Heilong Realm.

"You're not Du Xiang's people?" Fei Yin asked when they saw they are heading to a hidden passage.

"That wh*re?" one of the demonic cultivators near them said. "She's a vixen who can't keep her hands to herself!" he sneered.

"Then…" Fei Yin muttered and looked at Cheng Sheng's sleeping face. He called Jing Xian in his mind.

"They are Meng Gui's people." Jing Xian answered.

"Meng Gui is your leader?" Fei Yin asked the demonic cultivator.

"Of course! We only serve the Dream Ghost!" the demonic cultivator happily said.

"'Dream Ghost'?" Wu Yuan muttered. "He's a ghost?" he asked.

"Not literally." The demonic cultivator said. "That's just what the people call our leader." He answered.

"Why would they call him that?" Fei Yin asked.

"Our leader is an orphan and wandered from one place to another like a ghost." Another demonic cultivator spoke. "He was called a ghost since he knocks on the people's door in the middle of the night to ask for food." He explained.

"How did he become a demonic cultivator?" Wu Yuan asked.

"A human trafficker made him ingest the demonic poison." The first demonic cultivator answered as he gripped the rein of his horse tight. A frightening look is on his face. "But, that human trafficker doesn't actually know it was the demonic poison. So, after our leader transformed to a demonic cultivator, he killed the human traffickers. Then, he saved the other children who were captured with him." He explained.

"You are those other children." Wu Yuan said.

"Yes." The demonic cultivator didn't deny it. "For us, it is not an accident or a coincidence. We only care about the fact: leader saved our lives. We will serve him to repay him." He said.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan looked at each other. These demonic cultivators are loyal to each other, just like the righteous cultivators. "You… are one of those in his harem?" Fei Yin asked.

"Pft! 'harem'!" the demonic cultivators laughed.

"You are not?" Fei Yin asked.

"If we could, we already have done it!" the demonic cultivator beside them said. "But, unlike what those people speak ill of him behind his back, leader has no harem. Leader doesn't clarify those rumors since he doesn't like to bother himself about it." He explained.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan looked at each other and sighed in relief.

"Do you think we captured you to throw you on our leader's bed?" one of the demonic cultivators asked.

"Isn't it?" Fei Yin asked back.

"No." the demonic cultivator answered.

"Then… the rumor we heard…" Wu Yuan spoke.

"That person is my brother." The demonic cultivator who was silently travelling with them answered.

They looked at him.

"Like the leader, we were also trafficked when we were young. But, the human traffickers split us up. That's how my brother and I got separated." He explained.

"I… am sorry to hear that." Fei Yin and Wu Yuan spoke.

"You don't sound like demonic cultivators." One of them commented.

Because we aren't. Fei Yin and Wu Yuan thought.

"Don't worry. We don't discriminate." The leader of the group of demonic cultivators spoke. "Those righteous cultivators back then helped us, giving us food. We know how to be grateful." He explained.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan secretly sighed in relief. "But, the other demonic leaders…" they said.

"Yes. This is the reason why they hate our faction. Our leader." The leader of the group of demonic cultivators said. "We are friendly with the righteous cultivators, and even saved some righteous cultivators that went here in the Heilong Realm and they captured. That's how they became hostile towards us." He explained.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan sighed in sympathy. They didn't know there was such a thing that happened between Meng Gui and the righteous cultivators. "Then, we…" Fei Yin said.

"You've already heard of the rumors. That b*tch Du Xiang is stealing us." One of the demonic cultivators said. "Not only Shang He's people, but our people, too, were gone just because of her. This debt must be paid by blood!" he said.

"Paid by blood!" they yelled.

"We saw you looked different from Du Xiang's people who are always in haste to snatch people." The leader of the group of demonic cultivators said. "You three looked leisurely, instead." He told them.

"We're…" Fei Yin and Wu Yuan doesn't know what to say. If only Cheng Sheng is awake…

"That's why we took you from there. Half an hour later and Du Xiang's men will appear, then take you three and throw you on her bed." One of the demonic cultivators said. "You three don't look bad. Du Xiang will definitely 'eat' you." He said.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan shuddered. Seeing them terrified, they all laughed.

