Gui Delun leaned forward. He pressed his fingertips together, forming a triangle, then gestured for Hui to take a seat.

Making a last check to make sure his thoughts were masked, Hui slowly lowered himself to a sit. He stared at the ground, barely able to meet Gui Delun’s eyes. His intense stare… his cold eyes. I’m going to die! I’m going to die, for sure!

Gui Delun leaned forward. He narrowed his eyes at Hui. “So… how did you meet my daughter?”

Hui blinked. “Huh?”

Gui Delun nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

Eh… what? Is this… part of his test? But how would this tell him if I was Xiao Hui?

“Can you not answer?” Gui Delun asked, his voice turning icy and his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

“No, no! I—I, I met her when she brought her half-brother, Wu Fanyun, to my compound to be healed,” Hui explained. A second later, he bit his lip. Shit! I shouldn’t have mentioned the bit about Wu Fanyun. Gui Yutong already told me that Gui Delun doesn’t acknowledge Wu Fanyun as his son, and here I am bringing it up to the man himself!

“Hmm. So she owes you a debt, because of that vagabond,” Gui Delun murmured under his breath, lip lifted in disgust. He shook his head. “Unfortunate.”

Hui licked his lips. He sat there, tense, but said nothing. Silence is the better part of valor, sometimes! Hold steady, Hui!

“Aside from that… how did the two of you… get to know one another?” Gui Delun asked, knitting his fingers together. He leaned down, glaring over his fingertips.

Uh… huh? Why do I feel like Senior is asking me some… strange questions? Hui furrowed his brows. “She helped me find other injured cultivators, and…” And did terrible, terrible things with a certain lotus beast Elder Sister! Wait, is that what he’s doing here? Trying to figure out what she and Bai Jingwen did?

But then… why not interrogate Bai Jingwen?

Hui glanced over at Gui Yutong. She tilted her head and smiled at him, then mouthed, help me out?

Help you out? How? What’s going on?

“And…?” Gui Delun asked.

“And, she, she, she met a friendly Elder Sister,” Hui said, nodding. Very friendly. A little too friendly.

Gui Delun stroked his beard. He sat back, looking down on Hui. “I see.”

What do you see? Tell me! Hui cried desperately.

Leaning forward again, Gui Delun gestured at Hui. “But what about the two of you? What happened between you?”

Completely lost, Hui glanced at Gui Yutong again. Did she tell him about me seeing her naked? But that was an accident! I didn’t mean to!

Please cover for me. He doesn’t know, Gui Yutong mouthed at him.

Hui furrowed his brows. He doesn’t know? He doesn’t know I saw you naked? But then… why…

Pretend to be my lover! Gui Yutong mouthed.

Hui narrowed his eyes at her and pressed his lips together. No way. I’m not here to lie to your father. Leave me out of your romantic troubles!

I’ll compensate you, she added. Extra.

Pursing his lips, Hui subtly turned away. Compensation? I don’t need it. I need my life more! Besides, you already owe me. How much more can you have?

Gui Yutong paused, then held her arms up wide.

Hui ignored her. I’m not telling this terrifying Peak Lord that I’m your lover. Not for a trifling compensation like that!

Another pause. She widened them as far as they would go.

Just an armload of spirit stones? This small Hui loves spirit stones, but not so much that—

Gui Yutong flicked her hand over, summoning a pile of talismans. She leafed through them, letting Hui see the formulae. She put them back away, then drew out a sword. It glimmered with purple light, emanating at least a fifth-realm aura.

Hui’s eyes lit up. Formulae? A sword for Ying Lin? And spirit stones, too? I understand, Elder Sister! Of course! Deceiving your father is but a small price to pay for the fabulous wealth you’ll be giving me afterward! On top of the fabulous wealth you already owe me… yes, yes!

After all… after all, this small Hui plans to kill him, anyways. A little extra deception is nothing to me!

What a relief. So this wasn’t about me at all! Gui Delun still doesn’t suspect anything. It was all about Gui Yutong. Ah, this small cultivator can rest easy. Turning back to Gui Delun, Hui smiled. “Ah, yes, me and Gui Yutong. We… became quite close.” Physically. I moved close to Gui Yutong at least once. I even… touched her shoulder!

“How?” Gui Delun demanded. He sat back and stroked his beard, watching Hui through slitted eyes.

“Ah… I, uh, I…” Hui licked his lips. “We—” His voice stopped. He raised a hand to his throat.

Gui Delun hooked an eyebrow. Subtly, his aura began spiking.

Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh no, Hui, oh this looks so bad! I should’ve refused her! I should’ve turned her down! No amount of treasure and spirit stones and formulae is worth my poor little life! Has Sectgoer infected me with the heart-demon, for me to be so blind? Ugh! No! Every second I sit here, silent, it gets worse! Think, think. I need to tell the truth. The truth! The whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

Hui licked his lips again and started over. “We met when she brought her brother to be healed.”

“You mentioned that already,” Gui Delun rumbled.

“Yes, yes, I, er, I’m… I’m so overcome by having the honor to be in the presence of her father that—”

“Continue,” Gui Delun demanded.

Ah, shit. Yeah, okay, that was a weak set of compliments. I need to try harder if I’m going to distract Gui Delun!

In any case, I am pretty overcome to be in his presence. Honestly, could I leave?

No, no. Come on. Think.

“I met her—”

“I understand that part. What next?” Gui Delun asked.

Hui coughed. “Well… well, I healed her brother. It was an incredible condition, unlike anything I’ve ever seen before—”

“I don’t care about your doctoring.”

Senior, please! I can’t find my rhythm if you keep interrupting me like this!

Hui took a deep breath. “Out of thanks, Gui Yutong—” fucking—fucking offered me her body! Fuck! I’m dead! I’m so dead!

