“That’s what you get, for insulting this Da Gongji!” Da Gongji declared. Swiping the blood off his sword, he sheathed it with a pompous harrumph. Looking down on Hui, he kicked the boy’s body. “Let this be a warning to everyone else.”

“You just—you just killed—” Tian Mo looked from Da Gongji to Voice, then at Hui.

Voice cocked a brow and said nothing.

“—just… just killed… a fellow disciple…” Tian Mo’s voice faded away. He sighed. Right. It’s not as if this is a righteous sect. Survival of the fittest. Those with power trample those without.

Da Gongji laughed in Tian Mo’s face. “What are you going to do about it? If you can’t defeat me, then shut up.”

Tian Mo scowled, but said nothing. He crossed his arms and looked away.

“That’s what I thought.” Scoffing, Da Gongji turned to go.

“Er, excuse me…”

“What? Do you have something to say, after all?” Da Gongji asked, turning.

Tian Mo waved his hands. “It wasn’t me…”

Hui’s body stood.

Da Gongji stared at the hole where his head should be, and his jaw dropped. “You… how…”

“It was rather rude of you, wasn’t it, Elder Brother? At least face me like a man, in one-on-one combat!” Hui blustered. His body knelt and grabbed his head, then settled it back onto his neck. He circulated his plant qi, joining the two back together.

Luckily, it’ll take more than a beheading to kill your average seventh-tier cultivator. Especially when the beheading is done by a second-tier… third-tier cultivator who can barely handle his own qi. Now, if there was death qi, or a secondary attack… or gods forbid, soul obliteration in the strike, those are all totally different considerations, but a simple sword swing? Hardly. Even the weakest seventh-tier cultivator would be barely inconvenienced, as long as they could find their body and reattach their head quickly enough. After all, what seventh-tier cultivator wouldn’t have a regeneration art of some description or another?

It's rather nice to not have to take any special actions to maintain my little life when I face simple attacks at this stage. I suppose it’s because of my nascent soul… ah, though, I’ve had a pseudo-nascent soul for as long as I’ve had clones, more or less… if not longer, what with my cultivation being a bit odd.

He put a hand to his dantian, where a secondary representation of his soul floated, almost solid. Nascent soul, or maybe more accurately, nascent divinity… I seem to have cultivated one somewhere along the line between sixth and seventh stage. Though since my soul has been randomly visiting the Underworld since then, I suppose I can’t be sure I didn’t make some mistake in cultivating it. When I have time, I should take a closer look and ensure everything went right. Since I kind of paid no attention to the process, anything could have happened.

Though I am at least experienced in cultivating my soul, so perhaps it all went fine thanks to that.

“Haa… life is hard,” Hui sighed, lifting his head to stare into the sky.

Tian Mo stared at his bloodstained robes and the fresh red line on his neck. “Yes…?”

Da Gongji staggered backward. He stared at Hui. “How…?”

Hui glanced at Voice, then bowed to Da Gongji. “Sincerely, Elder Brother, this is due to my unique bloodline. However, I’m surprised to find you so startled. Those in the Southern Sect Conference are all good at regeneration techniques. Is the Eastern Alliance so deficient?”

I might as well seize this opportunity! Since one of my goals is to make the Southern Sect Conference a terrifying force in the minds of the Eastern Alliance, I might as well take a step toward pushing that story! They don’t need to know it’s merely a story. Even if they disbelieve it, surely someone will fall for it… and all I need is for one person to take up my rumor to get the rumor mill going!

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“Impossible,” Da Gongji snarled. He raised his sword again.

Hui’s fingers swirled, drawing the shape of the wind-sword talisman on the air. He gripped the sword and pointed it at Da Gongji. “Do you doubt your own eyes?”

He narrowed his eyes at Hui. “I doubt your words.”

“Ah, well, I suppose you’d have to see it for yourself… too bad that’s impossible,” Hui said, shrugging. Turning, he shook his head at Tian Mo. “Da Gongji isn’t willing to accept what’s so clear in front of him. How inflexible.”

“Huh? Er…” Tian Mo eyed Da Gongji nervously.

“I’ll kill you again,” Da Gongji growled.

“I would very much like to avoid that, Elder Brother,” Hui assured him, giving him a quick bow.

Voice cleared her throat. “Da Gongji, you’ve made your attempt and failed. A good assassin retreats quickly after failure. If they cannot retreat…” Her eyes suddenly shone with bloodlust. “…Then I suppose they’ve grown tired of life.”

