The sect was ablaze, pillars of fire devouring the night sky. Insect demons of every size and shape swarmed in from every direction—skittering centipedes, shrieking locusts with jagged wings, beetles the size of wolves. Their mandibles snapped, tearing apart beams and scattering tiles, while disciples drew their swords, shouting their battle cries as they hacked through the hordes. Sparks and ichor rained across the courtyard, the air thick with smoke and the stench of burning wood and chitin.
"This is all your fault!" Elder Kuoyu roared. His hand shot out like a claw, seizing Xue Laohu by the collar. With a surge of strength, he slammed him against a scorched pillar, sending splinters flying. The elder's eyes were bloodshot, fury burning in their depths. "We warned you! We warned you that letting those wretched demons into our gates would bring calamity!"
His grip tightened until Xue Laohu's feet dangled above the ground. He clawed at his wrist, choking for air, his vision blurring against the orange glow of the inferno.
"Hands off!" Li Zhameng's voice cut through the chaos. He darted forward, his hand snapping onto Elder Kuoyu's arm. With a practiced twist, he wrenched it back. "I said, hands off!"
Before Elder Kuoyu could react, Li Zhameng drove a swift kick into his chest. The elder staggered backward, crashing against a toppled beam. Dust and embers scattered around him.
From the smoke, Elder Yansen appeared, half-dragging, half-leading a handful of disciples. Her face was streaked black with soot, her hair disheveled and matted with ash. Her breathing came in gasps, but her eyes were sharp with urgency. "Stop—please, stop this madness!" she cried, raising her sword just in time to cleave a shrieking insect demon in two. Its carapace split with a wet crack, spraying ichor across the stones.
"This is no time to quarrel among ourselves!" she barked, slashing down another that swooped overhead. Her blade hissed as it cut through its buzzing wings, sending the creature shrieking into the flames.
But her plea seemed almost lost. The demons kept coming, surrounding the courtyard in an unending tide. Their laughter was not laughter at all but a cacophony of hisses and clicks, their joints snapping like firecrackers as they crawled closer and closer, walls of chitin pressing in.
Xue Laohu had slipped to his knees amid the chaos. His hands trembled, his thoughts drowned by fire and screaming. He could no longer hear the shouting of the disciples nor the sect elders, nor the ringing clash of steel. Through the roaring blaze and demonic screeches, only a faint, otherworldly chime echoed in his skull—soft and relentless.
INITIATING THE LAST COURSE:
LOVE OR OBLIVION.
Xue Laohu sat frozen, hands cupped over his ears as if that could block out the madness. The world around him was crumbling, yet he could not move—too stunned, too shattered to react. Flames leapt from roof to roof, screams tangled with the shrill buzzing of insect demons.
"Shizun!" Li Zhameng's voice cut through the din like a whip. He dashed forward, his fox fire blazing with light as he ignited a demon mid-lunge. The creature's jaws snapped shut just inches from Xue Laohu's face, its body convulsing before collapsing into ash.
Li Zhameng dropped to his knees in front of him, gripping his master's shoulders. "Wake up! Shizun, look at me—snap out of it!" His voice trembled with desperation. But Xue Laohu's eyes remained vacant, glassy with shock, as if he had been swallowed whole by the void of his mind.
Behind them, Elder Kuoyu staggered to his feet, one hand pressed hard against his chest. His robes were torn, smeared with soot and blood. He spat bitterly, his voice ragged with fury. "This… all of this—your doing!" His glare bore into Xue Laohu like a blade. "The day you brought those filthy demons into our sect, you betrayed us. Do you see now? You've doomed us all!"
Li Zhameng's jaw clenched, teeth grinding audibly. He pulled Xue Laohu closer, shielding him with his own body, his eyes flashing with rage. But his Shizun still sat unresponsive, a hollow shell amidst the inferno.
Elder Yansen's blade flashed nearby, severing the wings of a screeching insect demon. She spared a single glance toward Xue Laohu and Li Zhameng, her face twisted with sorrow. But said nothing, only pressed on, her disciples rallying at her side as she fought tooth and nail to keep the horde at bay.
Suddenly, a surge of talismanic light flared across the courtyard. Elder Zhiwu vaulted onto the roof, robes billowing like storm clouds. His hands moved with sharp precision, slapping talismans along the beams. "Get up!" he bellowed, his voice resonant even over the chaos. "This is no time to wallow in despair. If we don't fight—there will be no sect left to protect!"
He chanted rapidly under his breath, the words laced with ancient power. Blue lightning burst across the ground in crackling veins, ensnaring the insect demons as they shrieked and writhed. The stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Not far off, the insect siblings—Bing Die and his younger kin—cowered beneath the shattered debris of a fallen hall. They had no weapons, no combat training, only fear. Their bodies shook as a massive demonic beetle lumbered toward them, its grotesque maw yawning wide. Its jaws clanked together with a sound like grinding stone, thick venom dripping from its mandibles. A guttural, deranged laugh rattled out of its throat as it raised its head to strike.
"Hold on!"
Twin shadows flew through the air—Fei Hong and Fei Fen, their kicks landing simultaneously against the beetle's armored thorax. The monster reeled backward with a screech, cracks spiderwebbing across its shell.
