“There they are.” Swishing the blood off her sword, Ai Tuzi chuckled. She gestured.

Force gripped Meimei and Hui, dragging them out of the passage and into the light.

“No!” Tian Mo shouted. He reached for them powerlessly.

Zhang Zhisho gave the two of them a look, but could only grit her teeth and hold on.

Hui took a deep breath. He drew back his hand. This is enough. I can’t allow this to go any further. Even if Eight Tiers Palace is my enemy… there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed. Ai Tuzi, battle those at your own strength. Cowardly attacking mere disciples for revenge is below even this small cultivator.

A wind qi blade materialized in his hand. With his other hand, he drew a talisman he hadn’t drawn in a long time. Qi strings connected to his hands and feet, and the qi blade he clutched became more firm, almost physical.

He imbued death qi into the blade’s edge, careful to keep it from touching the blade itself, and slashed. Black qi severed the force that drew him and Meimei toward Ai Tuzi. Meimei fell to the ground with a yelp.

Tian Mo blinked. “Gui Hui…?”

Ai Tuzi frowned, confused. She looked at Hui, then snorted. “You will fight?”

Hui stepped forward confidently, his motions not his at all, but instead borrowed from a different cultivator. He lifted his hand, holding the blade in his other hand, and gestured at Ai Tuzi. “Elder Sister, have you ever heard of the Seven Forms of Autumn?”

“Why would I pay attention to the pathetic techniques of human cultivators?” Ai Tuzi asked, lifting her own sword in response.

“It’s an ultimate sword technique from beyond this world. Even someone as buglike as myself struggles to fail with this technique.” Hui swirled the sword. He stopped in front of the other disciples, gazing up at Ai Tuzi.

“A fourth-realm cultivator thinks he can look down on me?” Ai Tuzi scoffed.

“Sincerely, Elder Sister, I’m looking up at you,” Hui returned. After all, twelve-year-old me is rather small.

“Enough.” Ai Tuzi rushed toward Hui.

Hui lifted his qi blade toward hers. His body moved on its own. As she slashed at his neck, he stepped forward, dropping his body low, and sliced at her ankles. Form Two, er, something about wheat, I think? Threshing Strike? I can’t remember the names of these attacks.

Ai Tuzi leaped into the air, as quick as a rabbit. Hui’s body twisted, slicing upward from the second form to the third. Ai Tuzi’s eyes widened. She swung back, dodging the blow.

As I thought, I’m not adept at sword techniques! Even when I use the sword talisman, I’m still greatly limited.

But it’s a great distraction for my true attack! Hui’s eyes glittered. He flicked his sleeve, and the talisman he’d secretly thrown behind Ai Tuzi lit up. A barrier wrapped around her body, binding her in place.

Ai Tuzi jumped forward, only to bounce off the barrier. She drew back her blade, preparing to slice it down.

Hui threw his hands up. “Elder Sister, not so fast. If you destroy that barrier, you only face your own destruction!”

“What?” Ai Tuzi asked, confused. She paused, examining the barrier around her.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Jumping forward, Hui gathered death qi on the end of the qi blade and thrust it through the barrier and Ai Tuzi both. He shoved more death qi through the blade. The blade collapsed, but it didn’t matter. Death qi infiltrated Ai Tuzi, decaying her from the inside out.

Hui smiled, looking innocently up at Ai Tuzi. “I lied.”

“You—the demons will never forgive you!” Ai Tuzi snarled, even as she stumbled back, tumbling to her knees.

Hui leaned in. So quietly no one but Ai Tuzi could hear him, he whispered, “I know. That’s exactly what I want.”

Ai Tuzi’s eyes widened. She looked up at him.

Hui continued, “Ai Tuzi, will your family know who killed you? Or will they simply know the Eight Tiers Palace killed you? Will they seek retribution against me? Or against Eight Tiers Palace?”

“You… but why?” Ai Tuzi asked, her eyes flickering over Hui’s face.

“Elder Sister… there are those who would benefit from seeing your sects battle. Ah… and my apologies about your sister. Sincerely. She seemed nice.”

