Thoughtful, Hui walked over to the barrier and squatted down. He reached out and probed the barrier with a strand of qi.

Qi lashed out at him. Icy cold poured through his forearm. Hui jolted back, retreating.

“Barrier got you?” Bai Xue asked, chuckling.

“Mmm,” Hui muttered, shaking his hand. I should’ve expected it. It’s a defensive technique, built to defend against qi. Of course it wouldn’t be as vulnerable to qi-poking as other things.

Then again… He lifted his hand and summoned a strand of death qi. Holding it a short distance from his hand, he reached out toward the barrier.

The second the death qi touched the barrier, it flashed. Ice launched at Hui.

He threw himself backward. The ice attack launched over his head and hurtled at Bai Xue.

Casually, Bai Xue waved his fan. The ice melted in a wave of heat. “Learned your lesson yet?”

“Did it register that as an attack?” Hui guessed.

“Am I supposed to be an expert on Bai Fenfeng’s barriers?” Bai Xue asked.

Hui sighed. He brushed off his robes and stood up. “We’re not getting through that.”

Li Xiang shook her head. “It’s too tough.”

“Bai Fenfeng is only a fourth-stage cultivator. As far as I know, she’s no barrier expert. I should be able to break through, but…” Bai Xue whipped a fan at the barrier. A wall of flames rushed at the barrier. Ice flashed, swallowing the fire. The barrier shivered, then settled, clear and solid once more. “A barrier like this? She probably cast it in a spell array with the assistance of her branch of the family. To sustain it… spirit stones? I hope she used spirit stones.”

“Eh? Are there other options?” Hui asked.

Bai Xue shrugged. “Dragon veins and other… things.”

“Didn’t you say…” Hui fell silent, thoughtful. Earlier, Bai Xue said this land doesn’t have much qi. Bai Fenfeng’s branch is empty. There’s no one around.

She wouldn’t have… would she?

He knelt and peered down below the lotus, past the roots that descended into the pool, down to the white rocky bottom far below.

Not rocks. Bones.

He retreated, startled, and glanced at Bai Xue. Bai Xue nodded, just once.

Best not to tell Li Xiang. He cleared his throat and started to turn away. At the last second, a flash of color caught his eye. He turned back, then jogged over to Bai Xue. “Where does your family keep the ones caught infected with lotus pills?”

“In quarantine, why?”

Hui nodded toward the pile. “Recognize that?”

Li Xiang bounded over. She peered down. “Eh? It looks like the robes that one man wore, back in the fake tea shop.”

Bai Xue and Hui both stared at her. “You’re… fine with it?” Hui said at last.

She shook her head vehemently. “No, of course not. But if I crumpled at the first sign of injustice, I wouldn’t be much of a defender of justice, would I?”

Huh. That… makes a lot of sense. Hui nodded, a hand to his chin.

“If the people we brought to quarantine ended up here, and as ghouls…” Bai Xue shot a look at Hui.

“Exactly,” Hui agreed.

“What?” Li Xiang asked.

“I think it’s time we took a look at quarantine,” Bai Xue muttered darkly.

--

Bamboo poles shimmered with qi, marking the border of a barrier. A low building stood inside the poles, long and wide. Black stains crawled up the walls. The black roof sloped in. An abandoned air hung around the building.

“Is this… where you kept the infected?” Hui asked, frowning at Xue.

Bai Xue tossed his hair, a disgusted expression on his face. “We left quarantine to Bai Fenfeng’s branch. We thought we could trust her. Clearly, that was a mistake.”

Hui raised a hand to the barrier. It passed through as easily as pushing into water. He tried to draw it out, and it stuck. Hui pulled harder, but the barrier refused to let him go.

“It is a barrier to keep things in,” Bai Xue said, chuckling.

Hand stuck in the barrier, Hui glanced back. “I’ll go check on the infected, then?”

“I’ll go, too!” Li Xiang offered, leaping through the barrier.

“Wait—oh, never mind.” Hui followed her in.

Bai Xue hesitated, then shrugged and stepped through as well.

“You too?” Hui asked, tired.

He reached back through the wall and shrugged, wiggling his fingers on the other side of the barrier. “I can get out if I want.”

Hui took a deep breath. “Respectfully, elder brother, if that’s the case, why didn’t you—”

Bai Xue smirked. “No one asked you to reach through.”

Hui grimaced at him.

“It’s quiet,” Li Xiang remarked.

Bai Xue and Hui closed their mouths, listening. Hui circulated his qi to his ears, but even enhancing his hearing didn’t help. If there’s people here, I should hear something…

Bai Xue ran into the building, Hui on his heels.

As they passed the threshold, a second barrier passed over them. Inside the building, a handful of cultivators shuffled in the corner, bumping into one another. Blank eyes turned to Hui and Bai Xue.

“What’s in here?” Li Xiang asked, her voice muted like she spoke through water.

Hui reached back and blocked her vision as she stepped through.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Don’t look,” Hui commanded.

The cultivators before them stumbled into one another blindly. Roots crawled under their skin, alive and shifting. Blood dripped down their limbs, fingertips necrotic and black, hands limp and motionless. Green and black streaked up their arms and legs. One, a once-beautiful woman, limped over to the two of them, mouth gaping. Fine roots squirmed in the back of her throat and in her pupils, pressing against the surface of her eyes.

