A fair distance away from the town or Zhu Diyu’s court, Hui stopped. He looked around, turning a circle in midair to be sure, then nodded to himself. Good. I’m all alone here. Time to try the talisman and see what happens!

He lifted his hand and pointed the talisman at empty space. Waves emerged from the talisman, shuddering the space itself. Black gaps opened between the waves. Hui leaned forward. Is that… those gaps, the space between space… are those what Zhu Diyu wanted me to see?

In the darkness, he saw a distant light. The light flickered. Curious, he leaned closer.

The waves from the attack rushed at his face. Hui jerked back seconds before the attack connected. Whoops! Don’t accidentally rip your own head off, Hui! Let’s not make ‘first cultivator in the universe to kill himself with his own attack’ a title of mine!

Unless… is that what I need to do?

Hui put a hand on his chin. The black gaps are over there, in the attack zone. I’m over here, behind the attack. If I want to get inside those gaps, I’ll have to hit myself with the attack. It’s the only rational way to comprehend this.

But I don’t want to kill myself on accident. Or… extra-kill? Double-kill? Uh… anyways. Which means…

He rubbed his hands together, condensing death qi in his palms. A black seed took shape, hard and flat and shiny. Hui tossed it up and caught it, then threw it into one of the black gaps with all his might. Lotus clone, I choose you!

The black seed tumbled into one of the gaps and vanished. The attack faded away as the talisman burned out.

Time to see if I obliterated my seed… ahem, destroyed the lotus seed, or if there’s something to this idea! Hui folded his legs and nested his hands together over his dantian, settling in to meditate.

Using the same technique he’d used to reach out to Fang Hua, he reached out to the lotus clone. My clone, wherever you are… respond!

His qi resonated out, seeking off into infinity. At first, he sensed the Underworld around him, but then that fell away. He reached out into darkness. All around him, nothing spread out. Hui floated in the middle of nothing, lost in a space without space.

This reminds me of the place I ended up in when the phoenix-fire realm collapsed. I’m still not really sure how First got out of that… but if it’s connected to the Underworld, then maybe… Elder Sister Reaper helped me out.

Hui considered, then shook his head. No, no. It’s much more likely that Zhu Diyu helped out. Elder Sister Reaper isn’t just a tsundere, she’s an ice queen. She isn’t going to help me. Besides, it isn’t Zhu Diyu’s will.

Though Zhu Diyu probably saved me… but then, Senior’s ‘official will’ and Senior’s actual intention don’t always seem to line up. Senior Zhu Diyu officially wants to protect the Underworld… but Senior is also turning a blind eye to the breakdown of the Heavenly Dao and the souls stuck in the mortal realm. At his realm, it’s hard to imagine that he isn’t aware of what’s going on with the souls and resentment in the mortal realm. Si Wang figured it out, after all.

As for Elder Sister… well, rather than saying she can’t figure it out, I think it’s more likely that she isn’t interested in trying to solve the mystery. Elder Sister might have her reason for sticking around in the afterlife all this time, but it certainly isn’t to put her entire heart and soul into her job. She strikes me as more of a nine-to-five-clock-out-and-go-home kind of salaryman rather than the kind of person who devotes her entire life to her job and loves it.

That kind of person is entirely incomprehensible to me, entirely incomprehensible! Loving your job so much that you work for free? What kind of fool does that? Not this small Hui!

Er… the current situation notwithstanding. I wouldn’t work for free if I had an option, dammit! It’s hard to say no when your employer is also the Lord of the Underworld with dominion over all dead souls, and you, yourself, are one of those dead souls he has dominion over!

All that to say, Elder Sister likely isn’t trying to solve the mystery since it isn’t her job to solve mysteries, rather than being fundamentally unable to figure out what’s going on with the souls.

At long last, something brushed against his consciousness. Hui stretched out his qi thread, exploring the thing he’d found. It reached immensely in all directions, stretching toward eternity, as far as Hui could tell. Far beyond the other side of that thing he touched, he sensed his lotus clone, which reached back out to him.

Hui hesitated. Back in the Underworld, he put a hand on his chin. Hmm. Well, I’ve found something. I’m not sure if this is what I want to find… but… why not? He flew toward his lotus seed, throwing his consciousness toward it.

He passed into a small realm, the surface of the realm shimmering over him like a bubble. On the far side of the bubble, his lotus clone called to him, and he almost instantly surged into it. Sinking into the seed, Hui paused for a moment and looked around, watching from within the seed.

Fire spread in all directions. He sat inside a raging inferno. Ash swooped by on the wind, and white-hot fuel laid far below him. Thick metal walls stretched tall above him. A gap at the very top of the walls gave him a peek at the wider world, though past the bright flames that swirled around his seed, Hui couldn’t see much more than shapes in the darkness.

Hui licked his lips. Er… could I maybe… go back in time and throw my lotus seed into a different black gap? This is the worst, the worst possible! The seed is strong enough, but if I don’t leave soon, I’m going to be a delicious roasted lotus seed! And if I do leave, my lotus body is weak to fire. I’ll get burned up in an instant!

This is clearly a pill furnace. A high-realm pill furnace, at that! This kind of furnace can reach unspeakable levels of heat, and contains flames that have cultivation ranks of their own. I’m in danger, so much danger!

Ahhh, what am I to do? Master! Master, can you hear me? This poor disciple is on the verge of death once again!

Ah, though, I suppose… no, no, Master, you can continue with what you were doing. I’m not in so much danger that I need an Immortal to step in!

But… what am I supposed to do about this?

Hui mentally went through his techniques. I do have some water techniques… well, that’s a good start. He cast around for a material to write talismans on, then rolled his eyes at himself. Anything I could write on would burn up! But I can still use qi to write on the air. Twisting his little seed body, he drew with qi on the air. Water splashed out, only to instantly evaporate in the fierce heat of the pill furnace.

Well, it was a thought, Hui thought, nodding to himself as he looked over the flaming wasteland all around him. The temperature hadn’t even lowered a single degree.

Okay, that’s water. Let’s try… ice! Again, Hui drew a talisman. A block of ice smashed into existence, and instantly sublimated into water vapor in a vast puff of white steam.

Hmm. Yep. That didn’t work either, Hui thought, licking his lips again.

His lotus seed let out a sharp crack. Hui’s heart lurched. I don’t have much time. Something… think of something, Hui!