The scene came back into motion. The father stared, looking at the boy, the bloodstained sword, then at his own hands. He screamed in horror and stumbled away.

Halfway through the father’s stumbling, the scene froze. The illusion tore at the corners, breaking apart in black cuts and jags. It distorted, the whole image dragging, then broke all at once with a pop.

Hui climbed to his feet, looking around. As I thought, they didn’t prepare for the illusion to continue after the boy’s ‘death!’ I broke through by taking an unexpected path.

He stood in a room of the manor. As in the illusion, blood stained the walls, though darkened and faded with age. A rusty old sword laid on the floor where Hui had thrown it.

Hui swallowed. If I’d used that sword to kill myself to escape… I would’ve escaped the entire mortal realm!

Before him, a corpse hung in the air, suspended by a gem stuck in its throat. Little more than bones, the flesh all rotted away, it nonetheless stuck together, kept whole by some grim magic. Talismans plastered over its skull radiated an illusory aura, making the skull hard to look at, as if the bone wavered with the air. The gem pulsed with a red light, burning in the corpse’s bony throat. Hui approached slowly, hovering his hands before the corpse.

When he got close, the qi draw on his dantian become extreme, sucking away from his body. Startled, Hui leaped back, putting space between him and the corpse. With more room, the draw lessened, the qi loss less extreme.

If I killed the boy’s father, I would’ve moved too close to the gem, and the gem would have sucked my qi dry!

Experimentally, he sliced his thumb on his sword and held it out. A second qi draw burst to life, spilling out with his blood and the faintest trace of longevity.

Hui immediately sealed the cut with a drop of life qi. Likewise, if I kill myself, the gem eats my qi and life force. Any techniques, too, are likely sucked up by the gem.

But I was wrong. It isn’t to power the illusion. The talismans are the source of the illusion. The gem… is a treasure on its own.

He narrowed his eyes at the gem. Once it eats enough cultivators, I wonder what that gem becomes?

In any case, it seems that once I leave this area, the gem will stop drawing on me. I don’t need to cut off the gem’s power to end the illusion and ‘exorcise’ this house.

Stepping forward, Hui killed his qi almost completely, barely leaving enough to move. He cloaked what was left with death qi. The gem still drew at his qi, but no more than it had before, even when he drew close. He carefully peeled one of the illusion talismans off the skull and injected a bit of qi into it.

Images flashed through his mind as Hui fell into a trance. The shape of qi, the intensity. A hand, scribbling the talisman together. Suddenly, the qi changed colors and emanated the scent of blood. Another few strokes, and the qi turned dark, cold. A tinge of longevity twisted in at the end. At last, the talisman was complete, the illusory aura wavering around it.

Hui blinked, coming back to reality. He stared at the talisman, then shook his head and tore it apart. Taking his sword, he sliced through the skull’s head, breaking the rest as well.

An illusory talisman that includes some of one’s longevity? How horrifying! I wonder if that’s how it was able to replay someone’s memories?

The walls shimmered. The illusory aura over the skull vanished, and a dry skull tumbled to the floor. The rest of the corpse did as well. Without the talismans to maintain a point of the spell array, the whole array crumpled. The red gem darkened, and the draw on Hui’s qi finally stopped.

Hui sucked in a breath. He bent and scooped up the gem, sliding it into his storage ring. Whatever that is, I’m keeping it. I’ll have to take it back to the sect and get Master to look at it.

The floor under his feet rumbled. Hui blinked, startled. An earthquake?

Gray hands thrust through the floorboards. Splinters flew. They grasped for Hui’s ankles, struggling to draw him down. Hui leaped into the air, grabbing onto the exposed rafters above.

A hand found the corpse’s ankle and yanked it through the floor, into darkness. Glowing red eyes glared up at Hui. Yellowed talismans hung in the undead’s faces.

Jiangshi! And at my tier, too. Scary, scary! Hui swung on the rafter and threw himself backward, out of the room.

The jiangshi burst through the floor and chased after him, leaping at full speed. Three in total, they bared sharp claws and fierce fangs, gray skin taut across their bony bodies. An old female in fine robes led a young female in the remains of a ragged red dress, while a lone male jiangshi in servant's robes lagged slightly behind.

The second wife, the once-betrothed, and the servant who disciplined the boy most often! Hui realized. He threw a trio of fire talismans at them. Three fiery tabbies snarled back at the jiangshi and rushed at them headlong.

The male jiangshi jumped ahead of the females and took on all three tabbies. They smashed into his body with a bang! Flames burst out of his dried skin. He crumpled, smoke flying from his eyes and mouth. The tabbies tore him apart, fangs burning as they tore.