One of the men’s hands dragged against the ground, connected to his body only by long, pale roots. Another one limped on a ragged, broken bone.

This isn’t what those people who were about to bloom looked like. Bai Fenfeng—or more likely, the demonic cultivators she recruited—did this to them.

But why?

Bai Xue clenched his fist. “This…”

“Bai Fenfeng partnered with demonic cultivators,” Hui reminded him.

“I don’t care if she did this or the demonic cultivators did! That she allowed this to happen on our clan’s land is—” He scowled. “I’m going to burn her to ash.”

Hui cleared his throat. “Er, I hate to… complain about the current situation, but… we can’t exactly pretend to be these guys.”

“You have your ghoul-skin,” Bai Xue pointed out.

“That won’t make me one of…those,” Hui argued.

“One of what?” Li Xiang asked.

“We’ll just be recently-gathered infected,” Xue said, waving his hand.

Hui nodded slowly. “I hate to point out another hole in our flawless plan, but… what if they don’t come back to get more infected?”

Xue paused. He put a hand to his chin. “Huh.”

“They should. They’re feeding the infected to the lotus, and it’s about to bloom, but…” Hui shrugged. “We’ve only got a few hours. If we’re wrong…”

“What’s going on? I want to see. You don’t have to protect me,” Li Xiang said. She twisted under Hui’s hand, trying to see around it.

Bai Xue nodded. He drew a fan from his sleeves and snapped it open, then waved in the direction of the far wall. Instantly, the wall broke out in flames. Satisfied, he nodded to himself. “That ought to bring them over.”

“I—I suppose so,” Hui agreed. He backed away from the flames, lifting a sleeve over his mouth. As long as we don’t asphyxiate from the smoke first!

“Eh? There’s fire, now?” Li Xiang asked, confused.

They didn’t have to wait long. Barely moments after the fire caught, ice crawled over the wall, suppressing it.

“Hurry,” Bai Xue urged.

Hui nodded and drew Li Xiang toward the infected cultivators. “Right. Li Xiang, over here—”

Before he finished speaking, the door opened. A cultivator in black robes paused, half in, half out. A black veil obscured his face. He turned back in the door, twisted around to see behind him. “Naturally. A moment, please, senior.”

He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, and turned around. Bai Xue, Hui, and Li Xiang stood in the middle of the room, not at all disguised, still fully out in the open.

His eyes went wide. “You—”

Li Xiang shoved away from Hui’s hand and darted at the man. He reached for his sword. As his hand closed around the hilt, the butt of Li Xiang’s sword slammed into his chin. His eyes rolled back, and he stumbled into the wall.

Bai Xue darted and caught him before he hit. With a short gesture, he cast a spell on the man, and the cultivator’s pained expression faded to a peaceful one, asleep. All three of them froze, listening.

“The soundproof barrier,” Hui said, realizing.

“Whoever’s outside didn’t hear anything,” Bai Xue finished.

“Right, we can still salvage this. Li Xiang…” Hui turned.

Li Xiang stared at the infected in silence. Her grip on her sword tightened. “He deserves to die. They all deserve to die.”

“You…” Hui didn’t know how to finish the sentence. You aren’t afraid? You aren’t disgusted?

She gave him a stern look. “I’ve seen horrible deeds in my time. Don’t forget that I’m much older than you. Something at this level won’t bother me.”

“Ah,” Hui said. I did forget that. She’s a cultivator, after all. She’s been alive for decades. Even if she’s pure at heart, it doesn’t mean she’s never seen evil.

“But I will massacre everyone who did this, down to the last man,” Li Xiang swore. She strode toward the dark-robed cultivator, hefting her sword.

“Wait, elder sister, wait,” Hui said, jumping in front of him.

She scowled. “Do you protest my justice?”

“No, no, of course not. This small disciple wouldn’t dream of it. I merely have a suggestion. Should we not remove his garments and have Bai Xue take his place? Then we can still get into the lotus room, and you can have your justice.”

Li Xiang considered, sword still raised. She nodded once, shortly, and lowered her sword.

“Why me?” Bai Xue asked.

“Your face. You’re the Young Master of Bai clan. They’ll recognize you long before they recognize Li Xiang or I, who’ve only been guests for one night, and we only have one mask.” He gestured at the fallen cultivator’s veil.

Xue nodded sagely. “You’re right. I am far too handsome to pass for one of these creatures.”

Hui rolled his eyes. Xue smirked back.

“Hurry. Justice should not be delayed,” Li Xiang grit, still displeased.

“Right, right.” Bai Xue knelt and undressed the man, drawing the dark robes on over his own. The man’s robes didn’t quite fit Bai Xue, but since his yang form’s robes were dark to begin with, it was hard to tell where one set ended and the other set began.

“You’re not going to turn back soon, are you?” Hui asked. If he swaps to his white-haired yin form, it’ll completely blow his disguise!

Bai Xue waved a hand. “I’d be more worried about midnight.”

Midnight, when he turns into a ghoul? Hui nodded confidently. “Don’t worry. I can handle that.”

“Well, that’s true. As long as I don’t end up alone with Li Xiang,” Bai Xue said.

“That shouldn’t happen,” Hui said.

“Are you done yet?” Li Xiang asked.

“Almost, almost.” Bai Xue settled the veil over his face and smiled at them. “Alright, my pathetic slaves. Follow me!”