Ignoring the Master-disciple banter, Tang Fei marched directly ahead toward the main pavilion on the peak. Hui glanced at her, then hurried to follow. I’m curious about what happened to Tang Fei. I should ask her… now that I don’t have my own face, I can investigate what happened to her without causing her more pain.

Ying Lin hummed happily to herself, skipping by Hui’s side as they headed into the library pavilion. An attendant came out and greeted Tang Fei, then turned to the two of them. Without hesitating, Ying Lin flashed a jade tablet at the attendant, and the attendant bowed and gestured them in.

Hui looked at her. “What’s that?”

She held up the tablet to him. “An all-hours all-access pass to the library. They gave it to me after I visited them ten times in one day.” Ying Lin wrinkled her nose. “It isn’t my fault I read so quickly. If they want to make a fuss about it, send a chain to my peak! But, well… it is a convenient thing to have.”

This disciple… how much romance is she reading? No wonder her brain is stuffed with fluff and nonsense! Hui sighed. “Ying Lin, if you studied cultivation techniques as seriously as you read romance…”

“Eh? Am I not cultivating fast enough?” Ying Lin asked, tilting her head.

“You…” Hui’s words stopped. If Ying Lin claimed to be the second fastest cultivator at advancing in stages, I don’t think even Master could claim to be first! He paused, then bowed. “My apologies, Elder Sister! This cultivator is clearly incapable of chiding one as advanced as yourself!”

Ying Lin smiled. She patted Hui’s hand. “See? It’s fine to read a few romance novels every now and again.”

I don’t know if ten visits to the library in one day counts as ‘a few’ or ‘every now and again…’ but I digress. Hui coughed. He looked around. I should look up forging techniques. After all, I do want to complete some weaponry and armor for Starbound Sect’s cultivators before we attack All-Heavens. At my current rate, we’ll be throwing rusty knots at All-Heavens and hoping it charges some kind of dark-matter-generating item!

They stood inside a massive multi-tiered pavilion, not unlike Starbound Sect’s library, though several times the size. The center of the pavilion stood open, allowing them to see all the way up to the pavilion’s ultimate ceiling, high above. Various cultivators walked leisurely around the layers of the pavilion, though fewer of them strode around the further the layers progressed upward. Narrow staircases connected the layers, and the faint shimmer of spells glittered around the top of each staircase, a restriction to prevent cultivators from progressing to parts of the library that weren’t proper for them.

Ahead of them, Tang Fei leaped into the air and headed directly toward the martial techniques section of the library’s fifth tier. Hui leaped after her, only to plummet back to the ground. He barely caught himself. Huh? I can’t fly?

Ying Lin rushed over to Hui and grabbed his arm. “Master! You can’t fly in the library without a library tablet.”

“Ah,” Hui said. He looked at Ying Lin. “How do I get one?”

“You have to have the library’s trust, and be a good patron for a year, and commit meritorious deeds for the library, and collect a dozen new manuals…” she trailed off, then flashed her tablet. “Or just annoy them enough for a week that they give you one!”

“Ying Lin! What a good disciple you are. Romance novels are the best!” Hui cheered.

Ying Lin grinned. “Now Master understands.” She offered Hui her hand, and the two of them flew up into the pavilion, following Tang Fei.

The pressure increased as they ascended, growing heavier and heavier on Hui’s shoulders. As they reached the fifth level, he finally felt a burden from the pressure. Looking up at the sixth tier of the pavilion, Hui let out a wistful sigh. I bet you can only enter that area once you’re sixth stage. Ah… that won’t be for a while yet, for me.

Ying Lin flew upward, looking around. Her head broke through the level of the sixth tier.

Hui blinked. Eh? Dragged after her, he frowned. Then am I wrong? Maybe lower realm cultivators can…

Seconds before he struck the sixth tier, Ying Lin glanced down. “Oh! There she is.”

Looking over, Hui nodded. “Indeed.” In the martial techniques section… well, that’s reasonable. She was a fist-fighter, right? I remember some kind of Zodiac Fist technique… I think. It’s been a while.

They landed on the fifth tier. Hui released Ying Lin, and she waved at him. “I’ll let Master go talk with that girl alone now… but you have to tell me all about it, okay?”

Hui sighed. “Ying Lin… Oh, can you look up forging techniques for me? You’re just going to find garbage romance again, so you might as well.”

Ying Lin froze. “Master! I would never. I’m here to seriously study, like you told me to!”

Hui squinted suspiciously at her.

She squirmed, unable to meet his eyes. “And maybe… also grab a few romances…?”

“As long as you also study,” Hui said seriously. I know I haven’t been the best Master for Ying Lin, but I have startlingly little to pass down to her. She doesn’t have much karma with talismans, and I’m no sword cultivator, so we can’t share much. At least Senior Chen Wuya took a liking to her and passed down his sword technique, but she still needs more techniques. One can never know enough spells, after all!

Ying Lin nodded, giving him a quick salute. “Disciple understands!” With that, she rushed off into the library.

Hui glanced over his shoulder. Ying Lin stared seriously at a row of manuals, but out of the corner of her eye, she closely watched Hui. Their eyes met, and Ying Lin glanced away, pretending to examine the manuals.

