The knife plunged down, as sure as a setting sun. There was no fear or hesitation as she plunged the knife toward his heart. It was as if the mother was an emotionless monster. However, Liu Xing could see the expression on the baby's face, and it was not fear, anger, or hatred. It was a simple smile, as if he had been waiting for his mother to kill him. It was a sad smile, one that made even Liu Xing feel pity. To think that a baby would smile as his mother decided to kill him. What kind of thoughts had been brewing in his little head?

Liu Xing moved. He was fast, and while some of his qi was influenced by the curse, he already had firm will and control over it. In a single moment, he arrived in front of the crouching mother and child. Just before the tip could sink into the baby's chest, he pinched the end of the handle between his thumb and index finger. As he sighed, the qi around him—which had been ready to lash out at the mother crazy enough to kill her own baby—began to settle. It swirled around him, as if it were happy with his action.

Liu Xing undid his invisibility as he grabbed the knife from the mother's hand. He sat in front of the mother and baby, observed the edge of the blade for a moment, and then launched the knife toward a nearby tree. It hit the trunk with a satisfying "thunk" and lodged itself deep within the wood.

The moment he appeared, the mother smiled widely. "Esteemed cultivator, I'm happy to see you for the first time. As I thought, your face is so handsome!" But then, her expression morphed into confusion. "But why did you stop me? I still haven't finished your test. Does this mean I passed?"

"There's no test in the first place," Liu Xing sighed. "You just decided there was one, and the first thing you thought of was to kill your baby."

"But—does this mean that you'll accept me as your disciple?"

"No," Liu Xing crossed his arms.

Her eyes hardened, but a smile remained plastered on her face. "I know, this must be the true test! You tried to dissuade me from killing my baby to test my resolve, but the correct answer to pass this test is to go ahead with the kill! It's a devious test, but I will not fail!"

She rose and began to rush toward the knife he had embedded deep in the tree, while Liu Xing looked down at the baby lying on the ground. He looked at the baby's face, and the infant stared back with a neutral expression. If this baby was truly an adult in a baby's body, there must be so many thoughts swirling in his head.

Liu Xing decided to grab the baby. He had no experience holding a baby, but he had seen it done enough. The baby settled in his arms. The infant felt warm and wriggled as if to find a more comfortable position. Once he stopped, the baby nodded at him as if grateful, but his eyes also shone with a profound sadness, as if he was disappointed he didn't get to die.

His mother was busy trying to pull the knife from the tree, and at that moment, he decided to talk directly to the baby. "You're not a normal baby. Are you perhaps mentally an adult? Are you a reincarnator?"

Liu Xing's heart beat fast. He didn't know what he would think if the baby was truly a reincarnator.

What would he do in that case?

However, the baby shook his head and then touched Liu Xing's chest, right where his two necklaces were located. Once he touched it, Liu Xing felt a vibration deep inside his inner robe. He blinked several times, freed one hand, and pulled out his two necklaces. The necklace he got from Moon Flower was glowing with a blue light, and it was vibrating in his palm.

Liu Xing blinked, trying to process this information. Then, as if struck by lightning, he jerked back. There was no way, right?

Moon Flower had indeed sent him to find a mother and a child to give them this necklace as well as a Spirit Flower. It was true that the necklace was shining and vibrating once he entered Water Tower City; however, he had sidelined that mission to prioritize the Heaven Severing Pill, and now, it was shining and vibrating once again. Did this mean they were the mother and son he had been sent to find? They were the son and wife of the cultivator who died on Moon Flower's mountain?

"Do you know this necklace?" Liu Xing asked the baby in his arms.

The baby nodded seriously, as if he knew the necklace personally. At that moment, the necklace finally stopped shining and vibrating, returning to its normal state. The baby looked at the necklace seriously. Intense sadness filled his eyes until two tears escaped, wetting his cheeks. One tear fell onto Liu Xing's robe, while the other dropped to the ground. Instantly, a patch of grass bloomed where the tear had landed. At that moment, he had no doubt that this baby was telling the truth.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

However, he was still confused. The man who was looking for the Spirit Flower had died around a year ago. And at that time, he already had a child. Assuming that his child at that time was only several months old, then right now his child would need to be more than a year old. But this baby was clearly not that old. While Liu Xing had no experience with babies, he could differentiate between a small one-year-old and a newborn. The one in his arms looked to be only a few months old. However, his mother—still trying to dislodge the knife from the tree—didn't look like a woman who had just given birth, either. None of it made sense.

"Right," Liu Xing nodded. "Not that these two are normal. Perhaps there's an explanation for it."

