They reappeared in a dark tunnel. Distant light gave a hint as to its shape, but none of the details could be seen. Bai Xue lifted his hand, and the fiery butterfly lifted off and fluttered ahead of them.

Each flap of its wings illuminated a rough-cut tunnel, walls built of bare earth, reinforced by qi. Hui checked behind them to find a dead end. Ahead, tunnels snaked through the earth, vanishing off in all directions.

“Toward the light?” Hui suggested.

Li Xiang nodded. Bai Xue strode ahead, butterfly fluttering ahead of him.

The sound of footsteps and conversation echoed ahead of them, around a curve. Hui glanced at the others, then gestured for them to stay back. I can kill my qi, and I have the dark robes. I’m the ideal scout.

Bai Xue nodded. Li Xiang scowled, but fell back. Hui threw the robes over his clothes and clamped down on his qi, quieting its flow. With the greater quantity of death qi he possessed now, he only had to half-kill it to hide it behind a veil of death qi. Even so, he couldn’t maneuver enough qi to operate his movement technique, forcing him to move slowly. I could probably activate a talisman like this, but not much more than that.

Hui stepped out behind the corner, drawing the veil over his face. Ahead, cultivators in all-black and black-and-white robes milled about around the outside of a wooden scaffolding. Dark auras surrounded the black-robed cultivators. Hui narrowed his eyes. Demonic cultivators!

That scaffolding… it’s got to be supporting the bud. And those black-and-white cultivators must be what’s left of Bai Fenfeng’s branch.

Compared to dozens of dark-dressed cultivators, only a few black-and-white cultivators stood around. Hui scowled. You sacrificed most of your own family in your mad charge for the spot of clan leader? Bai Fenfeng, you deserve to be put down.

“How much longer?” Jingwen demanded.

Hui whirled. Jingwen stood a story up the scaffolding, staring into its center.

“Only a few hours,” one of the black-and-white-dressed cultivators replied.

Jingwen frowned. She toyed with the end of her braid, brows furrowed. “Bai Xue…”

Hui looked around, taking in the rest of the crowd. Most of the Bai clan cultivators are under fourth stage, like Bai Xue said. In his fourth-stage yang form, he shouldn’t have any trouble taking them on.

The demonic cultivators… it’s harder to judge their cultivation, since they use different kinds of qi, but there’s definitely no one as frightening as Erlan around.

There’s a lot of people here, but no one’s cultivation is too high above Li Xiang and Bai Xue’s. We’ll have to be careful, but if we go for the lotus and ignore the cultivators, we have a chance.

Atop the scaffolding, demonic cultivators led a string of dull-eyed, ragged cultivators along. They stumbled, numb to the world around them.

Infected! They must be leading them from somewhere else.

Come to think of it, wasn’t the tea shop considering selling us off somewhere, to demonic cultivators? Then, they’re probably from wherever the demonic cultivators were keeping theirs.

The demonic cultivators drew to a halt. One hauled back and kicked one of the dull-eyed infected. The infected cultivator stumbled, then fell off the scaffolding into the unseen center.

Hui bit his lip, watching them fall. I can’t do anything. I’d ruin everything. The three of us can’t face this many cultivators without any sort of plan!

Li Xiang burst out of the tunnel atop her sword, hurtling for the scaffolding.

“Li Xiang!” Hui shouted. Ah! I forgot who I brought! Of course her sense of justice wouldn’t let her stand by while they murdered innocents!

“Intruders!” the cultivators shouted. Swords flashed across the room.

“Quickly! The barrier!” Bai Fenfeng shouted from somewhere. A loud hum sounded for a moment. Silvery light burst from the far side of the scaffolding.

Bai Xue leaped out after her, black hair flying. He shot Hui an exhausted look and shook his head tiredly.

“Go for the bud. Far side of the scaffolding!” Hui snapped. He threw off the robes, retracted his death qi, and brandished a handful of wind talismans, shooting them wildly into the crowd. Most deflected off the cultivators, or only scratched their skin, but a few of the cultivators crumpled, bowled over by the blast.

Above the scaffolding, Li Xiang darted down. Momentarily, she vanished from sight, only to burst back over the top, carrying the dull-eyed cultivator. She threw him to safety atop the scaffolding. The cultivator landed in a pile and laid there, numb.

