Hui cleared his throat. He lifted the vial to his lips. “Mmm… delicious. It’s too bad you’ll never get to taste this wine.”

“You—!” the giant woman screamed.

Zhubi gave Hui a shocked look, glancing from his mouth to the vial.

Oh! Oh, right. Hui subtly shook his head. Leaning in, he whispered, “I’m not actually drinking it, Zhubi. It’s the liquor flavored with me, as well. I’m disgusted by the idea of drinking it, too.”

Zhubi nodded, relieved.

Turning back to the massive woman, Hui smirked. “I’ll drink it all. You’ll never get to taste it.”

“You horrid creature. Give it back!” she snarled, shaking the bottle again.

Hui laughed. “You’ll have to make me! But you can’t fit in this bottle, can you?”

“I… Shut up!” She smacked the bottle a few more times, then narrowed her eyes. Setting the bottle on the shelf, she leaped into the air, raising her arms into a dive position. Her body shrank, and she darted through the bottle’s neck.

I need qi again! Someone! Hui shouted.

Argh, fine. Take mine, Healer replied.

Yet again, qi rushed into his body. He trembled, then slowly clenched his hand into a fist, stabilizing his whole body as the qi settled into him. I’m getting used to this sensation. Every time I absorb this much qi and handle it, I learn more about how to process qi. My passages get stronger, and my dantian becomes more able to handle the burst. If I keep this up… well, I don’t know how many times I’ll receive a sudden, massive influx of qi, but I’ll be excellently equipped to handle it if I do!

“Now!” Zui Jiu called.

Hui pressed his hand to the bottle. It flickered out of existence for long enough for him to jump out of it, then reappeared around the woman. A thin hand appeared, holding a seal. The second the bottle returned, the hand popped the seal onto the bottle’s neck.

The woman screamed and slammed her fists against the bottle. She clawed at the glass, then flew up and smashed her body into the seal. The seal thumped, but held. She fell back, bouncing off the bottom of the bottle, then jumped back up again, screaming madly.

“Thank you. I’ve finally managed to seal her,” the voice said quietly in Hui’s ears.

Hui backed away. “That’s wonderful. Will Senior release me, now?”

Zui Jiu sighed. “I’d love to, but I have no control over that realm. You’ll have to escape on your own.”

Hui scowled. What a scam artist! She used me to contain her heart-demon, then left me behind? This trash senior!

Lightning flashed down from on high. Hui darted aside. His expression darkened, and he stared up. No control over this realm, huh?

“Could you do me a favor? Keep an eye on that heart-demon of mine. I need to go to Li Xiang’s side. She needs me,” Zui Jiu said earnestly.

“Senior, if this small cultivator could be so bold…” Hui started, rubbing his hands together nervously and half-bending.

“Go on,” she allowed.

Hui straightened. He crossed his arms. A strange sensation burned through him, one he’d never felt before. Lifting his eyes to the heavens, he boldly proclaimed, “What the fuck?”

Zui Jiu blinked. “Huh?”

Hui lifted his hand, ticking off his grievances on his fingers. “You stole my snake and tried to refine him into liquor—ah, me too. You’ve lied to me, you refuse to release me from this space, you used me to seal your heart demon, and now you’re going to leave me behind to go flirt with my girlfriend? Seriously, what the fuck?”

A gasp sounded. “Your heart-demon—! Quickly, I’ll help you seal it—”

“You know what? No. You aren’t going to seal this. No one is. Never again,” he declared, crossing his arms.

Holy shit! Red alert, red alert! Sectgoer’s going full evil! Rogue shouted.

Shit. Is anyone closer to Ying Lin? I’m still a few hours out, I had to stop to put the bottles somewhere… Healer asked urgently.

Mortal twisted his lips. I’m tangled up in a spiderweb and Peak Lord is tangled up… somewhere else. First can’t leave, obviously, and the others are dead. There’s no one but you.

Dammit.

A faint force gripped Moonlight Cutter, and the sword vanished from Hui’s hip. He let it go. Who cares? It’s not like I ever use the sword, anyways. On an afterthought, he drew his beating stick before the other clones could steal it, too. He raised it toward the senior. “Come out. Come out, before I unseal your heart-demon.”

