Hui raced toward the death qi. As he drew close, he suppressed his qi, hiding his presence. He raced through the forest, ducking branches and leaves, and in no time, came to the edge of a clearing.

In the clearing, a pair of demonic cultivators battled a half-dozen five-meter-tall red gorillas with snake tails and horse manes. Two of them laid on the ground, already dead. Their death qi coiled through the air, slowly dissipating.

Hui’s eyes glimmered. Aha! I don’t have to kill if I can swoop the loot!

Other cultivators shouldn’t even care about death qi. It’s only vital to death qi cultivators like me!

He sent out a thread of qi, luring the death qi to him. When it drew close, a faint image of a duck lunged out of his second dantian and gobbled down the death qi.

Hui cast a nervous glance at the two combatants. Neither paid any attention to him.

Inching closer, Hui suppressed his qi as hard as he could. When the cultivators killed a beast, he sent out a duck to snatch up the death qi.

The last gorilla-monster fell. The pair of cultivators quickly gathered items from the fallen monsters’ bodies, then dashed off, deeper into the forest.

Hui retreated silently, vanishing into the underbrush. Sitting behind a nearby tree, he inspected his death qi dantian.

Progress! I’m moving toward the peak of Qi Gathering. Much better than stealing ghouls’ death qi, and I don’t have to kill.

Alright! It seems I don’t have to venture too deep. I’ll stay near the front, where it seems there’s lower-level monsters, and take the death qi.

It’s not as if anyone here needs it, after all. It’s free for the taking!

Hui moved quietly, darting through the undergrowth. Death qi rushed into the air again. Turning, he raced off toward it and came upon a bloodied and exhausted cultivator standing over the corpse of a strange bulbous creature, whom Hui couldn’t make heads nor tails of. He gestured, throwing a duck at the creature. It darted out and snatched the death qi from over the exhausted cultivator’s head. He raced off again, chasing through the forest.

The cultivator pivoted. “Who—”

Hui sped up, suppressing his qi by circulating his death qi. Nothing! You saw no one!

Sticking near the entrance, Hui raced around, chasing left and right to swoop up death qi from other cultivator’s kills. Little more than a black blur, he launched his ducks to snatch up extra death qi. A few cultivators noticed him. One or two even attempted to chase him, but whenever they did, Hui circulated his dantian, released his true strength, and blasted into the distance.

Days passed by. Weeks. A month.

A rumor appeared in the Black Asp Sect during that month, a rumor about a strange black blur in the Valley of Beasts. The mysterious blur darted around, watching cultivators fight. It never lent a hand, nor attacked when the cultivators were weak, nor stole items from their kills, but merely appeared, then vanished.

It only pestered those at third realm or below. No one at a higher realm encountered the creature. Those who tried to chase it spoke of its heavenly speed. A few recalled the sound of wings or a faint, strange quack. As time passed, the rumors distilled, solidifying into a myth about a heavenly black duck with unsurpassable speed and a habit of voyeurism.

As time passed, the cultivators startled in the midst of hunting by the black duck, or those who simply wanted to possess such a heavenly creature increased. Hatred and hunger glimmered in their eyes. Slowly, they began to gather together, one thought on their minds—to catch or kill this meddlesome creature!

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Hui sped through the forest, on the lookout for death qi yet again. His second dantian spun along, now well above the second realm. He hummed to himself, pleased. Ah, this small cultivator is a genius! I’ve already reached the second realm again, how impressive! It won’t be long before I can step back into the third realm, even with my second dantian. It’ll be so nice to step into that larger, nicer vertebra, where I won’t have everyone gunning for my head!

Death qi emanated in the near distance. Hui slammed his heel down and pivoted toward it. With a short gesture, he summoned a black duck, which floated over his shoulder as he ran. He hurtled ahead, operating his movement technique.

A second before he burst through a pair of trees, his spine tingled. There’s qi ahead! Hui jumped back.

