Something nudged at his nose. Hui turned away, vaguely brushing it away. “Zhubi, not yet…”

Cold hands caught his arm and drew it away from him.

Hui’s eyes snapped open. He yanked his arm away from the ghoul and instinctively kicked it. The ghoul fell back, arms flailing.

Jumping to his feet, Hui raced at the ghoul. His sword slid from its sheath with a whisper. He swung at the ghoul’s knees with both hands, meaning to break or dislocate.

The sword bit through putrid flesh and slashed bone. The ghoul flopped to the ground, legs severed at the knee.

Hui blinked. He looked at his sword, then back at the ghoul, then at his sword again. “Damn.”

The ghoul clawed toward him, mouth open, hungry. Strings of drool dripped down its jaw. Hui glanced at it, then back at his slab of slate.

He pointed at the ghoul. “You wait here, alright?”

Digging a claw into the sandy earth, the ghoul hauled itself toward him. It let out a horrible grunt, half a struggling breath, half a groan.

“Good talk.” Grabbing the slate block by one end, Hui dragged it into the cave. The ghoul crawled slowly after him, barely a hair slower than he could move.

At last, Hui reached the chamber at the end of the tunnel. Letting out an exhausted breath, he dropped the slate block, then kicked and pushed it until it blocked off the end of the tunnel. Just as he laid the final kick on the block, the ghoul arrived.

Time for the first test! Hui crouched on the other side of the block to watch the ghoul.

Dragging itself, legs trailing dark blood behind it, the ghoul reached the block. It clawed toward Hui, but stiff arms couldn’t reach over the block. It bumped its head against the block once, then again, again, its arms clawing uselessly at the slate.

“Ah! It does work!” Hui cheered, delighted. In the old days, they would always make the threshold of a morgue extra deep, because if the dead rose, their stiff limbs wouldn’t allow them to breach the deep threshold. I’m not strong enough to cut the floor of this chamber deeper, but I can use the block to, in essence, raise the threshold!

Hui hopped over the block. The ghoul clawed slowly toward him, yellowed teeth bared. Sidestepping nimbly around to its rear, he grabbed it from behind and hefted it over the block. It plopped down on the other side and laid there, stunned, for a moment, then began to crawl toward him as numbly as before.

Alright, one ghoul captured! Time to go capture some more!

Skipping along, Hui left the cave behind and headed out into the deserted secret realm.

Darkness descended slowly over the secret realm when Hui returned for the final time, kiting two ghouls after him. He paused at the cave’s entrance and gazed up into the sky. Thick clouds obscured any sun that might have existed. Not a single glowing orb or patch of light stood out in the sky.

This secret realm… I already suspected it, but it really isn’t a part of the main world, is it?

A hand swiped for his neck. Hui ducked and danced backward, out of the ghoul’s reach. He jogged into the cave, ghouls following obediently.

From outside, something shrieked, the same shriek he’d heard earlier. As before, it cut off abruptly. Hui halted again, just an instant, not long enough for the ghouls to catch up. As he walked, he peered into the fog uselessly. It didn’t get closer, did it?

On the far side of the threshold stone, five ghouls bumbled about in various states of liveliness. The crawler bumped his head repeatedly against the stone, while two of the walkers stumbled into it or him alternatively. Another of the walkers stumbled toward the back wall, unaware that her toes scraped against stone with each step, while the final ghoul slumped numbly against a wall, eyes dim. The final ghoul sat up at his approach, and the back-wall ghoul likewise spun around to face him.

Hui stood on the far side of the threshold stone and waited, watching the last two ghouls approach. They reached for him, pale hands clawed.

Hui ducked around behind them and kicked once, spun, kicked the other one. Almost in sync, the two ghouls tripped over the threshold stone and into the cavern proper.

Looking at his seven ghouls, Hui nodded to himself. This is probably enough to study death qi. He sat cross-legged, facing the ghouls, and entered a state of meditation. Cautiously, he sent a thread of qi toward the undead.

The second his qi touched the ghouls, it vanished. Hui frowned. Did I lose track of the thread? Am I not concentrating hard enough?

He tried again, pushing more qi out with the thread. This time, he felt cold, a void, devouring—nothing. His qi vanished.