“Unseal? But Fen Long designed—”

Hui laughed. “Fen Long designed these spaces to force you to confront your heart-demon and overcome it in order to exit. Sealing it isn’t overcoming it. No, you know what you have to do to overcome it, don’t you?”

Zui Jiu grumbled, deep in her throat. “I don’t.”

“Destroy this space. All of it. Burn it to the ground. Only when you’ve completely ruined all the alcohol you’ve ever brewed, until you’ve destroyed it with your own hands and fully forsaken your dependency—only then can you overcome your heart-demon.”

“It’s not that simple—”

“Do you think I care if it’s simple or not? I only care about personally bearing the cost of sealing your heart-demon! And I don’t deserve to be trampled on to that extent!” Hui brandished his beating stick at the heavens. “Just because I allow people to step on me, doesn’t mean I like being stepped on! Come down and fight me. I’m not afraid of you, not while you’re sealed in here.”

Zui Jiu’s voice paused. When it sounded again, it was deeper than ever before. “You don’t know who you’re irritating, little bug.”

“What’s with seniors and calling me bug?” Hui muttered.

“I’ve tolerated enough. The next strike kills.” Thunder rumbled overhead, even in the indoors space of the brewery. Static electricity built up on Hui’s clothing. Electricity flickered over the length of the beating stick.

“Tolerated enough? You don’t know the meaning of the world ‘tolerate!’” Hui looked around even as he spoke, searching. She has to be close. Fen Long locked much of their strength and cultivation when he sealed them in these spaces. She shouldn’t be able to truly use spatial techniques, as her appearing and disappearing limbs suggest. Instead, I suspect she’s in here with me, but simply invisible and revealing small parts of herself at a time.

He swept his eyes across the room again, then sighed. Time for the nuclear option. Pressing his hand to one ear and his shoulder to the other, Hui shook the beating stick wildly, rattling the bell. It rang like mad, its tones echoing through the room and rebounding off the glass bottles. In the large bottle, the heart-demon clasped her hands over her ears and screamed, fighting off the sound.

Across the room, a bottle rattled as something thumped into it.

Good! I’ve knocked her off-balance! Hui leaped off the shelf and flew toward the thump. He reached out, pretending to know where she was while he simultaneously swept a net of life qi through the air around him. To the left and slightly behind him, something human-shaped absorbed the life qi. Hui reached back without turning.

Zui Jiu flinched away, disturbing more of the life qi. She gasped. “How—”

Hui made a grasping motion, casually throwing a wind talisman behind her with his offhand. Wind blew her toward him as he reached for her throat, and he grabbed ahold, his eyes cold.

Zui Jiu clasped his hand, fighting free. She turned visible around his hand, revealing smooth skin, dark hair, and delicate doe-like eyes. Skin, skin, and more skin. Hui blinked, startled.

“Eh, Senior, just because you’re invisible, doesn’t mean you can be a nudist,” he said, shaking his head. What happened to this Senior’s morality? Who twisted it to this extent? Trying to poison the mind of this righteous, upright cultivator with her nudity…

Zui Jiu snarled back at him and clawed at his hand. “Release me!”

Hui’s arm shredded under her claws, but Hui healed it just as quickly, sending life qi directly into his arm. His grip tightened. “No.”

What can I do to hurt her? Although she’s weakened and sealed by Fen Long, it’s not as if a low-realm attack will do much to hurt her. Instead, if I use death qi directly, it’ll at least do something. She can probably wash it out easily by flooding herself with qi, but…

Wait, Hui. Don’t forget! Those threads. The threads of life and death! True, the last time I touched them, I nearly died and Elder Sister Reaper laughed at me, but with an enemy of this level… isn’t that the only attack likely to do anything to her?

His eyes flickered over the room, and a strange gleam lit in their depths. No. Rather than risking myself… isn’t there a way to harm Senior without raising a finger to her? He flipped his hand over, summoning a stack of talismans to his palm. With a gesture, he sent them flying all around the room. Talismans plastered over the wall, the floor, pasted themselves to the bottles and stuck to the ceiling.

“What are you doing? Stop!” Zui Jiu demanded. Panic flickered over her face.

“Eh? I can’t hear Senior,” Hui mocked, smiling viciously. He snapped his fingers.