Around the corner, four cultivators in black-and-white robes stood over two women. One, the woman from the alley, stood against the wall, fenced in by a snarling tiger. The other, Li Xiang, stood indignantly upright, spine straight, head lifted, pinned in place by a sword against her jugular. She swallowed, pale neck bobbing against the sharp blade.

“You commit violence in our city?”

A tall woman glared at Li Xiang, her white hair billowing in the wind, red eyes intent. White robes billowed around her body. A strong wind caught the robes, momentarily revealing a thick scarlet rope around her ankles.

Hui blinked. No way.

Li Xiang scowled and pointed. “This woman, she—”

“Thank you, thank you, Bai clan! This woman, this criminal, she came into my shop and started tearing it apart! She and her accomplice destroyed one of my shop’s walls, and she even viciously attacked my employees! I, I was so scared, I thought I was going to die.” The woman sniffed, rubbing her eyes.

“Lies,” Li Xiang said shortly.

Hui pressed his lips together, embarrassed for her. That’s not going to work here, where no one knows about your ability.

“Please, arrest this woman!” the woman begged. She reached out toward the nearest cultivator. He flicked his robes out of her reach, disgusted.

“Is that true?” Bai Xue asked, staring at Li Xiang.

“I did enter her shop, and we did damage it, but—”

Okay, okay, enough watching. We’re going to get arrested for real if she keeps talking. Hui stepped out from the alley, a smile on his face. “Bai Xue! What a coincidence!”

“Xiao Hui! What are you doing here?” Bai Xue’s face lit up. She nodded at Li Xiang. “Let me take this criminal in, first, and we can catch up!”

“Ah, actually… she’s a fellow disciple from my sect. We’re here together, at the behest of my master,” Hui explained, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“Arrest them! Arrest them together! They trashed my shop!” the woman shrieked.

Bai Xue turned to Hui. “Is that true?”

Hui took a deep breath. “Listen…”

He explained everything that had happened, from entering the alley until now. Bai Xue’s face grew darker and darker the longer he talked.

When he finished, Bai Xue lowered her sword from Li Xiang’s neck and pressed it against the woman’s instead. “Lotus pills? Enslaving cultivators? You dare call us for help?”

“You—you believe this outlandish story? They committed violence in Twin Elements City! They broke the law, and made it all up to cover up their crimes!” the woman protested. Despite her defiant front, her face flushed, and sweat dripped down her neck.

“You’re accusing the man who fought with me and saved my life of lying to my face?” Bai Xue asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“If you want proof, I have her accomplices and three I suspect of having been fed the pills in the alley,” Hui said, gesturing.

Bai Xue scowled. “You, watch the woman. You two, with me.”

The black-and-white robed cultivators cupped their hands and jumped to.

Hui glanced at Bai Xue. The way they reacted… Is she high-ranking in her clan? I wouldn’t be surprised. She did say her clan pooled their resources to break her curse, so she must be someone with standing.

Around the corner, the two men laid sprawled on the ground, still downed by Zhubi’s venom. The three dull-eyed cultivators stared at the floor, swords loosely in hand.

“Again?” Bai Xue muttered. She stepped closer and nudged one of the cultivators by the chin, turning his face toward her.

Unfocused eyes gazed past her. She breathed out. Ice condensed on her breath, solidifying over the man’s face. Ice crawled over his cheeks, his forehead, his eyes.

In the man’s pupils, something squirmed.

Bai Xue dropped the man, disgusted. “Lotus pills. Round them all up. We’ll—”

A high-pitched note from a flute sounded over the rooftops. The three dull-eyed cultivators stiffened, then started to convulse. One grabbed his head, screaming. Another toppled weakly to the floor.

The third shuddered, still upright. Once, twice, he trembled, and then he went still, head cocked back. Green shoots ruptured through his eyeballs. They surged toward the sky, growing thicker until they filled up his whole eye socket. The two shoots twined together, twisting as they climbed. The two combined at their apex and bulged. A thick bulb condensed high above the man, growing larger with each passing second. Dark petals faded through the thin green skin of the bulb.