“Ah? So that’s how it’s going to be?” he said, opening his eyes to narrow them at the ghouls. Death qi cancels ordinary qi. It really is true. But not completely. Not immediately. If I throw enough qi at them, I’ll be able to probe them anyways!

So determined, he closed his eyes again. This time, he circulated his qi vigorously, pushing it through his meridians and back into his dantian, faster and faster. When it was on the verge of rioting, he threw it out at the ghoul.

Darkness. Void. Nothing. His qi vanished, as surely as if he’d thrown it into a black hole. Still, he pushed. Cold. Ruin. Rot. Faint impressions returned to him even as his qi vanished. Destruction. Stillness.

This—this isn’t enough! I don’t understand anything. I don’t comprehend anything! Even if I poured all my qi into these creatures, I wouldn’t get anything out of it. It gets destroyed too fast! Hui drew his qi back, frustrated. Putting his hands on his knees, he opened his eyes and frowned at the ghouls. “I don’t suppose any of you know what death qi is?”

The crawler groaned.

Hui sighed. So much for that.

The shriek echoed from behind him, so loud it pierced his ears. Hui whipped around. That almost sounded like—like it came from directly outside the cave! He held his breath and listened, enhancing his ears with qi.

The faint crunch of footsteps-on-gravel-on-flint travelled up to him.

Hui’s eyes widened. He backed up a step and banged his heel on the threshold stone behind him. Fuck! I forgot to block off the entrance!

Another shriek. This one echoed down the tunnel, so close Hui had to cover his ears. Behind him, the ghouls groaned and twisted, growing aggravated. He turned, peering at them. Pushing against one another, they gathered eagerly at the threshold stone and reached out, not for Hui, but for something past him.

Hui’s stomach twisted. He turned back around, slowly.

A pale form stood behind him. Black hair fell just to its shoulders in ragged clumps. Pure black eyes gazed into his. The ghoul opened its putrid mouth and shrieked, directly into his face. He squinched up his eyes and nose, but still couldn’t escape the blast of disgusting air or the hideous sound.

“Excuse me, elder brother, but I’m supposed to startle you,” Hui muttered, drawing his sword.

The ghoul grabbed his shoulders and went for his throat. Hui backstepped. His heels hit the stone block, and he tripped backward out of the screeching ghoul’s grasp and into the waiting ghouls. They clawed and bit at him. He let his weight carry him past their clumsy grip and plopped down onto the crawler. The crawler groaned.

“Thanks for the assist,” Hui muttered, rolling off the crawler. He jumped back to his feet and faced the screeching ghoul.

The screeching ghoul leaped over the threshold block and rushed at him. Long black nails grew from his fingertips, and he slashed at Hui.

“Oh, hey! You can’t cross that. You’re cheating,” Hui complained. He blocked the screeching ghoul’s claws and backed away, toward the rear of the chamber.

Cold hands closed around his throat from behind. Dammit, the girl ghoul in the back! Frustrated, Hui swept the sword blindly behind him. The lower half of the girl’s body went flying, and the weight on his neck grew heavier.

The screeching ghoul clawed at his chest. Lines of blood soaked into his white robes. It shoved him against the wall with superhuman strength, squishing him against the girl ghoul from behind, and lapped at the blood.

“Get—off!” Hui hammered the ghoul’s head with his sword. It ignored him, greedily licking the blood off his robes. Where its tongue touched, a cold, numb sensation spread into his body. Shit, their saliva has venom!

He drew the wind talisman out of his robe and pointed it at the ghoul. “Activate!”

A blade of wind sliced through the ghouls and bit into the wall, cutting a diagonal slash across either side of the doorway. The ordinary ghouls crumpled, robes slashed through.

The wind brushed the hairs on the shrieking ghoul’s head as if the Boulder-Cutting Wind was a gentle breeze.

It’s an undead cultivator? Shit!

It’s an undead cultivator! Hot damn! Isn’t this my chance to find out about death qi?

Hui lifted a leg and kicked the shrieking ghoul away. It stumbled back, lips painted red with blood. It rushed at him again, but before it could reach, he ducked, flipping the girl ghoul over his head and into the shrieking ghoul’s face.

