Hui’s mind surged into the tree. Golden light swirled around him. For a moment, the impression of leaves and trees flew past, and then he hung above, high in the sky. He saw himself sitting under the tree, the other disciples arrayed around him, all struggling to gain enlightenment of his technique. Hui paused for a moment. Maybe I should have let Ying Lin stay here. Gain enlightenment of this inheritance.

No, no. It’s an enlightenment that attempts to turn people into trees… er, attempts to turn plant people into trees. I have no idea if humans can obtain enlightenment from it, and even if they can… what if it turns them into trees?

Eh, come to think of it… why don’t I let a few of the Fu Clan members in, let them find out?

From his vantage point on high, Hui surveyed the gathered crowd. Ah… none of the conspirators are here. Based on Fu Suyin’s reaction to Mo Gonglu, I don’t think the whole Fu Clan is in on the conspiracy. Rather than punishing evil, I’d just be tricking some ordinary cultivators into potentially killing themselves. I’m not demonic, after all.

Gold light surrounded Hui and drew him away. The scene below faded to nothing, blocked out by the brilliant light. He ascended into a gold world, surrounded by golden light and nothing.

Hmm, okay. Well… maybe there’s no other connections yet? Like if I put up a router without an internet to connect to—

“Clone six!”

“Clone six, yay!”

“What, there’s a sixth one now?”

“Six clones awake!”

“Six out of twenty ain’t bad.”

Hui paused, then cleared his throat. “Er, should it be seven? First clone is with me.”

Five other Huis appeared around him, although none looked exactly the same. In fact, except for the mental familiarity he felt to them, he could have mistaken them for strangers. All of them wore different faces and robes, not a two alike.

“I told you we forgot about first clone.”

“He didn’t connect to the net-tree, he doesn’t count.”

“Treework.”

“Intertree!”

The recently dubbed sixth clone cleared his throat again. “They’re all terrible, we know that.”

Silence. The clones nodded. “Well, that’s true.”

Sixth clone looked around. “Update me. What’s everyone doing?”

One clone raised his hand. “I’m spreading rumors of a miracle doctor. Hoping All-Heavens Sect will pick up on it and try to recruit me as a life qi specialist.”

Sixth clone nodded. Makes sense. Anything to find out more about All-Heavens Sect. Ultimately, I need to destroy them in order to reinstate Starbound Sect, since I doubt they’ll allow Starbound Sect to peacefully return.

“All-Heavens Sect is recruiting rogue cultivators. I’m going to join and figure out why. They might be trying to find Starbound Sect’s stragglers… or just clean up the strays,” another clone volunteered. “My objective is to join up with the stragglers, or at least find out why they need rogue cultivators.”

“Be careful. Even if we’re clones, we should still cling to life. If we become complacent and give up on faking death—”

The clone waved his hand. “Of course, of course. We’ve all said the same. Don’t worry, my desire to remain alive is as strong as any of us!”

“I’m finding Li Xiang! Me and him,” the next clone said, pointing at the clone beside him.

“Lan Taijian sent her somewhere he considered safe. I’m wandering the sects to find her, and he’s searching the wilds,” the other clone added.

The final clone yawned. “I blended in as a mortal. Right now, I’m on a journey back to our birthplace. We made a promise to pay that woman back, and right now, it’s a knot in our karma that we need to unwind.”

“It’s low priority, but we do need to do it,” sixth clone agreed. I didn’t realize how long I’d put it off for. It’s only been a decade or so, but much longer, and she might die. If she didn’t leave any other descendants, I’d be unable to unravel that knot forever.

…And besides, it’s the right thing to do. That lady put us on the path of cultivation. We owe her our thanks. And a debt!

Oh, wait, can I pay off a debt? I can finally pay off a debt! For the first time ever, completely pay it off! Hui’s eyes glittered.

“Ah, you figured it out,” the last clone said with a smile. He clapped Hui on the shoulder. “We’re one person, in the end.”

“And you?” The other clones looked to the newcomer.

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“I’ve found a soul-based array stuck to another cultivator that has hints of Chen Wuya’s workings in it. Even if I’m mistaken about that, it’s still another soul array. It should provide hints about how to reverse the array that binds our sect.

“As for first clone, he’s studying the array itself. We found an unused immortal’s cave, and he’s sequestered himself inside while I wander out to study the array,” he explained.

The others nodded. “Good. We need to figure out that array. To tell the truth, we all looked for any sort of soul array, and we still are looking, but none of us had found much of a lead yet.”

“I am wandering the mortal world, after all,” one of the clones replied.

“And I’m out in the wilds.”

“It’s not like righteous sects do a lot of soul-working, and I’m not about to deliver myself directly into the maw of Black Asp Sect. Besides, Lan Taijian wouldn’t have delivered Li Xiang to a demonic sect, especially not one led by an outcast from Starbound Sect that bears a grudge.”

“Unlike yourself, I’ve made a name for myself as a curer of physical ailments, not soul-based issues.”

“All-Heavens Sect probably has some secret soul arrays somewhere, but they aren’t going to show them to a bunch of rogue cultivator recruits.”

“So… how does all this work, anyways?” Hui asked, gesturing around himself. Sixth clone, Hui… eh, whatever. I’ll call myself Hui for now. It’s all the same.

