Without looking down, Tseng Caihong caught Zhubi out of midair and put him around her neck again. Hui reached out toward Zhubi in despair, and Zhubi leaned down toward Hui, letting out a mournful hiss.

“So the demons snuck into one of our secret realms and attacked our disciples as… retribution for our killing a single demon, a year ago?” Tseng Caihong asked. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

I agree. I agree, Elder Sister, Hui thought, nodding.

“Ai Tuzi was among them,” Zhang Zhisho said.

“The demons’ princess? What happened to her?”

Zhang Zhisho nodded at Hui. “He killed—”

“Someone, someone killed her. Yes, yes. She died,” Hui said quickly. I don’t want credit for that! Hey! I specifically made sure to kill her in a place where someone else could take the credit! Be a piggish teammate who takes the credit, dammit! Why can’t you be selfish now, of all times?

Wait, wait. I actually have no indication that Zhang Zhisho is a selfish person. Even though she was jealous of me receiving Jizhi Zhimei’s attention, she still gave me credit? Is she actually a noble personality, an upright cultivator in an assassin’s sect? Huh. I didn’t expect that. To think, I carelessly assumed the worst of others! I can’t be so careless. I need to prepare for all possible contingencies, even positive personalities and noble characteristics! Hui shook his head at himself, disappointed.

“Gui Hui killed Ai Tuzi?” Tseng Caihong swept her eyes over Hui, then harrumphed.

What? What does that mean?

Don’t you have the all-seeing eyes or whatever, anyways? Shouldn’t you already know? Or the eyes that can see everything, as long as you know to look for it… hmm, but we were locked behind a spatial lock. Can she not see through spatial locks?

Wait, hold on. Maybe it’s not that she can’t see through spatial locks, but that there’s limits to how far she can see. After all, she didn’t call my bluff on being an ordinary Southern Sect Conference child, despite the fact that Bai Xue and I didn’t particularly act our parts too well until I was about to get kidnapped. It’s true that she could have simply not been looking, so I can’t say for sure that her eyes have a distance limit… but I think it’s quite likely! And if they do have a distance limit, then removing the spatial rift that links the sect and the secret realm could extend the distance between the two past what her eyes could see.

Or it could be that she simply can’t see beyond spatial boundaries, or my first guess about spatial locks is right, or…

She certainly can’t see into the Underworld, for her to not react to me interacting with the reaper. But then, the Underworld has so many special cases that it doesn’t answer any of my questions. Any of the cases could still be right! I suppose it means that it isn’t exclusively spatial locks that block her vision, but that’s all that it rules out.

Lifting her gaze off Hui, Tseng Caihong looked at Zhang Zhisho. “Are the demons declaring open war? To brazenly attack us in our home sect, and even send their princess…”

“I cannot say, Palace Master,” Zhang Zhisho responded.

She waved her hand. “If the demons do not come to apologize to us in all haste, then we may have no option but to attack. For now, we wait and see.”

Ooh, already? Wonderful, wonderful! I barely have to do anything and the two sects go to war! Smiling internally, externally, Hui continued to crouch on the floor, expressionless.

Though, I really expected a stronger reply than ‘wait and see.’ Could it be that this is a more normal occurrence than I thought? Hmm… it might be that this isn’t enough to set the sects at one another’s throats.

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“If that is all, then…”

Ah! Wait! “Tseng Caihong, Senior, please!” Hui cried, reaching for her ankles. At the last second, he flinched back rather than touch.

She gave him a disgusted look. “What?”

“My, my snake, could you please give him back?” Hui asked, groveling.

“Why should I?”

Hui pursed his lips. Because you stole my snake from me! You’re the thief, why am I explaining to you why you should give him back? “Be, because he’s my friend?”

“He’s my friend, too,” Tseng Caihong said, petting Zhubi. Zhubi tried to resist, but rolled over and showed her his belly, somewhere between playing dead and enjoying the pets.

“Please?” Hui tried.

Zhang Zhisho knocked Hui in the head. “How dare you speak directly with the Palace Master. Lower your head!”

Hui quickly bowed again. Give my snake back! Dammit! “Is there anything I could do, to entice you to return my snake to me?”

