The giant woman growled. Gripping the bottle in both ends, she upended it and shook it upside down, trying to shake Hui out the neck of the bottle.

Hui flew up to the top of the bottle and pressed himself against the bottom, hugging it so he moved with the bottle rather than getting smacked repeatedly against the bottom and sides. “Are you sure? If you break this delicate vial of mine, you’ll lose all your liquor.”

“Shut up! Give it back,” she snarled. She spun the bottle around wildly.

Gently spinning with the motion of the bottle, Hui screamed as if he was in pain. “Y…you’ll never get it back from me!”

“I’ll just shake you to death.” She grit her teeth and started shaking even harder.

Hui pasted his body against the side and clung on with all his might, simultaneously letting out pained cries. She hasn’t shattered this bottle? She shattered the other one quickly. Is there something special about this one?

“My biggest… bottle…” she grumbled, frustrated.

Well, okay. I guess she doesn’t want to smash all her bottles. After all, she’s trapped in this space, and she can’t get new bottles. If this is her biggest bottle, naturally, she wouldn’t want to smash it! She’d never get a bottle this large again. What if another giant snake spirit beast falls on her head? Where would she distill it into alcohol? She wouldn’t have the bottle for it!

…I’m mocking her, but I guess she saved it until now, and I guess that worked out for her… either that, or she’s already drunk it empty a couple times now. She got the materials to make the rest of the alcohol at some point. There’s clearly a route for her to get some kind of alcohol-making materials.

“I send her my enemies and some raw materials every now and again. It keeps her quiet,” the cute voice said in Hui’s mind.

Do you know the horrifying things she’s doing with them—

“Before she split, sometimes, I would… myself,” the voice whispered.

Hui paused. He pressed his lips together. Senior, answer me honestly, and please don’t strike me with lightning.

“I have no control over my heart-demon’s space.”

You… weren’t a good person when Fen Long sealed you away, were you?

The cute voice sighed. “I… was considered one of the four Great Evils.”

Let me guess. Chen Wuya was another one of those?

“That… and, he and Fen Long, they… they had a complicated relationship,” she said.

I’ve gathered that much.

“They came from the same ancient sect, did you know that? By the time they grew powerful, however, that sect had crumbled. They both sought to revive the sect, but in very different ways.”

Chen Wuya founded Starbound Sect.

“And Fen Long founded All-Heavens Sect,” she replied.

Hui fell silent. I already guessed that, but still, to hear it said outright… Fen Long really is All-Heavens’ Patriarch. I… I don’t know who the hero is here. Chen Wuya openly admits to being a demonic cultivator, basically, and built the soul array that ultimately got my sect destroyed. On the other hand, although Fen Long locked away these four Great Evils, he’s the Patriarch of All-Heavens Sect. Which is in the right?

“All-Heavens… and Starbound both, are far from what they once were,” the voice said gently.

Well… that’s true, Hui allowed. Starbound Sect wasn’t exactly a demonic sect when I joined, after all.

And now it barely exists at all! Rogue pointed out.

Waving Rogue away, Hui gripped even tighter to the bottle’s walls. Frustrated, the giant woman smacked on the top of the bottle, as if she was trying to free the last bit of sticky sauce from the bottom. He glued himself in place, pressing his whole self up against the glass. “Can’t force me out! I’m safe in here!”

The giant woman growled and shook the bottle harder.

The Four Great Evils… aside from yourself and Chen Wuya, could the other two be… Zhu Diyu, and the woman Han Qin is trying to summon back? Hui queried.

“He wasn’t known as Zhu Diyu back then, but yes. And if Han Qin is the other one whose clone is stuck in my space, yes as well,” the voice said. “I don’t recognize him, but his clone bears a similar qi signature as she did.”

Hui nodded. Valuable information. I’ve learned a lot.