One of the clones stepped forward. He wore green-and-gold robes and a gold crown. Hui flicked his eyes over him, matching him to his task. He’s the one spreading rumors of a miracle healer. He does look the part, much moreso than the humble doctor I am.

“We appear to all have our own consciousnesses. However, I can sense you, and you can sense me, right? Our mental energy, our qi… all identical. It’s our hypothesis that we will recombine into one upon death. At will, we can merge minds… it’s useful when there’s a lot to share with one another.”

“What about limited resources? Death qi, life qi?”

“We each have a limited allotment of the total. We can grow it independently of one another, but if we merge, the distribution becomes even again. Found that out the hard way and lost a lot of my hard-earned life qi,” the miracle-worker grumbled.

“I appreciated the boost. My poor little clone life was almost ended by a tiger, you know? The damn thing shredded me for the fun of it, even after I played dead! Too many mortals around to fight back… and then they came back and buried me. I had to play completely dead for a week! Anyways, I needed that life qi,” the mortal Hui responded.

“Whenever someone wakes up, we lose a small portion of our total resources evenly. Not enough to fully resource the new clones, even all put together, so there’s more coming from somewhere, though we aren’t sure where. Still, it’s a way to tell if someone else has woken up. We’ve been waiting for you for a while,” one of the clones dressed as a righteous cultivator in pale blue and green added, stroking the long beard his current face sported.

The one who’s been wandering the sects, right? Hui remembered.

“Once you’re connected to the tree network, we can update one another and vaguely sense one another’s status. Share items, even. Hey, make sure you get first clone connected to the network, okay? It sucks, pretending to be mortal without some magical items to make life easier,” the clone dressed in rough mortal clothes offered.

“You’d be less convincing as a mortal if you had magical items. Anyways, I need Gu Tian’s sword the most,” the clone in wild black-red-and-fur robes argued. “I’m out here wandering the wilds on my own qi. There’s a lot of space out here! It gets tiring. I could use the self-driving… ahem, sword spirit the most.”

The miracle healer stepped forward again, giving Hui a subservient smile. “In any case, we don’t usually step into the golden projection very often. Once you return, you’ll be able to sense all of us and communicate, but… it’s more subtle than this. A node in the back of your mind. Er, it’s probably most like a hands-free phone experience, but… we were never rich enough to try that in our first life, so…”

“Can’t say for sure,” Hui finished, nodding.

“Anyways, most of the time, we’re silent. It’s not a constant groupchat in your head. Only sometimes,” the miracle healer said.

Press ‘x’ to doubt, Hui thought to himself. I know how mentally chatty I am.

A thought came to Hui, and he looked around the group. “I might be meeting with Bai Xue soon. Does anyone need anything from Twin Elemental City?”

“Talisman formulas!”

“Paper and ink!”

Hui bowed. “Elder brothers, naturally.”

“There’s no need to be polite with us. We’re all us, after all,” miracle healer Hui replied.

The wild Hui put a hand on his chin. “If we sleep with Bai Xue as a clone, and make children, does that—”

The other clones all glared at the one in wild clothes.

“What? We’re all thinking it,” he replied.

“We don’t need to say it aloud,” the one wandering the sects sighed, still stroking his long beard. Hui looked at it enviously. Noticing the look, the clone's eyes glittered as he continued to stroke it.

“I’m so bored. And lonely,” the wild one mumbled back.

“Can we even make children? We’re plants,” the rogue cultivator pointed out. Fitting to his role, he wore a bold and wild face with strong brows, a long, ragged ponytail, and worn red and yellow robes.

“Can we not talk about this? Please?” the miracle healer begged.

“You’re thinking about it, too,” the rogue cultivator pointed out with a smirk.

The miracle healer scowled. “I don’t want to be.”

Hui put his hands up. “Elder brothers, please. I’ll return to my role, and get the first clone to join the network. For now, we’re all doing important work. Keep me updated, but aside from that, continue your efforts. In this way, we can turn ten years into sixty—no, seventy, counting first clone.”

“If the other lazy bones would wake up and join the network, we could turn seventy into a hundred and thirty,” the wild one grumbled. “More, if the ones on Unrivaled Peak begin to wake up.”

“In time, all in good time,” the miracle healer replied.

Hui bowed one last time and retreated from the projection. One after another, the other Huis vanished as well. As the last left, the gold light faded from the sky. Hui opened his eyes to catch the last glimmering embers of gold drift down from an otherwise mortal-looking tree that stood where he’d severed his arm. Though he could no longer sense Mount Mu’s inheritance in the tree, a pulse of wood and life qi beat inside it, steady and strong. Given long enough, it had the potential to grow into a second Mount Mu.

So the network is only available to join when the tree first activates… ahem, grows. After that, it turns into a young spirit tree. Hui nodded to himself.

It’s good to know some of my fellow clones are awake. I had intended to eventually find Li Xiang, investigate All-Heavens Sect, return home… but now I know we’re already doing all that. Like this, we might actually accomplish all our tasks in ten years.

With renewed hope, Hui stood and stretched. He looked around at the other cultivators, still seeking enlightenment, not yet aware that the chance had faded. Before they awoke, he sprinted off into the forest, careful to match his speed to what Li Huang was capable of. For now, I’d better go check on Ying Lin. Three days to form a foundation is no mean feat. I believe she’s capable of it, but she likely needs guidance. Er, not that I know how to form a foundation when I basically slept through it, but… I… probably could help?

Anyways, it’s worth checking in on her!