Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Hui laid Li Xiang’s body down on the floor. Reaching to his neck, he laid Zhubi down beside her. Resuming a meditative stance, he plunged himself into cultivating, more than ever before.

Zhubi, do you hear me?

Elusive Ghost, do you hear me?

Song Wei, Li Xiang, Bai Xue, do you hear me?

No replies.

He pressed his hands flat on the floor. The golden stitches appeared all over his body once more. They glowed once, vibrantly. Hui hesitated.

No. No hesitation. I can’t have a single doubt.

Making a slicing motion at the air, he severed the threads.

His body fell apart. The seven ghosts leapt free, each one as savage as before. Leaping at one another, they tore each other apart with their teeth, their eyes furious, hatred in every inch of their bodies.

The gold threads spread over the surface of the floor, stretching out wide, like roots. They sunk into the ground, infiltrating deep into the white. Reaching down. Sinking. Calling out.

Zhubi. Elusive Ghost. Song Wei. Li Xiang. Bai Xue.

…

I’m here.

…

Remember me.

The gold roots pierced through the wall of the white world. Down to its core, out into the void. Growing and growing, they pierced through the entire realm, until gold threaded through the realm from top to bottom. The ruins, the bodies, all of them threaded with gold, the loot, the insides of the holding rings, the stones and buildings, all of them threaded with gold.

The ghosts all fell still, bleeding out black blood onto the floor of the space. Nothing lived in the entire realm.

Somewhere, a tiny mote of a thought glimmered, happily immersed in that boundless net of gold. Excellent.

To die, to reverse death.

For a single person, that’s too easy, right?

Come die with me, realm.

We’ll be reborn together.

Outside of the white realm, the Immortal Realm trembled. Time began flowing backward.

As it did, the golden threads tightened on the white realm. Even as trash flowed into it from the turning-back of time, the white realm crumbled. At first little pieces, then large chunks, the entire realm shredding like squeezed tofu. The backwards time soaked into the squeezed white pieces, just like tofu absorbing sauce. The more the white realm squeezed apart, the more the time soaked into it, and the realm’s time, too, flowed backward.

But not as one. Each piece, individually.

Rather than joining back together, the realm continued to fall apart. The new pieces thrown into it flew back out first, then the other bits, the crushed sects and bodies, the artifacts and clumps of land, all of them flying back into the Immortal Realm as its time rolled backward. Even Li Xiang and Zhubi flew forth, until nothing remained in the white realm at all, not even the ghosts. Only a glimmer of consciousness, soaked down deep into the white material, remained at all.

This white realm is a garbage dump. So let’s see what happens when I throw the garbage back into the Immortal Realm! Allowing the pieces to become entangled with the Immortal Realm and absorb its time lets them find their own place. And the ones that can’t find a place, can return to me.

If I can’t hold time myself, then it’s simple. I’ll find something else that can hold time, and bring it with me! It isn’t as convenient as a qi structure like my ducks, but it’s a small secret realm of my own. As long as I can hold onto time, that’s the important part.

The last of the white realm shredded away. They vanished into the void, disappearing off to some other place. The gold roots balled up, collecting into a sort of egg.

Eh? What’s happening? I didn’t plan this part…

As the Immortal Realm reformed, the egg landed in a quiet spot, somewhere in the middle of an empty forest in the ancient era.

Hey! What’s going on? Did the Golden Immortal trap me?

…

It doesn’t seem like it. Surely he would do something, if he found a way to get a hold of me. It’s not like he wants me dead, or captured and made inert, or else I would have been dealt with long ago.

But if it’s not the Golden Immortal, what is it?

I’m so sleepy…

It’s okay. I just gained a lot of power. The power of time, and a new realm, soaked in it. Maybe I just need to sleep it off, to let my body adjust.

I did die, too. In a brand new way, at that. I’ve never collapsed a realm down on myself before. I did collapse the Underworld, but I had that under control, mostly, and also, I was outside of it at the time. This time… yeah. This time was different.

Weariness overcame him. His eyes drooped shut, and a yawn escaped him.

Something bled into him from the room. Inside, everything mixed together. His qi, his self, the room, all of it, mixing into one. He struggled against it, then stopped. No… whatever’s happening, I should allow it to happen. The room becoming part of me, that’s what I want. Whatever side effects come…I’ll take them. It’s a small price to pay.

The mixing sensation grew stronger as his weariness grew stronger. The room merged into him, and he merged with the room, the two of them becoming one and the same. The urge to sleep welled up, forcing his eyes shut.

Okay. Just a little nap. I’ll be awake before I know it.

And so the years passed.

Time rolled on, running forward once more. Immortals came. Some left, ascending to yet higher realms. Others died, lost in their bloodlust, or wasting their lives on useless things. Sects rose and fell, and the whole time, the Golden Immortal watched on, its unblinking gold eye gazing down from the sky. Its brows furrowed. This isn’t right. None of this is right. What went wrong?

It searched all over, but found nothing. Not even a trace.

The Golden Immortal gnashed its teeth. It settled back, crossing its arms. “Whoever threw this trash into my perfect realm, I’ll simply wait for you to show your traces. You don’t win. A fool like yourself will surely move sooner rather than later.”

Deep in a forest, a gold egg sat, unmoving, unaware.

Thus, they waited, in an unknowing stalemate. And the years wore on. Until, at last—

“Xiao Hui, I’ve come. Like we promised.”