Hui bounced from tree to tree. In the distance, a massive mountain rose, taller even than the tallest tree. Out of curiosity, he bounded toward it. Fewer cultivators appeared around him, until he once more ran alone.

Hui glanced around him. Another restricted zone? I wonder what I’ll find here!

Ahead, an opening gaped in the forest. Down below, a carved boulder laid flat under the sun. Ancient characters crawled over it, each one larger than a man. Hui glanced at it, and his head immediately began to pound. He wrested his eyes away and rubbed his forehead, where his third eye ached. I’m not meant to comprehend whatever is written on that tablet!

Instead, he gazed up at the mountain. His eyes widened, and he stared up, up, up, far above, where a bushy green canopy spread high in the atmosphere. That’s not a mountain! That’s an immense tree!

Above him, the character for wood had been carved into the tree’s trunk. The carving stood a hundred meters tall, if not taller, and glowed gold with a power of its own, beaming bright even in the sunlight.

Hui gazed at it. The gold light beckoned him. He stumbled forward a step thoughtlessly, his feet moving on their own. Reaching the edge of the branch, he leaned forward, yearning to be nearer to that character.

A smack landed on the back of his head. “Snap out of it, dingbat!”

Hui startled and grabbed the back of his head. “E-elder Brother, my apologies!”

Harrumphing, a cultivator in green robes with sharp, dragon-like eyes and a strict expression looked down on him. “You dare to slack off? Back with everyone else! And an extra ten laps for you!”

“E-eh?” Hui stumbled.

“Go on!” the strict cultivator snapped, slapping him again. With his cultivation base suppressed to the third realm, the slap lifted Hui off the ground and threw him into the air. He fell from the branch, out into the void.

Hui pedaled his arms desperately, searching for something, anything. He slammed into another branch a dozen feet down and clung on for dear life.

“Still lazing around? I guess you need some more motivation!” The cultivator raised his hand again.

“Senior, please, I’m going!” Hui cried. His skin still stung from the first two slaps. He bounded to his feet and raced off, charging blindly into the forest. The sound of running feet met his ears. That must be where Elder Brother wants me to go! He turned toward the sound and merged into a group of sweaty male and female cultivators, all huffing and panting as they ran at top speed.

Almost instantly, they left Hui behind. He activated his movement technique and caught up with them.

One of the disciples glanced at him, then yanked his arm. “What are you doing? Stop that! If he catches you, we’ll all get another fifty laps!”

Hui glanced around him, lost. All around him, cultivators ran under the strength of their own bodily might. None of them used a movement technique, nor even circulated qi. Instead, the sheer power of their bodies allowed them to run at a speedy pace.

I’m no body cultivator! I can’t possibly keep up! Hui despaired. Still, he dropped the movement technique and tried his best, putting all his power into every step. Even so, he continued to drop back.

The strict cultivator appeared behind him. “You, you slacker! Do you really want to embarrass me this badly? Alright, then, tonight you and I will have extra supplementary lessons, just the two of us, until you learn how to refine that flabby body of yours! Looking at you, it’s hard to imagine you’ve attended even a single lesson before!”

“That’s because I haven’t, Elder Brother!” Hui called out, seeing an opening.

All the cultivators in front of him cringed as one. A sense of deadly crisis sparked in Hui’s stomach, and he desperately wished to take back the words he’d just said.

The strict cultivator staggered back, as if Hui had struck him. “N…never? Not even once?” He heaved in a breath, then stomped. “I, Ding Lao, have made it my mission to refine the bodies of every disciple of Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect! I see I am still lacking in my oversight! Thank goodness I found you. Don’t fear, my little lost lamb. I will guide you to see the true might of bodily refinement! I swear, until you reach at least the third realm of bodily refinement, I will personally guide you and never let you out of my sight!”

Hui’s scalp went numb with horror. What about me searching the sect? What about me breaking away and returning to being Xie Hao? No, wait. How long does it take to break through to the third realm of body cultivation? It took me years to reach the third realm of cultivation! Will I be stuck here, unable to even return to Starbound Sect at the Southern Sect Conference?

No! There’s only one thing for this small cultivator to do!

He started to flop down and play dead, but before his body struck the ground, Ding Lao slammed his foot down on the ground and sped to his side. He fed Hui a stream of his own qi, a surging heat that slammed into Hui’s body. It raged inside him, unwilling to rest. Out of his control as the strict cultivator continued to pour qi into his body, he couldn’t clench down on it or kill it. This—it’s like when I first learned to kill my qi. If I don’t use this raging qi, it’ll cause a qi deviation!

