Hui hurtled off, speeding away at his top fourth-stage speed. Did we get away? He glanced over his shoulder, simultaneously expanding his mental energy.

Ai Tuzi rapidly closed in on them, hurtling up behind them.

Shit! Hui turned back around, putting more speed into the tree. The disciples clutching to it screamed and gripped tighter. Their knuckles went white, fear flashing over their faces.

“Gui Hui! She’s coming for us!” Tian Mo shouted.

“I know!” Hui gritted his teeth, frustrated. If I was alone, I could push myself to the next realm and escape Ai Tuzi, but if I do it with the disciples around, they’ll notice my power surge again, and this time, I won’t have any excuse for it! Sure, I guess I could break Jizhi Zhimei’s seal and use that qi, but… it’s not worth it. That’s a lot of qi, and if I release it, I’m not sure I can reseal it. If I hurtle up to seventh stage, I won’t have my trump card of my hidden cultivation level anymore!

Think! There’s surely something cleverer I can do! Something… something better…

Hui put a hand to his chin, thinking deeply to himself.

“Gui Hui, she’s gaining!” Meimei shouted.

Hui looked up sharply. That’s right! Didn’t she and Tian Mo tell me…? “Meimei, you killed your teacher? That is, a higher-realm cultivator?”

“Eh? Huh? Yeah. I used the zither secret assassination death chord technique… but I don’t have a zither,” Meimei said, putting her hands up. The tree bounced on the air, and, eyes wide, she quickly latched onto the tree again.

“Can you teach the technique to your fellow disciples?” Hui asked.

“Right now?” Meimei asked, startled.

Hui nodded. “Is it possible?”

“It’s… an advanced technique… only usable if the user already knows how to play the zither…” Meimei muttered.

“We know how to handle hidden weapons. Isn’t that enough dexterity to play a single chord?” Tian Mo countered.

“It’s a hidden technique…” Meimei grumbled.

“You used it to kill your teacher! Are you treating the secret as sacred after killing your master?” Tian Mo argued.

Hui tilted his head. “Meimei, if you aren’t confident you can teach it, that’s fine. I can come up with something else.”

Meimei pursed her lips. She shook her head. “I can teach it. But I need zithers!”

Hui slapped the tree, pushing more life qi into the tree. From its trunk, zithers grew, their bodies formed from one smooth, hollow piece of wood, then strung with slender root fibers. “There.”

Grabbing the nearest zither, Meimei’s eyes glittered. “Prepare yourselves! I’m going to teach you a secret technique, but you’re going to need to strum until your fingers bleed to learn it. If you don’t see bone at the end of this, you’re lucky! Will you still proceed?”

“Yes!” the disciples responded, scrambling to grab zithers.

Drawing his own zither close, Hui nodded at Meimei. “Teach us, Master!”

Lifting her hands dramatically, clutching onto the tree with her legs alone, Meimei struck the zither’s strings, playing the first few notes of a song. “Did you see that?”

Most of the disciples frowned. One or two plucked delicately at their strings, slowly picking out the notes.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Hui repeated her finger motions on the air. At the same time, he watched the strings she struck. Like that… yes.

Meimei scowled at them. “Strike the chords with strength! Like you mean it! This isn’t a delicate melody. This is a killing chord!”

The disciples saluted. They raised their hands again.

“Now. Watch closely.” Meimei lifted her fingers again and clawed at the strings.

Following the disciple-laden tree, Ai Tuzi frowned, confused. They’re… playing instruments? Zithers? Why? What…?

Hui glanced back. He touched his neck. “Zhubi—”

His hand touched skin, not cool scales.

Oh. Right. Tseng Caihong has Zhubi. And Bai Jingwen escaped my hold, and the ghouls became their own autonomous group, and I guess I could call in the phoenixes, but it feels somewhat like calling an orbital strike on a mosquito… Hui considered for a moment, staring at Ai Tuzi thoughtfully.

“What?” Ai Tuzi asked.

“Hmm… Maybe a lotus clone?” he asked her.

She furrowed her brows. “What?”

Hui rubbed his hands together. A lotus seed materialized between his palms. Slipping it between his fingers, he flicked it at Ai Tuzi.

