As Hui swallowed, he created a film of qi in his stomach, a sort of bag nested just inside the organ. The food tumbled into the bag, but didn’t hit his stomach acid nor get digested.

Hui smiled at Tseng Caihong. Haha! Figure this one out!

Tseng Caihong leaned on her hand, looking at him with bored eyes. As their eyes met, she nodded, barely taking the effort to move her head. “Who are you?”

“I’m the hostage. Your sect kidnapped me,” Hui said, taking another bite of rice.

“That doesn’t bother you?” she asked.

“Of course it bothers me, Senior. But what will being bothered do to improve my situation?” Hui spread his hands, then took another bite of rice. The rice accumulated in the qi pouch in his stomach. Feels weird. I don’t like it. But I like it better than getting poisoned!

She snorted dryly. “How reasonable.”

“I try to be very reasonable.” Hui shot her his winningest smile.

“I don’t.” Tseng Caihong crossed her legs and lowered her head, not charmed at all.

Hui put down his chopsticks and knitted his fingers together. “Senior, why did you grace this small—”

“Continue.”

“Huh?”

She pointed at his chopsticks. “Finish the rice.”

Hui stared at her for a beat, then picked up the sticks and began to eat again. She’s not letting me off, is she? Lifting a clump of rice to his mouth, he continued. “Why did Senior grace this small cultivator with your presence?”

Tseng Caihong lifted a single brow. “You know why.”

Hui cleared his throat. Time for some bullshit! “Could it be, because of the incident in the valley? If not for the thick yin, I might have died to Senior’s blade! Luckily, the shadows—”

“I killed you,” she stated flatly.

“Ah, ah, I can see how Senior was mistaken, but—”

“I killed you.”

Hui went to lower his chopsticks. Tseng Caihong raised a brow, so he hurriedly took another bite instead. “I’m alive, am I not? Therefore, Senior must have been mistaken.”

Tseng Caihong leaned in. She tapped her eyes. “I saw you die. When my eyes observe something, they pierce to the heart of the matter, to the utter truth. If I see it, then it absolutely happened.”

“Like Li Xiang?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

She frowned at him.

“Ah, where I’m from, there’s—”

“I know Li Xiang. How is this like her?” Tseng Caihong asked.

Hui cleared his throat. She seems the type to want to jump straight to the heart of the matter, so let’s not spend any longer than I have to describing it. “Li Xiang can sense when you speak the truth.”

Tseng Caihong snorted. “My eyes are different. Perhaps truth was a poorly chosen word, for someone used to Li Xiang. I cannot know if someone tells the truth, but I can see through everything, through objects, through barriers, through illusions. I can see reality in its absolute state. Although I cannot innately sense truths, I could see, for example…” She lifted her hand and touched Hui’s chest. “If that small bug heart of yours started beating faster than usual. I can see if that heart of yours stops. And I can see when your soul leaves your body, and when it dissipates. Even if you attempted to falsify these things, I would see through it.”

Eh? Is this… is Tseng Caihong… does she have x-ray vision? How terrifying! She can see Zhubi? She—she can see my tiny body? He covered himself with his hands instinctively. And even worse, she will know when I play dead! If she can see through illusions and see my internal bodily functions, the only way to fool her is to die for real. What a terrifying person, truly terrifying!

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Fortunately, I happened to lose control of my small body and die for real when she killed me. If I wasn’t owner of the Underworld, I would have been in danger, truly in danger!

She leaned forward. Knitting her fingers together, she stared over them into Hui’s eyes. “You were dead. How are you here? I don’t see any signs of a revival technique or artifact on your body. What did you do? How did you return?”

Hui licked his lips. Would Elder Sister believe that I’m the owner of the Underworld, and I can die and easily return to the mortal realm because of that?

No signs of a revival technique, though… shouldn’t the phoenix flames leave traces of a revival technique? Or could it be that they’re so basic and fundamental that they don’t leave whatever traces she’s looking for?

Hmm… interesting. It seems, unlike Li Xiang’s simple and straightforward truthsense, which always shows truth from lie, this Tseng Caihong’s eyes are more easily fooled. More complex and sensitive, more capable of noticing tiny details, I’m sure, but at the same time… for her to fail to notice the phoenix flames’ marks on my body… perhaps, if she isn’t looking for something, she won’t see it? Or… to consider another possibility, if she doesn’t know what something looks like, even if she sees it, she won’t know it, and seeing it will prove useless despite everything?

