Rewind time to the moment Hui split off into all directions.

An illusion replaced the sword under his feet. Hui summoned the sword into his hand behind his back. Moving quickly, he strapped the lotus pod with the reeds wrapped around it to the sword and released it. Gu Tian’s sword fell toward the ground, a lotus pod strapped to its hilt.

“Gu Tian, go,” Hui whispered.

Gu Tian’s sword flew low to the ground under its own power, not attached to Hui’s cultivation at all. In the chaos of the illusion, unless someone specifically looked for a flying sword, no one would notice a single flying sword. Even if one of his opponents locked onto his qi, they wouldn’t notice the sword. Flying on Gu Tian’s power, it remained completely unattached to Hui, untraceable back to his qi. The lotus seed pod, likewise, was wrapped in the reed shoes. Any hint of Hui’s qi was completely hidden.

Hui turned and fled. Immediately, Gui Delun turned and followed him. Hui snorted under his breath. I was right. He does have a way to track my qi.

It would work, if this small Hui was an ordinary cultivator… but unfortunately, this Hui is too prepared to play dead!

He crystalized himself and rushed off. Hui shot a short glance toward Jin Xian and confirmed she was playing dead, then drew the red gem full of blood qi from his storage ring. Hui gazed at it for a moment, remembering when he’d found it, deep in the blood mist secret realm in Black Asp Sect. He reached inside and drew out the soul with the melted face, extracting it from behind the life qi bird that had it backed into the corner. The second it escaped the gem, it rushed at Hui, immediately attempting to possess his body.

Hui let it. He dropped out of his body and fell to the earth.

The red soul possessed his body and frowned at him, confused, and in the next moment, Gui Delun leaped at it. Startled, the red soul activated the talismans in Hui’s fist, but to no avail. Gui Delun’s fist shattered Hui’s crystallized body.

Realizing it had been duped, the red soul howled, taking to the sky. Gui Delun harrumphed and grabbed it, extinguishing it.

While the red soul distracted Gui Delun, Hui darted after his fleeing sword and sank into the lotus seed pod. He curled his soul into the gap in the life qi, but then realized his mistake. The lotus seed pod was still exhausted after the last time he’d used it, mere hours ago. It still had life qi, but not enough to grow a new body immediately. It had to rest and gather life qi anew before it could regrow its body.

I guess I haven’t used the lotus beast this quickly in succession… and I’m always there to fill it with life qi, if I need to. Hui squirmed, impatient, but forced his breath to calm. The reaper isn’t coming after me. Starbound Sect… whether they’re dead or trapped in the soul transferal formation, there’s nothing I can do now. The dice have been rolled. The rice is cooked. Even if I was there, there’s nothing I could do to change a single thing.

Right now, All-Heavens Sect is surely keeping an eye on the sect to make sure no one returns home or suddenly hops up and runs off. I can’t fight off All-Heavens Sect on my own. What I need to do is give it time. Wait for everything to cool off. Once it cools off, and my body regrows… I can return, and see what remains.

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Even if everyone is dead, I won’t allow it to stay that way. No matter what, I’ll find a way to bring everyone in the sect back to life. I walk the path of life qi and death qi simultaneously. If my realm isn’t high enough now to free them from the formation or bring them back to life, I’ll cultivate until I can. I refuse to give up. Xixing, Sis Mei, I’m coming back for you. Don’t give up!

Fast forward.

Hui climbed out of the lotus pod and sat on the edge for a moment, looking around. After a second, he took a deep breath and hopped out into the world. “It’s been long enough. Everyone thinks I’m dead. I should go back and see what’s happened to the sect. See if everyone’s…”

The words choked in his throat. Hui licked his lips, unable to finish the sentence. He turned to the horizon and swallowed, then gestured. Gu Tian’s sword rose out of the ground, easily five times as long as Hui stood tall. He clambered up onto it and looked toward the sect, then hesitated. His head turned. “My body…”

In the end, it was crystalized, then shattered. If it’s still in its crystal form, isn’t it theoretically possible to put it back together, and use the plant mode to heal it?

In the end, I’m rather fond of my body. I don’t want to lose it.

Hui’s eyes widened. “Zhubi! What happened to—”

A huge tongue flicked over Hui’s face. He turned, and found himself face to face with a silly upturned nose nearly as large as his face. He laughed aloud and threw himself at Zhubi, wrapping the snake in a big hug. “Zhubi!”

The snake wiggled happily and flicked his tongue at Hui again.

Ah, I should have known. When it comes to playing dead, Zhubi is the master, and I am but the student! He was playing dead for centuries before I came along. My first playing-dead technique came from him! Of course he survived. Hui smiled and rubbed Zhubi’s head happily. Hopping off his sword, he sat on Zhubi’s head instead, and the snake slithered along. Hui had his sword follow after them, floating along at his shoulder height. Given his current size, the sword cut through the grass ahead of their passing, leaving a narrow corridor through the grasslands.

“…” Gu Tian’s soul in the sword remained silent, his eyes fixed to the horizon. I know Hui isn’t one for swordfighting, but I never thought my sword would be used to cut grass…

A boulder of crystal rose up before them. Hui hopped off Zhubi and ran the last few paces over to the boulder. Peering all over it, he nodded. “This… is definitely a piece of me.” And still crystalized, how fortunate! Maybe I really can reconstruct my body, after all. Gesturing, he went to store the piece in his storage ring.

Nothing happened.

Hui pressed his lips together and raised his hands, looking at the tiny, empty limbs, completely devoid of jewelry. Right. I don’t have my storage ring. I left that on my body. Closing his eyes, he settled into a meditative stance and reached out to his storage ring, searching for any fluctuations of his qi or any sign of the branding mark he’d left on it.

In the distance, he felt a vague resonance. Hui hopped back on Zhubi and pointed the way ahead. Zhubi slithered through the grass, following after the sword. They passed pieces of crystallized Hui along the way, and Hui quietly marked them with his energy for later.

Come to think of it, Elder Sister Reaper didn’t come to bother me when I left my body this time. Did something happen? Was she busy?

Er… actually… if something happened, wouldn’t it be… me trapping the souls of the entire sect in a soul transferal formation, and then running away? Could it be… did I create my own smokescreen against the reaper for hiding my soul in the lotus seed?

Hui lifted his eyebrows, lips pressed together, then shook his head. No, no, I mean—aha, of course! The secret plan! I’ve done it! All according to plan.

Ah, well… in truth, it’s more likely that I’m safe from the reaper as long as I’m possessing a body. After all, it’s not like clones are disallowed in this world. That the reaper didn’t show up when I swapped into the lotus pill seed might have been because of my stunt back in the sect, but she would have caught up with me by now if she had a problem with me body-swapping.

Zhubi peered back at Hui and tilted his head slightly.

Hui grabbed onto Zhubi’s scales and laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m fine, I’m fine.”

Silver light caught his eye. Hui stood up on Zhubi’s head, staring ahead. His eyes widened. My storage ring! I found it!