Thrown off his neck, she flailed randomly and caught onto the shrieking ghoul’s shoulder. Her white eyes locked onto the blood on the shrieking ghoul’s mouth, and she lunged.

Oh. Oh dear. That’s a bit spicy for this poor disciple’s delicate eyes.

The shrieking ghoul shrieked and slashed the girl ghoul to ribbons with its black claws. It wiped its mouth and approached Hui again, slowly, eyes narrowed.

Hui hesitated. He lowered his sword. If it’s an undead cultivator, it might have intelligence. “Elder brother, kindly listen to me. This poor disciple only wants to study death qi. We have no quarrel. In fact, this disciple is even willing to offer his blood in return for the opportunity to—”

The shrieking ghoul launched at him, darting across the room.

So much for that. He parried its blows, barely able to keep up with the ghoul’s speed. With a forceful slash, he parried the ghoul’s hand upward and managed to land a blow on its body, only for the sword to bounce off its skin. Hard! Is it a body-cultivating undead? Or… maybe it was before it died?

The cold in his chest spread deeper into his body with every motion. The longer he fought, the faster the ghoul moved.

They parted. Hui wiped sweat off his brow and shook his head. Two copies of the shrieking ghoul wavered before him, two images overlapping, separating, overlapping again. He’s not moving faster. I’m poisoned and tired, and he’s an inexhaustible monster.

Zhubi hissed in his ear, concerned.

“I’m fine,” Hui replied. He pressed a hand against his chest. The blood wouldn’t stop flowing. His limbs felt heavy. The world shifted around him, wobbling gently off its axis. Seems like… a depressant, an anti-coagulant, and… some kind of mild hallucinogenic? Fuck. I need to cleanse my blood. If I could sit still and meditate for a minute, I’d be fine, but… elder brother here isn’t going to let me, is he?

He reached into his robes and drew out the second talisman, the one that felt like fire. Xixing said they’re weak to fire. I want to copy this one like I did the wind talisman, but—it’s my poor little life at stake here! Faking my death will do me no good. Elder brother ghoul won’t stop trying to eat me just because I died!

Dammit. I’m throwing away my best chance to study death qi… but there’s no use studying it if I die in the process!

He pointed the talisman at the ghoul, then hesitated. The ghoul slashed with its claws. He darted to the side, thinking. Its claws grazed his arm, drawing fresh blood.

The other attack washed off him without hurting him. My sword bounced off his skin. He’s an undead, so qi is weak against him, and his skin poses as a natural armor on top of that. This talisman represents my only fire attack and my only chance at victory. I don’t know what the final talisman does, and there’s no guarantee it’ll effect the ghoul. My swordplay is… lacking, not to mention my fatigue and the ghoul’s poison. I have to make sure this hits home!

Hui glanced at his bleeding arm. He sheathed his sword. Smearing the knuckles of his bleeding arm with the blood on his chest, he held out his fist to the ghoul. “Here! You want blood? Take it!”

The ghoul lunged. It grabbed his arm with both hands and stuffed his hand into its mouth. Sharp teeth bit into Hui’s flesh.

Hui winced. He opened his hand and pointed the talisman at the back of the ghoul’s throat. “Activate!”

Fire blasted through the ghoul. Its chest and neck glowed with light from the inside out. The fire hit the bottom and bounced back, roaring past Hui’s hand and into the ghoul’s skull. He yanked his hand out, a second too late. Red, seared skin blistered before his eyes.

The ghoul reached for him. Eyes burned out from the inside, bones rattling in its skin, it lurched a step forward, then let out a black, sooty breath and collapsed.

Hui drew the blood-red pills from his sleeve and tossed back two of them. The cuts sealed over, and his blistered hand began to heal. The remains of the other ghouls clawed toward him, the ones that hadn’t died in the blast of wind. Exhausted, Hui drew his sword. As they came for him, he sliced their heads from their necks, one at a time. One at a time, the ghouls’ eyes went dark, and they fell still.

Wobbling, Hui backed up until his back hit the wall, then slid down it. Slumped over, he made a halfhearted attempt to circulate his qi. The ghoul’s venom lulled him down toward sleep.

I’m… on the right side of the threshold stone. I should be… okay.

Unless another undead cultivator…

…I’d be screwed anyways.

Hui shut his eyes and gave in to sleep.