“What’s that?” Li Xiang asked, confused.

“Run!” Bai Xue snatched up Li Xiang and Hui and sprinted away, one slung over each shoulder. Behind her, the two black-and-white robed cultivators sprinted after her.

Over her shoulder, Hui watched the bud bloom. Green outer leaves unwound, revealing a pure black bud. Slowly, the bud unfolded, petals unpeeling from the bud. A purple glow welled up from the heart of the bud.

Instinctively, Hui circulated his death qi. His body began to go limp.

“Cover your eyes! Don’t look!” Bai Xue shouted.

They dove around the corner. Hui squeezed his eyes shut.

Boom!

A blast rolled through Hui’s body. His bones and brain rattled fiercely. The buildings shuddered around them. Dust trembled off their walls.

Hui peeked his eyes open.

They stood behind the restaurant, around the corner from the alleyway. Black dust rained from the sky. Shimmering with purple, it settled over everything in a thick blanket. He quickly shut his eyes shut again.

“Tiger-Flame Claw!” one of the cultivators shouted.

Heat simmered over Hui’s flesh. He flinched, but the flames had no bite. The heat passed over him, leaving him unscathed.

“It’s safe now,” Bai Xue said, setting Hui and Li Xiang down.

“What was that?” Li Xiang asked, leaning to peer back down the alleyway.

Hui followed, cautiously peering around the edge.

Four cultivators laid on the ground: two of the hollow-eyed ones from earlier, bleeding profusely from their eyes, and the two from the alley, shuddering faintly.

A husk of a body stood where the lotus-sprouting cultivator had. Blackened skin clung to bones. His jaw and eyes hung wide open, tight skin freezing them open. No fluid nor flesh remained in his body. Head tipped back, body frozen, he stared motionless at the sky.

Thick white lotus roots thrust out of his eye sockets. They twined around each other, greening as they climbed. Atop it, a black lotus wilted, shedding thick black petals.

The man sucked in a slow breath. It rattled out, slow, painful.

Hui stared. He’s still alive?

With one last jerk, the man died, still upright. A faint trace of smoke left his mouth and coiled away. Hui blinked, and the smoke vanished.

The roots began to wither. Brown spread rapidly up the lotus stalk. The lotus pod fattened, darkening as it dried. It sagged, wilting vines no longer able to support its weight, then fell.

Bai Xue darted in and caught it. Jostled, black pills bounced out of the lotus stalk, round and shiny. One bounced toward Hui. He darted out of the way, drawing Li Xiang with him. Pills are dangerous! Better not to touch if I don’t know more about them.

One of the black-and-white robed cultivators gestured. Wind gathered up the pills, and with another gesture, he slid them into a pouch. He held the pouch out toward Bai Xue, who tipped the lotus pod into the pouch.

Shiny black pills, each about the size of Hui’s thumbnail, bounced into the pouch, beautiful and perfectly round. A purple sheen played over their surface when the sunlight hit them.

“Are those lotus pills?” Hui guessed.

Bai Xue nodded. “And that man… those men are what happens once they mature. One pill won’t necessarily infect you, but one pill is enough to get you addicted. Two, three, ten, twenty… until you become a perfect bed for the lotus, and the next batch of lotus pills is born. They first popped up almost a hundred years ago, and we’ve been trying to eradicate them ever since, but…”

“And the… pollen?” Hui asked.

“If you get some in your eyes… you’re almost guaranteed an infection. Luckily, they only release it once, and only if they fully mature. So far, we’ve been able to limit the blasts and catch most before they blow, but it’s a small blessing,” Bai Xue said, shaking her head.

“If one goes off in a crowd…” Hui muttered.

Bai Xue nodded silently.

“What about that flute? Is someone triggering them?” Li Xiang asked, tipping her head.

Hui and Bai Xue exchanged a glance.

Bai Xue shook her head. “Come back to my clan. I’ll explain everything.”