Black burst around Hui. He rushed into the darkness. A force shoved him away from Bai Xue, but he didn’t slow down or fall. Instead, he raced off in a different direction.

“Bai Xue!” he shouted.

His voice faded into the void. Hui frowned, then shook his head. Bai Xue will be fine. I should worry about myself.

White light burst out all around him. Hui flew out into a void and plummeted backward, unable to continue flying without Bai Xue’s assistance. Down, down. He rolled over.

Below, shadows squirmed over the floor. The smoky shapes moved with a will of their own.

Whatever that is, I don’t want to land in it. He drew a wind talisman and pointed it at the floor. “Activate!”

Nothing happened. Hui’s eyes widened. He circulated his qi internally, strengthening his physical body as much as he could. The qi circulated as far as his ghoul-skin, but the second it bled past the ghoul-skin, it dissipated.

I can’t use qi outside my body? Does this realm prohibit the usage of magical techniques?

He slammed down into the smoky shadows. The shadows broke apart, immaterial, and he smashed directly into the hard white stone-like surface beneath. Hui’s bones snapped, and his internal organs bruised. Coughing up blood, Hui bounced and rolled into the shadows. The shadows drew away, leaving a wide gap around him. Blood smudged over the bone, tracing a path into the shadows.

Lying there, Hui let out a pained groan. He drew out a Viscera Pill and swallowed it, then circulated its qi, quickly healing his injuries. The pain faded, and he crawled to his knees, then stood.

Shadows milled around him, swirling as high as knee-height. Sometimes, tendrils reached up his legs, curious. All around him was nothing but the white-walled cavern and the low, swirling shadows. In the distance, the cavern walls curled down, closing off the world, but from here to the wall, no one but him walked in the cavern. He walked along, peering around him as he went. Hui drew his sword and slashed downward, scoring a narrow scratch in the floor.

Bone. This cavern is made of bone. Is it inside the snake’s skeleton? But… no, that’s where the disciples’ caves are. This must be an illusory realm generated by the snake.

Then… what are these shadows?

Hui stopped. He snatched out and grabbed one of the tendrils. It squirmed in his hand, coalescing into the shape of a snake. The shadow-snake fought against his grasp, writhing harder and harder, then ripped itself free and dropped back into the shadows.

These shadows are all snakes? Or are the snakes… all shadows? He furrowed his brows. Curious, he drew back his sleeve.

Sleepily, Zhubi shifted around his arm. He looked up at Hui, confused by the sudden retraction of the sleeve, then let out a massive sigh and snuggled back into place.

Hui snorted and shook his head at himself, dropping the sleeve over Zhubi once more. Well. All the snakes aren’t shadows, anyways.

Time passed. He drew close to one of the walls. Words appeared, carved into the bone. Claim a snake. Claim your destiny.

Hui nodded, putting a hand on his chin. So I have to pick a snake to get out of this area. He reached out and scooped up one of the nearby snakes.

The snake hissed and thrashed. Ignoring it, he held it aloft. “I choose this snake!”

Nothing happened.

Twisting his lips bitterly, Hui shook his head. “Does the snake have to choose me, too?” He released the shadow snake, then held up his arm. “This snake!”

Zhubi poked his head sleepily out of Hui’s sleeve, then coiled back to sleep. Again, nothing happened.

Hui sighed. I didn’t have much hope for that. Then… I have to have a snake pick me. This part of the realm… is about my destiny with the trial realm. Luck and karma are essential to cultivation. If I have no karma with this realm, then no matter how I force it, nothing will come of it.

…It’s not like the Blood Mist Valley realm, where I had a cheat. Here, I actually have to be chosen by the realm!

Ah, but will a demonic trial realm choose a small, righteous disciple like myself?

Shaking his head, he settled into the lotus pose and closed his eyes, circulating his qi. Only a faint aura emanated outward. He tested his life and death qi as well, but all were repelled by the absolute rules of the realm and dissipated the second they left the confines of his body.

Snakes writhed by one after another. A few climbed over his shoulders and head or coiled in his lap, but ultimately, they all moved on. None of the snakes hesitated long or showed much interest.

Minutes passed. Hours. Hui sat still, rotating his cultivation base. He waited. Snake after snake wriggled past him, steadfastly ignoring him. He furrowed his brows, frustrated.

Do I have no karma at all with this realm? But… Zhubi… Ah, I suppose making friends with a single spiritual beast doesn’t guarantee one good karma with all members of its species. I suppose this small cultivator is just too righteous. A demonic sect like this truly doesn’t suit someone as righteous as me. In fact, I’ve only killed one person, and only in the demonic sect. I’ve never done anything demonic.

Well… I cultivate death qi, but… not in a demonic way. I devoured a ghost flag, but not the ghosts, only the death qi! And I have a snake pet, but that’s… Zhubi is a sweet spiritual beast, no threat to anyone! I guess I cultivated a corpse, but Jin Xian is there to save my little life, not to attack anyone. I’m wearing a ghoul skin, but…

Hui paused. He opened his eyes and stared at his hands. …Am I a demonic cultivator?

No, no, no, I’m not, never! It’s… simply… it looks bad, but…

Ah, that’s right. One must look at the heart to understand one’s Dao. To look at the aesthetics of my path and judge me on that is truly shallow. Instead, one must look into the depths of my heart. This small cultivator only wants to remain alive and live a long, happy life. Therefore! I am no demonic cultivator! Yes, this… this is the proper way to comprehend it!

Hui nodded to himself, satisfied. He breathed out.

A little shadow swayed. It let out a tiny cry, blown back by his breath.

“Eh?” Hui reached out instinctively and caught the little shadow, cupping it against his chest.

A tiny shadow snake stared up at him. About the length of a hand and the width of a pencil, it coiled in his hand. Pitch black eyes glittered like onyx. A transparent, smoky body swayed in his hand, nearly weightless. It hissed again and leaned up toward him.

“You… chose me?” Hui asked. He looked out over the entire sea of snakes. None of the others? Only this tiny snake, the smallest of all the snakes I’ve seen?

He looked down at the snake, then smiled. It’s better than nothing. Getting anything out of this realm is better than getting nothing at all. At least like this I can progress to the next level. “Then, let’s go together.”

The snake blinked at him. It hissed again, quietly.

Hui held the snake aloft. “I choose this snake!”

The realm rumbled around him. The floor shook, then split in two down its center. The two halves hinged open, tilting more and more beneath Hui. Holding tight to the snake, Hui slid toward the center, then plunged, falling deeper into the realm.

He and the tiny snake fell, but the rest of the shadow snakes hovered in air. For a few seconds, the snakes hung in the sky before the bony floor closed again.

A red floor rushed up at Hui. He drew out a wind talisman again, hoping against hope. Maybe that restriction was only on the first floor! “Activate!”

Qi surged, but not out of the hand that held the talisman. Instead, it burst through the snake.

Hui stared. The snake! Can I--? He swapped the talisman into the same hand as the snake and tried again. “Activate!”

Qi passed through the snake and into the talisman. Wind burst out of the talisman. It slammed into the red liquid below, sending waves through the redness, and slowed his fall.

Is that blood? Hui’s eyes widened. He blasted off another talisman and hovered in the air. Desperately, as he began to fall again, he scanned the horizon for land. An island, a beach, anything!