“Zhubi, I…” Hui put a hand on Zhubi’s head.

Zhubi knocked his hand away and ran, vanishing down the alleyway. Hui jumped up and chased after him. “Zhubi!”

White hair whipped around the corner. Hui ran after him. Dammit. I really failed that conversation.

I’m good at tearing people apart and building people up, but I have no idea how to break delicate news. I guess there’s still plenty for me to learn in this wide world.

“Zhubi, come back! I don’t—I don’t care what you are, it’s just… you can’t run from what you are!” Hui called after the fleeing snake.

Zhubi shook his head hard and sped up.

I mean, he’s got a point. He’s successfully running from it right now. “Zhubi, please. You’re hurting yourself. You can’t survive while rejecting yourself.”

Ignoring him, Zhubi sped up.

“Zhubi—” Hui turned the corner, only to find Zhubi stopped ahead of him. He ran over and put a hand on Zhubi’s shoulder, securing Zhubi. He looked around. Why did Zhubi stop?

A golden statue stood in the center of the square ahead. A young woman stared at the sky, tense, eyes fearful, half-hunkered defensively. Hui stepped forward instinctively. “Ying Lin?”

He grabbed Zhubi and walked away, pretending not to pay close attention to the statue. As he did, he extended his divine sense and washed it over the statue. Why is there a statue of Ying Lin here?

A familiar aura brushed against his divine sense. Hui stiffened, then moved faster than before. That isn’t a statue. That’s Ying Lin, somehow frozen into pure gold. What… how…

The golden arm is searching for me. Did it find Ying Lin, and attack her too? Because she was my disciple, maybe? Wait, if it finds me, is that the fate that awaits me?

Fuck. Ying Lin! Ying Lin. Why? Why her? What did she do to him? She never did anything wrong to anyone, let alone the Golden Immortal. Why freeze her?

A shiver ran down his spine. Even as Hui put the statue behind him, he couldn’t shake his fear. No. That had nothing to do with Ying Lin. That was a warning. A warning for me, specifically.

Shit! I’m not that important, Senior! Please don’t attack others because of me, Senior!

He glanced over his shoulder. Ying Lin, please. Please be okay. I’m going to free you. Free you, and destroy the Golden Immortal, so he can never hurt anyone I care about ever again.

Dammit! This is exactly what I hate the most! People who attack those around me, rather than merely attacking me. I already knew that Senior and I could not live under the same sky, but now I’m sure of it. If that Senior finds out about Zhubi, or Li Xiang…

Li Xiang. Hui’s heart thudded in his chest. He tensed. She ascended ahead of me, like Ying Lin. Is she frozen, too?

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Zhubi looked up at Hui. He grabbed Hui’s arm and patted his hand.

Hui glanced at Zhubi, then laughed, just a little. He knelt and patted Zhubi’s head. “I’m meant to be comforting you, you know?”

Zhubi paused, then leaned into Hui’s hand, nodding. He pointed back toward the statue, then at himself.

“Mhm. I’m worried that might happen to you,” Hui said, nodding.

Zhubi gestured wildly, then hesitated. He leaned in. “If I changed… would he be able to find me?”

“Zhubi?” Hui asked, startled. He can talk? Since when? Since he hit the Immortal Realm?

Zhubi stared him in the eyes, waiting.

“Ah… it would probably help hide you,” Hui said honestly. If he’s been watching me, then he’d know I keep a white snake with me. He saw me ascend, so he’d know Zhubi became a dragon. But a dragon-turtle? Rather, the Black Tortoise? I don’t think he’d see that one coming. I sure didn’t.

Zhubi nodded. He closed his eyes. His brows furrowed. A faint trace of energy swirled around him, but nothing happened. Startled, Zhubi looked up at Hui.

“It isn’t working?” Hui asked.

Zhubi shook his head, tears welling up.

It’s like when you hold in a poo for so long that it can’t come out any more. Er—no, no. It’s a classical cultivation problem! Holding back for too long and wasting your energy, so you can’t push through to the next realm!

What can I do? Is he stuck like this forever now?

After a moment, the tears vanished. A thought passed over Zhubi’s face. Zhubi shrugged, then grinned.

“No, no. You can’t stay like this forever. It isn’t good for you,” Hui chided him.

Zhubi sagged. He nodded.

He doesn’t like it, but he understands. It’s like Tian Chen knew. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew it all along.

Hui put a hand on his forehead and paced back and forth, thinking. Come on. What can I do? Go back to Tian Chen? Eh… I don’t want to spend too long around a tyrant CEO type. Besides, that palace was bad vibes only, with all the mean maids and stuff. We’re the kind of peasants who get bullied in the tyrannical CEO’s office, okay? We can’t go back!

Then… where? Maybe somewhere with residual ascension energy? Or— His eyes lit up. He grabbed Zhubi. “Come with me. I know just the place!”

Zhubi peered up at him and tilted his head in confusion.

The sooner we do this, the better. And more than that, it’s good to do it somewhere that isn’t easily visible. Somewhere they won’t realize that Zhubi is the same white snake who travelled with me until now.

He flew out of the golden city again, flying directly up. The city diminished below him, encrusted atop a giant lotus, with the four lily pad palaces around him. Hui paused a moment, surveying the situation from above, then dropped down toward the sapphire palace.

Zhubi frowned at Hui.

“Trust me,” Hui whispered. We need to avoid clearly entering or exiting my goal. The golden eye needs to not see us move around for just a moment.

Zhubi nodded.

He dropped down onto the blue palace’s entry hall and rushed inside. The waterfalls poured down into the lake on either side of the floor, while carp swam along under it. The servants gave him looks, but he ignored them.

“Ah! You’re back to play?” Tian Lan asked.

Zhubi stiffened in Hui’s arms, petrified.

“Yes! Indeed we are,” Hui said, rubbing his hands together. He swept his finger at the air, drawing a fire talisman, and threw it into the water. A blast of steam filled the air.

Tian Lan flinched back, covering her eyes. When she opened them, Hui and Zhubi stood before her, the same as before. She frowned. “You seem… different.”

“Zhubi still has his hair,” Hui pointed out.

“Oh,” Tian Lan said. She leaned to the side, considering, then nodded. “Okay! Come on, let’s play!”

Mortal, as Zhubi, glared over his shoulder at Rogue. Rogue grinned back, shrugging helplessly.

Under the surface of the water, Hui and Zhubi swam away at top speed. Pinching his nose, Hui flipped over to check the surface, then swam on toward the black palace. It won’t be enough to throw off an Immortal who’s watching us closely, but that’s exactly the thing. The golden arm-golden eye Immortal has no idea where we are, and no one’s specifically looking for us right now. As long as we put up enough of a smokescreen to have an alibi, no one should know where we are.

Kicking faster, he locked his eyes on a distant lily pad. Toward the black palace. Hopefully there’s some remnant energy for Zhubi to absorb!