"Where's that guy?" Liu Xing muttered, standing atop his shield. It was early morning, with sunrise perhaps only one or two hours away. The air was still dark and cold. The perfect time to attack an enemy base.

  Below him was a giant, flat vessel with a surface similar to that of an aircraft carrier from his former world. Instead of storing and landing planes, however, it carried a fortress. The fortress itself was massive. Its red walls gleamed under the barrage of Lightning Missiles bullets falling from the sky, illuminated by the explosions of his Exploding Fist bullets. The four spires surrounding the floating fortress were crumbling. The only intact spire was enduring a barrage of condensed qi attacks from his shark.

  The ship carrying the fortress was sinking. A large slash extending from bow to stern grew worse each second, as if the sea were trying to tear apart the already bleeding monster. Not only that, but Liu Xing had also destroyed the array's engine, its propeller, its communication array—his main target—and other important facilities.

  The giant ship, carrying a fortress on its back, was like a dying beast. It had no chance of surviving the night, and the people who manned the vessel and defended the fortress shared a similar fate.

  They would likely die and sink into the sea.

  Liu Xing's initial attack had killed the majority of them. Destroyed remains littered the crumbling, sinking deck. Some had their brains blown out, their blood coating the ground. Some were slashed into pieces like minced meat. Some were charred beyond recognition. Others simply had their necks severed; their departure from the world was swift and merciful compared to the rest, who writhed in pain before they died, their throats sore from shrieking for help.

  The remaining disciples trying to survive—around forty or fifty of them—had formed a circle to the side of the crumbling spire. Lightning Missiles rained down on them, too, and Liu Xing sent in clones that exploded upon being destroyed, breaching the circle they had created.

  Liu Xing could have descended and torn through their formation himself. None of them were Core Splitting cultivators, after all. However, he was looking for a single cultivator he intended to capture.

  Like his previous raids, his goal was not only to destroy one of the Nether Lotus Sect's communication relays, but he was also after information. Like the several bases he had decimated, this floating fortress also had a mechanism to back up information. Liu Xing was trying to find the man who had successfully backed up their entire system into a jade slip and then destroyed the system to ensure Liu Xing could not access it.

  As he scanned the scene, Liu Xing realized that although the ship was about to sink, the people fighting him still had a chance of survival. One of them had successfully sent a signal that they were under attack, and they had received confirmation that their report had been received and that help was on the way. In order to survive, they needed to hold out until the reinforcements arrived.

  Liu Xing would not let that happen, though. He would kill all of them and sink this ship long before the reinforcements came, so that he and Yu Heng—who was currently hiding deep in the sea—would be long gone by the time they arrived.

  As the last spire finally fell, Tide Walker switched its focus and shot a red ball of condensed qi toward the cultivators.

  "Watch out!" a man shouted as he pointed to the shark.

  "Shield!" another shouted. A woman with skin as blue as the sky and entirely black eyes stepped up. She extended both her hands and blew strongly, creating a huge gust of wind that soon turned into a wall of ice. The moment the condensed qi hit the ice, it exploded into smithereens. Some disciples were sent flying by the explosion, though the remaining Nether Lotus Sect members instantly caught them and threw them to the center of their circle, where two cultivators with glowing green hands were busy healing the injured. They were twins, one with red and white hair and the other with white and red hair. They were quite competent healers, as they could close wounds and even reattach severed limbs. Between them was a little kid busy shoving pills into the mouths of the injured, making them instantly rejuvenate and spring back into the fight.

  Amidst the roaring sound of the fight, mixed with shouts, cries, and the sounds of destruction, Liu Xing's eyes—both normal and his Eyes of Lightning—were busy trying to find a specific man. After a moment, he finally spotted his target.

  He was a man who looked to be thirty or forty, with a beard and mustache covering half of his face. The man was small, though, so small that if not for his facial hair, Liu Xing could have mistaken him for a child. He wore black pants and a sleeveless shirt instead of a cultivator's robe, and he was hiding in a small crack to the side of the circle, hugging himself as his teeth chattered.

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  At that moment, the little man looked up, and his eyes met Liu Xing's. The moment he realized he had been found, the man instantly got up and began moving around, trying to hide behind the people around him. However, Liu Xing had seen him, and with the help of his Eyes of Lightning, he could trace the man's every move.

  Liu Xing kicked his shield, launching himself straight toward the formation. In his right hand, he held the Harmony of Two Seas, which was surrounded by a circular water saw. For good measure, he conjured a lightning blade in his left hand.

