Tang Fei’er jabbed her finger at Li Xiang. “If I win, then that establishes that All-Heavens Sect is more powerful than your trifling Starbound Sect. You will go to All-Heavens Sect, so that your genius can be properly nourished!”
Hui jolted, shocked. Wait, what? Not Li Xiang! I won’t allow it!
“Although you know those words to be true, I, Li Xiang, will nonetheless… prove them to be false,” Li Xiang said quietly. She drew her sword, and her eyes fl...
2022-05-15 18:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Before he left Cauldron Peak, Hui glanced left and right, checking to make sure no more rogues laid in wait, selling command medallions. He paused for a moment to open his third eye and peer around, but nothing stood out to him. Nodding to himself, he gently wafted himself with the fan and strode along the path to Starbound Peak, holding himself like a silkpants scholar. If I act stuck-up enough, no one will ask me where I’m from.
The sound of clashing swords caught his ear a...
2022-05-14 13:53:48 +0000 UTC
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As he walked along, the road became busier, the way it had the first time he’d been to Cauldron Peak. It seemed as if the trio of thugs outside hadn’t been able to stop many disciples on their way up, as plenty of cultivators from other peaks mingled with the Cauldron Peak disciples. As ever, Cauldron Peak disciples are easy to pick out, with their wild-colored hair and fingernails! Hui thought to himself, as one with seven-colored streaks in their hair sauntered by.
He mad...
2022-05-13 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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As he stepped toward Cauldron Peak, a cold snort rang out. A wave of power emanated from that snort and washed over Hui. At his cultivation level, that wave washed over Hui harmlessly, unable to shift a hair on his head. He looked around, confused more than anything.
“Excuse me, Junior Brother. Were you planning to enter Cauldron Peak?”
A trio of cultivators stepped out of Cauldron Peak’s forest. Two, burly to the extreme, wore short robes with the arms ripped off to expose ...
2022-05-12 22:51:01 +0000 UTC
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Tang Fei’er looked at Hui, then at her fist, then at Hui again. Suddenly, her eyes glittered. Nodding to herself, she backed away. “So I suppose that’s all there is to Starbound Sect! All-Heavens Sect is simply too powerful for anyone from Starbound Sect to stand up to them at all!”
Hui scoffed silently. Elder Sister, you truly think too highly of this small cultivator. Tell anyone from Starbound Sect that you beat Weiheng Hui. They’ll laugh in your face! Beating me isn’...
2022-05-12 18:07:27 +0000 UTC
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Now that he was on the peak, under Mount Mu, Hui couldn’t help but look up. Mount Mu’s impressive understructure spread out above him, the roots twisting through the air in a mirror image of the branches above. The very tip of the taproot dangled slightly to the side of the old hut, barely any larger or wider than the slender roots of a dandelion by the tie he could reach it. He lifted his hand and placed it on the taproot. Life qi pulsed under his palm, powerful even in this distant reac...
2022-05-11 18:39:34 +0000 UTC
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The Sect Master and Gui Delun retreated, leaving the others behind. Lan Taijian stepped forward and gestured, leading the guest cultivators toward Starbound Peak. Li Xiang followed at his side, acting as the deputy and mingling with the guest cultivators, a polite smile on her face.
Weiheng Wu glanced at Hui, then turned his sword and flew them back toward his mountain. Hui glanced over his shoulder at the retreating exchange cultivators, then looked at his Master. “We aren’t going ...
2022-05-11 14:54:54 +0000 UTC
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Sect Master Lan glowered at Hui. He gazed over the neat regiment of ducks and crossed his arms. “What have you done to my duck?”
Nothing! I’ve just helped Fatty grow! I’ve generated more Fatties! What’s wrong with that? Ah, if not for me, he’d just be dead, you know? Hui cried internally. Externally, he prostrated silently before the Sect Master, unwilling to speak, lest he misspeak.
“Did you eat these ducks?” Sect Master Lan asked.
Hui swallowed. ...
2022-05-10 00:51:12 +0000 UTC
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Sect Master Lan materialized out of the light. He stood atop his sword, hands clasped behind his back. He frowned at the four captured cultivators, Hui and Li Xiang, and Lan Taijian. “What happened here?”
“Sect Master Lan! Weiheng Hui was eating your ducks again! I caught him red-handed, and he attacked me out of nowhere!” Wang Zhong shouted before anyone could speak.
Lan Taijian stood back, allowing them to speak for themselves.
“Untrue. Wang Zhong and his friends...
2022-05-08 20:20:50 +0000 UTC
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Three of them backed away, sheepish, but the fourth laughed at him and took another bite. Juices ran down his chin as he chewed the duck and swallowed, joy evident on his face.
Hui licked his lips again and forced himself to look the disciple in the eye, not stare at his duck.
The fourth disciple cleaned the bone and waggled it at him, smug. “Yeah, that’s right. We’re eating those ducks, trendsetter.”
Hui frowned. He shook his head and waved a finger at the disciple....