As expected, she’s more interested in me and Tang Fei than browsing the manuals. Hui sighed quietly, then shook his head. Oh well. At least she agreed to find something to study, too.

He tucked his hands into his sleeves and held himself upright, exuding a scholarly aura to the best of his abilities. Casually, he drew up alongside Tang Fei and lifted a hand to touch one of the manuals. Right, let’s pretend to be interested in the same books, and then—

A lightning bolt leaped out of the manual and struck Hui in the hand. His arm flew a full circle around his shoulder, and he flew backward and hit the stack behind him. Manuals rained down on his head.

Tang Fei turned to look at him.

“Ah, haha, I guess I have no karma with that style,” Hui said, chuckling from embarrassment.

Emotionlessly, Tang Fei turned away.

Hui frowned. There’s something wrong. Tang Fei wouldn’t miss that opportunity to giggle cutely or adorably reprimand me. Clearly, someone has meddled with her somehow or another.

Meddling with her mind? I’m not too experienced at mental energy techniques, but… well, I did enhance Jin Xian’s mind and remove the rot from it. Maybe it’s similar? Hui stepped closer. He looked Tang Fei in the eye.

She stared back, soulless and blank-gazed.

“Tang Fei, can I examine you?” he asked, holding out his hand toward hers.

Obediently, she put her hand in his.

She’s used to this. Someone has been keeping a tight leash. Gui Delun? Or… maybe… that glowing, golden healer on Gui Delun’s side, that disgusting torturer Liu Guang.

Hui checked her pulse, and his brows furrowed. There’s definitely something off about her qi flow. Extending his senses into her body, he examined the qi signatures in her passages. Tang Fei’s qi… Gui Delun’s qi… well, he is her Master, and I certainly hope that’s all it is. Let’s see… ha! As expected. Liu Guang, too. Yes… he’s going to have to die, after all.

Still… on the surface level, she seems… fine. Hui frowned, then glanced at her other hand, the missing one with the prosthetic. Come to think of it, when I crippled her hand back then, I messed with her threads. The strings of life and death, or whatever they are. If her hand is moving again now, could it be?

Hui closed his external eyes and focused, sending his attention to his third eye instead. The world faded to black and white, except for Tang Fei, who loomed out in sharp focus. Gold and black threads stretched through her limbs and body, filling up her silhouette.

Hui glanced over her body, then paused, staring at her hand. Oh. That’s not good.

Black threads clustered heavily in her head, while gold threads suffused her missing hand, more than should have existed in her hand in the first place. Compared to her still-present hand, her missing hand glowed with gold, stuffed to the bursting.

Hui wrinkled his nose. Obviously, if I can move the gold threads back to her head, she can regain her mental capacity… well, I hope. It’s certainly the way to set her on the road to recovery. On the other hand, she only has so many threads. The black threads have to go somewhere… and the only place that makes sense is her missing hand.

In summary, I could fix her mind, but only if I remove her hand again. And even if I do… won’t her Master just… ruin her mind again?

No, well… obviously, I have to take responsibility if I heal her. If I do this, she becomes my disciple. The woman who tried to kill Li Xiang, as my disciple…?

Hui sighed. But is it fair to leave her braindead like this, at the mercy of Gui Delun and Liu Guang, who… enough said, really. Yeah. Whatever problems I had with her, she’s certainly been punished enough. I think… I think at this point, it’s unfair if I walk away and leave her as she is.

Hui leaned in. “Elder Sister, do you want to be like this? Should I heal you? You won’t be able to keep your hand, but I can give you back your mind.”

Tang Fei looked at him. She blinked dully.

She can’t even respond. I… Hui bit his lip. Dammit, I’ll do it. If she doesn’t like it, I can set her free to go back to Liu Guang. I’m sure that sadist will have no problem reverting her to her current state.

He stepped out of his body. Moving carefully but at speed, he grabbed the threads in her hand and the threads in her head. He yanked them both out of place. As soon as he removed the gold threads from her hand, they began to fade. He quickly set the black threads in her hand and the gold threads in her head.

Tang Fei trembled, but nothing else happened. The gold threads continued to fade.

Shit! It isn’t working. What did I do wrong? Why aren’t they…

They aren’t connected. Okay. No. I can fix this. He waved his hand, calling up life qi. Twisting the life qi into a thread, he called up a needle and threaded it, then sewed the gold threads to her frame. First at the bottom, then at the top. His life qi rapidly dwindled, but still Hui pressed on. One at a time, carefully attaching each one while feeding life qi into the remaining threads. Only once they were attached at the top and bottom did they stop fading.

A deep sigh sounded from Hui’s left. “Here I thought I was coming to collect another piece, but…”

“Forgive me, Senior Reaper! Elder Sister, I know what I’ve done wrong!” Hui shouted. He jumped back into his body without wasting another second, not even casting a look in the reaper’s direction. I knew she’d come eventually. I managed to buy a few minutes, it seems, but ultimately… after Elder Sister has already claimed a few parts of me, I can’t allow her to take any more!

