Chasing after Huang Muwen, Hui and Bai Xue leaped into the valley. Bai Xue brought up the rear, leaving Hui safely encapsulated between the two. For his part, Hui transferred a few talismans into his robes. The high-level talisman he left in his storage ring, unwilling to risk losing it in the inheritance realm.

Howling red mists closed in around them. Strange shapes flickered through the mists. Large shadows loomed, only to dissipate into harmless waves of mist. Sharp edges rushed at them, then pulled back, fading into nothing. Hui tried not to let his eyes wander, but trained them ahead. There’s nothing in the mist. As long as I follow Huang Muwen, I’m in no danger.

“Follow me closely. A second-realm cultivator like yourself shouldn’t be here at all. If you aren’t careful, you’ll lose your life before you even reach the inheritance realm,” Huang Muwen cautioned, shouting to be heard over the whirling mist.

“This small cultivator understands. Elder Brother, please lead with confidence. This small cultivator will be right behind you,” Hui assured him.

Huang Muwen nodded. “Hong Xue?”

“Right here. Look at you, checking in on us. Ah, I said so, isn’t Huang Muwen a good man?” Bai Xue said, grinning.

Huang Muwen scowled. “Hong Xue, you…”

“Too good for this small demonic sect. Huang Muwen, you should come with me,” Bai Xue declared.

“Come with you? Where are you going? Are you planning to leave the sect?” Huang Muwen asked.

“Mmm, I’m planning to form a hare—sect of my own. You’re a good man. Someone I’d like to have in my harem….sect. I think I’ll call it… Bai Sect,” Bai Xue said.

Hui coughed, trying not to choke. Bai Xue! Your evil intentions!

“Ah? No need to cough, little Hao. You’re always welcome in my Bai Sect,” Bai Xue said evenly, tossing him a wink.

Hui narrowed his eyes at him. “This small cultivator… was already aware.”

“Oh, were you? I could’ve sworn you weren’t.”

“I have my own… ambitions.”

Bai Xue scoffed. “Then act on them, you fool.”

Huang Muwen looked from one of them to the other, flabbergasted. “Are… the both of you openly discussing breaking out of the sect? Isn’t that a violation of the sect rules?”

Bai Xue waved his hand. “We’re demonic cultivators. If we don’t break the rules, we’re practically righteous cultivators.”

Huang Muwen hesitated. He frowned, then nodded, as if Bai Xue had said something reasonable.

“Don’t fall into his pace, Elder Brother. You’ll never escape,” Hui sighed.

A child’s laugh sounded out through the howling mist. Hui whipped around, eyes wide. That… could it be?

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The ever-shifting blood mist undulated before him, thick as a curtain. If any children ran in its depths, the mist obscured them.

Bai Xue and Huang Muwen chatted along. Children’s laughter kept ringing in Hui’s ears, always from the left. He rubbed his ears, but it didn’t fade. Steadily, it grew louder.

At last, he couldn’t bear it anymore. “Elder Brother, is that normal?”

Bai Xue and Huang Muwen fell silent. Huang Muwen furrowed his brows. “Is… what normal?”

“The laughter,” Hui said.

The other two exchanged a glance. Bai Xue frowned. “What laughter?”

It sounded again, closer than ever. “That laughter!” Hui said, frustrated.

Bai Xue shook his head. “I hear nothing, Hui.”

He stared out into the mist. The child’s laughter sounded in his ear, so close he almost felt it. “Nothing?”

A shape loomed out of the blood mist. Indistinct at first, it formed into a child, a young boy. A young boy with short hair hanging straight to his shoulders, vicious eyes, and a bloodsmeared face. He looked at Hui and laughed mockingly, voice deeper than before, then turned and ran into the mist.

The boy from the estate! The one in the illusion!

In Hui’s storage ring, the blood-red gem pulsed, resonating. He felt its aura surge even through the storage ring, wishing to follow the apparition of the boy!

Hui hesitated, then took a short breath. Zhu Diyu said this gem still had karma with me. Cultivation is about taking risks. This boy, this gem, there’s still more to it! If I don’t take this chance now, will I ever get a chance like this again? Will fate ever line up for me? I can’t forsake this!

Still, he moved with caution, brushing at the mist with his fingertips. To the left of where the boy had vanished, the mist bit at his fingers. To the right, the same. Where the boy had vanished, the mist remained harmless.

Hui’s eyes widened. This… I can’t ignore this! He plunged into the mist.

The mist didn't close in on him or tear him apart. Around him, narrowly, the mist remained safe.

Ahead of him, the boy glanced over his shoulder. He grinned, then turned and ran deeper into the mist.

“Hui!” Bai Xue shouted, eyes wide.

“Don’t be a fool!” Huang Muwen added.

“I have to go! There’s—something calling me!” Hui shouted back. He ran ahead, chasing the boy.

“Xiao—Xie Hao! Don’t be stupid!” Bai Xue called.

“Stop! You can’t go after him, Hong Xue! He—he should already be dead!” Huang Muwen replied.

“Let go!”

Hui turned back. “I’m fine, B-Hong Xue! Go ahead! I’ll see you on the other side!”

The sound of Bai Xue’s cursing faded behind him. He rushed on, through the blood mist. The thick scent of copper swirled in his nose, thicker out here than it had been following the path Huang Muwen forged. This must not be a path many people take!

Ahead of him, the blood-mist boy raced on. His body shimmered, sometimes real, sometimes illusory, fading in and out of the mist. Behind Hui, the blood mist closed, becoming fierce again. It tore at the hems of his robe and the back of his ghoul-skin’s hair, clawing away bits with a vicious hunger. He pushed himself faster, chasing the boy, but the faster he went, the faster the boy ran. He slowed, but the boy continued to race away, and the mist surged, clawing hungrily at his back. Hui startled and ran on once more, pushing himself to his limit.

Still the boy ran faster. Hui operated his movement technique, abandoning his disguise to use the full power of his true cultivation base. He swapped between death qi and qi, using the illusory step of the Pond-Reflecting-Moon Waltz to grow closer to the boy. Yet, even within the frozen moment, the boy chased away from him, not slowed a single step.

Hui panted, his breath coming short. I can’t keep this up much longer. If it accelerates much more, I—

The boy stopped ahead of him. Hui’s eyes widened. He sped his pace, chasing down the boy.

He lunged, grabbing at the blood-mist apparition. “I’ve got you!”

The second his arms closed around the boy, he vanished. Behind him, the blood mist continued to eat up the path.

Hui’s eyes flew wide. He stumbled ahead another few steps, carried by his momentum. May a thousand mud-grass horses trample you, you traitorous small child! It’s a demonic sect, I should have expected it, and yet! Ahh, I can’t even play dead to escape the blood mist—

His foot slammed down onto a stone. A bright red light burst up and enveloped him, and Hui vanished.