Black curse marks glowed around the bark of the tree, burning with dark fire. As he retreated, the curse marks fell dim again. Despite the fire, the tree bark remained unharmed.

“I got a reaction! This way!”

“Quickly, encircle that damn duck! I’m having roast duck for dinner tonight!”

“Get that creepy thing, I hate it!”

Eh… duck? Did seniors… somehow mistake this small cultivator for a duck? Flabbergasted, Hui forgot to run for a second, blinking at the voices instead.

“It’s close! Get it!”

A pair of thick ropes lashed at him through the trees. Hui backhanded them away. One bounced off, but the other coiled around his wrist, as if alive. Brandishing his wind talisman, he pointed it at the rope just past his wrist. A wind blade sliced through the rope. Hui jumped back.

Leaves rushed. A net leaped at him from behind. Even as it fell, it twisted, twining to enclose him.

Hui fired off another wind talisman, but it only puffed into the net, slowing its fall. Hui darted back, firing a wood talisman into the space he’d been. The wood shaped into a rough approximation of a human body. The net twined tightly around the wood, binding it up.

“I think I’ve got it!”

“It cut my rope? How powerful is this duck?”

Now isn’t the time to daydream! Run, Hui! Whirling, he blasted off into the forest. Afraid of the consequences lest he be caught, he abandoned his death qi to sprint off with the full power of his cultivation base.

Over his shoulder, he tossed the death duck. It flew off, flaring its wings to rush off after the distant death qi.

“Three-hundred-year spirit beast? No wonder it’s so powerful!”

“That’s too bad. We’ve brought Brother Hong Xue! He’ll catch that damn duck in no time!”

Leaves rustled. A blaze of dark robes rushed past Hui. He braced himself, then drew out his talismans.

“Don’t resist,” a familiar voice demanded.

“Eh?” Hui said, startled.

A strong hand wrapped around his waist. Not sure what to do, Hui went limp. Swooping him up, the cultivator flew deeper into the forest.

“Nothing over here! Check by the curse mark again. I’ll check this way, just to be sure!” the mysterious cultivator shouted. Even as he shouted, he zoomed away.

"Are you sure? I felt its aura over there!" one of the cultivators shouted back.

Behind them, the faint shadows of chasing cultivators drew closer. Hui tossed a death duck toward them. It flew off, flaring its wings to rush off after the distant death qi. Moving quickly, he summoned another three and threw them off in random directions. That should throw them off the scent!

“Wait, I see it!”

“Who needs Hong Xue? I’ll catch it myself!”

"Over here! I found it!"

The cultivators scattered into the forest, chasing after Hui’s duck projections.

Hui stared up at the man’s face. Long red hair blew on the breeze, and he wore all red, dark, somber maroon touched at the tips with brilliant crimson. Still, there’s no mistaking it. This is… He cast his eyes over the jade-beauty-like features, the unsurpassable handsomeness that edged on delicate beauty without ever quite reaching it. “Bai Xue?”

Bai Xue glanced down. A mischievous light twinkled in his eye, and he lifted a finger to his lips. “Hong Xue.”

“How… why…” Weren’t the demonic cultivators trying to kidnap Bai Xue? Now that he’s regained his fourth-realm cultivation, and he isn’t freshly ascended to the fourth realm, I suppose it wouldn’t be so easy for the demonic cultivators, but the same risk is there!

“I could ask you the same. You’re lucky I recognized that ghoul-skin of yours. It looks nicer, did you clean it?”

Hui sighed. That’s fair, I suppose. “Someone refined it for me.”

“Who?”

“Fa Chuyou.”

Bai Xue made a face. “That’s… she’s a bit much, even for me.”

Hui frowned at him. “There was nothing weird about it. She refined it normally. Normally! It’s like pill cultivation, not dual cultivation.”

“Sure, sure.” Bai Xue smirked.

Hui glared at him.

Bai Xue cleared his throat. “I haven’t found anything! I think it’s slipped away. Good luck, everyone else.”

With that, he flew off on his fan, still carrying Hui alongside him.