The last motes of qi from Lu Zudong’s punch attack began to fade far below. Hui closed his hand, disappointed. It wasn’t much. It seems like waiting until after the attack lands is too long.

Even as he absorbed the qi, Lu Zudong flew at him. “Turning your back to the enemy?”

Without turning, Hui chuckled. “Behind you, Elder Brother.”

Lu Zudong threw his hand behind him and caught Jin Xian by the throat before she could claw him. He clenched his fist, and Jin Xian’s neck cracked. Life qi swelled in his hand, surging toward Jin Xian.

Hui flicked his hand. The songbirds flew from his dantian and rushed through Lu Zudong’s body. Everywhere they passed, they threw his life qi into disarray.

“Your filthy jiangshi dies here! You’re only prolonging the inevitable!” Lu Zudong shouted.

“Am I?” Hui asked, turning to face Lu Zudong, an enigmatic smile on his face. Despite himself, a shiver ran through Lu Zudong at the sight of that smile.

The snake draped around Hui’s neck suddenly jumped at him. Lu Zudong slapped out, intercepting the snake in midair. The snake spat a purple mist toward him, then sank its fangs into his hand. Poison pumped into him. Lu Zudong shook his hand, sending the snake flying.

Zhubi flew back toward Hui, growing to his thirty-meter size. He coiled around Hui in midair, hovering around him, his coils protecting Hui.

Zhubi hissed and reared his head back. A thousand shadow snakes appeared around him and rushed toward Lu Zudong. He threw up a defensive shield, but the snakes pierced it as if it were paper and slammed into his body. Everywhere they touched, dark blots appeared on Lu Zudong’s flesh. In all those places, his qi began to riot. Wriggling shapes appeared under his skin, crawling around, as if the thousand shadow snakes existed inside him now, swimming through his qi passages.

Is that the technique he ate, all the way back in Black Asp Sect? The snake ancestor’s reward? Zhubi, good boy! What a time to use it! Hui beamed, proud, and patted Zhubi’s back.

Zhubi turned to Hui and nuzzled his head, then turned back to glare at Lu Zudong.

“Stop! Stop it!” Lu Zudong backed away, slapping at his body. He released Jin Xian for a single moment to press his own pressure points and stop the flow of qi. The shadow snakes slithered just on the other side of the points, hungry for his qi. Prevented from crawling any further inside him, they sunk into his body and absorbed his qi, withering his body from the inside out. In a moment, all his extremities and some of his chest appeared gaunt and withered, as though it belonged to an old man and not a youth.

Behind him, Jin Xian righted her snapped neck. Black blood spotted up around the wound as she healed it, and a single drop oozed from her lips. She licked the blood and smiled, then slashed at Lu Zudong’s back.

At the last second, Hui altered her blow, aiming it for one of Lu Zudong’s sealed pressure points. Jin Xian’s claws bit into his flesh and rotted away the sealed pressure point. The remaining shadow snakes surged forth, slithering past the blockage, deeper into Lu Zudong’s body.

“You… you…” Lu Zudong spat up a mouthful of rotten, putrid blood and stumbled back, sealing another pressure point. By then, however, three quarters of his chest sunk in, withered to the extreme. “How many fighters do you command? A spirit beast, a jiangshi, the ghouls…”

Hui bowed apologetically. “Elder Brother, you forgot the lotus beast.”

“Lotus beast—” Lu Zudong spat another mouthful of blood.

“It’s not that shocking, is it?” Hui said. He waved his hand, summoning the ducks and the songbirds back to his dantian.

“Life and death qi?” Blood oozed out of Lu Zudong’s mouth.

“Er… Elder Brother, you should probably stop talking. You keep spitting blood…” Hui said, looking at him from the corner of his eye.

Zhubi hissed.

“Oh, that’s right. Zhubi’s poison throws your qi into chaos. Elder Brother, please calm down, or you’ll have a qi deviation,” Hui warned him.

“I’ll… I’ll…” Lu Zudong’s face turned bright red. He took another step back. Just as Hui had warned, his qi swirled wildly within him, no longer under his control. He grabbed his head, even as his mind began to tremble. Panting, he shook his head and backed away. How… how… this inconsequential disciple from an inconsequential sect, he…

Hui looked at Tang Fei beside him. She backed away, her eyes wide with fear.

He shook his head and sighed deeply. “I’ve become a heart demon again.” Zhubi’s poison and a little bit of irritation… honestly, these people are too mentally weak. Chang Bolin snapped, too. But I took Zhubi’s poison multiple times, and I’m fine.

Well, I suppose Lu Zudong did also take the shadow-snake technique and Jin Xian’s claws, and Zhubi’s a lot stronger than he was. Hui looked at Zhubi and stroked his back again. I have to be good to Zhubi! Feed him something tasty. He deserves a treat.

Tang Fei stared, taken aback. Again? What does he mean, again? How many times has he become someone’s heart demon?

Hui looked at Lu Zudong and cleared his throat. “Elder brother, surrender. I can reverse the poison and the qi deviation. I don’t want to kill, I only want to stop you.”

Lu Zudong’s qi roiled inside him, completely outside his control. His mind shook wildly, on the verge of shattering. All around him, everyone looked like Hui. A thousand copies of Zhubi coiled around a thousand copies of Hui, all pointing and laughing. For a second, clarity broke through, and Lu Zudong saw his sectmates instead of Hui, but in the next moment, the illusion reasserted itself. On the verge of sanity, Lu Zudong trembled. Any longer, and I… might start attacking my own sect!

Spitting up a final mouthful of rotten blood, Lu Zudong howled and slammed his hand down on his own forehead, cutting his life off before he could go berserk from a qi deviation.

It was Hui’s turn to be taken aback. He blinked, then shook his head. “I said I would heal him! Honestly, these people… you give up so easily!”

Tang Fei edged a little further away from Hui. This man… is simply a monster! Even if Starbound Sect survives, he must be put down!