The scent of salt assaulted his nose. In his arms, Bai Xue stirred, half-waking. Clumsily, she wiped her face and blinked, squinting at the harsh sun.
They hovered over the waves. Below them, the sea crashed against uncaring walls of dark gray granite, painting the rock darker with each pass. Sea foam burst upward where the water met stone, spraying white mist high into the sky.
“Where are we…?” she muttered blearily.
“Ah… good morning,” Hui said, looking out further into the sea, where the mountains slowly dipped into the ocean, becoming islands, then atolls, then nothing at all but bleak grey-blue waves churning endlessly in the deep. “We’ve reached the ocean border of the Southern Sect Conference.”
“Oh,” Bai Xue said. She cuddled slightly up to Hui, unwilling to break free of his embrace quite yet. “Mmm. It’s nice here.”
“It is,” Hui agreed. “It’s just… there’s a small problem.”
He turned around, facing the land instead. “You, will you reveal yourself?”
The sky shimmered. Behind him, Fei Guren appeared, that disciple of the Eight Tiers Palace’s fourth tier. She pinched an incense stick between her two blue nails, the stick so utterly black it seemed to soak in the bright sun around it, casting heavy shadows over her hand and wrist. “How did you know I was here?”
Hui rubbed his nose and looked aside, letting out a light laugh. “Ah, Elder Sister, would you believe me that I guessed?”
In this case, it’s lying. I saw her with my third eye. Compared to the reapers, do you think you could hide from me, when we’re all on the same side of this strange technique? But well, it’s excusable to lie in this case. One shouldn’t reveal all their cards to the enemy!
It’s fortunate Li Xiang isn’t here.
“How did you counter my technique?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at Hui. “This is sixth-realm karmic incense, able to temporarily erase karmic bonds between people as long as it’s lit. Even if they’re your children, you shouldn’t be able to remember them!”
Bai Xue laughed. She stood upright, looking down at Fei Guren, and held out the yin-yang ornament at her hip. “My mother has long reached the peak of sixth realm. She’s the one who created this bonding ornament. To think so little of the Bai Clan, tsk, tsk.”
“Er, Elder Sister, I was a reaper at the time…” Hui murmured, mostly to himself.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Bai Xue’s eyes flashed. She stared at him. “You were a what?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Hui said, waving his hands.
Fei Guren pinched off the incense, saving the last inch or two in her sleeve with a flick of her hand. “It doesn’t matter. It’s too late. Your children are already in my hands.”
“We can kill you here and take them back,” Bai Xue said. She gestured, and fans instantly appeared in her hands.
“Ha! Do you think they gave your children to a lowly cultivator such as myself? My job was to cause distractions and carry the karmic incense. Now that I’ve drawn you here, you won’t be able to reach your children in time,” Fei Guren laughed. She pointed. “They’re in the hands of cultivators far more powerful than myself, and headed for a teleportation formation hidden in the mountains long ago.”
Bai Xue’s hands clenched. Lip twitching, she raised a fan.
Fei Guren stared her down. Subtly, she smirked. Her hands moved in a mysterious, hard-to-follow manner, and something silver glinted deep in her sleeve.
Hui nodded to himself. In a clear, unrushed voice, he said, “Ah, it makes sense.”
Bai Xue glanced at him, then stepped back. Gently fanning herself, she regained her composure in an instant.
Fei Guren smirked at him. “Faking composure now? It’s too late. There’s no point in putting on airs. We’ve already won. Scream, squirm, panic! Whatever you do, it’s too lat—”
“Elder Sister, I’m already aware that you’re a sadist, there’s no need to reiterate the point,” Hui sighed, shaking his head.
“What?” Fei Guren asked sharply, taken aback.
Bai Xue raised a fan to hide her smirk.
He put his hands out. “Elder Sister, you are aware of who I am, right?”
“A lackey of Bai Xue’s,” Fei Guren said without hesitation.
Bai Xue snorted, totally losing all composure. “That isn’t wrong!”
Hui coughed. “Er, well, as Elder Sisters said… er, but I’m also her first husband, Weiheng Hui.”
Fei Guren squinted. “You’re dead. That isn’t possible.”
“If you knew him, this wouldn’t come as a surprise at all,” Bai Xue said, shaking her head at Fei Guren.
“He’s… he’s really Weiheng Hui? Is this some kind of fake? A clone?” Fei Guren asked. She exerted her pressure, taking in Hui from a distance.
Hui gently rebuffed it.
After a moment, Fei Guren harrumphed. “Whether he is or isn’t, what does it matter? A lowly fifth-realm cultivator…”
“Ah, are you sure about that?” Bai Xue asked playfully.
Hui cleared his throat. “Er, to interrupt…”
“Please, go on,” Bai Xue said, gesturing.
Nodding, Hui gestured to Fei Guren. “Lowly one is also Li Xiang’s husband as well. In that case, Elder Sister, think. You kidnapped two children, from two mothers. But only one of them is here.”
Fei Guren squinted. “So what? There’s still countless illusions and incense spells to fend her off.”
“Li Xiang… surely you know about her unique constitution? Even I was tricked by this split of yours, but she saw through it. Do you think an illusion or incense will stop her?” Hui asked, tilting his head.
Fei Guren laughed. “She’s still a mere sixth—”
In the distance, an incredible explosion rattled the earth. Dust clouded up to the heavens, and the peak of one of the border mountains began to slide down into the Southern Sect Conference.
Hui smiled politely at Fei Guren and cupped his hands to her. “Excuse us, Elder Sister. I believe that’s our cue.”
Taking Bai Xue, he flew past Fei Guren. Batting her fan the whole way, Bai Xue looked down on the befuddled girl and let out a single laugh as she passed.
At that, Fei Guren whipped around. “You won’t get away from me!” She waved her sleeve, and a silver chain-dagger tipped in hideous purple poison darted toward Hui’s back.