The pain in his legs momentarily abated, Hui stood in place. He focused all his attention on his third eye, scanning the water for qi emanations. The objects she’s looking for should stand out—

Blazing bright light shot from the water, all but blinding his third eye. Hui stumbled back, clapping his hands over his forehead. Owowow!

“Giving up?” Jizhi Zhimei asked.

“N-no,” Hui said. She’s giving me an out? This is definitely a task I’m meant to lose so she can destroy me! I can’t give up now.

But damn, so many items, so much light…! The water itself, the pond stones, the lotuses… everything is an incredibly powerful artifact. Even at my true cultivation, it’s still a blinding amount of qi, all stocked in this tiny pool!

Hmm… if I absorb it all, I could definitely advance to the next stage. This incredibly dense qi… Hui’s eyes gleamed. He turned, looking up at Jizhi Zhimei, still hidden behind the wall of fog. I’m starting to see an upside to being her disciple.

Looking down at the water, Hui took a deep breath. The primary problem is that the water itself is full of qi. I can’t see anything detailed past it. If I want to find the sponge, I need to see past the water.

He took a deep breath. As long as I don’t move, the water won’t hurt me. As long as I don’t move… Circulating the snakeskin technique, he plunged his face into the water.

Thick qi battered him from all directions. A brilliance akin to the surface of the sun assaulted his eyes.

Hui barely resisted the urge to lick his lips and roll his eyes at himself. Okay, so what did I think was going to happen? I can break the surface of the water, sure, but then I’m just in the water. How on earth did I not realize it until I did it?

But… well, now that I’m already here… if I absorb some of this qi, I’ll be able to see more easily in the water. Bonus, the water might even stop attacking me! Yes, yes. I think I’ll do that. Carefully lifting his face out of the water, leaving the snakeskin behind as he did, Hui instead stood in the water. Pressing his fingertips together over his dantian, he killed what little remained of his qi, shoving it down to nothing. Carefully, carefully. I don’t want to absorb all of it. Just a little. Just enough to clear my vision!

From the far side of the fog screen, Jizhi Zhimei watched Hui. Choosing to cultivate instead of find the sponge? Stymied by such a small amount of pain? His resolve is too weak. I knew it. He doesn’t actually walk the path of beauty. She settled her veil back over her face and began to wave her hand, preparing to dismiss the fog screen.

Before she could, all the qi in the pond flew toward Hui with ferocity. Waterspouts drilled up out of the water and flew into his pores, the qi was so desperate to enter his dantian. The lotuses leaned toward him, yearning. From the bottom of the pond, the little stones rolled toward Hui, piling up around his feet until they reached his mid-calf. All the hidden resources lying in the pond hurtled toward Hui and stuck to him like magnets. The water swirled around his legs, growing shallower with every passing breath.

Some of… some of… I said some! Even so, Hui couldn’t stop. After suppressing his cultivation for so long, all the qi hurtled into him as if he’d been holding it away with the void qi absorption technique for all that time. His dantian burned, and his qi passages ached. Unable to keep faking a low cultivation, Hui expanded his body’s apparent cultivation, from second to third, third to fourth, fourth to fifth. There, he tried to hold it off, but he couldn’t stop. There’s just too much qi in this pond! There’s nothing I can do. Ugh. At this rate, I’m going to hurtle all the way from second to eighth stage even faster than Ying Lin did!

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Overhead, tribulation clouds formed, growing even as his cultivation continued to surge. Hui glanced up at them. I guess I’m getting the fifth stage tribulation again… but that’s going to be a joke even to my suppressed self, at this rate!

Jizhi Zhimei flew to his side and pressed a hand to his forehead. A heavy seal materialized in the air around her, searing into his skin. Instantly, Hui’s cultivation plummeted again, back down to third realm. The excess qi in his body settled into a flat bead on his forehead beneath the seal mark, accumulating into one spot.

Hui frowned. Hey! Why are you—

Wait, okay. If I was actually second realm and burst up to fifth realm this fast, I’d absolutely be on the verge of a qi deviation and desperately need sealing for my own safety. My meridians would be shattering, my dantian breaking, my qi passages rupturing… No, she’s actually being a good Master and doing the right thing, here.

He closed his eyes and obediently let her seal him. From the inside, he closely inspected the seal as it settled on his forehead. Qi flowed through his body, reinforcing his dantian, meridians, and qi passages. Where it passed, it called the other qi to it, like a sponge. The qi running rampant in his body followed the siren’s call of her qi, chasing it up to be sealed in his forehead.

Hmm, interesting! Is this part of the Dao of Charm, too? Not only is Jizhi Zhimei beautiful, but there’s also an inherently attractive element to her qi.

I wonder if there’s a similar principle behind this, and behind my void technique? After all, both techniques call qi to themselves. The fundamental difference is that my technique calls qi to me by removing all the qi in my body, and her technique uses her qi to call more qi to her.

If I could combine the two, imagine the levels of absorption I could reach!

Jizhi Zhimei stepped back. She took a deep breath. “What possessed you to attempt that?”

“Er, would Senior believe that it was a complete accident?” Hui tried.

Skeptical, she cocked her brow. “You didn’t attempt to absorb the pond?”

“No… well, yes. Er, just a little, though,” Hui explained, squeezing his fingers almost together. “And then it all just… came at me.”

“You didn’t try, and it still came to you?” Jizhi Zhimei asked, confused.

“Er… yes?” Hui said, scratching the back of his head.

She frowned at him. Her eyes narrowed.

That’s not good. Distraction, distraction! Hui looked down. “Ah! Senior, look! Did I find them?” Reaching down, he grabbed a brownish-yellowish sponge in one hand and a sliver of black soap in the other.

Jizhi Zhimei pursed her lips.

“N…no?” Hui said, shrinking back.

“Do you realize how grave your situation was, moments ago? You nearly died. Your cultivation hovered on the verge of total bodily and soul destruction. If I hadn’t sealed you at fourth realm, you would be dead right now. Even that… might be too much for your path to continue. You’ve all but crippled yourself, in the space of a blink. You should be dead right now. And you have no idea what you did, nor how to avoid it later.” Jizhi Zhimei shook her head. She snatched the soap and sponge away from Hui.

“I simply have to avoid absorbing dangerously qi-rich water,” Hui said, nodding. I understand her point, but how often do disciples run across qi-rich water?

“If you’re that sensitive to qi, you’ll need to undertake special training to avoid killing yourself the next time you find somewhere with thick qi,” Jizhi Zhimei stated.

“Ah… well, that’s reasonable,” Hui agreed, nodding. Is this what it’s like to have a reasonable Master? How strange. I’m not used to it.

“For now, return to the other disciples. I suppose high potential comes with its own difficulties…” Jizhi Zhimei muttered, half to herself.

Hui cupped his hands to her and ran off. At the door to her palace, he paused and looked back.

Jizhi Zhimei held her hand over the pond. Qi spooled from her hand, splashing as water into the empty pond bed.

Oh? So the pond was full of Jizhi Zhimei’s qi? Then it’s not merely a force of attraction associated with Charm-Dao qi, but also… corrosion? In keeping with the theme of beauty, should I call it exfoliation? Hui looked down at his robes, which now ended at a flat line at his mid-calf, bare feet slapping along the stone floor as he walked. I suppose I need new robes, too. Hm-hm, let’s go find some fresh robes. And not from the female disciples’ laundry this time! Although, I suppose that did indirectly lead to me meeting Li Xiang, so I can’t be too sad about it.

Nodding to himself, Hui wandered off.