Ying Lin stood on her tiptoes, curious. Li Xiang sliced the blood off her sword and dashed to Hui’s side.

Chen Xigui held Ya Ai by her throat. He grew rapidly, while Ya Ai shriveled further. At the sight of the interlopers, he laughed. “It’s too late. You fools—”

Burning with extra qi, Hui dashed to his side before he could react. He yanked Chen Xigui off Ya Ai and poured his qi into Chen Xigui without relaxing his control over it, forcibly locking down Chen Xigui’s qi passages.

Chen Xigui stiffened. He struggled against Hui, but Hui exerted his will, and the qi stopped dead in Chen Xigui’s passages. Chen Xigui gasped disbelievingly. “Who are you?”

Hui glanced down. “Zhubi, bite him. It’ll make it easier on me.”

A little white snake wriggled out from Hui’s sleeve. It reared up and bit Chen Xigui. Chen Xigui struggled, to no avail. With Hui controlling his qi, he had no way to resist as the poison coursed through his veins.

Hui turned to Ya Ai, who laid collapsed on the floor, weak. He held out Chen Xigui toward her. “Here. Take from him what he took from you.”

Ya Ai lifted her hand. Compared to before, she appeared even more ancient, her bones pressing against delicate, papery skin. Moving to her side, Li Xiang propped her up and put her withered hand on Chen Xigui’s chest.

Ya Ai narrowed her eyes. Life qi began flowing from Chen Xigui into her.

“No! You can’t! Mine, it’s mine, all mine…” Chen Xigui protested.

Hui scoffed. “You can take from her, but she’s not allowed to take from you?”

Ya Ai took a breath. With every passing moment, she grew younger, her flesh rejuvenated, her bones stronger. She stood on her own strength, pushing away from Li Xiang. Tipping her chin, she looked down at Chen Xigui as he shrank, growing smaller with every passing moment.

A scowl passed over Ya Ai’s face. “This could have benefitted both of us. By selfishly attempting to take it all from me, you have destroyed yourself.”

Chen Xigui snarled back, frustrated. “Your damn mother is the one who put me in this form! All because I dared to favor her sister. Her sister, that whore, was just like the rest, anyways, hardly worth the effort I put in to capture her. And so what if I killed her afterward? Women get so naggy after you toy with them a little. I’m doing the world a favor. Honestly, it’s ridiculous to permanently injure me over one woman! Killing you is just retribution for what your mother did to me!”

“You’re the one who poisoned Mother while I was in her womb? The one who put me in this state?” Ya Ai asked, her face twisting.

“You didn’t know?” he asked mockingly. “I suppose you couldn’t, if you came all this way and called me beloved. Though even I didn’t know until I saw your younger face. You look a lot like your mother, you know.” He smiled, shaking his head. “Ah, I suppose I had an inkling. It seemed too much of a coincidence for us to have perfectly mirrored states.”

Ya Ai twisted her hand into his robes. Chen Xigui’s qi flowed faster into her, and she rapidly regained her youth. “This is something you did to yourself.”

“This is something your mother did to me,” Chen Xigui clarified. “If she hadn’t reflected my curse technique at the last minute, she would have simply aged and withered away. I thought she got away free and clear, and when I heard she died in childbirth, I thought that was merely karma coming due. To think my curse technique backlashed on her unborn child as she reflected it! How perfect a retribution, after she dared to injure me!”

“Shut up,” Hui snarled. He tightened his grip on Chen Xigui. “What made you like this? When did you begin to think that this was acceptable? That you were allowed to blatantly kill women without retribution?”

Chen Xigui scoffed. He grew smaller with each moment, barely a child in appearance now. “If you have to blame anyone, blame the Patriarch. He couldn’t stand the sight of me. No matter what I did, it was no good. Always treating me as lesser than the other elders, refusing to give me good assignments, never praising me no matter how perfectly I completed my work. And then he assigned me out here, to this slum out in the wastelands. Isn’t this the same as telling me that I'm free to do whatever I like, as long as I'm out of his sight?”

Hui lifted a lip. Is that all it takes to give up on the world? Pathetic. As I’ve always thought, the mental resiliency of people in this world is too low, far too low!

“All because of this damn surname…” Chen Xigui muttered.

Hui’s eyes widened. His surname… Chen? I know another man surnamed Chen. A man who holds a deep grudge. Could it be? “Your Patriarch, is his name Fen Long?”

Chen Xigui laughed. He closed his eyes. His body continued to shrink, from a child to a toddler, a toddler to a baby. Another moment passed, and nothing remained but a splash of blood.

Hui breathed out. He released his clawed hand and wiped it on the floor. The blood came off of his palm, but the stifled feeling in his heart didn’t dissipate. Even though I was domineering this time and everything went well, why don’t I feel good about it?

Li Xiang put a hand on Hui’s shoulder. “He needed to die. There was no other route for him.”

Ya Ai stretched. Younger now, she possessed perfect white jade skin and gorgeous dark hair, her eyes as shiny as gemstones. The pink peony gown fit her appearance perfectly now, gently revealing the curves of her youthful body. She smiled at Hui. “Thank you. I’ve avenged my mother and and untied a great many heart knots today. Although our small clan has little compared to Chen Xigui, we will do everything we can to assist you, now or in the future.”

