Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

The world wobbled around Hui. Darkness emanated from his hand, swallowing him up. Waves emanated out from that darkness, twisting the world around Hui’s body. Startled, Fei Hu leaped toward Hui, but too slow. The darkness swallowed him up, and he vanished.

Space compressed around Hui. He twisted into a noodle once more, dragged through space, then burst out. He staggered, then caught himself. His feet echoed through a hard, open room. Stone panels created firm footing below him.

Hui twisted his lips. A stone cave? A dark space? If a beast bursts out and snatches me up again, I’m going to give up and nuke this space.

Nothing attacked him. Hui waited for another few moments, then straightened up and raised his hand. Exuding a bit of life qi into his palm, he let its golden glow fill the room.

Compared to the primitive world, with nothing but caves, beasts, and grain, he now found himself in a stone room. Stone tiles glistened underfoot, perfectly polished. Tiny bits of white jade wound through the center of each tile, shaping a dragon. Marble lined the walls, interspersed with red pillars twisting with gilded dragons. A few tasteful paintings hung at regular intervals.

Hui licked his lips, rubbing his itchy hands together. His eyes darted left and right, lingering on the finery. Want… want to take… want to loot…

No, no. Stay strong, Hui. This is Fen Long’s realm. Everything here belongs to Fen Long. I still want to try and get Fen Long on my side, or at least, I need to convince him to attack Gui Delun’s faction. Stealing everything in his realm isn’t the way to get him to agree with me!

He tucked his hands into his sleeves to keep himself from grabbing anything and walked on smoothly, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Don’t look. I can’t be tempted if I don’t look. I…

But if I look, and things go poorly, I know exactly what to go for on the way out. Yes, yes. Preview the treasures so I know what to—

Fen Long is a Chen Wuya-level existence! A Patriarch! At least eighth, if not ninth realm. If I piss him off, it’s not like Chen Wuya, who’s bound in a secret realm and can only escape with greatly weakened clones. He’s voluntarily hiding in this realm. He can obliterate me with a thought! When I speak to him, I have to be very careful, very, very careful!

Ah, thank goodness I’m a clone. I’m not risking our entire existence on this gamble!

Ahead, the wall grew wider. Faintly, Hui made out a throne, which grew more and more visible as he drew closer. An ornate throne carved from the purest white jade sat atop a raised dais. An older man in fine white and gold robes woven with dragon patterns sat atop the throne, jewels glittering on every finger, at his neck, and even in his hair. He sat up as Hui approached, a placid smile on his face.

“Welcome,” the man said gently. “It has been a long time since someone visited. Step forward and tell me your name, young cultivator.”

Hui hesitated. He blinked at the man, frowning slightly. Is this… is this the man Chen Wuya sees as his rival? This stuffy old bag? I don’t see him being anyone’s rival, let alone someone as vitriolic as Chen Wuya. And on top of that, sealing the Four Evils… well, at least three of the four…

Maybe he settled down after he sealed them, without anyone to trouble him. It’s… possible.

But then… why isn’t Chen Wuya rushing at him? That isn’t very much like him, to hang back and hide. Maybe he’s sulking. He does like sulking. But even then…

Hui stepped forward slowly, bowing his head low and cupping his hands. “This lowly cultivator greets Patriarch.”

The man on the throne gestured him closer. “You’ve done well to reach this place. Come, let me see your face.”

Taking another half step forward, Hui hesitated, then stopped. He shook his head. Something’s wrong. I don’t know what, but… no. This man isn’t Fen Long. I don’t believe it. This is a trick, some kind of trap. The obvious power cord, and now the obvious Fen Long. It’s too easy.

The Patriarch of All-Heavens is considered missing. Zheng Minyan, the guardian of this place, is a wily old fox, not a fool. I’m sure she’s entered this space. She’s probably even discovered this realm-within-a-realm… it was very obvious how to break in once I looked, after all. Compared to Fen Long’s other realms, it was almost as if he wanted us to break it. If she didn’t get this far, I’d be very surprised.

So this… cannot be Fen Long.

But then… why? This space was designed by Fen Long. Both this realm-within-a-realm, and the mountains and valleys outside. Everything has a purpose. If he really wants to be left alone, it’s possible that all this fake is here for, is to hide his true self. Perhaps he wanted to be left in peace to practice some intensive technique. But what technique? And why would he leave a fake to practice a technique in peace? He’s the sect patriarch. Who would dare to disturb him?

Unless… unless it’s a technique that weakens him while he’s in the midst of practicing it. If he’s in a vulnerable state, then… with such sect intrigue as Gui Delun attempting to usurp him and the two factions in the sect, naturally, his life would be in danger! There’s nothing Gui Delun would like more than to strike a blow against the Patriarch, his greatest enemy. Thus… Fen Long created a fake, to prevent him from attacking.

But Gui Delun… he wouldn’t stop just for that, would he? He—

Hui’s eyes lit up. The cauldron! Outside this realm, that huge cauldron is about to explode, and it’s right on top of Fen Long’s secret realm. If that cauldron explodes, it’s so hugely powerful that it might effect this world, or in the worst case, entirely collapse it! Gui Delun might have made it here, or maybe he didn’t, but either way, he knew he couldn’t actually find or attack Fen Long, so he decided to attack him in an underhanded way by leaving that huge bomb right outside Fen Long’s hidden realm. And not only that, but he disguised it as an ordinary pill gone wrong, and blamed the eventual blast on Zheng Minyan, the pill master, all in the same stroke. How tricky, how tricky!

Raising his hand to his chin, Hui frowned. But it hasn’t exploded yet. Well… I guess that’s Zheng Minyan’s doing. She is a pill master, after all. If anyone can put off a cauldron’s explosion, it’s her. It seems like stopping it entirely is beyond her ability, but at least she can slow it down somehow. Pills are the one thing I understand less than swords, so I’ll leave that to her, but… my specialty is breaking secret realms! If anyone can find Fen Long, it’s me.

Except… I’ve already looked at the secret realm, and it’s… I don’t understand it. I could just… tear it apart? But… I don’t know. I feel like I’m missing something.

Hui knelt down and pressed his palm to the stone floor. He sent a pulse of qi into the floor and found the thin threads yet again. It’s just… I don’t know what else to do. I’ll try this, and then…

“What are you doing? I told you to step forward,” the old man said in a stern voice.

Ignoring him, Hui drew out a blade of death qi and slashed at the threads. Even before the death qi reached them, they quavered and deteriorated. Threads fell away. The net began to collapse.

No. This isn’t right, either. Hui stopped his blade seconds before it struck the net. The net shuddered. Frayed threads stuck out at every angle. Around Hui, the world grew dark in patches. The walls cracked, and the stone tiles shattered.

The man’s face grew hollow, his robes suddenly cast in the sharpest of contrast. In an eerie, distorted voice, he shouted, “What are you doing? Stop!”

Hui bit his lip. I’m missing something. There’s some thread. Some… concept, that binds this whole realm together. Like how I was thinking about the valleys, and his relationship with Chen Wuya. Something about this…

Beasts. Boars. Deer. The grain. The mountains and the valleys amid a sea of stone. The dim lighting and the low clouds. What is it? What part of this…

Chen Wuya talks about his past lives a lot. Could it be? Does Fen Long also have past lives? The grain. The boars. The beasts. The cycle of life. How rapidly the beasts age. Hui blinked. He put his hand on his chin. Could it be? Is it… ?