When he stepped into the hut, he found himself in a vast room. Stone walls stretched high overhead and gaped wide in every direction. Tigers, carved from pure white jade, growled at him from either side of the hall, lining the path down the center of the hallway. At the far end of the enormous hall, a huge throne stood tall over him.

Atop the throne, a small figure sat, dressed in gold. It drummed its fingers on the arm of the chair. With a gesture, it waved Hui closer. “Come.”

Hui bowed as he walked, approaching with caution. He eyed up the passing tigers, wary of them. They look so lifelike. They’re totally going to kill me, aren’t they? I don’t trust them.

On the other hand, we did find the White Tiger’s shrine, or whatever this is. There’s something related to the White Tiger here, anyways, if not the White Tiger itself. But I guess there’s no point worrying about that this time around.

That person on the throne… I can’t sense any pressure from them. Either they’re basically mortal… or they’re so incredibly powerful that I can’t even sense them. Hui swallowed. Yeah. I can guess which one it is.

He peeked up. Closer to the throne, he could make out a child, maybe twelve years old. The boy wore regal imperial robes in all gold, with dragons embroidered on its surface. He looked quietly down at Hui, waiting. Unbothered.

I don’t want to get any closer. I won’t possibly be able to escape if I get any closer.

Though, perhaps… there was never any hope of escape in the first place.

Hui dropped down to the ground and kowtowed.

The boy waited.

Hui laid there, unmoving. I’m not getting any closer. Acknowledge me or not! But I’m not moving!

A sigh. The boy sat up. “There’s no need for this fear. Whether you take precautions or not, there’s nothing you can do. Your death is inevitable.”

“Ah… yes,” Hui agreed. He hesitated, then stood and walked closer. If there’s no need for fear, then I suppose I won’t fear. No point to cower and hesitate if I’m facing an atomic bomb as an ant.

The boy looked surprised. “Really?”

“Eh? Should I have not?” Hui asked, quickly dropping back to the ground.

“No, it’s just… every other time, you…” The boy waved his hand. “Never mind.”

I already killed myself by now, huh? Well… I understand. But that past me might have known what this boy’s goal is. The current me doesn’t. I won’t know how to escape properly if I don’t know what his goals are. Hui stood again, putting his hands behind his back. “My apologies for the past mes, Senior.”

“I assume you’re here to revive the four cardinal beasts? It’s a good idea, but it simply isn’t enough. I hid them away because they threatened me… once. A long, long time ago.” The boy propped his head on his hand and shrugged. “Go ahead. Revive them. It won’t do anything to me, even if you do.”

“Senior is indeed the pinnacle of intelligence,” Hui praised him, nodding.

The boy sighed. “As irritating as ever.”

“Could Senior perhaps enlighten this undeserving one with your name?” Hui asked.

Stolen novel; please report.

At that, the boy squinted. “You don’t remember? Ah. I suppose you’re deteriorating. No one survives forever. Eventually, you, too, will be absorbed into the loop. And then…” He fell silent, a hand to his chin.

A moment later, he waved his hand. “In any case, you can carry on calling me the Golden Immortal. It’s as good a name as any.”

Hmm? Does he not want me to forget and become an ordinary member of the loop? “Senior, what do you want from me? Surely this small cultivator isn’t worthy of such extreme attention.”

“No. Truly, no.”

Hui nodded. Reasonable.

“However… I think you know why I’m interested in you.”

Hui glanced at the boy. “I’m sure I don’t. Senior, please enlighten me.”

The boy gave him a look. Hui returned the look unflinchingly. Even if I know, do you think I’m going to tell you? ‘Hi, I’m the cops, do you know how fast you were going?’ No! I never know! I’m not stupid. I’m not going to incriminate myself! If I’m wrong about why you’re interested in me, I’m not going to tell you another reason to be interested in me!

“Haaaaa.” The boy shook his head. After a long moment, he gestured Hui closer.

Hui stood still. Yeah… I know it doesn’t matter, but I’m not entering arm’s reach, either. There’s a difference between ‘it doesn’t matter how close you are’ and standing close enough to touch.

With another sigh, the boy sat up straight. “When I was born, I remembered all my memories from the realm of reincarnation. In that beauteous realm, I saw… more. Not merely the reincarnation of this world, but of every world. Worlds far more fantastic than this one. Worlds cloaked in darkness, and worlds bathed in light.

“Out of all of those worlds, one caught my eye. A world of shining steel, where even the buildings were clad in light. Where mere mortals used magical techniques the most advanced cultivator would only dream of, and lived in luxury greater than the most powerful emperor. A world where—”

“My world,” Hui said, cutting him off. There’s not incriminating yourself, and there’s having to listen to a villain’s entire life story monologue. I think I can go ahead and guess where this one’s going.

The boy pointed at him. “Indeed. I watched that world, and I marveled. Every night through my childhood, I dreamed of that world. Even as I became a cultivator and ascended rapidly through the ranks, I still dreamed of that world. And yet, it remained tantalizingly out of my reach. No matter how much I learned, no matter how powerful I became, I still could not enter that world.

“And so, I thought… why not create that world here?”

“Then, that’s the mortal villages in the Immortal Realm,” Hui guessed.

The boy pointed. “Precisely. I thought I’d simply recreate the conditions to create that world of yours here, and let it come to fruition on its own. However… I don’t know what’s gone wrong. Is this world too stagnant? Do the people not dream of more? No matter what limitations I put on these people, no matter how much I try to recreate the world I saw in my dreams, I simply could not make it come true.

“After centuries of failure, I had another thought. If I couldn’t create the world I wanted, why not bring someone who could? Someone who saw that glittering realm of light and steel, who dreamed the same dreams I did, who could bring it to reality. And so…”

“And so, here I am,” Hui said, putting his hands behind his back and nodding.

“Indeed. It took far more effort than I thought. More than once, I gave it up as impossible. The spells I had to cast went counter to this world’s laws, its Dao, everything. But fortunately, there were other worlds, and cultivators who came from other worlds to this one.”

“Chen Wuya’s spirit-summoning array. But it was in the mortal realm, which you couldn’t reach. So you had to manipulate mere lower-realm cultivators to use the array for you,” Hui said, nodding. I couldn’t forget it if I wanted to. Terrorizing me nonstop in the lower levels… unpleasant, entirely unpleasant.

The boy looked at him. “If you know, why did you pretend as if you didn’t?”

Hui waved his hand. “Ah, no, no. Please, continue.”

“While that plan failed, I gained the knowledge of your presence and qi signature from that series of events, and thus, I was able to occasionally reach into the mortal realm and attempt to find you. It failed, as you well know, but at that point, I was able to monitor your growth. Although I never gave up on my attempts to capture you, I knew you’d be coming to my realm sooner or later. And so, I waited.”

“Mmm, I see,” Hui said, nodding.

The boy’s grip on the arm of his chair tightened. His knuckles went white. “That… was over five hundred years ago. Five hundred years of this abominable game of cat and mouse. Please. Give up. Let me realize my dream. All I want, is to bring your world here. To use you as an anchor to merge our worlds, and drag your world into this stagnant reality. Force the world to finally change and grow!”

Hui stood upright. He looked the boy in the eye for the first time. “Respectfully, Senior? I refuse.”