Jizhi Zhimei closed her eyes. She began to murmur to herself. Qi built up around her, strands of it drawing a spell formation on the ground.

Hold on, hold on! Pause! I still need to figure out how to counter your mind-wipe! Hui cried. He scrambled, looking for something, anything to use to defend himself.

Maybe… maybe ordinary barriers will work? But… would that be too obvious? She thinks I’m under her charm right now. If I reveal I’m not at the eleventh hour, I’ve done all this for naught!

Give in and get mind wiped…? But then, if I forget what I’ve told her, I’m fucked! There’s no way I’ll come up with the same bullshit a second time. Ugh. I have to survive this somehow!

Delving into his mind, Hui cast about in panic. Abruptly, he paused. Looking up, he latched eyes with the clone who was maintaining the false thought barrier on the outside of his true mind.

Ah. Well, that’s a solution…

The clone narrowed his eyes. I’m not a solution. Fuck off, First. I’m not getting mind wiped. Fight me!

You don’t have a say in it. Sit there and get obediently mind wiped by Elder Sister!

I don’t want to! I never get to come out anymore, and I’m just going to forget the few seconds I got?

Okay, okay. I’ll bring you out again later, how’s that? I promise.

I’m going to get mid-wiped! What’s that promise mean, huh? Nothing!

…

…

So?

Yeah, I get it. I’ll obediently be mind-wiped. If it’s for our survival, can I really refuse you? I mean, me. I mean… us. You get it. Not happy about the whole impending possibility of mind-destruction, either, but what am I going to do?

It’s okay. I can reconstruct your mind from my master copy, Hui assured him.

The clone gave him a look. Does that sound reassuring to you?

Hui hesitated, then shook his head. No… I guess not.

Snorting, the clone turned away. Hurry. Do it. I’ll bear the burden this time.

Hui nodded. He took a deep breath and sat back. Killing back his mental energy, he let the clone take over his thoughts, while he himself played dead, cutting off his thoughts, his vision, everything, except for the faintest qi awareness.

Haaaa… this is plain clone abuse. Mortal turned toward the beautiful cultivator that stood over them and gave her a blank-eyed stare. At least she’s easy on the eyes as I go…

Qi accumulated in the air around his head. A thousand ants crawled around on his brain, wriggling into every fold. Mortal squirmed, distinctly uncomfortable. Mental destruction for higher-tier cultivators… ugh. I hope this doesn’t kill me.

I hope this doesn’t kill us all.

As the pain closed in, Mortal suppressed all his energy to the furthest extent possible. Like a mortal… like a low-realm cultivator! Survive this. I’ll survive it for all of us!

His vision darkened. The ants chewed into his brain, tearing it apart. The world melted. Foreign qi rushed in. It washed him away, and nothing remained.

Stolen novel; please report.

The small boy went limp. His wrists clanked against the bed. The chains went slack. His eyes rolled back in his head, revealing all whites.

Jizhi Zhimei stood. She frowned, slightly.

“Is something the matter?” Voice asked.

Jizhi Zhimei shook her head. There was something. A resistance… She looked at the disciple for another few beats, his black hair splayed over the bed, body crumpled, then turned away. A resistance? He’s a child. Barely second realm. I must have made a mistake. “It’s nothing.”

Voice bowed. “I’ll take him back to his room.”

“Do.”

With one last bow, Voice scooped Hui up and carried him out of the room. Jizhi Zhimei stared after her for a moment, then turned away. I was mistaken. And yet…

Voice walked slowly, careful to support the child in her arms. She glanced down, then carefully shut his eyes. Mistress was in a strange mood. I wonder why? Did she regret wiping his mind? That’s quite strange. Could it be, Jizhi Zhimei has finally grown attached to another cultivator? A child, at that?

Are her maternal instincts awakening? Hmm, how interesting. I think I’ll see how this plays out. To think, the unreachable, untouchable Jizhi Zhimei has at last found room for another in her heart! Even if it’s to raise him as a child.

Hui stirred. He blinked, slowly waking up. The world wobbled around him, swirling back and forth. Discomfited, he clutched at Voice’s sleeve, body instinctively tensing. I’m going to fall—!

