Hui climbed to his feet and brushed down his robes. He glanced around, then stepped forward toward the stone eye. It stretched two meters tall, wide enough for a man to squeeze through at the narrowest points. Following a strange instinct, he poked the eye in the pupil. The pupil separated from the iris and sank into the stone, then the iris, then the sclera, the three telescoping inward. A heavy thunk rang out, and the three stone slabs rolled to the side, revealing a narrow passageway.

Eyeing the narrow vertical slit, Hui snorted. I’m glad Bai Xue isn’t here. I’m sure he’d have something to say about this… shape I’m walking into.

The passage descended into the earth, still the same eye-shape. It grew damp as he descended into the earth. A bloody scent wafted on the air, growing stronger.

Hui put his face in his hands. This… Ahhh, if I was a mere ordinary cultivator, and didn’t have a modern education, maybe this would be acceptable, but… but…

Senior! Ancestor who built this space! Why did you build such a concerning passage? Was it meant to be intimidating? Frightening? But it only looks like—it looks like—

Hui calmed his breathing and settled his mind. Keep on moving, Hui. Don’t look too closely. This ancestor… maybe they preserved their purity. Innocence is nothing to be ashamed of. Yes, yes, it’s this small cultivator who is at fault.

The passage wound to an end, opening into a vast cavern beyond. In the center of the cavern, a tall pillar supported the ceiling. Two stubby, plump, shorter pillars flanked the base of the tall pillar.

Hui sighed, facepalming. Ancestor…

A small shape flickered ahead of him. Blood mist blew on the breeze. It congealed momentarily into the boy, racing away from him toward a shelf at the far end of the cavern, only to dissipate once more.

Furrowing his brows, Hui approached. That shelf…

The same shelf. The same red gems. Again, the gem in his storage ring vibrated, desiring to join the other gems.

A voice whispered in Hui’s mind. “Don’t hesitate, boy. Take the gems. Release their power.”

Hui stopped dead, a hand over his storage ring. That voice is the same one that sounded before the eye tried to take over my mind. Those gems eat my qi and longevity. I’d be a fool to get any closer! I don’t know what that voice wants, but I know it isn’t to help me.

Red light poured from the far wall. Hui turned away, but the light burned all around him, brilliantly crimson. The voice howled, suddenly furious. “Give it to me! That cultivation—it’s you again, isn’t it? Hand it over! Fooling me twice is too much already. There won’t be a third time! Hand me your body!”

“There’s been a mistake! I’ve never met ancestor before!” Hui replied, backing away. He covered his eyes to block out as much of the red light as he could and prepared to kill his qi.

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“I don’t care! Your body is mine!”

Force wrapped around Hui’s body and drew him toward the shelf. Hui went limp, playing dead, but the force drew him inevitably closer. Bursting back to life, Hui reached for his storage ring. The talisman—I have to use that technique!

Meters from the shelf, the force suddenly stopped. Hui stumbled, surprised to find himself back under his own control. The red light faded.

“You’re lucky this time, punk. Someone stronger showed up. Next time you come by, that body is mine!”

Someone stronger? Hui frowned. Who else is in this zone with me?

Bai Xue and Huang Muwen!

“Wait, Senior! Where—who…”

A scoff echoed through the cave. “You don’t qualify to ask,” the voice replied, fading away as it spoke.

A chill crawled over the back of Hui’s neck. Is this an inheritance realm at all? Or is it some powerful, ancient cultivator’s attempt to transfer into a new body?

Bai Xue forced Zhang Zhou to give him his inheritance key. If I was Zhang Zhou… Cursing under his breath, Hui sped up.

As he approached, the shelf wavered. When he was a step away, it vanished entirely, revealing another glowing vertical red eye. The red light rushed at him again, but before it could fully activate, Hui dropped to the floor, dead. The light passed over him. Beams searched the air. They played over Hui’s body.

The new eye in his soul shuddered as the light passed over his forehead, so subtly even Hui didn’t notice. It absorbed the light and strengthened, as if baptized by the red light.

The beams hesitated on Hui’s forehead for a moment, then moved on. At last, the light faded away, revealing the stone behind the glow.

The red light doesn’t necessarily contain will. It’s more like an automatic attack and alarm that can alert the cultivator who made this, rather than a conscious attack this ancestor makes, Hui realized.

He shoved the stone eye’s pupil. It retracted, and another passageway appeared, continuing to slope into the earth. Hui raced down it at top speed. Every second matters!

The passage split into two, and Hui froze, split by indecision.

Left, or right? I have no idea how far this inheritance zone goes, or where Bai Xue is in it. I don’t have time to explore the entire zone! He put a hand to his chin, thinking. I don’t have any scouting talismans…

No, wait! The ducks—sometimes I can see through their eyes! The Death Duck Scouting Technique… or something like that! He closed his eyes and reached out to his death dantian.

Unlike his ordinary dantian, where qi rotated on its own, the death qi in his dantian sat placidly, barely turning. It collected in the bottom half of his dantian and spun horizontally. Tiny ducks swam on the death qi, formed of the same black material. As if feeling Hui’s gaze on them, a few ducks turned and looked at him, black eyes glittering in the dim gray light.

Hui gestured. A handful of ducks lifted off his dantian and flocked out of him. They soared ahead, vanishing into the passageways. He crouched at the intersection, head bowed, waiting.

An image of Bai Xue flashed into his mind. Red light saturated the image. Bai Xue turned. His red hair flowed from his temples, his red robes swirled, and his eyes glowed with shocking red light. He clutched a red gem in one hand, and the light refracted off it, glowing nearly as brilliantly as from his eyes.

Huang Muwen laid on the ground nearby. A vicious gash opened his chest. Blood poured down his robes. Pale-faced, he clutched a hand over his wound and gaped at Bai Xue, blood trickling down his chin. He said something, but the words vanished, unable to be transmitted by the duck.

No! It can’t be too late. I won’t let it be too late!

The image faded from his eyes, but the path the duck took remained. Outlined in black in his mind, it vanished down the passage to the right and out of sight. Hui leaped up and sprinted off, chasing after the duck. “Bai Xue, hold on! I’m coming!”