Confusion passed over Ai Tuzi’s face. She blinked. “Why… what… how…?”

Hui shrugged at her. “I was a reaper for a small time. In any case, Elder Sister, say hello to the reaper for me, shall you? Don’t let her step on you, though.”

“What?” Ai Tuzi whispered. Her face paled, and her blood ran black. She coughed up a mouthful of bad blood, and her brows furrowed.

And… Hui’s hand flickered. He stole her storage ring away, casually sliding it onto his own finger.

Ai Tuzi’s eyes widened. She reached for her ring. “Give that—”

“Don’t think I will, thanks,” Hui muttered back. Excellent! Now I have whatever she used to enter the sect without alerting Tseng Caihong, and whatever she planned to use to escape! Heheheheh, wonderful! All my goals, accomplished!

“Ah, well, I suppose that’s it for you,” Hui said. He stepped back and dramatically wiped his forehead. “Thank goodness! That was a close one!”

Meimei rushed over and grabbed Hui’s arm. “You killed her?”

“I… I think I got lucky! It looks like she had a qi deviation in the middle of our battle. She must have taken shortcuts in her cultivation up until this point,” Hui said, sagging slightly against Meimei.

Meimei supported Hui. “How lucky!”

Ai Tuzi glared. “What do you mean—”

Hui subtly waved his hand, encouraging the death qi to propagate faster through her body.

Ai Tuzi coughed. She sagged down.

I certainly hope the resentment demons are taking care of the rest of the demons… ah, well, once I heal Zhang Zhisho, she should be able to handle it easily. Forgetting to act weak for a moment, Hui pushed away from Meimei and ran to Zhang Zhisho’s side. He took her hand to feel her pulse.

Her qi is a mess! Her qi passages are barely hanging together, and her meridians are basically shredded. I… I’d need hours to put this back together. He looked at Zhang Zhisho. “That attack…”

Zhang Zhisho snorted. “The demons are known for traps. I got trapped in one. That’s all there is to it.”

The animal-based cultivators are known for traps? Isn’t that a little bit backward? Hui reached into his sleeve and rolled his fingers together, condensing a strand of life qi. He pulled out a small golden pill and handed it to Zhang Zhisho. “This won’t heal your wounds, but it should help some. It’s a pill from my home sect.” He paused a moment, then added, “They’re very common. Practically handed out like candy.”

Zhang Zhisho glanced up at him skeptically. With a snort, she downed the pill.

Hui released the life qi, melting it into Zhang Zhisho’s body. From afar, using his mental energy, he guided the life qi to the most shattered parts of her meridians and qi vessels. Zhang Zhisho’s eyes widened, and she put a hand to her mouth, surprised. Turning to Hui, she gave him a long look.

Hui looked innocently at Zhang Zhisho. “Elder Sister… ahem, Senior, should we attempt to escape, now that Ai Tuzi has been defeated?”

“Now that you defeated Ai Tuzi?” Zhang Zhisho corrected him.

Hui rubbed the back of his head. “Er, well, I suppose I may have done that, maybe.”

Zhang Zhisho shook her head. She pushed off her long knees with her long arms and stood. “We should return to the surface. Now that I’m in better shape, I can defeat the other demons and send a distress flare out to the sect, to let them know we’re trapped inside.”

Hui nodded. He ran over to Tian Mo and handed him a life qi pill, quickly creating another dozen pills for the other injured disciples. He handed a dozen of them out, and the other disciples quickly snatched them up.

Tian Mo grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry. We didn’t manage to close the door.”

“Eh? Ah… we forgot to close the door?” Hui froze mid-step. Did we forget that? Wait, hold on. Do we even know how to close the door in the first place? Can the door be closed from inside?

…Whoops. Oh well.

“I’m glad you and Meimei escaped from that hand,” he continued, smiling.

Hui smiled back. “Ah… yes. I’m glad we all survived.”

“Yes!” Tian Mo said. His wounds closed, and he climbed to his feet. All around, the other injured disciples climbed back upright, their wounds closing as Hui’s life qi ‘pills’ circulated inside their dantians.

“Back to the top,” Zhang Zhisho declared, turning back to the door.

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