Heat haze suddenly shimred beside Hui. It grew thicker and thicker, then condensed into a wavering, translucent form of Qian Liqiu. She looked at the clones. Is this your solution?
Senior! Yes. Er, Im still working on the details, but ah, and dont worry! They can be reshaped, Hui added quickly.
She narrowed her eyes slightly. The shape is no issue. These are plants. We are fire.
Yes, yes. Im figuring that out right now, Hui said, nodding.
What is there to figure out? We will burn them, Qian Liqiu said, crossing her arms.
Senior Your Majesty, please. Give so ti. Im seventy percent sure I can solve this, Hui said. I have a lead, after all. Life qi, fire qi, death qi every state but fire qi works. Surely it cant be true. There must be sothing Im missing.
Beside Hui, Bai Xue gasped. Hui, you never said!
Ah, apologies, Elder Sister. This is Qian Liqiu, the Queen of the Phoenixes
You should have ntioned you liked having won inside you. I could have made that happen a long ti ago, Bai Xue said, waggling her eyebrows at him.
Elder Sister, Hui complained.
Indeed. I see you are skilled in dual cultivation, Qian Liqiu said, her eyes flickering over Bai Xue. Such an act is truly an advanced skill.
Eh? Senior, too? Hui cleared his throat. Could we stop talking about horny
Bai Xue nodded. The complete transfer of ones soul and energy into their partner is a difficult task. It requires much trust. Im surprised you were able to accomplish it after such a short ti period.
Wait, huh? It isnt horny Ah! I gave in to the worlds logic! Dual cultivation isnt only horny things, its also the simple transfer of energy. I must be careful. If I give in too much to the worlds logic, the next thing I know, Ill be harrumphing and flicking my sleeve and acting haughty toward the next generation of heroes.
Qian Liqiu waved her hand. We had few options. I had to move blindly and with conviction. My people depended on it.
Eh? How many people are inside you right now? Bai Xue asked, looking Hui up and down.
Elder Sister, phrasing, Hui insisted. He sat down, resting a hand on one of the lotus clones. Once again, he circulated his life qi through the clone, resonating with the native qi inside the clone.
The entirety of what remains of the phoenix race, Qian Liqiu replied for Hui.
Advanced indeed, Bai Xue murmured, half to herself.
Hui peeked a glance at Bai Xue. What does Elder Sister an by that?
She smirked back.
Dont get drawn into her pace. Now that shes past her initial shock, I bet shes using humor to buffer herself against her anxiety toward Bai Xingxue going missing. Its understandable, but I cant allow myself to be distracted. With the phoenixes, we can search exponentially faster as long as I can send them forth from my body, instead of projecting them a small circumference from my dantian!
I could search a small portion of Starbound Sect with the death ducks back in the day. Considering the increase in my realm, I could likely search the entirety of several Starbound Sects now by simply projecting the ducks, songbirds, and phoenixes as qi constructs, but the children could be anywhere in the Southern Sect Conference or even the Eastern Alliance. It would take years to search the entire realm. Rather than waste my ti trying to search alone, Id rather go straight to the core of the problem and search the entire realm with the help of the phoenixes, separated from my body!
The root-based lotus clone under his hand trembled. A hundred palm-sized lotus clones, these ones the usual androgynous body, burst from its chest. They stepped free, snapping their feet away from the original clones chest.
The clone laid there, inert. Hui couldnt help but wince a little. Ouch. Seeing that happen to my body oof.
Hui gently touched one with his finger, and the rest joined hands. They circulated their qi separately, each creating its own distinct tiny qi circuit.
You learn more from failure than success. You learn more from failure than success! Hui took a deep breath, then sent his fla qi into the clones.
One. Two. Ten. Twenty. One after another, the tiny clones twitched and burst into flas. Their life qi converted smoothly to fire qi, but the fire qi ignited their bodies the instant they began to circulate it.
Hui bit his lip. Is it different ratios? Maybe if I change less to fla qi or more?
The ones where he used less fla qi lasted a little longer, but no matter what, the second it all converted to fla qi, the clone burned up. Where he used more, the clones burned up faster. Thirty. Forty. Half of the clones vanished. He burned the fla qi longer, hoping to revive the lotus bodies from death, but they rely burned away to white ash, then nothing.
Hui scowled. Thats no good.
Its not the ratio. What else? What else?
Hui compressed the fla qi, settling it into the clones dantians, separated from most of the clones qi. The clones survived. Hui stepped back, grinning.
Abruptly, fire burned through the clones stomachs. Twisting up like paper, they burned to ash in monts.
Fuck. I thought that would work. It worked for life qi and death qi wait, but I had the soul/body separation. Hmm no, I dont think that will work here. That worked for because of the cultivation manual I used, because of my specific technique. The phoenixes cant use my technique without starting to cultivate again from scratch in fact, due to being innately fla qi, they may be entirely unable to use my technique!
Lets give it a try but Im not expecting much.
Unlike life qi and death qi, the balance between life qi and fla qi collapsed. Over and over. Seventy. Eighty. Ninety. Circulation patterns. Barriers. Intricate constructs. One after another, every clone he tested burned up.
What is it about the phoenixes that makes them unique? Hui thought, despairing, staring down his last clones. Their fla qi no. Theyre innately fla qi. Thats the problem.
Or is it the solution?
Huis eyes lit up. He reached toward the final clone, and his fingers curled.
Inside the clone, life qi spun, neatly contained in its dantian and qi passages. Under Huis guidance, the life qi cycled to fla qi. The clone began to burn, but before it could fully burn, it cycled back to life qi. A harmonious cycle began as the fla qi fed into the life qi which fed back into the fla qi.
Carefully, Hui drew back his hand. The clone remained standing. Life and fla qi continued to cycle on their own, back and forth, back and forth. As they cycled, the fla qi no longer burned the clones body, but instead invigorated it, slowly seeping into the clone. The clones body began to glow faintly red, its skin blackening. Rather than burning up, it beca like charcoal, able to burn for a long ti without burning away. The life qi cycle healed the body. Between the fla qi and the life qi, the body grew harder and stronger, until it no longer glowed or beca blackened like charcoal, but instead began to glow a faint pale red. More and more, until the clone once more turned a pale white. This ti, though, the clone emanated a fierce heat, its body shiny and hard instead of soft and flexible.
How Qian Liqiu whispered.
Bai Xue nodded proudly, her hands on her hips. Thats our Xiao Hui. Hes never let common sense stop him.
Qian Liqiu took a deep breath. She flew forward.
Hui held out his hand. Senior, not yet.
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