Tseng Caihong hummed. “Perhaps… if you became the number one disciple in the entire sect, I might consider it.”

Number one disciple…? How on earth am I supposed to accomplish that? For that matter, what does it even mean to be the number one disciple? Huh? Hui pursed his lips, frustrated, then shook his head. No. It doesn’t matter. If that’s what it takes, that’s what I’ll do! I’ll become the number one Eight Tiers Palace disciple, if it kills me!

Jizhi Zhimei rushed over belatedly, out of breath. She looked around the room, from Zhang Zhisho to Tseng Caihong to Hui, then glanced over her shoulder.

Voice stepped forward. “What happened?”

Zhang Zhisho quickly explained the situation again. Jizhi Zhimei listened, nodding occasionally. She drew back.

“The demons attacked?” Voice translated for her.

“If they apologize, then all is well,” Tseng Caihong said blandly.

Jizhi Zhimei stared at Tseng Caihong. She crossed her arms.

“All is well? They attacked! We should attack in return,” Voice stated, watching Jizhi Zhimei closely.

“If they attacked, they likely have a reason for it. They were attempting to take hostages? Then they want something from us. To attack without knowing their goal is the height of foolishness. I will go investigate before we blindly rush in,” Tseng Caihong stated. Without another word, she turned and flew away.

Jizhi Zhimei stared after her. Although the veil hid her face, her irritation radiated from her, almost as intense as killing intent. All the low-level disciples hunched away from her.

A second later, she retracted her irritation. She stood upright and went to walk away.

“Er, Senior…” Hui tried. I’ve already lost my chance to get Zhubi back. At least let me have this!

Jizhi Zhimei stopped, but didn’t say a word.

Voice glanced at her, then looked at Hui. “Yes?”

Ahhh, now isn’t the time, it isn’t! But I have to! Hui cleared his throat. “Senior, I would like to study under the other Seniors.”

Jizhi Zhimei turned. She looked down at him. All the irritation she’d retracted returned, laser-focused at Hui this time.

Hui trembled, but took a deep breath and pressed on. “Please? I can’t spend all my potential on one region, right? Didn’t the other Seniors also want to teach me?”

Jizhi Zhimei glared at him in silence. Her hands balled into fists.

Zhang Zhisho stepped forward. Quietly, she said, “He killed Ai Tuzi.”

“Ai Tuzi? He did…?” Voice asked, startled. Beside her, Jizhi Zhimei jolted as well. Putting a hand on Voice’s shoulder, she waved her hand.

“Then… let him go,” Voice said, somewhat surprised. She watched Jizhi Zhimei for a moment, clearly puzzled.

Jizhi Zhimei gave no more information. She turned and walked off.

Voice shrugged at them, then hurried after Jizhi Zhimei.

Eh…? Come to think of it, that whole exchange was odd. Jizhi Zhimei… does she have some kind of connection to the demons?

After all, isn’t it odd that the demons were able to sneak inside Eight Tiers Palace and attack from the inside? And yet, Jizhi Zhimei wasn’t concerned at all. Not about a potential break in security, or a way to bypass her barrier… odd, exceedingly odd.

Wait, wait. Now I want to stay!

Zhang Zhisho looked at Hui. “I suppose you can go.”

“Go where?” Hui asked, climbing to his feet.

“Where do you want to go?” she asked.

Hui frowned. “I guess… either the sword cultivator or the body cultivator,” he said.

“Then go,” Zhang Zhisho stated.

“Er, my room…?” Hui asked. Isn’t it specially alarmed, or something?

Zhang Zhisho shrugged. “I suppose you can continue to treat that as your home.”

“Oh. Okay,” Hui said. What a lackluster response! Ah, well. I’ll figure something out. Without any idea what else to do, he climbed to his feet and walked away, toward the entrance to the Tier. Suppose I’ll wander my way to another tier and figure things out from there.

“Gui Hui! Goodbye!” Tian Mo shouted.

“Byebye! Good luck!” Meimei called as well.

As if they were the first stones in a landslide, the rest of the disciples started shouting and waving as well. Hui waved back. Despite himself, a smile touched his face.

You know, I might miss these guys. Tian Mo and Meimei in particular!

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