Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Hui closed his eyes, drawing on the Vermillion Bird bloodline he’d absorbed into his body. Red feathers fluttered at his neck, and his robes flickered, changing from blue to shining red feathers, flowing with the motion of his body. Fire burned in a halo around him, arcing high above his head.

He waved his hand. If I can establish a connection to the others, why not receive video, too? Pushing more qi into the spell, he called out to the light between the four of them and resonated with it. Three screens appeared on the air in front of him, showing him the others.

Bai Xue raised her arm. Tian Lan shone with brilliant blue power and uncurled from her arm, surging up in size and coiling around Bai Xue, slowly undulating. Bai Xue closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips together. Her breathing evened. Blue light glowed faintly from her body, growing brighter with each passing moment as she perfectly, naturally, resonated with Tian Lan. She opened her eyes. Bright as sapphires in the sun, they glowed with Tian Lan’s power, full of the bright young yin of the Azure Dragon.

Li Xiang stood still, perfectly still. Her form collapsed inward, vanishing rapidly as if vacuumed up, revealing a sword standing as upright as her. It glinted with cold light, and a projection of a White Tiger appeared behind it, clearer and colder than the distant stars. The sword’s tip took on the brutal hook of a tiger’s claw.

Zhubi trembled, changing into his Black Dragon-Turtle form. He spun around in air, octagonal-shaped shell a hole in the void, even darker than night. His tiny form burst, growing larger and larger moment by moment, until the massive length of his snakelike body coiled several times around a shell easily as large as a mansion. Two dark eyes gazed toward Hui, as though he could see Hui even through the screen. Black energy swirled around him.

Hui grinned. He nodded at the other four, even though he knew they couldn’t see him in return. “We won’t have long before the Golden Immortal realizes what we’re doing. Even with Song Wei’s distraction, our time is limited. Until then, I need all of you to resonate with the direction you chose! Gather as much energy into your cardinal beast… into yourself, as you can. The more the better. When you cannot bear the energy anymore, direct it to me and continue to gather even more energy! I’ll handle the rest.”

“Will you be able to handle that much energy?” Li Xiang asked, her voice issuing from the sword’s crossguard.

Hui nodded. “Don’t worry about me. I have a plan.”

“Is it like your other five plans that you can’t tell us in case the Golden Immortal overhears?” Bai Xue asked, her eyes twinkling.

Hui pursed his lips. “Elder Sister…”

“I get it, I get it.” She laughed, waving her hand. “We’ll focus on our part. You focus on yours.”

“Yes.”

Hui closed his eyes and focused. He reached out to the phoenix fire inside him, cloaking his body in its regenerative flames. I don’t know how much fire I can bear without the phoenix fire’s support, given how I’m more aligned with…

With…

Uh. Life? Death? Uh, plants?

In any case, I’m not particularly fire aligned, is the point. With the phoenix fire on my side, I’ll almost certainly be able to bear more fire than my ordinary body can alone!

The Vermillion Bird’s bloodline surged with the phoenix fire. His whole body grew warm in a comfortable way, as if a warm blanket wrapped him on a cold winter’s day. He took a deep breath, enjoying the moment.

But this isn’t how I absorb qi. He clenched everything down, not to death, but to embers. The red feathers lost their luster, the halo of fire all but flickering out. Phoenix fire grew dim around him, only barely spluttering, on the verge of extinguishing entirely. All around him, the world faded away, and darkness encroached on his vision. His heartbeat faded.

The embers flickered out. The feathers laid flat against his body. His heart stopped. Cold, dark, empty, Hui hung lifelessly in the air.

One moment. Two.

Now!

Hui’s eyes opened. Energy rushed into him, shapeless, warm energy, surging into every pore and filling him up. The energy swirled toward the south. Every time it pointed southward as it spun inside him, it surged a little faster. Fire blasted off his body, the red feathers shining more brightly than before. The halo of flames burned once again, with the light of the sun.

The energy overwhelmed his dantian. Hui compressed it down, pressing it into a tight coil. Compress it! Tighten! As much as I can, push that energy down, pull it into threads and wind them tight.

Fully compressed, the coil still took up a third of his dantian. Hui pressed his lips together. It’s dense to start out with, huh?

Oh well. Here we go. Two more times!

Once more, he killed his qi. Once more, the ferocious energy rushed in. Hui compressed it again, forming a second coil. Again, and a third coil filled his dantian.

He glanced at the screens. The others continued to cultivate. Energy swirled around them, blue, black, and white, spiraling endlessly into them. Hui twiddled his thumbs, a little awkward. I feel like that kid who finished the exam first, then just sits around looking at all the others panic. It’s that feeling of ‘I definitely missed something,’ but what? Is my dantian smaller? Did I forget somewhere to store energy?

Argh… I can’t just sit here! I’m the one who came up with this plan. If I run out of energy and screw us all, then what kind of plan-maker am I? No. I can’t! I must have enough energy. Again. One more time. If there isn’t enough room, I’ll make room!

Again, he killed his qi. When energy rushed into him, he started to compress it, but even compressing it on the way into his dantian, it wouldn’t fit. The walls of his dantian began to bulge painfully. He bit his lip. What do I do? I can’t keep adding qi. But the others are all still working. I can’t slack off now!

Wait. Hold on! He grabbed the compressed strand of qi and pushed it back out into the world. With his aura on him, it remained around his body, under his control. He looped the new strand of qi around him, creating a sort of hoop around his body. Turning back into his dantian, he immediately felt the qi hoop waver. He whipped back around and grabbed the qi again, only to lose the ability to absorb more qi as his attention focused on the loop instead. I need to have constant attention on the qi at all time in order to not lose the loop. At the same time, I need constant attention on the incoming qi or else I can’t absorb more qi.

Hui looked at the hoop, then grinned. Good thing I can split my attention!

Spawning off a mental clone to mind the loop, Hui focused on absorbing more qi. When the loop met itself on the far side of his body, he spawned a second mental clone and began forming a second loop. One after another, until at last, at five mental clones, he stopped. I don’t think this version of me can handle more than five clones. Er, but five loops… that’s enough, surely? Even if the others’ dantians are twice as large as mine, that’s still enough qi, probably. They can’t be more than twice as large as my dantian. I don’t think so, anyways. I never got the impression that the others could absorb much, much more qi than me… but then, I never spent that much time assessing others’ dantian size and qi absorption abilities.

Argh! If I can’t absorb enough qi… if I lack qi… He gritted his teeth, staring at the loops with uncertainty. He took a deep breath, then shook his head. I have to… I hate to admit it, but I have to believe in myself! I have to do it. Just for a minute, believe in myself. I have enough energy! Probably.

Ugh. I wish I could gather more… It feels so awkward to sit here and wait! I was never that kid who finished first… and both Li Xiang and Bai Xue were considered geniuses, while I’m just an ordinary cultivator. Maybe I should figure out a way to stock up a little more qi…?

Hui licked his lips and glanced at the other three, still sucking in qi. Trust. Trust in me! I have enough. Believe! Surely someone else will finish soon.

Surely… surely…!