2022-05-08 18:50:57 +0000 UTC
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Running through the forest, Hui quickly flipped through the ducks’ vision again. Still nothing?
A vague sense of discontentment, slowness, and the need to conceal themselves came back to him. Hui sighed, understanding. Right. They have to hide themselves in Starbound Sect, or else I might get kicked out for cultivating death qi. I’m doing it righteously, but Lan Taijian would never understand, to say nothing of the Sect Master. I should be thankful that the ducks though...
2022-05-08 01:03:00 +0000 UTC
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“…and that’s after he humiliated Peak Lord Lan Taijian by… oh! Here we are,” Li Qian said, looking around.
Hui drew a deep breath and rubbed at his cheeks. This fake smile is starting to ache. I had no idea there could be so many stories about such an unremarkable disciple as me! All bad, too. What has this small cultivator done so wrong, that I’m so hated within my own sect?
“Who’s that?” a girl asked, stepping out of the forest. Her eyes glowed with a ...
2022-05-03 20:38:00 +0000 UTC
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Sis Mei’s portions were usually large, but today’s was larger than usual. At last, Hui finished it and set the bowl on the back step. He stood and stretched, letting out a yawn.
It feels good to be back, wearing my own skin and no one else’s. Maybe I’ll go for a walk. As long as I stick to the wooded areas, I shouldn’t be attacked by any of Li Xiang’s worshippers.
With no real goal in mind, Hui set out, wandering through the woods. He laced his fingers behind ...
2022-05-03 20:36:40 +0000 UTC
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Five familiar mountains rose up before Hui. Towering to the heavens, they stood in a loose circle, Jade Garden Peak and Butterfly Pavilion Peak, Starbound Peak, Cauldron Peak, and his Master’s peak, Unrivaled Under Heavens Peak. A familiar aura exuded from the mountains, warm and familiar. Hui drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, circulating the qi through his passages. It feels good to be home!
Ahead of him and Weiheng Wu, the other disciples descended toward the pea...
2022-05-03 20:35:58 +0000 UTC
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Gui Delun turned toward him, and in that instant, pressure slammed into Hui’s shoulders. He fell to his knees, unable to stand upright. Deep in Gui Delun’s eyes, a golden spark flickered, igniting into a flame, a golden flame that burned with the power of life itself. Hui felt a golden flame wrap around him as well, burning hot. His eyes widened. He coughed blood, then fell flat on the floor, instinctively killing his qi.
The cultivators beside Gui Delun stared, wide-eyed. One gaspe...
2022-04-30 03:34:03 +0000 UTC
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The bright light passed. Weiheng Wu stood above, still expressionless, palm outstretched. Sect Master Mu’s sword stabbed through his chest and out the other side. Brilliant prismatic light wavered all around the two of them.
“Master!” Hui screamed, afraid. I can play dead, I can fake other people’s deaths, but Master—
Sect Master Mu’s sword shattered. The prismatic light fell apart. Sect Master Mu fell back, shuddering under the force of Weiheng Wu’s Lightni...
2022-04-29 18:02:53 +0000 UTC
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The sword swooped toward Hui’s stomach. Scintillating light spread ahead of it, slashing through Hui’s robes and scoring a line in his flesh.
Burning the first talisman mark, Hui suddenly sped up and fled out of the path of Sect Master Mu’s attack. His body went cold as a hundred years of his longevity left his body, but in return, Sect Master Mu’s sword fell short.
Hui breathed out. Thank goodness I have that life-saving talisman! Otherwise, this small cultivator woul...
2022-04-28 03:35:20 +0000 UTC
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Hui froze, staring up at the mass of approaching cultivators. Subconsciously, he touched his robes, the place where he’d kept the jade bird his master had given him before sending him off to Twin Elemental City. Nothing remained. In all his changes and outfit swaps, the jade had vanished along the way.
He took a deep breath. Master might have noticed my pulse of qi earlier. He is Master, after all. Still, I can’t count on it.
The three representatives charged into the...
2022-04-27 03:33:03 +0000 UTC
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Sect Master Mu harrumphed. “One-sidedly attacking my sect… what nerve!”
Hui stared slack-jawed at Sect Master Mu. Such shamelessness… how could anyone have such a thick face? Attacking us, then blaming us for causing trouble in his sect? How ludicrous.
But then, it’s his sect! If none of us escape, he can simply claim that we attacked first, that the whole conference was some kind of despicable sneak attack on our part, and then righteously destroy us! Witho...
2022-04-26 01:53:32 +0000 UTC
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A burst of green qi swept through the cultivators outside the barrier. It smashed into the barrier and shattered the first layer. Hui jumped and summoned another handful of barrier talismans to his hand, ready to throw them at the slightest provocation.
Huang Yan stepped out of the crowd of attacking cultivators. Though she wore black, she made no effort to hide her cultivation base’s fluctuations or the wood-element nature of her qi. “Stop wasting your time on that ghoul. Crush tho...