Of the four, it seems that Zhu Diyu ascended the highest, though I suppose I don’t know what realms Han Qin’s master—or whatever she is—reached. In any case, Zhu Diyu can’t help me, or at least, won’t. Han Qin is trying to revive his master, and Zhu Diyu is opposing him in a quiet way, if I’m reading Elder Sister Reaper’s actions correctly. Therefore, I shouldn’t seek out Han Qin’s master. Well, in the first place, I’ve prevented her revival a few times… likely, that senior wants me dead.

Hmm… are Chen Wuya and this mysterious senior my only hope?

The mysterious senior fell silent. From afar, she watched Hui get shaken vigorously in every direction by the giant, who screamed and snorted in frustration. “Is… this really the time and place for you to ponder these things?”

Hui glanced around, as if only now realizing he was being rattled around in a bottle. Eh, respectfully, Senior, if I didn’t think in positions like this, I’d never get to think.

“You live an odd life,” the senior remarked.

Hui sighed. I’m aware. Ah, Senior, did Fen Long lock up any other villains? Er—not that I want to free villains, but I do need some helpers. I’m intending to take down All-Heavens Sect, after all, and… well, the ones who oppose All-Heavens Sect are generally labeled villains. This small cultivator is no exception.

The voice chuckled. “There might be a few. Once we suppress my heart-demon, I should at least be able to leave this space and search the real world for Fen Long’s qi signature.”

The real world… Hui quickly suppressed his thoughts before the senior could find out about his transmigration. He cleared his throat. Senior, have you heard anything about a Yunxu? Or was he after your time?

“Yunxu? Is that his Daoist name?”

Hui hesitated. You may also know him by Lan Yunxu.

The senior shook her head. “No, I don’t recall a Lan Yunxu. But I’ve been locked in here for centuries.”

Hui nodded to himself. I can’t be too surprised. Yunxu’s only really made moves in the last century or two. Likewise, Chen Wuya didn’t know about Yunxu. If the sect’s founder didn’t know about him, a random senior has an even smaller chance of having heard about him.

“Get out! Get…! out…!” the giant woman growled, thumping hard on the bottle.

The thump passed through the glass and dislodged Hui. The giant woman’s eyes glittered. She swooped the bottle through the air, sending the neck flying at Hui.

“Zhubi!” Hui shouted.

The snake expanded from around Hui’s neck, reaching his full length in moments. He looped around Hui’s body and rounded another loop of his body around the outer wall of the bottle, holding them still at about the midpoint of the bottle.

The woman scowled and reached her finger in the neck. Her finger flicked at Hui, scratching at the air a hair’s breadth away from him.

“I’m afraid you can’t capture me with that much,” Hui said.

She growled. Her finger twisted and grew longer.

Instantly, Hui reached into his robes and pasted a dozen talismans on her finger. Ice and fire seared over her hand, while a splinter lodged itself under her fingernail and a boulder crushed down on her finger joint.

“Ow!” she snapped, yanking her finger back instinctively.

“I’m the king of this bottle. You can’t dislodge me. I’ll stay in here with all your liquor, forever,” Hui declared boldly. His chest tightened. Oh no. Oh no. I’m being so bold. Is this the heart-demon? It’s frightening. I don’t like it!

“I’m pretty sure that’s called confidence,” the senior said, slightly confused.

Hui shook his head. It’s a heart-demon, for sure. Ah—it might not be as dangerous as Senior’s, but it’s still a young heart-demon.

The senior said nothing. Somehow, Hui got the feeling she shook her head at him.

Hui glanced up at the giant woman. Speaking of which, what is Senior’s name?

The voice hesitated. “Zui Jiu.”

Zui Jiu. He nodded. This small cultivator is Xiao Hui… that is, Weiheng Hui. Are you ready? I think I can trick her into the bottle soon.

“I’m ready. I… I’ve been ready for a long time,” she said slowly.

Hui’s brows raised. If you aren’t ready, then I can—

“I’m ready.”

Then here we go!