“Transferring souls” was a category of techniques that targeted the souls of other cultivators. It was frequently a euphemism for the extraction of souls from the body as a method favored by evil cultivators, as quite often they’d end up extracting the soul and leaving it to die outside its body, leaving out the “transferring” part.

Basically, Chen Zixi was saying that he was going to suck the souls out of their bodies.

“This technique is not your standard soul transfer technique,” said Chen Zixi. “In actuality, it is more like a transformation spell.”

Chen Zixi showed them a necklace with six jade beads spaced evenly apart.

“I will transform you all into tiny versions of yourselves. You will be smaller than flower pollen, as your physical bodies will remain in this dimension until I can transfer them into the Six Worlds Bead. Look, there’s one world for each of you, it’s more than enough!”

Chen Zixi chuckled, which sent chills down everyone’s spines.

“But I’m not imprisoning you. You can manifest out of your individual realm in the Six World Bead anytime you want. But one big problem is if you do, it will greatly slow me down, in three different ways. My mount is fast, and when I teleport with it I am even faster. However, carrying all four of you on it is impossible, and this is the most optimal way for you to retain your strength and well-being by the time of arrival.”

Xiao Feng and Ying Er shuddered at the implication of “well-being.”

“On the other hand, it will require the ‘soul transfer half’ of the equation. It will consume your soul rapidly, but since I am the one who created this spell array, it will also consume my cultivation base, which will make it easier on your souls.”

Brother Liu Kang spoke up: “But…our souls are far more important than a cultivation base!”

“Shut up,” said Chen Zixi. “The stronger the magic, the greater the exchange. You should feel grateful that I’m lending my awesome might to weaklings like you at all. Do you get it now? You can’t just freely leave and exit the realm of the World bead when you feel like it, doing so needs to be done strategically before or during combat. Otherwise, you’re gonna drain my fighting strength and energy, and that’s not going to turn out well for your rescue mission, is it?”

Brother Liu Kang was silenced.

“Oh, and the third problem is, you won’t be able to take your clothes or gear with you into the World Bead realm.”

WHAT?!

“You’re going to be naked. Only your bodies are going to shrink, so to save time, everyone: start stripping.”

“What!” Ying Er cried out, her face bloomed in an angry blush of red. She instinctively covered her chest, as Brother Liu Kang and Brother Sun Lu looked away abashedly, at a loss on what to do.

Chen Zixi’s white eyebrows furrowed lethally, like the wings of an eagle.

“Are you all deaf? I said to start stripping!’”

“N-no!” Ying Er cried. Even if she was courting death from defying the orders of a Golden Core cultivator, no men besides the males in her family have ever seen her naked body.

“You think I give a damn about your baby figure and those tiny mosquito bites on your chest?” Chen Zixi opened his eyes again, eyebrows alive with angry killing intent. “If you mess up my formation I’ll transfer your soul to a damn rock, and leave your empty husk behind!”

Ying Er was at a loss for words. Though she was not stellar in beauty, she was proud of her healthy skin and appearance overall. She wasn’t tall, but she was not short either. Her maiden heart took great offense at Chen Zixi’s insulting words.

But as she looked around her, the lights of the array were very close to formulating their vertices. Her heart sank rock bottom as she saw Brother Liu Kang and Sun Lu reluctantly taking off their robes, and even their underskirts until they were buck-naked.

“And fold your damn clothes, I’m not your slave of a mother!”

All the males obeyed, as they folded their robes.

“Bring them over here. Your belongings I’ll hold in my armory, too. Once you leave your realm in the Six Worlds bead, you can take your gear and clothing back.”

Xiao Feng handed his weapons and tools, which were stored in various enchanted bags. He watched Chen Zixi throw them in along with Brother Liu Kang and Sun Lu’s belongings into the depths of his robe.

Xiao Ying was the last one.

“W-what are you looking at?!” she snapped.

“No…nothing,” Brother Liu Kang and Sun Lu blushed, turning away, while they tried to regain their dignity by playing the mature adults and covered Xiao Feng’s eyes.

“The formation will activate soon. Everyone, stand in the glowing circles on the corners.” Chen Zixi said.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Little brat,” he addressed Ying Er. “If you don’t take off your clothes and gear, then step out of the array. I will seriously leave you behind!”

A polygon in a four-sided star shape was slowly beginning to manifest. Xiao Feng, Brother Liu Kang and Brother Sun Lu occupied three points of the formation, timidly covering their crotches in the presence of Ying Er who was put on the spot.

“UGH!” Ying Er screamed. “L-look away!”

All three males turned their heads away from the center of the formation, craning their necks while doing so. They looked absolutely ridiculous.

In a flash, Ying Er took off her clothing. It was the fastest she had ever undressed in her life, as her perky peaches bounced from the violence of her nearly tearing her clothing over her head. Although the time it took for her to take everything down to her silk panties was almost under the span of one breath, for her it felt like the slow time it took an incense stick to burn. She then rolled her clothing into a ball, and she was a white blur as she angrily gave her clothes and belongings to Chen Zixi.

“None of you look! Keep looking away!” she cried, as she quickly ran to her spot in the array, her jaunty rear-end exposed while covering her peaches and her most important place.

Mercifully for her, the formation of the spell array activated just in time.

