The last bolt of tribulation lightning seared Hui’s plant body. It cooked, turning limp and soggy. At the same time, the orbs of qi in his dantian spun faster and faster. The tribulation lightning burned all around them. All the impurities in his dantians burned away, struck off by the final bolt of the lightning. Even as it broke down his body, it built up his cultivation. The scalding lightning purified his passages, searing away impurities and remnants that stuck to the walls of the passages. It blasted through his meridians, cleansing them to the utmost. His dantians spun faster and faster, spurred on by the lightning. The speed alone shaped them into more and more perfect circles, while the lightning served to remove any remaining filth.

Every rush of lightning burned like fire in his veins. Every removed impurity ached like a fingernail peeled from his body. Everything in him screamed to fight back, but he resisted the urge. Never! Not now, not ever!

At last, the pain faded away. The lightning faded as well. Qi rushed into him from all directions, the blessing following the tribulation, and his body resurged, rejuvenated. All the cooked vegetable parts of him un-cooked, and even his internal injuries healed.

Phew. At least that’s over. I couldn’t imagine if I had that hanging over me forever. Now that the fifth stage tribulation is done, that’s the end of it, right?

Right?

It was for Master, but… somehow, I feel like using Master as a guide to the later stages is a poor decision!

Hui took a deep breath. Something crispy laid atop his body, blackened and ruined. He lifted a hand and peeled a bit off, to find himself staring at Zhi Ahn’s robes. Oh, right. The snakeskin technique! I forgot I had it activated. He shook himself hard, and blackened snakeskin shot off in all directions, revealing his own face beneath it.

Zhi Ahn stared, dumbstruck.

Hui touched his face, a little taken aback, but then gave Zhi Ahn an almost apologetic smile. Could it be? Am I so incredibly handsome that Zhi Ahn doesn’t know what to say? I’ve always been handsome, after all, and the tribulation should have revised my body and purified—

“Why are you green? Does the tribulation lightning turn you green?” Zhi Ahn asked, confused.

…Eh, that’s right. I’m still in the lotus body, after all.

Hui clenched his fists and sighed.

“What?” Zhi Ahn said warily.

“I don’t know. I expected there to be… more to the tribulation. It hurt, yes, and it was difficult, but… do people really die to that? Elder Brother, you saw me. I laid there and did nothing and passed the tribulation. Is it really that easy?” Hui asked, looking at Zhi Ahn.

Zhi Ahn stared at him, wide-eyed. “You… didn’t resist the tribulation, and survived?”

Hui nodded. “It only attacks you if you fight back. It doesn’t actually do damage to your body if you don’t fight back, it only hurts. A trifling bit of pain… Well, if it’s that simple to overcome the Heavenly Tribulation, I can’t help but wonder how anyone dies to it.”

Beside them, lightning struck Lu Lintei. She screamed, fighting back with all her might. Even then, she spat up a mouthful of blood and shuddered in pain as the lightning struck her. Her face paled, and she stumbled in the air from the pain alone.

Zhi Ahn’s stare became even stranger. You… you consider that level of pain to be trifling? The level of pain where one spits up blood and nearly passes out is nothing? No, he faced worse pain, because he wasn’t fighting back. Is… is he okay? What kind of hole does his brain have?

For the first time, he felt a chill down his spine when facing Hui. He backed away from Hui subtly. This man… for a great variety of reasons, I suddenly want nothing to do with him.

Hui looked around him. Jin Xian flew up to his side, a horrifying, bloodless grin on her face and icy yin fluctuations joining the death and blood qi emanating from her body. Zhubi rushed over to Hui’s side and curled up around his neck, settling happily into place.

The lotus beast…? Hui turned his eyes down toward his Master’s peak.

A strange garden of lotuses bloomed at the foot of the tree, not a single one anywhere near the water lotuses usually required to thrive. Among the other lotuses, a huge lotus bud stood, easily ten times the size of the other lotuses. Bai Jingwen’s aura weakly emanated from the bud.

…Is this part of a lotus beast transcending their fifth realm tribulation, or did Mount Mu also try to foist its turning-into-trees inheritance upon her? Hui hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. She is a plant, ultimately. I’m sure she’ll be fine.

He looked at Zhi Ahn, who fell back, hands up. “Please, I’m no threat. I recognize when I’m outmatched.”

