They walked along, Hui clinging to Fang Hua’s hair. He relaxed and looked around, enjoying the ride. Being small isn’t so bad. I can get rides, no one’s going to target me… if I play dead, it’s easier to hide, too!

Still, I’d rather be in my original body. I can’t build a harem like this, after all.

Fang Hua sighed. “He’s in rough shape, Hui. Be prepared.”

Hui nodded, gritting his teeth. I have plenty of life qi right now. Even if he’s in rough shape, I should be able to help.

He looked down. A small, dark ball floated in his hand, all that remained of Gu Tian’s soul. Or… is it already too late?

Hui shook his head. I won’t give up. Not until there’s really no other option!

Around the corner of a pavilion, Fang Hua came to a halt and crouched down. Hui looked around, lost.

“Right there,” she said, pointing.

Hui frowned, and then he caught it. A glimpse of white, hidden amidst the poppies. He leaned forward on Fang Hua’s head.

Bare bones laid amidst the poppies. A sheaf of black hair hung around the skull, the eyesockets empty, the mouth hung open.

“Again?” Hui muttered. This is the second time I’ve come across Gu Tian’s dead body.

Fang Hua glanced at him. “I thought you’d be more… sad.”

Hui shrugged. “I met Gu Tian’s corpse long before I met Gu Tian. I guess, in a way, he’s always been dead to me.”

“That’s…” Fang Hua started, then stopped. She shook her head.

Not that I’m not sad, but… I don’t know. To me, Gu Tian has been living on borrowed time since I met him. I guess… I’ve been braced for him to die from the very start. He looked at the soul in his hand and sighed. “Gu Tian, what happened to you?”

A Hui-sized Gu Tian materialized beside him. He pointed at his body, where a green bamboo cane laid across his body. “I tried to assimilate a treasure I had no karma with. The backlash knocked me out of my body and ruined my cultivation.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Hui said, then paused. “Wait, you didn’t get knocked out of your body as soon as you entered this realm?”

Gu Tian shook his head. “Almost. I held on.”

“How?” Hui asked. I wasn’t even aware of the expulsion force before it launched me to the dark half of this realm.

Gu Tian’s soul blinked.

Hui sighed. He’s a dead soul. I can’t ask complex questions.

Black smoke drifted slowly from Gu Tian. The sunlight struck him, and his body turned more translucent, his face fading away. Hui bit his lip. If I leave him like this, he’s going to die. He pointed at his body, hanging over Fang Hua’s shoulder. “Gu Tian, I have your sword. Will you be able to survive in there?”

“Sword…” Gu Tian turned toward Hui’s body. He blinked, then formed into a black bolt and flew toward the sword. A faint black aura appeared around the sword, then faded.

He’s probably safer in there than hanging around out here, in the sunlight. After all, he’s essentially a ghost, now. Hui looked at the sword, slightly anxious. I should check and see if there’s something better to store him in. Maybe… but who can I ask? Putting souls in things, that’s demonic cultivation, dammit! These close-minded people…

Fang Hua snorted. “You’re more anxious about him in that sword than about him dying?”

“Well, dying is a one-time thing. He’ll live in the sword for a long time,” Hui replied.

Fang Hua stood, shaking her head. “You’re strange. I’m saying that as a demonic cultivator: you’re strange.”

“A scary senior told me that, recently,” Hui said, sighing. Is it better or worse than getting called a coward?

Fang Hua turned to go, but before she could, Hui patted her head. “Elder Sister… let’s bury him.”

“Eh? Why?”

“It’s… the right thing to do,” Hui said.

Fang Hua paused, then shrugged. “Whatever.” Extending a single finger, she clawed at the ground beside Gu Tian’s bones. A two-meter-long and two-meter deep rift appeared in the ground. She waved her hand, and Gu Tian’s bones vanished into the rift. Another wave, and the rift closed.

That… somehow… felt disrespectful. Oh well. At least she dug a grave, however she did it. Hui started to murmur a prayer, but stopped. His soul’s still here. Don’t need to send it on and purify it just yet, or I’ll just be killing him again!

“Onward to Li Xiang,” Hui declared, straightening.

“I’m not your horse,” Fang Hua replied.

“Elder Sister, could we please head toward Li Xiang?” Hui requested politely.

Fang Hua chuckled. She set off at a jog once more. “You’re an interesting guy, Xiao Hui.”

Why do I feel like that’s an insult? Hui wondered, sighing quietly.