Xiao Feng felt incredibly weak, as he saw his surroundings grow bigger and bigger. He was shrinking, and saw that his friends were, too. Chen Zixi looked more and more like a giant, as he was clasping his hands and fingers in a single mudra pose, in great concentration.

All sorts of mysterious, esoteric qi coursed through the workings of the array like intricate clockwork. Suddenly, Xiao Feng felt his tiny body that was not even bigger than a rice kernel rise, he felt his tiny, tiny organs vibrate, vertigo assailing his senses as he felt invisibly yanked upwards, and towards Chen Zixi.

He saw all the pores on Chen Zixi’s white-haired face, as he flew closer and closer to the glowing beads on his neck, whose distance apart from each other appeared to the tiny Xiao Feng like the distance between two neighboring villages.

For a brief moment, he swore he could see Brother Liu Kang or Sun Lu flying to his own bead, before he himself was plunged through the glowing depths of his own realm that was part of the Six Worlds necklace.

The realm inside his bead was warm upon entering, giving the sensation of being immersed in a tepid sea, without any actual water. There was absolutely nothing in the realm, however, it was like being in an aquarium the size of a small chamber.

“Don’t get too comfortable in there,” smirked Chen Zixi gruffly.

Chen Zixi’s voice was filtered through the realms of the Six World beads, which made his voice have an omniscient quality but still at a comfortable volume for the cultivators within. From the surface of their beads, they could also see the view from Chen Zixi’s neck, as they watched him perform more rapid incantation signs with his fingers.

“Now, let’s go.”

Chen Zixi manifested a giant spinning top toy from the bottom of his feet. He hopped on the bronze spinning top, then, with a quick spin, teleported out of the area of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Instantly, they traveled one li away. Xiao Feng looked outside of the Six World bead’s surface to observe the thousands of tiny trees and hills below that looked like dots.

As the top began to slow down, they were steadily moving toward the direction of Green Bamboo Valley at the speed of an average mount.

The top twirled rapidly again, and they disappeared in a blur. Xiao Feng saw nothing until his vision revealed that they had teleported another li.

“This isn’t too bad, the teleportation distance is wide,” he thought. “But the increments between Master Chen’s ability to spin the top to teleport are a little…inconsistent. He’s starting to slow down.”

As if reading his mind, Chen Zixi spoke:

“Do you see why I asked for the down payment of spirit stones, Xiao Feng?”

“W-why?” asked Xiao Feng suspiciously.

“My teleportation technique consumes a lot of my qi reserves. It’s great for short distance travel or escaping a battle temporarily, but for traveling to another region like the Green Bamboo Valley, I will have to rest mid-flight while doing so to regain my lost qi. If I had your spirit stones on me right now, I could be refining them mid-flight for fast replenishment and therefore faster teleporting.”

Suddenly, Xiao Feng had a terrible feeling.

“Master Chen,” he said. “Is it true that… you were a demonic cultivator?”

Chen Zixi was silent, Xiao Feng could not see the expression on his face, only the curtain of his translucent white beard. This was also what Brother Liu Kang wanted to tell Chen Zixi before he shut him down with a single glare while starting the spell array.

“So what if I used to be a demonic cultivator? You hired me already. Let me ask you something, Xiao Feng. What made you pick me over that idiot Ling Ke?”

Xiao Feng felt foolish.

The truth is, the vast majority of important decisions people make are mostly influenced by emotions. Ling Ke’s offered benefits were far superior to Chen Zixi’s in every way, but in the end, Xiao Feng ultimately was persuaded by the emotional collective of the crowd, who by the large liked Chen Zixi. He also did not want to admit that a huge bias in his decision-making factor was because Chen Zixi did not call him or master Ji Han the “orphan cultivators” even once.

“Hey!” Ying Er shouted, her voice transmitting clearly through the dimension of the Six World bead. “Xiao Feng doesn’t need a reason to trust someone, he always had good judgment of character.”

“Hehe, you still praise me after I got to see your naked body, little brat?” Chen Zixi chuckled.

Ying Er stifled a choking sound in her throat. She was so mad, she felt like the Golden Core cultivator tricked her, but she could not do anything! She hated this old man with all her guts.

“Master Chen can only do his best until he gets the 100,000 spirit stones,” said Xiao Feng finally.

Chen Zixi laughed, and it was not a kind laugh. “Xiao Feng, you’re not too stupid are you?”

Xiao Feng knew Chen Zixi was honest about his need for spirit stones, while Ling Ke to him felt like he was more concerned with saving face. Based on their separate motivations which drove their actions, Xiao Feng felt like Chen Zixi would work harder, as failing the mission would mean he would not get paid, whereas Ling Ke’s offer of paying for Xiao Feng’s loan, while good, offered Ling Ke a way out by saving face.

“Suppose we get to your master, Xiao Feng, and he’s already dead by the time we arrive,” said Chen Zixi. “Will you not pay me even one spirit stone for my trouble?”

“...” Xiao Feng, even while tiny and naked, bowed his head and cupped his hands. “I’m sorry, Master Chen.”

Chen Zixi was silent. The top spun, and they teleported another li away.

At the same time, Tian Ji Han had already consumed his Soul Overload pill. Their mission had already failed before it had begun.