The crow harrumphed and flew up into the sky, vanishing out of sight. Hui squinted after it for a moment, then turned away. He isn’t gong to help. Not unless it’s something he cares about. Something… like Fen Long.

After a moment, Hui chuckled under his breath. Right, and where am I supposed to find a peerless Senior like that? As for the man himself… it’s been a thousand years. If Fen Long is half the cultivator Chen Wuya makes him out to be, he’s already ascended, and if he isn’t, he’s probably already dead.

Hui knelt and stroked Zhubi’s head. “Zhubi… can you find Xixing for me?”

Zhubi stiffened. He gave Hui a betrayed look.

“Please. She… she can’t hurt you anymore,” Hui said, his voice diminishing as he spoke.

Zhubi looked up at Hui. His nictating membranes slid across his eyes. He thought for a moment, then slithered off again.

Hui sighed and pet him again, this time supportively. “Good boy, good boy.” It’s a bit mean to ask Zhubi to find his vet, but I don’t want to use my own qi and risk discovery by All-Heavens cultivators. Qi has fluctuations, after all, but a snake’s sense of smell isn’t going to proc any barriers or sentries.

Zhubi slithered along at speed. Hui tried to focus on his death-faking talisman again, but couldn’t manage it. Anxiety whirled inside him, anxiety he couldn’t dispel no matter how he focused his mental energy. Hui rubbed his forehead and frowned, staring ahead. If only Zhubi could move a little faster…

Move a little faster? Actually, if I could move a little faster, that would be fantastic for escaping after faking death! I wonder if I can make a haste talisman? What technique system would that even belong to? Body cultivation? That’s one way… time is another option, but I don’t even know if this world has time magic. Given that I haven’t seen anyone using time magic, it’s probably a magic that requires a high cultivation level for comprehension.

High cultivation level… comprehension… I wonder if Master knew time magic?

Zhubi hissed. Hui looked up.

Just behind what remained of Cauldron Peak’s barrier, Xixing laid sprawled on the ground before him. She clutched a pill in one hand. Her other arm splayed over her chest. Her head tipped back, dull eyes staring blankly at the sky.

Hui hopped off Zhubi’s head and glided over to her face. Hovering over her, he reached out and delicately closed her eyes, then took a deep breath. Waving his hand, he floated her an inch or so over the ground, then looked at Zhubi. He drew out a piece of paper and scribbled a quick formula, grounding the magic he used to keep her afloat to the talisman, then pasted the talisman to Zhubi’s back. It smoked, burning slowly and harmlessly. “Take her to Master’s Peak, okay?”

Zhubi flicked his tongue at Hui, tilting his head slightly.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in the time it takes an incense stick to burn,” Hui said, smiling.

Zhubi hesitated one more moment, then slithered off through the grass. Xixing floated after him, bumping gently over the ground.

Hui took a deep breath. He watched them go for a moment, then shook his head and turned away. Sis Mei… I need to find Sis Mei.

Dropping back down to the ground, Hui raced across the earth, pushing his way through the thick grass and leaping over gnarled roots nearly as tall as he was. The grass rustled with his passing, his body too light to leave footprints in the hardpacked earth.

A few seconds after he passed, a beam of swordlight paused over the place Xixing’s body had been. A male cultivator hovered in the air, frowning. “This… I could have sworn my barrier activated. But… there’s nothing.”

“Again? Ding Qinwen… should we get someone else to create a barrier for you?”

The cultivator hovering in the air looked over his shoulder as the male and female cultivators who’d encountered Zhubi earlier arrived. “Zhi Ahn, Lu Lintei… I learned my barrier arts from the Sect Master’s own cultivation manual. There shouldn’t be any mistakes.”

“But this is the third time it’s gone off for nothing,” Lu Lintei complained, tossing her hair.

Zhi Ahn frowned. “I thought… there was a woman lying here, earlier.”

“How could you tell? There’s women all over the place,” Lu Lintei grumbled.

Zhi Ahn hesitated for another moment, looking toward Unrivaled Under Heavens Peak. “If you focus… there’s a faint trace of qi, headed toward…” He raised his hand and pointed.

Lu Lintei turned, then scowled. “Probably the damn wolf from that peak again. How on earth did that spirit wolf survive the extermination spell? For that matter, what are we doing here? The sect is exterminated. Why bother guarding the ruins?”

“Something strange happened. You remember Peak Lord Gui Delun charging in immediately after the spell, right? And we all saw the demonic formation deep in the heart of the sect activate,” Zhi Ahn mentioned, casting a wary look toward the churning black clouds overhead.

“We’re here to guard the demonic formation, Junior Sister,” Ding Qinwen explained.

Lu Lintei sighed and waved her hand dismissively. “Why? Peak Lord Gui smashed it. It’s not like anyone can do anything with it. If the formation was still dangerous, they’d have more powerful cultivators than us fourth-realm cultivators here to guard it. The only fifth realm cultivator here is Ding Qinwen.”

“Well… that’s true,” Zhi Ahn allowed, still staring toward Unrivaled Under Heaven Peak.

“That formation has caused too much trouble to leave it alone, even in its ruined form. Besides… I’m sure Peak Lord Gui has his reasons. We do not need to comprehend, merely follow his orders,” Ding Qinwen chimed in.

Zhi Ahn stepped forward abruptly, then turned back and cupped his hands to his fellow disciples. “I’m going to go investigate that mysterious qi. Please go back ahead of me, Senior, Martial Sister. I’ll rejoin you in a moment.”

Lu Lintei hid a yawn behind her hand and nodded, waving him off. Ding Qinwen nodded as well. “I’ll watch the barrier. If you find something, fire off a pulse of qi. I’ll sense it.”

Zhi Ahn nodded and ran off.

Watching him go, Lu Lintei stifled another yawn. “Must be nice, being so young…”

“You’re barely a century old yourself,” Ding Qinwen returned with a snort.

Lu Lintei waved her hand. “If I was a mortal, I’d be a wrinkly old grandma, you know? Sometimes, I still feel like one.”

“You could always change your appearance. Aging oneself is relatively easy,” Ding Qinwen replied, shrugging.

Lu Lintei squinted at him. “Do you think I’m an eccentric like Senior Shu Mang? Even if I feel like a grandma, that doesn’t mean I want to look like one.”

Ding Qinwen shrugged again. “To each their own. I’m not going to fault anyone for their hobbies.”

Lu Lintei snorted and walked away, shaking her head.