“What do you mean?” Shen Aiguo asked, confused.

Hui shook his head. How do I explain this?

In his third eye, Shen Aiguo’s body pulsed slowly, almost a sick beat. All her gold threads hung shredded, interspersed with scraps of black. Even the ones that remained gold, the tiny confetti-like pieces, faded in and out, darkening almost to black before the glimmer of gold returned.

Her threads are in absolute tatters. It’s amazing that she’s standing before me, let alone able to cultivate. I already asked it, but I must repeat myself: how is she alive?

“Senior, you’re scaring me,” Shen Aiguo said, pulling away.

Hui released her. “My… my apologies, Elder Sister.”

“No, no. It’s fine,” Shen Aiguo said, frowning at him. A reassessing expression appeared on her face.

Fine, decide I’m not a perfect husband. You’ll cause me less trouble that way. Hui nodded at Shen Aiguo. “Elder Sister, what method are you cultivating? Is someone giving you special treatment?”

“We’re all being given special treatment. We’re cultivating under Liu Guang’s care,” Shen Aiguo explained.

Hui blinked. He looked around. “All… all of you?” He gestured Lao Ning toward him.

Lao Ning approached cautiously. “I’m not injured, Senior.”

“Please… can I examine you anyways?” Hui said, offering his hand.

Lao Ning hesitated, then gave Hui his hand.

Hui inserted a strand of life qi into Lao Ning’s arm, quickly inspecting it. He withdrew, his expression more grave than ever. He, too… All of them? Are all of their threads shredded?

Taking a risk, Hui momentarily stepped out of his body and swept his eyes over the cultivators. Although he couldn’t see clearly in the mere moment he dared to take, they all appeared shattered, their threads pulsing the same as Lao Ning and Shen Aiguo’s.

Hui furrowed his brows. What on earth is Liu Guang doing?

Initially… initially, I was going to sabotage their cultivation and consider it as soldiers defeated before the war. But… I don’t need to do anything. Liu Guang is already destroying them.

But why? Why destroy Gui Delun’s own disciples? I know he has guinea pigs galore, frozen in that disgusting space of his. So why go out and sabotage earnest All-Heavens cultivators?

“What’s happening? Senior, what did you see?” Shen Aiguo asked, watching his face nervously.

“Your…” Hui hesitated. How do I describe this? “There are golden threads inside you… uhm, if you want to continue to live and cultivate, the threads must connect, and they must be gold. Usually, a cultivator will have mostly gold threads, with maybe a handful of black threads. All of you… every single one of you, have shredded threads. There isn’t a single solid thread in any of you.”

“What?” Lao Ning asked, taken aback.

“Threads? What are you talking about, Senior? I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Shen Aiguo said, frowning.

“I don’t even know myself what they are. I only know that they’re vitally important,” Hui said, shaking his head.

“Are you talking about karmic threads, maybe?” Lao Ning asked.

“Uh… they don’t really seem to be connected to karma,” Hui said honestly. They’re connected to one’s bodily wellbeing and health, not to one’s fate and interactions with the world. Maybe I’m fundamentally misunderstanding them, or I can’t see all there is to see, but I haven’t seen them connecting to anything outside of the body, one way or another.

“It’s just… Liu Guang has been trying to manipulate our karmic threads. Maybe what Senior’s seeing is a result of that?” Lao Ning suggested.

Hui’s eyes widened. Wait… could that be? Is it that I am not the one with the misconception, but instead, Liu Guang is? Instead of seeing these as… well, as the ‘threads of life and death’ as I’ve dubbed them, he assumed they must be karmic threads.

But then… why be so cavalier about destroying disciples’ karmic threads? Even if he thought they were karmic threads, to manipulate them to this extent would mean to absolutely shred the disciples’ karma, and in doing so, destroy any connections they had, ruin their potential, and shatter their fate.

Or… could it be that Liu Guang wanted to confirm that he had discovered karmic threads, and deliberately shredded these disciples’ threads to determine what effect it would have on their karma? How callous of him! Deliberately destroying their karma… or at least, some intrinsic part of their cultivation, just to discover what happens… how is this any better than a demonic cultivator?

Serious, Hui looked Lao Ning and Shen Aiguo in the eyes. “Do not let Liu Guang touch you again. What he’s doing… could destroy your cultivation, assuming it doesn’t outright kill you.”

Shen Aiguo stepped back. “What?”

Lao Ning shook his head. “Liu Guang said it was safe.”

