Ying Lin hovered at Hui’s side, scanning him anxiously. “You aren’t hurt?”

“No, no. Elder Sister, please. This small mortal will be fine,” Hui insisted. He circulated his breath and settled his qi, slowly pushing the pain down. Once his qi no longer rioted inside him, only the lingering feeling of irreversible loss remained. He rubbed his chest, feeling somehow less. His hand turned to a fist, rubbing harder. Did I lose a piece of my soul? My soul doesn’t feel incomplete… no, I think I would notice if I lost a whole remnant soul. But… I think my soul reduced. Perhaps… it was fractured? Whatever was inside Sixth is gone now.

Was he destroyed in body and soul? Damn. I guess that isn’t just a fancy phrase from those novels I read back in the day. Destroyed in body and soul… I need a way to fake my soul’s death!

But… how?

“Then… where are we? And when did you change your face and clothes again? We traveled… as if by magic,” she said slowly, turning to take in their surroundings.

They walked down a quiet, wooded road along the side of a mountain ridge. Sparse trees populated the rocky, hard earth to either side of an overgrown road. Ahead, a thicket of bamboo replaced the trees. The road wound into the thicket, the bamboo shafts blocking out the sun, the sky, the path ahead. High above, lofty tips swayed with the wind, while they walked into the still depths of an ocean of green.

Hui took a deep breath. Glancing back to ensure the All-Heavens trio weren’t paying attention, he quickly grew a leaf and drew the exclusion barrier Sixth had learned from Fu Liyu on it. An invisible dome that suppressed all sound bubbled around him and Ying Lin, centered around the talisman, which slowly smoldered.

Turning to Ying Lin, he bowed apologetically. “Elder Sister, I’m a clone.”

“Eh? Oh,” Ying Lin said. “A clone of Master?”

“Your master… was also a clone. We are all clones of Xiao Hui, the last… no. One of the last survivors of Starbound Sect, a sect declared demonic and destroyed a year ago. He hesitated to accept you as a disciple because of this.

“Ying Lin, you have a rare talent. At least once-in-a-century, if not better. Your opportunities are limitless. If you like, I can send you to another clone, who can introduce you to a powerful sect. With the right support, even ascending isn’t out of your—”

Ying Lin shook her head. “Master is Master. I’ve accepted you. Will you deny me?”

“I—I wouldn’t dare, but—”

“Then that’s that. Disciple greets Master,” Ying Lin said. She dropped to the ground and kowtowed thrice, quickly, before Hui could yank her up.

“You—you don’t understand what you’ve done,” Hui snapped, frustrated. This is for your own good! I told you not to, but—

Ying Lin looked at him. “Master, stop rejecting yourself.”

“I… huh?”

“You, too, are talented, are you not? Stop belittling yourself. You’ll embarrass your disciple,” she insisted.

Hui ducked his head, rubbing his forehead. “I’m not trying to, I just, I recognize my place in this world. I’m at the bottom. I’ve always been, and I always will be. There’s no point in fighting it anymore. It’s better if I accept it and move on.”

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Ying Lin frowned at him. “Who told you that?”

“Everyone!” Hui insisted, frustrated.

“I’m not telling you that,” Ying Lin said, looking him straight in the eye. Her gaze blazed into his, hot enough to burn.

Hui looked at her for the space of a breath, but couldn’t maintain eye contact. He looked away, shaking his head. He twisted his hand, snuffing the sound-suppression talisman, and kept the half-burned leaf in his robes. “You don’t understand. But soon enough, you’ll see.”

Ying Lin frowned and shook her head. She crossed her arms at Hui. “You’ll see. I won’t let you keep lying to yourself like this.”

“Hmph. Good luck,” Hui muttered. Ha! I have two lives’ worth of understanding my role in society! Your pitiful interference can’t break my rock-solid beliefs!

Ying Lin smiled. She reached into her robes and pulled out the manual. “Speaking of which, Master, I don’t think this manual is suited to me.”

Ah! You brat! You said all that to put me off my pace before you broke the bad news! Rotten child! Hui shook his head. He turned his head slightly to look at her out of the corner of his eye and pursed his lips disapprovingly.

Ying Lin tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and smiled, slightly embarrassed. “Master said it might not suit me, after all.”

I did… I did! Well, it’s not a manual that suits everyone, after all. Ah, if only I had gotten those introductory manuals from Bai Xue. Hmm, until then… Hui took the manual back and gave her a sage nod. “Then, Elder Sister, until I find a manual that suits you, cultivate according to your instincts and comprehension.”

“It’s that simple?” Ying Lin asked.

“Only for once-in-a-century geniuses like yourself,” Hui demurred.

“Then, what did you do, master?”

“I… followed the manual…” Er… mostly after I already figured out my own way of accomplishing my cultivation. Lately, I haven’t even checked the manual to see if I’m cultivating properly according to it. I… mostly… cultivated according to my own instincts and comprehension…

Ying Lin beamed at him, her eyes sparkling.

Hui scowled at her. “Shut up!”

“Eh? I didn’t say anything,” Ying Lin said teasingly.

Hui shook his head at her. A second later, a thought came to him. Wait! Could I teach her that technique? Right now, it would even be useful to her!

“Master?” Ying Lin asked, tilting her head.

Hui held his hand out, palm up. “Elder Sister, please hover your hand over mine. I’m going to teach you a secret technique.”

“Oh?” Ying Lin put her hand over his without hesitating.

“It’s my Master’s ultimate technique. The final technique he taught me.”

“Wow! You’re already trusting me with such a technique?” Ying Lin said, eyes sparkling. “I should have lectured you earlier!”

“Elder Sister, don’t learn that from this situation,” Hui said sternly.

“Then, what should I learn?” she asked, looking up at him.

He circulated his qi to the surface of his palm and copied the pattern of his master’s qi, back when Weiheng Wu had taught him the technique. “Like this. It’s called… the Lightning Palm!”

Lightning flickered in his palm, on the verge of releasing. Hui held it back, afraid of hitting Ying Lin with even a second-stage attack at his fifth-stage cultivation level.

“Lightning Palm? Isn’t that a pitiful, low-level attack? Fu Liyu refused to learn it,” Ying Lin asked skeptically.

Hui shook his head. “Who do you believe, Fu Liyu or your master?”

“Master, of course!” Ying Lin said. She copied the motions of Hui’s qi. In a few moments, a tiny lightning bolt the thickness of a hair zapped from her palm into Hui’s.

Hui closed his hand, cancelling his version of the technique. “Good! Now practice that as we walk. You should be able to create a palmful of those bolts by the time we arrive at camp tonight.”

“Tonight?” Ying Lin gasped, startled.

“You can’t?” Hui asked.

Ying Lin shook her head. “Disciple will do it!” She ran ahead and focused on her palm, running through the motions of the Lightning Palm over and over again. A single lightning bolt turned into two, then three.

I was just trying to act domineering, like Master, but… at that rate, she might actually succeed! Hui raised his eyebrows, then shook his head. I can’t underestimate Ying Lin’s talent. She’s truly an incredible disciple with a limitless future!

He glanced over his shoulder at Lu Lintei and Dong Qinwen, but Lu Lintei had engaged Ding Qinwen in an animated and important discussion, one he couldn’t possibly look away from. Zhi Ahn remained at the front of the caravan, arms still crossed.

Excellent interference, Lu Lintei! He shot her a thumbs-up, and she coincidentally nodded at the same time.

He turned and looked at his own hand, activating the palm technique again. Lightning Palm… come to think of it, I never turned it into a talisman. I wonder if I could combine it with the new talisman I got from Bai Xue and create a Lightning Palm talisman?