Hui stepped through the door and into light. He stood in a small room, boxed in on all sides by glowing walls.

A sword instantly thrust at his neck.

Startled, Hui toppled backward. He didn’t fall very far; only into Jin Xian’s arms. She caught him numbly, face blank.

Oh, shit! Hui’s eyes widened. The blade slashed through his neck.

Motes of light burst around him. The blade passed through harmlessly through his body.

“Eh?” Hui asked, looking at his hands. He touched his neck, brows furrowing.

Xi Guanxi scowled at him. He withdrew his blade, but his eyes still burned with killing intent. “As soon as we leave this trial realm, your head is mine.”

“Elder Brother, there must be a mistake,” Hui said, putting his hands up.

“A mistake? Are you telling me you didn’t kill my brother? Telling me you didn’t imbue Xi clan’s secret puppet arts into that corpse?” Xi Guanxi growled.

Hui swallowed. He waved his hands. “Eh? Ah… it must be a coincidence?”

Xi Guanxi’s face twisted in rage. He slashed out at Hui again. Again, his blade lashed through Hui’s body harmlessly, except for motes of light bursting around Hui and the blade.

“What an idiot. You didn’t learn you can’t hurt him yet? Did your brain turn to wood like those beloved puppets of yours?” Bai Xue mocked.

“We don’t use wood for puppets,” Xi Guanxi growled. He narrowed his eyes at Bai Xue. “After I kill this child, I’ll claim the two of you as fresh puppets.”

Bai Xue rolled his eyes. “You’d expect someone at the fourth stage to understand jokes… ah, is your comprehension lacking?”

Xi Guanxi’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Correct choice, Elder Brother! Don’t engage Bai Xue in a duel of tongues… ahhh, that’s something this small cultivator is never going to say aloud! Hui cried internally.

Hui cut his eyes around the group. Aside from himself, all the other three were accompanied by massive snakes. Black coils piled upon black coils, long, low bodies stretching to the horizon. He swallowed and licked his lips, glancing at his own snake, small enough to fit in his hand. Ah… did this small cultivator make a huge mistake?

Bai Xue edged over. “Hui, what happened to your snake? The one from the realm.”

Hui silently opened his hand, giving Bai Xue a peek.

“Ah,” Bai Xue said, raising his eyebrows.

Beside Bai Xue, a pale girl with a calm expression turned her gaze on Xi Guanxi, ignoring both Bai Xue and Hui. Rather than having skin pale enough to be taken for jade, her skin had a smooth, hard sheen to it as if it was literally jade. A face like a porcelain doll’s, smooth and delicate, sported small dark eyes that narrowed faintly in disgust. She turned her head away, refusing to look at Xi Guanxi.

“Don’t look down on me, Liu Baozhai. You wouldn’t even be in this sect if your father didn’t have an in with the Sect Master,” Xi Guanxi snarled.

Liu Baozhai’s eye twitched, but her expression didn’t change.

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“Don’t bully the beauty because you’re jealous,” Bai Xue sighed, shaking his head.

“Jealous? Of that waste? As if.” Xi Guanxi rolled his eyes.

A loud hiss burst through their conversation. The glowing box opened, revealing the sky. Below, black earth spread in all directions. Most startlingly of all, a huge snake slithered over the land. Hui gaped. That’s at least as large as the skeleton from Black Asp Sect. In fact… it’s nearly identical in size! Is that… the ancestor spirit snake that forms Black Asp Sect, back when it was still alive?

“Indeed,” a haughty voice declared. All four of them gazed up. Above them, a woman with long black hair gazed down at them from an obsidian throne. She wore short black robes of a shiny fabric, coated in shiny black scales, that clearly revealed her legs and arms, the neckline low enough to show both shoulders and cleavage. Her body emanated fierce fluctuations, so fierce that even though she clearly suppressed her cultivation base, sweat still broke out on Hui’s forehead. The body and legs of the throne were carved with extremely realistic snakes that crawled whenever Hui moved his eyes away. He snapped his eyes back, only to find the snakes as still as stone. An illusion? Or is it just… the force of her qi casting auspicious effects into the world?