Da Gongji wrinkled his nose. Expression as sour as though he’d bitten a lemon, he backed away, shaking his head, then turned and ran.

Hui turned and bowed to Voice. “Many thanks, Senior.”

She brushed a bit of invisible dust off her shoulder. “It was nothing.”

“You really showed Da Gongji!” Tian Mo said, suddenly enthusiastic. He slapped Hui on the shoulder. “I bet he hates you now.”

“Ah… well. I’d rather he not,” Hui muttered, mostly to himself. Still, if I’m going to have a rival… might as well be one with no hope of ever catching me.

Tian Mo blinked at him. “You didn’t seem to not want to antagonize Da Gongji.”

“Incorrect. I have the least desire to antagonize anyone! The problem is that some people antagonize themselves,” Hui said, crossing his arms. It’s not my fault. I’m but a small cultivator who wants to make no enemies and live a peaceful life. It’s everyone else who can’t wait to hurtle into danger and anger!

“I’m surprised that bloodline technique of yours is so robust. You can take on poison, a beheading…” Voice commented.

Hui nodded. “That’s right. Is it so odd? It’s very normal in my home sect.”

She frowned, giving him a look.

Hmm. As expected, it’s harder to feed the adults lies. Well, that’s fine. There’s bound to be at least one adult who’s easy to fool. As they say, one born every minute! I just have to find that one sucker, and I’m golden.

Hui shook his head. No, no. Don’t get distracted. Zhubi, what am I going to do about Zhubi? He looked at Voice thoughtfully.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Ah, Senior, could I go visit Tseng Caihong?” Hui asked.

“Tseng Caihong is taking no visitors,” Voice responded, shaking her head.

Eh? But if that’s the case, why take Zhubi hostage? “Could you pass along a message for me?”

“Why should I do that?” Voice asked.

Hui grit his teeth. Dammit. She’s got a good argument! Why would she do that for a nameless small disciple, after all? He licked his lips, then tried one last time. “Er, you wouldn’t happen to know where she likes to train…?”

“Tseng Caihong is usually in secluded meditation,” Voice responded.

Hui squinted at her. Don’t you usually enter secluded meditation for years, decades, centuries at a time? I saw her running around today! You can’t lie to me!

“Ah… anyways, that’s what she says. There’s a rumor she’s simply using it as an excuse to slack off,” Voice explained, putting her hands up helplessly.

With a sudden glimmer of understanding, Hui nodded. Oh. Haaaa, I understand. And if she’s the Palace Master, who has the authority to contradict her and tell her to work? Tsk tsk, it’s like a CEO that never comes into the office, and when they do, it’s in flip flops and a t-shirt! Everyone wants to be that person, but who but the CEO has the guts to do it?

But if Voice can’t get me in contact with Tseng Caihong, then… how do I get Zhubi back? If she’s supposedly in secluded meditation, none of the Tier Masters can contact her, nor would they dare attempt it. Even if she’s blatantly lying, who dares to call out the Palace Master? She’s equivalent to the Sect Master at most sects… if not even higher, since the Eight Tiers Palace is made up of eight sects. If she managed to unify eight sects into the Eight Tiers Palace… well, she’s not someone the Tier Masters can afford to challenge.

Which is all well and good, but… I need to get Zhubi back, which means I need to contact Tseng Caihong, but if no one can contact her…

Hui pursed his lips. He turned, facing the distant entrance to the secret realm they used for training. The last time I encountered her… If I return to the secret realm, maybe I can meet her again.

Tseng Caihong is really terrible at hostage-taking, isn’t she? I can’t even contact her about the hostage without going to trouble! Tseng Caihong, you need to go back to hostage-taking school! You succeeded at taking me hostage, so why—

Wait, hold on. Jizhi Zhimei took me hostage, not Tseng Caihong. Hui licked his lips. He looked up, staring at the ceiling above him and through it, the distant Eighth Tier. Is this your first kidnapping? That would be kind of cute… except that you stole my snake! Why, dammit? Why!

Well, nothing for it. I need to get him back. Hui walked off, eyes set firmly on the distance.

Tian Mo looked at the puddle of blood, then at Hui, then at Voice. He swallowed, nodded at Voice, and scurried after Hui. “Gui Hui, wait up!”