Hui descended into the center of the formation, dropping toward the flint altar below. He released the snakeskin technique as he went, revealing his own face. Shards of Gui Yutong shredded away on the fierce wind, vanishing as he fell. His robes billowed after him. Gently, he came to a rest before the altar, his robes floating down around him.

As before, the flint altar jutted up out of the ground, almost akin to a blacksmith’s anvil, the whole thing roughly carved and little more than a squat lump of flint. Hui closed his eyes, circulating his qi one last time to perfectly settle himself. I have to be in top condition. Not even the slightest deviation can be allowed.

Growls, low and gravelly. The shuffling of filthy robes and stiff, blackened feet. Hui opened an eye.

A few ghouls wandered around him, their blank eyes watchful. Even though they glared at him with apprehension, none attacked.

Can they tell I’d destroy them in one hit, now? Or… no, that’s not right. I shouldn’t even be able to enter this realm. It’s only because I earned the realm—inherited it—that I have the right to enter. Naturally, the ghouls recognize the realm’s master, and by extension—their master.

Turning his attention back to the altar, Hui placed his hand on it. The spell array responded dully, devoid of energy. Well, that’s right. It hasn’t had enough time to recharge. But I can fix that.

Hui inserted life qi into the array. Golden lines materialized on the altar, stretching out in all directions. They darted over the floor, crawled over the walls of the palace, and spread through the dusty gray drylands outside. Compared to when he was younger and barely succeeded at activating the central piece of the array, now Hui slammed life qi into the altar, spreading his power throughout the entire realm. The gold lines burst out from the center, zooming through the realm.

As the gold lines reached the stone outcroppings, reciprocal spells lit up on their outsides. The stone outcroppings came to life one at a time, each one lighting up with a loud hmmmm. Toppled outcroppings righted themselves. Shattered and cracked stones pierced themselves back together, ghouls fleeing in fear as the massive stones reformed. All across the realm, the spell array came to life.

Standing over the altar, Hui’s hair and robes flew about, thrashed by the force of the spell. Even at fifth realm, the sheer power of the spell dwarfed him. He reached his consciousness out to one of the stones, threading it along the gold line. Brilliant gold light forced him back, too bright to look at, brighter than even Liu Guang’s aura. Hui’s eyes widened. The stones… they must have been gathering power for centuries. Unlike the realm, the stones didn’t divulge all their power every two hundred years. They gathered and gathered, absorbing not only from the world, but from every cultivator who stepped foot inside.

And yet… this isn’t enough. My predecessor, the cultivator I inherited this realm from, doubtlessly tried this, and still failed. But what he lacked… was a connection to the other side.

Drawing out the ghost flag that contained Starbound Sect’s cultivators, Hui reached his hand out of his body and submerged it into the flag. The flag responded, itself glowing with a dark light. Hui served as the conduit. His body resonated the life qi in the spell array and his soul resonated with the death qi in the ghost flag. In the space of a breath, the power of the ghost flag and the spell array rushed into his body, overwhelming him.

Hui shuddered. Waves of heat and cold rushed over his body, his soul and flesh drawn in two different directions. I’m being torn in half…!

Both spells crashed into one another and began to negate the other. Death qi and life qi clashed and vanished, pouring out of his body like water through a sieve. Veins bulged on Hui’s forehead. His meridians creaked under the strain of processing both types of qi at once. His body and soul trembled, on the verge of tearing apart entirely.

No! Focus! I can’t—I can’t let them touch! Separate, separate—

But if they don’t touch, then how can I bring them back to life? If life qi doesn’t convert into death qi… if death qi doesn’t convert into life qi…

Where does life turn into death? Where does death turn into life?

The cycle of reincarnation.

No.

That’s not good enough. I can’t allow them to enter the cycle. I need to shortcut the process. Create a cycle of reincarnation within my own body, but only the parts that I want. Not the memory erasure. Not the reforging of the soul. Not the resetting of one’s cultivation. Convert life qi to death qi, and death qi back to life qi! Nothing else.

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Not reincarnation. No! I reject reincarnation. I reject the tyranny of the Yellow Springs. I reject the reapers. I reject Meng Po. I reject the sovereignty of Lord Diyu! I reject the cycle of life and death!

What I desire… is the reversal of death!

Hui’s eyes began to glow. An aura of enlightenment surrounded his entire body, his soul and flesh both. Everything he’d comprehended so far flashed before his eyes. His death-faking. Death and life qi. The death ducks, and the life qi songbirds. Talismans. The shapes of realms, and tearing them apart. Rot qi, and the spider guarding its master’s corpse. Chen Xigui and Ya Ai’s complimentary diseases, growing uncontrollably young and growing uncontrollably old. Fen Long’s reincarnation realm.

