The other disciples dropped to their knees and panted, bending over and propping themselves on their legs. Tian Mo nodded at Hui, gesturing him over to the shade of a tree. “Let’s… take a rest.”

“Yes, yes,” Hui agreed, fanning himself with both hands. He wandered over to the shade and stood there, absent-mindedly continuing to fan his face. Unlike all the other disciples, he stood there straight-backed, breathing evenly, his lips pursed, gaze locked on something distant.

“You aren’t exhausted?” Tian Mo asked.

“Huh? Oh… ah! So tired!” Hui slumped against the tree, his chest suddenly heaving, waving himself desperately and yanking at his robes. I’ve already stood out too much. I can’t stand out any more! Blend in, blend in…

Tian Mo narrowed his eyes at Hui. “Is our training so easy for you, that you can afford to mock it?”

“Mock it? Me? Far be it from me to mock your training! It’s terrifying, purely terrifying!” Hui shook his head, eyes wide. The most terrifying thing is that your masters are willing to throw ordinary low-level disciples into such obvious death traps, and barely blink when a few die! Once we become high enough realm that the traps are threatening to me, small cultivator will have to flee directly to save my small life!

“Then why are you acting? You aren’t actually tired, are you?” Tian Mo asked, tilting his head.

Why is he so keyed in to my physical state? He’s just a kid, he—

He’s an assassin in training! Of course he’s paying attention to my physical state. Such a thing should be drilled into these tiny killers-to-be! A target’s state can completely change the kind of assassination required… or, so I’d suppose, since I don’t know anything about assassination myself. I need to be more careful, far more careful.

Tian Mo snorted. “Is it for my sake? After I froze up in there and you carried me out of there… and it didn’t even tire you. You don’t have to act. Sometimes, your skill simply shines through, I suppose. Is this what it means for dragons to mingle with snakes?”

“What? No, no, no. It’s merely, merely…” Hui licked his lips, quickly wracking his brains. Excuse, excuse, something to make me vanish into the background as an ordinary cultivator! “Merely… er, the, er, the body cultivation technique I practice…?”

No, wait! Bad! Wrong choice! Now it sounds like I have some kind of ultimate mystic body cultivation art! Which… which I guess, I guess rebuilding your body from ash using phoenix fire really sounds like an ultimate mystic body cultivation art from the outside, but… it’s not. After all…

After all, uh…

Hui shook his head, then nodded to himself. It’s just too simple! Yeah, yeah. A mystic art can’t be that simple. It’s no great mystery of the world, it’s just basic principles. An application of basic phoenix fire to the basic purpose it’s always had, rebuilding bodies! There’s nothing complex or mysterious about that.

“I don’t suppose you can teach me that art?” Tian Mo asked, raising his brows.

Hui waved his hand. “It’s, er, you know. A secret technique.” Teach you? What is there to teach? The technique itself is exceedingly simple, it’s the ‘being able to handle life and death qi in one body’ part that’s hard. If not for my unique body-soul dual cultiva—ahem, body-soul parallel cultivation systems, then I’d never be able to learn it.

Ah! That’s it. There’s a word for this! “It’s a bloodline technique. If you aren’t born into my bloodline, it’s impossible to learn,” Hui finished, proud of himself for coming up with it on the fly. Yes, yes. Rely on Bai Xue again! It’s always good to use Bai Xue as an excuse.

“It’s probably not suited for our foundational cultivation technique, anyways. Have you received the manuals yet?” Tian Mo asked.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Hui shrugged. I don’t think so. Not that I intend to learn it, anyways. I think Elder Sister… ahem, Senior Voice said she was going to bring them to me in the morning, but she seems to have neglected it.

Reaching into his robes, Tian Mo handed over a few ragged and tattered books. “Here. I have them memorized, I don’t need them any more.”

“Thank you, Elder Brother,” Hui said, bowing as he accepted it. He flicked through the pages, scanning them at top speed. Hmm. It seems like a standard entry-level manual. There’s a bit more about killing and pressure points than your average cultivation technique would have, but for the most part, it’s relatively reasonable. Closing the books one after another, he handed the whole stack back to Tian Mo.

