Climbing the hill, Hui made a beeline for Qin Xixing’s shop. No less dusty and derelict than the last time, her shop sat empty, unlike the shops around hers. Silver smoke rose from the back of her shop.

Hui ducked inside, peering around. The same as last time, strange charts hung on her walls. Masks and gloves dangled behind them, each one stranger than the next. Cabinets with narrow, small drawers filled every other inch of the space, cluttered on top of one another. He peered around the cabinets and under the shelves. A pile of blankets layered on a shelf held Xixing’s outline, but not the woman herself.

“Who’s there?” Xixing shouted from the back.

“It’s me, Weiheng Hui!” Hui replied.

“Almost done, almost done!”

Nodding, he wandered around the shop, poking and prodding. At random, he opened a drawer. Small black pills rolled around in the bottom, clicking like beads. Curious, he reached out to pick one up.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” Xixing suggested, wiping her hands on a rag as she emerged around a curtain into the back of the shop.

Hui yanked his hand back as if stung. He looked at her.

“They’re too high level for you. Might poison your qi if you touch them.”

“Right,” Hui muttered, tucking his hands into his sleeves as a precaution. Pills are dangerous!

“So? Those materials?”

Hui drew them out of his sleeve and passed them over to her. Xixing took the packets and examined them. “Hmm…”

“So?”

“You say your master ordered these?” she asked.

Hui nodded.

“I’ve got no idea what he wanted you to make. There isn’t a pill I know of that requires both cinnabar and Five Luminescence Peony buds. Some kind of advanced exorcism pill, maybe? But then… who the hell would make an exorcism pill? At this high of a level, too, it’s not something you could feed to mortals…”

Hui shrugged.

“I’ll take them. It’ll cover the costs of your pills, if the little one gives me a teensy bit more venom, too…” Xixing cast a hungry look at Zhubi.

Zhubi rolled over, playing dead where he dangled around Hui’s neck.

“How about some gold instead?” Hui asked, patting Zhubi reassuringly.

She sighed. “Fine. Wait right there.”

He followed her halfway to the back of the shop and hesitated awkwardly near the back. The masks stared at him. Wooden, leather, some humanesque, others in the shape of animals or spiritual beasts. One drew his eye, a flesh-colored human mask that sagged off its hook. The mask was undeniably hideous. Crude features, pockmarked pink flesh, empty eye sockets, flappy, loose lips and an upward-turned nose all came together into a horrifying face. The material almost looked moist, as if alive.

Drawn by morbid curiosity, Hui reached out and touched the mask. Flesh gave under his fingers.

He jumped back. Disgusted, he shook his hand.

“Ah, yeah. That thing? Didn’t come out right,” Xixing said. She held out a pill bottle. Silver dyed her hand to the wrist, her fingernails no longer blue but black.

“Wh—what is it?” Hui asked, taking the pill bottle. He undid the cork and peeked inside. Big silver pills clunked against the wall of the vessel. Looks like five of them.

“A human-skin mask.”

Hui stared at her, horrified. Don’t those require… actual human skin?

Xixing shrugged. “Well, it was supposed to be, anyways. Kind of went sideways.”

“Human—human skin?”

“Ah, no. No, that’d be demonic cultivation, if I made a real human-skin mask. Get me kicked out of the sect right-quick. No, no. I used pig skin instead. Figured it was close enough.”

“Ah,” Hui said, taking it in again. Pig, huh? I see it. Explains the nose and the lips…

“Yeah, didn’t work out the way I thought it would. Turns out, demonic cultivators use human skin for a reason!”

Hui glanced at her. “Speaking of demonic cultivation…”

“Oh boy. This is going to end well,” Xixing muttered.

“Is… there such a thing as… death qi?”

Xixing blinked. “Of all the ways you could end that sentence… you’re a weird one, kid.”

“Well, is there?”

She shrugged. “It’s been hypothesized. Our great minds tend to keep away from the demonic side of cultivation—worried about a qi deviation, like a certain someone should be a little more concerned about.”

Hui stared at her innocently, pretending not to understand.

“But—if you’re asking if there are other forms of qi, absolutely yes. Blood qi is commonly used by demonic cultivators. Most beast cultivators—and spirit beasts—use beast qi, which is subtly different from our own.”