A clone burst into form in midair, a lotus beast moreso than a true clone. It flew toward Ai Tuzi and slammed into her, knocking her back. In a few moments, she tore the clone apart, but the clone, still fueled by life qi, quickly reformed and grabbed onto her again. Frustrated, Ai Tuzi rounded on it. She drew her sword.

As she fought the lotus beast, the tree pulled away from her once more. Hui sped up as much as he could. We need to buy another few minutes for the others to learn the chord. Can’t have her catch up yet!

“Again! It must be perfect!” Meimei shouted. She put her fingers to the strings again, playing the melody once more. “The whole song builds. The sound resonates on the sound! You cannot simply play the chord. The chord is a culmination of the entire song! A single misplaced note or incorrect inflection will ruin the entire effect!”

“I’m starting to understand why you killed your teacher,” Tian Mo muttered under his breath.

“You’ll know you’re getting it right when the resonance builds in your zither. The whole instrument will vibrate with the weight of your strum. Strength grows in the string in a harmonious cycle as you pluck each string, until the zither cannot hold any more. That… is when you release the final chord!” Meimei pressed her palms to the strings, silencing her instrument. Her expression quieted, entire face going blank. She closed her eyes.

All the other students went silent, Hui included. Intently, they watched her fingers.

Very, very carefully, very quietly, she picked out a sequence of notes. As she did, she sent qi through her fingers instinctively, causing each string to hum with qi as she plucked it.

Her eyes flew wide. “That! At once. Feed the qi exactly as I did. With that… with that, you’ll have at least a fifty percent chance of succeeding!”

“Feed the qi…?” Tian Mo asked, frowning.

Hui frowned. Couldn’t he… oh, right. It isn’t easy for other cultivators to see qi. He put his hand to the tree. “Everyone, put your hands against the trunk. I’ll replay the qi to your hands.”

Meimei frowned. She tilted her head. “How do you know it already? Even I took a few turns to learn it…”

“Ah, well, it’s ordinary for Southern Sect Conference cultivators to learn qi techniques this easily,” Hui said distractedly. He put his hand against the bark and sent qi into it, copying Meimei’s qi patterns through the trunk.

Across the tree, the disciples’ brows furrowed. A few of them looked at one another. Two or three’s eyes lit up, and one directly entered a state of enlightenment, her eyes bright and hazy at the same time.

Tian Mo took a deep breath. “I’m ready.” He put his hands to the zither.

“Wait, wait,” Hui said. He nodded at Meimei. “We only get one chance, right?”

Meimei nodded. “The zither breaks as part of the attack. If it was a true zither or a spiritual zither, it could be healed or restrung, but these…” She gave his makeshift tree zithers a disgusted look. “These will disintegrate.”

Hui looked around at the rest of the disciples. He nodded. “Save it until she’s almost upon us. We all unleash it at once! Even if we don’t all succeed, enough of us should succeed to hold her back if we attack all at once!”

The other disciples nodded in return. Almost as one, they turned to face Ai Tuzi.

In the distance, Ai Tuzi threw the lotus clone aside. Irritation burning in her eyes, she rocketed toward them, speeding after the tree. “You won’t get away from me!”

“Begin playing!” Hui whispered. His fingers danced over the zither, plucking the strings exactly as Meimei had.

The other disciples played their zithers as well. A raucous, somewhat off-tune song resonated from the tree trunk. Even as they played, they adjusted to one another, slowly reaching a harmonious sound. At the lead, Meimei nodded, occasionally gesturing a disciple on or putting a hand up for them to play slower.

“Hold… hold,” Hui cautioned, his eyes locked on Ai Tuzi. He slowed the tree, giving her a chance to catch up. Almost… almost… almost…

“A final concert, before you die?” Ai Tuzi mocked them. “Forget hostages. All you annoying children will die here, right now, as punishment for Ai Lingling’s death!” In the blink of an eye, she reached them. She struck down at them, her hand transforming into a rabbit’s paw complete with razor-sharp claws mid-blow. Terrifying fifth-stage power gathered in her hand, enough to blow all the disciples and the tree away in one strike.

“Now!” Hui shouted. Slamming his hand down, he played the chord with all his might.