Liu Qing looked at Ji Zhixing with a smile and said slowly, "Ji Zhixing, at this distance, with my speed, there's no way you can escape into the water."
"Hand over the piece of hematite you took from the Secret Realm. I can pretend none of this ever happened."
Ji Zhixing's heart lurched when he saw Liu Qing.
How did he find me? He quickly glanced behind Liu Qing but saw no sign of Gu Zheng or the others. Is he alone?
His heart pounded like a drum, but he quickly suppressed his panic.
He came alone. Ji Zhixing calmed down. If he'd brought Gu Zheng and the others, he wouldn't have stepped out by himself. He wants that hematite all to himself.
Without a word, he shifted his feet and slowly backed toward the lakeshore.
Liu Qing's expression darkened. "You still haven't given up?"
He pressed a step closer, lowering his voice. "You're a cultivator who fused with a First Order gene, and you still think you can run from me? I suggest you wise up. Hand over the hematite, and I'll let you go. Otherwise..."
He left the sentence unfinished, but the threat in his tone was unmistakable.
Ji Zhixing kept backing away.
Liu Qing's expression grew increasingly ugly.
He didn't want to fight Ji Zhixing.
Although he was far stronger than Ji Zhixing, having fused with a Third-Order Six-Eared Gale Hound gene, his speed and reflexes far surpassed Ji Zhixing's.
But no matter how strong he was, he couldn't stop Ji Zhixing before he let out a scream.
That was precisely what he feared.
If Ji Zhixing shouted and drew Gu Zheng and the others over, he would have to share the hematite with them.
"I put that hematite ore underwater," Ji Zhixing suddenly said, his tone calm.
Liu Qing froze, then laughed in anger. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Trying to bluff me like that?"
He walked toward Ji Zhixing at an unhurried pace, his steps relaxed, like a cat toying with a mouse.
Yet he remained ready to burst into action at any moment.
"You might fool a three-year-old with that."
He advanced step by step, close enough now to make out Ji Zhixing's expression.
"Once I've got you, we'll see if you keep talking tough."
Anger churned inside Liu Qing. Though his steps still seemed unhurried, the muscles in his thighs had quietly tensed.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
The sand beneath his feet suddenly moved.
Liu Qing looked down, his pupils contracting sharply. The sandy ground beneath him seemed to come alive, spinning rapidly into a massive whirlpool.
His feet sank into it instantly. Like countless hands, the sand seized his legs and dragged him down.
"What is this thing!" Shocked and furious, he struggled desperately, but the harder he struggled, the faster he sank.
Beneath the whirlpool of sand, a massive grayish-brown figure surged out, its segmented body wrapping around his legs and tightening coil by coil.
The Whirlpool Sandworm opened its mouthparts, packed with sharp teeth, and hissed.
"A Whirlpool Sandworm? You beast!" Shocked and enraged, Liu Qing conjured a short blade in his hand and hacked wildly at the sandworm coiled around him.
Blade light flashed. Gashes split the sandworm's carapace, spraying murky, sand-yellow blood.
Wracked with pain, the sandworm abruptly tightened its body. Cracking sounds came from Liu Qing's legs. He screamed, nearly losing his grip on the blade.
"Die!"
Ji Zhixing's eyes lit up. He charged forward, gripping his staff with both hands and pouring all his strength, Gene Source Energy, and Army-Breaking Will into the strike.
Unstoppable Advance!
He put every ounce of his strength into that strike. The long staff howled through the air as it smashed toward Liu Qing's head.
Liu Qing's face turned deathly pale. He could only raise one hand to barely shield his head.
Thud!
The staff struck his arm with a clearly audible crack of breaking bone. Without losing momentum, it smashed into his head with a dull thud.
Liu Qing's body went rigid, and the blow pitched him forward.
The sandworm seized the chance to tighten its coils and drag him down.
I can't let him die in the sandworm's mouth. Thoughts raced through Ji Zhixing's mind. When he dies, the things in his Gene Furnace will spill out. If the sandworm swallows them, I'll lose everything.