Golden eyes with slit pupils swept over the four of them. The haughty woman laughed. “Only four this year? It seems that the sect continues to decline since that upstart took over. Come here, little snakelets. Let me get a better look at you.”

The woman flicked her sleeve. An enormous power gripped their bodies and lifted them into the sky. The power paralyzed Hui. He was helpless to resist. From the expression on Xi Guanxi’s face, the others faced the same difficulty.

The woman licked her lips, her pink tongue flitting flirtatiously out of her mouth. Beside Hui, Bai Xue visibly swallowed.

Hui cut his eyes at Bai Xue, a disapproving look on his face.

Bai Xue caught the look and smirked, raising his eyebrows at Hui.

“A pure yang cultivator? How curious. I thought I ate all of you,” the woman purred, narrowing her eyes.

“Senior, if this Junior could be so bold, there are more pleasurable things to be done with pure yang than merely eating,” Bai Xue said earnestly, as if he wasn’t flirting but honestly offering some kind of fresh technique to the woman.

Flirting with this ancestor? Bai Xue, are you insane? Hui shouted silently.

The woman’s eyes narrowed even further, all the way to slits. She hissed, low in her throat. “Junior should indeed take care not to be too bold.”

“Then… should Junior take it that I haven’t crossed the line yet?” Bai Xue asked, sweeping his gaze over the woman’s body.

“Do you know who I am?” the woman asked, her voice icy cold.

“The ancestor Black Asp of Black Asp sect,” Bai Xue said.

The woman’s eyes flickered, somewhere between fury and amusement.

“Er, if, if ancestor would bestow your glorious name upon these small cultivators, we would be eternally grateful,” Hui said. He tried to bow, but the energy locked him in place.

She waved her hand dismissively. “You unworthy ones can call me Hei She. Now… for my amusement, you’ll fight to the death. The surviving child may escape alive.”

“Surviving… child?” Hui asked, gulping. Don’t make me fight Xi Guanxi and Bai Xue! I don’t want to die! Let me out, let me out! I want to live a good, happy life, why did no one mention that only one could escape?

Bai Xue’s eyes flashed. “If you recognize us as worthy, then you’ll have no problem with us leaving, correct?”

“Correct. So far, however, you’ve been disappointments. All except…” Her eyes panned over the group, then settled on Hui.

Xi Guanxi’s eyebrows shot up so far they nearly flew off his face. Liu Baozhai frowned faintly. The most puzzled of all, Bai Xue stared Hui in the face. “But… his snake is tiny!”

“Hmph. You dare question this ancestor?”

“Of course not! I wouldn’t dream of it,” Bai Xue replied smoothly.

Xi Guanxi glowered at Hui. “Release us. Let us fight.”

Hei She snorted. “As you wish.” She waved her hand. The power that gripped the four of them drew them down to the black earth far below. Hei She watched from above. She leaned her head against her hand, bored already.

“Stay out of my fight. That trash belongs to me,” Xi Guanxi snarled, glaring at Hui.

Bai Xue shrugged. “Take him.”

Hui cast him a despairing glance. Bai Xue!

Liu Baozhai gave no response at all, but her eyes burned a hole in Bai Xue.

“Anyone who slays a member of Xi Clan will die at my hand,” Xi Guanxi declared.

Hui glanced around. Jin Xian flew down alongside him, her face impassive. Hui gestured, looping his qi around Jin Xian and drawing her closer. He patted his neck, then his robes, quietly slipping some talismans out of his ring and into his robes instead, flicking one or two up his sleeves. He gave Xi Guanxi a nervous look and bowed again. “Elder Brother, please go easy on me.”

“We aren’t trading pointers. You will die here,” Xi Guanxi declared.

Hui furrowed his brows in determination. “I refuse!”