Night fell. Wang Xiu chose a broad, flat plains and dropped out of the sky, gesturing as she fell to catch her blade in her hand. She looked back up at the sky and gestured for Hui to come at her.

“Ying Lin, stay on Gu Tian and watch the battle from above. It’ll be good experience for you,” Hui said.

Ying Lin swallowed. She nodded, nervous. Drawing Gu Tian, she stepped atop the sword and soared away from Hui, maintaining a safe distance from the plains below.

“If it gets too dangerous, leave. Your life comes first,” Hui said.

“Master, are you nervous?” Ying Lin asked.

Hui licked his lips. “Er, this small cultivator hasn’t… ever asked for this kind of pointers before. Everyone’s nervous on their first time.”

“You could take it back,” Ying Lin said.

Hui shook his head. “It’s too valuable for me.”

Ying Lin nodded. “I understand. Then, I’ll cheer for Master!”

With that, she flew off into the sky.

Nodding shortly, Hui circulated his qi. I should fight with Moonlight Cutter and… and the Lightning Palm. Unless I get into a pinch, I won’t use talismans. If Wang Xiu is connected to All Heavens Sect, she may know about my usual battle patterns. It’s unlikely, but it’s better than fighting a known All Heavens member with talismans. If I get backed into a corner, there’s no helping it, but we’re just having a friendly fight, so it should be fine, right?

“Requesting guidance from Elder Sister,” Hui said, formally cupping his hands to Wang Xiu as he drifted down from the heavens.

“Quit the talk and let’s fight,” Wang Xiu said, bored.

He held out his hand and summoned Moonlight Cutter to him, then charged at Wang Xiu. Wang Xiu slashed at him, and a wave of blood-red qi flew from her blade. Hui darted back, startled. After going on about righteous cultivation, she uses blood qi?

Wang Xiu laughed. “Ignite!”

The red qi lit aflame, and in that moment, it no longer appeared as blood qi, but as fire-elemental qi. Hui reached for a talisman, but held himself back at the last minute and slashed with Moonlight Cutter instead. Moonlight Cutter split the flaming wave, but it simply rained down on him as burning splatters of red-hot liquid. Wherever the liquid touched, Hui lit on fire, and wiping it off did little. He grit his teeth and turned his blade on himself, quickly cutting away the liquid.

Fuck! Did she reinvent napalm? What the hell!

And wait, hold on. This is a friendly exchange of pointers! If I had a fleshly body, I’d be in incredible pain right now! Even the plant body hurts a lot. What on earth!

Wang Xiu slashed at him from his left. He turned, only for a second blade to fly at him from the right. Using the reflexes honed from years of playing dead, Hui instantly dropped to the ground instead. The two blades fell after him. He drew a talisman on the air with qi, then slapped the ground. A wall of earth surged over him, and the blades dug into it and slowed.

Ah! Right, why don’t I use talismans the way ordinary people cast spells? They’ll take the usual amount of qi the spell would take, versus the low cost of actual talismans, and since I won’t be casting them in ideal conditions and full power, they won’t be as strong as my usual talismans, but in a pinch—in a pinch, it’s a good art to have! And it disguises that I’m a talisman maker.

“Don’t think that’s enough to stop us!” Wang Xiu shouted in two voices.

Hui sunk into the earth, disappearing under the surface. He popped back up fifty meters away, far enough to watch as the two Wang Xius hammering at the earth finally discovered there was nothing beneath. Hui tucked his hands into his sleeve and again drew a talisman on the air in qi, keeping his hands hidden the whole time.

The two Wang Xius turned and glared at him. They stepped forward and blurred, and two became four. The four split up, running separate routes to surround Hui.

Hui released the spell. The ground shook under their feet, then opened up to swallow them down. They took to the air, but there was a moment of lag on the last two clones, and the earth caught one clone’s leg. Mindless of the injury, the clone continued to charge at Hui. Its leg ripped off. It flew toward him expressionlessly, dripping blood behind it.

Hmm. Unlike me, it seems that one mind controls all her clones. The more clones she has, the less mind she can pay to any given clone. However, as a tradeoff, she feels their pain less distinctly the further they are, and likely cannot sense what they sense as acutely as she could with her own senses. Her clones are very distinct from mine. Hui’s hands moved nonstop as he thought to himself. Lightning crackled at the clones. They dodged low, only for the grass to suddenly come alive as Hui cast his wood-elemental spell to control the grass and chase after the clones. Razor-sharp grass keened on the air. The clones dodged away again.

They move in formations, too, and tend to have the same reactions to scenarios. In some ways, this makes them unparalleled and far more powerful than mine, but these facts can also be exploited. Hui gestured again, and sent Moonlight Cutter flying at one of the clones’ heads. All four flinched back, and the distraction proved enough for the razor-sharp grass below to slash at their legs. The injured one moved slower than the rest. The grass bound her up and pulled her to the ground, immobilizing her.

