Ying Lin delicately held the snake in both hands, propping it up in front of her as she walked past the manor's gates and onto the cobbled path toward the servants' huts. Trees swayed overhead, dappling the path with shifting shadows as a light breeze flitted through her hair, but Ying Lin barely noticed. All her attention was focused on her hands, and the precious parcel within. She held the snake carefully, afraid to drop or hurt him. Don't bite me, don't bite me!

Turned around to face her, the snake regarded her quietly, tipping its head. It leaned toward her wrists and flicked its tongue toward her skin. It feathered past, light as a breath.

Ying Lin flinched. “Please don’t bite me.”

Zhubi gently touched his nose to her wrist, then drew away. Intelligent pale-amber eyes watched for her reaction.

Ying Lin blinked. She leaned in, taking a closer look at Zhubi. “Can you… understand me?”

Zhubi bobbed his head.

“Ah! You can? Wow! Are you a fairy snake?”

Zhubi tilted his head, confused.

“You belong to the fairy, right? Xie Hao. So you must be a fairy snake,” Ying Lin explained.

Zhubi tilted his head the other direction.

“Oh, right, he didn’t want me to call him a fairy anymore. The… the doctor. You’re the doctor’s snake, right? So you’re a magic snake,” Ying Lin said, nodding to herself.

Zhubi bobbed up and down. He slithered toward her arm and rested his chin on her wrist again, then gave a pitiable shiver.

“Are you cold? Come here, come here. As long as you won’t bite me,” Ying Lin said.

Zhubi slithered happily up her arm, outside of the sleeve, and settled around her upper arm. He rested his head atop her shoulder and shut his eyes, settling in for a snooze.

Very delicately, Ying Lin stroked his head with the tip of her fingers.

He peeked an eye open. Seeing it was only Ying Lin, he closed it again and relaxed.

The same warmth she felt in the deep forest emanated weakly from Zhubi. Ying Lin glanced at him, curious. Do fairies all feel warm? I don’t remember feeling this from fairy-sir. Er, Benefactor. Xie Hao. Though come to think of it, I haven’t felt it from any of the immortals… Is a fairy the same as an immortal? I should ask Benefactor. He’ll know.

A whoosh of wind caught her ear. Ying Lin turned in time to catch a glimpse of a servant’s uniform before a knife suddenly materialized in the servant’s hand, and she stabbed toward Ying Lin’s neck. Instinctively, Ying Lin drew the warmth from Zhubi into herself and used it to jump back, but it wasn’t enough. The knife sliced toward her. She braced, tensing uselessly.

Zhubi slithered over her body faster than she thought possible. Scales rubbed against her neck. A metallic clang sounded out.

The servant fell back, staring wide-eyed at her broken knife. She looked at the knife, then Ying Lin, then the knife again. “You… how did you…”

Ying Lin waved her hands. “I didn’t do anything! I don’t know—”

Zhubi cocked his head back and spat. Venom splashed into the servant’s face. She wiped desperately at her face, eyes wide. Even as her eyes widened, her pupils dilated. Her movements became sluggish, and she sunk backward.

As the servant’s body thumped to the ground, a heavy blow landed at the back of Ying Lin’s neck. Ying Lin stumbled forward, the pain muted by Zhubi’s scales. Heat burned in her chest and swirled into her arm. She whirled and punched the male servant in the face unhesitatingly, her teeth gritted.

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“Leave me alone! What have I ever done to you, huh?” she demanded, glaring down the male servant.

The male servant backed away, clutching a bloodied nose. He stared at her in disbelief. “You… you cultivate, too?”

“I… huh?” Ying Lin asked. She looked at her fist, then his face. At the sight of blood on her knuckles, she blinked. “I… did that?”

Zhubi hissed up at her happily.

“Oh, right! Thank you, snake-fairy! If you didn’t block, I’d already be dead,” Ying Lin said, gently petting Zhubi.

Overcoming his shock, the man grit his teeth and slashed at Ying Lin again. “You won’t get lucky a second time!”

Before his knife could land, an identical man fell out of the skies and perched atop him, pinning him to the floor. The second man smiled at Ying Lin. “You’re safe? Thank goodness. Thank you, Zhu—”

Ying Lin punched him in the face.