“Yes…?” Gui Delun asked, slowly emanating killing intent.

Okay. Take it slow. You can do this. Hui swallowed, then nodded. He smiled at Gui Delun, the smile fake but the nervousness that showed through it entirely real. Hui opened his mouth.

“She, er, she… she offered to compensate me, but I turned her down. Still, we could tell we shared a mutual interest.” A mutual interest in a certain lotus beast. True, I only care about her battle prowess, not her body, but it’s a mutual interest nonetheless! “As time passed, Gui Yutong kept making excuses to bring me new patients, and I… I couldn’t help but take notice of her.” Ha, sure! It’d be hard not to take notice of her and Bai Jingwen going at it. “We grew slowly… more intimate.” Due to her growing intimate with the lotus beast, I couldn’t help but also… er, become aware of some of Gui Yutong’s intimate preferences. That counts, right? “A beauty like Gui Yutong is hard to find, but it was her wit that truly impressed me.” Her wit in bringing me new customers—ahem, patients! “Although her brother tried to come between us, I simply couldn’t let it stand. I had to be around Gui Yutong!” I couldn’t let her brother come between us, because he’s incestuous and concerning. I had to be around her because she hadn’t given me the sect admittance tablets yet.

Panting, Hui looked up at Gui Delun. Is that enough? Is that good enough for you? Dammit, I wracked my entire brains for this! It had better be enough!

Gui Delun leaned in. He looked Hui over, then held out his palm. “Give me your hand.”

Eh? How much else do you want? You already have my heart, and my head…s.

Smiling at his own joke, Hui offered Gui Delun his hand. At the same time, he internally prepared to cut his own hand off. If he examines something that I can’t disguise, I’ll have to destroy my hand and escape. If I flee, the rest of the clones should be able to take the opportunity to disguise whatever I couldn’t. Ah, this small clone will probably die…

No! I won’t let that happen. I have all kinds of ways to escape. I’ve escaped Gui Delun before. No, no. I won’t die. But I’ll be in danger. And danger is no good. Hopefully he isn’t examining something I can’t mask!

Gui Delun closed his eyes. A few seconds later, his brows furrowed. Hui tensed. Uh oh. Get ready.

Gui Delun’s eyes opened. He tightened his grip on Hui’s hand. “Your bone age—”

Hui yanked his arm away, leaving his hand behind. A second later, he froze. “Eh, bone age?”

Gui Delun looked at Hui’s arm, lying limply in his grasp, then at Hui, then back at the hand. He frowned.

Hui’s eyes widened. He hesitated, then smiled. Oh! Bone age. Right! That’s a common thing people use to check the actual, physical age of the cultivator in question, since anyone can appear any age that they wish. “Ah! Ah, did I appear very young according to my bone age? Yes, yes. I lost my arm some time ago and used a secret technique to regrow it. Here, try my other arm.”

Hui offered his other arm. At the same time, he drew out his death qi and rot qi and applied them to his bones, rapidly aging them. Quickly, everyone alter your bone age! They’re testing it. We can’t all appear super young, or they’ll get concerned.

Sectgoer cleared his throat nervously. Yeah, about that…

At least the rest of you, then. Two might be a coincidence, three would be too much, Hui said, shaking his head at Sectgoer.

“Regrew it? No wonder your bone age was so young. A year and some… that’s not possible,” Gui Delun murmured to himself, nodding.

Never mind that I regrew my entire body along with the arm! Those are details you don’t need to know. Anyways… Hui held out his newly aged arm and smiled, casually regrowing his missing arm behind his back.

Setting Hui’s severed arm aside, Gui Delun closed his eyes. He opened them after a moment and nodded. “Sixty years? You cultivate quickly, to reach fifth-stage before your first sixty-year cycle.”

“Ah… yes, thank you,” Hui said, nodding. Actually, I cultivate much more quickly than that, but… but that might give me away, so! Sixty years is fast enough.

“What do you do for work?” Gui Delun asked suddenly.

“Huh?” Hui asked, confused. Wait, hold on! This is a great time to advertise myself in general! He nodded and smiled. “I’m a healer. I heal other cultivators. Ah, I use life qi… I’m a life qi cultivator.”

“Does that pay well?” Gui Delun asked, tilting his head.

“Very well,” Hui said, smoothing his robes to draw attention to the fine silk brocade and the detail in the embroidery.

Gui Delun glanced at Hui’s robes and nodded slowly to himself, thoughtful. “So why have you decided to pursue… entry to All-Heavens Sect?”

Oh, now he’s pretending this is part of the entry interview, huh? Hui resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Naturally, Seni—Peak Lord Gui, I wanted stability. I might be independently wealthy, but treasuring a jade ring can easily become a crime. As a lone cultivator, I cannot protect my wealth against those stronger than me. By joining a sect, I can protect myself and raise my strength, while simultaneously offering my healing arts for the good of the sect,” Hui said. Eh, none of that is false. After all, I’m willing to offer my healing arts for the good of the sect, if only to aid my disguise!

Gui Delun nodded slowly. He glanced over his shoulder at Gui Yutong and nodded again. Sitting up, he waved his hand and kept Hui’s severed hand, hiding it under his long robes. “Go. Only one trial remains.” He hesitated, then smiled. “I wish you luck.”

Ha. If only he knew, Hui thought. He stood and cupped his hands to Gui Delun, then turned and went to join the other cultivators.

“Xie Hao,” Gui Delun said, voice dark and full of warning.

Hui froze. He turned back slowly, a stiff smile on his lips. Uh oh. Is this it? Did he see through it?

He nodded. “Treat my daughter well.”

Hui saluted. “Yes, sir!” Stop talking to me! I’m going to have a heart attack!