“Not bad, not bad,” the clones said. The bound clone dissolved into smoke, and another clone appeared.

She bled while alive, but turned into smoke once dead. Wang Xiu’s clones are very convincing, Hui thought to himself.

“I thought you also used clones? Where are they?” the Wang Xius mocked him in surround sound. Two of the four clones floated in the air behind him, while the other two spread out in front of him.

“Unlike Elder Sister, my clones are not useful in battle,” Hui demurred. He turned slowly, expanding his mental energy to track the clones.

“Then what use are they?” the four Wang Xius asked, shaking their heads. In sync, the four lifted their blades and charged at Hui, attempting to lock him down.

Hui lifted his hand, calling back Moonlight Cutter. It charged at the back of one of the clones. Instead of all four ducking, only that clone ducked. Hui’s eyes widened. Don’t tell me, she—

“You’re not the only one who can scheme mid-battle,” a single Wang Xiu smirked. The other three reached Hui, and three blades intersected at his neck, forming a triangular blade lock. “Checkmate.”

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Hui held his hands up, releasing Moonlight Cutter. “I admit defeat.” Internally, he smirked, pleased with himself. I learned a lot from this battle, and managed to hide my techniques from Wang Xiu. Rather than a defeat, it was a complete and total victory for me.

Wang Xiu retracted her blades, and three of the four clones vanished. The final Wang Xiu shook her head at Hui, disappointed. “That’s not your full strength, is it?”

Hui smiled slightly and ducked his head, but said nothing.

“Next time we fight, we’ll go all out,” Wang Xiu declared.

“I hope that time never comes,” Hui replied. If I’m fighting you all out, I’m fighting you to kill… or preparing to fake my own death. Fighting all out isn’t something I do for fun, so I’d rather we not reach that point!

Plus, reaching that point… probably means you know my identity. Yeah… let’s not!

“Hmph,” Wang Xiu muttered.

Ying Lin descended from the sky, squatting on Gu Tian. Hui watched her approach, a slightly disapproving glint in his eyes. I need to teach this disciple of mine not to squat on swords. It’s becoming a bad habit of hers. One day, she’ll be a high realm cultivator, a gorgeous fairy maiden in dainty robes… and she’ll ride into battle squatting. It would truly be a waste, and a shame on me for not correcting her!

“Master, is it over?” Ying Lin asked, unaware of Hui’s internal commentary.

Hui nodded. “It’s done.”

“Master lost?” Ying Lin asked, not surprised at all.

“I lost,” Hui replied, equally not disappointed.

Ying Lin hummed.

Walking over, Wang Xiu nodded at them. “There’s a place up ahead a bit where a qi vein passes close under the surface. We can rest there for the night, and be in top shape for tomorrow.”

“Will we find her tomorrow?” Hui asked.

Wang Xiu shrugged. “There’s no way to know for sure, but I know she has a habit of haunting these plains. It’s quite likely.”

With that, she walked away.

Hui looked at her back. Is she that troubled that I refused to fight all out? But who would? A battle fanatic, maybe, but I’m no battle fanatic, and she knew that. Maybe she’s just frustrated that she didn’t get to do as much scouting on me as I did on her.

He shrugged to himself and followed.

The flow of qi grew stronger. Wang Xiu plopped down in the heart of it and began to meditate, careless of the wind or the whirling grass all around. Hui glanced around and sat down beside Wang Xiu.

Ying Lin sighed deeply. She shook her head at Wang Xiu and Hui both and knelt, shaping a small hut out of the earth.

Hui stood up awkwardly and helped Ying Lin form the hut. When they were done, Ying Lin looked at Hui. “Master, this is yours. I’ll make another two for myself and Senior Wang Xiu.”

“No, no, let Master handle it. This is your hut,” Hui insisted. He pushed Ying Lin toward it and knelt to make another. Ying Lin doesn’t have as much qi capacity as I do. One hut is her limit.

Ying Lin paused at the door. “You’ll make a hut for yourself?”

“I will, I will,” Hui promised.

“And Senior?”

“And Senior,” Hui confirmed.

Satisfied, Ying Lin walked into her hut and settled down.

Hui sighed, exhausted. He knelt and built another two huts, then nodded at Wang Xiu.

Wang Xiu eyed him, confused. “We don’t need protection from the elements. What do we need the huts for?”

“Er, Ying Lin wants me… er, cultivators, to treat ourselves like humans,” Hui said, not sure how else to explain it.

Wang Xiu snorted. She shook her head and closed her eyes again, returning to her meditation.

Well, I can’t make her use the hut, Hui thought. He entered his own and settled in to meditate.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, the hut blocked out the wind and made it easier to concentrate on meditation. It wasn’t that the wind could hurt or chill him, but it simply eliminated another distraction, which made focusing easier. Compared to sitting out in the wild without any shelter, it was an improvement.