It's a classic case of accuracy versus precision! Li Xiang is high accuracy—she’s always correct or incorrect—but low precision, since all she knows is true or false, but not precisely what is wrong about the situation. Tseng Caihong is high precision—she can see exactly what’s happening—but low accuracy, since she can only comprehend what she can see on her own, based on her own knowledge.

Well, that’s not exactly right. But it’s close enough! Kind of.

Finishing up the last bites of the rice, Hui smiled and set his chopsticks down. The rice sat uncomfortably in his stomach in the qi pouch. I’m going to have to destroy that and remove it from my body as quickly as possible. I’m not enjoying this experience at all. “Elder Sister, you must be mistaken. I’m merely a small cultivator.”

Tseng Caihong narrowed her eyes. She retracted her hands and leaned her head against one hand. Her narrowed eyes regarded Hui in silence. The colors whirled around her irises, and individual scintillating halos appeared around each eye.

Hui resisted the urge to chuckle. It’s like the most hippie-60’s glasses ever. Huge, garish, shiny as a disco ball… wait, would that be the 70’s? In any case… I don’t think it looks as impressive as Senior thinks it looks!

Wait, wait, hold on. She has eyes that can see all, according to her. Can she see my stomach—

A fist thudded into Hui’s stomach. He coughed, startled. The qi pouch burst, and the rice fell into his stomach.

Fuck! Hui jabbed his fingers into his mouth, intending to make himself vomit.

Tseng Caihong’s other hand snaked across the table and latched onto Hui’s head. The second her palm met Hui’s head, Hui’s entire body froze. He sat there, unable to make himself vomit, unable to do anything but wait.

“You can act as flippant as you like. When the poison meets your bloodstream, we’ll see what tricks you have,” Tseng Caihong murmured, her eyes narrowing to a dangerous extent.

Shit! Do I revert to my ordinary cultivation and attempt to escape? But… but I can’t see through her cultivation. Besides, she… seems not to have noticed yet that I’m higher cultivation than I appear to be, but if I surge my strength, she’ll surely start looking, and once she starts looking… ugh. I have no choice! I have to absorb the poison and die. That’s my only option.

Hui turned his eyes toward the heavens. Elder Sister Reaper, I’m sorry. This small bug is going to drill another hole in the Underworld!

The poison hit his bloodstream. Hui’s stomach ached mightily, and his whole body quickly followed suit. Despite Tseng Caihong’s hold, Hui still trembled. His eyes rolled up in his head. Veins stood out on his body, turning a dark purple. His blood ran backward and his cultivation revolted.

Tseng Caihong, why? It hurts so much! Couldn’t you choose a less painful method of killing me? I’m going to die, I am, I promise! So please, make it painless next time!

Tseng Caihong looked him up and down. Her brows furrowed. “You don’t have long. Whatever you intend to do, do it now.”

Elder Sister, you’re still holding me! Even if I wanted to do something, could I? Hui cried silently. Blood oozed out of his seven orifices, and he went limp.

Still clutching his head, Tseng Caihong looked at him. She released him and stepped back. Hui’s body slumped to the floor, utterly lifeless.

Her brows furrowed deeper. “It can’t be. But… he’s dead. Truly dead.”

She stood there for a few moments, waiting, brows still furrowed.

Hui’s robes twitched, then gapped. Zhubi wriggled out of Hui’s robe. Curling up on Hui’s stomach, he hissed ferociously at Tseng Caihong.

She knelt. The second she drew close, Zhubi rolled belly-up and played dead.

“Your master is dead. There’s no need to protect him any longer,” Tseng Caihong told Zhubi.

Zhubi laid flat on Hui’s chest, still playing dead.

She snorted. “What a strange beast.” Snatching him up, she turned on her heel and walked away.

The second she left, the Voice swooped in. She snatched up Hui’s body and fled, hurrying away. Glancing left and right, she hurried up to a huge, ornate door, gilded in bright gold and laid with pink spirit stones in the shape of a peony. She knocked. “Mistress, I’m here.”

The door opened. Jhizhi Zhimei beckoned her in. “It’s Tseng Caihong’s mistake for being so impatient. We’ll steal away whatever secrets this child has, and she can’t be angry! It’s her own fault for not catching his secrets.”

A slow smile spread across Jhizhi Zhimei’s face. “Take him to my private dungeon. We’ll pry those secrets out of him, one way or another.”