More startled than anything, Hui blinked at her.

Ying Lin stared back ferociously. Then her hand began to smart, then ache, and she gritted her teeth and staggered back, hugging her hand to her. “Ow… ow…”

Hui lifted his arm and used his new sleeve to wipe the blood off his face. Where’d that come from? Ying Lin’s knuckles? I hope I didn’t seriously hurt her when she punched my face…

Ying Lin raised her fists again, scowling fiercely. “Don’t you try to hurt us! I’ll—I’ll punch you again!”

“Ying Lin, it’s me!” Hui said, smiling.

“Li Huang, don’t give me that fake smile! I know it’s you. You just… someone who looked like you just…” Ying Lin caught up to the adrenaline and blinked, taking in Hui and the man he crouched atop. “E-eh?”

Zhubi hissed in joy and uncoiled from Ying Lin’s neck. He leaped across to Hui and settled in around his neck instead.

Ying Lin blinked. She looked at Hui, then peered closer. “Fairy?”

“I’m not a fairy!” Hui snapped.

“Ah, it is you! Xie Hao,” Ying Lin said, smiling.

Hui glanced at the man under him, then reached out to Ying Lin and sent a mote of life qi to her. The bruises on her knuckles instantly healed. “How do you feel? Did they hurt you?”

“They tried to! But your snake saved me,” Ying Lin said, nodding at Zhubi. She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. “But… why were they trying to kill me?”

Hui wrinkled his nose at himself and bowed. “It’s my fault, Elder Sister. Please forgive my incompetence.”

“Huh? No, it’s not as if it’s your fault… is it?” Ying Lin asked, suddenly suspicious.

Hui took a deep breath and began to explain.

Ying Lin’s expression went from incredulous to disbelieving to indignant, and finally she stomped her foot. “Just because you discovered something dangerous, they thought you might have told me, and decided to kill me? What about my parents’ long years of loyalty to the Fu Clan? What about my loyalty? They—Fu Liyu—”

“I don’t think Fu Liyu knew about it,” Hui said gently, trying to lessen the blow.

Ying Lin nodded. “That’s true. They’re keeping all this from Fu Liyu, too, after all.” She drew herself up to her somewhat unimpressive height and took a deep breath, turning to Hui. “What can we do about it? Fair—benefactor, you have the magic. You tell me. Is there anything we can do?”

Hui bit his lip. “Actually… I do have an idea. You can even attend the banquet!”

“Oh! Let’s do it, let’s do it!” Ying Lin said, her eyes glittering.

Glancing at the servants on the ground, then Ying Lin, Hui hesitated. “Er, you should hear out my plan, first.”

Ying Lin shook her head. “Xie Hao, you’re a doctor, right? You know what you’re doing. A mere servant like me can’t comprehend what’s going on in your head.”

Hui looked at her, then frowned. “Ying Lin, don’t compare yourself to me.”

Flustered, Ying Lin backed up. “Huh? I-I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, I—”

“I’m nothing, an iota of dust. Your future should be unimaginably more bright than mine. I’m nothing but a rival you’ll trod on in no time,” Hui said, nodding. Compared to myself, who struggled to break into Qi Gathering and is now a member of a dead sect, Ying Lin, with her heaven-defying cultivation instinct and no baggage of a previous sect allegiance, should truly be able to surpass me easily. She could join All-Heavens Sect tomorrow and have all the resources in the world available to her. In fact, she should! There’s no reason to be beholden to my grudges.

Although… I’d have to ensure All-Heavens Sect wasn’t doing anything to its prime disciples first. Tang Fei was awfully suspicious, with that strange compulsion and the black life-death threads in her body, but Lu Lintei, Ding Qinwen, and Zhi Ahn seemed normal. Then again, I didn’t look at their life-death threads. I can’t be sure.

Next time, I need to check! All-Heavens Sect is extremely suspicious. I feel like there’s something wrong there. Maybe it’s merely my bias because they tried to massacre my sect, but…

Ying Lin blinked at Hui. Abruptly, she asked, “Doctor… are you okay?”

“Eh? I’m perfectly healthy,” Hui replied.

“In the head, I mean,” she said, tapping her temple.

Hui scowled at her. The cheek on this disciple—ahem, servant!