The door slammed open. Hui and Xi Muchen both startled, while Jun Ke grabbed for a weapon he lacked.
Cho Haoli stormed in. “Xi Muchen! You don’t have the authority to remove prisoner—”
“Ah? I don’t? Then why are they here? If I don’t have the authority, wouldn’t they still be in the prison?” Xi Muchen asked, gesturing.
Cho Haoli frowned. “That…”
Huh? What does he mean, if he doesn’t have the authority? Is the prison controlled directly by the Golden Immortal, or something, that he needs to have authority to open prison doors? How else does us being out indicate that Xi Muchen had permission to remove us? Seems like a strange thing to do, but the Golden Immortal is a bit of a control freak, based on controlling the villages, and the loops, and the city, and reality itself… yeah, come to think of it? I wouldn’t be surprised if he directly controlled the prison. Why not? He directly controls everything else!
Control freaks, ugh. I hated control freaks in my first life, and I still hate them. There’s no need to control everything! It’s fine if everyone doesn’t act exactly according to your standards! The world is chaos, and everyone does things in their own way, at their own pace!
Ah, though, I guess a child wouldn’t understand…
At that thought, Hui put a hand on his chin.
Come to think of it, why does the Golden Immortal appear as a child? Is that his taste? Or did he really cultivate so quickly as to retain a child’s body from the ancient era until now?
Mmm, well, even if he cultivated that quickly, he could still adjust his age. There’s no accounting for poor taste, I suppose.
Putting his thoughts aside, Hui met Xi Muchen’s eyes. “Elder Brother, before we were rudely interrupted, you were about to tell me the downsides?”
“Ah, that’s right. My apologies. Please forgive me for the rude interruption,” Xi Muchen said, nodding.
“Who are you calling a ‘rude interruption,’ huh?” Cho Haoli muttered under his breath.
“I wasn’t calling anyone that, but now that you mention it, I suppose it would be a good way to describe you,” Xi Muchen replied smoothly.
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Cho Haoli’s face burned. “Xi Muchen—!”
Before they could get into it again, Hui coughed. “Elder Brother, the downsides?”
“Right, right. Well, you have to collect the new immortals from the villages every thousand or so years, if the loop lasts that long. And you have to monitor the villages, and Heart Lotus City. And you have to pledge allegiance to the Golden Immortal and drink his blood—”
“Ah, I see,” Hui said, nodding. Drink his blood? That’s a step too far. That’s a common baseline move in demonic cultivation! The kinds of things you can do when another cultivator drinks your blood… you can use it to anchor the other cultivator, call them or summon them from anywhere, track them, even cause permanent damage to their cultivation or lifespan. That’s a pass from me, hard pass!
Though, I wonder… Like how I have my secret me, I wonder if the Golden Immortal is outside the loop, somehow? Otherwise, wouldn’t all the Inspectors have to drink his blood every time they return? He’d have a long line at the start of every loop.
Wait, hold on. Or would he? There seems to be an ancient era in these loops, even though, according to Bai Xue, they only last a hundred years or so. Or… does she only experience the last hundred years or so, and thus assume the loop only lasts a hundred years? But… Huh? Only five hundred years passed in the mortal realm, so how could the Immortal Realm replay the ancient era?
Unless…
The Golden Immortal is already looping time. Why not compress it, or run it back, or reroll it? I can’t count on anything. When it comes to time, I can’t count on anything anymore!
Xi Muchen tapped his finger on his cheek and shook his head. “Consider it more. It isn’t that bad. Simply giving in and going along with the world… why fight it? We’ve fought this long to get to the Immortal Realm, but now we’re here. We don’t need to fight anymore. We can rest. We’ve crossed the finish line.”
“Even with the world in unrest, as it is?” Hui asked him.
“Who cares? What is the world doing to harm me? It doesn’t matter, as long as we can continue to enjoy life,” Xi Muchen argued.
Ah, now, that’s a familiar argument. All the way back from my world, it’s an argument I’ve heard many times. Hui shook his head. “Even if the Immortal realm and mortal realm are going to fall apart?”
Xi Muchen shrugged. “When it gets that bad, we can figure something out. Maybe it never gets that bad. Who knows? Whether it does or doesn’t, I’m not the one who has the power to do something about it. I’ll put my trust in the Golden Immortal and live a good life for now.”
Hui bowed. “Sincerely, Elder Brother, I don’t believe I can do the same. I suppose you’ll have to put me back in prison, since I won’t be becoming an Inspector.”
“Truly a pity. You would have made a good Inspector,” Xi Muchen said, shrugging.
“Before you go, hand over Tian Lan. She shouldn’t go to prison,” Cho Haoli demanded.
Hui narrowed his eyes. “Elder Brother, please reconsider. Tian Lan’s father trusts her with me. Does he trust you with her? To protect her, I can only hand her off to her father himself. Anything else would be irresponsible.”
“I’m an Inspector!” Cho Haoli argued.
“And so is Xi Muchen,” Hui pointed out.
Cho Haoli opened his mouth, then closed it. He nodded reluctantly.
“I thought we were friends!” Xi Muchen said, mock-betrayed. He shook his head and turned to Jun Ke. “What about you? Will you become an Inspector, and have a chance at winning Sa Zhangli’s heart once more?”