Or so it seemed. Hui held his breath, his body limp, exuding a death aura, his cultivation suppressed to the utmost. All the other cultivators, too, played dead, souls tied to Hui’s through the spell formation, controlled by Hui, powered by the massive reserves of life qi within Mount Mu.

It was a level of playing dead that even Hui had never attempted before. Their bodies had ceased. Their minds were blank. Their souls, even, were suppressed to almost nothing. The spell stopped everything, and masked over it all with a touch of death qi to lend an aura of death. Hui let it eat into himself and the other cultivators a tiny bit, enough to make their flesh begin to rot an infinitesimal amount. Under the death qi, he hid an equally tiny amount of life qi, enough to undo any harm the second he let go.

Effectively, every single cultivator in the sect dropped dead. The only difference between their current state and true death was that Hui controlled this state and induced it artificially, and as such, could reverse it. Holding it for too long would be harmful to everyone involved, Hui most of all. As the one suppressing everyone, he bore all the weight of handling the compass’ spell formation and keeping the connection to all the cultivators in Starbound Sect. Even with Chen Wuya’s assistance, his body still continued to wither and crack under the force of maintaining the spell formation.

Extermination power swept over the sect. Invisible, it appeared only as a force rustling through the leaves, shivering through the grass, ruffling the fur of the animals in the sect. The power spared mortal animals and unconscious plants, but anything conscious with a single hint of cultivation power in its body, the power destroyed utterly. A few plants on Jade Garden Peak spontaneously withered, and a family of spirit bunnies collapsed, cold and dead.

Not even sparing the rabbits? How vicious! Hui thought, frowning.

As it brushed by the first cultivators, Hui held his breath. The extermination passed through them and moved on. Visibly, nothing changed. They laid still, continuing to exude an aura of death. Despite the black thread connecting Hui to them, the second the power of extermination touched them, he no longer sensed their status, their qi, their souls… nothing.

Hui’s heart raced. His hand clenched subtly, but only for a moment. He forced his heart to slow, forced his hand to loosen. Despite everything, was it useless in the end?

Chen Wuya sighed. “Don’t be stupid. Of course you can’t sense anything on the other side of the power of extermination. That’s like expecting to see light on the other side of a vortex.”

Hui glanced up at the fine distortion in the air, all that remained of the entrance to Chen Wuya’s realm. “So I won’t know until it completely passes over us?”

“All you can do now is hold your breath and wait,” Chen Wuya confirmed.

“Senior… will you be alright?”

“Eh? This trifling power of extermination from a mere seventh-realm cultivator? Naturally. Besides, I’m in a different dimension. The power will be weakened here.” He paused. “…but probably not enough for anyone but your Peak Lords to escape alive.”

That’s no good at all, then.

Hui watched the wave of extermination move closer. Although it moved at great speed, the borders of Starbound Sect were quite large. It took some time for the power of extermination to pass over the entire sect. Even so, in the time it took an incense stick to burn, the power of extermination was already upon Hui. He suppressed himself to the utmost, killing his cultivation, his soul’s cultivation, everything. He maintained the spell formation, but nothing else. In fact, he allowed the withering power of the spell formation to burrow into his body, leaving him more desiccated than ever before.

The power of extermination struck Hui, rolling over his hand, then his arm, then his whole body.

Icy cold flowed into his flesh. A thousand needles dug into his palm, into his arm, into his chest. A horrible numb yet painful sensation flowed through his flesh. The power pulled at his soul, eroding away at his mind and internal energy. The urge to fight back rose up in Hui, to shove off the painful energy and free himself from its destruction. At the last second, he resisted the urge. No. Play dead. Don’t attack. It wants me to fight. It wants to seep into me and destroy me. If I lie still instead, it’ll pass over me. It will. I’ll be fine. Endure, Hui. Believe in playing dead! It’s worked this whole time, I refuse to believe that the power of extermination can counter my ultimate skill of playing dead!

The pain grew more intense. Hui’s mind began to tremble, unable to take the pain. He forced himself to endure. Come on. I’ve had both legs broken before. I’ve been thrown off a second-story building as a mortal. I’ve had my fingers smashed and stepped on! I can handle this! This is nothing! The loan sharks were a thousand times worse. Hui, endure!

It built to a fever pitch. His mind blurred, and his soul began to dissipate. His body ached fiercely. Every single cell burned, froze, tore apart, but still he endured, refusing to react, refusing to fight back.

Fight back and lose. React, and die. Endure. Endure. ENDURE!

Hui’s body weakened. His soul shuddered. His mind blanked. His vision went black, and his sensation faded out. Nothing remained except for pain. What little remained of Hui focused on that, on the thread of pure, unadulterated pain.

The extermination power whittled his life down to a flickering candle. Hui cupped his hands over that flame, protecting it with everything that remained. The power routed his protections, but even as it tore through them, Hui continued to put up more, not resisting, not fighting back, but providing the power with something to distract it, something to destroy aside from his flickering life flame. The power blew through him like a stiff wind, more than enough to extinguish the candle, but in the wrong direction. It battered Hui to bits, but never finished extinguishing his life.

All at once, the extermination power lessened. The pain faded, and sensation returned. Light. Touch. Scent.

Hui’s eyes widened. I made it!

The connection to all the other cultivators on the far side of the extermination power returned. Hui reached out, tentative, and connected to one. Are they still alive? Did they make it?

A weak reaction responded to him. The cultivator’s body bled, and their soul trembled, but the flickering candle of their life continued to burn.

One by one, Hui reached out to all the other cultivators, checking his connection. One by one, they responded. Alive. Alive. Alive. Injured, weak, but alive.

His connection to Xixing came to life, and she reached out to him. Alive!

He found Sis Mei’s string. She responded, almost like holding his hand. A reassurance.

Tears leaked down his cheeks. Despite himself, Hui sniffled. He put a hand over his eyes and smiled, exhausted.

“I did it. They’re all… they’re all alive!”