  The moment he moved, the disciples of the Nether Lotus Sect panicked. They conjured walls of ice, fire, and earth, activating talismans, barriers, and many other defenses to brace for his attack. Liu Xing summoned his shield behind him and kicked it again, accelerating himself forward. He pointed both blades forward, then, when the tips of the Harmony of Two Seas and his lightning blade touched the myriad barriers, they punched through and shattered them.

  Liu Xing moved through the debris and entered the center of the formation. When he landed, the stone ground beneath him shattered. Then, activating his Lightning Cloak, he threw himself to the side and began slashing. His first target was a man trying to catch the Harmony of Two Seas, but his hand was cut off along with his neck, and his head flew into the air. Liu Xing then extended his lightning blade and whipped it to the side, cutting several people in half at once. From there, Tide Walker and his gun successfully tore through the remaining disciples, destroying their formation and reducing their defense to chaotic movement, like an anthill turned upside down and trampled by an elephant.

  In an instant, their hope of surviving the night was gone. With the formation broken, his shark and his gun easily killed them all. Liu Xing looked forward and saw the little man running so fast that his feet barely touched the ground. He kicked off the ground and followed. In a flash, Liu Xing was right behind the little man, his small back directly in front of him. Liu Xing rotated his body in the air and brought down an axe kick aimed at the man's shoulder.

  Sensing the attack, the man looked behind, his eyes widening in disbelief and fear, and tried to dodge. However, his speed was not comparable to Liu Xing's. Before he could move, the axe kick hit his shoulder. The sound of cracking bone could be heard as the man was thrown to the ground, bounced into the air, and sprayed blood from his mouth. Liu Xing could have attacked again, but he did not. Instead, he put his hands behind his back and walked calmly forward. The little man hit the ground hard and groaned, touching his shoulder and grimacing in pain.

  Liu Xing arrived in front of him. After shaking his head, the man saw him, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably, his bloody teeth chattering.

  Behind him, the fight had already died down. Mutilated remains were scattered all around the area. Some were still groaning in pain, but he willed his gun to kill them and absorb their qi. Soon, the only remaining sounds were the groans of the ship itself, like the cries of a dying beast being pulled into the sea.

  "P-please spare me," the little man said between his chattering teeth. Then, tears began to fall from his eyes.

  Liu Xing looked at the man with a neutral expression and said nothing. He let the pressure accumulate. When the man was desperate enough, he would be easier to talk to. However, it seemed Liu Xing had overestimated the little man's conviction because, without being asked, he reached into his inner robe and pulled out a green, faintly shining jade slip. The man extended the jade toward Liu Xing.

  Liu Xing crouched down, took the jade slip, and nodded. Then, he stood up again and pointed the tip of the Harmony of Two Seas toward the little man's forehead.

  "Wait, wait! I have given you what you wanted! P-please spare me. I have wives and children waiting for my return!" he cried, snot mixed with blood coming out of his nose. Then, the man pulled himself off the ground and began hitting his forehead to the ground rapidly. "Please, please, I will give you valuable information in exchange for my life!"

  Liu Xing was silent for a moment and then lowered his sword. He did not speak or utter a promise, though, because he had already decided this man was dead.

  The little man interpreted Liu Xing's gesture as mercy and began talking. "I, I know you! You're Liu Xing. The Red Ghost! I heard that you died and were then revived by the Patriarch, and then killed again, but you didn't die the second time around. You survived! As expected of the single man who could threaten the whole Nether Lotus Sect!"

  Liu Xing remained silent.

  "I-I know you are from the Purple Moon Sect. And I assume you must be curious about the Elder from the Purple Moon Sect who is backing the Nether Lotus Sect. I'm a lowly disciple and don't know his name, but even I know his current location. It's in the Garden of Red. Not too far from here." The man then pointed to the jade slip in Liu Xing's hand. "It contains information about the defensive measures as well as the people guarding that island. Coincidentally, it is the island where your belongings are stored!"

  Liu Xing raised his eyebrows. His expression was controlled, but his heart began to beat faster.

  "Yes!" the man said, as if he could see that this information excited Liu Xing. "The patriarch, Ye Xuanming, gave your token, your treasures, and all your belongings to that elder! I heard there was a little argument between them, but I am certain that your belongings are there. There's evidence of that on the jade slip!"

  The man began to babble, saying this and that, mentioning lots of rumors. In the end, he talked for five minutes straight. Finally, the man asked Liu Xing once again to be spared. When Liu Xing did not answer, the man turned and ran as fast as he could, probably hoping that Liu Xing would be merciful enough to let him go.

  However, Liu Xing was not merciful enough. He aimed his gun and willed the trigger to be pulled. An Exploding Fist bullet hit the man's back, and he erupted into a burst of red that coated the ground.

  joining us!