Chapter 13: Friends Don't Let Friends Stagnate Their Qi

Chapter 13: Friends Don't Let Friends Stagnate Their Qi

Paralyzed, Hui laid on the ground like a dead fish. Poison pumped through his veins, burning him from the inside out. He closed his eyes and focused, guiding his qi toward the poison. His qi fought him, refusing to obey his orders. It trashed out of his hold and blasted on, ignoring the poison.

The poison met his qi. Instantly, his qi went cold and dark. The rioting qi carried the poison faster. In the space of a few heartbeats, all the qi in his body had fallen still.

Wait. Is this is this the stuff that went into Zhubis veins when he used the play-dead technique?

Hui focused on his limbs. Dimly, he felt his hands, his fingers. With all the effort he could muster, he curled his fingers. They responded sluggishly, stiff and cold.

Get up. Come on.

Already, heat burned in his dantian. There, his qi still boiled, threatening to break out again. If he laid here, then, in the time it took an incense stick to burn, the venom would wear off, and hed be back where he started.

Before that happens, I have to solve this, somehow!

He looked up the mountain, turning his heavy head. Master who knows if hes paying attention? I cant count on him.

Then who else? He turned down the peak, toward the rest of the sect. His eyes settled on a pillar of multicolored smoke in the distance.

Zhubis venom saved me. If nothing else, I can get Cauldron Peak to brew a potion like it until I can figure out a permanent solution.

Slowly, Hui pushed himself upright. Every limb weighed a thousand pounds. Every step seemed to last a mile. Sorry, Lao, but its life or death, okay?

Around his neck, Zhubi coiled slowly, big, round eyes looking up at him. He patted the snakes head. Thanks, boy. I wouldve been dead without you.

Pleased, Zhubi fluttered his tongue against Huis neck.

Honestly! These new disciples the stern girl started.

She and the ornamented girl started away. The final cultivator, the bright-eyed one, hesitated just a second longer, her eyes lingering on Huis frame.

He gave her a smile and a nod. I really am handsome in this life, huh?

Blushing furiously, the bright-eyed girl rushed away.

Pulling the hems of his robe shut in the front, Huis fingers brushed over a patch of embroidery. He peeked inside. A name was stitched into the lining of the robe in red. Li Xiang.

Hui closed his robes. If I cant find the laundry, I can always return it to the man himself.

His dantian ached. In response, his qi shuddered, half-awakening. Hui jolted back into motion and hurried toward Cauldron Peak. No time to waste!

--

An Ye turned toward her fellow laundry girls. That man

The rude one? the bespectacled Cai Fang asked.

We were doing female laundry today, right?

Cai Fang paused. She shrugged. Men and women wear the same style of robes in our sect. Hell be fine.

An Ye looked at the robe in her hands, then shook her head. I wonde