Lu Zudong’s form blurred as he rushed at Hui, becoming a streak of white light. Hui fell back, throwing barrier after barrier between the two of them. Lu Zudong burst through them one after the other, the barriers barely slowing his rush. Hui grit his teeth and backed up at full speed, still throwing barriers. At last, Lu Zudong began to slow. Hui could make out his body from within the beam of light.

He grit his teeth and activated his crystal mode under the snakeskin, then stopped throwing barriers. He should be slow enough for me to survive the blow now!

“Out of talismans?” Lu Zudong sneered. He slammed bodily into Hui, throwing him back in the air.

The force of the blow shoved his air out of his stomach, even in his crystal form. Fault lines broke into his body, and it barely held together. Hui plummeted limply, swapping to plant form as he fell to heal the cracks. I don’t want to fight this scary person. I’ll ‘die’ here and let someone else handle him.

Lu Zudong snorted as he watched Hui fall, arms crossed.

“He isn’t dead! The talisman is still inside me!” Tang Fei shouted.

Traitor! How rude! Hui shouted silently. He righted himself and glared at Tang Fei. “So sure it’ll go away when I die?”

Tang Fei stiffened at that. “It’s your qi, of course it…”

“Death qi. You know how dangerous death qi is. It should be able to survive for a long time without me, no?” Hui asked, tipping his head.

Tang Fei gaped. Her jaw worked. At last, she glared at him. “But you were faking this time!”

Ah, Elder Sister… I was also bluffing you just now. I had no idea if death qi would stick around after death. I mean, it makes sense that it would, but now I have confirmation.

Hui shrugged. “This time. But next time, or the time after… I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“Next time, or the time after?” Tang Fei muttered to herself. Most people only die once, Weiheng Hui! Isn’t that basically admitting that you plan to fake your death a great many more times?

Lu Zudong rushed at Hui again, cutting his conversation short. As Lu Zudong drew his arm back, his muscles bulged, growing grotesquely large, three or four times their usual size. When he threw his fist out, they contracted, throwing all the power they’d gained into the single punch.

Hui activated his crystal mode just before the punch hit and barely soaked the blow. Cracks bit deep into his torso, only to heal the next moment as he swapped to plant form. Curious, he opened his third eye, watching as Lu Zudong drew his arm back again. Life qi surged through his body, invigorating Lu Zudong’s muscles and surging them to grow larger, then rushing out as killing force as he punched.

This time, rather than passively take the blow, Hui reached out his hand toward Lu Zudong’s arm. Using his void technique, he drew at the qi in Lu Zudong’s arm, calling the life qi to himself. A small handful of life qi left Lu Zudong and flew to Hui, and his arm shrunk back down a little.

Only that much? Disappointing. I guess it is another person’s qi. It isn’t that easy to draw someone’s qi out of them. I think I can only do it now because he’s feeding so much into his arm that extra is leaking out. Hui leaped back, continuing to jump away from the blow.

Lu Zudong’s eyes went wide. He leaped back, his arm shrinking back to its usual size. Panting, he stared at Hui. “How did you do that?”

“Er… I absorbed it, Elder Brother?” Hui asked, slightly confused. Is it that startling? Anyone could do it, probably.

“You absorbed it… out of my body?” Lu Zudong asked, taken aback.

“It was leaking out…” Hui explained, then paused. Wait, is this because the people in this world consider sharing qi to be… er, something for lovers? But it’s not like we shared qi. I just stole a little of his… it doesn’t count, right?

Lu Zudong backed away almost subconsciously. He gave Hui a startled look. “You… can’t do that.”

“Er… I’m sorry?” Hui said.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that. How can you do that?” Lu Zudong demanded, rushing at Hui. His arm swelled up again, this time too far away for Hui to steal the life qi from it. It grew larger than before, until his arm began to glow with a metallic gold light, until the skin looked as though it was made of gold. Sunlight spiraled toward his fist, glittering off it in all directions.

Hui flew backward, scalp prickling with an intense sensation of danger. He crystallized his body, and yet the sensation only intensified. I’m going to die if that hits me, I’m going to die!

“Sun… shattering… Fist!” Lu Zudong shouted, punching out at Hui.

A sunlight-colored fist fully thirty meters tall materialized and flew at Hui. Intense heat emanated from the fist, along with an intense aura of life qi. Hui grit his teeth and fled at top speed, dodging backward as he did so. The fist chased after him with intensity, refusing to give up until it struck him.

Won’t let me get away? Dammit, fine! Then, I’ll just… He put his hands out in front of him and absorbed the qi madly, as rapidly as he could.

The fist barely diminished in size. Only a small amount of qi moved toward Hui, even using the void technique. Hui frowned. That’s not working. I need something else. Something to break up the technique before I can absorb it…

In the meantime, I… have to grit my teeth and bear it! I have the snakeskin technique! I have to hope it won’t completely incinerate my body in one go, and let it hit me!

Wait. The fist is following me somehow. Did it lock onto my aura? My qi, maybe? Then, if either of those are true… Hui hesitated a single breath, then shook his head. It’s this or take the hit! I hate pain. I’ll try this, first!

Hui killed his qi and masked his aura with death qi. He plummeted out of the sky, no longer holding himself up. The gold fist continued to rush toward him. Hui sucked in a breath. If I’m wrong, I have no defenses right now! Please, be right, be right!

The fist closed in on him. It seemed uncertain, but continued to race toward the last space Hui had occupied. Though he’d fallen, he couldn’t fall fast enough, relying on gravity alone, to escape it.

Damn! I don’t even know if it worked. Argh, I have no option…

His sword yanked him downward, out of the path of the fist. The fist soared over his head, passing centimeters over him.

Hui blinked. Did my sword… move on its own just now?

A weak will reached out to him from within the sword. Quiet and uncertain, it gave Hui an impression of confusion, then vanished again.

“Gu Tian?” Hui asked, looking at his sword. After getting soul-transferred twice, has Gu Tian… turned into a sword spirit?

The will inside the sword hesitated, then nodded.

What an adaptable guy! Hui grinned at his sword and swung it down, throwing it under his feet. “Elder Brother Gu Tian, fly for me, okay?”

Another weak, somewhat confused okay from the sword.

The punch detonated against the forest below. Hui turned, then reached out toward it, absorbing the remnant motes of life qi before they could dissipate. Can’t hurt to grab a little more.