Voice smiled down at him. “Can you walk?”

“Ah, I…” Hui frowned and wiped his eyes. Something’s wrong. Something happened, but I can’t… I can’t quite…

All at once, everything blasted back into his brain. Hui jolted, going tense once more. I—right, I… I woke up, and Jizhi Zhimei, and… mind wipe…

Mortal, I’m sorry. And thank you. Hui’s eyelids dipped mournfully. He raised a hand to his arm to touch Zhubi.

Yeah, fuck off. Why are you thanking me, anyways?

Go back to sleep, Mortal.

He touched his arm. No snake present at all.

Hui jolted. He grabbed his forearm, ran his hand up and down it, searching. Zhubi? Zhubi… where’d you go?

“Is there a problem?” Voice asked.

“My… my pet. My friend, my snake… I—I mean, my spirit beast. I lost my spirit beast,” Hui said, panicked. He sat upright, patting both arms from the shoulders down. Nothing. He looked at his hands, as if Zhubi might materialize there.

“A snake…?” she frowned at him.

“You haven’t seen…?” Hui looked at her. I don’t think she’s lying. She has no reason to lie, after all. But… if not her, then who took Zhubi?

A familiar face ran past. A few steps past Voice, Tian Mo stopped, turned around, then stared at Hui. “Ah? Gui Hui, you’re alive?”

“Mmm,” Hui confirmed. He patted Voice’s arms to be put down.

Voice set him down and stepped back, a demure smile on her face.

“Tian Mo, did you see a snake? A small white snake, with a silly upturned nose?” Hui asked, holding his hands about one arm’s span apart.

“Oh, that thing? The pretty senior who ate with you took it with her,” Tian Mo said.

Hui stiffened. “Eh.” That fellow Daoist? Tseng Caihong? But why? Especially if she is, as I suspect, the missing Tier Master… the Tier Master of the Eighth Tier, the Palace Master. What’s she doing with my small snake?

Eh, hold on, hold on. Let me rephrase that. What’s she doing with Zhubi?

Is Zhubi in danger? Or… wait. Is she… is she holding him as a hostage, against me, the hostage? How deep is this hostage-taking going to go? Next, they’re going to hold a hostage against Zhubi, against me, against the Southern Sect Conference…

Hui’s head spun. He rubbed his forehead and wobbled in place, almost falling over.

Voice gently stabilized him. “Take care. You’ve been through a traumatic experience. Give your body time to adjust.”

Haaa? And whose fault is that, huh? The one who wiped my mind, maybe? Hui gave her a look from the corner of his eye, but a second later retracted it and said nothing. It really doesn’t matter. But she’s right, I do need some time to recover. I’m a little overwrought right now.

But Zhubi… ugh. What am I supposed to do about that? Tseng Caihong is ridiculously more powerful than me. She’s free to do whatever she wants to him!

If I want to meet Tseng Caihong… Hui looked up sharply. His eyes met Tian Mo’s.

“What?” Tian Mo asked.

“Tian Mo, I need—”

Shwing. Steel cut through the air behind Hui. A cold blade touched the back of his neck. Time slowed, Hui’s thoughts running at a thousand miles an hour. For a split millisecond, he swapped to crystal form, and the blade halted. Not long enough to appear to halt, not to anyone’s eyes but perhaps Tseng Caihong’s, but just long enough to give the wielder a sensation of resistance.

Play dead? But I’m the hostage. But if I don’t play dead, then—and if I do—

Ah, fuck it. Hui gave in. His head separated from his shoulders. Spinning off, it flew across the hallway and struck the wall, bouncing down to the floor.

Tian Mo screamed.

The Voice stepped back, carefully lifting the hems of her robes to keep them from getting bloody. “Oh my.”

Da Gongji stood over Hui, panting. Blood ran down his sword. With effort, he straightened, then pointed the blade at Hui. Triumphant light shone in his eyes. “That’s what you get!”

Lying on the floor, Hui’s head suppressed a sigh. How childish.