For the first time in a long time, First opened his eyes.

No. To say it properly… I’m Hui. Or rather, the largest piece of what’s left of Hui.

He stood up and wiped his robes off, brushing off the dust and dirt that had accumulated in the time he’d sat there alone in the cave. He kept the flag carefully, hiding it in his robes.

The final fragment… or maybe, the first.

And now, there’s only one last piece I need in order to finish this and bring everyone back.

At the entrance of his cave, Hui took a moment to adjust his aura and qi. He closed his eyes, then strode out into the world.

Brilliant sunlight pierced through his cave-dulled eyes. Hui put a hand over his eyes, shielding himself from the sun. Reviewing the clones’ memories, Hui quickly located himself. Right. I’m not that far away. It should only take half a day to get there.

An old lady shrieked. Hui turned to look, still squinting through the sun.

Aunty Wen jumped back. Her clothes were tattered, and her hands and skin were worn more than he’d expect from the year or two since he’d last seen her. She peered at him. “Where did you come from?”

“Apologies, Senior. I meant no harm,” Hui said, bowing.

She narrowed her eyes and shooed him away. “Go on, get! We don’t need any more strange immortals around this part. The last time one showed up…” She shook her head.

Ah… that’s right. I destroyed the Fu Clan’s Patriarch. It had to happen, but… I can only imagine the effects it’s having on the mortal servant of the Fu Clan. Hui reached into his node and drew out a small bag of gold. “My apologies.”

Aunty Wen drew back as if burned. “I’m taking nothing from you, nothing! Whatever you want, I have nothing! Leave me alone! I’m just an old woman. Don’t even have that young girl around anymore. That Ying Lin…”

Hui set the bag on the ground. “Then I’ll leave them here.” With that, he took to the sky.

A moment before he soared off, he paused. “Ying Lin… that girl… she’s doing well.”

This time, he didn’t hesitate, but quickly left Aunty Wen behind.

Aunty Wen scowled at the little bag. She glanced at the sky, then scurried forward and scooped it up. “If you’re just going to leave it there…”

Her hand clenched at the bag. A single tear welled up. “Ying Lin… I knew you could do it. Aunty Wen believes in you!”

Moving at his top speed, Hui flew low, swooping close to the treetops. He kept his head on a swivel as he moved, wary of any attackers. I’m in the middle of nowhere, and no one should be monitoring me, but I can’t help but be nervous. This is everything. Our biggest risk. The one we’ve protected the most, but at the same time… Although I’m a clone, the flag I carry is the only copy of everyone’s souls. If I lose this, or I’m attacked and it’s destroyed, all our fighting and planning has been for nothing.

He sped up. Unfortunately, the place I’m going is back where I started. On the verge of Starbound and Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect’s territories. I can only hope that All-Heavens isn’t keeping Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect under the same kind of lockdown that they’re keeping Starbound Sect under. I know they closed Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect off when I revealed their collusion with the demonic sect… but I don’t know what happened after that. But whatever happened, I have to get there, no matter what!

As he flew, he ran a hand over his face. The snakeskin technique operated, and Gui Yutong appeared, fleeing through the forest. With this face, no one should bother me. That, and I know precisely where Gui Yutong is! Foolproof, it’s foolproof.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

The landscape hurtled past. At the border to Magnificent Heavenly Forest, a few All-Heavens disciples lounged about. Hui rushed by. Instantly, the disciples jumped to, saluting to Gui Yutong.

Plus, better to use Gui Yutong’s face than one of my clones. I know he’s suspicious of ‘Xie Hao’, or Healer. If Gui Delun has grown suspicious of any of the other clones, he might have set the disciples to pay attention to their faces. However, he’s extremely unlikely to have set them to look for his own daughter’s face! Plus, all the clones… are men! Unless he knows that I both have a clone technique and a face-changing technique that allows me to modify my whole body and change my gender, there’s no way he’d guess that “Gui Yutong” is in fact Xiao Hui!

