had spoken wore a red cultivator's robe. He was handsome, with piercing eyes and straight brows. But while he was striking, the first thing that caught Zhao Yan's eye was the golden medallion hanging from his neck.

"Indeed. This guy is talented and has a useful bloodline."

Zhao Yan looked to his side. She was a woman who wore a light blue dress. Her hair was black and long, and her blue eyes were so beautiful they looked like shining jewels. A cold aura emanated from her, making the ground begin to freeze as if a harsh winter had suddenly arrived.

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