Hui dismissed the barrier and stood. He glanced at Bai Xue. “Elder Sister, are you ready?”

Bai Xue stretched, humming under her breath. As she dropped her arms, she swapped forms, changing to her black-robed black-haired male form. “I’m ready.”

“We should set off immediately. If we wait much longer, they’ll see through our ploy,” Hui said, nodding. He glanced at Bai Xue, then offered him his hand. “Come here. I’ll disguise you.”

“Already? Won’t disguising me as a kidnapper in the sect I’m supposedly kidnapping from cause a fuss?” Bai Xue asked.

“Elder Brother… isn’t that the point?” Hui asked. He patted his robes, then pulled out a tiny inch of incense. “When you’re in danger, light this and let the smoke waft over me and yourself. Eight Tiers Palace should expect the kidnappers to use it… ah, there isn’t much left, though, so we’ll have to ad lib the ending a bit.”

Bai Xue nodded. He took the incense and looked it over, giving it a quick sniff, then pulling a face. “Phew. I remember that stench. Nasty stuff, that. And where am I kidnapping you off to?”

“Do you remember where we killed that blood clone, you, me, and Li Xiang? There’s a one-way teleportation formation there. We’ll have to figure out how to contact the other side, but… I suspect that won’t be as hard as it seems,” Hui said, murmuring the last words almost to himself.

“No?” Bai Xue asked.

Hui waved his hand. “As extensive as their setup was, there’s no way they didn’t have backups and hidden fighters hiding in the wings. If we successfully pull off our disguise, they should come to us.”

“Isn’t that frightening?” Bai Xue asked.

Hui nodded. “Of course, of course it is, but it’s less terrifying than having my children successfully kidnapped… or my homeland invaded.”

Bai Xue nodded at Hui. “That reminds me. We’ll have to hide the children away if Eight Tiers Palace is meant to believe they’ve actually been kidnapped.”

“Hmm… I don’t suppose there’s any hidden realms opening soon?” Hui asked.

“There’s always something. I’m sure we can find one. It’s just, we have to remember to do that. Li Xiang, do you hear me?”

“I hear you,” Li Xiang replied, her voice echoing down the long hallway.

Bai Xue grinned. “She’ll take care of it.”

Hui stood. He stretched, looking around, then put his hand on Bai Xue’s head and operated the snakeskin technique. I’ll model his features after that cultivator I killed… the one with the chaos qi technique.

Hmm, I can’t believe I never developed one of those.

Something tickled at the back of his mind, and he frowned faintly. Or… did I?

Eh, whatever. I have one now, that’s what matters!

The snakeskin technique activated. Bai Xue’s handsome figures vanished, replaced by the generically-attractive-cultivator look of the chaos-qi attacker. Hui glanced around, then grabbed a stack of paper and took a deep breath. Chaos qi… actually, the talisman for that is simple. All I need is to direct the qi to go wild and overrun itself, and the chaos will occur naturally. Chaos-qi attacks are surprisingly simple… I suppose the difficult part is in not infecting your own qi. Ah, luckily, this small Hui has lots of experience with that.

Finishing the final stroke of the last talisman, he handed the stack of talismans to Bai Xue. “Use these if you have to attack. Hide one in your palm and act as if you’re directly attacking with your hand. Only revert to your own techniques if you have no other option.”

Bai Xue nodded. He tucked the talismans into his robes and settled them back into place. “And you?”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“I’m a small, helpless child. Ah, it shouldn’t be much different from usual,” Hui said, nodding at Bai Xue.

Bai Xue put a hand on his forehead. He shook his head at Hui. “How is that ‘not different from usual?’ You’re seventh-realm now. In terms of martial prowess, you outrank me.”

“I outrank you in terms of realm alone! Martial prowess is something else entirely, something else entirely,” Hui insisted, waving his hand.

“Is it?” Bai Xue asked, crossing his arms.

Hui nodded. “It’s very common for cultivators to fight above their realms and defeat elders one, or even two ranks above them! Realm is almost meaningless.”

Blinking, Bai Xue stared at Hui. After a moment, he sighed and shook his head, putting his hands on his hips. In his disguise it almost looked intimidating. “Where did you get that idea? It’s rare, the rarest of rare! Li Xiang can, and on occasion, I can overpower higher-realm cultivators if I meet someone unprepared for my fighting style, but realms are iron rules, more or less. There’s little chance a sixth- or lower-realm cultivator poses you much threat.”

