As he rode Zhubi, Hui sorted through the treasures he’d picked up in Chen Wuya’s realm. Most of them he had no affinity with, or plain didn’t know how to use. With his tiny size, he had to use his qi to hover them near him, rather than directly hold them, as most were too unwieldy for him. On the other hand, his tininess gave Hui a unique perspective into the treasures, and details that the normal-sized him might have missed stood out to the tiny him.

Peering up at a mysterious box with a revolving inner panel, Hui frowned, then put it back in his storage ring. I can sell the useless ones. Even if they’re only useless treasures, they should still be worth a few spirit stones. Maybe I can finally get out…

…of debt to the Sect Master…

Hui sat there silently for a moment, shoulders slumped. After a second, he sat up and clapped his cheeks. No! Stay focused. I’m going to bring them all back. I won’t get depressed. Something this trifling… couldn’t… focus!

Shaking his head hard, he went back to sorting through his loot.

A glimmer of gold caught his eye. Hui drew out the treasure, and instantly, his face brightened. A group of golden needles floated above his head, mingling together like the finest straw. The gold needles! I got them! Just like Xixing suggested, I can try out spiritual medicine now!

Xixing…

This time, his face twitched, and something prickled in his eyes. Hui slapped his face again and sniffed, forcing it back. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m going to bring them all back. It’s all going to be okay. I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything.

He stored the needles back in his storage ring and pressed on, searching for anything else. For the most part, none of the treasures he’d snatched stood out to him. Many were weapons he hadn’t practiced with, or otherwise unsuited for him. Some, like a pair of black stones engraved with mysterious runes, were so esoteric he had no idea how to even use them for cultivation. One or two of them were scrolls that contained cultivation techniques. Hui scanned those, but none seemed particularly suited for him.

Well, I did just grab a bunch of treasures at random, without even paying attention to what I was grabbing. I’d be quite lucky to grab a bunch of treasures that were all useful to me.

Not that these aren’t useful. All treasures are useful! Useful… for spirit stones!

And no one’s going to come after me, because… the sect is gone.

Hui paused, looking at the treasure in his hand—a horsehair whip with a colorful handle. Frowning, he turned it over. Did I… plunder my own sect, in essence?

Something about that made him chuckle, but he stopped himself abruptly. It’s not funny. Focus, Hui. I need to sneak back to my sect, check on the status of everyone inside, and figure out how to revive them! Focus on the goal!

A loud thump startled him. Hui looked up, then kept looking up. A pale skinned monster, emanating a scent of blood and an aura of death, stood over them. She licked her lips hungrily and crouched down, reaching out a hand.

Zhubi flipped over, inadvertantly dislodging Hui as he played dead.

"It's alright, it's alright! It's Jin Xian," Hui said, scrambling out from under Zhubi. She picked him up and held him up to her milky eyes, taking a close look.

Hui smiled. "Jin Xian, it's--"

Jin Xian opened her mouth wide.

Shit! Does she not recognize me because I'm so small? But last time--last time, that was Fang Hua! Shaking his head at himself. Hui waved his hand and drew her into his storage ring. A startled expression passed briefly over her face before she vanished. Hui fell, but started to fly midair and dropped gently back down beside Zhubi. He patted the snake's exposed belly. "It's fine. It's safe now."

Zhubi peeked up, and only when he saw no threats did he roll back over. Hui hopped back on board, and they continued onward.

Zhubi slithered along, neither fast nor slow. Atop Zhubi, Hui sat quietly and focused on cultivation as he waited. A death faking talisman… it has the potential to be an incredible offensive move. Even if it only activates for a moment, it could disrupt the flow of battle. And as a talisman, I can throw it at friends and make sure they don’t do anything silly like try to fight back.

He drew out some scraps of his talisman paper and began to draw on it. At the same time, he contemplated his death faking techniques. Rather than consciously try to draw a death faking talisman, he simply let his hand move across the paper. He doodled thoughtlessly. Most of it had nothing to do with cultivation, let alone faking death, but the longer his hand moved, the more what he wrote began to resonate with his death faking. Eventually, Hui subconsciously began to suppress his cultivation and life signs as he wrote. He fell into a trance, hands moving, but the rest of his body slowing unto death.

Zhubi glanced back at him, then decided not to disturb him. Quietly, he slithered over the border of Starbound Sect.

“The perimeter activated!”

All-Heavens Sect cultivators rushed over. Zhubi glanced up at his head, then delicately tipped Hui off his head and laid on top of him protectively. A shadow fell over him, and Zhubi shuddered. He tried to resist, but couldn’t. He turned belly up and stuck his tongue out.

The All-Heavens cultivator sighed. He kicked Zhubi lightly and walked away. “It’s just a spirit beast.”

“What realm?” a female cultivator shouted back.

“Fourth,” the cultivator shouted back. He paused, then nudged Zhubi over.

Zhubi flipped back over, resisting the cultivator’s effort to make him not play dead.

The cultivator pulled a face. He glanced over his shoulder at the female cultivator. “It’s, er… it seems kind of useless, though.”

The female cultivator wandered over. She looked at Zhubi and scowled in disgust. “It looks like a worm. Gross.”

“Do you want me to kill it?” the cultivator asked.

“It’s already dead.” Tossing her hair, the female cultivator walked away.

The cultivator glanced at Zhubi. He nudged the snake one more time with his toe. “I don’t really need any fourth-realm snake scales… I guess I’ll let it go. Hey, grow big and strong and come back with fifth-level scales, alright?”

Zhubi tilted his head a little, perfecting his play-dead stance.

Chuckling under his breath, the cultivator walked away. Louder, he shouted, “Someone tell Ding Qinwen to fix the sensitivity of his perimeter. That’s the third time it’s gone off for a spirit beast.”

Hui peeked out from under Zhubi’s coils and stuck his tongue out at the cultivator’s back. He patted Zhubi’s scales. “Thanks, boy.”

If that guy dared attack Zhubi, I would have taken his head, even if it left me in a bad situation! Hui vowed silently. From the moment Zhubi tipped him off his head, Hui had been awake, no longer trapped in the trance state. He held a half-finished talisman in his hand, but the other half was no more than nonsense scribbles. He glanced at it, then put it away in his storage ring. I got the feeling I won’t be able to finish the play-dead talisman until I’m at a higher realm. If I don’t try for the offensive version, though… I think I can finish that with another few months’ worth of contemplation.

Zhubi hissed quietly. With some effort, he flipped back over. Shaking himself off, he flicked his tongue at Hui and tipped his head.

Hui petted his head. “Let’s hurry up into the sect before someone else comes.” Now that we’ve come this far, let’s hurry up and find out what state everyone’s in!