"I love Mi Lian," Yu Heng said as he sat on the stairs and wiped the blood from his upper lip. His eyes bored straight into Liu Xing's, as if daring him to challenge the statement. "I'll always love her."

  "But it seems that your sister didn't love you back," Liu Xing said as he positioned himself in front of the altar where the whale lay. There was no trace of Mi Lian, but Liu Xing knew she was there. "Or to be precise, she didn't love you anymore."

  Yu Heng grimaced, looked at the whale, and then back at Liu Xing. "She still loved me. It's just, her love for her family overpowered her love for me. That's why she refused to be separated from the whale."

  Liu Xing tapped Tide Walker on his shoulder. The shark had sat still through the whole ordeal. The moment Liu Xing willed it to move, the shark flew toward the whale and landed atop it, as if hugging it. At that moment, the shark emitted a sad growl.

  "I honestly don't understand your words. If she loved her family, why didn't she want to be separated from the whale? The whale is not her family, right?"

  As far as he knew, the whale was originally a cauldron, similar to Tide Walker, which was originally a spear. Yu Heng had transformed them into their current forms using a technique he had inherited from his ancestors.

  "What happened to her family, exactly?" Liu Xing asked Yu Heng. Fang Ruxue's family, Su Nian's family, and the others had their families murdered by the Nether Lotus Sect. Mi Lian's family had been massacred too. That was what Yu Heng had said. They were the only survivors.

  "The Nether Lotus Sect killed them," replied Yu Heng. As he said that, his eyes were looking straight at him, and Liu Xing knew it was the truth. The Nether Lotus Sect had killed her family. But Liu Xing had a feeling Yu Heng still was not telling him everything. "It happened at midnight. They came to our family ground and massacred every single member of her family, be it her parents, guards, even their servants. It was bloody. I remember that night vividly. I remember the fear that swallowed me and the beating of my heart as if it was trying to leap out of my throat. They kidnapped her, and I chased them and successfully caught up. At this point, you know the rest."

  Liu Xing crossed his arms and stepped back toward the altar. "Your answer still hasn't answered my question, Yu Heng." He narrowed his eyes and began to circulate his qi. He did not project his qi or killing intent, but it was a clear sign of hostility. Liu Xing did not understand the situation; however, it was clear that Mi Lian actually did not want to be with Yu Heng right now. And Liu Xing and Yu Heng both knew that while Liu Xing wanted to secure Mi Lian, the same could not be said for Yu Heng. Even if the Nether Lotus Sect captured or killed him, Liu Xing would be alright as long as he could secure Mi Lian.

  Yu Heng snorted. "Not even an hour ago, you stated that we're on the same side."

  "Both of us understand that we're still not enemies," Liu Xing stated clearly. "We're still on the same side. Else, you would be a paste on the ground by now. Tell me the truth, Yu Heng."

  The man tsked and threw his face to the side, as if he did not want to do it. Yet, Liu Xing saw his eyes. They were filled with guilt and dread, as well as despair and something like self-loathing.

  In the end, he sighed. "Yes, I'm hiding something from you. In truth, there was a time between the Nether Lotus Sect kidnapping my sister and the moment I began chasing them. The only survivor there, amidst the pools of blood and red-coated walls, was me. However, while I felt fear about what happened, I also saw... an opportunity."

  "An opportunity?" Liu Xing raised his eyebrows.

  "Yes. You see, at that time, it had been a while after I claimed my ancestor's inheritance. But since I wanted to lay low, I cultivated slowly and hid my techniques. Among the techniques that I inherited, there was one that's strong and quite useful. It was a technique to create spirit beast servants. That whale and that shark," Yu Heng pointed to the whale and Tide Walker, "were actually the result of that technique. To do that, I need to fuse a treasure with a spirit beast. But not only that. To create servants that are strong and capable of growth, there's a need for something more potent, something valuable. Originally, I intended to get some valuable herbs as a catalyst, but on that night, I decided to use a different material."

  Liu Xing rubbed his chin. His heartbeat quickened as he began to piece the puzzle together. That night when Mi Lian was kidnapped, Yu Heng had described their family ground filled with pools of blood on the floor and coating the walls. Not only that, Mi Lian did not want to be separated from the whale, and Yu Heng had said it was because she did not want to be separated from her family.

  The moment he realized it, Liu Xing's eyes widened. "You mean—"

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  "Yes," Yu Heng said, his eyes looking at him seriously, though they were shadowed by guilt and grim acceptance. "I used their remains to create Whaley and Sharkey."

  The moment he said that, Liu Xing could not help but look behind him. Tide Walker was lying on top of the white whale. It had closed its eyes, and its fins held the whale as if in an embrace. Similarly, the whale had its eyes closed, seemingly content with its position and Tide Walker. Both of them looked like a shark and a small white whale. There was no indication that they were something more, yet Liu Xing knew that the shark and the whale were nothing ordinary. Liu Xing had naively thought that both of them were merely treasures that had gained consciousness through a technique, but to think that the truth was far more gruesome.

