Ying Lin and Hui passed time within the glen, Hui playing Ying Lin’s dharma protector while she consolidated her foundation. At dawn on the third day, Hui stood at last, stretching. Zhubi came back to his side reluctantly, dripping spring water down his scales. He wriggled back up to Hui’s neck. Water dripped down Hui’s spine, and he shivered. Cold!

Wiping the water off, he turned to Ying Lin and held out the robes he’d stolen from the female servant. “Here, change into these robes.”

“Eh? Why?” she asked.

“You want to go to the banquet, right?” Hui said. With the snakeskin technique, I could change her clothes as well as her face, but these robes do have some protective spells woven into them. It’s better than having her rely only on the snakeskin.

Ying Lin nodded. She took the robes, then frowned at Hui. “No peeking.”

Hui smiled and bowed, turning away. Elder Sister, I’ll be quite honest. You’re basically a single step above a mortal in beauty, and a child to boot. I have no interest in looking at your body.

Clothes rustled behind him. Ying Lin grumbled under her breath to herself as she tightened the robes to fit her, then cleared her throat. “I’m done.”

Hui nodded. He turned around and reached his hand out toward her. “Stand very still. I’m going to cast an advanced technique on you. It might feel a bit uncomfortable, but bear with it.”

Ying Lin nodded. She screwed her eyes up tight and tensed.

Chuckling, Hui called up the snakeskin technique. He gathered the spell in his hand rather than circulating it through his body, then lowered his hand onto Ying Lin’s head. A skin rolled down over her body from his palm, changing her face. In a moment, a shorter version of the servant Xiu Ya stood before him.

She is a bit shorter, but will anyone notice? Hui considered for a second, then mentally shrugged. We’ll mix in with the servants at the last minute. Like that, they won’t have time to question us. Besides, the servants are apparently randomly-hired rogue cultivators. It’s not as if they know one another well…probably.

Ying Lin raised her hands and frowned at them, flexing her palms and stretching her fingers. “It feels weird.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Hui said. At this point, I’d probably feel uncomfortable if I wasn’t wearing a snakeskin.

“Like I’m wearing someone’s skin,” Ying Lin said, wrinkling her nose.

Hui cleared his throat. It most certainly… is not… exactly… what you are doing right now, Elder Sister! Don’t worry about it! “Ying Lin, call yourself Xiu Ya from now on. I’m Li Huang, understood?”

“Not Xie Hao?” Ying Lin asked, tilting her head.

“I… er, we’re in disguise,” Hui explained.

“Were you in disguise from the start?” Ying Lin wondered.

Hui cleared his throat again. “Er, it’s not important.”

“So you were! What do you really look like?” she asked.

“I look like I did when I was tiny,” Hui said.

Ying Lin frowned. “I couldn’t see clearly. You were too small.”

“I’ll show you after the banquet,” Hui promised. It’s not as if it’ll hurt anything if Ying Lin knows what I look like. She doesn’t know I’m a wanted cultivator. Though I should probably break the news that I’m wanted before I show her my face, so she doesn’t get any ideas about me hiding that from her.

I’ve warned her not to treat me as her master for good reason! Once I do that, she should understand. Ah, if she decides to leave and find a real sect after that, I’ll help her with that. It’s understandable to not want a criminal for a master.

What if she doesn’t? Hui froze, considering that. He looked at Ying Lin.

She tilted her head at him. “Huh?”

“Nothing,” Hui said. He turned away. “Let’s hurry back to the manor. If Xiu Ya and Li Huang aren’t invited to the banquet, we may have to change disguises.”

“Couldn’t we also ask to come along? We’re immortals, after all. They could always use more guards for the Young Miss,” Ying Lin suggested.

Hui paused. Ah, that does make sense. I’m not very assertive, so I didn’t think of it, but… well, if they say no, we can always fall back to swapping disguises. “That’s… that’s also an option.”

Ying Lin beamed. She glanced at the sky, then jolted. “Come on! We have to hurry, or we’ll be late!”

“It’s dawn,” Hui protested. What banquet starts at dawn?

Ying Lin shook her head, already rushing into the woods. Hui had to run after her to keep up. “The procession leaves for the banquet at dawn. Knowing Fu Liyu, they’ll have been delayed a bit, but if we wait much longer, we’ll lose them for sure!”

Hui nodded. He reached out to the node in the back of his head and called for Gu Tian.

Oy, hey! I’m using that!

It’s a special occasion. Give him to me!

A moment later, the spirit sword appeared in his hand. Hui threw it out in front of him, grabbed Ying Lin, and hopped aboard. “Follow my directions. Fly us back to the clan!”

