The cloud grew larger and larger in Hui’s vision. Ahead of him, Li Xiang plunged into it. Hui took a deep breath of the clean air outside, then followed her in.

Fog clouded in around them. The second they entered it, the fog instantly began to drill into Hui’s pores and orifices. Alarmed, Hui drew a barrier talisman. Even as he drew it, the world distorted around him. He grabbed Bai Xue with one arm and finished the talisman with the other.

Gold light formed a bubble around them. What little of the fog existed inside the bubble continued to pour into them.

Bai Xue snapped her fan shut. A blast of ice shot through the air, emanating out from her in all directions. The fog froze on the air and dropped to the ground, piling in the bottom of the bubble.

Panting, Hui peered out at the fog. The world stopped twisting, and everything steadied out again. “What was that? The incense attacked us… was it some kind of poison attack?”

Bai Xue fell against his chest. She patted him gently. “Hui, do you feel it?”

“Eh, what?” Hui looked down at Bai Xue. The way she’s acting… no way, is it that cliché? The good old aphrodisiac attack that makes absolutely no sense in the specific context or the broader context of my favorite cultivation novels, and yet still happens at least once a volume anyways?

Bai Xue yawned. Her eyes slowly shut. “It’s… a…”

Oh. A sleeping drug. That… that makes way more sense.

…damn, I hope Bai Xue never finds out where my mind went first. I’d never live it down.

Sleeping incense, though… wasn’t the incense what was wiping everyone’s memories? Does it have a secondary sleep effect? Are they burning a second incense? Or is this…?

She went limp against Hui. Hui yawned himself, then slapped his face. Stay awake. It’s not that strong of a drug. Bai Xue should be awake in a few minutes.

Li Xiang… Shit! What happened to Li Xiang?

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Supporting Bai Xue, Hui sped deeper into the mist, his barrier deflecting the incense. It billowed around him. As if alive, it pressed at his barrier, searching for a weakness. Swirling in and out, it pressed close around him, blocking out his view of the sky around him.

“Li Xiang!” Hui called. He adjusted his grip on Bai Xue and pushed on, deeper into the fog. “Li Xiang—”

The fog trembled. A wave of force flew through it, cutting it in two. Hui’s barrier shattered, and Hui stumbled back, curling his arms around Bai Xue to protect her. A deep cut sliced into his arms, but failed to sever them.

He looked up. Severed, the fog dissipated. In the depths of the fog, a single bolt of white stood upright, long black hair spooling down her back like silk.

Li Xiang sheathed her sword. Murderous light glittered in her gaze. “This was a diversion. They’re close.”

Without another word, she shot off in a bolt of sword qi.

Quietly, Hui circled his qi to life qi, healing the gashes in his arms. He checked on Bai Xue, letting out a sigh to see her unharmed. That done, he chased after Li Xiang. A thousand questions swirled in his mind. Li Xiang has always been somewhat… if not cold, then at least obtuse, but… that was next-level. Is she anxious about her son, like Bai Xue is? Or… it’s been ten years. So much could have happened that I don’t even know where to start.

He gazed after the pale white sword light and pressed his lips together. I’ll just have to have faith in her for now. Once this all quiets down, I’ll sit her down and ask about it. About… these last ten years.

Her, and Bai Xue both. We should sit down and just talk. Figure out everything between us. The children. I’ve missed so much of their lives. Everything.

Ahead, a second smear of incense caught Hui’s eye, a gray blob hanging low against the seemingly heaven-piercing border mountains. Li Xiang sped up, moving so fast that she reached them before Hui could even speed up. She paused, drawing her sword. A blast of sword light split the incense cloud, and she moved on. Chasing deeper, further, toward another, more distant cloud of incense. That, too, burst apart with a swipe of her sword, only for her to dart even further away as another stream of incense lifted on the wind.

Hui stopped. He put a hand on his chin. Hmm. If I had left fake incense as a diversion from myself, who was using the true incense… I wouldn’t leave it behind me, like a trail of breadcrumbs. In fact… He turned in the opposite direction.

The barrier mountains stretched to the left and right in front of them. Li Xiang chased off toward the left, further inland, but to the right, in the far, far distance, the mountains descended into the sea.

If I had to cross the barrier mountains anyways…

Hui looked after Li Xiang, then took a deep breath. I don’t know that this is the right answer. I’ll make my guess, and let her keep chasing the incense breadcrumbs. If one of us is right, it’s not too late to double back and meet one another. But if we pin our all on one guess and end up wrong… that’s when we might have to face losing our children.

Giving Li Xiang one last glance, Hui turned his back and sped toward the sea.