A shadow passed over the moon, and Hui flinched. Overhead, the spider and Han Qin fought back and forth. Red and acidic green blood dripped from the heavens. Argh! On one hand, Master’s teachings! I can't let an opportunity to gather new resources pass me by! On the other hand, I don't want to die to Han Qin or the spider. I can’t waste too much time here, while I still haven’t figured out what it is about this place is blocking Han Qin’s true form from descending. I haven’t even found the demonic cultivator’s corpse, yet.

The All-Heavens cultivators glanced up as well. Ding Qinwen drew his sword, but still pale and stained with the blood he’d spat and the venom from the spider, he cut a less than heroic figure. Zhi Ahn, too, drew his sword, though with a fatalistic expression, as a mantis who knew he faced down a carriage.

Lu Lintei nudged Zhi Ahn. “Hurry up, hurry up, hand over something. We already lost to that spider once.”

“Elder Sister—” Zhi Ahn protested.

Ding Qinwen raised a hand, silencing Zhi Ahn. “Lu Lintei is right. For my sake, Zhi Ahn, hand the man something. He saved my life, and yours and Lu Lintei’s, as well. How pitiful would we look, if we couldn’t even afford to reward someone who saved our lives? Our sect isn’t so destitute that we have to refuse gratitude to our benefactors.”

“Why do I have to hand something over?” Zhi Ahn asked, exasperated. Still, he dug in his robes, searching for something.

Hui cleared his throat. “If you have any talismans…?”

“Talismans! You—” Zhi Ahn burst out. He jabbed a finger at Hui. “He’s obviously—”

“Obviously deserving of a reward from us, yes,” Lu Lintei interrupted him.

“—obviously Xiao Hui!”

The three cultivators froze. Ding Qinwen looked up, his eyes suddenly sharp. Zhi Ahn panted, frustrated. Lu Lintei turned slowly toward Hui, her lazy eyes darkening.

Hui backed away, giving them a polite smile as he subtly reached for his sword. “Excuse me, Seniors. This small cultivator will be on his way…”

Lu Lintei sighed. She turned to Hui, and her eyes widened in mock surprise. “Ah, wow, it’s Xiao Hui. I guess we have to do something about that…”

“Naturally, we do! We were punished for not bringing him in properly last time!” Zhi Ahn argued.

Ding Qinwen stepped forward. He tensed, his hand growing tight on his hilt.

Hui backstepped in sync, keeping a gap between the two of them. He laughed nervously, covering his mouth with the hand not drawing Gu Tian’s sword. “Who is this ‘Xiao Hui’ you speak of? I’ve never heard of such a man. Seniors, please, let’s talk it over.”

“There’s no need for words. Xiao Hui, your time has come. At last, Master Gui Delun will forgive us!” Zhi Ahn said, clenching his fists.

“It’s your fault for altering his head in the first place. If you hadn’t gone and messed with it, Gui Delun wouldn’t have noticed anything,” Lu Lintei complained.

“Shut up! It’s your fault for going along with his dumb plan instead of capturing him!” Zhi Ahn argued.

“You want to fight three fifth-stage cultivators at once? Be my guest,” Lu Lintei grumbled.

Ding Qinwen’s sword rang from his sheath. He pointed it at Hui, the silver sword glittering in the moonlight. The pale silver light shimmered off the sword, beams of pale light shooting in all directions.

Hui swallowed. He drew Gu Tian’s sword. “Ding Qinwen, you’re making a grave mistake.” I’m not afraid to summon Jin Xian or Zhubi, and I know Jin Xian is hungry! Don’t make me fight fifth-stage cultivators with fifth-stage cultivators!

“Even if I make a mistake, I must remain true to my path,” Ding Qinwen replied, his expression serious.

Hui reached out to the node, ready to summon Jin Xian at a moment’s notice. Simultaneously, he prepared to play dead, drawing the clone’s core into his lower leg, a place unlikely to be targeted by Ding Qinwen.

“This sword’s name is Moonlight Cutter. It is said to be sharp enough to split moonlight. It was personally forged for me by my master, Gui Delun,” Ding Qinwen said. He stepped through a sword form, spinning Moonlight Cutter around him. It keened through the air, dazzling rays of moonlight shining from its edge.

Gifted by your Master? You don’t say, Hui deadpanned to himself, restraining the urge to roll his eyes. After the battle between Erlan and Ding Qinwen, he’d heard quite enough about their masters’ gifts. Even so, he remained wary, stepping back as Ding Qinwen moved forward.