Demonic cultivators rushed her. She leaped at them, sword bared. In a flash, the first demonic cultivator fell back, streaming blood from his chest, and vanished over the far side of the scaffolding. The second demonic cultivator managed to parry two of Li Xiang’s blows, but the third slashed his throat. He crumpled, a hand to his neck. Li Xiang kicked him over the edge.

Li Xiang stood at the edge of the scaffolding and stared down, chest heaving, her sword bloodied. With a short gesture, she threw the blood off the sword.

“Villains! I’ll end your evil plan here!” she declared.

Bai Jingwen stared up, startled. She put a hand to her chest, then scanned the crowd. Her eyes found Hui, and her brows furrowed. “Where’s Bai Xue?”

As if I’d tell you! Hui darted back, narrowly avoiding a blast of fire from one of the Bai clan cultivators. A skeletal panther, cloaked in black light, raked its claws at his ankles. He jumped back, and its claws cut gashes into the stone. A demonic cultivator lifted a pipe to his mouth and breathed out, sending a stream of dark smoke at Hui.

He lifted another hand of wind talismans and forced the smoke back, lashing the skeletal panther against the wall. The cultivators themselves let it wash over them, unbothered.

The talismans glowed, then crumbled to ash. Hui bit back the urge to sob. My precious income, vanishing into ash!

Oh well, now is not the time to complain! I need to survive, first. He checked in his robes, quickly taking stock. Two more fire talismans. One more barrier talisman. Plenty of wind talismans, but at the rate I’m using them, they won’t last!

Zhubi lifted off his neck, hissing. Hui stroked the snake’s neck. “Watch my back, Zhubi.”

Zhubi nodded and coiled around Hui’s neck to face the opposite direction.

Alright. We need to distract the cultivators until Bai Xue can get to the bud!

“Give up, child. A second-stage cultivator like you stands no chance against us,” one of the demonic cultivators chuckled.

“We’ll see about that!” Hui replied boldly, drawing out another set of talismans. Internally, he winced. My money…

“Raging Inferno!”

The scaffolding burst into flames. The cultivators upon it scattered, flames licking at their heels. Li Xiang leaped down into the chaos, sword flashing. Blood flew all around her, but not a scrap landed on her white robes.

Under the fire’s assault, the scaffolding fell apart. Ash and scraps of wood tumbled to the ground. Bai Xue stood in midair, balanced atop his fan on tiptoe. The rope draped down behind him, one leg dangling behind him.

Fire raged before him, but couldn’t bite through to the bud. Silver light shone inches over the surface of the bud, blocking the fire.

Bai Xue scowled. “Should’ve known it was too easy.”

“That’s right. Don’t think so little of me,” Bai Fenfeng chuckled. Smiling gently, she descended from above, passed through the outer barrier with little more than a shimmer, and alighted atop the inner barrier. “I’m the woman who will be the next Matriarch, after all.”

“Why? Why go this far?” Bai Xue asked.

Bai Fenfeng’s smile twisted into a scowl. “As if a filthy furnace like yourself would understand! It was father’s pathetic weakness that allowed her to climb above me! If he hadn’t loved her more, if he hadn’t provided that filthy thing with all the resources our clan had, if he hadn’t fed it all into her, driving our clan almost to ruin—if he hadn’t, then I would be the Matriarch at this very moment!”

She shook her head and threw her hand out. “It’s only because he wasted so much effort on her that she grew stronger on me! It’s only because he was caught in her hideous, disgusting charm that he became delusional to such an extent!

“And now you, her child, demands our resources again? Never! I reject it! I reject the Bai clan that supports you undeserving creatures. I reject the Twin Elemental City that you filth have built! Bai Bing deserves nothing, and you, Bai Xue, her child—you deserve nothing, as well! With this lotus, I’ll take it all from you.

“And then? Once I’ve conquered Bai clan and enslaved Twin Elemental City, with an army of lotus-pill-addicted cultivators under my control, standing at the peak of the cultivation world isn’t out of the question!”

Bai Xue laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t about some grand plan. This isn’t about standing atop the world of cultivation. You’re jealous that Mother is stronger than you, and you’re jealous that I’m stronger than Jingwen. That’s all this boils down to in the end, isn’t it? Jealousy.”

“Enough. It’s time for you to die.” Fenfeng drew her sword. Ice traced after the nearly transparent sword, forming snowflakes in the air.

“I’ve been waiting.” Xue flicked his sleeves, drawing a matched pair of fans. Fire blazed from the fans, shimmering in the air above them.

The two leaped into the air, charging at one another.