Fire burned under the cauldron. Hui crouched over it, manipulating the ink inside with his qi. He spun it evenly, syncing his qi to the qi in the berries. The berries’ qi kept slipping out of his control. He furrowed his brows and reached out, trying to snare the qi. Like a slippery eel, the berries dodged his efforts yet again and continued to swirl merrily at their own pace.

Argh! Just sit still!

The wolf returned, branch in mouth. Hui stood, temporarily leaving the ink to its own devices, and threw the branch again. With a happy grumble, the wolf took off after it, eyes gleaming.

He crouched down again. This time, he closed his eyes and focused all his power on the berries’ qi, following the path closely. I’m good at manipulating my own qi, so why can’t I manipulate these berries?

Hui clamped down on the berries’ qi, holding a node in place. The node struggled, and the rest of the qi flowed on, ignoring his interference. If I can’t sync the berries’ qi to my qi, I would’ve been better off using dyes without qi. Then, at least, they wouldn’t fight me!

But, but if I can sync my qi and the berries’, then… then wouldn’t I get twice the output with half the effort? Then I wouldn’t have to waste qi on energizing the ink. The ink would already be attuned to me, and—

The berries’ qi lashed out, smacking his qi away and wriggling on.

Hui wrinkled his nose. Ugh, but right now, I’m just getting disrespected by berries.

The wolf returned, putting the branch down again. Eyes closed, focused on the qi, Hui didn’t notice. Annoyed, it edged closer, pushing the branch in front of it until it nudged Hui with the branch.

Hui opened his eyes. “Hey, I was—ah, senior! Right, right.” He picked up the branch.

His own words flashed through his head. If your life is constrained by what other people think of you…

Hui’s eyes widened. That’s it! He grinned and petted the wolf vigorously. “Thank you, senior! I appreciate your guidance.”

The wolf growled and bared its teeth, retracting its head.

Hui bowed. “Sorry, sorry, this small cultivator apologizes, I was carried away in my joy. Here, let me apologize.”

He picked up the branch. Drawing his arm back, he imbued his arm and the branch with qi, and threw it harder than ever before. The branch arced away, twinkling on the horizon.

With a joyful grumble, the wolf raced after it.

Hui sat down before the cauldron again, putting his hands on the side. I was trying to constrain the berries’ qi to my will, when I should really listen to what the berries’ qi wants to do, then match my qi to that, until we sync up! Once we sync up, just like getting the wolf to agree to fetch, the berries should be much easier to manipulate!

He glanced down the mountain after the wolf. Apologies, I don’t mean to imply that senior is easy to manipulate!

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, expelling impurities. Hui closed his eyes and inserted his qi into the cauldron once more. This time, he followed the flow of the berries’ qi, chasing after it until he met it. Mixing his qi in with the berries’, he circulated it in the cauldron until the two qi were almost indistinguishable.

Now, to see if it worked! Hui furrowed his brows and drew his qi upward.

The berries’ qi paused, then followed, chasing the flow.

Yes! Hui circulated the qi slower and slower, condensing it. Slowly, he shaped the liquid into a brick, letting the fire below dry the ink as he went. At last, he felt the ink settle into a brick.

Hui yanked the lid off the cauldron and drew out the ink with his qi. Shaped into a smooth brick of red, it glistened faintly in the sun. He held it up triumphantly. “At last!”

Startled, Zhubi sat up. He remembered the paper on his belly a second before he slithered over and hissed at Hui, impatient.

“Right, right, it should be dry now.” Hui put the ink into his ring and jumped over, drawing the dried paper off Zhubi. Cruder than usual paper, with a strange texture and a greenish color to it, it nonetheless would serve as the foundation for his talismans. Hui laid it on the ground and sliced it into even rectangles, then stored them into his ring as well.

Now that I know how, I can make as much paper and ink as I need! From here on out, I just need to sit quietly and make talismans!

In the distance, a pained yelp sounded out.

Hui startled, sitting upright. Was that the wolf? Who would dare touch one of Master’s pets?

Another yelp. Hui jumped to his feet, reaching a hand out to Zhubi. “Zhubi, let’s go! Something’s happened to the wolf!”

Zhubi hissed and lunged at him. Mid-lunge, he returned to his usual size and slithered up to Hui’s neck.

Hui hurtled down the mountain, leaping and bounding down the familiar path. At third stage, he barely had to exert effort to dart down the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, he caught sight of the wolf, crouched over something.

“Senior! Are you—”

“Stupid wolf. Let go of that branch, already. Silver-green Wood is worthless to a filthy beast like you! Let us plant cultivators make something useful out of it!” A green-robed cultivator drew back his leg and kicked the wolf in the side. Three other green-robed cultivators stood at his sides, frowning at the wolf.

The wolf snarled at him, but stayed hunched over its prize.

Eh? What’s the problem? Hui narrowed his eyes.

The wolf crouched over a split boulder with a deep, narrow cleft in it. The stick had hurtled down into the rock and slipped past an outcropping, then gotten stuck there, deep down the boulder’s cleft. The wolf’s paws were too clumsy to draw it out, and its muzzle was too thick to reach far enough into the rock to grab the branch. It could probably use a beast technique to get the branch out or crack the boulder open, but with the cultivators right there, it’s risky. The cultivators might dart in, steal the branch, and fly out with it, or attack it. Beasts are powerful, but they don’t have the same dexterity and number of unique techniques available to them as cultivators, like how Zhubi has his poison and can play dead, but can’t make talismans or cultivate sword techniques.

Well, I’m no good at cultivating sword techniques either, but… anyways!

All that to say, one beast versus four cultivators is a bad matchup! I’m sure senior wolf could win in a battle of raw strength, but could he win and prevent any one of the cultivators from grabbing the branch at the same time? Hard to say.

The cultivator drew back his leg again. “Dumb wolf! Give it up! You’re just going to chew on it and waste it!”

Hui cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but what are you doing to my family’s pet—ahem! to my Master’s spirit beast?”