Gu Tian blinked, startled. Adaptable as ever, though, he said nothing of his sudden change in scenery, but quickly followed Hui’s directions to the Fu Clan.

“Whoa. We’re sword-flying!” Ying Lin cried out, amazed.

“You’ll be able to do it yourself, one day,” Hui assured her. Speaking of, I wonder what techniques she’s bet suited for. Sword cultivation? Pill cultivation? If it’s anything but talisman cultivation, I’ll have to find suitable techniques for her. Talisman cultivation is my specialty… that, and playing dead, but… well, there’s no such thing as false-death-cultivation.

Speaking of which, I still have that manual, don’t I? Hui quickly sent a request to first clone, who sent the ragged book to him. He handed it to Ying Lin.

She looked at him. “What is this?”

“A cultivation manual. I can’t guarantee that you’ll have karma with this technique, but it’s the only technique I have for now. Give it a try and see if you can use this manual.”

Ying Lin nodded obediently and crouched down on the front of the sword to flick through the manual.

Hui glanced at her, raising her eyebrows. This girl is much braver than me! I still wouldn’t dare take such a bold action.

“Ah, that’s right. And tell no one you flew on a sword here. It might be a bit, ah, suspicious to the others.”

Ying Lin nodded distractedly, squinting at the twisted text in the manual.

They sped toward the clan. In no time, a caravan appeared before them. Fu Liyu traveled in grand style atop a palanquin, surrounded by servants and bodyguards. Fu Yinfei sat beside her, feet dangling out of the curtained vehicle, giggling to himself, while her older siblings walked among the bodyguards. Fu Renyi and Han Qin were nowhere in sight.

Good. Time to blend in. Hui grabbed Ying Lin and hopped off the sword, dismissing it back to another clone with a wave of his hand. He shot her a glance, holding out a hand for the manual as they ran toward the group. “Were you able to understand anything?”

Ying Lin shook her head. “I can’t read.”

Ah… ah, dammit! I should’ve figured. A mere servant girl, where would she learn to read? I guess I’ll have to ask Bai Xue for a copy of the Three Classics while they’re in town.

Mmm, but that manual doesn’t require one to comprehend its words in order to pass on enlightenment. I suppose that means she has no karma with this technique.

It’s not surprising. It was forgotten in the depths of the library, and as far as I can tell, only myself and Yunxu have been able to comprehend it in the modern era. I’ll have to find other cultivation manuals and try them on Ying Lin. He sent a message to the other clones as he thought it, sharing his difficulties.

As if he’d broached some sort of floodgates, requests flew in every direction. The mortal one requested qi, another asked for a sword technique, yet another declared their undying need for new talisman formulas, while the miracle healer requested someone think up a good way to bluff a nosy cultivator without turning them entirely off the scent.

Hui stumbled and pressed a hand to his forehead. Ow! Quiet, please!

Yeah, sixth clone isn’t used to the network yet. Quiet down!

He’s the one who requested in the first place!

Speaking of, sixth, what are you up to? Cultivation manuals… it almost sounds like you’ve taken in a disciple.

…

He has!

He’s done it!

Is she cute? Our disciple has to be cute.

Can she absorb death qi? What about life qi?

Hey, sixth, I came up with this new technique. It’s a very simple sword-attack talisman, if she has any karma with swords, she’ll—

Hui scowled. Please! I’m at a delicate moment here, okay?

Ooh, is Bai Xue around?

At last, the miracle healer’s voice cut in. Silence! I know everyone’s excited since we’ve just met sixth and first clone, but keep the chatter to a minimum!

Blessed silence fell over the node. Hui sighed and shook his head. Before they could start chattering again, he rushed ahead and joined smoothy into the procession of cultivators. Ying Lin bobbled along after him, somewhat less smooth. For someone who’d only just passed Foundation Building, her motions as she ran with a qi-enhanced body were practiced and comfortable, but compared to the rest of the servants, rogue cultivators who’d cultivated for years, she still stood out as somewhat wobbly. One or two of the servants shot glances their way, and Hui tensed.

One of the servants leaned in, a smirk on his face. “Li Huang, Xiu Ya, you’re late. Did the two of you get lost in one another’s eyes again?”

Hui blinked, startled. “Wh…at?”

Ying Lin blushed a vicious shade of red.

“Don’t act so shocked, everyone knows about it. Hurry up and ask her to become your Daoist partner, already,” the servant said, nudging Hui with his elbow.

Hui licked his lips and laughed awkwardly, refusing to look at Ying Lin. Dammit, if I’d known, I’d have found a different set of disguises!