Hesitating, Li Xiang glared at Jingwen, then retreated to Hui’s side.

Jingwen backed away, putting her hands up. “I don’t want to fight. Just leave me be.”

“Sure. Give me your outer robe,” Hui agreed.

“Eh?!” Li Xiang asked, startled.

Jingwen shot him a horrified look.

“Give me your outer robe, or Li Xiang will execute you.”

“That’s not justice,” Li Xiang protested.

“Jingwen! Stab that filth!” Bai Fenfeng shouted.

Hui gave Jingwen a look. “The rest of the Bai clan will be here soon. You should take a good, hard look at which side you want to be on. Bai Xue’s? Or…”

“Jingwen, did you get seduced by that slut? Have you forgotten your mother?” Bai Fenfeng howled.

Jingwen flinched. She glanced at Bai Xue, then at her mother. “I… I can’t. Just let me be.”

“Give me your robe, and I will.”

“Hui!” Li Xiang protested. “If you want robes so badly, you can have mine.” She reached for her belt.

Hui caught Li Xiang’s hands and pinned them to her waist. His heart raced, adrenaline pumping. Close, that was too close! This small disciple is too young to be murdered by mob violence! O idol of Starbound Peak, please be more aware of your status! “Never mind, never mind. I’ll use my own.”

Ruffling and shuffling caught his ear. Hui turned his head, mindful of Jingwen’s privacy.

“Here.” Jingwen held out her robes, tightening her loose inner robes against her body.

Bowing, Hui took them. “Thank you for your contribution. I’ll remember this.”

She shook her head. “I can’t fight my mother, but I can’t fight Xue, either. If this can help, then… I’m willing to do this much.”

Hui drew his sword and slashed her robes apart. The black parts he set aside, but the white parts he slashed into even rectangular pieces. He gathered them up and stuffed them in his robes, then bowed to Jingwen, handing back the black pieces. “I appreciate it.”

Jingwen blinked. She accepted the black pieces, stunned. “H…huh?”

Overhead, Bai clan cultivators appeared at the edge of the hole. One after another, they dove in, jumping into the battle. Swooping in on a sword, a man with long black hair joined Bai Xue in fighting Fenfeng. The two of them quickly forced Bai Fenfeng back to the lotus. Breathing heavily, she glared at the two of them, her sword drooping in her hands.

“Give up!” Bai Xue declared, pointing her fan at Bai Fenfeng.

“Never.” Bai Fenfeng slapped the barrier. It rippled under her hand. Light splashed from its surface and clung to her, sucking her down like a bucket of slime eating a heavy object.

Bai Xue slashed at Bai Fenfeng. The attack landed a second too late, deflecting off the barrier rather than Bai Fenfeng. Not even a ripple disturbed the barrier’s surface.

Bai Fenfeng laughed. “Pathetic. There’s nothing you can do against my barrier but wait for the lotus to bloom. Watch on in despair as your traitorous half of the clan, and the entire filthy city, both get infected, helplessly lost to my lotus pills!”

The lotus shivered. All around them, lotus roots wrapped around Bai clan cultivators from Bai Fenfeng’s family. Extensions of the barrier wound around each of them, separating them from the battle. Bai Xue’s cultivators attacked, but their slashes and bursts of frost and fire bounced off the barriers. Where they struck the roots, pale light shimmered. A narrow extension of the main barrier coated each of the roots, barely an inch from their surface.

“Stop!” Bai Xue shouted. She hammered at the barrier, unleashing fierce slashes of ice.

On the far side of the barrier, Bai Fenfeng threw back her head and laughed. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s too late.”

She reached out and touched the lotus, pumping qi inside. The lotus began to open, petals unfurling. Black-purple dust glimmered between the petals. The barrier grew as it unfurled, flexing around the opening bud.

Bai Xue slashed at the barrier another few times, then grimaced. “Run, everyone run!”

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Bai clan cultivators fled, racing away. Demonic cultivators ran with them, the two mixing together. In their rush to get away, neither attacked the other, both sets of low-ranked cultivators rushing to flee the scene.

Oh? Bai Fenfeng betrayed the demonic cultivators at the last moment, did she? Getting her betrayal in before they can betray her, how wise, Hui mocked in his mind, shaking his head. Be aware, demonic cultivators… when you play with snakes, you might get bitten.

Zhubi coiled slightly around his neck. Absent-mindedly, Hui stroked the back of the snake’s head.

“Run! Warn the city!” Bai Xue shouted after the fleeing cultivators, darting to Hui and Li Xiang’s side.

The lotus opened slowly. Each layer of petals parted from the previous. Black light glowed from the lotus’ heart, shimmering with purple.

“Demonic cultivators and the filth of my clan cleansed in one fell swoop! Bai Bing, weep as I orchestrate your undoing and the removal of demonic cultivators from your city, as you never could, at once!” Bai Fenfeng cried.

Li Xiang grabbed Hui and threw her sword. Before she could jump on, Hui wriggled free of her hold and ran to the corner.

“Eh? Hui, we have to go!” Li Xiang said, confused.

Hui shook his head. He crouched and set out the rectangles of fabric. Pressing his thumb against his sword blade, he drew out a pair of talismans and began to copy frantically.

