“Don’t forget me,” Lu Lintei yawned, appearing beside Ding Qinwen.
Ding Qinwen shot an earnest look at Hui. “What happened here, Zhi Ahn?”
Hui gasped for breath, dramatically wiping his blood off his face. “I… I was on my way back to the sect when I noticed something amiss with the soul array we were guarding. I went over to take a look, and found this demonic cultivator attempting to steal the souls!”
“Xiao Hui, how shameless,” Erlan countered, clicking his tongue.
“Xiao Hui?” Lu Lintei muttered.
“No, his name is Erlan,” Hui said quickly, before she could continue down that path of thought. “He attacks with ink and uses mysterious demonic sorcery. Be on guard, Elder Brother, Elder Sister!”
Lu Lintei gave him a look. “Elder Sister? Since when, Zhi Ahn?”
Hui froze. Damn my polite tongue! “A slip, a slip!”
“What about those? His monsters?” Ding Qinwen asked, gesturing at Bai Jingwen and Jin Xian.
“Elder Brother is perceptive! It seems so,” Hui said, nodding.
Jin Xian and Bai Jingwen both gave him a look. What a piglike teammate… betraying us like that at the first opportunity.
Hui shot them a look back. Don’t worry, I’ll rescue the both of you before they can do any serious harm!
Lu Lintei patted his head and came away with a handful of green goop. “What’s all this? Gross. Does he have a snot technique?”
“Uh, er, some kind of mysterious demonic technique? Be careful, Eld… Martial Sister. It might be toxic!” Hui warned. I really need to figure out how to turn my lotus body’s blood red as soon as possible. It’ll be a dead giveaway when I’m disguising myself, otherwise!
“Ew,” Lu Lintei replied, wiping her hand on her robes.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Chen Wuya whispered to Hui.
Erlan snorted, then charged. His ink brush darted, and a dozen ink weapons appeared around him. “Enough with the jokes. Xiao Hui, you’re mine!”
Ding Qinwen raced to meet him, drawing his sword midair. The two clashed. Sparks flew, along with a wave of ink. A shockwave spread out from their clash.
Hui and Lu Lintei fell back. As he fell back Hui casually adjusted his aura to match Chen Wuya’s for a single breath. During that breath, he threw the talisman behind him.
Lu Lintei cast him a look.
Sweat broke out down Hui’s back. Did she notice? He took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide, as if terrified.
“Erlan is attacking the soul formation! I’m going to stop him! You handle his monsters,” Hui shouted. He spun around and flew toward the formation, chasing after the talisman.
Lu Lintei watched him go, then looked at Jin Xian and Bai Jingwen. Jin Xian licked her lips, eyes locked on Lu Lintei’s delicate neck as if she stared at a delicious pastry. Bai Jingwen charged madly, thoughtless as usual.
With a sigh, Lu Lintei raised her fists. “I’m really not in the mood, you know?”
The three clashed. Hui cast a look backward, then clenched his teeth and chased onward, toward the formation. I can’t waste time. I’ll have to trust in Bai Jingwen and Jin Xian! In any case, they’re up against one fourth-stage cultivator. It should be fine!
The talisman struck the formation. Hui reached it a second later and swapped to Chen Wuya’s aura again, putting both hands up against the talisman. He reached out to the inside of the formation. Everyone, I have to get you out of here! Come with me!
With the words, he transmitted an image of Erlan attacking the formation.
Souls rushed into the talisman. Hui shuddered under the impact, forcibly holding the talisman against the formation. Part of the formation slipped into the talisman, keeping the souls safe.
“Yes, like that. Adapt the formation into a ghost flag! What a wonderful idea. I can’t believe I never came up with it!” Chen Wuya said, laughing.
I can’t manipulate the souls one at a time, but I can manipulate them all at once! If it’s just transferring them into a new container, that’s startlingly possible. And with Chen Wuya’s help, the ghost flag—ahem, soul-storing talisman—can interface near-perfectly with the formation as well. I have to transfer some of Chen Wuya’s formation over, because, after all, I don’t have a soul-storage talisman formula, but that’s fine. Fundamentally, the problem hasn’t changed; it’s just that I can carry the formation around with me, now, and keep it safe from Erlan and Yunxu. Hui grinned subtly, proud of himself, but in the next moment, he forced himself to scowl.
“No! Erlan, stop!” Hui howled desperately, still holding the talisman up to the formation. He pretended to tear at the talisman, while continuing to press it against the formation with all his strength.
“…” Erlan pressed his lips together, annoyed. I’m over here dueling a life-qi sword cultivator, and you have the gall to claim I’m attacking the barrier at the same time? If I had that kind of skill, I could have directly taken the souls away immediately. What kind of idiot would believe—
“Junior Brother! Don’t let him get the souls!” Ding Qinwen shouted. His expression turned fierce, and he struck at Erlan with more strength than before.
