Tseng Caihong looked at the bloody body in her hand. She shook her head. “A worthless struggle. Even if you split your soul into your clones, they won’t last much longer.”

In a moment, she crossed to the gelatinous blob and threw Hui inside. His body sunk into the gel like it was water, dropping straight into the depths.

Hui circulated phoenix fire, bringing himself back to life. He jolted awake. Looking around, he found nothing but milky gel in all directions. A strange sense of loss permeated his body. Confused, he lifted his hands. Color leached from his skin, leaving it pure white, while his fingernails blackened.

Motherfuck, it’s that fast? I’m already on my way to being a resentment demon!

Shit. I don’t know if I can heal this. What kind of damage even is ‘turning into a resentment demon?’ Tseng Caihong said she stole people’s karma, their… their everything. How do I un-steal my everything?

Okay. Focus, Hui. Stick to the plan. Find the tiger cub! If I find the tiger cub, I’ll almost certainly be able to recruit the beast cultivators to my side.

He put a hand on his chest and quickly cast a few barriers, keeping Zhubi protected. The barriers shattered the second they touched the gel, but using his robes as a protective layer, he could keep them safe from the gel.

Can I extend a barrier around my whole body? Maybe… if I use some of those extra clothes… He went to summon the clothes from his storage ring, then paused. If I open my storage here, won’t the ring fill with gel?

Ugh. I’m wasting time. I need to keep moving. I think I’d be better off getting in and getting out as fast as possible, rather than wasting my time experimenting while stuck in the gel.

Extending his divine sense, he swam through the gel. Even with his divine sense, he couldn’t extend it far through the gel. But still, it’s better than nothing!

Outside the gel, Tseng Caihong gazed in. “You weren’t dead? But…” Her eyes narrowed. “The second time. The second time you’ve cheated death, in front of my eyes. Why can’t I see through you?”

She crossed her arms, frowning, then shook her head. “No matter. You can’t escape. Become a husk for me.”

--

“No, no, Senior, I swear, I’m going to find the cub—” Mid-sentence, Wildman froze. He looked at his hands. Color faded from them as the fingernails blackened.

The Tier Master frowned. She looked down at Wildman, then gestured. Her men surrounded him, beasts growling.

“I—I’m not turning into a resentment demon, I’m not!” Wildman said, waving his hands. What the hell? First, what are you doing?

Bear with me.

“We handle the resentment demons. We will take good care of you, in return for your attempt to rescue the Sacred Beast,” the Tier Master said.

Tell her I’m rescuing the Sacred Beast.

Wildman cleared his throat. “I’m rescuing the Sacred Beast as we speak.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Tier Master looked at him.

“That—that is, I’m a clone, but my main body is rescuing the Sacred Beast!” Wildman said quickly, waving his hands.

“If you return the cub, we will forgive you for your transgressions. If not…”

Beneath the Tier Master, Lao Hu yawned, showing off every one of its massive fangs.

Wildman nodded vigorously. I understand, Senior. You need say no more, Senior!

--

Deep in the depths of the gel, Hui continued delving deeper. Where’s that Sacred Beast of the Tier Master’s? It can’t be too far in, right? After all, it should’ve become a resentment… demon…

No, no. Tseng Caihong is too smart to straight-up devour something that valuable. It’s a useful hostage. She must have put it somewhere relatively safe, so she could continue to threaten the Beast Tier into fealty. With the Beast Tier doing all her dirty work, fighting off the demons, taking care of the resentment demons, keeping her secrets, she must have known that she needed a hostage, not a resentment tiger beast.

On the other hand… if she never intended to give the Sacred Beast back…

Hui pushed the thoughts down and went deeper. Push on. Once I find it, once I find it, I’ll have two of the four tiers on lock.

There’s still the pill tier and the body cultivation tier, but the pill tier… I’ll kind of be surprised if Xi Sanji doesn’t seize the moment and immediately turn coats as soon as she sees us fighting Tseng Caihong, and if she’s representative if any portion of the pill cultivators, I can probably consider that tier in the bag.

The body cultivation tier… who knows. Shuhang Han didn’t seem particularly troubled by Tseng Caihong, but given how he casually tried to kill me, I can probably leverage that, and my eighth stage cultivation, to get him to swap sides. You hear that, clones?

On it.

Yeah, yeah. We’re working it.

Don’t forget, First, we got Jizhi Zhimei. Flash her face around, and we can probably gain a few extra tiers, too, if we get lucky.

Hui nodded.

Focusing back on the present, he turned his gaze downward. Dammit. If it’s really a resentment demon, isn’t this all for nothing? And I’m taking damage I can’t heal. Fuck. It better be worth it.

A quiet voice in the back of his head whispered, I’m delving into a lady’s dark gooey place to find a puss—a cat.

Hui rolled his eyes at himself. Honestly. Bai Xue isn’t even here. I need to keep my mind out of the gutter.

Out of the gel, a pale form loomed. Curled up on its side, its fur bogged down to its small body, a tiny tiger cub laid in the depths. Hui darted to his side and scooped it up. Quickly, he pressed his forehead against the tiger’s, using direct contact to extend his divine sense into the cub.

A heart thumped. A pulse beat. The tiger’s chest rose and fell.

Thank goodness. Hugging the tiger tight, Hui flew back toward the surface.

And toward Tseng Caihong.

Hui pressed his lips together. Clones! Help!

No worries. She’s already come after us, Mortal replied.

Oh. Phew.

…

Wait hold on, what’s happening?

Mortal licked his lips. Yeah… you probably want to get out of there as soon as possible.

Hui hurtled upward, speeding as fast as he could. On my way. How’s the progress with the armies?

Sectgoer cleared his throat. Our armies from the Southern Sect Conference, plus most of the rest of the Southern Sect Conference, are on their way. Apparently Li Xiang finished stirring up the warriors during out absence. The Fourth and First Tiers are somewhere between provisionally and firmly behind us, with the Second Tier looking likely to side with us, and the Third Tier, well, who knows. Jizhi Zhimei thinks she can get the sword cultivators, too. We’ll see.

Nodding, Rogue added, It’s kind of falling to pieces out here. The upper tiers are coming out to fight, the lower tiers are preparing their defenses.

Wildman looked over. You have that cub, right?

Yeah, I’ve got it, Hui confirmed. Remember, we don’t need to kill Tseng Caihong, and we don’t need to defeat the armies. If we can get Tseng Caihong alone…

Right. But we shouldn’t act that way, Sectgoer confirmed.

Naturally.

Bursting out of the gel, Hui took a deep breath. He looked around. Tseng Caihong is gone. But that just means she’s somewhere else.

Whatever. Let’s focus on getting the cub back to the Tier Master and Lao Hu first! He flew off, slicking handfuls of gel off the cub as he went.