Hui dove for his body, but halfway there, stopped. He turned, brows furrowed.

The cultivator’s hand still clung to the sword, but now he could see through it. The qi faded steadily, darkening to death qi, but a vestige of qi remained. From the cut end of the hand, fine threads squirmed in the air.

Hui drifted closer, curious.

Thin threads of qi bled from the cut end of the cultivator’s hand, drifting like anemone strands under the ocean with pulses and tides Hui couldn’t feel. As he watched the threads slowly darkened and died, turning to death qi alongside the remaining qi in the hand.

Hui turned to the cultivator. The cut end of his arm, too, sported threads. They swayed in time with the hand, perfectly synced. The threads faded away, dying as he watched.

If I join the two, if I reconnect the threads, then… couldn’t his hand be healed? Wouldn’t that end this mess? So thinking, Hui reached out and touched the hand.

His hand slid through the hand’s surface, and his death qi merged with the death qi inside. Struck by inspiration, Hui drew the death qi out of the hand. Only the qi remained, and without death qi to kill it, the darkness spread slower.

“You again?”

Hui glanced up. The white-robed tall-hat-wearing woman stood over him again, frown deeper than before.

“Apologies to senior! This small disciple doesn’t mean to keep falling out of his body!” Hui shouted, diving back for his body. She swiped for him, but before she could reach, he squirmed inside.

Hui shook his head, straightening up. In the background, the two Sect Masters argued. Caught in the middle, but ignoring the proceedings, Weiheng Wu met his gaze and quietly raised an eyebrow.

Eh? Does Master realize? Hui licked his lips, then mouthed, “Later, Master!”

He ran over to the green-robed cultivator’s hand and yanked it off the sword. The green-robed cultivator turned to him, aghast. Before he could protest, Hui grabbed his cut arm and pressed the two together.

Okay, now to re-enter that state!

…How do I re-enter that state again?

With no better recourse, Hui circulated his death qi. It’s death qi I have when I’m in the other state. If I circulate my death qi, I’ll probably reenter that state. It’s the best idea I have.

“What are you doing?” the green-robed cultivator demanded.

“Elder brother, please hold your arm together,” Hui requested politely.

Cold. Monochrome. Hui shimmied out of his body and rushed over to the green-robed cultivator. The threads stood out to him, plain as day in this form. They swayed past one another, reaching uselessly into the halves of the other side of the cut flesh. Hui reached out and connected two of the threads.

They held together, then darkened, stained by his death qi. In no time, they faded away.

Argh, I’ve only got death qi in this form! There’s got to be a way… well, my body has qi, right? Maybe if I grab it? Experimentally, Hui reached into his body, careful to kill off his qi circulation to his hands so his death qi wouldn’t infect his qi passages.

His hands passed through his qi. Hui frowned, disappointed.

“You! Can you stop?” the tall-hat-wearing woman complained, annoyed.

“Please, senior, a moment, just a moment,” he begged her.

A bright golden light burst to life on the plain of monochrome. Hui whipped around, instinctively drawn toward it.

Nestled in his master’s palm, a golden songbird looked around. Tilting its head, it tweeted at him and flapped over, settling onto his shoulder.

“Can you help me?” Hui asked.

It sang a quiet note and hopped in place.

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Using the old technique he’d used to manipulate death qi at a distance, Hui reached out to the golden songbird. A string of life qi stretched from its chest, shining and golden. He drew it out and connected the life qi to the strings. The life qi reconnected the strings, and they came back to life. The green-robed disciple’s qi flowed between the connected strings, though only a tiny strand flowed.

I can do this! Hui’s eyes lit up. He fell into a lotus pose and focused all his energy on his mental connection to the life qi. The strings loomed up, huge in his mind as he focused. He strung life qi from one to the next, connecting the strings back together one at a time. With each connected string, more qi flowed through the green-robed cultivator’s arm into his severed hand.

At last, Hui connected the last thread. He let out a sigh and fell back, exhausted. The qi flowed between the severed arm, as thickly as if he’d never been cut at all.

“Are you done, squirt? Hurry up and go back into your body, so I can go back and report this to my higher-ups,” the tall-hat-wearing woman grumbled.

“Please don’t report this small cultivator, senior!” Hui said, bowing to her.

“No can do.”

Hui opened his mouth, then immediately shut it. Those who do not seek death, do not die! She’s a reaper, don’t argue with a reaper!

