A temple stood a short distance away, close enough that Liu Xing could have reached it in a single lazy jump. It was only large enough to accommodate three people standing together. The little temple's entrance was open, and inside, standing atop a small altar, was a blue gem around two meters high, shaped like an egg. Liu Xing suspected the puppet was inside the gem, performing some task that, while not obvious, was vital to suffusing the island with qi.

  Liu Xing looked up. His target was not the temple, but the flying ark that floated silently above it. A while ago, the flying steel ark had been covered by dust, making it brown, but now it gleamed again under the sun. Its bottom reflected the temple and the surrounding area, which would have included Liu Xing if he were visible.

  Liu Xing measured the distance between himself and the ark. He couldn't jump too high or too low. He needed to jump with enough force to land on the ark silently. After a moment, Liu Xing bent his knees and kicked the ground. The grass beneath him stirred slightly, some of it pressed to the ground. Unless someone paid close attention, they would not realize it was the spot where an invisible man had just jumped.

  As he soared into the sky, his invisible hair whipping his face, the steel ark grew closer and closer. The angle was perfect, as was the force he had used to jump. A moment later, his momentum slowed. As he crossed the railing around the ark, gravity began to pull him down. He let it take hold and landed softly on the deck.

  Liu Xing looked forward and was greeted by a rectangular building. Its roof was adorned with blue tiles, and its walls were full of carvings. He had known this ark was big, but he hadn't realized it was so large; perhaps half the size of a stadium.

  Liu Xing looked around. He had expected there wouldn't be many people here, but seeing the giant ark empty felt surreal, like an abandoned yet well-maintained building. Liu Xing sensed the qi around him, and the blood qi was so thick it was suffocating. He could even smell blood. He began to walk toward the entrance of the building on the ark. Whether by design or not, the front of the building was wide open, with no doors or gate guarding it.

  Inside was a wide hall. Several golden pillars stood, shining with a faint yellow hue. Floating near the ceiling were hundreds upon hundreds of well-lit candles, their flames burning with a bright orange light. There were several paintings and potted plants here and there, making the hall worthy enough to host a large party. However, what drew his attention the most were the wide stairs at the end of the hallway. To either side of it, two beings stood as guards. The being on the left was human-shaped, but its face was carved from wood, its eye sockets were empty, and it wore short-sleeved robes that revealed its wooden arms and joints. Several threads extended from its body into the air, connected to nothing. The being on the right likewise had threads protruding from its body, rising into the air and connecting to nothing. It was not humanoid, nor was it made from wood. Instead, it was made entirely of bone. It had six arms and the lower body of a horse, also made of bone.

  These two guards were imposing, and while he could tell they were strong, he could not sense their cultivation. They were different from the puppets made into the core of an automation system.

  Liu Xing licked his lips and stepped forward. At first, he moved slowly, gauging the two puppets' reaction. When they remained still, he grew more confident and increased his speed until he was standing between them. Without stopping, he took the stairs, feeling both relief and elation. His invisibility was still working, which meant he could easily reach the deepest chamber of the ark and find the pitiful puppet that had become the center of this steel ark.

  When Liu Xing reached the top of the stairs, he looked to his right and saw a small walkway. He could sense that the blood qi was denser in that direction. He could also sense other types of qi, most notably water and ice qi.

  He entered a small hallway narrow enough for only two people to walk side by side. Then, the hallway began to widen. It turned left until he arrived in another chamber. It was smaller than the main hall, yet still grand. In the center of the room was a raised platform, and on top of it was a throne. Sitting on the throne was another puppet that looked horrifying. The man had no skin, and his flesh and tissue were exposed to the air. He was bleeding so much that the golden throne was soaked in blood. His hands were pinned to the armrests by two large nails. Like the others, the puppet was still alive. He was probably in agony. However, unlike the others, the puppet wasn't alone.

  To the far side of the room, sitting in a meditative pose, was a woman. Her hair was pitch black, her skin was fair, and her purple robe adorned with gold—the robe usually worn by a disciple of the Purple Moon Sect—complemented her beauty. Mist swirled in the air around her, and the floor around her was covered by a thin layer of ice. She had her eyes closed, but even without seeing them, he knew they were electric blue.

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  Upon seeing her, Liu Xing was surprised at first, his eyes widening, his heart beating faster. Soon, however, his face reverted to a mask of focus and seriousness, and his eyes looked at her as sharp as a knife. He knew the girl. In fact, she had left quite a strong impression on him.