The Immortal’s hand flashed before his eyes. It impacted the Heavenly Net. Hui trembled. An oppressive force weighed down on him. The Heaven character appeared on Hui’s right hand. It shimmered, beaming with brilliant force from the back of his palm.

“You’ve gone too far. I can’t allow this,” the reaper declared.

Hui’s eyes flashed open. “Elder Sister—!”

An illusion of Weiheng Wu stood before Hui, standing between him and the reaper. She scowled. “Stand aside. You aren’t the Heavenly Emperor.”

Master? How…? Hui’s brows furrowed.

Weiheng Wu lifted his hand to the reaper. He turned and looked at Hui. One finger gently tapped Hui’s forehead.

The flower mark on his forehead and his third eye twisted together, changing into the characters for Alive and Dead. Those two characters circled one another. They spun faster and faster, dead glowing black, alive glowing gold. The two transposed one another. Gold and black flashed out one after another, strobing faster and faster.

Hui blinked. I understand! If I do it like that…!

As the two characters strobed, Hui’s qi strobed too. Settling into an even beat, life and death qi began to work alongside one another, the two swapping out until they worked in sync. The ghost flag, draped over the altar, began to melt into it, and the gold lines strobed black in the same beat as Hui’s qi. As death qi coursed through them, the stones cracked, only for life qi to burst through them the next second, the swap driving the cracks deeper into the stone. One after another, the stones across the realm shattered, leaving only the qi constructs behind. The floor of the realm trembled.

With a sharp crack, the altar split in two. The realm wobbled. A faint image of the Heavenly Net appeared, wrapping all around the realm.

“Weiheng Hui, stop this instant. The Heavenly Dao won’t allow it. You’ll be obliterated!” the reaper shouted.

Weiheng Wu shook his head, still blocking her path forward.

Just a little more. I don’t know how you’re here, Master, but hold her for just a little longer! Hui shouted silently.

The reaper raised her sword. “If you aren’t going to step aside, I’ll move you aside.”

Hui looked at the projection of his master. “Master, it’s fine. I can handle it from here.”

Weiheng Wu looked at Hui, then nodded. He closed his eyes and vanished. A tiny golden songbird took to the sky, fading into motes of light as it flew.

Elder Sister Reaper stepped forward, pointing her sword at Hui. “Stop this. Now.”

Hui shook his head. “Elder Sister, there are a great many things I would stop for you, but this is not one of them.”

“It’s not for my sake. It’s for your own. Weiheng Hui, this thing you are attempting to do… it goes against the Heavenly Dao. Even if you succeed, you will not be able to exist in the world anymore. The Heavenly Dao itself will reject you. Your dao will have no place under heaven, and neither will you. You’re cutting off not only your path, but your existence!”

“Hmm, if the Heavenly Dao won’t allow me to exist, then I’ll have to replace the Heavenly Dao,” Hui stated simply, nodding to himself.

The reaper gritted her teeth. “You—you don’t realize what you’re saying!”

“If anyone realizes what they’re saying the most, it’s me!” Hui returned boldly. Elder Sister, I’ll believe just for a moment that I’m the protagonist! Can’t I believe for a moment, that I have the protagonist’s right to overturn the heavens? Or—or at least borrow Ying Lin’s protagonist’s halo for a moment!

“This is—there are worse fates than death!” the reaper shouted.

“Haa, I know. Actually, Elder Sister… shouldn’t the Heavenly Dao reject my very existence?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

The reaper drew back. She frowned at him.

“But it’s malfunctioning. The entire Heavens have been in disarray since long before I arrived. And that’s… that’s because that Immortal, he wants to cross into another world. And in order to do that, the Heavens must be in disarray, because an orderly heavens would never allow that, right?” Hui guessed.

The reaper raised her sword. “Nonsense is still nonsense. You stop here.”

Hui shook his head. “What I’m saying, Elder Sister, is that the Heavenly Dao might not allow it… but Elder Sister, is the Heavenly Dao watching?”

He slammed his hand down on the altar and the ghost flag. Bright light burst out from the altar. The entire realm fell apart, leaving only the spell array floating in the blackness of the void.

Peak Lord, now! Hui shouted, reconnecting to the network.

Huh? Oh! Yes! Peak Lord leaped upright.

“Don’t do this! You can’t handle the consequences!” the reaper shouted.

“And you can’t handle the truth!” Hui shouted back. He opened the network wide and let the spell course through himself, into the node, and all the way to Peak Lord.

The spell collapsed down on Hui. One single pinprick of unbearably bright light beamed out from the depths of the void. Hui curled around it, absorbing all the power he could.

Come on. Ying Lin’s protagonist’s halo… Master’s golden thigh… someone bless me, and let this work!