Hui blasted down toward the First Tier, extending his divine sense all around him as he flew, searching for Tseng Caihong. A distant ping caught his attention. Instantly, Hui retracted his divine sense. Very far away. Good, good. Probably not good, actually. But the point is, she isn’t here!

Down at the First Tier, he flew into the big empty space. A portal opened as he arrived, and Hui flew in.

Directly into a wall of white fur.

Hui bounced off with a poof. He flailed, barely recovering. “Tier Master!”

Lao Hu whirled about. Its eyes latched onto the small body in Hui’s arms. Darting forth, it lunged at Hui, teeth bared.

“Elder Sibling! Please! Spare me!” Hui threw the tiger cub at Lao Hu.

Lao Hu carefully snatched the tiger out of the air, catching it by its scruff. Lowering its mouth to its paws, it held onto the tiger cub and licked it, cleaning the gel off its fur.

The Tier Master lowered her hand. A group of mounted beast cultivators backed off, revealing Wildman in their center.

Wildman sighed, shaking his head at Hui. “Thank goodness. They were about to attack.”

“Why?” Hui asked, puzzled.

Wildman held up his pale arms, waggling the black fingernails at Hui.

“Oh,” Hui muttered. Huh. I had no idea it would affect my clones, too. I guess since they’re fragments of my soul, and Tseng Caihong is eating everything about me… I guess it makes sense?

Ah, I know I shouldn’t split the clones off as soul fragments, but I didn’t know if Tseng Caihong’s gel would outright kill me, or if she’d hound me so hard I had to descend into the Underworld, and I couldn’t afford to be gone for that long. With the clones based on me, if I descended, they’d vanish, or at least become soulless husks. Splitting them out into soul fragments, even if Tseng Caihong banished me to the Underworld… or worse, somehow obliterated me, they’d still survive.

Call it cowardice. Call it insurance. It’s one small thing I couldn’t help but do, just to up my chances.

The Tier Master nodded at Hui. “You challenge Tseng Caihong?”

“I can defeat her. I just need to get her alone for a time,” Hui confirmed.

She inclined her head. “We will join your cause.”

Hui nodded back. “Thank you, Tier Master.”

“I will speak with Wan Lu and Shuhang Han. I expect them to join us. If only because Shuhang Han will suddenly find himself between a rock and a hard place.” She curled her fingers ominously, as if baring claws.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Hui swallowed. Yeah, I’m glad I found the tiger cub. Not just because it’s a tiger cub, and doesn’t deserve anything Tseng Caihong was doing to it, but also because the Tier Master is a scary lady!

“Though I must admit, I wasn’t expecting for you to be the father of the children we attempted to kidnap. That… was a bit of a surprise, Weiheng Hui,” she said, raking her eyes over him.

“Er, you’ve, ah, heard of me?” Hui asked, startled.

She raised her brows. “It was you and your wives whom the Palace Master was attempting to suppress. Were we not supposed to know of you? As Eight Tiers Palace’s scouts, it’s our job to keep our eyes open and prevent rescue attempts by… I would say the likes of you, but in this case, explicitly you. Until another child replaced your children, of course, but naturally, we had already studied your face in preparation.”

“Oh,” Hui said. That… actually makes a lot of sense, yeah. Still, how strange. To think that this small cultivator was worthy of having his face memorized by someone as illustrious as the Tier Master. I can’t underestimate the thoroughness of Eight Tiers Palace!

“If you hadn’t come in appearing far younger than our expectations, we would have captured you from the start,” she said, shaking her head.

Hui nodded. “I understand, Senior. Senior’s preparations are indeed magnificent!”

The Tier Master snorted. She gestured around her. “Use this space as a staging area, if you require one. Although I am not deluded into thinking it is safe from Tseng Caihong, or that it cannot be pierced by her eyes, at the very least, it will take her a few moments to break down its defenses.”

Hui nodded again. “Yes, I understand. Hopefully I can remove her from the equation rapidly enough that it isn’t a threat.”

“I wish you luck and glory upon the battlefield,” the Tier Master returned.

Squirming a little, Hui nodded back. Battlefield. I hate that word. So many conflicts in the cultivation world!

Unfortunately, this one truly cannot be avoided. Tseng Caihong is a plague, inflicting the world with resentment demons, devouring the karma and potential of mortals, cultivators, and beasts indiscriminately. If she’s allowed to live, how long before she targets someone I care about?

Plus, I can do nothing about the damage she inflicts. A wound dug with that gel is beyond my ability to heal. Even all my death-faking and healing arts cannot save someone inflicted with resentment. Too terrifying, simply too terrifying!

I cannot suffer her to live. I must end this here, now, sooner rather than later!

The Tier Master turned, patting Lao Hu. Lao Hu flicked its head, tossing the cub up into the Tier Master’s lap. With the Tier Master holding the cub on her lap, it ran off, quickly leaving the secret realm and vanishing back to Eight Tiers Palace.

Hey, First. The Southern Sect Conference is almost here. The fifth through seventh tiers are lining up against us. It looks like Jizhi Zhimei was only half successful. We have some sword cultivators on our side, but the majority stood with Tseng Caihong, including that gatcha-game-looking Tier Master of theirs.

On the other hand, it looks like both the pill and the body cultivators are leaning toward taking our side. I see you sent the beast cultivators’ Tier Master to convince them?

Hui nodded. I’ve secured a base, and yes, she’s going to speak with the body cultivators.

Rogue cleared his throat. After I convinced Xi Sanji to stop killing me, the pill cultivators have joined us. A few decided to flee back to Tseng Caihong, but the majority remembered their glory days as a standalone sect, and stood with Xi Sanji… ah, including their Tier Master, Wan Lu.

Excellent. Then… the battle begins. And remember, our goal is to single out Tseng Caihong. That’s our only goal!

Easier said than done.

Well, if it was easy, we would’ve already done it.

Should’ve done it while she was in her tier, alone!

No, no. At full health and fully alert, she’d dodge this, no question. We need to wear her down. Wear her out. Then…

Yes. Then…

All the clones nodded as one.

So. To battle!