  It was Yan Yu.

  Yan Yu was his junior. She had been accepted as a disciple of the Purple Moon Sect just months ago. Rumors had said that she was a genius, capable of advancing with incredible speed. The last time he saw her was at the start of the race. At that time, she was still a Lock Opening realm cultivator. Now, however, she was already at the Core Splitting realm, same as him, and had at the very least two cores.

  Liu Xing's advancement could be considered miraculously fast, even among the elites of the Purple Moon Sect. However, it was all thanks to his gun. The gun that Nui had given him was truly out of this world, and he was sure a treasure like that was one of a kind in the entire realm. Yet, this Yan Yu had matched his speed of cultivation. If all of that was thanks to her pure talent and some fortuitous encounters, then she was truly monstrous.

  He remembered at the end of his failed mission in the Dragon Skull Forest, he had helped her by taking her to safety and putting pills in her mouth. And he remembered her way of thanking him, which was to give him information about a treasure called the Lightning Ring, currently located in the Water Nation. However, he also remembered Yang Liangyu, a princess from the Twelve Sun Empire. She had a bloodline called the Infernal Sun Bloodline, as well as the fact that she had been enslaved by none other than the girl currently meditating not too far away from him. He knew from Shen Ye and Yu Yongrui that she was in the Wild Tide Region, but he never thought he would meet her here.

  Liu Xing stood there, pinching his chin. He had once offered to kill Yan Yu for Yang Liangyu. She had refused, stating that she wanted to do it herself. At this moment, however, he thought perhaps he should do it anyway. The girl was on the side of the Nether Lotus Sect, and he had decided he would have no mercy for those from the Nether Lotus Sect or those who cooperated with them.

  Liu Xing gripped his two weapons tightly as he began to step forward. He needed to be careful. She probably had a top-notch cultivation method, which meant he could not kill her as easily as he had killed the Nether Lotus Sect disciples. While Liu Xing had been able to defeat her the last time they fought, there was a chance that now she was as strong as him.

  Thinking about how to kill her, Liu Xing filled his gun with Lightning Palm bullets. He remembered she mostly used long-range attacks, so he would need to fight her up close. Idly, he thought how much easier it would be to kill her if he had his stone blade.

  The moment Liu Xing was several tens of meters away from Yan Yu, however, she opened her eyes, her electric blue eyes scanning the area.

  Liu Xing stopped walking, his heart beating faster and faster. He wondered if the girl had sensed him and whether he should launch an attack or wait a bit more.

  A sound reverberated, but it was from neither her nor Liu Xing. Instead, it was a man's voice, a little high-pitched and grating.

  "Insolent girl, how long do you plan on staying there? Didn't I tell you to kill the intruder?"

  "I am luring him here," Yan Yu answered plainly.

  "Is that true? Or are you just wasting time? According to the report from Yu Yongrui, the pesky disciple has a strong concealment technique. I'm surprised that I can't pinpoint his location on my own island. You said you could handle him, yet here you are, just waiting. What a great plan!"

  Yan Yu narrowed her eyes slightly. "Silence," she said softly. The voice that came from nowhere began to growl, as if he were pissed, yet a moment later, the voice was indeed silent.

  Yan Yu continued. "Search for him once again. This time, narrow the area to only a fifty-meter radius around the ark."

  Liu Xing stood still. He had questions about the conversation he had just heard. The most important question was who the man was. He spoke as if he owned this island, which meant he was the elder from the Purple Moon Sect. If that was true, however, the dynamic between him and her was weird. It was as if Yan Yu were the boss and he was a mere underling. Surely, that couldn't be right? Yan Yu was still a Core Splitting cultivator, after all, and that elder was supposed to be at least a Sun Refining cultivator. There was no way a stronger person would obey a weaker person, right? Or was there some trick to it?

  As he wondered, the blood qi around him began to move with more intensity and purpose, like soldiers marching. Yan Yu then blew on her palm, and from it, snow billowed out, spreading alongside the blood qi.

  His invisibility should have concealed him enough. A moment later, however, Liu Xing noticed that some of the snow that had materialized from her palm and then blown into the air had a black color. The amount was not much, but it spread evenly alongside the snow and the blood qi. Looking at it, alarms blared in his mind. However, before he could do anything, Yan Yu suddenly looked directly in his direction, her electric blue eyes shining faintly. At that moment, Liu Xing knew he had been discovered.

  "So you're here, Liu Xing," Yan Yu said.

  joining us!