Hui stared at him for another second, then nodded. Internally, he smiled. Ah, how peaceful! If only the cultivation world could always be like this. See, it's possible to come to understandings with words. We don’t always need fists!

Zhi Ahn regarded him with narrowed eyes, guard raised. If that man takes another step toward me, I’m going to flee, Lu Lintei be damned! I don’t want to die for a slacker like her!

Before he left, Hui lifted his hand toward the blooming lotuses far below. All but a few, which he left behind to breed more lotuses, lifted into the sky, roots, leaves, and all. He waved his hand and sent them flying in all directions. The plants flew off, scattering across the continent.

Now I’ll have bodies growing, ready to be harvested, wherever I go! I’ve essentially created a dozen respawn points. And the more the plants breed and spread, the more respawns I get! Wonderful, simply too wonderful.

Ah, but for now… there’s only twelve. I suppose I’ll have to be careful not to truly die unless I’m near one of the lotus plants, near enough to outrun the reaper.

Satisfied, Hui drew Gu Tian’s sword and flew off, racing away from Starbound Sect. As he flew, he cut down on his aura until it faded away, as if he’d been killed.

Behind him, Zhi Ahn tightened his hold on the head. He bit his lip, then reached out and started changing it subtly with his qi to make it more lifelike. Dammit, everyone else might have faith in Ding Qinwen being a bit dull, but dammit, he’s not that dull! Argh, in the end, Lu Lintei shoves all the work onto me one way or another.

Already distant, Erlan turned and fled in the opposite direction, abandoning his fight with Ding Qinwen. Four fifth-stage fluctuations? So they all succeeded, dammit.

He hesitated, then stared back over his shoulder. A fifth heavenly tribulation? How many beings on the verge of tribulation did Xiao Hui bring with him?

Ding Qinwen raced after him. “Fleeing? Ha, so you admit it. My Master is superior to yours!”

Erlan looked down his nose at Ding Qinwen. “So hellbent on comparing masters, could it be, you’re terrified that your pathetic Master is inferior?”

“Not at all!” Ding Qinwen snarled, chasing after Erlan.

Erlan paused. He looked at Ding Qinwen. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Ding Qinwen furrowed his brows.

“Such dimwits. Ah… do I really have to spell it out for you?” Erlan sighed.

“Speak!” Ding Qinwen demanded.

Erlan shook his head. “Aren’t you stationed here so you can ensure no Starbound disciples escape with their lives?”

“Of course!” Ding Qinwen replied.

“I’m not a Starbound disciple, am I?”

“You’re a demonic—”

“And there’s a Starbound disciple right back there, isn’t there?”

Ding Qinwen froze. He blinked. “I…” He had nothing to say. He looked at Erlan, then turned back toward where tribulation clouds dispersed, and a new batch gathered. This filthy demonic cultivator… is right. My job is to kill Starbound Sect disciples. Although it’s always proper for righteous cultivators and demonic cultivators to battle, right now… I’m neglecting my duty!

He frowned at Erlan. “You might get away this time, but the next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky.” With that, he raced off toward where he’d last seen Hui.

Erlan snorted. He turned and stepped atop his inkbrush, fleeing at top speed away from Hui and Starbound Sect. Those All-Heavens disciples can go ahead and seek death if they want, but I’m no fool. I have hundreds of years of experience on both that Xiao Hui and those All-Heavens idiots, and all those years point to one clear truth: never fight four people at your level at once unless you have a heaven-defying trump up your sleeve! As good as His Excellency’s treasures are, in the end, they’re quibbling treasures, not divine artifacts or anything incredible. I’m not staking my life on them in a four-on-one fight. Even if Hui is a useless coward, the three fifth stage beings who fight for him are all worthy of my respect.

A beam of light charged after him suddenly. Erlan tensed. Did Xiao Hui decide to come after my head, after all?

“Aha, afraid for nothing! I knew my underlings would have it handled. Demonic cultivator, you die here today!” Ding Qinwen crowed, thrusting the lance toward Erlan.

“What?” Erlan muttered, then realized it immediately. He scowled. “You already know he can mask his aura! Don’t be dim!”

“I won’t listen to another word you speak! I should have known a demonic cultivator like you would only speak lies!” Ding Qinwen stabbed toward Erlan again.

Erlan scowled and drew his ink brush. Damn All Heavens idiots!