“What’re you doing?” Li Xiang asked, head tipped.

Hui shook his head, too busy concentrating to reply.

Bai Xue landed beside them, her brows furrowed. “Hurry up! You have to get out of here!”

Hui shook his head again, scribbling desperately.

Bai Xue scowled. “Fire talismans? It’s a good idea, but the dust will get you first. You can limit the damage, but you’ll get infected.”

“Ah, is that it? Hui, I’ll protect you to the end,” Li Xiang declared fiercely.

“This small disciple wants to live a long life, okay?” Hui muttered, still copying. I want to live, but that doesn’t mean I’ll run away from something as horrendous as this. Not when I have a solution, anyways!

“Not running? Understandable. You can’t escape. Might as well give up,” Bai Fenfeng gloated.

Bai Xue shook her head at him. “A flower this big, those talismans will barely put a dent in the dust. It spreads in all directions. You’ll only be able to burn the small segment of the dust that goes by you, at best. We have to run, Hui. Now.”

A ferocious pop rang out. Hui jumped, almost jolting his thumb off the talisman. He scowled at the new sound. Don’t get in the way of my talismans!

Jingwen struggled out of the grasp of a lotus root and ran at them, the scraps of her robe tied around her. Bai Xue and Li Xiang lifted their weapons, but she held up her hands peacefully. “Bai Xue, come with me! I can get you out of here. Please!”

“Come with you, directly to the demonic cultivators who cursed me?” Bai Xue asked, scowling.

She shook her head. “That wasn’t me. I don’t want to hurt you, Bai Xue. Anyone else—but not you. I’ll get you out of here! Just—trust me!”

“Trust the woman who helped a plot to destroy my family?” Bai Xue said.

Jingwen prostrated herself on the ground. “Please.”

Bai Xue waved her fan lazily over Jingwen. A pile of snow drifted down from the fan and buried Jingwen’s head. “No.”

“Can everyone just—shut up?” Hui asked, irritated. Dammit, it’s my first time creating third-stage talismans. It’s not easy!

Jingwen laid on the ground at Bai Xue’s feet, refusing to move. Bai Xue scoffed and turned away. “What are you doing, Hui? We have to escape.”

“There.” Putting the final touch on his talismans, Hui wiped his forehead. Five large flame talismans and seven of the barrier talismans Bai Luoren had taught him, two of them miniaturized, laid before him. He gathered up the talismans and separated them into two bundles, then climbed to his feet.

His knees crumpled. He fell back to the ground.

“Whoa, Hui!” Bai Xue shouted. She reached out and helped him up.

He waved his hand. “I used a little too much qi, that’s all. I’m fine.”

Concerned, Bai Xue pressed a hand to his side. A thin stream of energy passed to him.

Hui stood upright. He took a deep breath, circulating her qi through his ordinary dantian, then pushed her away. “That’s enough. There’s still Bai Fenfeng to contend with.” Bai Xue and Li Xiang can handle that woman. She’s well beyond this small cultivator’s abilities!

“Did you advance a realm?” Bai Xue asked, impressed.

He nodded.

She scooped an arm around his shoulders and scruffed his hair. “Good job, good job! Genius, Xiao Hui is a genius!”

Hui pulled away. “Stop it. Don’t get distracted.”

“But we have to go. When it goes off… we don’t want to be anywhere near it,” Bai Xue said.

Hui shook his head. He glanced at his talismans, then threw two small ones out in front of him. A pair of miniature barriers spawned where they landed. Where the golden walls touched, the barriers merged, no longer two individual small barriers but one larger, strangely-shaped small barrier.

Looks like it works. I think I can do this. Hui took a deep breath. “I can handle this. Trust me.”

Bai Xue frowned at him. “Are you really Hui?”

“He is. And he’s telling the truth,” Li Xiang piped up.

Bai Xue’s eyes widened. “If Hui the coward is saying it, and he really means it, then…”

“There was no need to say that, elder sister,” Hui protested. I know I’m a coward. You don’t need to repeat it.

“Eh, that’s true. It’s implied,” Bai Xue agreed, nodding.

He scowled at her, then shook his head, clearing his mind. I don’t want to put myself at risk, but I don’t want to watch my friends, and everyone else in Twin Elemental City, turn into mindless plant-zombies. Like this, I can save everybody, and more importantly, keep that asshole Bai Fenfeng from winning.

Besides, those lotus pills are scary! Too scary for this small cultivator! To think, they can even infect cultivators high above my realm. More importantly, playing dead doesn’t help against them! They’re my true nemesis. If I can take a step toward eradicating them forever, all the better!

“Oh? You’re really sticking around? I commend your courage… or is it stupidity?” Bai Fenfeng gloated. She hung in the air before the lotus pill blossom. A gold barrier wound around her body, ready to protect her from the dust. “Even if you save yourselves, the city—and the clan—are mine.”

Behind her, the blossom spread its petals, flower widening. Lotus pill dust shimmered in the air. The barrier around the lotus flower stretched to bursting. Stress lines stood out on the barrier’s surface, the magic straining.

Hui stepped forward, raising his talismans. He swallowed. Master above, I hope this works.