“Safe? Hardly,” Hui scoffed. He bit his lip, thinking. Hold on. Could this be the source of all the high-level death cultivators on that peak? If Liu Guang blackens their threads while they’re alive, he’s essentially sowing the seeds of death cultivation into their bodies. When they inevitably die from this mistreatment, their chances of awakening as a death cultivator should be much higher.

I can’t be sure, but… I should ask Fang Hua when I get a chance! She won’t necessarily know, but that death cultivator she supplanted… that is, Tie Dingzi, ought to know, if he remembers anything about his living self.

Besides, all these cultivators... Hui quickly scanned them to be sure. No, that’s right. None of them are higher than fourth realm. Until Fang Hua arrived, all the death cultivators peaked at fourth realm, too.

Ah… Hui licked his lips. He gave them all a sad look. Can they even be saved anymore? I still don’t know a technique to fix these threads. I can see them, and I can move them, and even cut or remove them, but I can’t turn them gold again.

“What? What is it?” Shen Aiguo asked anxiously.

I bet it’s both at once. Liu Guang thinks these are karmic threads, and he’s manipulating them to see what happens. But when he inevitably fails, I bet he blackens them to turn these cultivators into death cultivators. He rubbed his forehead. And I… I really can’t think of a way out of this for these cultivators.

He looked up at the cultivators with a heavy heart. “I can’t fix what has already been done to you. Stay away from Liu Guang if you wish to remain living.”

“What are you talking about? We were specially selected to receive Liu Guang’s teachings. We can’t quit now, when we’re so close to the end,” Shen Aiguo said, shaking her head.

Hui opened his mouth, then closed it and looked away. What’s the point in arguing? They’re enemies anyways. Might as well let Liu Guang kill them. He sighed. “Remember my words. That’s all.”

Shen Aiguo backed away. She looked up at Lao Ning. “Senior Martial Brother, we should go.”

Lao Ning frowned at Hui, but backed away. He gave Hui a polite bow. “We’ll be going first.”

Hui nodded back, waving a hand dismissively. Internally, he pressed his lips together in bitter regret. They didn’t seem like bad people. I really… don’t want to kill them.

In the end, not everyone in All-Heavens is a villain. But… everyone in All-Heavens stood aside and allowed Starbound Sect to be eradicated. Even though it will doubtlessly entangle innocents… I still have to go through with my plan.

After all, I’ve lived my life believing that nonviolence is the way to avoid future killings, because if I killed, there would be vengeance. If my sect is killed, and I don’t get vengeance, then I’m letting the villains get away more freely than even this small and inoffensive cultivator! I can’t allow that.

But it doesn’t mean… it doesn’t mean that I’ll like it.

As the cultivators filed out, Hui stood. He wiped his face, tired. Raising a hand, he went to call the lotus beasts in, but ultimately dropped his hand. Let them play. They know nothing about the war to come. For now, they can stay innocent.

“Husband of mine,” Gui Yutong called.

Hui turned. “What is it, beloved wife?”

She rounded the corner. Her belly bulged a little as the baby began to show. She nodded at Hui. “Someone’s come to visit you. He’s waiting in the main palace.” She let out a cough. “Bai Jingwen and I have somewhere to be, so the palace is all yours.”

“Ah… yes?” Hui said. What on earth is she doing?

Gui Yutong gave him a meaningful glance, then clapped her hands. Bai Jingwen descended from the sky and scooped her up. Together, the two fairy maidens flew off.

Right, well, that was weird. Furrowing his brows, Hui swept the fruits and elixir into his storage ring and headed toward the main palace. Who is it? Gui Delun? Is this small cultivator’s life finally over? But he seemed happy to leave me with Gui Yutong, as long as he could watch over me.

He shrugged. Hopping into the air, he soared in a low arc over the wall between the outer gardens’ palace and the main palace and landed in the main palace’s gardens. He pushed aside a door and stepped inside, glancing around. “Hello?”

“Good afternoon, Xie Hao. Did you enjoy chatting with my disciples?” Liu Guang asked, turning a corner. Instantly, a brilliant golden glow filled the room.

Hui raised a hand to cover his eyes. Senior, were you hiding around the corner there specifically to pop out dramatically? Don’t tell me you weren’t—you were even suppressing your glow, or else I could have seen you from miles away!

A second later, he realized. Ah. That’s right. When I was brought here, Liu Guang whispered all those misleading things in my ear. No wonder Elder Sister left us alone. He shook his head. Oh well. It could be worse. After all, now I don’t have to worry about Liu Guang holding Elder Sister hostage.

Hui bowed to Liu Guang. “What a welcome surprise! Small cultivator is truly honoroed. Welcome to my humble abode, Senior.”