Ah, though I feel I should clarify. My original body, snakeskin or no, would never be able to fully take on Gui Yutong’s body dimensions. I can only modify my skin with that technique, not my bones. However, the current me is a lotus beast. I can freely change the lotus beast’s soft, plantlike flesh as I please, and even changing the bones isn’t impossible.

Mmm… I didn’t bother to make this version of Gui Yutong pregnant, but… in any case, her child has likely been born by now, no?

Rogue cleared his throat. Should we… warn Gui Yutong? She doesn’t deserve to get caught up in this.

Healer waved his hand. Bai Jingwen instantly caught on to the tension in the air. She took Gui Yutong and their child to the Bai Clan and left them there.

Peak Lord nodded. Bai Xue’s helping her settle in now. She doesn’t know anything is happening. As far as she knows, it’s a small vacation for her and her child.

What did you advertise it as, the “Hui’s Harem Vacation?” Rogue laughed.

Peak Lord coughed. If it’s anyone’s harem, it’s Bai Xue’s.

Eh, is Gui Yutong into her? Rogue asked.

Peak Lord rolled his eyes at Rogue. More like, Bai Xue’s looking for trouble, now that they can swap forms again.

What happens if Bai Xue gives Gui Yutong a child? I mean, Bai Jingwen always loved them, right? So… Sectgoer wondered aloud.

Bai Jingwen might have the most green hats of anyone in this world, Healer sighed, shaking his head.

Though I wonder, which half of Bai Xue would Gui Yutong want? I got the impression that her encounter with Bai Jingwen was a bit of an… awakening, Rogue commented.

True, true. I’ve always wondered about the specifics between the two of them… Sectgoer continued.

Sighing, First cut off his connection to the rest of the clones. I’m glad they’re all getting along, but I really must focus here. I’ll reconnect once I’m done.

The one skill I have with the tree network that no one else gathered… is a killswitch. The others can ignore it, but I’m the only one who can shut it off entirely from connecting to me and go dark. The memories come flooding to me when I reconnect, and it can be overwhelming… but for the task before me, the task of reviving my entire sect, I have no option but to resort to the killswitch.

Slowing, Hui looked around. Extending his qi, he searched the area. It should be somewhere around here. Right… over… ah, over here!

He reached out. His fingers brushed over the faint scar of a rift in space. Hui sent his qi inside, examining the structure of the rift. Compared to Fen Long’s personal reincarnation realm, the structure was incredibly simple. So it only opens every few hundred years because that’s how long it takes for the realm to gather enough of this area’s natural qi to open again. If I push my own qi into it, though…

Hui closed his eyes. Circulating his qi, he passed it through his hand and into the rift, charging the realm within. The rift widened, the realm within ballooning outward. Darkness spilled out of the rift, coloring the sky around it.

Hui took a deep breath. He looked back, just to be sure. No one’s coming. No one noticed.

But it’s only a matter of time. I have to move quickly. He stepped into the rift, vanishing from the world.

He stepped out into a cold, windy world. Thick mist swirled around the floor, and rocks jutted out of the ground here and there. Gray overwhelmed the world, the gray fog, gray rocks, and gray floor all melding together into one gray blob. Far below, a few ghouls shambled, no longer posing the slightest threat to Hui.

Hui waved his sleeve, drawing a talisman on the air as he did so. A great gush of wind spilled forth, wiping the fog away. From where he stood, fluttering in the air, the stones formed the shape of an enormous spell formation, all focused on the black palace in the center—no. All focused on one tiny altar.

The Phoenix-Spark Flame Altar. This entire realm is one unfinished revival spell formation.

The place I met Bai Xue. The place I picked up Gu Tian’s sword, and found his dead body. The place where everything truly began.

When Master threw me in here years ago… could he have known that I would one day require this place?

Hui shook his head and snorted at himself. Even Master isn’t that all-knowing… probably.

Stepping on the air, he darted forth, swooping toward the altar in the realm’s center. Now… I finish this realm’s spell, and bring back my entire sect.