“The same… for me,” Lu Xubo said, somewhat bitterly. He clenched his fist, but released it. “I wish I could have landed the blow myself, but to be here for it…”

Outside, cultivators rushed by, flying this way and that. Some wore the white and dark green of Chen Xigui’s guards, but many wore the multicolored robes of those associated with Li Xiang’s vigilantes.

Li Xiang’s brow furrowed. “Why did everyone attack? Everything went well.”

Hui coughed. “Er, I may have an answer.”

“Well? Say it!” Lu Xubo demanded.

“Well, Junior Brother Chen Xigui required everyone have passes to enter the city. Those passes included a scrap of Chen Xigui’s personal qi. Once he died, everyone in the city would immediately know it… and that’s setting aside whether he personally maintained the barrier. Therefore, those who opposed Chen Xigui knew the moment the threat they hated so much died, and simultaneously, the moment the city’s guardian left. Without Chen Xigui, they now have the option to overrun the city,” Hui guessed. He shrugged. “Think of it as a riot forming after an unpopular dictator dies.”

“What Elder Brother says is reasonable,” Lu Xubo said begrudgingly. He glanced out the window.

“If you want to go, then join them,” Li Xiang said.

“But…” Lu Xubo glanced at her and hesitated.

“I, too, will go. Doubtless there are other guards at the fifth stage who will pose a threat to us,” Li Xiang stated. She looked at Hui.

Hui hesitated. “I, er, I…” I’m not really the kind of person who goes to riots. I’d rather go the other direction. I—

I used my full power. In fact, more than my full power. Much, much more than my full power! Shit! I might as well have beamed a signal into the heavens!

“I, I just remembered, I have something urgent to attend to,” Hui stuttered.

Lu Xubo frowned. “More urgent than this?”

“Yes,” Hui said. Urgent enough that the entire city could end up destroyed if I don’t run!

Li Xiang blinked. “He’s telling the truth.”

“Eh… eh?” Lu Xubo asked, startled.

Hui bowed. “Many thanks, seniors. I’ll, hopefully, I’ll see you soon.”

As he turned to go, he paused. He quickly drew a pair of talismans. One for messages. For the other, he turned his awareness to the node at the back of his mind. At the moment, brimming with energy, even a short glance at his node sent him into a state of enlightenment. He saw the node, the inside and outside of it. The connection. The tree in the distance, stretching golden branches to infinity. All the other nodes, calling out to their clones’ consciousness as the other Huis headed back to their bodies. His hand worked half-subconsciously, transcribing his understanding to the leaf in the form of talisman marks. I’m not sure that this will work, but it’s worth a try. I can always improve upon it later. As long as Li Xiang has a prototype, there will be some small energy there for me to connect to. If my understanding grows enough, I might be able to connect this talisman to the tree network later, even if it doesn’t fully function.

And of course, there’s always the possibility that it fully functions, and I’ll have a node wherever Li Xiang is!

“Elder Sister, we might not meet again for some time. Please take these,” Hui said, stuffing them in her hands.

Li Xiang nodded. “When the time comes, my vigilantes and I will stand at your side.”

Hui nodded. “Until then, keep yourself safe and in good health.”

With that, he shoved the window open. Ying Lin ran to his side, and together, they jumped out into the sky. Gu Tian unsheathed himself and landed under Ying Lin’s feet, while Hui drew Moonlight Cutter and stepped on it.

Gu Tian gave Moonlight Cutter a pitying look. To think, he battled a fifth-stage cultivator and never gave so much as a thought to you. I truly pity you.

“Ying Lin, stay close. Han Qin could appear from any direction,” Hui said. Actually, since I’m burning with energy right now, and most of his clones are sixth stage… might I be able to defeat him? I have that new beating stick I haven’t tried out yet…

No, no, no, Hui! Don’t listen to that heart demon! Who knows what kinds of multifarious and dangerous techniques that man knows? What if he knows a withering curse, like the one Chen Xigui cast on Ya Ai’s mother? Or any other kind of technique with horrifying lingering effects? No, no. Far too dangerous!

But… I destroyed Chen Xigui without really exerting any effort. Right now, I’m boiling over with strength. Even if the usual me wouldn’t dare face Han Qin, the powered-up me is a different story.

No, exactly! I should be more aggressive right now! If I successfully scare off Han Qin and make him think I’ve grown stronger and become a real threat, maybe he’ll stop chasing me! Hui nodded to himself. He turned to Ying Lin.

Ying Lin covered her head with her hands. “Master, I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. I feel like watching Master battle would be greatly beneficial to me right now. Could I stay, at least until an actual threat appears?”

Hui hesitated, then nodded, though reluctantly. He pointed at her chest. “That disguise technique is also a healing technique. If you find yourself badly injured, remove the snakeskin and your body should heal beneath.”

Ying Lin nodded. She beamed at him. “Yes, Master!”

The two surged through the tumult over the city. With all the chaos, no one cast a second glance at a seemingly fourth- and third-stage cultivator escaping the fight. The two of them joined the scrum of fleeing cultivators and flew off into the distance.