Back through the poppies. As they passed another pavilion, Hui sat up, then leaped off Fang Hua’s head and ran inside. Fang Hua turned, then walked after him, her normal walking pace easily matching his sprint.

Inside the pavilion, a set of shelves held items of all descriptions. Hui hopped up the first shelf, then clambered onto the second. There, atop a silken pillow, sat a pitch-black pearl. In his current tiny state, the pearl fit between his two hands, about the size of a dodgeball relative to his body. The pearl throbbed with a piercing-cold death aura, full of an archaic scent of rot. Hui’s eyes glistened. He reached out toward the pearl.

Gu Tian’s voice echoed in his ears. I tried to assimilate a treasure I had no karma with.

Hui froze, hands inches from the pearl. He stared at it, his breathing ragged, but his mind clear. I have to be careful. If this isn’t my fated treasure, I could die! This small cultivator refuses to risk death over something as minuscule as a single treasure!

What if… I don’t touch the treasure? I don’t need the pearl, after all, only the death qi. And… well… Fen Long, who sealed that scary senior here, he’s definitely a righteous cultivator! I’m really doing him, and all the other righteous cultivators, a favor by purifying this pearl! Ah, it’s a good thing this small Hui is so charitable and kind. Otherwise, some righteous cultivator might have injured themselves reaching for this pearl, or worse, stepped off the righteous path, enticed by its death qi!

He nodded to himself. It’s a good thing I’m here to prevent that. Too kind, I’m simply too kind. To all the future juniors whom I’m keeping from trouble, you’re welcome!

So thinking, he closed his eyes and absorbed the death qi from the pearl, careful to hover his hands over the pearl rather than touch it so the realm wouldn’t recognize him as having chosen the treasure. Death qi streamed into him, replenishing his soul’s dantian. One duck appeared, then another. His soul stabilized. At once, he felt his mental state relax and his body grow stronger, as his soul no longer fluttered on the edge of danger.

At last, the pearl ran dry. No more death qi remained. Hui breathed out. He opened his eyes.

The pearl sat below him, big enough to fit in the palm of his hand, but no bigger. He frowned. Did the pearl shrink?

“You got bigger,” Fang Hua said. Somehow, she sounded disappointed.

Ah! So it’s because my worn-out soul was so small that my body was so small. The more I rebuild my soul, the bigger my body gets. Hui flexed his hands, nodding to himself.

“It’s weird, seeing you with adult proportions but toddler-sized,” Fang Hua commented.

“Elder Sister, how many times are you going to call me strange?” Hui said, giving her a look.

“As long as you keep acting strange, I’ll keep calling you strange,” she replied.

Hui sighed. He hopped off the shelf and looked around, searching for any other artifacts with death qi. Chen Wuya wasn’t a good person, but that works out in my favor. He should have all kinds of treasures with death qi. The more I absorb, the bigger I get!

A blackened, corrupted mirror caught his eye. Hui ran over to it, hopping up the shelves to stand beside it. Closer up, bizarre dark light emanated from the mirror’s surface. Hui closed is eyes and absorbed the death qi, growing again until he reached waist-height on Fang Hua. When he lowered his hand, the mirror glittered in clean, bright bronze. No dark light remained, and in fact, the mirror appeared as no more than an ordinary bronze mirror.

Hui sighed again, pleased with a job well done. I’m doing the whole cultivation world a favor. Cleansing all these treasures for no price at all, simply out of the goodness of my heart… how kind of me!

Looking around, Hui surveyed the pavilion for any more death qi-laden items, but came up empty. He let out a quiet sigh and shook his head. Too bad. Here I am, so willing to do a good deed, and the world simply doesn’t allow me to.

He turned and looked out at the world, then licked his lips. I suppose there’s always more pavilions.

Fang Hua shook her head at him.

Hui looked up at Fang Hua and nodded. “Let’s hurry on to Li Xiang.”

“Can you run at my pace?” Fang Hua asked.

“I think I can,” Hui said. I’m only half her size, but if she doesn’t sprint at full speed, I should be able to push myself a bit and keep up.

Fang Hua nodded. “Let me know if you need a ride.”

With that, she took off across the poppy field.

Hui took a deep breath and raced after her, sprinting across the field. Chen Wuya hasn’t moved yet, but he could try to escape at any moment. He definitely thought he could use Gu Tian and I to slip out of the realm, somehow. I need to get Li Xiang out of here as fast as possible and leave before that terrifying Senior makes a move!