Hui dove back into his body before he could do anything stupid. He blinked back to life, rubbing his eyes with his free hand.

The green-robed cultivator stared at his hand. “I… can feel it again?”

“Take a pill, hurry, hurry. I haven’t healed your flesh, just your qi passages,” Hui urged him.

Startled, he jerked, then grabbed a pill out and swallowed it down. His flesh crawled back together, closing over. A sharp click sounded out as the bone mended, the muscles squelching together around it.

“I’m… healed?” he murmured, clenching his fist.

Hui glanced at the higher-ups arguing in the corner, then gave the green-robed cultivator a kick. “Go on, go on! Tell them you’re healed, hmm? I can’t have my master lose his hand.” More realistically, I don’t want Master to take on all the Sect Masters and Peak Lords at once. I don’t know how that’d end, but not well for righteous cultivators. And aren’t we already losing out to the demonic cultivators?

The green-robed cultivator stumbled forward, into the cross-fire of the higher-level cultivators. Hui stood to the side, hands behind his back.

A quiet chirp from his shoulder caught his attention. Hui glanced over. The golden songbird, smaller, now, tipped its head and looked back at him.

“You’re still here? Don’t you want to go back to Master?” Hui asked.

The songbird trilled and rubbed its beak against his cheek.

Hui glanced at Weiheng Wu. Weiheng Wu nodded back at him, tucking his hands into his sleeves. Ah? Is this a gift from Master?

Then, this small cultivator won’t hold back. Hui reached out to the songbird with his qi. When his qi met the songbird, it melted into golden life qi. Hui easily guided it into his dantian and circulated it alongside his qi. Unlike death qi, it didn’t threaten or infect his ordinary qi, but existed beside it, rolling evenly in his dantian, a tiny ball of golden light. He prodded it with his qi, and it momentarily reformed into the golden songbird and chirped at him before circulating once more.

A gift from Master! I’ll treasure this forever, Master!

Sect Master Mu stared. “You… your arm is back?”

The green-robed cultivator nodded. He nodded at Hui. “He… he healed it for me.”

Sect Master Mu darted to the green-robed cultivator’s side and grabbed his arm. He closed his eyes, investigating the green-robed cultivator’s arm.

Hui stood to the side, chest puffed out, smug.

“Internally, in terms of his qi, it’s like he was never cut. He… this shouldn’t be possible. Short of a heavenly healer, perfectly reconnecting his qi passages…” Sect Master Mu trailed off, staring at Hui.

Ah, it’s because this small disciple isn’t a healer at all. I just have a small talent in death qi… and life qi, it seems. Though… if I wasn’t in my fallen-out-of-my-body state, I couldn’t have done it at all.

A soul shouldn’t be able to leave its body this early in cultivation. Master seemed to know when I was out of my body, but no one else has reacted. I really have to consult with Master about this as soon as possible!

Hui put a hand on his chin, thoughtful. I wonder what those strings I saw were? Shattered qi? Mmm, if we think of qi passages as a rope, then the strings would be threads from the frayed end of the rope. As they went dark, that was the last vestiges of his qi dying, right? So… for now, I’ll call them… the threads of life and death!

“Then, Sect Master Mu, now that we’ve resolved the issue of your disciple’s hand, I think you’ll find the true problem is the issue of your disciples harassing one of our direct inheriting disciples as well as a Peak Lord’s spirit beast. How do you plan to repay Starbound Peak Sect for the harms done to them?” Sect Master Lan asked, his face serene but his eyes glittering with vicious light.

Sect Master Mu grit his teeth. “I’ll… be sure to repay you… in full.”

Hui watched quietly, tilting his head. Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect, why are you trying to take Master’s hand? Could it be that you’ve declined so seriously recently that you feel the need to weaken other sects as well? If you can’t recruit Master, you might as well cripple him, is that what you’re saying?

No wonder righteous sects are losing to the demonic sects.

Hmm, but… why is Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect declining?

Hui shook his head. Every sect’s internal affairs are their own to handle. This small cultivator shouldn’t go poking his nose in things that don’t involve him.

Well. Unless they come after my Master and me again. Then… please excuse this small cultivator if he doesn’t hold back!

…from investigating. Investigating! I’d never do anything dangerous, not this small disciple!

He bent and retrieved the branch from the boulder, then glanced at his Master. Weiheng Wu gave him a small nod in return. Taking that for his excuse to leave, Hui bowed to his master and retreated up the mountain, the wolf following along behind him.