“Does knowing that put you at peace to face your death?” Fu Renyi asked.

Hui shook his head. “This small cultivator will never face his death in peace.” I don’t want to die at all! Can’t you understand that? I don’t think it’s a strange thing to say, either! Naturally, no one with the ambition to reach immortality will die peacefully. Those who do are fools who have lost sight of their goal!

“Then you shall have to die a death of struggle,” Fu Renyi declared. He darted at Hui.

Across the hall, Bai Xue grunted in pain. Hui jumped back, concerned, and Jin Xian raced in to take his place. Fu Renyi clashed with her, his face twisted in disgust.

“You flee and leave this abomination in your place?” Fu Renyi snapped.

“Senior, please stop name-calling,” Hui called over his shoulder.

The pressure from the array grew heavier. The few girls still conscious groaned, unable to make any more noise. Hui quickly scanned the room for Ying Lin and found her propped against a wall, her legs shaking. He hurried over. When he drew close, she stood straight again.

“Master, I tried to get the girls outside, but… when you drew away, I couldn’t…” she shook her head.

Hui frowned at himself. My own mistake. I can’t control how I exude or fight pressure very well yet, since I usually give into it to fake death. It was hubris to think I could perfectly exclude Ying Lin from the array’s pressure. “My apologies, Elder Sister. I thoughtlessly didn’t protect you. Please forgive me.”

“No, no. I understand,” Ying Lin insisted.

Hui grew a leaf, plucked it, and pushed his pressure into it, allowing his hand to move on its own to scribble down a talisman formula. He pressed that against her forehead, sticking it on with a bit of qi. “There. If you circulate more qi into it, more of my pressure should come out. That way, if the pressure grows stronger again, you can still protect yourself.”

Ying Lin carefully touched the talisman. A thoughtful expression passed over her face. “Flexibility…”

“If you can’t remove the girls from the array, at least escape, yourself,” Hui told her, and ran on to Bai Xue.

Ying Lin bobbed into a bow at his back, then ran off again.

Han Qin had backed Bai Xue into a corner. He held small knives between his fingers, and as Hui watched, threw one at Bai Xue. Bai Xue flicked his fan, summoning a burst of wind to send the knife flying off. The knife nicked a nearby wall and exploded in a ball of heat and light.

Hui stared. I was expecting scalpels and precision work from a doctor, but here he is exploding things! It takes all types, I guess.

As Hui approached, Han Qin fired a handful of knives toward him. Hui threw a barrier talisman on the ground between himself and the knives. The knives exploded against the barrier, breaking it, and heat and fire washed toward Hui. He ducked backward, but even so, his skin wilted somewhat. Unlike usual, his regeneration didn’t automatically heal it. Hui circulated his plant technique and forced himself to heal. His skin slowly refreshed, growing soft once more. This body is weak to flame. I have to keep that in mind.

Han Qin’s eyes flickered at the sight of Hui healing. “Your body’s state is strange.”

“Thank you, Senior. This small cultivator is aware,” Hui responded.

He pointed at Hui’s chest. “Stand there and watch, or I’ll detonate that.”

Hui looked down. A knife stuck out of his chest. His eyes widened. If that goes off, it’ll take forever to regenerate!

Han Qin backed away from Bai Xue, who glared after him. He slowly backed toward Fu Liyu. “Allow me to complete my experiment, and I’ll leave. Neither of you have a personal stake in this fight. However, to me, completing this array means I can achieve enlightenment in my Dao. I’m even willing to provide compensation, and to step aside afterward. All I ask is that you stand aside.”

“Stand aside, and allow a madman to kill his daughter?” Hui asked.

“And bring back his wife. A life for a life,” Han Qin said evenly.

“If this experiment of yours even succeeds,” Bai Xue replied.

Han Qin shrugged. “What does it matter to you? Fu Liyu has no connection to either of you that I could determine, Bai Xue, Xiao Hui.”

Hui stiffened. He and Bai Xue exchanged a glance.

Bai Xue spoke first. “You know?”

Han Qin shrugged. “Neither of us are who we appear to be. Personally, I recognized you once you faked your death. I’ve been playing this game much longer than you… when it comes to changing faces, you could use some practice.

“I commend your ability to stifle your cultivation level, but you carelessly followed your usual patterns of life. Faking your death while not Xiao Hui… it’s a dead giveaway. If not for that, even I might have mistaken you for an ordinary cultivator, instead of the man with a bounty on his head from All-Heavens Sect. A bounty, despite the fact they have your head on display, may I add.

“I’ve taken Han Qin’s place since Fu Renyi’s beloved wife accidentally passed away after childbirth. I’ve whispered in his ear until he saw my plan as the only path. This is the culmination of decades of effort. I’m warning you, do not stop me now. The consequences will be more than you can handle.” Han Qin narrowed his eyes to slits and smiled at Hui, tucking his hands into his sleeves.

Hui hesitated. Consequences? I don’t like the sound of that. But at the same time… Fu Liyu…

Wait. If this man he isn’t the no-name physician he said he was, what says he's actually summoning back Fu Renyi’s wife? When it comes to consequences… I don’t like the idea of a high-level cultivator hunting me down, but neither do I like the idea of that same cultivator summoning some mysterious thing or being back from the Yellow Springs… or who knows, some alternate dimension, pocket realm… the point is, it’s not going to be good! What if he’s summoning something even more powerful than himself, something that can crush this small cultivator out of existence with a thought? Allowing this man to back off and finish his plan isn’t an option!