“Take it.” Ding Qinwen threw it at Hui. Rather than flying toward him blade-first, the sword spun around, tossed the way a mortal would toss a sword.

Prepared to play dead at a moment’s notice, Hui collapsed backward the second the sword flew at him. The tossed sword bounced off his prone chest and clattered to the ground.

A dead silence fell over the glen.

Hui recovered first. He sat up, businesslike, and plucked the sword off his chest. Carefully, he examined it, then gave it an experimental swing, folding his legs under him to sit upright. Supremely sharp, the blade cried out even with Hui’s somewhat clumsy movements. In the end, I only learned the basic sword techniques the sect taught everyone, and only at the level of a first-stage cultivator, at that. This sword… is somewhat wasted on me. “You’re giving it to me, Elder Brother?”

“Naturally. Debts must be repaid,” Ding Qinwen said simply.

Hui flinched. Could you rich disciples not rend this poor disciple’s heart like that? I want to repay my debts, I want to! But I’m so poor. I owe my sect more spirit stones than I’ve seen in my life!

At least I ought to repay the debt to the woman from that village, at last… if I make it through this forest alive, and manage to find her.

“Then, now that I’ve repaid the life-debt with my treasured sword… it is time to fight,” Ding Qinwen said, summoning an emerald flail from his spatial ring.

“Are life-debts repaid so easily?” Hui asked, startled. One treasured sword is equivalent to a life?

“Not ordinarily, but you are a wanted man. I consider the debt already offset by my letting you go twice,” Ding Qinwen returned.

As if you did it intentionally. Wait… did you? Hui squinted at Ding Qinwen, suddenly unsure.

“Yeah, yeah. My life-debt is repaid by my turning the other way so many times,” Lu Lintei said, nodding along.

You! You were just being lazy! There isn’t a question in my mind that you were avoiding work, rather than intentionally trying to pardon this small cultivator! Hui shouted silently, narrowing his eyes at Lu Lintei.

Lu Lintei turned to Zhi Ahn. “And you? You haven’t repaid your debt, either.”

“I…” Zhi Ahn hesitated. After a moment, he scowled. “I don’t owe criminals debts!”

“Zhi Ahn! He may be a criminal, but he’s still your benefactor,” Ding Qinwen chided him. “Hand over that spell of yours.”

“That’s—that spell, he isn’t worthy! After all the work I did to discover it, how can I hand it over so easily? I haven’t even comprehended it yet!” Zhi Ahn protested, frustrated.

Hui cleared his throat. “Elder Brother, what if you loan it to me for a short time? My comprehension… compared to Master’s, it’s lacking, but if I have karma with the technique, I ought to be able to comprehend it by the next time we meet.”

“You’ll die here,” Zhi Ahn spat.

“Then what’s the harm in handing it over? You can take it off his corpse in a moment,” Lu Lintei responded sensibly.

“Elder Sister makes sense,” Hui agreed, holding his hand out. As if! I’ll send it to the node. Even if this clone dies permanently, that spell technique will be mine!

Zhi Ahn narrowed his eyes. “But…”

“Zhi Ahn! Be sensible. Do you want your karma entangled with this villain’s? Clear your life-debt now, before your karma becomes more knotted up with his,” Ding Qinwen argued.

“Fine!” Wrinkling his nose, Zhi Ahn thrust his arm into a small pouch. Despite the pouch’s size, no deeper than a coin pouch, his arm disappeared past the elbow. He dragged out a short, worn manual, the front page splattered with a strange red-brown substance Hui refused to look too closely at. Still scowling, he threw it at Hui.

Lu Lintei looked up sharply, her eyes suddenly sparkling. Her little fists clenched in excitement.

Elder Sister, I’m not going to play dead every time someone throws something at me, Hui rebuked, shaking his head. He caught the manual and examined it quickly. Life qi… some kind of life qi manipulation? A healing spell?

The node lit up, and the miracle healer spoke. A healing spell with life qi? Send it to me!

Understood! Hui slid it under his robes, quietly opening a node and sending it to the other clones as he did so. He sent a few ducks into the network as well, pointing most of the excess death qi at the first clone, who gratefully accepted it.

He bowed to Zhi Ahn. “Thank you, Elder Brother.”

Ding Qinwen pointed his flail at Hui. Behind him, Zhi Ahn and Lu Lintei drew swords. Striking a pose, Ding Qinwen declared, “There’s no need to hold back any longer. Capture this criminal!”