Li Xiang turned, but too slow. Tang Fei’er’s hand darted for her back.

Hui narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, using the Bai Clan step technique, but flickering with death qi. Time slowed as his perception sped up. He threw out a barrier talisman, but it flew too slowly.

How? There has to be a way. Something I can do…

He stepped out of his body. His third eye snapped open. Threads appeared, black and white threads that connected the internal pieces of Tang Fei’er’s body. Almost all the threads glowed white. Only a few laid dark and dead. Hui made a blade with his hand and slashed at the threads in Tang Fei’er’s wrist. White turned to black. Her hand went limp, and the needle slipped from her grip.

The first sound of the reaper’s cold snort startled Hui. He immediately plunged back into his body, then turned and stared at Tang Fei’er and Li Xiang, waiting.

Tang Fei’er’s expression turned puzzled. She looked down at her limp hand and the falling needle. Her hand pressed into Li Xiang’s back, but the needle fell toward her leg.

“Tang Fei’er!” Hui shouted.

Anyone who hadn’t noticed the attack noticed it after Hui shouted. Even so, Tang Fei’er gritted her teeth. She caught the needle with her remaining hand and stabbed at Li Xiang again.

The needle slammed into Li Xiang’s blade. Li Xiang frowned at Tang Fei’er. “Despicable.”

She parried the needle out of Tang Fei’er’s hand. It went flying and slammed into the ground, embedding itself there. Li Xiang took another step forward and struck, slicing into Tang Fei’er.

Brilliant white light burst out. A hand materialized out of it and closed around Tang Fei’er’s nape, drawing her back, out of the range of Li Xiang’s attack. The white light settled into the shape of Gui Delun, who frowned at Li Xiang. “Killing an exchange disciple?”

“She attempted to kill first,” Li Xiang replied simply, pointing at the needle.

“Yeah, that’s right!”

“How dare you accuse our Li Xiang?”

“You outsider, you dare look down on our idol?”

Gui Delun ignored them and continued to glare at Li Xiang. She stared back, uncowed, sword still bared.

Tang Fei’er looked at her hand, and gasped. The creamy, pale flesh darkened, and black veins stood out on it. She waved her arm, and the hand flopped limply around. “Senior, Senior Gui, I, my hand…” She held it out toward him helplessly.

Even Tang Fei’er doesn’t know what I did to her. It’s the same as when I severed the threads on Ding Bo, way back after the tournament, when Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect ran away from the tournament. He didn’t feel anything then, and she didn’t feel anything, now, Hui noted silently. This… isn’t it an incredibly dangerous technique? If I could do it at any moment, instead of only being able to activate that state at random… wouldn’t I be ridiculously powerful?

Ah, it’s too bad I’ve only ever been able to see those threads twice.

Although… threads. The puppeteering threads. The death qi I use to control the ghouls. Here, again, threads. It seems as though threads always keep returning. I wonder…

Gui Delun looked at Tang Fei’er’s hand, and his eyes narrowed. He passed his gaze over the disciples watching the match, looking each one in the eye, one at a time. Hui waved his fan and glanced aside, pretending not to notice him. This small disciple has no idea what happened here. I’m just a passing stranger, don’t pay any mind to me.

“Who did this?” Gui Delun asked quietly.

Tang Fei’er whirled on Li Xiang. “What did you do?”

Li Xiang shook her head. “I didn’t do it.”

“My hand, my cute little hand…” Tang Fei’er moaned.

Gui Delun exerted a tiny bit of his pressure. The watching cultivators trembled as the weight slammed down on their shoulders. Hui used it as an excuse to duck below a few of the surrounding cultivators. I wonder if I should use the snakeskin technique again…? No, it would be too obvious now. I need to get out of here. A technique to turn invisible, to teleport… argh, if only.

Somewhere off in the distance, Hui’s barrier talisman activated in a burst of gold light.

Gui Delun whirled toward the gold light, then turned back toward the watching disciples. He strode forward. “If the one who did this won’t step forward, I’ll drag them out myself.”

“Gui Delun!”

Lan Taijian appeared in a beam of light. He arced to a halt and frowned down on Gui Delun. “What’s going on now?”

Gui Delun frowned. “One of your disciples has crippled my disciple, Tang Fei. I wasn’t here to see the incident, but based on the result… your disciple used a forbidden demonic technique, one that has long been sealed. If I’m correct, Tang Fei… won’t be able to use her hand ever again. Even replacing her hand with a prosthetic would be useless. One of your disciples has severed, not her qi passages, but the flow of life force to her hand… forever!”

“Master!” Tang Fei’er gasped. She paled, staring at her limp hand.

Hui licked his lips. I had to do it to save Li Xiang, but… er, I didn’t really mean to cripple her forever… But on the other hand, if I traded her hand for Li Xiang’s life, so be it! I refuse to regret saving Li Xiang’s life. Why should I?

“If the one who did it steps forward and undoes it quickly enough, the damage can be reverted, but much longer, and it’ll be helpless,” Gui Delun continued, scything his gaze through the disciples yet again.

Lan Taijian scoffed and swished his sleeve dismissively. With a voice that could sever nails and chop iron, he snapped, “That’s not what I asked. Whoever did that has my full backing. No, instead… your Tang Fei there attempted to assassinate my Li Xiang seconds ago. I’m still waiting for an explanation.”

Hui blinked, taken aback. No way. Lan Taijian is on my side? Is the sun rising in the west? Is this some weird nightmare? He slapped his cheek, but didn’t wake up. Huh. I guess it isn’t a dream. Wild.

Gui Delun stared at Lan Taijian. After a second, his face hardened. “I need to speak to the Sect Master.”