“And death qi?” Hui asked.

“See, that’s where it gets sketchy, because qi and death are kind of… negating forces, right? Qi and life force aren’t identical, but they’re inextricably linked. Lose your qi, lose your life, and vice versa. Even mortals, mortal beasts, heck, ordinary plants, for that matter, have some qi, just not enough to cultivate with, and if you take that away from them, they die.

“But at the same time, there are necromancers, ghost-flag cultivators, and equally ghouls and ghosts who are themselves cultivators. As far as anyone can tell, they’re cultivating a kind of qi. It’s just…” she paused, frowning.

“Just?” Hui prompted.

“Undead cultivators… they’re some of the most dangerous cultivators out there, because their qi opposes our qi. They cancel out. Normally, you can challenge someone at your own level, but with undead cultivators… I wouldn’t fight one unless I had an entire realm on them. They negate our magic and techniques—our qi splashes off them like water, it can’t even damage them. And their bodies are much, much stronger than a living person’s, and they can’t feel pain, and their regeneration is incredible. They have a massive advantage over an ordinary cultivator. Unless you know exorcism techniques, avoid undead cultivators with all your might. If you see one, run.”

Hui shivered. “If they’re so dangerous, why haven’t they overrun the world by now?”

Xixing shrugged. “There are entire sects devoted to exorcism, for one. They have weaknesses, including fire- and light-based attacks. And it’s quite difficult for an undead to cultivate in the first place. Even if they were cultivators before they died, they have to start over from scratch. And I do mean ‘from scratch.’ Ordinary cultivation techniques won’t work for undead. Very few undead cultivation techniques exist. Most don’t manage to break through before their brain rots. Very few survive long enough to become dangerous.”

“Ah,” Hui muttered. He twisted his lips thoughtfully. Undead cultivators sound horrifying, but if I look at it from another way… doesn’t that make death qi an incredible power to harness? If I could gain the advantages of an undead cultivator without dying myself…

No, no, no! That’s demonic cultivation! Stay on the righteous path, Xiao Hui! He shook his head, shaking the bad thoughts out.

Xixing pointed at the bottle in his hand. “Anyways. If you feel like stagnating your qi again, take one of those first. Should kill the side-effects before they happen.”

“What if I take one after?” Hui asked.

“Then you’re risking a qi deviation for nothing, but sure, I guess it’d work. I wouldn’t do it habitually. Pills lose effect the more you take them, you know? If you don’t use it properly, its effect will fade all the faster.”

“Understood. Thank you, Xixing.”

“Ah? You’re welcome.”

He glanced at the pig-skin mask again. “Could… could I have that, too?”

Xixing frowned at him. “What do you want that piece of shit for?”

“It works, right? It’s just hideous,” Hui guessed.

“If your goal is to look like a pigman, yeah.” Xixing sighed and shook her head. “I can only imagine what a rascal like you would use it for.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hui asked.

“Aren’t you that guy who almost crippled one of your fellow entry-mates? Things happen, but that’s intense.”

“He—he almost killed me first!” Hui protested.

Xixing frowned at him. “That’s not the way I heard it. Way it came across, it sounded like you hauled off and attacked him for nothing.”

“That’s what he did! Chang Bolin, that rat,” Hui snarled. He reached into his robes and drew out his money. “How much for the mask?”

Xixing eyed his heavy bag of gold. “Fifty.”

“It’s a piece of shit, you admitted that. Ten, and it covers the pills, too.”

“Let’s compromise. Forty-five.”

“Twenty, and not a coin more.”

“You drive a hard bargain.” Xixing held her hand out.

Hui sighed, slightly annoyed, and handed over his gold. I could haggle her down more, but she’s been kind to me. I’ll let her have it, this one time.

“Hey, and if your master brings you more materials, let me know, alright?” Xixing asked, counting out the coins.

The feeling of being taken advantage of grew stronger. Hui glared at her, then sighed. “Fine.”

Gathering his new items, Hui left the dark, cramped shop behind. He turned toward Starbound Peak and narrowed his eyes. It’s time I launch my counter-attack.