Wuji Sanren walked in Liu Xing's general direction. Liu Xing took several steps to the side, letting the man pass him. As he watched the man's back, Liu Xing wondered whether he needed to attack right then and there, considering the man's defense was wide open. In the end, though, he decided against it. He still needed information and confirmation, so it was wise not to rush. It was a race against time, but he treated it as a marathon, not a sprint. It was better to wait for the commotion to simmer down.

  Wuji Sanren stepped off the balcony, descending like a deity from the sky. The two direct disciples followed, and Liu Xing was not far behind.

  Wuji Sanren landed and said to a nearby disciple, "Lead the way." His words were soft yet commanding. The disciple nodded and said, "Yes," his voice trembling.

  The man walked slowly into the building, heading toward the room where Liu Xing had stored his victims. The disciples moved to the side, and the loud conversations and exclamations died down to whispers. Wuji Sanren soon arrived at the room. He looked inside with cold eyes and a calm expression, as if the murders were insignificant to him. He observed them for a while, his eyes sometimes lingering on certain spots, until a minute later, he gave his command.

  "Bring all of these corpses to my room," he ordered.

  The disciples nodded. Wuji Sanren came out of the building and once again ascended to his room. Liu Xing followed directly behind him, his eyes sharp, trying to discern the man.

  When they arrived back at the very top of the pyramid, Liu Xing observed the place more carefully. Against his expectations, a long hallway greeted him after he crossed the door. The ceiling was high, and the hallway was wide enough to accommodate ten people walking side by side. Ahead, there was a double gate more than two meters high, adorned with a carving of a battle between a phoenix and a dragon.

  Wuji Sanren pressed the gate. However, instead of the large doors opening, a smaller door set within them swung open. Wuji Sanren entered, and the door closed behind him. A single glance revealed the room was dim, illuminated by a blue light from within. For a moment, Liu Xing hesitated. After all, once that door was fully closed, he would have no chance to get out. What if a trap was prepared inside? However, the hesitation vanished as soon as it arrived. Liu Xing kicked off the ground and launched himself forward. He could not be too fast, nor too slow. He glided silently through the air. Just as the door clicked shut, he successfully landed inside Wuji Sanren's private room.

  Inside, Liu Xing looked around. It was a study, with shelves full of books and scrolls lining the walls. In the center of the room, serving as its focal point, was a wooden desk. Its top was messy, filled with scrolls and documents, with a particularly high stack of paperwork towering on one side. Behind the desk, on the main wall, were three giant screens that looked as if they were made from blue light. Each screen was perhaps as large as a chalkboard, with data displayed prominently on it.

  The left screen was undoubtedly a map. In the top-left corner was a small green symbol for an island. In an instant, Liu Xing understood that the icon represented his current location. Spreading across the map were other islands; some were large, some were small, some were isolated, while others were clustered together.

  Seeing this, Liu Xing felt a surge of excitement and tried to carve the map into his mind. This map was valuable. He was sure that each of those islands was under the influence of the Nether Lotus Sect, which meant each of them was a target. However, this was not merely a simple map. There were many symbols and marks on it, as if Wuji Sanren had been drawing on it, with arrows, icons that indicated people, and other interesting symbols, such as a hammer in the center of the map.

  The icons for people had several colors. The red one obviously represented the Nether Lotus Sect, and the other colors were perhaps symbols representing people from great sects. Curiously, one icon was colored purple, and it was located farther southeast from the hammer symbol. He suspected it represented the cultivator from his own sect—the Purple Moon Sect—that was currently backing the Nether Lotus Sect. At this point, he could not deny their presence.

  Liu Xing peeled his gaze from that map to the screen on the right. This one also looked like a map, but it was a map of this specific island. There were many symbols on it, and unlike the other map, the symbols on this screen were actually moving. He needed only a moment to realize the screen's function was to locate the disciples of the Nether Lotus Sect. As he observed more, he realized the movement of the symbols was not in real-time but refreshed about once every five seconds. It was still interesting. He watched it for a while, trying to discern whether those he had killed were still marked on the map.

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  The center screen was filled with text and images strewn about like open windows on a computer screen. At a glance, some of the text was about the history of a giant beast that had appeared in the north of the Dark Forest continent, accompanied by a black illustration resembling a giant snake. Reading this, Liu Xing focused on the fact that, once again, there was information about the north.

  "I know that you're here," Wuji Sanren said as he sat in his chair.

