After all, I wasn’t lying when I said I escaped a place made by the same person who made this one. I’m pretty sure Fen Long was involved in the creation of this place somehow. However, when I broke the realm Chen Wuya was stuck in, I… well, it’s not like I had no role, but Chen Wuya did lay quite a bit of the groundwork.

Though I suppose it’s possible that this mysterious senior has also laid the groundwork for her escape. Still, I feel as if she has different goals. Chen Wuya is full of rage and wants to attack, whether it’s me or Fen Long. This senior… she told Li Xiang that she was tired of battle and wanted to hide away. If Li Xiang accepted that, then it’s the truth. Either that, or the senior is of such a high level that she could fool Li Xiang… but I doubt that. In any case, there’s no particular reason to lie, and adding Li Xiang’s truthsense on top of that, I think I can take that statement as a truth.

Still, there’s a difference between becoming tired of battle and outright pacifism. After all, this small cultivator hates fighting, but I still fight when I’m backed into a corner. Although I’ll have to be careful about manipul… er, about helping senior to overcome her mental demons, or whatever it is that keeps her from wanting to leave this realm, I believe it can be done, particularly if I can figure out a way to involve Fen Long, whoever he is. I desperately need to recruit powerful seniors for my battle against All-Heavens Sect, so I can’t simply leave her alone. Ultimately, I may not be able to recruit her, but I can’t not try.

Hui glanced at Han Qin from the corner of his eyes. There’s also… him. He hates me, though, so it might be better to not involve him… he’d probably join the other side out of spite!

Though… he probably hates All-Heavens, too. Those hypocrites do claim to be righteous cultivators, after all, and Han Qin… whatever he’s trying to bring back, he’s doing it in an outright demonic way. He’s likely clashed with All-Heavens before. Ah… didn’t All-Heavens show up when he attempted to absorb the Fu Clan? Or was that simply the Bai Clan?

Hui thought for a moment, then shook his head. It isn’t important. In any case, I wouldn’t entrust my back to him, but maybe I can connive him into attacking All-Heavens at the same time as myself.

“What are you thinking about?” Han Qin demanded, frowning at Hui.

Hui looked up, startled. He smiled at Han Qin. “Elder Brother, this small cultivator spends a lot of time thinking. If you’re going to demand to know every time I stop to think, you’re going to be a very busy man.”

Han Qin’s lip twitched. His hands tensed subtly.

Hui backed away. “Ah, but, but, of course, small cultivator understands. Yes, yes, this is simply… small cultivator is merely thinking about the spatial distortions small cultivator saw on his way in! I did attempt to comprehend them… ah, my comprehension is terribly lacking, but I did gain some small insights, it seems. Still, we can’t break free of this place by standing still, so why don’t we take a walk?”

“What will that accomplish? It’s an infinite space,” Han Qin asked.

“We need to understand what kind of infinite space it is in order to break it. The first and most obvious way to attempt to figure that out, is to move around in it. Does Elder Brother disagree?” Hui said, tilting his head.

Han Qin twisted his nose. “Speaking with you is like pressing my head against a steel bar and expecting it to move aside.”

“Eh? My apologies, Elder Brother. I’ll move aside for you,” Hui said, confused. What does he mean by that? I’m not stubborn at all, and I’m even being very forthcoming! How could he find fault with my manner of speaking? I’m being very respectful and humble. I’m even careful to keep the heart-demon from influencing my speaking. So why is Elder Brother so troubled by it?

“It’s because you—” Han Qin stopped and sighed, running a hand down his face. “So. Moving in this space?”

Hui nodded. “First, let’s walk opposite directions for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, then return here. Do you agree?”

“Anything to get away from your sycophantic babbling,” Han Qin grumbled.

Hui nodded with a smile. I suspect that the space is twisted, since I walked directly away from Han Qin and ended up back at his side, but I can’t be sure how or where. Likewise, I can’t be sure that ending up back beside Han Qin wasn’t a cruel prank the senior played on me or not. Only by testing can we figure out the truth!

Besides, if this space was made by Fen Long, there might be a secret space with a method to unlock the space, as long as the senior confronts their heart-demon… or whatever it is about their past that Fen Long disagrees with. Fen Long did offer Chen Wuya a way out through that strange illusory space, after all, even if Chen Wuya stringently disagreed with even this small cultivator taking it.

