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

Hui looked around the prison, pressing his face up against the bars. Now that I have a better angle, do I recognize anyone here?

Unfamiliar and unfriendly faces stared back at him. A demonic cultivator with corpse-colored skin and white eyes hissed at him, and an aggressive-looking female cultivator licked her lips suggestively. Another few more ordinary cultivators checked him over, or ignored him, sitting back and relaxing or cultivating.

In the corner, tucked almost out of sight, Jun Ke stared at Hui in disbelief.

“Ah! Hello,” Hui said, waving. I would greet him, but I don’t know if he wants them to know we know one another.

“What are you doing here?” Jun Ke asked, flabbergasted.

“I could ask the same of Elder Brother.”

Jun Ke put a hand against his forehead and shook his head. “No… what on earth are you doing? Why are you here? Why now?”

Hui licked his lips, suddenly nervous. “Er, is there a problem, Elder Brother? Should I not be here? I can leave.”

“Ha! Fat chance,” the aggressive female cultivator said with a laugh.

“You think it’s that easy to leave the Immortal Black Iron Prison? They won’t even remove our cuffs, and even if they do, we’re surrounded by qi-reflecting Black Iron!” the demonic cultivator followed up.

Oh, it reflects qi? Interesting, interesting. I wonder what it does with death qi? Or… maybe rot qi? Iron degrades, after all. With a little rot qi, I bet it’ll go from Black Iron to Normal Rust. Hui cleared his throat. He smiled. “Of course, of course, Seniors. Please forgive this small cultivator’s words. Escaping? Impossible, impossible.”

“If you can escape, you should,” Jun Ke said, shaking his head again. “This prison is dangerous. Far more dangerous than you know.”

“How so?” Hui asked, curious. If the prison is a problem, then it might be a problem when we face off against the Golden Immortal. In that case, I doubly need to know how to destroy it.

Jun Ke looked at him. “No one has ever left, except as a golden-robed Inspector. Even those who were true to our caus… to the brothel forgot everything and became Inspectors. And once they became Inspectors… it didn’t matter what happened, nor how many loops passed. They were always, always Inspectors.”

Hui stilled. He pursed his lips. Oh. That’s not good. I don’t want that. It’s okay if I can become an Inspector now and mess around, figure things out, but I don’t want to be an Inspector forever.

Though that does assume that they even pick me to become an Inspector. And that it really is a problematic spell of some kind, or brainwashing, or some kind of mechanical reason that keeps them as Inspectors, rather than simply… well, the Inspector being a well-paying, easy job with the legitimate government with no real downsides and probably some nice perks…

Hui clicked his tongue. Yeah… hard to imagine why they’re defecting. I can’t think of a single reason why anyone would decide to become an Inspector and not give it up…

I think I’ll stick this out. See if there really is a technique keeping people as Inspectors. I have my secret self outside of the realm if I get enchanted, and at the end of the day, I’m a disposable clone. Even if I do get magicked to believe in the Golden Immortal or whatever, I can get despawned and respawned, and lose whatever that effect is in the process.

He looked at Jun Ke, and saw the same resolve in the man’s eyes. Or, well, maybe a different flavor of the same resolve, but in any case, the point is—I think he’s here to find out why people become Inspectors and don’t leave.

Hui gave him a look and nodded. At the same time, he said, “Ah, no. I can’t escape. It’s like the Elder Siblings said. Escape is impossible! I was foolish, truly. I’ll simply have to wait for whatever the Inspectors decide about me.”

Jun Ke narrowed his eyes.

The demonic cultivator scoffed. “Don’t talk a big game if you can’t act on it. You’ll cause yourself trouble that way.”

“Elder Brother is wise, truly wise. I’ll take those words to heart,” Hui agreed quickly.

Around his wrist, Tian Lan reared up. She slithered up to the bars and peeked through, then flew back to Hui’s side. “There’s a barrier here. I can’t fly out.”

“That’s unfortunate. If you really want to leave, though, Tian Lan, I’m sure I can…” Hui paused. “…call your father. It isn’t as if the Inspectors have any quarrel with you. I’m the one they’re after.”

Tian Lan shook her head. “No. I’ll stay with you. I’m tired of staying in the palace all day. Daddy says it’s for my safety, but it’s so boring! I just sit around and do nothing. I want to fly around! Explore! See the world! Find a mate!”

“Maybe… maybe pause on that last one. You aren’t even a year old yet,” Hui said weakly.

“What’s a year?” Tian Lan asked.

“A very important span of time. In fact, Elder Sister Tian Lan should probably collect at least twenty-one…ah, no. At least a few hundred, before finding a mate,” Hui said, nodding. I almost forgot to account for dragon maturity. Though… is Zhubi’s trouble his lack of years? He grew up very quickly in Dragon-Turtle mode. Maybe dragon maturity isn’t that long… or maybe it’s longer. I simply don’t know.

Speaking of… Hui touched Zhubi. “You aren’t feeling well, are you? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Zhubi lifted off Hui’s neck and shook his head, then settled back down again. Hui pet him, grimacing a little at himself. I feel so helpless with Zhubi. With Li Xiang, I have an idea on how to resolve her problem. But with Li Xiang, I know how she ended up like this. I know the long history of causes that has led her to her current troubles. With Zhubi… it was so sudden that I simply don’t know enough about his biology to help. And in terms of accepting himself… the fact that he hasn’t chosen to become the Dragon-Turtle again in any of these subsequent loops tells me that he hasn’t come to terms with it. If there’s a way to avoid putting him through that hardship, I want to take that route.

The problem is, I don’t know that such a thing exists.

Time passed. Night fell, and day came again, not that there was any indication in the prison, locked so deep in the heart of the lotus.

Footsteps clanged down the metal stairs at last. Hui sat up, excited. Is someone coming? Has the time come? Come on! I’m getting bored! I’m going to break out from sheer boredom in a minute, here!

Xi Muchen appeared at the end of the hallway. Smiling, he nodded at the prisoners. “It’s a lucky day for a few of you! Let’s see who!”

So saying, he snapped his fingers.

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