…Actually, aren’t a few Seniors collecting me? Gui Delun is collecting body parts, Elder Sister Reaper is collecting bits of soul… am I a limited-time ultra-rare or something?

Hui blinked a few times to adjust his eyes as the world popped back into color. He wobbled in place, his knees weak. His entire body trembled, drained of qi. Abruptly, his knees gave out, and he fell against the bookcase—but only for a moment, before a dozen manuals exploded with little blasts and sparks. Thrown away, Hui careened toward the opposite bookcase, where manuals began to charge their attack even as he fell toward it.

Ah, fuck. Can’t do a good deed without being punished… Hui thought to himself, bracing for impact.

A small hand reached out and caught him. He fell against a soft body, and glanced up to find Tang Fei’s cute face inches from his. Hui took a breath, startled. Floral scents assaulted his nose. Eh. Did she still wear perfume, even when she was braindead?

Tang Fei looked down at him. Her brows wrinkled in concern. Kneeling, she pulled out an elixir and pressed it into his hand. “Are you hurt? You suddenly collapsed…”

A subtle motion from across the room caught Hui’s eyes. Ying Lin nodded approvingly, then pointed at Tang Fei and mimed a kiss, going so far as to throw her head back. What—wait, she wants me to ask Tang Fei to feed me the elixir by mouth…? This Ying Lin really needs her morals adjusted!

With some effort, Hui lifted the bottle and drank it. He instantly felt refreshed, and power coursed through his body. Sitting up, he shook his head, then turned to Tang Fei. “Elder Sister, how do you feel?”

“I…” She rubbed her forehead, and her brows furrowed again. “Clear-headed. Like a cloud has been lifted, for the first time in… in years. Everything was…” Her eyes darkened. Memories swam across her face in the form of emotions; disgust, horror, anger, then a suppressed rage. Her chest rose and fell quickly, and she gripped at her sect robes, her hand digging into the fabric as if she wanted to tear it off and throw it away.

Hui caught her hands before any nudity could threaten the peace of the library. “Elder Sister, listen to me. I… I realized something was wrong with your cultivation, and took action to fix it. This… did someone do it to you?”

Tang Fei’s upper lip trembled. She nodded, once, and spat, “Liu Guang.”

Hui’s expression darkened. As I thought. “At the orders of Gui Delun?”

Lip coiling in disgust, Tang Fei nodded again.

Hui bit his lip. He looked down, struggling over his own emotions. Tang Fei attacked Li Xiang, and I took her hand, rightfully. But she attacked under the orders of Gui Delun. Attacked my whole sect, incited the entire incident… but as a pawn, under Gui Delun’s orders. She did wrong. There’s no doubt she did wrong. Nor is there doubt that she deserves blame. But… but if I turn her away…

What am I thinking about? Right now I need fighters, and she hates Gui Delun. I need to take advantage of everyone and everything I can, emotions be damned. Later, I can quibble about wrongs and rights, and who should be on what side. But right now… I need Tang Fei.

He looked up. “Tang Fei, I… currently, I only have one disciple. I’m an Outer Peak Lord, and I know the qi on my peak is much thinner than the qi on Gui Delun’s peak. But even so… would you like to come to my side? I’ll protect you. Gui Delun and Liu Guang… they won’t be able to touch you any more.”

Tang Fei grabbed his hand. Her small hand gripped his so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and his hand ached, but he didn’t push her away. She looked up. Their eyes met, hers so alive, now, full of rage and horror and disgust… and gratitude.

“Yes,” Tang Fei said.

Hui looked away, unable to meet her eyes for long. “Then come with me. And if a day ever comes… when you despise me as much as you despise Gui Delun, then… on that day, you are free to go.”

“That will not come to pass,” Tang Fe said shortly. She rose quickly, brushing off her robes. Her hands kept moving, as if she wanted to wipe them away entirely. “Take me to your peak. I want to get changed as soon as possible.”

“Elder Sister, I… don’t have women’s robes,” Hui confessed.

“I don’t care. Anything is better than this,” Tang Fei replied.

Hui glanced around. He caught sight of the forging section across the library and waved his hand, summoning a few random manuals to his hands. I’ll let fate decide. He nodded at Ying Lin, who hurried over.

“I have women’s robes,” Ying Lin offered immediately.

Ha! Not even pretending you aren’t listening in, Hui thought to himself. Still, it’s convenient this time, so I won’t complain.

Tang Fei stared at Ying Lin. “Who is this?”

“My one disciple,” Hui introduced her. He nodded to Tang Fei. “Ying Lin. She can be trusted.”

Tang Fei nodded at Ying Lin. Her body stayed stiff, clearly uncomfortable. “And who do I owe my freedom to?”

“Ah…” Hui hesitated. He glanced at Ying Lin, then nodded again. “Small cultivator is Xing Huang.”

She nodded. “Call this one Tang Fei.”

Hui bowed. He gestured for Tang Fei to follow. “I’ll lead you back to my peak. Ying Lin, fetch Tang Fei’er a cute set of robes.”

Tang Fei turned. Behind Hui, she opened her mouth, then closed it again. She nodded. “This disciple is in your care.”