As Hui fell, body falling apart, qi flowing backward, he examined the qi signature of the melting attack. Tiny bits of the man’s qi flew through his body, the itty blade-like qi shards tearing into him.

Interesting, interesting. Hmm. It’s something like autonomous miniature qi structures that go forth and kill through a thousand tiny cuts. Like nanoblades! Although none of the qi structures on their own would do much, if you use a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million of them at once, you can break down almost anything. And they’re so small that few things defend against them. A heavy strike could break through them, yes, but at the same time, the tiny qi structures would attack back against the heavy strike and wear it away. They’re something like… like qi sandpaper, but turbo-sandpaper.

Blood surged up in his throat. Hui paused a moment, then coughed it up. Might as well. For dramatic effect.

Though I have to admit, it’s truly a dangerous technique. If not for my newly-forged phoenix-fire death playing revival technique, I would never dared let it touch me. It’s deeply damaged my body and qi passages beyond repair. I would have had to find some way to block the attack while pretending to take the attack, and I wouldn’t have been able to experience the technique’s power firsthand.

Hmm, I wonder how far I should fall before I rejuvenate my body? Hui quietly watched the battle overhead. Bai Xue stood at a distance, using the qi he’d left her to send waves of ice at the man. He charged in and pierced through the barrier Hui had left. His hand closed around Bai Xue’s neck, only for Bai Xue’s entire body to shatter, nothing but an ice statue. From behind him and slightly overhead, Bai Xue laughed, red eyes glittering in amusement. The man shouldn’t attack Bai Xue to kill, since, after all, what’s the point of hostage-taking if the person you’re taking hostages from is dead, but… I can’t count on my enemies to be as level-headed and reasonable in battle as I am.

Casually, Hui slowed the rate of his fall, giving himself a few extra seconds to take in the battlefield. In fact, rather than fighting to kill, these enemies should be fighting to stall for time so that whoever has kidnapped our kids can get away over the mountains… or through them, or use some kind of teleportation formation.

His eyes darted over to Li Xiang, who easily held her own against the second fighter now that Bai Xue was fighting the qi-melting-hand cultivator. Hmm. If I was these guys… where would I position myself to keep the mothers from finding the children? They’ve stopped us here. This is where they draw the line. But why? They could continue to fall back and give chase.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The fact that they’re holding their ground means that there must be something past here that they absolutely cannot let us reach. That means… either our children or the teleportation formation or both are right here, almost at the tips of our fingers!

He searched the mountain around them, opening his third eye, but saw nothing. His brows furrowed. Hmm. I can’t trust what I see, is the problem. They can use advanced karmic stealth techniques and erase themselves entirely from the chain of karma. Although I was able to detect Li Xiang, it took time, time I don’t have right now. And severing the chain of karma even severed Li Xiang’s truth sense ability, so I can’t count on her entirely. It’s a tricky technique.

But luckily… I have a way around that technique. He reached into his sleeve and touched the inch or so of incense left from Fei Guren. As long as it’s based on the same principles… once I entered the state of karmic deception, I could sense others in the same state, and similarly, Li Xiang could use her truth sense on me again. Which means… right now, I have exactly the key I need to see what I need to see.

His throat pinged with pain. Hui grimaced, resisting the urge to touch it. The only problem is that dead men don’t use karmic techniques. I have to wait until I’m out of sight to sneak off and rescue our kids.

Hui released the technique that slowed his fall. Mentally, he reached out to Bai Xue, using the same technique he’d used to connect to Fang Hua, the jiangshi, back when he was dead. After all, now that I’m alive, there’s no threat of death qi infecting the connection and causing harm to Bai Xue.

He cleared his throat. Elder Sister, listen to me. I’m going to play dead and sneak past these men. Put on a good show to distract them!

Bai Xue chuckled, the sound deep and rich. In his male voice, he replied, Oh, you know I can put on a show.

I… Hui sighed. Please do, Elder Sister. If you run out of qi, let me know. I… might be able to send you more? But don’t count on it. I haven’t come up with the technique yet.

You … feel like you can? Bai Xue asked skeptically. A wave of fire lit up the sky, and the barrier-melting-hand cultivator fell back. The male Bai Xue strode forward domineeringly, dark hair fluttering on the wind, eyes narrowed almost to slits. He swept his fan again, and another wave of fire crashed down on the enemy. The enemy held up their hand, melting the fire around them, but sweat still broke out on their body from the fearsome heat.

Er, well, I couldn’t create wireless internet at fifth realm, but I’m seventh realm now, so surely—

Internet?

Ah, never mind, never mind! Focus on the fight. I think I can rescue our children!

Go.

Hui plunged into the trees, vanishing into the dark beneath.