He drew a deep breath and swung again.
Sweep Through a Thousand Armies!
The staff struck Liu Qing in the waist, sweeping him bodily sideways out of the whirlpool of sand.
Liu Qing rolled twice across the sand and lay on his back, motionless.
Within the sandy whirlpool, the Whirlpool Sandworm reared upright. Blade marks covered its grayish-brown carapace, and murky blood dripped down its body.
Its empty eye sockets fixed on Ji Zhixing. Its mouthparts opened and closed, issuing threatening hisses.
Ji Zhixing didn't look at it. Gripping his staff with both hands, he stepped forward and brought it down again.
The blow landed on Liu Qing's head, splattering blood. His body twitched once, then went completely still.
Ji Zhixing leaned on his staff, gasping for breath, his heart thundering.
I killed someone. He looked at Liu Qing's corpse on the ground, a tangle of emotions rising within him.
Strangely, however, he felt no fear.
They want to kill me. Killing him is only natural. Instead, a sense of clarity rose within Ji Zhixing. This is the world of Gene Cultivators. If I hadn't killed him today, I'd be the one who died.
He took a deep breath and suppressed his jumbled thoughts.
Just then, several clusters of light suddenly appeared over Liu Qing's corpse.
The lights flashed, and several items materialized beside the body.
A small jade bottle held a milky-white liquid that gave off a faint sheen.
Two bottles of Origin Force Gene Potion.
There were also more than twenty Gene Source Stones.
The short blade Liu Qing had just used lay beside the pile, its edge still stained with the sandworm's murky blood.
He really did drop items...
Ji Zhixing's interest stirred.
He had heard that when a Gene Cultivator died, some of the things stored in their Gene Furnace would spill out.
The rest would enter spatial turbulence as the Gene Furnace collapsed, disappearing forever.
Getting this much is already pretty lucky.
He swept a quick glance over the items, stepped forward twice, and dragged Liu Qing's corpse over before heaving it in front of the Whirlpool Sandworm.
"Hiss, hiss!" The sandworm immediately coiled around Liu Qing's corpse and dragged it deep into the sand.
Seeing this, Ji Zhixing didn't hesitate. He put everything on the ground into his Gene Furnace, including the short blade and the small jade bottle.
Once that was done, he rapidly swung the Yellowstone Staff, whipping up sand and stones. He swept the bloodstains toward the Whirlpool Sandworm, covering every trace of the fight.
He backed away as he swung, smoothing away his own footprints as well.
He worked quickly. In little more than ten seconds, the stretch of sand had returned to its original state, with nothing unusual to be seen.
After finishing everything, Ji Zhixing turned and leaped into the lake, swimming into the distance close to the rocks along the lakebed.
The Frog Pendant's ability let him move freely and nimbly underwater. Before long, he had swum a considerable distance.
Elsewhere.
Gu Zheng and the others were waiting by the shore.
"Why isn't Liu Qing back yet?" the young man holding the Elf Bow muttered impatiently.
Gu Zheng frowned and was about to speak when a brief scream suddenly came from the distance.
It wasn't loud and stopped abruptly, as though something had cut it off.
"That's Liu Qing!" They exchanged looks, their expressions changing at once.
Without another word, Gu Zheng turned and charged toward the sound.
The others followed close behind.
They passed through the bushes and rounded a boulder, soon arriving at a stretch of shallows along the island's edge.
The shallows were deserted. Nothing was there.
There was no Liu Qing, no trace of a fight-only a peaceful stretch of sand and a few crooked trees leaning over the water.
"Where is he?" The young man holding the Elf Bow looked around.
Gu Zheng said nothing, his gaze sweeping over the sand.
The sand was smooth, with nothing unusual visible. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
"Liu Qing!" he called.
There was no response.
Gu Zheng's expression darkened.
He walked to the edge of the sand, crouched, and examined the ground closely.
The sand was clean. There was nothing there.
In the lake, Ji Zhixing glanced back toward Lake Center Island, where he could faintly make out several moving figures.
I wonder if they can guess it was me, he thought.
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