The thread snapped. Pure, true gold spooled down, looping over Hui. He gazed up, where the crack remained and that single black eye gazed down. He pointed. “I’ve seen you. Are you coming down now? Or do I have to go up?”

“I’m here.”

Hui jumped back, grabbing onto Li Xiang with both hands.

Weiheng Wu stood before him, looking the same as he ever had, and yet, not at all the same. The same white robes and black hair, the same noble face. The picture of a righteous cultivator. But that’s because that’s exactly what he is, isn’t it?

“Master. Or should I call you, the Will of the World?” Hui asked, tilting his head.

Weiheng Wu snorted. “There’s no need for such formality. You’re my disciple.”

“Why?” Hui asked.

“Why did I take you as my disciple?”

Hui nodded. “If you’re the world’s will, you ought to reject foreign influences, right? Like an antivirus software. So how did I slip through?”

Weiheng Wu tilted his head. “You slipped through, but from there, why would the world destroy you?”

“Er… well, that’s what usually happens, right?” Hui asked. Am I seriously arguing for myself to get destroyed? But I really don’t understand. If Master is the Will of the World and I’m something like a virus that snuck in, why did he nurture me? It’s true that he wasn’t he best master, but it wasn’t as if he sabotaged me, either. At any moment, he could have easily smashed my small head in. So why allow me to live?

“You’re too narrow-minded.” Weiheng Wu stepped forward and flicked Hui on the forehead. “Think for yourself. I’m sure you can comprehend it with a little effort.”

Ah… yes. That’s the Master I know. Hui rubbed his forehead on his shoulder, thinking. But why would Master raise me? I’m an outside influence. I’m…

Brows furrowed, Hui mused aloud, “By existing, I’m already outside of Heaven’s purview. Anything inside this world can be foreseen by the Golden Immortal. He can loop time and rerun the world as many times as he wants, to ensure the result he wants. He has control over almost anything. And yet, he cannot lock on to my location or find me.”

“Part of that was my effort,” Weiheng Wu informed him.

“But the other part is because I’m a foreign particle,” Hui said, sure of it. He looked up at Weiheng Wu, making a grasping motion with his free hand. “Although the Golden Immortal can completely control anything within the world, he cannot completely control anything outside of it. And therefore, I can slip through the gaps of his fingers.”

Like how time keeps eluding me. Is that the same? It refuses my calls because I’m not a part of this world?

Weiheng Wu nodded. “Good.”

I might not be completely right, but I’m close. Close enough for me right now. “But… I’m only a small bug. So why is the Golden Immortal obsessed with me?”

Weiheng Wu looked at Hui from the corner of his eyes. “You have all the pieces. I will not assemble the puzzle for you.”

Hui put his hand on his chin, thinking deeply. I have all the pieces?

Think. What do I know?

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The Golden Immortal is after me.

When he enforced his will on the Immortal Realm, he removed all sects and instead created a large city and many small ‘mortal’ villages.

He’s looping time. Both within and without the villages, though ordinary Immortals are allowed to know about the villages’ looping, but not about the Immortal Realm’s looping.

Immortal guards patrol ruins, though ineffectively.

The Golden Immortal is distracted. He’s busy with something else, and neglects the Immortal Realm.

Weiheng Hui looked at Hui. “Is that all?”

Hui frowned. What else is there?

No, wait. Master’s right. From the beginning, when Yunxu called my soul here, he did it using Chen Wuya’s array. That is, an array from an Immortal-realm being that came from beyond this world. And Yunxu… tried to deliver me to the Golden Immortal. In other words, even my arrival was something that the Golden Immortal prepared for, it’s just that he didn’t foresee what happened afterward.

For example, that I would be beyond his control, or raised by the Will of the World.

But his reason for calling me…

It couldn’t be.

Is it really that simple?

Hui tilted his head. He looked up at Weiheng Wu. “For that?”

“You realized it,” Weiheng Wu said, nodding.

“But…” Hui shook his head. “Why would anyone want that?”

Weiheng Wu opened his mouth.

Hui quickly raised his hand before his Master could speak. “I understand. I’ll comprehend it on my own.”

Weiheng Wu smiled. “It’s good that you understand.”

Hui looked at the gold thread draped around him. “I suppose I’ll have to break free on my own?”

“You’ve already refused my option. If you reject the world, you must be prepared to bear the cost.”

Hui laughed. “Master, it was a trap, wasn’t it?” After all, Master is great at getting me into trouble, but he’s never been any good at getting me out of it.

Weiheng Wu lowered his head, just a little. “Comprehend it on your own.”

“Of course, of course.” Hui wrapped up the golden thread into his palm and tucked it into his robes. “When the time comes, can I call on you, Master?”

“Mmm.”

“Ah, and there’s still Ying Lin. She’s like you, isn’t she? A piece of this world,” Hui mused aloud.

Weiheng Wu cut his eyes to Hui, but said nothing.

Hui put his hands up. “No, no. I’ll keep it secret until the time comes.”

First, I need to break out of here. And not only break out of here, but return to the beginning. Redo the Immortal Realm. I’ll take advantage of the trap that foolish Golden Immortal set to destroy him.

Sitting, Hui set Li Xiang in his lap. He closed his eyes, going as quiet as the two other beings. Why could I break free? It’s not simply what Song Wei said. It’s common for time to pass at different speeds between the Immortal and mortal realm. That alone isn’t what triggered my realization.

No. It’s because of my authority as the Owner of the Underworld. Because I have a firm foundation in another realm. An entire space that the Golden Immortal cannot exert his will over. That’s why I could see the truth, rather than falling into such false assumptions.

But for the Heavenly Emperor to fail to control the Underworld…

From the start, he never truly took the seat as emperor. Not only the Underworld, but also Weiheng Wu remained, as a manifestation of the Will of the World. If the Golden Immortal was the true Heavenly Emperor, there should be no Weiheng Wu, because the Heavenly Emperor would be the world’s will. His power is flawed.

But why? What makes it flawed? What did he fail to comprehend, that he ended up in such a strange state?

Hui furrowed his brows. Or… is it exactly his mastery of time that makes him so flawed? By having an unbeatable trump card, he became unable to be beaten, but because his trump card was so one-dimensional, he likewise failed at a true understanding of the Dao. The cure is the poison, and the poison is the cure.

In other words, he holds the seat of Heavenly Emperor by force, not through right. Because of that, the world itself rejects him. And hence, Master… and somehow, Ying Lin, were born.

I don’t know what Ying Lin is, but she must be like Master. No one but someone blessed by the world could ascend so quickly, and who is more blessed by the world than someone who was originally a part of the world?

Actually, I wonder. Manifesting as humans, becoming cultivators… rather than being purely the Will of the World, and whatever concept Ying Lin is, could it be? Were they the antivirus software this world created to protect itself against the Golden Immortal? And then… and then, I’m a strange little fungus that the Golden Immortal never accounted for.

Ah, that makes sense. If Master and Ying Lin are the world’s immune system, then I’m penicillin. A mistake left in a petri dish, that somehow ended up threatening the greatest threat to this world.

If that’s the case, then I think I know how to break free of this space. Hui opened his eyes. “Master—”

The white realm stood empty once more.

Quietly, Hui chuckled. That’s the Master I know.