Besides, if I caught that right, he killed Fu Renyi’s wife, all so he could implant the array in Fu Liyu, playing along as Han Qin until this very moment. Putting aside the possibility that swapping faces is his hobby, could it be that he’s bluffing, and he isn’t as strong as he makes himself out to be? After all, if he was more powerful than Fu Renyi, he could simply kidnap Fu Liyu and do whatever he wanted to her. And that’s assuming that there’s something special about Fu Liyu in particular that he needs. If he’s truly a high-level cultivator, he could simply kidnap any given rogue cultivator and implant an array in them, without the need for… all this.

He faked his way for this long… and he’s threatening Bai Xue and I now, rather than simply destroying us. As a professional bluffer, I’m seeing a lot of hints! This coward is going to dare to call his bluff!

He glanced at Bai Xue. He saw the same decision in Bai Xue’s eyes, and he nodded. Take control of the array. Now is the time!

Face pale, Hui turned back to Han Qin. “Senior, please. I don’t want to cause trouble. We have no quarrel.”

Bai Xue narrowed his eyes, focusing inward. Hui took a deep breath. Stall for time, stall for time!

Han Qin smiled. “I knew you’d see sense. A man like yourself, who selfishly survived the fall of his sect, would surely know when he’s bested.”

“Senior, do you have a problem with me fighting Fu Renyi? I don’t know if I can call back Jin Xian right now,” Hui said, trembling. She’s pretty hungry. I really don’t know if I can.

Getting eaten by a jiangshi is a bad way to go, but… Fu Renyi did plan to kill his daughter, even if he got manipulated into it by Han Qin. His mind has been poisoned. If I explain everything, if we reveal Han Qin as a fake, will he listen? Will he believe us? Or will he continue in killing Fu Liyu in a misguided attempt to bring back his wife? When her death doesn’t bring back his wife, will he turn to his other children? Other cultivators? He’s a threat to everyone around him as long as he’s alive.

This… rather than myself, Fu Renyi is what it looks like when a righteous cultivator becomes demonic.

Han Qin waved his hand. “As long as you step aside and stop fighting me, I will overlook it.”

Hui bowed. “This small cultivator is grateful.”

Behind Han Qin, Bai Xue’s eyes flickered, red light clearly glowing from their depths. He frowned slightly, his fingers twitching.

Han Qin started to glance back at Bai Xue. Hui quickly cleared his throat. “Senior, you say you’ve spent decades as Han Qin. Is it Senior’s hobby to swap faces?”

Han Qin smiled. “Ah, yes, after a way. Let’s simply say I’m in a similar situation as yourself. If I were to reveal my true face, there are forces in this universe that would obliterate me instantly.”

Eh? I was in such a dire situation as to be considered equal to instant obliteration? Hui gulped.

“What about yourself? What led you down this path?” Han Qin asked, smiling.

“I, er, simply wanted to survive,” Hui admitted.

Han Qin stared. “That’s all?”

Hui ducked his head shyly and rubbed the back of his neck, laughing a little. “Maybe it’s a little much… but I’ve found playing dead suits me well.”

“No, I mean… are you not aware?” Han Qin asked.

Hui blinked. “Not aware of what?”

Han Qin pointed at the back of his hand. “You’ve been marked by the heavens.”

Hui turned his hands over, but saw nothing. He glanced back at Han Qin, worried it was a distraction, but Han Qin simply frowned at him, confused.

“Have the heavens not come after you? Not once?” Han Qin asked.

Hui shook his head slowly. He stared at his hands again, flexing them. A mark? On me, or on this clone? Marked by the heavens… what does that mean in the first place? Why would they mark me?

Because… I’m a transmigrator? Then… is Han Qin one as well, that he knows about it? Hui glanced at Han Qin. “Were you trucked, too?”

“Was I… huh?” Han Qin asked, even more confused.

No, that’s not it. So that’s not what he means. But… what else? The Midnight Massacre, maybe? When I transmigrated and all those children died in the same night… did the heavens decide to mark me then?

Why? And if so, then… why hasn’t anything happened to me?

Maybe he’s just making things up. He’s probably a bluffer, after all. Still… it isn’t as if he needs to stall for time. I’ve already given up, as far as he knows. He frowned, turning his hands over again.

The world trembled. His forehead ached. For a second, he fell out of his body, still staring at his hand. On the back of his right hand, a red Heaven character stood out, brilliant as blood.

Hui snapped back into his body, and the mark vanished. Startled, he cursed, threw his sword into his left hand, and slashed his right hand off. It regrew, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the marking still existed, waiting for something he didn’t understand.

Behind Han Qin, Bai Xue quirked a brow at Hui. Silently, he mouthed, I’m ready.

Han Qin cursed as well, jumping in place. He stared at Hui’s hand, then at Hui. “That won’t do anything. When Heaven marks you, you’re marked forever. Indelibly.”

“What does remove it?” Hui asked. He shook his right hand, unable to shake the dirty sensation. Feels like someone’s watching me…

“Heaven,” Han Qin replied, shrugging.

Hui flexed his hand one more time, then nodded. Go ahead, Bai Xue. “How can I get Heaven to remove it?”

Han Qin shook his head silently.

The array stirred suddenly. Its energy surged, and the girls all cried out, thrashing. In the middle of battling Jin Xian, Fu Renyi laughed wildly, his eyes mad with joy. “Now! Come to me, my love!”

Fu Liyu thrashed. She grabbed her chest, screaming.