  Liu Xing felt his stomach churn. He closed his eyes as he tried to imagine the true nature of the shark and the whale. Not only were they made from treasures and spirit beasts, but the remains of people—their flesh, their hearts, their bones, their blood, their eyes, their lungs—all of it had been condensed to create these two things.

  These two... abominations.

  After Yu Heng had saved her, the truth must have come out, and while Yu Heng did not tell him how she had fused with the whale, he could imagine why. For her, the whale was indeed her family, and she did not want to be separated from them again.

  Liu Xing circulated his qi and projected it outward. His qi swirled around him like a tornado, and wind and dust joined with it, creating a visible cyclone around him. Then, Liu Xing slammed his qi into Yu Heng. While sitting, Yu Heng instantly crumpled to the floor. He gasped as he hit the ground, and blood leaped from his mouth. He could not escape, but with an effort, Yu Heng successfully turned his head toward Liu Xing. Yu Heng's eyes were filled with fear, as if he had just seen an enraged spirit beast that would not only kill him but destroy an entire city in an evening.

  Liu Xing's heart drummed inside his chest as he began to walk toward Yu Heng. His footsteps were soft, yet inside the upside-down temple, they might as well have been the steps of a giant.

  When he arrived in front of Yu Heng, Liu Xing tried to straighten his thoughts. What Yu Heng did was terrible. Instead of burying or even ignoring the remains of Mi Lian's family, he had used them as a resource to strengthen himself. The act was so terrible that his heart urged him to kill the man on the spot, yet as soon as that thought came, his logical mind argued with it.

  Yu Heng loved Mi Lian. Mi Lian had been kidnapped by the Nether Lotus Sect. Yu Heng was weak. There was no way he could have saved Mi Lian if he remained weak. The logical thing to do in that position was to strengthen himself, and he had found a way to do it. He use the remains of people to create servants strong enough to help save Mi Lian.

  When he thought about it, what Yu Heng did was indeed logical. It was not a sin that warranted his death. And yet, had Yu Heng's intent been pure from the start? Had he sought power only to save Mi Lian, or were there egotistical motives involved?

  Liu Xing remembered his resolve. "No mercy." But that resolve was not one that enabled him to kill each and every person who made him angry. It was a resolve to do whatever he needed to crush the Nether Lotus Sect. Would killing Yu Heng help crush the Nether Lotus Sect? The answer was obvious. It would not.

  Liu Xing inhaled deeply and reined in his qi. The moment he let go of the qi that was pinning Yu Heng, the man breathed deeply and began to turn his body, rolling onto his back.

  "I thought you would kill me," Yu Heng said.

  "I was about to," Liu Xing said, then he again inhaled deeply. "What are you going to do? Your sister doesn't want to be separated from the whale. And while I dislike the situation, it's not a problem for me. As long as she's secured, it doesn't matter whether she's a human or a whale."

  Of course, there would be a complication the moment the Nether Lotus Sect found out. He was afraid that since Mi Lian was currently fused with a whale, she would be useless to Ye Xuanming.

  "I want to ask for forgiveness, and I still want to separate her from Whaley," Yu Heng said. "To do that, I need your help."

  "My help clearly couldn't work because, in the end, it's her decision whether to accept being separated from Whaley or not."

  "Even if she wanted to, I can't let her stay like this. How could I? She's hurting, and I need to console her and make sure she can live again. Smiling, looking forward to the future, and being happy. She needs help, whether she wants it or not," Yu Heng said as he began to raise and clench his fist.

  "How would you do that?"

  "What else? I need to talk to her and convince her to be separated from Whaley."

  "You mean we need to stay in this temple? For how long?"

  "As long as it takes for me to convince her."

  Liu Xing thought for a while before he shook his head. "We can't do that. Sooner or later, the Nether Lotus Sect will find our position. We need to move."

  Not only that, but staying there was also unproductive for his plan. While Liu Xing did want to secure Mi Lian, he also needed to kill as many Nether Lotus Sect disciples as he could so he could grow stronger and have a chance to kill Ye Xuanming. Furthermore, he wanted to get back his stone blade and his belongings, which meant he needed to go to the main base of the Nether Lotus Sect sooner or later.

  Also, he had a little plan that involved using Mi Lian as a lure, and he could not do that if they stayed there.

  "We need to move," Liu Xing repeated. "Come to think of it, I know that before we met, you were heading someplace. Instead of getting the hell out of this place, you came deeper into Nether Lotus Sect territory. Why?"

  When he heard the question, Yu Heng grimaced again. Suddenly, Liu Xing realized that this man was hiding a lot from him. He wondered whether he had told him everything about the massacre of Mi Lian's family or if there was more he was hiding.

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