In other words, although I can’t necessarily expect the senior to allow me to peacefully exit through whatever back door Fen Long left in her space, assuming he did so, I might be able to learn more about the mysterious senior and her internal struggles by finding it. And finding more about that is the first step to getting her to attack All-Heavens alongside me!

Time passed. Hui and Han Qin walked the space in every direction, for various lengths of time, sometimes together, sometimes apart. At last, they stood in the same spot as they’d begun. The sky grew dark, as if the sun was setting, though the small realm did not truly have a sun.

“So no matter in what direction or how fast we go, if we turn back, it only takes an incense stick’s worth of time to return here. Even if we leave an item here and go together, or leave one person at this spot, it still remains the same. Interesting,” Hui said thoughtfully.

“And?” Han Qin asked irritably. “We’re right were we started: stuck in this space.”

Hui waved his hand. “But we know much more about the space, now! It’s likely a relatively small space, firstly, since it only takes an incense stick’s worth of time to return. Likewise, although it seems to stretch infinitely in all directions, doesn’t it feel like you’re running on a treadmill… er, running in place when you reach the outer limits of the space? I think that, rather than a infinitely large space, we’re trapped in a small, warped bubble that winds back on itself, with no way out.”

Although… in all my searching, I haven’t found the mysterious senior, nor any backdoor left by Fen Long yet. Are we not looking in the right direction? Hui wondered, furrowing his brows.

“If my main body could enter this realm, I could have broken out ages ago,” Han Qin grumbled.

“But you don’t want to be executed by Elder Sister Reaper, do you,” Hui replied.

“Elder Sister—” Startled, Han Qin spat, then wiped his mouth. “You—you call her Elder Sister? The reaper?”

“Er… yes. Elder Brother, it’s my habit to call those around me Elder,” Hui explained.

“But—she—Elder Sister?” Han Qin asked, flabbergasted.

“Yes? What’s the problem? I’ve called her this for a long time, since I was a mere…” Hui considered. “Second stage? Third? For as long as I’ve known her.”

Han Qin shook his head at Hui, his eyes wide. “You’re a braver man than you know.”

“Eh? But Elder Sister has never protested being my Elder Sister,” Hui replied, tilting his head.

“I’m surprised you survived this long,” Han Qin said darkly.

“I even called her that in front of her supervisor,” Hui added.

“Her supervisor… that is, the man in charge of the underworld? Zhu Diyu?” Han Qin clarified.

“Eh… yes?” Hui asked. “He seemed like a kind senior to me. A little bit dangerous, perhaps, but…”

“A little bit dangerous!” Han Qin barked, half-laughing, half-crying. “He’s the General of the Ghost Legions, the Grand Demon, the Lord of the Underworld, and you call him ‘a little bit dangerous?’ Honestly, I don’t know if you’re an idiot and a coward or a liar and incredibly brave, but there’s something wrong with your head.”

“Well, I can’t disagree, but he really didn’t seem that threatening to me. Compared to Chen Wuya, who beats me up every time he sees me, he’s—”

Han Qin jumped back. “Chen Wuya?”

Hui frowned. “Yes?”

“Chen Wuya, the Autumnal Raven? The Head Harvester? The Reaper of Crows? He who cuts through armies as though scything grain?”

“Er… I guess. He likes crows a lot, anyways,” Hui said, nodding. This guy sure likes appelations.

Han Qin looked at Hui from the corner of his eyes. “You aren’t right in the head.”

“Er, Elder Brother has already said that,” Hui replied.

“Important things need to be said three times. You aren’t right in the head!” Han Qin repeated. “If you’re friends with Chen Wuya, one of the ultimate swordsmen of the previous generation, why didn’t you ask him to fight me?”

“Senior has his own troubles. Besides, are you sure he’s a swordsman? He only beats me up with his bare hands… er, claws,” Hui said lightly. Ultimate swordsman? I haven’t heard about this. He only claimed to found Starbound Sect, though… based on his titles, I think I now understand why people saw the initial sect as demonic…

Han Qin looked like he wanted to cry. He shook his head silently at Hui and turned away. The youths always lack respect for the previous generation, but for this coward to speak so casually about two of the ultimate powers… My chest hurts! If I stay around this man much longer, I’ll truly develop a heart demon.