"Insolent ant," the man with crimson eyes said as he looked behind him.

  His mother had just done the equivalent of an ant trying to poke a dragon's eye. Her body trembled, her eyes wavered, and urine soaked her clothes. Yet, the moment she met the man's gaze, her expression hardened with a desperate bravery. Against all worldly wisdom, she swung the piece of wood she held again, aiming for his forehead. In that instant, Qing Yuan willed the ambient qi to propel him forward. He shot past the Patriarch’s shoulder, deflected the wood with his hand, and threw himself at his mother. She fell backward, but upon realizing it was her son, she hugged him, and they tumbled to the ground together.

  "What are you thinking, foolish mother?! Didn't you see the devastation around you? This was the man who did that! Against all odds, you survived this disaster, and the first thing you do is commit suicide. What the hell are you thinking?!"

  "What am I supposed to do?" his mother shouted at him, her eyes red as her hands hugged him so tightly that Qing Yuan felt suffocated. "I don't want you to die!"

  At her answer, emotions flooded Qing Yuan's heart. At first, he thought of how foolish she was. It was as if she didn't have a brain. To attack a man akin to a god was like leaving her sense back in their shabby hut. At the same time, however, happiness filled him. This was the mother who had hit him so many times, who had even tried to kill him, but today, she had attacked a god to protect her son. In that moment, he realized his mother loved him, truly loved him. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as he whispered, "Foolish mother. You just want to die."

  Even as he whispered, he hugged his mother tighter, and tears began to fall freely from his eyes. He was happy, sad, angry, and filled with despair. Now, not only would he die, but his mother would die too.

  Qing Yuan focused his attention on the ambient qi around him. To his surprise, it gathered and began to lift him and his mother into the air. Once she was on her feet, the qi dispersed. Then, when he saw those crimson eyes looking at his mother as a man would look at a maggot, Qing Yuan bowed his head. "I am sorry for my mother. She...she doesn't know any better."

  "I understand," the Patriarch said.

  Upon hearing that, Qing Yuan looked up, his eyes wide. This man... understood? How?

  "A little ant like her wouldn't know any better." The man put both of his hands behind his back. "I received reports about her. Qing Lian. This is the woman who gave birth to you. However, she was basically a failure. Even though she was born into a cultivator family, she didn't have any talent whatsoever. She is also emotional, unstable, ugly, undesirable, and much more. Really, I pity you, little child, to be born from a being like this. It was expected that someone like her, an insolent ant, wouldn't know any better. She doesn't have a brain, after all."

  Qing Yuan schooled his face. His eyes were calm. Inside, however, he felt a fire ignite in his stomach.

  "A being like that doesn't deserve my anger," the man continued.

  "Then—" Qing Yuan started to ask if he could let her go. He decided right then and there that he would trade his life for his mother, the sisters, and Liu Xing. The man had said he was a pill, and his main purpose was to be consumed.

  But suddenly, his mother's face—her beautiful face, though her cheeks were gaunt, caked with mud, and her hair a mess—exploded with a soft pop. Blood and brain matter burst out. Qing Yuan, held in her embrace, had his entire face coated in her blood. He blinked several times, his eyelids trying to clear his vision, and then he looked toward his mother. Instead of her familiar face, he was greeted by the stump of her neck. Blood burst from it like a geyser. Her clothes—a beautiful purple robe—were now coated in red, with chunks of flesh clinging to the fabric. The hug that had been strong enough to suffocate him suddenly slackened, and her body leaned back. Her arms let go, and she began to fall. In that instant, the world vanished. All he saw was his mother's headless corpse as it fell. It bounced once when it landed before finally settling on the ground. To her left, a single eyeball, white and coated in blood, lay on the dirt. The black pupil was pointed right at him.

  Qing Yuan, his face and body coated in blood, began to scream. His scream was like that of a pig being slaughtered, high-pitched and hoarse. His hands clawed at his own face. Qing Yuan couldn't believe what had just happened. This was a lie. A lie. His mother. His cruel and beautiful mother shouldn't be dead just like that. Qing Yuan turned his floating body. His face twisted with fury, his eyes shaded red. "You!" he pointed at the Patriarch of the Nether Lotus Sect.

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  "That thing didn't deserve my anger," he stated calmly. "But a flea that decides to jump at me deserves to die."