The other two jiangshi charged at Hui. They darted left and right, then split apart, one attacking from the left while the other attacked from the right. Hui drew his sword and another pair of talismans.

Wait. Why am I fighting?

Reaching deep into his storage ring, Hui pulled out the refined ghoulskin he’d made ages ago. With deft movements, he pulled it on, then killed his qi and circulated what little death qi he had.

Mid-attack, the two female jiangshi froze. They slammed into the ground clumsily, then looked around, white eyes blank with confusion.

Casually, Hui walked up to the second wife and put a hand on her face. He drew out her death qi.

A small breath of death qi passed into his body. The jiangshi quivered, falling backward. Frowning, Hui pushed again. There’s got to be more than that.

Brushstrokes. Black qi. The shape of death, brought to false life. A mark for control, a mark to sleep.

Hui jerked out of his daze. That—did I accidentally reach into her talisman? He reached out again, but before he could, the talisman burned up, and the second wife dissolved to ash, dead once more.

Oh well! An unexpected windfall for me. Illusion and jiangshi-making talismans… not that this righteous cultivator would ever create jiangshi—and a little death qi! It more than makes up for the pitiful five hundred gold reward. Hui leaped at the betrothed and grabbed her face as well. In the space of a breath, he absorbed her death qi, and she, too, dissolved to dust.

“…after that last one disappeared, I was afraid no one would ever come again. Please, good sirs, take care. If you can break the curse on my ancestral estate…”

Hui whirled and raced out of the house. Through the bamboo, he caught sight of Han Yuncai leading a group of cultivators in simple, off-white robes toward the estate.

All around the estate, ghouls and jiangshi pushed through the ground. At the sight of the undead, the cultivators glared and drew their weapons. Gold light spilled around their hands.

Hui’s eyes widened. Life qi?

In return, one of the newcomer cultivators stared at him. Their eyes widened, and they pointed. “In the back! An undead cultivator, a death cultivator! Kill him, he’s sure to be the general of this place!”

Hui turned around. Behind him, only the house remained. He turned back around.

A blade rushed for his throat, glimmering with gold qi.

Fear sparked through Hui’s heart. He raised his sword barely in time to deflect the flying blade. The two blades met in a shower of sparks. His blade, the one he’d taken off Gu Tian in the secret realm so long ago, keened under the force, barely able to hold its own.

Furrowing his brows, Hui reached out toward the blade. He released the qi he’d been killing back.

Instantly, qi rushed into him. Less rushed than usual, given how devoid the space was. He narrowed his eyes and focused the sucking force. The life qi coating the blade trembled, caught between Hui’s pull and its master. Hui frowned, drawing harder.

A thin strand of life qi peeled off the sword and rushed into his dantian.

“He’s—he’s absorbing life qi?” one of the cultivators shouted.

The one who’d noticed Hui drew his hand back. The sword flew away, out of the range of Hui’s draw. “Call for reinforcements!”

Hey, give that sword back, Hui thought, annoyed. Then the words hit his brain, and his eyes widened. Reinforcements? No, no, no, I’m not a death cultivator!

Well… I’m at least not undead.

“Fellow Daoists! This has all been a great mistake. I’m no death cultivator,” Hui said, unmasking his qi. He reached up to take off the ghoul skin.

The second his hand moved, a dozen weapons rushed at him. Hui operated his movement technique at top speed and jumped back, and they slammed into the ground where he’d been seconds before. A burst of gold qi exploded from the weapons. All the ghouls the gold touched sagged to the ground, dissolving into dust. The jiangshi hung on, hissing against the light.

Hui drew the gold in, coiling the life qi into his dantian. I didn’t expect to gain more life qi, but I’m not going to complain. “Elder brothers, elder sisters, seniors, please! Listen to me!”

One of the cultivators gestured. A gold boar rushed at Hui, snorting. The ground churned under its hooves. It tossed its head casually, and one of its tusks tore a ghoul in half.

They aren’t going to listen! This small cultivator needs to get out of here if I want to live! Hui whipped around and raced off, speeding into the distance.

“He’s getting away!”

“He won’t get far. I’ve called in Master Gui Delun. That death cultivator doesn’t stand a chance!”

Gui Delun… that name sounds familiar. Wait, from the banquet! He’s a renowned life-qi cultivator!

Hui swallowed and sped up. I don’t want to fight a genius! I want to survive! This small cultivator is a righteous cultivator, I swear! Please, seniors… you’re making a mistake!