Gray stones below, a low, flat gray cloud above. Hui flew on. On and on. Hours passed, and still he flew. He glanced back. Am I really moving? It feels like I’m on a treadmill, going nowhere.

He closed his eyes, sensing with his mental energy again. No… the qi is getting thicker. It’s subtle, but I’m moving in the right direction. Chen Wuya hasn’t come back, either, so I can only assume that there’s something up ahead.

The runt snoozed in his arms, sleeping away. After an hour or so, it had grown tired of flying and passed out. He pet it a few times, feeling its warmth as its belly quietly rose and fell. I miss Zhubi so much. I’ll have to steal him back from Ying Lin when I get out of here. It’s an injustice that she’s the only one who gets to hold him. Not even any of us clones get Zhubi, so why does she get exclusive rights to him?

A black bird suddenly swooped down on him. Hui looked up, expecting Chen Wuya, but instead, a three-eyed bird with a wingspan wider than Hui was tall bared its talons at him. Startled, Hui slapped it back, too surprised to even play dead. The bird’s bones snapped, and it tumbled from the sky with a pained cry.

Eh… my apologies, Elder Sibling Bird. I just instinctively slap down bugs and… and large birds, I guess!

It wasn’t very strong, though. The beasts were strong, but the bird… the bird was nothing. I’d expect more powerful beasts closer to the source of the qi, not weaker ones. Hui’s brows furrowed. He looked at his hand and clenched his fist. Weird. I guess… that’s just the way things are.

A dozen black birds descended from the sky. Three eyes wide, they dropped down on Hui, crying out and baring their claws. Hui drew one of his new talismans on the air. A huge glowing dragon formed around him and rushed at the birds. The second the glow touched the birds, they disintegrated. A shower of burning black feathers fell onto the stones below.

Hui licked his lips. I… kind of feel like the level fifty character in the level ten zone. I’m way too strong for this area! I don’t even feel triumphant, I just feel sorry for them.

Black birds descended from the sky in a massive swarm, charging toward Hui. Hui sighed deeply, starting to draw the talisman again. Nothing I can do. Sorry, birds, but I guess it’s time to…

The beast in his arms squirmed. It blinked hungrily at the birds, salivating.

“Oh, you’re hungry?” Hui adjusted his aim on the talisman. It blasted off, annihilating ninety percent of the birds in one blast. The rest scattered to the winds, crying out in fear.

Hui darted in. He snatched a bird out of the sky and held it out to the beast. The beast wiggled happily and crawled up in Hui’s arms to chomp down on the bird. In a few gulps, the bird vanished.

Wagging its tail, the beast looked up at Hui and licked its lips.

“I’ll grab a few more,” Hui promised. He chased after the birds and snatched another few out of the sky. Each one he caught, he handed to the beast, and it gobbled them down one after another.

At last, the beast rested its head on Hui’s arms again and fell asleep. Hui smiled down at it and gave it a little pet, then continued flying on. If I can’t have Zhubi, then I can at least take care of this little runt. It might just be a construct in this secret realm, but I don’t want to watch it suffer.

I almost… somehow… sympathize with this runt a little. No one loved it. It never knew anything but fear. Like in my first life. But now… now I’ll take care of it. He sighed and petted the beast’s head again. The beast twitched, clawing the air in its sleep. Hui smiled. So cute.

The sky grew light again. Hui flew on and on. Days passed, each one just like the last. Hui scooped up birds for the beast, and they flew on together. Occasionally, he paused to let the beast run around and stretch its legs. It frolicked over the stone, but never got too far from Hui.

At last, Hui came upon another set of mountains. Carrying the beast, he swooped down into tall amber grain. Boars startled off as he landed, vanishing in all directions. The beast wriggled out of Hui’s arms and chased after one of them. After a few moments, it loped back to Hui, head bowed in disappointment.

“Missed, did you?” Hui asked it. He reached out and ruffled its head. The beast looked up at him and licked his hand. Hui paused, looking the beast over. Has it gotten bigger? I remember it being shorter than waist-height, but now its head reaches my belly button.

He walked through the grain, the beast at his side. Boars roamed openly, only running when Hui and the beast drew near. Or rather, Hui thought, as he watched the beast chase some boars, when the beast gets close. They don’t really seem to care about me.

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Now that I think of it, I saw the beast parent carry a boar to its babies, but I didn’t see any boars in that valley. Did it fly all the way here in one day? No, not even one day. It took a few hours for it to get here and back! How fast can these creatures move? Even a fifth-stage cultivator like me was left in the dust… it took me days to go one way, let alone to turn around and go back!

He eyed the little beast and raised his eyebrows. If I successfully raise this beast, could it also…?

The beast looked up at him, tongue lolling, its dark eyes glittering in the yellow light.

Aww, it’s too cute. I’ll think about it when it’s older.

Actually, I should name it. Something good. Classic. Something like… “Fei Hu?”

The beast sat down. It tilted its head and yipped.

“Good enough for me,” Hui said. Winged Tiger is a good name for these beasts in general, but… well, again, there’s a lot more than just wings on these tigers. I’ll just name this one Fei Hu for now.