  Liu Xing's heart skipped a beat, and he gripped his gun tightly. His instincts screamed at him to launch a sudden attack, thinking that the faster he moved, the faster he could defeat the man. However, his logic argued for him to wait. In the end, he waited for a single breath. Wuji Sanren pulled a paper from the stack and began to read it. His eyes looked in Liu Xing's general direction, but they were slightly off. Liu Xing was not directly in his line of sight. At that moment, realization dawned. The man was bluffing. He did not know for sure that Liu Xing was there. Liu Xing stood still and held his breath, trying to suppress his presence even more.

  "Do you think that I, Wuji Sanren, wouldn't notice you killing my disciples?" His eyes swept to the side and stopped right on Liu Xing's position. "As you can see on this screen, I mark all my disciples and take notice when some of them begin to disappear."

  Liu Xing licked his lips. Those yellow eyes looked intently toward him, yet he still thought the man was bluffing. He filed away what Wuji Sanren had said. The man had just confirmed that the moment his disciples were killed, their marks disappeared from the screen. It was important information, though Liu Xing still did not know how it could be used.

  The man looked at him for a while before finally looking to the other side. "If you think you can kill me here, you're sorely mistaken. I am strong, and I assume you are not, because instead of acting directly, you employ a method that would be considered cowardly."

  Liu Xing nodded to himself. The man was truly bluffing; he did not know Liu Xing was there. Still, that did not mean Liu Xing could be careless. It was the opposite. Since the man was trying to bluff him out, sooner or later, he would employ some method to truly check whether Liu Xing was there or not.

  Liu Xing moved farther to the side, trying to circle the man. He wanted to get as close as possible. The man was at the peak of the sixth stage of the Core Splitting realm, perhaps ready to break through to the seventh stage. Compared to Ye Xuanhan, he was far weaker, though the man felt dangerous in a different way.

  "You must wonder why, instead of attacking you, I'm talking to you. Honestly, there's no deep reason for it. I just wanted someone to talk to. The truth is, my situation, as well as my sect's, is actually quite bad. That Ye Xuanming decided to reveal my sect openly to the world. Considering that we're a demonic sect, doing that will only bring ruin to us. Something like this could only be done if one of us had successfully entered the White Sun realm or even the Immortal realm. I respect that man, but I also resent him. He clearly knew about the consequences of that action, and yet, he still decided to do so. Why? That's what I'm actually trying to find out."

  Liu Xing remained silent, digesting the information. The man spoke of the Nether Lotus Sect with fondness and regret, as if he truly cared for the sect but could see its ruin in the near future. As for why, Liu Xing did not know exactly, but he suspected that whatever Ye Xuanming planned was connected to his friends. Did this mean Wuji Sanren did not know why Ye Xuanming had kidnapped them? Could he provide some useful information?

  At that moment, a knock came from beyond the double gate. Wuji Sanren activated a formation that opened the doors. While he continued to read and write at his desk, his disciples lined all the corpses up inside the dimly lit room. Liu Xing noticed they were arranged in a particular order. Those he had killed first were closer to Wuji Sanren's desk, while those he had killed last were near the door. He also noticed that Gao Tong's corpse was not among them.

  After they finished, the disciples excused themselves, and Wuji Sanren dismissed them without a glance. Soon, the doors closed again, leaving Liu Xing, Wuji Sanren, and the corpses inside the room.

  Liu Xing thought Wuji Sanren would begin to examine the corpses. Instead, he continued reading and writing. Occasionally, he would turn to look at the center screen. Then, with a sweep of his hand, the text he wrote would display on it. He wrote quite a lot in a short time. However, there was larger text at the bottom of the screen. It was a question.

  "Is it possible for someone to skip realms and become an Immortal in a single breakthrough?"

  Liu Xing looked at the question intently, rubbing his chin as his brain worked. The question was… audacious. Becoming an Immortal in a single breakthrough was something impossible, and any cultivator presented with this question would laugh out loud. And yet, the way Wuji Sanren looked at it so seriously, it was as if he were truly pondering the question. Liu Xing felt that he, too, needed to consider it carefully. Could something like that be possible?

  After a while, Liu Xing shook his head. The question was intriguing, but it had successfully derailed his thoughts. The question was not important. He was on a mission and prioritized it above all else.

  Wuji Sanren stopped talking, as if he had finally given up on his bluff. Liu Xing decided it was time to move. Wuji Sanren had already locked the door. It was the prime time to attack.

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