Ying Lin deserves credit for that. Ah, maybe I should pay more attention to my starting state, rather than making do with what I have, even when I can improve my original situation.

Speaking of improving my original situation… I need to fake entering the cycle of reincarnation, soul death, or something similar. Three times now I’ve been killed by Han Qin, and not only killed, but destroyed in body and soul!

I knew it would happen eventually. It’s a very common situation in my old novels! But to have it happen to me more than once… I wasn’t anticipating that.

I should think of it as training. Yes, death training! I can’t fake my death perfectly until I somewhat experience death. Not true death, of course. That’s the unfortunate part of it, that so many of my clones had to face true death for me to even get this close to figuring it out. Now that I’m here, though, I should finish the job. Figure out how to fake soul death!

Hui reached into his qi and found the duck holding the rot qi. He put his hand on the duck’s stomach and drew the rot qi up through its throat and out of its mouth. The duck made a pitiful squawk and released the rot qi. He swirled it around himself, considering it.

Using death qi on my soul… yeah, I don’t want to die. Circulating it is one thing, using the death ducks, that’s another, but directly applying death qi to my soul? At that point, I might as well make a direct call to Elder Sister Reaper. But rot qi seems weaker than death qi. It acts slower. For example, that sixth-stage cultivator has been exuding rot qi for a hundred, no, hundreds of years. If it was death qi, even a sixth-stage body would break down by now.

Hmm, wait. Let’s backtrack a bit there. After all, my soul can circulate death qi. How? Is my soul, perhaps… er, omaiwamo shinderu?

…

I did transmigrate…

I did die…

Er… Elder Sister Reaper does seem to be there every time I step out of my body…

…

Well, well, well, it’s not—it’s not dead enough for Han Qin, and that’s the real kicker! Right! Focus, Hui!

Yes! So! The point is, I need my soul to look dead to Han Qin’s eyes. And that’s not going to be easy, fooling a Wandering Immortal. Regardless of my soul’s state, I don’t want to use death qi on it. That seems like asking to die, with its infectious properties and all. But what if I use the rot qi on it? Can I survive that? Will it make it look like my soul is dissipating, and therefore, dead?

Hui swallowed. Only one way to find out.

He held out his hand before him and focused, steadying his qi. He focused on the third eye on his soul and used it to stare at his hand. After a few moments, an afterimage appeared, overlaid on top of his real hand. He peeled the spectral hand out of his actual hand, then separated a fingernail’s scrap from the hand’s tip. He pointed his finger up, holding the scrap of soul a small length above the tip of his spectral finger.

I don’t want to risk significantly injuring my soul, after all.

With his other hand, he drew the bit of rot qi out. Drawing out a tiny mote of rot qi from the small bit, he sent the rest back to the duck, who gobbled it up and vanished happily into Hui again. He drew the mote of qi to the scrap of soul and held his breath.

The two touched. The soul quivered, and the rot qi faded, almost vanishing. Hui frowned. Is it not enough rot qi to affect the bit of soul? Do I need more?

Nearly in the same moment, the soul quivered again. A strong aura of rot emanated from the soul, and then it began to dissipate. The soul’s dissipation covered up the rot aura, an obvious, almost acrid scent.

Hui’s eyes widened. He grinned. Yes! I can fake soul dissipation, now! It’s only one specific kind of soul death, but it's better than nothing. I have to sacrifice a bit of my soul for it, which sucks, but again, it’s better than losing all my soul to Han Qin’s filthy hands.

Besides, the aura of soul dissipation is surprisingly strong. Even a bit of dissipation is enough to hide the rot aura. I don’t have to spend too much of my soul to fake dissipation… which is good, with as thin as my soul must be stretched among this many clones.

Having made a breakthrough, Hui settled in and rested instead. He quietly circulated his qi until morning, gathering himself into his strongest state. Tomorrow, I might have to fight Li Xiang or Wang Xiu. Neither is an opponent I can take lightly, and in the worst case, I might have to fight them both! Since my clones are a little weaker than a real fifth-stage cultivator, only at my best can I dream of facing them.

“Master, it’s time,” Ying Lin said.

Hui opened his eyes. He nodded and stood, dissolving the hut back into earth as he did so with a quick wave of a hand, casting a talisman spell on the air. “Let’s go.”

Ying Lin applauded. “Master finally learned how to cast normal spells!”

Wang Xiu whipped around, furrowing her brows.

“Ying Lin, shush. Your Master could always cast normal spells. Shush,” Hui said, shaking his head. I just prefer talismans, that’s it. Prefer! I can cast normal spells whenever I like. It’s just easier to make talismans, okay? Okay!

“Eh, if Master says so,” Ying Lin said, tilting her head cutely and staring up at the sky.

Hui shook his head at her, lips pursed. Looking cute won’t save you. Tonight, you’re running laps of camp all night, whether we find Li Xiang or not!