He walked along, taking the world in. The valley formed a bowl, a bowl full to the brim with long stalks of autumnal grain. Hui ran his hand over the grains as he walked. In the distance, boars rushed through the grass, leaving paths of shaking grains in their wake. The trembling grain rivers twisted left and right after the boars. Every now and again, Fei Hu sprinted off to chase the boars, but the beast always returned quickly to Hui’s side. It walked alongside him, occasionally raising its head to tap Hui’s hand with its muzzle, as if checking to see if Hui remained beside it.

A great whoosh of wind struck the valley. The grains bent, flattening to the earth. A boar appeared in the flattened grains, its camouflage stripped away. In the next instant, a beast swooped upon it, snatching it up and flying off, gone like a bolt of lightning.

Hui stilled. He gulped. I wouldn’t even have time to play dead! Thank goodness Senior Beast found me in a cave. If it swooped on me back then, instead…

If one swoops on me now, I’m almost certainly dead!

Subtly, he shifted his core into his foot. He cast a glance above him, but didn’t continue watching overhead for long. By the time I see one, it’ll be too late to dodge.

Hmm… I could proceed through this field underground, but… ah, I’ll just put on a barrier talisman. If I get snatched up, activating that might save my little life for the moment or two it takes to play dead, escape, or both. I don't want to abandon Fei Hu, after all. Hui slapped a couple of barrier talismans on his chest.

Beside him, Fei Hu whimpered. The runt leaped, flapping its wings desperately, but couldn’t make it to the sky. Hui lifted Fei Hu to his shoulders. It stood on its hind legs, striving upward. Even then, its stubby wings couldn’t catch the wind.

“Once you get big enough, you can leave if you want,” Hui said, patting Fei Hu’s rear leg. “Until then, I’ll watch over you.”

Fei Hu grunted, not dissatisfied but impatient.

Hui laughed. “Don’t worry. At the rate you’re going, you’ll be able to fly tomorrow.”

Another beast swooped down across the way from them. Hui jumped, then grabbed ahold of Fei Hu and took to the sky. It seems it’s hunting time here. I’ll move on.

Fei Hu’s stomach grumbled. It gave Hui a pitiful look.

Hui sighed. “Hungry?”

Fei Hu whimpered pathetically.

Well, it is a growing beast, after all. Hui patted Fei Hu’s leg, signaling for it to hop down. “I’ll corner them, and you kill them, okay?”

Fei Hu tilted its head.

Oh, well. It’s not like all beasts can understand human speech. Hui took off at a run, searching for the telltale shifting grass trail of a boar. Spotting one in the distance, he flicked his wrist. A black duck flew from his hand and surged through the hair, looping around in front of the boar. He twisted his fingers down, and the bird dropped, charging through the grain at the boar. The boar startled and turned about, rushing at Hui instead of away.

“Fei Hu!” Hui called.

The beast jumped up. It ran at the boar, charging it with jaws bared. At the last second, the boar saw it coming and lowered its head, countering Fei Hu’s charge with a charge. Fei Hu’s head darted out. It caught a glancing blow against the boar, and then the boar slammed into Fei Hu. Crying pitifully, Fei Hu went flying.

I guess I don’t know what I expected. Oh well, it’s still young. There will be future hunts. Hui nodded to himself, drawing himself into a scholarly pose.

The boar snorted and turned on a dime, charging toward Hui now that Fei Hu had been taken care of.

Hui’s eyes widened. He instinctively played dead, falling backward. The boar didn’t hesitate, but directly trampled over him.

Hui jabbed his hand upward as the boar passed over him, injecting death qi directly into the boar’s throat. It shuddered, then died, slamming down on Hui then rolling away under the force of its own momentum.

Wiping off the hoof marks, Hui sat up. He pointed his palm at the beast, calling the death qi back to him. An infinitesimally larger portion of death qi returned to him than had left. He closed his hand, then opened it again. A tiny ball of black qi swirled over his palm, wispy and indistinct. This is how you’re supposed to gather death qi? Killing? But it’s so horribly inefficient! No wonder demonic cultivators struggle to gather death qi. They should do it like me, instead. Peaceful and efficient!

Wasting no time, Fei Hu bounded past Hui to gobble up the boar, happily burying its snout in the boar’s belly.

“Is this what they call ‘playing the tiger to kill the pig?’” a familiar voice asked.

“Senior, it’s ‘playing the pig to kill the tiger,’” Hui returned, turning. Chen Wuya floated overhead, lazily circling over Hui.

“Hmm. That’s not what you did, though,” Chen Wuya said. He cawed, almost a cough. “This time, anyways. Though I suppose, properly speaking, you played the pig to kill the pig.”

“Senior, I have no idea what you mean. I only have earnest, righteous fights and forward, upright duels,” Hui returned straight-faced.

“Where’s that truth-teller of yours?” Chen Wuya muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

Waving his hand, Hui climbed to his feet. “Where has Senior been?”

“Everywhere and nowhere,” Chen Wuya grumbled. He dove into Hui’s robes and vanished.

“What does that mean?” Hui asked.

Chen Wuya laughed, voice echoing from all around. “You’ll know when you get there.”