Hui jumped back to his feet and ran, speeding along under the force of the qi. Ding Lao smiled. “See? You found your motivation. Don’t worry. I’ll be right here to help whenever you need it.”

Hui caught up with the back of the group at last, still speeding on Ding Lao’s qi. The other cultivators leaned in toward him, expressions of sympathy on their faces.

“Welcome to the club. We’ve all been there!”

“Everyone says it, Ding Lao forcing his qi on you is not dual cultivation! It doesn’t count, you’re still pure!”

Hui swallowed, but forced a smile. Er, Seniors… unfortunately, this small cultivator has shared qi with a great many other cultivators!

“Slacking off in this part of the forest, huh? Didn’t you hear Ding Lao was holding his class here? I thought all the other cultivators ran away!”

“Must’ve forgotten, huh? Mistaken the date? My condolences, and welcome!”

Ding Lao crossed his arms and scowled fiercely. “If you can talk, use that air to run faster! And don’t worry about the qi. There’s nothing strange about a few brothers sharing qi to help one another! It happens in battle all the time!”

The other cultivators fell silent, but they continued to cast sympathetic looks in Hui’s direction.

“I’m—I’m an emissary from Black Asp Sect! I’m not a Mysterious Heavenly Forest cultivator at all!” Hui cried, abandoning his mission to sneak around as a Mysterious Heavenly Forest cultivator. Anything, to get away from this pain, this horror! Please! I don’t like pain, Elder Brother! I’ll create a new skin tomorrow and go sneaking around again, but for today, please free me from my suffering!

Ding Lao’s eyes lit up. “Ah! Wonderful! You can spread the joy of body cultivation to even your demonic sect! Welcome, welcome! I’ll help you see the light, and then you, too, can share the light of beautiful muscles!”

The other cultivators shook their heads silently, giving Hui sad looks. He bowed his head, depressed. There’s no use. I’m wasting my breath.

Hui ran, ran and ran and ran. One lap of the massive tree. Two. Three. The qi ran out, and he began to sag back again, only for Ding Lao to once again share his qi. Surging forward again, he managed to barely keep up with the back of the pack. Sweat poured down his body, soaking into the robes. His chest heaved, breaths coming fast. Legs aching, he pounded along over the forest floor, stirring up leaves behind him. At least the snake skin is integrated into my body. When I sweat, it sweats! If I did this in the ghoul skin… I don’t want to think about it!

Ahead, a beautiful woman with pure white skin stepped out of the forest. She looked up, startled, at the cultivators bearing down on her, then stood aside. Hui’s eyes widened. “Liu Baozhai! Help me!”

“Another for the lesson! Wonderful! Come join us!” Ding Lao invited her in the same breath.

Liu Baozhai stared silently at the passing cultivators, then slipped into their ranks. She ran along, but unlike the other cultivators, seemed unbothered, as if she went for an easy morning jog.

Ah. That strange body of hers… don’t tell me, does Liu Baozhai practice body cultivation? Hui bowed his head, depressed as yet another escape route vanished.

Ding Lao’s eyes twinkled. “You—are you a fellow who also sees the light of muscles and the strength of the physical body?”

Liu Baozhai hesitated, then nodded.

“Wonderful! Let’s have a race, this lap! Anyone who can keep up with me and this sister here can forgo the rest of their laps!” With that, Ding Lao took off into the forest.

Liu Baozhai watched him go. The other cultivators all looked at her, easily keeping up with her pace. Even Hui managed to catch up with her.

Hope surged in his gut. Elder Sister! Your magnificence, your beneficence, this small cultivator will remember it forever! Please, allow us to run alongside you!

“A race,” she murmured, almost to herself. Her eyes flashed, gleaming like perfectly polished stone. She slammed her foot down into the ground and shot off, little more than a white streak amidst the trees.

All the cultivators, Hui included, stared. As one, they looked down.

A perfectly carved footstep sunk a meter into the ground where she’d blasted off! Compared to Ding Lao’s half-handspan deep footstep, hers was obviously stronger by an order of magnitude, if not more!

Hui swallowed. The glimmer of hope he’d seen blinked out, and he fell into despair. Elder Sister, no! How could you betray me like this?