“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Take your clothes off.”

“Er, could I decline?” Hui asked.

“Hmm… I don’t think so.”

Beside him, Li Xiang reached up to her neck.

“Elder Sister, you don’t need to respond to that seriously.” Hui turned toward the darkness. “It’s you, isn’t it? Bai Xue.”

A heavy sigh sounded from the far side of the room. A sleeve flapped. Braziers spaced on either side of the room’s main hallway lit, one at a time, from Hui into the depths of the room, until the final two lit at the feet of a man in black and red, sitting tall atop a throne. He wore a black-and-white yin-yang mask. As the fire illuminated his mask, he lifted a hand to it, voluminous sleeve trailing after it, and removed his mask. “How did you know?”

You introduce yourself by telling me to get naked, then ask how I know it’s you? Who else would it be, huh? You tell me! Who was I supposed to expect?

Biting back his retorts, Hui smiled. “Elder Brother was simply too luminescent. How could I not recognize your iridescence?”

Bai Xue’s eyes lingered on Hui for a moment, a smile touching his lips. Abruptly, he turned to Li Xiang. “Ah, it’s as Xiao Hui said. You can keep your clothes on. It was merely a joke.”

Li Xiang froze, hands at her collar. She lowered them.

“Of course, if you want to remove your clothes, don’t let me stop you,” Bai Xue murmured, a devious smile spreading on his face.

“Bai Xue!” Hui grumbled.

Bai Xue grinned. “Xiao Hui. It’s been too long.”

Turning serious, Hui walked toward him, crossing the depths of the massive room. “How long has it been?”

Bai Xue shook his head. “I’m not sure. I ascended a century after you, and Song Wei took five hundred years. The children haven’t ascended yet, that I’ve seen, but they’re still young. Or… they were. Back when I ascended.”

“How long have you been awake?” Hui clarified his question.

“Only about a hundred years. Song Wei… I think this is his third loop,” Bai Xue mused, peering at Song Wei for confirmation.

Song Wei nodded.

“And I’m two before that. Once I woke up, I began looking for others who were aware of the loops. For those who weren’t, I tried waking them up… with mixed success.”

Hui frowned. Five loops ago? How many loops has it been, then? How long is each loop? Not longer than a hundred years per loop, I guess… but I get the feeling it’s much shorter.

They only woke up recently, huh? I wonder if it’s getting easier and easier to wake up as the world’s laws break down?

Or maybe… Hui bit his lip, then shook his head. I don’t know enough to speculate. He looked at Bai Xue. “I woke up last loop, so—”

“You didn’t,” Bai Xue said, frowning.

“Eh?” Hui asked.

“You woke me up.”

Taken aback, Hui stumbled back. Huh? But I’m completely sure one loop ago was my first loop. I ascended into the Immortal Realm. I…

How can I be sure of anything? Time is fluid, and moves to the Golden Immortal’s hand. I only remember one loop, but maybe it was my five hundredth time ‘ascending.’

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Where did the loop start? These loops… like how the villages didn’t affect the whole Immortal Realm, the Immortal Realm’s loops aren’t affecting the mortal realm or the Underworld, or else I would have noticed long ago—plus, Song Wei and Bai Xue ascended afterward, but ended up in the same loop as me.

I can assume that only the Immortal Realm is looping.

But if I was awake, how did I end up back asleep? And what happened? What did I do back then, that—

A hand on his shoulder. Hui looked up, startled, and gazed into Bai Xue’s eyes, the man now bare inches from him. “Don’t think about it, Xiao Hui. That’s the one thing you told me. ‘If I wake up, don’t let me remember.’ It’s important to your plan, or something.”

“Oh… okay, I guess,” Hui muttered. I don’t like that. But… well, if the Golden Immortal is as powerful as he seems to be, he can probably read my small, antlike mind the second he latches on to it. Not remembering anything is probably my solution to that. Right, voice in my head I totally don’t hear?

…Huh?

Wait, hold up. That’s not your plan?

No, not at all. I’m learning about all this too, right now.

