Hui swept his awareness through the inn below. Aside from Ying Lin, who meditated studiously, and a maid and a laborer, who busily ‘dual cultivated’ in the inn’s basement, everyone slept quietly. He sent the ducks out to sweep around the inn and gobble up the bits of rot that spread from the forest. The ducks returned hungry, clacking their beaks at him.

“I know, I know, but I can’t leave any of that mysterious energy around Ying Lin. She’s still too low level,” Hui replied with a sigh, welcoming the ducks back.

Qi spiked around Ying Lin. Her cultivation surged, growing stronger. Already, it showed signs of breaking through to the third realm.

Hui frowned. Already? Didn’t she just ascend to the second realm? Don’t tell me, is she like Master? Am I going to be surpassed in a matter of weeks?

No, no, I should be proud. My disciple, already brushing the third realm! Hui nodded to himself, crossing his arms.

Ahhh… should I call her Master once she surpasses me, or…?

I can’t let her be disturbed now. I’d better go figure out what those All-Heavens cultivators are up to before they do something stupid, like draw a monster over here to my cute disciple. Hui stood and stretched, then leaped off the roof, summoning Gu Tian’s sword midair. He flew toward the forest, but stopped at its edge and jumped off his sword to run over to the first tree instead. Figure out what those All-Heavens cultivators are doing… from the safety of the forest’s edge! This small disciple isn’t about to charge into the depths of the Forest of Death in the middle of the night, alone! I’m not stupid. I can use the tree technique again to search them out.

Mmm, thank goodness I didn’t cut the entirety of Mount Mu’s inheritance out of myself the way the other clones did. So far, I’m the only one who can use this technique. True, I almost lost myself to the inheritance, but I pulled through in the end! So what if my hair’s a little green and I need to photosynthesize now? It’s no big deal.

I guess I’d better not die. Otherwise, Hui would lose this technique forever.

He pressed his palm against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. Activating the remnant inheritance, he sent his consciousness surging through the forest from one tree to the next. The forest broadened before him as the spell bounced from tree to tree. In the dark, the rot energy grew stronger. A few creatures slunk in the dark, but most of the forest laid silent. The stillness sent a shiver up Hui’s spine, paired with the sensation of watching eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck and pressed on. If anything’s looking at me, I’d see it first. After all, right now, the whole forest counts as my eyes. I’m being paranoid.

Still, the sensation refused to abate.

His consciousness reached the spirit from before. Hui paused there. I still haven’t found the All-Heavens cultivators? Surely by now…

The spirit shivered. Gone.

Eh? Hui asked, startled.

They’re gone. You too… go. Leave… or die. Please. Leave.

Hui bit his lip. That isn’t a threat. It’s warning me. I think… by now, I think… the All-Heavens cultivators… are probably in extreme danger.

He looked ahead, but the darkness swallowed everything. The inheritance shuddered, unwilling to pierce deeper into the night, and his head and chest both throbbed, barely able to support the huge network he currently had active. Unable to think straight, Hui reduced the inheritance technique to the single line to the vegetation spirit and remained there for a moment, catching his breath.

Hui took a deep breath. Pushing his hair back, he forced himself to stay calm and think rationally. They’re hunting for you. Don’t put yourself in danger to save them! Besides, if two fifth-stage cultivators can’t handle whatever’s in the forest… how could I do it?

At the very least, I’ll wait for Bai Xue to get back to me. There’s absolutely no reason to rush in. Haste makes waste. I’ll wait, I’ll wait!

Hui pressed the vegetation spirit for more information, but all it would do is repeat what it had already shown him. He gathered all his energy and pushed further, but the trees beyond the vegetation spirit’s sphere of influence rejected the technique, dead and cold, unable to form a network. The harder he tried, the more the rot energy infected the technique, until he had to send a duck along the network to clean it. Pressing his lips together, he released the technique and sat down beneath the tree, waiting for the sun to rise.

At the first sign of dawn’s light, Hui scribbled a communication talisman on a leaf he found on the ground. Before he could activate it, the sun blazed toward the inn. Hui frowned.

That’s not the sun.

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A shiver ran down his spine. He leaped to his feet. Could it be? Suppressing his qi, he raced toward the inn.

As he grew close, the blazing red light grew brighter as well. It became a human figure, wreathed in fiery light. The figure paused over the inn, surveying it from above.

Hui grit his teeth. Han Qin? Did he follow us here? How? Did he trace me? Or maybe Ying Lin? Dammit, I wasn’t being careful enough!

Hui activated his talisman. “Bai Xue—”

“Hui, now is not the time,” a breathless, feminine Bai Xue replied.

“Bai Xue, it’s now or never,” Hui replied, annoyed. Excuse me for interrupting, but I’m about to fight for my life, okay? Or at least play dead for my life. The point is, my life is on the line here!

Bai Xue grunted. There was a pause, the low thump, and the sound of sheets rustling again. “So? Out with it.”

“The forest. What’s in it?” Hui demanded.

“Oh, right, that, that. Wait, you interrupted me for—”

“This clone might be dead very soon depending on your answer,” Hui said. There’s no time to waste.

Bai Xue took a short breath. “What in the… no, never mind. Explain when you survive. I searched the library… there wasn’t much, but there was enough.

