As Hui drew back his arm, he suddenly halted. But… it isn’t really my way to charge straightforwardly into the obvious trap. Rather, I really don’t like charging into traps! Traps are how small cultivators like myself die. No traps, no traps!

If I’m going to break this net, then I should… no.

No! I’m thinking too small! This net, Zhu Diyu’s manipulation… no matter what I do to solve this problem, I’m dancing in the palm of Zhu DIyu’s hand. He’s manufactured this situation. He waited until I needed to return to the mortal realm, then presented the net before me. To break the net is the stupidest thing I could do!

What I have to do, is something Zhu Diyu would never expect.

Hui’s eyes glittered. He laughed, completely releasing the qi on his fist. Break the net? Break the net! Too small, too small! This cultivator isn’t such a pitiful person as to break merely one part of a secret realm. When I visit a secret realm, I leave it in tatters. I’ll do the same to the Underworld, or Zhu Diyu is my father!

Forget breaking the net. Forget getting to the mortal realm! Zhu Diyu, fuck you! I’m going to completely destroy the Underworld!

And I know just how to do it.

Zhu Diyu’s brows furrowed, and his hand clenched on his throne’s armrest. Aloud, he said, “You’ll never escape. As I thought! You can’t break the net!”

“No, no. It’s merely that I’m not defying you,” Hui insisted.

“You can’t escape! Not even if you use the secret attack I taught you!” Zhu Diyu prompted.

Hui laughed. “Right, right. Senior’s attack. Ah, well, I suppose I should use that!”

He lifted his finger and drew the talisman on the air, the way he’d become accustomed to. Rather than pointing it at the net, though, he pointed it down, back at the Underworld. Vibrations tore through the air, creating small voids.

Zhu Diyu frowned. “You can’t break free that way.”

“Ah, is that what Senior thinks?” Hui said, smiling brightly. After a moment, he tipped his head. “Not that small cultivator is breaking free.”

Hui threw his hand out and sent his soul into the voids, calling out to his seed in the Night Market. His soul flew toward it, leaping across the dark space between.

In the Underworld, Hui’s body dropped like a stone toward the floor below. Zhu Diyu stormed to his feet, his face twisted into a scowl. His red hair gleamed like fresh blood, faintly glowing in the dark Underworld. He punched out. A burst of red light zipped from his hand and smashed into Hui’s body, destroying it completely.

The reaper looked up. She raised her hand, catching a few drops of the Sanzu River water that fell from Hui’s body. “Was that necessary?”

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Zhu Diyu rounded on her. He raised his fist again.

Quirking a brow, the reaper stared him down.

Zhu Diyu grit his teeth and smashed his fist down into the ground instead. All across the Underworld, the earth trembled. A rift split the ground, digging deep into the stone.

The reaper snorted. “How mature.”

“Mind your words,” Zhu Diyu huffed. He adjusted his robes and ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it down. As his hand passed, so, too, did the bloody gleam and the low glow.

“Whatever he’s doing, he’s almost certain to do as you wish, anyways. There’s no need to get so impatient,” the reaper said.

“I don’t like what I can’t control,” Zhu Diyu complained. Crossing his arms, he plopped back onto his throne, looking for all the world like a cross toddler.

“An interesting choice you made of reapers, in that case,” the reaper said.

“Hmph. Who would have thought the coward would be such trouble to control?” Zhu Diyu muttered.

The reaper chuckled. “You should have spent more time watching him. If you had, you’d know he’s only a coward when it benefits him.”

“Ha. It benefited him. I gave him an easy route,” Zhu Diyu said.

“We aren’t fools, you know. He might act the fool, but only as one plays the pig to eat the tiger. He knew he was being manipulated from the start. You should know that,” the reaper said.

“But it didn’t matter! It shouldn’t have mattered. No, it still doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he can do in the Night Market,” Zhu Diyu grumbled, half-under his breath.

“If that’s so, why are you so troubled?” the reaper asked, smirking slightly.

Zhu Diyu looked up sharply, narrowing his eyes at her.

She waved her hand, rolling her eyes at him. “As long as he destroys the Underworld, your wish is granted, so why are you acting like a woman with her auntie?”

“There are dangerous things in the Night Market. He might not know what he’s playing with,” Zhu Diyu said.

“And why do you care?” The reaper gasped. “Don’t tell me… you actually like him?”

Taken aback, Zhu Diyu looked at her. “You’re the one in love with him.”

“I’m… what?” the reaper asked, flabbergasted.

“I’ve seen it. The way you look at him. And you never stepped on Si Wang. Though the real clincher was serving him tea,” Zhu Diyu said, nodding.

“I—what. When? Tea?” the reaper said, too taken aback to make coherent sentences.

Zhu Diyu smirked, relaxing in his throne now that the reaper was on her heel. “He said so himself, when he first arrived, did he not? It’s fine. You don’t have to be coy about it.”

Putting her hand on her forehead, the reaper raised her other hand to stop Zhu Diyu. “No, no. I’m just… what? Where did you get the impression that I liked him from? When have I ever treated him favorably?”

Zhu Diyu tilted his head. “You’re a cold woman. I didn’t expect you to show your love in the usual way. Naturally, you’d be even colder toward someone you favored, right?”

The reaper laughed aloud. She shook her head. “No, no, no.”

“Haha, I think you might deny too much,” Zhu Diyu said, waggling his finger.

“Heavens above. I’m going to take a walk,” the reaper said. She turned on her heel and marched away.

Watching her go, Zhu Diyu allowed himself a small smile. Ah, it’s always fun to tease Mamian. I did truly think she had something for my new recruit, though. Does she not? Or is she simply denying it, even to herself? She is a cold-hearted woman, cold to the core. Perhaps she doesn’t realize her feelings, or doesn’t want to admit them. Or perhaps there truly are no feelings… but that’s boring. I don’t want to acknowledge that possibility.

In the next instant, though, a crease appeared in his brow, and a frown replaced the smile. His eyes travelled down again, into the floor of the Underworld, to the place far below where the Night Market hid. Beyond that, piercing through its floor to something hidden underneath. He glanced back up, the black net still ever so weakly visible. A cage, meant to capture. And all it failed to capture, with the failure of the Heavenly Dao, hidden away in the Night Market.

Even so, I can’t help but worry…