…

How deep does our plan go?

It’s a fucking onion, apparently.

“The one thing I know is that I need to find the Elusive Ghost. That thing is apparently the key to everything,” Bai Xue muttered.

Hui looked at Bai Xue. “Is it me?”

Bai Xue gave him a look like he was stupid. “What?”

“The Elusive Ghost. It’s me, right…?”

Turning his head to look at Hui from another angle, Bai Xue shook his head. “No…? It’s been around almost since the previous era. It’s probably one of the first Immortals to ascend under the purview of the current Heavenly Emperor. It might even be from before that.”

“Oh,” Hui said, taken aback. I really thought it was part of me. But… I guess everyone makes mistakes. I’m not from the previous era, after all.

Unless I somehow managed to wiggle my way into the start of the loop… but that would require a great deal of comprehension of the power of time. Comprehension I don’t have.

Me either.

“What do you mean, ‘the key to everything?’” Hui asked.

Bai Xue gestured helplessly. “I was hoping you’d tell me. You’re the one who told me it was the key.”

Hui frowned. “I didn’t, though.”

“You did. Before. And then you seemed to have forgotten everything, the next time we met.”

Turning, Hui found Jun Ke standing there, his arms crossed. He nodded at Hui. “I took your sword to bring you here, but you got lost somewhere along the way.”

“He came to the brothel, but he… left quickly,” Song Wei said.

Hui put a hand on his chin. Wait, I met Song Wei last loop? In other words, from Song Wei’s perspective, this is the next loop since the one where I fell out. But I remember, in the garbage realm, seven versions of me showed up. How could seven versions of me arrive if only one loop passed?

He shook his head. The Elusive Ghost, the me who talked to Bai Xue five loops ago, the seven mes in the garbage realm… Song Wei, Bai Xue, and Jun Ke have part of the story, but they don’t know the whole story.

To be fair, neither do I.

Time is complicated. Even with my current cultivation realm, I’m still not sure I have a good grasp on the power of time.

Hui looked up. “How long did the previous loop last after I died?”

Bai Xue, Song Wei, and Jun Ke exchanged a look. After a moment, Bai Xue cleared his throat. He ran his hair back, the black tresses swapping to white as she swapped genders. “A week from now, the Golden Immortal looks over the Immortal Realm again, taking a closer look than he ever has before. Whether he finds you or not, he resets the loop immediately afterward.”

“H…huh?” Hui asked. Even if he finds me, he resets the loop? Why? He’s the most powerful Immortal. Surely he can get whatever he wants out of me when he gets his hands on me. Why reset the loop anyways?

Bai Xue gave him a gentle smile. “It’s okay. We still have a week.”

No, no, that’s not what I’m worried about. Why is he resetting the loop if he has me? Unless… Hui glanced at Bai Xue. “Do I… er, that is…”

“It’s you, Hui. What do you think happens when he captures you?” she returned, giving him a look.

Hui nodded. Right, right. Elder Sister has a point. I definitely fake my death, if not outright die.

Bai Xue stepped back. She put her hands behind her back. “We have a week. We need to stay focused.”

“Right.” Hui glanced over his shoulder at Li Xiang. I have Li Xiang and Zhubi this time. I wonder if I can make progress this time around? Progress with comprehending the power of time… or maybe progress in figuring out the Elusive Ghost, if my first guess was wrong.

No, wait! Hui looked down at himself. The other me… ahem, the mysterious shadowy force manipulating me from the darkness gave me this body for a reason. We thought the cardinal beasts might be a way to destroy the Golden Immortal. This is my chance to find out!

By the way, how did I end up with this body?

It was in the trash. I put you in it.

Good to know. Any other cardinal beasts in the trash?

Nope.

Hui looked up. “I have an idea. Are you interested?”

“I’ll take anything,” Bai Xue said, spreading her hands.

“Okay. Er, don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Hui lifted his hands to his robes, pulling the neck open.

Bai Xue gave him a look. “I appreciate it, but the undressing really was a joke. You know that, right?”