Both servants laid in the hut, sleeping talismans slowly burning to ash on their foreheads. Hui finished transferring the contents of Li Huang’s storage ring to Xiu Ya’s and stretched, satisfied. It’s been too long since I plundered something… er, rightfully liberated the possessions of foul demonic cultivators. None of this is particularly useful for me as a fifth stage cultivator, except for the spells. They might be pitifully under-leveled, but… given how few spells I know, any spells are useful. The more spells I learn, the more comprehension I can gain on spell structure, and eventually I might be able to advance the level of my spells!

Besides, It’ll help me pose as a lower-level cultivator.

It’s not as if this is only for me, either. Hui turned, regarding Ying Lin with a quiet light in his eyes.

Ying Lin suddenly felt exposed, and a shiver ran down her spine. Those eyes that seemed to see everything, desire everything… She hugged her purse to her chest. “I don’t have anything worth stealing! There’s no need to take these few coins…”

“I’m not a thief. I’m a righteous cultivator—er, doctor,” Hui said, insulted.

Ying Lin gave him a disbelieving look.

Hui cleared his throat. He straightened up and tucked his hands behind his back, adopting a noble air. He released a little bit of his aura, just enough to impress his majesty upon Ying Lin without suppressing her. “Ying Lin… I must reveal a secret.”

“You’re an immortal?” Ying Lin guessed.

Hui paused. Okay, fair. I guess it’s pretty obvious at this point. He cleared his throat. “How would you like to step upon the path of cultivation?”

“Become an immortal?” Ying Lin’s eyes sparkled. She nodded. “That’s a good idea! Immortals are beautiful, after all. If I’m going to be pretty enough to attract someone at the banquet—”

Hui waved his hand, cutting her off. “The path of immortality is a dangerous one to walk. If your pursuit is mere beauty, there are easier ways to obtain it. Once you begin to cultivate, you step into the world of cultivation. People will attack you for no reason, hold grudges, find faults, and explore all kinds of horrifying ways to take your poor little life away. Ying Lin, you must be ready to fight if you—”

“Eh, so you mean people might attack me for no reason?” She looked at the two servants. “That’s already happening, and I don’t even know how to fight back. I don’t really care about beauty, as long as I can survive and go interesting places like the banquet. Being pretty just seemed like the only way to attend.”

Right, right, she was motivated by the chance to attend the banquet and better her life, rather than the beauty itself. I’m the one who conflated her means with her ends. Hui nodded to himself, understanding better now. “I’ll teach you how to gather qi. You seem to have an instinctive understanding of the process, so that should speed things up. Once you gather enough qi, you’ll have to form your foundation. If possible, we want to do that before the banquet.”

“Before the banquet? Isn’t that… three days? But… the process of immortality… it took Fu Liyu two decades to form her foundation! How am I supposed to do that in three days?” Ying Lin asked, flabbergasted.

“Fu Liyu couldn’t do it, but you can, Ying Lin,” Hui replied confidently.

“Eh?” Ying Lin said.

He nodded. “The heavens choose their favored children. Ying Lin, you are definitely favored by the heavens!”

Flustered, Ying Lin glanced around. “Well, well, we, we should hurry, then. We only have three days!”

Hui nodded. “Good. Do you know anywhere with thick qi? Somewhere you… grow suddenly stronger, or feel strangely comfortable.”

Ying Lin paused. She put a finger to her chin. “Hmm… there is that place. There’s a glen near where I found you…”

“Let’s go,” Hui said. He reached for Gu Tian’s sword, only to summon a strange gold sword from Xiu Ya’s storage ring. Hui scowled at it. It’s so much easier to use my self-driving sword… er, my sword spirit! If only I could access my storage ring…

Access my storage ring at a distance… the inter-tree-net. If I could use that technique without it consuming me, maybe I could…

Hmm. My plant body is extremely good at regeneration. If it starts consuming me, but doesn’t immediately consume me, I could always cut that body part off. And even if it does consume me, I have a second clone nearby. It won’t be a complete loss.

It’s not as if I desperately need the inter-tree-net this close to my first clone and my storage ring, but I have no idea where the rest of my clones drifted to. Right now, I can test it here, in a low-danger environment where I can immediately replace my clone with another clone if it fails.

Hui nodded to himself. He turned to Ying Lin. “Head to the glen and begin absorbing the qi there. I’ll meet you in a moment.”

“Eh? But you don’t know where it is,” Ying Lin said.

“I can find it.” It’s a qi-rich area near me. There can’t be that many of them. Failing that, I can always follow Ying Lin’s aura.

“And I don’t know how to absorb qi!”

“You do,” Hui assured her. And it’s a good thing you do, because I barely understand it! I have to do the weird void thing if I want to absorb qi at any reasonable rate.

Ying Lin paused. She frowned at him. “Wait, that thing where I get warmer suddenly, and then I can run faster… that’s qi?”

Hui nodded.

“Oh. And I just have to absorb that? That’s easy! Wait. Has it always been that easy to become an immortal?” Ying Lin wondered aloud.

“You are favored by the heavens,” Hui replied neutrally.

Ying Lin paused another moment, then nodded at Hui. “Then… I’ll see you soon… Master?”

“It’s too soon to call me Master. I’m merely showing you the least, most elementary first step on the path of cultivation. Acknowledging a master is—well, anyways, don’t be in a rush to find a master. What if I’m a demonic cultivator, or a wanted criminal? You have incredible potential. Any cultivator would be glad to take you as a disciple,” Hui babbled all at once.

Ying Lin squinted at him, then shrugged. She glanced around, checking for servants-turned-assassins, and ran off into the woods.

Hui watched her go. Once she vanished from sight, he breathed out and circulated his qi, settling it back into its usual pattern. After so long suppressing it, his qi passages tingled, almost like a numb limb waking up again. He wrinkled his nose and shook his whole body. Ugh. I don’t like that.

As he released his cultivation, he scribbled a barrier talisman on a leaf, taking a moment to adjust the spell and add in some of the sound-suppression from Fu Liyu’s barrier and aura-alteration from his understanding of the reed shoes’ operation. The resulting barrier talisman burned faster, but hid more of his emanations than before.

Before the barrier fully closed, he sent a string of qi out to Ying Lin, checking in on her progress. She ran through the woods, alone as far as he could tell, no murderous servants on her tail. Satisfied, Hui let the barrier close, cutting off his qi, and settled into the lotus pose.

Hmm, that reminds me. I need to take the time to sit down and figure out my one-way barriers, eventually. Maybe another clone…?

He reached out mentally, but couldn’t sense any other clones except the one in the cave. Are they not close enough, or not awake yet?

Ah well, either way, once I get my inter-tree-net started, it should be easier to check on that. After all, the art seemed to resonate with all plants in a vast distance. With the plant resonance plus my natural synergy with my fellow clones, I should be able to sense my other clones, wherever they are.

Hui adjusted his state one last time and took a deep breath, circulating it in and out. Grabbing the golden sword from the storage ring, he held it over his left hand. He recalled Mount Mu’s inheritance and allowed it to direct the flow of his qi, but gathered all of the inheritance’s structure into his left hand, only activating it there.

Here we go. The moment of truth!