Rather than let the precious berry mush hit the ground, the wolf leaped forward and ate it out of Hui’s hands as he slumped over the bucket. From above, Hui looked down at himself and frowned. What is happening? Why do I keep falling out of myself?

He lifted his hands and turned them over. Through the translucent digits, he could see the forest around them, the wolf, even Zhubi, snoozing in the sun, unaware of Hui’s predicament. Hui touched his own hand and felt resistance. Curious, he ran his hand through the grass. It passed through without any sensation aside from a tickle across his skin.

Hui looked at his hand, then the wolf. He hesitated a moment, then touched the wolf’s back.

The wolf whirled. It searched the forest, eyes narrowed, then shivered. Moving slowly, it lowered its head and approached the forest, hackles raised.

It didn’t like that. Hui put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. I wonder if this mode is a boon in disguise? No one can see me, even the wolf can’t sense me, and I still have death qi, so I can attack.

Hmm… something to consider.

“Again! The same signal a third time? This is…” a woman’s voice trailed off behind him.

Hui turned.

A woman towered over him, standing a foot or two in the air above where he stood. She wore a tall hat and white robes, a sword at her waist. Transparent like him, her hair hung long down her back, her face plain, unmemorable.

“Eh? Elder sister, do you keep falling out of your body, too?” Hui asked, tipping his head.

She frowned at him. “Are you alive? And only third stage?”

Hui nodded.

“Mmm… that shouldn’t be possible. No… you must be dead. When you were alive, did you have a strong life force? Sometimes it’s possible to maintain a strong attachment to the body after death when one cultivates a strong life force,” she reasoned.

“No, I… I cultivated death qi, actually,” Hui said. After a second, he caught himself. “Cultivate! I cultivate death qi. I’m still alive. I fell out of my body, that’s all. One second, I’ll go back in…” He flew down toward his body.

She crossed her arms. “Souls don’t just fall out of bodies.”

Eh? I’m a soul?

He looked down at himself, and his eyes widened. Wait, if I’m a soul, and I don’t have my normal cultivation, but I still have my death qi cultivation… does my soul have my death qi dantian, and my body have my ordinary dantian? Is that what Master meant?

“Well? I’m waiting. Go on, try to go back in your body. I don’t have all day, you know,” she said, tapping her foot.

“I’m going, I’m going,” Hui said.

“Newly dead souls,” she muttered under her breath.

Whirling around, Hui darted back into his body.

Warmth. Colors came back to the world. Hui sucked in a deep breath and pushed himself back upright. The net had come undone while he was out, but the wolf had eaten all the berries out of the ink. He threw what little was left out of his hands and wiped them on his pants, then glanced up.

No translucent woman.

Huh. Wonder what that was about? Is she… some kind of grim reaper?

Wait, was this little cultivator’s soul almost reaped? Forget falling out of my body during a fight, that’s far more dangerous! I’ve got to resolve this, stat!

The wolf snarled at the woods, hackles still raised.

“Senior wolf, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Hui reassured it.

Giving him a dismissive look, the wolf snarled one last time, then laid down, curled up at the edge of the clearing.

Hui sat down, thinking. What do I do about my soul leaving my body, though? I… I don’t know anything about that. Your soul isn’t supposed to fall out, is it?

He drew his manual out from his storage ring and flicked through it. The images he’d seen before flickered through his mind again, but it included nothing about souls falling out of one’s body. He furrowed his brows and tucked it back into the ring.

As expected, it’s not in the manual. Is this a side effect of my deviation from the manual? Did cultivating a separate system for my death qi in my soul make it… fall out of my body?

Hui shook his head. There’s nothing I can do about it right now. First, let’s finish making the ink before the juice spoils. Once I have ink, I… I’ll wait for Master to come back and not give up until he explains what’s going on!

He knelt by the pill cauldron again, nodding to himself. Right. I still don’t know how to use a pill cauldron, but I can at least cook the berries down to a thicker, darker liquid. From there, I’ll have to rely on my qi to transform it into bricks of ink, but since the berries had qi originally, they should resonate with my qi and be reasonably easy to work with.

Hui sat back and wiped his brow. Making talismans is hard work!

It only took a moment to gather branches to light the fire under the cauldron. The wolf paced alongside him, interested. On a lark, Hui lifted one of the bigger branches and dangled it in front of the wolf. Just like a dog, the wolf watched the branch swing back and forth.

Hui drew back his arm and threw the branch.

The wolf yelped excitedly and took off at a sprint, bounding after the branch. In a few moments, it was back, chomping the branch in its jaws.

Hui grinned. He held out his hand, and the wolf dropped the branch in his hand. It sat on its haunches, tail wagging, then blinked and shook its head. Rising to all fours, it gave Hui and the branch a dirty look and strode off into the forest majestically.

Hui hauled back his arm and threw the branch again.

The wolf’s ears perked up. It leaped up and caught the branch out of the air, twisting to land on its paws. Panting happily, it jogged back to Hui and sat, then spat out the branch indignantly and backed away, shaking his head.

Hui shook his head. “Senior, there’s no shame in indulging in what you love. This small cultivator isn’t looking down on you. We can both have fun like this.”

The wolf hesitated. It tipped its head at Hui, then lowered its head and huffed out, eyes turned to the side.

“No one’s making fun of you. I’m having a good time, too. Think about it. Don’t humans do some stupid things with their friends?” Hui reasoned.

Glancing at him, the wolf grumbled deep in its throat.

Hui waved his hands, panicked. “Eh! Not that I’m calling senior stupid. No, no. I’m saying… if you live your life constrained by what other people think is right for you to do, you’ll never have any fun, right?”

For a long moment, it laid there and thought, ears flicking around. At last, the wolf climbed to its feet and nudged the branch with its nose.

“Right, right! So… go… fetch!” Hui hauled back and threw the branch with all his strength. It soared up over the trees and vanished.

The wolf sprinted after the branch, chasing it far into the woods. Hui nodded to himself, pleased. Ah, today I’ve done another good deed. I’m truly the paragon of a virtuous cultivator.