As they left Unrivaled Peak, Hui held up his hand. He turned toward the sixth peak and the stormclouds swirling above it. Even now, the clouds teemed with faces, pressing through the darkness to scream silently at nothing before the storm whisked them away again. “Wait. Before we leave, let’s examine the souls, first.”

After all, I don’t know what I’m dealing with, here. After I lost my connection with the formation, Gui Delun came after me to kill me. I didn’t have a lot of time to assess whether I could still manipulate the souls, or how much… He clenched his fist, frowning at it. I remember that Gui Delun smashing the compass cut my connection to the souls, but that’s about it.

Gu Tian’s sword hummed again, and their path changed subtly, heading toward the souls instead. Hui knelt on the sword, hunkering down to make himself as small as possible. After a thought, he reached out to the reed shoes and changed his aura, then put a hand on his chest and operated the snakeskin technique. When he finished, the cultivator who’d ‘killed’ the small him stood atop Gu Tian’s sword instead.

I remember this man, what was it, Zhi Ahn, the one who stole my head, said he was going back to the sect. The other two might be surprised to see me, but they probably won’t attack immediately. In fact, I can probably bluff them for a minute or two, say I looped back or something… stall for long enough to set up a death-faking technique or two.

With that, he stood on Gu Tian’s sword and assumed a noble pose. I think he stood… kind of… like this? And my head… I’ll just say I put it in my… did he have a storage ring or a spatial bag? Ah, whatever! Spatial treasure. That covers everything.

He swooped toward the sixth peak. The soul storm grew larger and closer overhead until it blocked out the sky. Intense yin qi emanated from the storm, intense enough to chill Hui even through his fourth-stage cultivation.

On his neck, Zhubi shivered. Hui patted the snake and lifted the neck of his robes, welcoming Zhubi to take shelter inside the protective spells on the robes. Zhubi zipped inside and curled up around his arm instead.

Yin qi. That’s not a good sign. Yin qi is associated with ghosts, not souls. At least I can’t sense much death qi? And there were souls already trapped inside the array before I activated it, so… Hui bit his lip. He looked down at Gu Tian. “Elder Brother, can we go a bit faster?”

Under his feet, Gu Tian stared up at him in exasperation. I’m a second-realm ghost possessing a sword, and you’re a fourth-realm cultivator. If you want to go faster, fly on your damn own!

Hui sighed. “I don’t want to use my own qi and alert the All-Heavens cultivators. Please understand.” If they sense fourth-level qi, and the same qi that Zhi Ahn fought against, they’ll be far more likely to come take a look than if they sense second-level qi. A fourth-realm spirit beast might be worth capturing to a fourth- or fifth-realm cultivator, but they’d likely ignore a second-realm one.

“…” Gu Tian peered at Hui. Since when could you read my thoughts? Do we have a mental link?

“It’s easy to guess your thoughts, Elder Brother,” Hui said, giving him a polite smile.

Gu Tian squinted at him. Don’t give me that nonsense. You’re just trying to imitate those seniors who always read your thoughts, aren’t you?

Hui paused for a moment as a thought came to him, then drew Jin Xian out of his storage ring. She glanced around, claws bared, then looked at Hui and cocked her head.

He bowed. “Elder Sister, this yin qi should be beneficial to you. Please absorb as much as you can.”

Jin Xian looked up at the souls overhead, and a grin spread over her thin lips. She nodded and flew through the air on her own accord, approaching the storm.

When there’s a big spill of qi, use a big sponge to absorb it! I’m not sure if the yin qi is dangerous to the souls in the formation or not, but just in case, I can’t simply walk away.

Jin Xian is already a refined corpse. She should be able to absorb yin qi more easily than ordinary qi. If we’re lucky, she’ll jump directly to fifth stage! I can watch her tribulation and learn from it.

He put a hand on his dantian. After all, I’m on the verge of my own tribulation. I have the crystal pills and the barrier talismans, but I’m still not confident. If I see someone else’s tribulation, I’ll have more confidence!

Wait, hold on. I feel like I’m forgetting something…

Ah! The lotus beast. Bai Jingwen! She was about to face her tribulation. If she can absorb a little more life qi…

Hui bit his lip, then drew the lotus seed from his storage ring and threw it back toward Mount Mu with the full power of his fourth-stage cultivation. The lotus beast formed around the lotus seed as it flew. She bared her teeth at Hui, but then crashed through the barrier and slammed into the top of Mount Mu with such force that her delicate lotus body turned into a green splatter, and her seed directly planted itself into the ground.

“Uh… whoops,” Hui muttered, looking at his hand. I haven’t used my full strength that often before… I really thought it would take all my strength just to get her seed to Mount Mu. I didn’t mean to splatter her…

Gu Tian sat there silently, eyes wide. Xiao Hui, don’t you dare grab me. This sword will fly you wherever you need, but don’t pick me up! I’m afraid you might directly shatter me if you grab ahold of my hilt.

Hui looked at the splatter one more time, then turned back to the souls. “Right, er, this storm… I wonder how it works.”

Just ignoring the lotus beast? Xiao Hui… Gu Tian criticized silently.

Hui reached out toward the souls. Though he could sense them, he couldn’t manipulate them. When his qi met the souls’, the remnants of the formation appeared, black-red lines that glittered around the mass and bound it in place. The corrupted formation blocked his reach, keeping him from interacting with the souls themselves.

He frowned and pushed harder against the formation. The formation grew stronger in response. Red light burned along the lines, then rushed out, surging against him.

Hui instantly cut his connection with that bit of qi and dodged to the side. A blast of yin qi shot past, so cold that ice accumulated on the shoulder of his robes. He rubbed his shoulder and turned to the formation. Brute force won’t work. Well, brute force was never my strong suit.

I might not be able to break through it, but I refuse to believe this corrupted formation has no weaknesses!