The sun beat down. The poppies rushed around them, whispering past. Hui paid none of it any attention, focused on absorbing qi from the passing pavilion and contemplating his faking-death talisman at the same time.

His vision flickered abruptly. He froze in place and looked around. “What?”

Fang Hua paused as well, looking back at him. “Xiao Hui?”

“No, it’s… nothing,” Hui said. He started running again, but frowned. What was that? A cultivator at my level… I shouldn’t have had my vision flicker for no reason. Is someone interfering with me?

Chen Wuya…?

Horrified, Hui sent a pulse of qi inside himself, searching his new plant body for any abnormalities. When that came up empty, he examined his soul, scouring his second dantian for unfamiliar fluctuations. Still nothing.

If anything, finding nothing only increased Hui’s anxiety. If it’s Chen Wuya, he could easily be doing something I can’t detect. I couldn’t pin down the level of his power, but he felt similar to Master… at least seventh realm, if not higher. Am I a ticking time bomb, counting down the hours until he emerges and kills me? Argh! It’s too frightening. I need to spend less time around terrifying people who can kill me with a thought.

He shuddered, then rubbed his face. There’s no point worrying about it. At this point, Chen Wuya will do whatever he wants to do with me, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. I’ll just have to hope he isn’t doing anything too harmful.

A low hill rose out of the endless poppy field. A white-robed woman with a blurry face stood before it, brandishing a sword. She stepped forward as they approached, raising her sword.

Hui sat down just outside of the distance that would provoke her and began to meditate. Fang Hua set down his original body and stood by his side, claws bared, acting as his protector.

He reached out into the forbidden half of the realm, through the void, seeking out the scrap of his own qi he’d left behind in the talisman. Li Xiang, can you hear me?

The wind blew, rustling the poppies. The swordswoman shifted, regarding them warily.

Did it not work? Can I not contact her? Maybe if I go back into my body and force myself back into that realm, then…

“I’m here,” a quiet voice responded.

Hui sat up straight, his heart racing a little bit. “Come to my voice. Follow this strand back to the other side of the realm. I’ll keep your soul safe while we exit the realm, and then you should be able to return to your body.”

“I to the sword, and your Li Xiang to the body,” the voice admonished him gently.

“M…my apologies, Senior,” Hui said, bowing his head.

The voice chuckled. “I have long since made peace with my fate. You are not the one who left me in this state. In all honesty, even had I not been swapped with my sword spirit, I… did not have long for the world.”

“If Senior doesn’t mind me asking, why not?” Hui asked.

“I sustained an injury to the soul many years prior that slowly wore at my cultivation, soul, and mind. Even now, it wears at me. That child… by swapping me, he preserved my soul, in a sense, as my affliction no longer permeated both my body and my soul.”

Hui bit his lip. Does that mean… does Li Xiang have some hidden injury, just waiting to flare up?

The voice chuckled. “No. It was an affliction that began in the soul and spread to my body. With the swap, the injury should have long since faded as the sword spirit’s soul took the place of mine. I think… that child wanted to return me to my body, once the injury had faded, but… alas, he learned too late that the transfer cannot be reversed.”

“That child… do you mean Lan Taijian?” Hui asked.

“None other. Though… that child is no schemer. He was led into it by someone else.”

Hui nodded. Lan Yunxu, I bet. If Yunxu worked together with Lan Taijian, it explains how they had access to the forbidden spell formation. Though… I wonder… if they…

Pain stabbed into Hui’s head. He rubbed his skull and grimaced. What was I thinking? Anyways, we should get the Li Xiangs out of the other realm, before Chen Wuya finds them again. “Senior, are you prepared to transfer? We shouldn’t stay like this for long.”

“I’m already transferring,” the voice replied.

Eh? I didn’t feel anything. Or… is that normal? I haven’t transferred people across the barriers of realms before. Hui shrugged to himself and continued to reach out toward the scrap of qi, guiding it to him.

“Get ready.”

The world shimmered in front of him. A pair of pearly orbs appeared, hanging in midair. One emanated Li Xiang’s familiar aura, while the other reminded him of Li Xiang’s sword. Hui reached out and collected them into his sleeve. He stood, breaking his meditative stance, and looked at the blurry-faced swordswoman in front of him. “Can you stop the body from attacking us?”

“I don’t have much power. It may be best to simply leave this realm and reinsert us into our bodies as quickly as possible,” the soul replied.

Hui bit his lip. He looked at the swordswoman, then at Fang Hua. “Elder Sister, how do we leave this realm?”

“Once you find your fated treasure, you’re qualified to exit at any time. Reach out. You should be able to sense the realm’s exit, waiting for your call,” Fang Hua explained.

Hui frowned and closed his eyes. After a moment, he sensed it, a door-like crack in the realm he could step through at a moment’s notice. Opening his eyes, he nodded at Fang Hua. “I’m going to grab Li Xiang’s body and step through the realm. Follow behind me.”

“Has Li Xiang found her fated treasure?” Fang Hua asked.

The soul in Hui’s sleeve shook itself. “No.”

Hui scowled. Dammit! I don’t want to stay in this dangerous realm for any longer than I have to! But… if we can’t exit until we find her fated treasure, then… we’ll just have to find her fated treasure!

“Senior, could you lead me to—”

Splitting pain assaulted Hui, searing into his midriff. He crumpled in on himself, grabbing at his gut, expecting to find blood, guts. No wound opened in his stomach, but the pain only grew, twisting into him. He clawed at his flesh, biting his lip. It hurts! It hurts! What—what—

“Xiao Hui?” Fang Hua asked, stepping up beside him to put a hand on his shoulder.

A sinister chuckle sounded in Hui’s ear. “Did you really think you could leave without me?”