Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today -- Complete!

Dropping back into the lake, Hui flew back to the Azure Dragon’s palace. He called out to the clones he’d left behind as he popped up in the entrance hall, dismissing them.

And not a moment too soon. I didn’t know you could put that many braids in one man’s hair.

Fuck you, you aren’t the one who got braided!

The memories of Rogue, as Zhubi, and Mortal, watching him, flowed into his mind. Hui shivered. Rogue pretty much spent that whole time getting his hair pulled. How unfortunate! I had no idea I was leaving him behind to get tortured. My apologies, Rogue!

In any case, I should get out of here, before that tiny torturer gets her hands on my ponytail. Glancing around, Hui burst out of the water and flew away from the palace, soaring back toward the city.

It’s frightening to get that close to that ‘statue’ of Ying Lin, but I can’t just abandon her. Even if I can’t release her from whatever curse she’s under now, I need more information on what happened to her to be able to negate it. Especially since that same curse or spell might get put on me!

I don’t know if she got lucky, skipping the villages, or unlucky. On one hand, she didn’t spend years in the villages waiting for them to come collect us; on the other hand, she apparently spent that time frozen as a statue instead. Unpleasant, entirely unpleasant!

Though I guess being a statue didn’t kill her, so that’s good. There’s worse fates than getting statued. Like death! Statueification is probably reversable. Death… that’s… well, okay, I can also reverse death, but most people can’t. For example, if Ying Lin had been killed before I got here, I’d have very few options to save her. Thus, a worse fate! And if she’d already gone through the cycle of reincarnation, I’d be completely helpless. My Dao is… well, it’s easily summarized as death reversal. It isn’t reincarnation reversal!

He dropped down to the city’s streets. Quietly, he walked on, pretending not to pick his route. Wandering the city, he drew close to the statue again. Not looking at it, not close enough to see, but close enough to extend his divine sense to the statue.

Rigid. Locked. Frozen. The qi binding Ying Lin stood in firm formation. All the way through her body, every piece of qi stood frozen, completely still. If most qi swirled, a gas or liquid, the qi inside Ying Lin had somehow been altered into a solid.

Hui raised his brows. Interesting. I never considered thinking of qi as a state of matter, but it does make sense. Everything has a state! Gas, liquid, plasma, solid, and a few other ones that no one cares about. Forcing qi to change state… I have no idea how to induce it back to a flowing liquid or gas to allow her to change. Even if I used death qi to destroy the qi, I’d only be injuring Ying Lin. I have to undo the state change in order to release Ying Lin.

The power of time, state-changing qi… ever since I’ve reached the Immortal Realm, it’s been one strange new technique after another! I can truly see how limited my vision was, back in the mortal realm. All these things I never even considered, laid bare before my eyes. Truly, I was a frog at the bottom of a well!

Nodding to himself, Hui casually walked on, afraid to linger too long near Ying Lin. Even scanning her with my divine sense was a risk, but I couldn’t not do it. I’m not going to leave Ying Lin behind!

At least I know what was done to turn her into a statue, now. I don’t know how to undo it, but knowing what happened is the first step to freeing her.

He went to retract his divine sense, but just as he did, a familiar qi signature wavered at the edge of his awareness. Hui jolted. He turned, staring through the building at the signature he’d sensed. No way. It can’t be.

The qi signature paused, then rushed toward him. Hui leaped up and ran toward it, quickly navigating the streets. They ran at one another, closing the distance in a matter of seconds.

Hui rounded the corner, and there she stood. He stopped dead. She stared at him, silent, her eyes glimmering with recognition. The same as ever, she wore simple white robes, her perfectly black hair flying like silk on the gentle wind.

All at once, Hui closed the distance. Inches from her, he drew to a halt. Ever so carefully, he took her hand. “Li Xiang?”

Li Xiang nodded, just once.

He took a deep breath. “I… I’m so glad you’re safe. Yi… that is, the others, they haven’t…”

She retracted her hand. “We need to talk.”

Instantly, Hui’s stomach dropped out from under him. Oh no. I’m about to get it, aren’t I? Abandoning her with the kids, dying one way or another for most of their life… I wasn’t a great father.

No… I was a terrible father. There’s no two ways about it. In fact, I wasn’t even a father. My children barely know me.

If I could go back and change anything, I’d go back and be a better father. A better husband, too. At the end of the day, I didn’t pay enough attention to my family, and I…

Hui rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. He nodded. “I understand. Whatever you need to say, I’ll listen.”

Li Xiang nodded. She walked ahead of him, and Hui followed obediently. Through the streets, back to a quiet room tucked away in a corner.

“You also didn’t get trapped in a village?” Hui asked. Am I the only one…?

Li Xiang nodded. “It’s easy to avoid them, as long as you aren’t still muddled from ascending.”

Ah… well, that’s true. If I went back, I’d have been able to sense it before I stepped in, like how I saw them from above. And of course, if I was being more careful and not worried about Zhubi, I never would have made such a mistake.

She lifted the curtain that served as the door and stepped inside. Hui followed her. The second he stepped into the doorway, he stopped dead.

A small space, and nothing else. An empty box of a room, carved out of the space made up by the gaps in several other buildings. Not a bed, nor a seat, nor any sign of habitation. Just a small room, barely big enough for two people to lay flat next to one another.

Li Xiang backed into the corner. She gestured for him to take the opposite.

Hui ran a hand over the back of his neck, uncomfortable in a different way. This tiny room, this empty space… I recognize it. It’s the kind of dark, cramped, windowless room that the poorest of the poor would live in. Those who were even worse off than me. “Li Xiang… are you being bullied? You’re a sword cultivator, there’s no way, right?”

She shook her head.

“No one’s pressuring you? You don’t owe anyone any money?” Hui asked.

She shook her head again.

“Then why…?”

Li Xiang looked him in the eye. “You know why.”

Hui’s heart raced. Panic welled up inside him. I do? What do I know? What did I do? Li Xiang, please! Is this because of Bai Xue? But you said you don’t mind, but… or is it because I damaged you by abandoning you and the kids, and now you want revenge? Ahhh… I understand it, but please have mercy, Elder Sister!

She drew her sword. Hui flinched, but forced himself to stand still. Whatever she wants, I—I should submit to it! She has every right to be angry!

“Take me.”

Hui jerked. He squinted at her. Phrasing…? “Er, Elder Sister…?”