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Hovering in the air in a heroic pose, hand outstretched, Cho Haoli looked down at them, dressed in the same glittering gold as he’d been the first time he’d taken Hui out of the village. He smiled nobly. “Tian Lan, won’t you come with me?”

Tian Lan stared at Hui. She looked at Cho Haoli, then Hui, then back again. Tears sprang up in her eyes. “You killed him!”

“I killed a dangerous man. Come with me, Tian Lan. You’ll be safer with me,” Cho Haoli assured her.

Around Hui’s neck, Zhubi tipped over belly-up.

Tian Lan’s eyes got wider. “No…”

“Hurry, now. You don’t want to—”

“You killed Zhubi!” Tian Lan howled, leaping at Cho Haoli. Mid-leap, she transformed, baring teeth and claws alike in her dragon form.

“Let’s—let’s talk, why don’t we talk? Don’t dragons like talking?” Cho Haoli asked, retreating.

Tian Lan hissed ferociously and snapped at him. He leaped back, barely dodging as huge teeth slammed shut. Cho Haoli flew back. Circling his hand in the air, he called forth a circle of glowing light. A sword emerged from the light, its tip shimmering, threatening to leap free and fly at Tian Lan.

Hui startled upright. Shit! Don’t attack the newborn! I won’t lie here and let Tian Lan get hurt! He quickly circulated his life qi and jumped to his feet. “Tian Lan, I’m fine!”

Tian Lan whipped back, retracting her attack. “Zhubi?”

Around Hui’s neck, Zhubi laid dead.

Tian Lan’s eyes welled with tears.

Hui nudged Zhubi. Come on. I know you’re alive. Stand up and stop traumatizing the baby.

Zhubi shifted. He slowly rolled himself back upright, ever so reluctantly.

“Ah, thank goodness!” Tian Lan returned to her human form and hurried over to Hui’s side.

“Don’t ignore me. Now that I’ve come this far, I’m not leaving without a dragon,” Cho Haoli announced. He waved his hand, sending the glowing sword flying toward Tian Lan.

Hui threw out his hand to Tian Lan. “Quickly!”

Tian Lan’s eyes widened. She leaped to Hui’s side and transformed into a tiny snake form, winding around his arm.

The sword of light hurtled toward Hui. Hui threw up a dozen copies of the Hundred and Eight layers between him and the sword. As the sword struck and shattered the first barrier, he activated the Phoenix Escape. Fire burned around his body, and he flew out from behind the barriers and hurtled away.

Cho Haoli chased after him. “Why do dragons love you? What is your secret?”

Hui paused. He turned back. “Elder Brother remembers…?” That was two loops ago that I encountered Cho Haoli. Why does he remember what happened?

“You remember?” Cho Haoli asked.

Their eyes met. Steely determination edged the confusion in Cho Haoli’s eyes. Hui’s widened. “Ah, no, no, no, Elder Brother is mistaken. Nothing, I said nothing, haha!”

Cho Haoli burst out with speed, catching up to Hui in an instant. His hand clamped down on Hui’s shoulder. With authority, he demanded, “Come with me.”

“I’ll have to refuse!” Hui said. He swapped his body to plant form and ran off, leaving a chunk of his body in Cho Haoli’s hand. Almost instantly, his body regenerated, spurred by both plant form and life qi.

Cho Haoli gave chase, but Hui activated his Phoenix Escape, swapping back to his human form when the flames singed the edges of his plant form. To his surprise, red feathers fluttered behind him as he sped off. Huh? Do I still have the Vermillion Bird’s body? I can’t complain. It’s nice to get an extra bit of speed for free.

Barely a moment later, a shadow appeared in front of him. Hui startled, flying backward. Backlit by the sun, Xi Muchen hovered before Hui, an enigmatic smile across his face. “Cho Haoli, should I apprehend this man?”

“If you know, hurry up and apprehend him already!” Cho Haoli snapped, rapidly flying up behind Hui.

“My apologies.” Xi Muchen’s form blurred. Hui didn’t have time to react before Xi Muchen appeared behind him, yanking his arms back. He went to swap to plant form and shed his arms, but before he could, glowing blue handcuffs materialized around his wrist, and all his qi jolted to a halt.

Eh? Eyes wide, Hui craned his neck to see the cuffs behind his back. Are these some kind of qi-restricting handcuffs? How rude! What an uncouth move!

Tentatively, he tried circulating his other kinds of qi. His qi passages were locked down, completely stagnant, but the birds flapped in his dantian, flying the same as usual. He drew on one and forcefully dug it through his body. A moment later, he paused, letting go of the bird. Good, good. I can escape these handcuffs, as long as I’m willing to sacrifice my body. After all, all it does is stagnate and freeze my qi passages.

On the other hand, I hate pain, so it’s not completely without cost, but I can easily break out of these if I need to.

But… well, why not play along? It’s like playing dead! That, and I’m not sure I could beat these two in a fair fight. I don’t know enough to have an unfair fight against them yet. Better to ride this out, play along, then escape once they think I’m safely in whatever prison realm.

Unless… Hui peeked at Xi Muchen. “Er, Elder Brother, we aren’t headed to the villages directly, are we?”

Xi Muchen lowered his head, still smiling. “You’re quite insightful. No, no. You’ll come with us to Heart Lotus City. We have a process for those who wake up to the loops.”

“You’ll probably end up in the villages, but if you have the right qualities…”

Xi Muchen glared at Cho Haoli. Cho Haoli put his hands up. “In any case, come with us to Heart Lotus City. We’ll figure things out from there.”

Hui nodded. He peeked at the two emissaries. I bet there’s a small chance to become an emissary, if you wake up in the loops. What did they call themselves? Inspectors? Ah, I don’t want to, but… well, it might be interesting to find out how the Inspectors work. Though if their entire job is to catch people like me and send them to villages… pass, I think I’ll pass.

No, what I’m really curious about, is who else is hanging out in the Immortal prisons!

Eyes shining, Hui let Xi Muchen lead him away, back toward Heart Lotus City.