The lotus girl’s eyes opened, revealing a purple-black, shifting shimmer, lotus dust trapped under a thin layer of glassy film. She turned to them and smiled, baring black teeth as hard and shiny as the lotus pill’s shell. She laughed lightly and danced toward them, half-stumbling, both clumsy and graceful. The sword trailed after her, held loosely in her hand, almost an afterthought.

“That’s not Bai Fenfeng. Whatever it is, it’s only taken her form,” Bai Xue declared.

Hui swallowed. Remembering these kinds of developments from my novels back in my first life… “Could it be… the lotus itself, come to life? Or, er… should I say, which has assumed human form after consuming so many humans?”

Jingwen put a hand over her mouth. She turned over her shoulder to the root which had temporarily held her and shivered.

“It ate all those cultivators…” Li Xiang trailed off. She hesitated a moment, and then her eyes brightened with a vicious light. “It’s pure evil! We need to exterminate it!”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Bai Xue flicked his fan at the lotus girl. A blast of fire rushed at the girl’s chest.

The lotus girl’s eyes widened. She leaped aside, flailing with her sword. The fire deflected off the sword’s flat in a clumsy strike. The lotus girl stumbled back. Bare feet slid over stones, which dug gashes into the soft plant flesh. Pale green sap welled up in the gashes as soon as they opened, closing them before she stepped again.

Li Xiang leaped in. She cleaved down at the lotus girl.

Letting out a savage shriek, the lotus girl reached up. Li Xiang sliced down, and the lotus girl’s arm flew away. Startled, the lotus girl staggered back. Her arm gushed sap. A fresh shoot pushed through her shoulder even as she stared, a pale white nub that steadily greened as it slowly grew.

Li Xiang landed. Firm footwork propelled her forward. Her sword flashed, and she sliced again.

The lotus girl leaped back. A gash opened in her robes, tip of Li Xiang’s sword just dipping into her pale-green flesh. She screamed and kicked Li Xiang in the hip. Li Xiang flew backward, past Bai Xue.

Hui stepped forward and held out his hands to catch her. Her body slammed into his, and the two of them went tumbling head-over-heels over the cave.

“Fireblade Strike!” Bai Xue darted in, sweeping both fans. Flames raced ahead of him as a pair of fiery blades extended from the tips of his fans.

The lotus girl’s eyes narrowed, and she screamed fiercely. No longer slow, her arm regenerated in moments. The rapid growth came in pale white, barely a tinge of green. She gestured outward. A blast of sap from her palms negated Bai Xue’s flames.

Bai Xue and the lotus girls’ arms both blurred. They danced back and forth, Bai Xue still hobbling over his rope, the lotus girl stumbling, legs wobbly, as if she still wasn’t used to them. At a glance, the two appeared almost drunk, permanently at the verge of falling. Watching them closely, as Hui was, the two traded blows, evenly matched, every stumble and wobble perfectly timed to dodge away or lend power to their strikes.

Suddenly, the lotus girl jumped back. Bai Xue tried to chase her, but caught short. He whirled. A lotus root poked out of the ground behind him and looped over his rope, pinning him in place.

“Bai Xue!” Hui shouted, scared. No!

The lotus girl’s skirts flared. A mass of wrist-thick lotus roots, pale and slimy, rushed out. Dozens and dozens of them, so many that the billowy skirt became stiff with them. They darted at Bai Xue, swarming through the air.

“Bai Xue!” Li Xiang tried to jump upright, but her legs tangled with Hui’s, and she stumbled again and fell to her knees.

“Dammit!” Hui threw a wind talisman. A blast of wind raced at the lotus girl. With a backhanded strike, she deflected it. The wind raced back at Hui. His eyes widened. He grabbed Li Xiang and threw them both aside.

“Bai Xue, no!”

Jingwen charged forward. She grabbed Bai Xue by the shoulder and threw him backward, lunging in the way of the lotus girl’s roots.

“Jingwen!” Bai Xue shouted, eyes wide.

Lotus roots squirmed over Jingwen. They curled over her flesh and dug into her skin. Horrible slurping sounds filled the air. The blood drained from her body, vanishing along with her qi. Before their eyes, Jingwen crumpled. Her skin wrinkled as the lotus sucked her flesh away. Her bones grew frail.

As her face folded, she smiled at Bai Xue. “I always… loved you.”

The lotus roots retreated. Jingwen fell to the ground, a dry husk. Bai Xue gazed down at her, paralyzed. “Jingwen…”

The last of the lotus roots vanished, and the lotus girl straightened and smoothed her skirts. She turned toward Li Xiang and Hui, smiling fiercely.

Behind her, Bai Xue closed his eyes. He murmured to himself. Heat shimmered off the end of his flames, growing more intense with every passing moment. As it grew to a critical temperature, Bai Xue put his two fans together. The heat doubled, hot enough to scorch Hui from across the room.

The lotus girl chittered and stepped toward the tangled pair on the ground.

“You didn’t get him, asshat!” Hui shouted angrily.

From the corner of her eye, the lotus girl caught sight of Bai Xue. She whirled and shrieked, disbelief written across her face. She glanced down at her skirts, then at Bai Xue. Confusion played across her face. She paused, then shook her head. The confusion banished alongside all her thoughts, and she raced at Bai Xue, claws bared.

“Begone.” Bai Xue slashed at the lotus girl.

The lotus girl leaped back. She patted herself down, then laughed, pointing at Bai Xue and throwing her head back.

Fire burst out from inside her. It raced down her body, along a thin crack from her forehead down to the opposite ankle. The lotus girl’s eyes widened. She grabbed her face desperately, only for it to slide apart. One half of her sloughed off and drooped to the floor. Trailing smoke and fire, the other half stumbled back another step or two, stumbled over a rock, then fell. Fire spurted from both halves of her, rapidly devouring her plant body.

Hui peered at the lotus girl, slightly curious. Out of half of her burning plant body, a pair of dark, shiny orbs loomed. His eyes widened. Are those… lotus pills?

After all that happened to them, what kind of lotus pills would they be?

…I wonder how much I could sell them for.

Ah! Not to anyone unknown or demonic, but to Xixing! I trust Xixing. And she could… maybe… figure out a cure for the lotus pills! It’s a win-win situation, yeah! I get spirit stones, she gets a brand new, high-class, super rare pill! And—and the whole world might get a cure for lotus pills. Ah, maybe I am a genius, after all.

Bai Xue knelt and picked up Jingwen, cradling her braid by her delicate, dried head.

All the joy left Hui. His breath caught. Right. We didn’t all come out of this alive. Some of us… some of us didn’t make it.

“Bai Xue…” Hui breathed. He helped Li Xiang back to her feet, then climbed to his own. Quietly, the two of them approached Bai Xue.

He glanced up as they drew near, then back at Jingwen. “I didn’t even like her. I just… that she would…” He stroked Jingwen’s hair back from her face. Her closed eyes didn’t open. “I don’t know how to feel. What I should do.”

Hui leaned in. He touched Jingwen’s face and inserted a hint of qi. Nothing responded. Not ghost qi, not death qi. She was empty.

Bai Xue looked at him, almost hopeful.

Hui shook his head. “She’s gone.”

Bai Xue drew a deep breath. He stood, slowly, and freed his rope from the lotus root with a slash. With one arm, he clutched Jingwen to his side. “We should go let the others know what happened.”

“Oh? Oh! Is she gone already? How sad, how sad!” a high-pitched voice cried.