2022-04-25 01:47:31 +0000 UTC
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The flute trilled. All around Hui, the righteous cultivators looked around, startled.
“What’s that?”
“Music? Is Mysterious Heavenly Forest… serenading us?”
“Who’s playing the flute? Pipe down!”
The lotus began to open. One petal after another peeled down. A small burst of purple-black dust danced in the air over the lotus.
In the same instant, inky traces burst through the air. As if drawn by an invisible brush, long black strokes closed off the...
2022-04-24 20:42:13 +0000 UTC
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Li Xiang frowned. She stood on her tiptoes and shaded her eyes with one hand, frowning. “It’s… all dead?”
Cracked earth spread before them, completely desolate of any life. Brown leaves drooped sadly. Limp stalks sagged. A few roots laid dead along the surface, straggling between the rocks and dried, dead earth.
The guide gaped. He stumbled ahead, boots knocking clumps of dried earth along. “Just a few moments ago, it… I… I saw it myself!”
“How strange. I w...
2022-04-24 00:24:55 +0000 UTC
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They descended to the forest floor. The other Starbound Sect cultivators stared around in slack-jawed amazement. Hui took it in quietly, used to the trees, until he abruptly realized he shouldn’t know about the trees. He stared around in amazement as well. “Wow, what big trees! I’ve never seen trees this big before!”
“That’s not true,” Li Xiang rebuffed him.
“Ah… no, that’s not true. I’ve seen these trees before. Back when we were up in the air, that is,” H...
2022-04-22 02:13:53 +0000 UTC
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Hui blinked. He rubbed his eyes, but the image didn’t change. Within Li Xiang shimmered a sword. Where she went, the sword went. Rather than a human soul, it was as if she had a sword spirit for a soul. In fact, based on the sensations Li Xiang gave off to Hui’s third eye, to call her a sword spirit wearing human flesh… wasn’t completely wrong, either!
What am I seeing? What does this mean? Is it because she cultivates the One With the Sword art? Is part of that to absorb yo...
2022-04-21 23:16:12 +0000 UTC
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Hui dropped toward the Starbound Sect cultivators. The white-robed cultivators stared at him, confused more than anything. One or two blinked in recognition, but no one stepped forward.
Hey! Aren’t we fellow disciples? What happened to trust amongst brothers, huh? Are you just going to let me die?
Eh… come to think of it, I did sully their idol in their eyes, and I was never particularly popular in the sect, especially after Chang Bolin… and then that time I sto...
2022-04-21 21:47:21 +0000 UTC
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“When you arrived?” the guard repeated, slack-jawed.
“What’s going on?” The second guard stepped out of the forest. He, too, stared at the sight of the ruined garden.
Hui gave them a bashful smile. “I don’t know what happened. I was just as startled as the two of you. This whole time, I’ve been standing here, staring at the garden. Can you believe it? I wonder what happened!”
The first guard furrowed his brows. “You aren’t the Gao Trio.”
Hui jum...
2022-04-21 02:09:13 +0000 UTC
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Hui’s foot sank deep into the loam, heavier than before. He stepped forward, reaching out for the sprout. In his other hand, he drew a fire talisman and held it at the ready, just in case. Carefully, he reached out into the sprout.
The plant shivered. Its roots shot up and wrapped around Hui’s body in an instant. Thorns and suckers slammed down on his arms. The root tips bored at his flesh.
The thorns skittered off his crystalline arms. The suckers grabbed onto the crystal, bu...
2022-04-18 23:55:58 +0000 UTC
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The two guardian cultivators once more appeared. Hui stopped, looking up at the two of them. He smiled cheekily and nodded at the two of them.
“Ugh. It’s them again.”
“What, finally decided to stop by and do your duties?”
“I came back the other day, Elder Brothers,” Hui replied. To drop off my… that is, Xiao Hui’s, ‘dead body.’
The other two cultivators frowned at him.
Oh shit! Right!
“Hey!”
“Too many word...
2022-04-17 21:58:08 +0000 UTC
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Hui put a hand to his chin, thoughtful. He crouched quietly on a branch, looking back toward the garden patch. Unless someone saw him with their own eyes, or a higher level cultivator passed by, no one would be able to sense him. He’d suppressed his cultivation to the limit, becoming nothing but a bump on the bark.
I need to disguise myself as someone with the qualifications to enter that area.
One of the two cultivators who guarded the way?
No, no, H...
2022-04-17 18:01:44 +0000 UTC
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Hui’s face fell, but only for an instant. He pasted a smile on and beamed at Ding Lao. “Brother! How fortuitous. I was just on my way there.”
Ding Lao smiled back at him. “I always like to see such enthusiasm so early in the morning. Shall we take a little jog together? I was about to begin my morning’s thousand laps around Mount Mu. You’re more than welcome to join!”
“Ah, Elder Brother, er, I was just heading over, but there’s, er, a quick errand I need...
2022-04-17 04:10:53 +0000 UTC
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