Hui pressed his lips together. Elder Brother, don’t be ridiculous! What about protagonists?

I read all those novels back in my world. I know that, according to the logic of this world, it should be nearly impossible to fight above your realm… but! But! Protagonists always break the world’s logic! Protagonists can always fight above their realms! Meeting Master and Ying Lin convinced me that this world has protagonists. I was fortunate the first two were on my side, but they’ve already ascended! There’s surely another protagonist out there, on the way up to Immortality.

What if they’re in the Eight Tiers Palace? What if they’re the ones who come out to greet us? Danger, danger! I have to keep an eye out for that protagonist. Now that I don’t know where they are, I’m in more danger than ever before. A protagonist could pop out of anywhere, even on the enemy side! Now more than ever, I must remain wary!

“You don’t believe me?” Bai Xue asked, cocking a brow. He looked down at Hui, tilting his head.

“No, no, I believe you. I dare not doubt Elder Brother,” Hui said hurriedly, nodding. How am I supposed to explain this to Bai Xue, anyways? He doesn’t understand the way I see this world. After all, if I told him I was worried about protagonists, he’d just think I was crazy! This is the real world, not a book!

And it is, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t protagonists!

Bai Xue squinted at him. “You doubt me all the time.”

“Only when you say unbelievable things, like that I should be brave,” Hui said, shaking his head at Bai Xue.

Before the conversation could get any more off track, Hui raised his hand. “Elder Brother, please look away. I’m going to change my body now.”

“Eh? Are you using my bloodline technique? …Do you want to learn my bloodline technique?” Bai Xue asked. In between the two lines, his eyes suddenly started sparkling.

Hui backed away. “Elder Brother, I can’t learn your bloodline. It’s impossible. Unless I have your bloodline—”

“Xiao Hui is a genius who can comprehend a great many things. I’m sure you can unlock the secret of my bloodline. You can already swap between a great many types of qi. What is yin and yang but another type of qi?” Bai Xue suggested, advancing toward Hui.

Hui’s back struck the wall. Bai Xue slammed his arm up beside Hui, grinning down at him. “So? Want to try?”

Hui shook his head emphatically. Ehhh, I don’t want to, don’t want! Elder Brother, I haven’t even learned your genderswapping technique yet, so don’t kabedon me already!

Bai Xue grinned. He tipped Hui’s chin back. “Think of all the wonderful things you could experience… all the pleasures you haven’t yet obtained…”

“I’m, I’m sure they’re wonderful, but I’m, er, Elder Brother, we’re in the middle of a very important mission right now!” Hui said, pushing him away. He scurried out of Bai Xue’s grasp and vanished into the closet, closing the door behind him. “I’m busy. Don’t come in!”

“I can teach you whenever. Xiao Hui is so talented, I’m sure you can pick it up in no time,” Bai Xue chuckled. The closet door groaned slightly as he leaned against it. From inside, Hui could see his shadow, his back to Hui. “Any time, Xiao Hui.”

“Hmm,” Hui said. He focused his attention into his core, where the phoenixes danced with the songbirds and ducks. Calling out the phoenixes, he introduced them to his flesh. Consume my body. Destroy it… and rebuild!

Flames burst up over his body. In a moment, they swallowed him whole. His flesh aged rapidly, withering and growing old. In a few moments, Hui went from youthful to ancient.

“You know, I’m offering to teach you the most intimate of my bloodline’s secrets. There are cultivators who would kill for the opportunity.”

“I’m quite fine, Elder Brother,” Hui croaked, his voice dry and scratchy.

“Are you alright in there?” Bai Xue asked, suddenly concerned.

Hui opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, the fire consumed him, and he transformed into a pile of ash.

Well. This is inconvenient.

“…Xiao Hui?”

The flames sparked over the ash. A fetal Hui formed from the ash. He tried to speak, but his half-formed lips wouldn’t form the words.

“I’m opening the closet,” Bai Xue said, concerned.

No, no, don’t open the closet! Ah, my mental speech technique—

The closet door opened. Fetal Hui became baby Hui, and slowly grew into toddler Hui, flames still flickering over him.

Bai Xue blinked down at him. He frowned. “Xiao Hui, you’re entirely too young.”

I know. I’m working on it, Hui thought, barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Closing the closet, Bai Xue patted the doors. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Please do!