“The forest appeared four hundred years ago. It sprang up around the body of a demonic cultivator which was left to rot as punishment for her misdeeds. The forest has been known to devour those who enter. Aside from that, the demonic cultivator had a spirit beast when she died, of which there’s no record of its death. If it still lives, it’s at least a six-hundred-year spirit beast now. It’s said to guard that demonic cultivator’s corpse and kill any who come near.”

Hmm, that explains the weird rot energy. A rotting demonic cultivator’s corpse would probably exude some kind of toxic qi, after all.

And wait, a six-hundred-year spirit beast? That’s the equivalent of sixth stage. If I can capture it, it’ll be a huge boon in my fight against All-Heavens Sect. Not to mention, I’ll certainly be able to overpower Han Qin’s clone, maybe even hold him off for long enough for me to escape! Hui bit his lip, then nodded. It’s decided. I’m going after that beast. I’d rather fight a spirit beast than Han Qin!

He sent a pulse of qi to Ying Lin, who sat up in her bed and turned, staring through the wall toward Hui. Come here. Now. Quietly. Suppress your qi, the way I taught you.

Ying Lin nodded. She rose and made her way quietly downstairs as Hui crept toward her, inching through the tall grass.

Han Qin turned, surveying the land. Hui dropped to the grass and held completely still, his qi stagnant. Han Qin’s gaze passed over him and moved along.

The second his gaze turned elsewhere, Hui bolted forward. He sped toward the inn, giving up on suppressing his qi for a last burst of speed. He reached the front door as Ying Lin did and threw his hand out. The second his hand brushed Ying Lin’s robes, he sent her and Zhubi to the rogue cultivator clone. Check her for trackers. Her and Zhubi. Ensure they’re clean, then send them to another clone!

Mortal, are you going to die? Rogue replied, concerned.

I hope not, Hui replied.

“There you are! You rat. I knew I smelled your scent around here. After I killed you in body and soul… but that was only a clone, wasn’t it?” Han Qin growled. He raised a hand, summoning a bolt of fire. Flicking his fingers, he sent ball after ball of fire hurtling from the heavens.

“I could say the same, Senior,” Hui replied, bowing even as he sped backward, bounding over the earth. Fireballs splashed over the ground by his feet, close enough to wilt his toes and shins. He danced toward the forest.

“You can’t dodge forever. Once I finish isolating this place, I’ll destroy you, for certain this time,” Han Qin growled.

“Once your true self locks on to me?” Hui asked.

“Whose true self? Who’s locking on? What’s locking on?” Bai Xue asked, concerned.

Han Qin turned. “Who is that?”

Hui quickly extinguished the talisman. “Nothing, Senior. Please don’t concern yourself.”

“Hmph. Where was I?”

“You were isolating this place and locking on to me,” Hui supplied.

“Right. As soon as my true self isolates this space, I—”

The forest closed over Hui’s head. He stepped down, activating Mount Mu’s inheritance and dropping a wood talisman in the same instant. A wood body of himself dressed in a snakeskin appeared in his place, and he turned and bolted into the forest, using the inheritance technique to cloak himself in the forest’s energy. With his energy matching the signature of the forest, he blurred into the background, making it harder for Han Qin to pick him out.

I only have a remnant of Mount Mu’s inheritance, so I’m not invincible in forests, but compared to the other clones, forests are my most ideal battleground, Hui thought, racing deeper into the woods. The trees lent him their life qi every time his foot landed on a root or trunk, empowering his body even as he sped on. He hurtled into the forest, chasing toward the vegetation spirit and the rot beyond.

A crack of wood from behind alerted Hui that Han Qin had shattered his fake. He lifted his lips, frustrated.

“I can’t lock it down? Why not? This…” Han Qin fell silent. A second later, he snarled. “No matter! I’ll massacre you with this clone of mine first. Then you can bear my array and realize my dream, at last!”

“Senior, I’m not into male pregnancy,” Hui replied respectfully, darting away a second later.

“Pregnancy? You think this is a joke? My noble ambition isn’t something so pitiful!” Han Qin howled. Fire raged through the woods. Heat and smoke seared to the sky.

Good. He can’t find me. Hui sped up. Now, to make him and that sixth-stage spirit beast fight one another!

“No. Once my spell ripens inside you and bonds to your body, you will usher a great new life into this world. The burgeoning energy of the destroyer will swell your body until it bursts, and you will—”

“Senior, please. You’re still describing pregnancy,” Hui said, shaking his head. All these cultivators who haven’t had even basic sexual education! It’s not my fault for knowing what happens in pregnancy.

Another blast of flame lit up the forest close behind Hui, so close the tip of his ponytail smoldered. He shut his mouth and ran on. …but maybe now’s not the time to teach this Senior about life’s basics!

“Quit your mockery, rat!” Han Qin snarled.

Small cultivator has learned his lesson. Indeed, Senior, my lips are sealed, Hui thought, nodding to himself.

Fire flew through the forest. Han Qin paused, glaring down at the forest. “If you won’t come out, I’ll burn it down!”

Hui looked around him, at the fire raging left, right, and all around him. Senior… are you not already doing that?