Leaving the sect meeting behind, Hui took to the air. Bai Xue followed a short distance behind, allowing Hui to lead the way. In the air, Hui closed his eyes and reached out, searching for the resonance in his qi that only came from his descendants.

Where… there! Hui flew over, staying high in the air so as not to frighten them.

As he flew, he clapped his hands together, working himself up. Alright. I can do this! I can talk to my children! Yes, yes. This small Hui has nothing to fear. They’re only children. Vastly lower cultivation than me. They should respect me! Yes, yes.

But… I don’t want them to respect me. I want them to see me as their father. Is it too late for that? Bai Xingxue is kind toward me, but is it just because they’re kind to everyone? Li Weiqi clearly doesn’t acknowledge me. What can I do to get them to see me as their father?

Ahhh, children are so delicate, so delicate! I’m scared to interact, in case I wound them mentally. Especially myself, given my predilection toward inflicting mental demons. With Si Wang, I didn’t even intentionally inflict a demon, and yet, he still grew aggravated. What if I do it to my children? After all, it’s natural for them to have a sore spot toward their father. I wasn’t there. I couldn’t be there for them, this whole time. Hui’s heart ached. He put a hand to it, curling that hand into a fist. No. I’ll just have to be there for them from now on.

A little voice countered, There for them from now on… by running off to another sect the second they arrive? Are you sure you aren’t running from your responsibility, instead?

No, no! I’m doing this to protect them. I’m doing this for their sake! I—I’m…

The resonance grew stronger. Hui paused in midair, looking down. From as high as he was, he would have only been a small dot in the sky to their low-realm eyes, but to his eyes, he could see everything as plain as day.

Trees blanketed this floating peak, the entire peak a forest. Amid the forest, low-level beasts roamed, some friendly, some aggressive. Pulling up beside him, Bai Xue nodded. “It’s a low-level trial peak. Li Weiqi wanted to test his suitability for beast cultivation, so I sent them here.”

“Ah, of course,” Hui said. After all, it’s not like they would enjoy sitting around and watching a stuffy conference for hours. Even I barely lasted a few minutes!

“Li Xiang set this peak up for the conference, as a benefit to the low-level disciples of other sects. The disciples are allowed to keep any beast they catch and tame. There’s only low-level beasts here, so it really can be considered a training peak for the benefit of the low-level cultivators,” Bai Xue continued.

At last, Hui located his children. The two of them crouched to either side of a narrow gorge, keeping a watchful eye over it from the sturdy limbs of nearby trees. Within, a ravenous red-eyed bear paced, growling occasionally.

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“How dangerous! Are they going after that beast?” Hui asked, shaking his head. I’ll have to intervene if they actually try to attack. That bear is at least third realm, easily above their realm.

Bai Xue lifted his hand, stopping Hui. A small smirk touched his lips. “Watch.”

As ordered, Hui stood back and watched, frowning slightly.

Down below, a young teen boy in ornate robes approached the gorge. Bai Xingxue and Li Weiqi nodded at one another. They hunkered down, watching silently.

The well-dressed teen peeked into the gorge. They saw the bear, and their eyes widened. They froze, looking around.

At that instant, Li Wieqi raised his hand. A Go stone hurtled down and struck the bear in the nose.

The bear whirled around. Its eyes locked onto the well-dressed teen, and it let out a dangerous growl.

Hui put his face in his hands. Li Weiqi… Bai Xingxue… you’re still scamming people?

The teen stared back, eyes wide. He drew out a sword, stumbling backward. After a moment, he came to himself and raised the sword in a semblance of a sword stance, gritting his teeth with resolution.

“Ah! Is that a Red-Eyed Monster Bear? Those things are at least fourth tier!” Bai Xingxue squealed.

The well-dressed teen’s resolute look flagged. He took a step back, suddenly hesitant. “Fourth tier…?”

No. That bear is dangerous, but it’s only third realm. And that teen is third tier. He could take it on, Hui thought, shaking his head.

From the other side, Li Weiqi burst out. He fired a few Go stones in the direction of the bear and beckoned to the teen. “Hurry! Come with me!”

The teen nodded. He ran after Li Weiqi, fleeing the bear.

Behind them, the bear turned around and went back to whatever it had been doing. Bai Xingxue glanced down to check that it wasn’t chasing them, then ran after Li Weiqi and the teen. “Hurry! It’s right behind us!”

Terrified, the teen sped up. Li Weiqi fired a few Go stones over his shoulder, which Bai Xingxue jumped up and caught.

“Faster, faster!” she cried in terror, though she didn’t appear terrified at all.

Hui sighed. “These children…”

“Wait, wait. They haven’t even done the best part yet,” Bai Xue said, snorting.

Panting, the three children came to a halt at last. The well-dressed teen straightened up, pushing his hair back. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“No need to thank us, Elder Martial Brother. No need to thank us at all.” Bai Xingxue stepped forward, adjusting the teen’s robes and ornaments, her gaze lingering in the more expensive jades and gold tokens. She gazed at one of his ornaments, a particularly fine white jade peony, and let out a longing sigh.

The teen jolted. He grabbed at the ornament, quickly untying it. He handed it to Bai Xingxue. “As a token of my gratitude.”

“No need, no need,” Bai Xingxue said. Her longing gaze landed on another ornament, this one a round gold medallion studded with glowing spirit stones.

Li Weiqi scoffed. Under his breath, as though he didn’t want the teen to hear, he muttered, “A beautiful lady helps you, and all she gets is one precious jade?”

The teen hurried to untie the second ornament as well. “A small token, please accept!”

Hui sighed deeply. I need to get down there before they rob that poor teen of all he’s worth. These children of mine… where did they get such precocious behavior from?

Bai Xue put a hand on his chest. “Hold on, hold on. I want to see how much they can get out of him.”

“Bai Xue,” Hui said, shaking his head at him. We don’t need to encourage the children to become scammers. They’re already doing it enough as it is. I can’t let them get away with this so easily. They won’t learn anything about how to scam better if they keep getting away with such cheap tricks! These tricks will only work on low realm cultivators, not—

Er, ahem, I mean… they shouldn’t scam people! Right, right. He pushed Bai Xue’s hand away and dropped down, flying onto the mountain.

Bai Xue shook his head at Hui’s back, then followed after him, gliding down toward his child.