"The one who was poisoned… he's your lover, right?" one of them suddenly asked Fei Yin.

"Yes." Fei Yin answered.

"Is he your brother, then?" they asked and looked at Wu Yuan.

"A friend. He and my lover are looking for their parents who came here in Heilong Realm." Fei Yin answered.

"They are the ones who are brothers?" they asked.

Fei Yin shook his head. "No. They aren't brothers. Their parents are lovers." He explained.

Question marks appeared on top of the heads of the demonic cultivators. "Oh…" they just said.

"It's dusk. Let's find a river to camp tonight, then resume travelling back to the Lonely Moon City." The leader of the group said.

"Yes!" they answered and rode faster.

Fei Yin and Wu Yuan glanced at each other and nodded, then immediately followed behind.

Huilong Continent, Southmost Region, Nanli Town.

"We are here! The Nanli Town is in sight!" Lei Ling exclaimed as he rose from his seat and ran to the quarterdeck to look at the vast flat land before his sight.

Jing Kang who just finished making wooden amulets for Jing Bai, Jing Hei, Feng Mo and Yu Sheng rose from his seat and walked behind Lei Ling. They saw a small hill in the distance, and beyond the hill is the oasis.

The others heard Lei Ling's loud voice and stopped training. They went to the quarterdeck to also look.

"This is where the sea of desert starts." Jing Bai said as he looked at the map.

"En!" Zheng Yi nodded.

BOOM! They heard a sound of explosion behind them. There, they saw Feng Mo standing beside Li Tian who killed the demonic cultivators following them with a spell.

"Look how they are kicking again after we killed them yesterday." Jing Hei grinned as they looked at the demonic cultivators.

"They aren't the ones we killed yesterday. They are new." Qian Lin reminded him.

"Li-shixiong is so hardworking!" Lei Ling exclaimed as they watched Li Tian casted another spell and killed another group of demonic cultivators.

"They never learn." Jing Bai spoke, referring to the demonic cultivators.

Zheng Yi nodded in agreement. Li Tian woke up last night. Everyone cheered. After all, another person was added, and it is a mage! You Rou's work finally eased. Li Tian fortunately is studious, so he can help You Rou with refining medicine and potions for everyone. Lei Ling also can finally rest easy with the barriers since Jing Kang was there to help him.

Everyone finally can feel relieved regarding the barriers of the Millennium Ship, more especially with their medicine.

This is a good omen! They all thought with a smile on their face, only to turn to the front and see smoke rising. "… what…?" they muttered under their breath when they saw, as the Millennium Ship approached, beneath them an empty town.

Rundown houses, and scorched down littered with corpses. And they aren't the corpses of the Nanli Town's residents. They are the corpses of the demonic cultivators.

"What… the… hell…" they sharply inhaled as they stared at the burnt Nanli Town with widened eyes. "What the hell…!" they exclaimed as they leaned down the railing to take a closer look. "Why are they dead?!" they asked.

"You want them to be alive?" Zuo Zhe calmly asked.

"That's not it!" they answered. "This… this… they're all dead!" they said.

"I can see." Zuo Zhe spoke. "There's something strange here." He said.

"It's not the same." Yu Sheng spoke.

"Huh? What do you mean?" they turned and asked.

"The demonic cultivators beneath us… and the demonic cultivators behind us – " Yu Sheng's eyes narrowed as he looked at the demonic cultivators flying outside the barrier of the Millennium Ship. "They are two groups." He said.

"Uh, yes? They are obviously two groups. One group is dead, and the other one is still alive and kicking." They said.

"That's not what he meant." Zuo Zhe spoke when he saw Yu Sheng's contemplative expression.

"Huh? What does he mean, then?" they asked.

Zuo Zhe fell silent for a while before he spoke. "The group of demonic cultivators that are dead are different from the ones chasing us." He said and glanced at the dead demonic cultivators before he turned to the ones that Li Tian is attacking.

"You mean…?" they asked.

"They are completely unrelated to each other." Zuo Zhe answered.