“Don’t you need them?” Tian Mo asked.

“Ah, I have them memorized,” Hui said.

Tian Mo stared at him. “You… just looked at them.” I was trying to brag a little… it only took me a few months to memorize them. You barely skimmed them and memorized the whole set in a few seconds?

Hui looked at him. He nodded. “Yes, obviously.” What seventh-realm cultivator can’t do at least that much? I know I’m not much of a cultivator, but even I— at seventh realm…

“On second thought, I might need a little longer to memorize them,” Hui said, reaching for the books again.

Tian Mo sighed. He shook his head at Hui and handed the books over. “Everyone likes to show off, but don’t go too far with it.”

“Of course, Elder Brother,” Hui said, bowing. He took the books and stored them in his storage ring.

Again, Tian Mo stared. “You have a storage ring?”

“Huh? Who doesn’t… ahem, I mean, it was a gift from my Master,” Hui said, blinking rapidly to put a few tears in his eyes. “The only thing I have to remember him…”

Actually, the only thing I have to remember my Master is a bird charm that shattered a long time ago. No… Master did give me a storage ring, right? Or… was that Bai Xue?

Ah, no. It was Bai Xue. And then it was Bai Xue again. Come to think of it, Bai Xue has given me lots of storage rings. Hui looked at his hand. His gaze landed on the ring, and he blushed a little. Does that count as our wedding ring? Not that we really have wedding rings here, but…

Tian Mo watched as Hui’s expression went from tearful, to thoughtful, to wistful, to blushing. He squinted a little. All that, from remembering being gifted a storage ring? This Gui Hui’s relationship with his Master is a little strange…

Hui jumped up. “Right! We’re having duels today, right?”

“Ah, yes,” Tian Mo confirmed, startled.

I need to figure out some techniques to attack without killing. I don’t like attacking, so I don’t usually do it unless I need to kill, which means…

Hui paused. His brow furrowed.

“What?” Tian Mo asked.

“Am I already the ultimate assassin?” Hui murmured to himself.

Tian Mo stared at Hui, taken aback. “Excuse… me?”

Ah, no, no, let’s not be ridiculous. I’m no assassin. I don’t have any stealth techniques, after all. Aside from my qi and aura suppression, but that doesn’t exactly count. That’s one of those basic, simple techniques. Like using death qi to break through barriers. And rot qi. And…

Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I have a large selection of stealth techniques. To a certain extent, death faking itself can be considered a stealth technique.

Hui paused, pursing his lips. I know I’m not an assassin. Come on. There has to be something to separate me from assassins…

I don’t use poison! Aha. No poisons, no hidden weapons. Clearly I’m not an assassin.

Hidden in his sleeve, Zhubi adjusted his position a little and settled back in to sleep.

Hui licked his lips. Ah… Zhubi… you couldn’t have stayed still and allowed myself to delude myself for a few more moments? My dear hidden weapon companion, my dear poison-using friend!

In any case, luckily, when I was a low-tier small cultivator… not to imply that I am now high-tier, but… back then, I visited the Bai Clan and was gifted a great number of talismans by Bai Xue’s father! As long as I use those at the second- or third-realm level, I should be fine. Probably.

That’s the logic I used against Da Gongji in the cafeteria, after all. Satisfied, Hui nodded to himself.

“I wonder if you can get an exception from the duels?” Tian Mo murmured aloud.

“That would be wonderful,” Hui said, suddenly excited. Skip the duels entirely? Yes, yes!

“After all, no magical techniques are allowed. Only weapons techniques and physical attacks. And… my apologies, Gui Hui—”

“No apology necessary,” Hui interjected. A thousand god-damned alpacas. I don’t have any physical or sword techniques! The only one I kind-of know is the talisman sword technique I borrowed from Chen Wuya!

“—but you don’t appear to be a physical fighter.”

“Tian Mo, your eyes are so clear, your mind truly enlightened,” Hui agreed.

Tian Mo sighed. “Still, I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Zhang Zhisho doesn’t like granting exceptions.”

And she doesn’t like me. Hui shook his head. Biting his lips, he rubbed his hands together. Alright. Instead of hoping for a miracle, let’s focus on figuring out a new attack technique!