  Qing Yuan screamed, but this scream was one of fury. He willed the ambient qi to surround the man and kill him. He could feel the qi trying to obey his command, but this man was not something he could scratch, let alone kill.

  "Enough," the man continued. "Little child, you and your worthless mother have wasted my time."

  The man extended his right hand, and once again, Qing Yuan felt his body vibrating, as if his bones were trying to escape his skin. The qi around him began to forcefully contort his body into the shape of a ball. Qing Yuan tried to defy him, fighting against the force with all his might. But even as he screamed, his voice hoarse and terrible, he could not win. His back bent more and more, his hands touching his feet, and he felt a crushing tightness all over his body. Qing Yuan screamed and cried as he fought against the cruel fate that awaited him. But then, golden light burst from his body again, making him shine like the sun, and Qing Yuan knew this was his end.

  "Liu Xing!" he shouted. His neck could not move, but from the corner of his eye, he could see Liu Xing fighting and screaming, summoning his turtle statue and his shield, swinging his lightning sword and shooting bolts of explosion and electricity. Yet, every step he took forward pushed him two steps back. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

  As Qing Yuan cried, he thought about the outside world. He imagined the numerous beautiful things he hadn't seen yet. The songs he had never heard. The paintings he had never created, and the adventures he had secretly planned with Liu Xing and the others. The world was filled with wondrous things, and he knew he would never experience them. At that moment, his body contorted further, and the golden light shrouded him fully, as if wanting to veil him from the cruel world. Inside that light, Qing Yuan's body shrank until, after a moment, a little golden pill hovered in the air instead of a child. The pill was the size of a nut, brown and yellow in color, with red veins pulsing around it, making it look like a tiny heart. Perhaps it was.

  ***

  As soon as the pill appeared, Ye Xuanming grabbed it. He looked closer at it, then sniffed it.

  "As expected, it's impure," he commented.

  Even so, he opened his mouth wide, placed the pill on the center of his tongue, and closed his mouth, tasting its texture. Then, with a single crunch, he crushed it between his teeth. In that instant, qi burst from the pill and into his body. Ye Xuanming then swallowed it whole. As the energy rushed from his stomach and filled his qi paths, he sighed in contentment.

  "Not bad," he muttered.

  The Heaven Severing Pill had a gentle temperament. While the energy it contained was immense, it wouldn't harm him. From what he knew, the pill's effect would gradually transform his body and his consciousness. When it was fully absorbed, his innate talent would at least triple, which meant he could cultivate three times faster. Before consuming this pill, Ye Xuanming was already talented. After this, he would undoubtedly become a man with no equal in talent.

  At that moment, black clouds began to gather over the island. Ye Xuanming looked up and narrowed his eyes. While the pill was gentle, that didn't mean there was no danger. Consuming the pill was an act directly against the heavens, and soon, a heavenly tribulation would form and try to strike him down. He had no problem with this tribulation. He knew about it, after all, and had already prepared for it. However, he would prefer to fight this heavenly lightning on his own terms.

  Just then, the disciple from the Purple Moon Sect, Liu Xing, ignored a fist aimed at his back. When it hit him, he was thrown forward, a mouthful of blood leaping from his mouth. His face was twisted with fury, his eyes were red, and he aimed his invisible treasure right at Ye Xuanming.

  Upon seeing him, Ye Xuanming offered a gentle smile, one that looked out of place on a man who had just consumed a person. The smile enraged Liu Xing further, and he shouted as six bolts of electricity shot toward Ye Xuanming. However, with a single swipe of his hand, a wall of wind formed in front of Ye Xuanming, and the six bolts exploded in midair.

  "Ye Xuanming, I'll kill you!" Liu Xing shouted. But as he did, a man holding a brush appeared above him and swung it down. Black ink fell on him like a waterfall, slamming him into the ground. Another mouthful of blood left his lips, and he was about to jump toward Ye Xuanming like a wild beast, but his enraged state made him blind to his surroundings. Another man arrived, grabbing Liu Xing by the hair and making him yelp in pain before throwing him into the air. A third man, rotating in the air, kicked him in the side, sending him flying away from Ye Xuanming once again.

  Seeing that his disciples were coordinating well, Ye Xuanming turned to face a group of women.

  "Now, let's return. I'm in a hurry," he said. The black clouds in the sky began to swirl faster.

  His eyes swept over the group of women. He counted the number of women in front of him and saw that it was correct. However, when he saw a teenage girl among them, he frowned.

  keep the lights on.