He decided to get to the bottom of it.

Liu Xing looked to the side, sighed at the sight of her, and cleared his throat. At his signal, the woman finally turned her head. She was grabbing the handle of the knife with both hands, one foot pushed against the tree for leverage.

"As I said, there's no test," Liu Xing said. "Hell, even if there were, I wouldn't create a test so horrible that it required a mother to kill her child."

The woman opened her mouth, and from her expression, he knew she was about to retort. Liu Xing continued before she could. "However, I am willing to talk."

Liu Xing stood up, holding the baby in both arms. His two necklaces now hung outside his robe. He gestured toward them, laced them with qi, and began to sway them left and right to make sure she could see the necklaces. "The truth is, one of the reasons I'm here, in the Wild Tide Region, is to deliver this necklace as well as a flower called a Spirit Flower."

The woman stared at the swaying necklaces. At first, she was confused. Then recognition flashed in her eyes. They widened, her mouth fell open, and her hands flew to her face as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked at the necklaces, then at his face, then back to the necklaces again. Her eyes began to redden, and tears streamed freely from them. "I-is that? T-that necklace?"

"Do you recognize it?"

"How could I not?" she asked, her voice breaking as she began to cry. "That necklace was mine. I gave it to… to my husband. He, he never came back. I thought, I thought."

Her breathing grew rapid, her body trembled, and she swayed as if she had lost her balance. She began saying something, but what came out of her mouth was so fast and rapid that it sounded like gibberish. With each word, her breathing became faster and more erratic until her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Upon seeing this, Liu Xing looked down at the baby in his arms and sighed.

He had a feeling his situation had just become much more troublesome.

***

The Nether Lotus Sect was located on a small island in the middle of the Wild Tide Region. Seen from the sky, its shape resembled a blooming flower, or perhaps a star with many points. Its size was several times bigger than the Mirror Tide Empire; if Liu Xing were the one to see it, he would say it was twice the size of Australia. He would then begin to doubt whether "island" was the proper term, but such a thing was trivial.

However, while the size was big and the shape was unique, this island was hidden from most viewers by the mists, storms, and whirlpools that surrounded it.

In the utmost north of the island, there was a small volcano. Inside this volcano was an ornate palace made from black marble. Its garden was filled with colorful flowers, and while lava flowed nearby, water streamed through the garden itself, where many trees and bushes were tastefully trimmed. In one of the palace's innermost gardens, dozens of scantily clad women were dancing, singing, and even swimming. Smiles adorned their faces, but none of them reached their eyes. The owner of the garden was not among them, which was a relief. However, they knew it was a matter of time, and so, their hearts beat with fear and anxiety. They hoped he would not come back, but they knew it was a futile hope.

The owner of the garden was in one of the outer gardens. Ye Xuanhan was lying on his side. The mouth of the volcano, directly above him, cast a beam of sunlight onto the spot in front of him, where a corpse was laid out. The corpse was mangled beyond belief. Its feet were destroyed, as if crushed by a giant boulder. Its chest had a hole the size of a fist, as if a punch had gone straight through from its back. The corpse had no arms, which had been cut off cleanly. Its head was more similar to a smashed watermelon than a human one. However, if Liu Xing were here, he would instantly recognize this corpse. After all, this was Han Jiulao. The Patriarch of the Han clan.

In truth, Ye Xuanhan wanted to dispose of the loathsome fellow's body. However, he needed to extract a mark from his body first.

The way the mark worked was simple. It would activate if an important member of the Nether Lotus Sect was killed. The mark would lodge itself in the consciousness of the killer, as well as materialize on the person closest to them. This mark was usually placed by a master on their disciple. However, the Six Elite Elders had marked each other, and had also been marked by his father. If Han Jiulao had died together with Wei Shuren and Hou Qiang, then his father would know the location of the mysterious disciple from a great sect. However, since Han Jiulao had survived, the mark was on him, hence, he needed to extract that mark.

There was a process to extract this mark, but it was utterly boring for Ye Xuanhan.

"At least I'm not alone," he muttered, looking to the side where Hua Beifei was concentrating on unraveling a spatial technique. He had been the one to kill Han Jiulao, but Hua Beifei was the one who had benefited the most. With a technique worthy of a demonic cultivator, he had stolen Han Jiulao's cultivation, and now he was already forming his second core.

"Soon," Ye Xuanhan muttered, focusing back on the corpse in front of him. Once he fully absorbed the mark, he would know where to find that mysterious disciple. And then, he could just pop up and retrieve all of those women.

"It will be easy," he muttered.

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