“You idiot! Believing everything that boy says, because he’s wearing your friend’s face!” Erlan snapped.
“Nice try. Did he copy Zhi Ahn’s aura, too?” Ding Qinwen mocked.
“Yes!” Erlan growled, striking hard at Ding Qinwen. A dozen spears pierced toward him from behind.
Ding Qinwen jumped up, out of the path of the spears, and Erlan flicked his hand, sending them to chase after them. “What kind of fool would believe such an obvious lie? You want to turn us righteous cultivators against one another, you filthy demonic cultivator! Unfortunately for you, I know Zhi Ahn’s aura like the back of my hand. No one could replicate it that perfectly!”
“And I’m telling you, he did!” Erlan snarled, frustrated. How stupid is this man?
“Ridiculous,” Ding Qinwen scoffed. I wear a young face, but I’m not new to cultivation. No disguise technique is that perfect. If someone had developed one so nefarious, All-Heavens Sect would have heard about it! Even if someone could copy Zhi Ahn’s aura, a difficult task in of itself, they’d have to simultaneously repress their own qi perfectly, so that none of it, not even an iota, leaked through! To do that in battle is insanity.
Likewise, plenty of face-shifting techniques exist, but this demonic cultivator is suggesting someone is both running a whole-body disguise technique and completely repressing their aura, and therefore qi, at the same time? Those two claims are contradictory! It’s impossible. Disguise techniques require a constant low-level flow of qi just under the skin. If someone was disguised as Zhi Ahn, their aura would certainly leak out.
A certain Xiao Hui, who could instinctively repress his qi even in battle, perfectly copy auras, and transform his entire body without using a constant transformation technique, sneezed suddenly, then rubbed his nose, startled. Cultivators can sneeze?
“Zhi Ahn, the soul storm is growing weaker!” Lu Lintei shouted, backing away from Bai Jingwen and Jin Xian. Scratches ran down her face and neck, and blood leaked constantly into her robes.
Jin Xian licked her long nails, smirking down on Lu Lintei. A black burn on her chest, still flickering with the golden embers of life qi, healed constantly under the strong yin qi. Bai Jingwen’s leg was twisted backward and her left arm had vanished somewhere, but she charged unhesitantly at Lu Lintei as though she felt no pain.
“I—I’m sorry, Elder…Martial Sister! Erlan is… too strong!” Hui cried, letting his voice tremble a bit.
“Dammit! I’ll be right there!” Lu Lintei slammed her fist out. Green flesh splattered as she struck Bai Jingwen’s stomach, and Bai Jingwen went flying, but her body reformed before she’d even stopped flying backward. In the small gap Lu Lintei had formed for herself, before she could head to Hui’s side, Jin Xian darted in and landed a darting blow on her shoulder, claws rending Lu Lintei’s flesh open. Blood sprayed, and black sunk into Lu Lintei’s flesh, corroding it.
Lu Lintei clicked her tongue and circulated life qi toward the wound, forcing out Jin Xian’s poison, though not without effort. She glared at the two monsters fighting her and raced out, slamming into them yet again. “Hold on, Zhi Ahn. I’ll be there!”
“Sister…” Hui cried pitifully, sagging down against the formation. Still, he resolutely pretended to tear at the talisman, while actually holding it firmly in place.
“Has anyone ever told you you’re a good actor?” Chen Wuya asked, amused.
“Thank you, Senior. This small cultivator is grateful for your praise,” Hui muttered under his breath, deadpan.
“You don’t sound very grateful,” Chen Wuya chuckled.
The soul storm grew smaller and smaller, while the white scrap of fabric Hui held grew darker and darker. At last, the storm had condensed to a much smaller cloud, and the fabric trembled, full of souls. Hui reached out. He struggled to connect to the flag, and barely made out a positive affirmation from inside. I have them all. They’re safe.
He stored the flag in his ring with a flick of his hand and turned around. Lu Lintei battled the monster girls, while Ding Qinwen locked Erlan in battle. He backed away. Time to go!
Around his neck, Zhubi suddenly trembled.
Concerned, Hui looked down and whispered, “Zhubi, what is it?”
Zhubi gave him a miserable look.
What? Is he feeling sick from that ink construct he ate? “Quick, spit it out!” Hui urged him.
The sky grew dark overhead. Hui glanced up, startled. Thick stormclouds gathered overhead, flickering with lightning that emanated a terrifying aura.
Zhubi hissed pitifully, apologetic.
“Is that… your tribulation?” Hui asked, catching his breath. He is fourth-realm, after all, and he’s only been growing stronger… Argh, it’s good, but… now? Right when I was ready to sneak away?
Lu Lintei cast a look over her shoulder, eyes wide. “Zhi Ahn, were you that close to your tribulation?”
Hui grit his teeth. “Er, haha…” No, Elder Sister, it’s the snake pet Zhi Ahn totally doesn’t have! Zhubi… why now? My clean getaway…