"Are you alright?" Fei Hong called, her hair snapping behind her as she pivoted, delivering another vicious kick to a demon that dared creep too close.
Fei Fen reached down, pulling the siblings out from the rubble. "On your feet—quickly!"
"Th-thank you," Bing Die stammered, bowing low, his voice quivering with awe.
Fei Fen's lips curved into a warm smile as she gave him a quick, playful wink. "No need for thanks. Take your brothers and sisters and find somewhere safe to hide. Leave the rest to us."
With that, she whirled away, leaping to her sister's side. The Fei twins moved like a storm in tandem—kicks, sweeps, and strikes flowing in perfect synchronicity. Together they cut through the demons with ferocious grace, their laughter ringing sharp and defiant amidst the noise of the chittering demons.
Xue Laohu felt a strong arm lock firmly around his waist, anchoring him in the chaos. The world around him was a dissonance—screams of dying disciples, the clash of steel against flesh, and the deranged, chittering laughter of insect demons echoing like a nightmare chorus. His ears rang, his chest tightened, and for a moment he thought he might collapse.
A pale-blue aura flared into being, wrapping protectively around him. The haze clouding his vision cleared, his breath coming ragged as he focused again on the world. He leaned against Li Zhameng's chest, clutching desperately at his robes, trying to draw strength from his disciple's steady heartbeat.
"I—I'm scared," he whispered, his voice cracking. His hand trembled violently against the fabric. For over a year, he had drifted through this world in disbelief, half-convinced it was nothing more than a fever dream. Yet the stench of burning flesh, the sting of ash in his throat, and the looming horror of being torn apart by insect demons—all of it was too real. His knees threatened to buckle. This wasn't a game. This wasn't an illusion. He wasn't a great grandmaster of legend, not really. He was Yi Ming—an ordinary nineteen-year-old boy, thrown into a nightmare.
"Shizun."
Li Zhameng tilted his chin upward, forcing his dazed eyes to meet his own. For a heartbeat, everything else vanished—the fire, the screams, the demons. Just those two pairs of eyes locked together. Then, without hesitation, Li Zhameng pressed a brief, grounding kiss to his lips.
"Don't be scared," he murmured, cupping his Shizun's face with both hands. His lips pulled into a crooked grin, equal parts reassurance and defiance. With his thumb, he brushed away the tear trembling on the edge of Xue Laohu's lashes.
Something inside Xue Laohu steadied. His grip tightened on his fan. With a flick, the lacquered ribs snapped open, catching the light of the firestorm. Air surged around him, answering his call. He swung the fan in a wide arc—gusts of wind roared to life, sweeping through the courtyard and hurling demons backward in a screeching whirlwind.
Li Zhameng stepped into the gale, his fox fire blooming into a blazing inferno. Together, wind and flame twined into a destructive vortex, scorching the insect horde and holding them at bay. For the first time that night, the disciples around them lifted their heads with renewed hope.
Far below, at the foot of the mountain, Shudu trudged along with a bulging pouch of peaches slung over his back. He plucked one of the largest from the bunch, cradling it in both hands as if it were a small treasure, dusting it carefully with on his tunic. But when his gaze drifted upward, he froze.
The entire mountaintop was ablaze. Smoke and flame churned into the sky like a funeral pyre, the roar of battle faint but unmistakable even at a distance. The peach slipped from his fingers, tumbling to the dirt. Without a second thought, Shudu dropped the pouch and sprinted up the mountain path, his heart hammering in his throat.
Xue Tuzi's lashes fluttered as consciousness returned. Warm rays of sunlight spilled through the lattice window, kissing his skin, though his brow furrowed as if the brightness itself pained him. Slowly, he turned his head—and froze.
At the corner of his bed, seated with patient stillness, was Shudu.
"Shushu—!"
He jolted upright, his voice trembling with relief as he flung himself forward, wrapping his arms around the demon in a desperate embrace.
"You're awake," Shudu murmured, his voice low and steady, as one hand came up to gently pat his back.
"Shizun… and the sect?" Xue Tuzi asked breathlessly, pulling back just enough to look into his face. But before another word could escape, Shudu silenced him with a press of lips against his own.
"They're sleeping," he whispered against Xue Tuzi's mouth.
His kisses did not stop there. He brushed soft touches across Xue Tuzi's cheeks, his forehead, down along the line of his jaw, trailing lower toward the vulnerable curve of his neck. Xue Tuzi's breath hitched, his fingers trembling against Shudu's tunic.
"But the demons," he stammered, pulling away with a shaky gasp. "How long… how long have I been out?"
"Not long," Shudu replied smoothly, a faint smile curving his lips. "But you should rest. Go back to sleep."
With practiced gentleness, he pushed Xue Tuzi back against the bedding. His strong hands, surprisingly careful, swept stray strands of hair from Xue Tuzi's damp cheeks, tucking them behind his ears as if to frame his face.
"Tuanzhu!"
Xue Tuzi suddenly exclaimed, sitting upright again, his gaze darting wildly across the room. His heart pounded in panic.
"Relax," Shudu said, raising a hand. "She's right here."
In the far corner of the bed, nestled against the pillow, the little Gu worm lay curled in slumber.
"She's sleeping. Don't wake her."
Shudu's voice dropped into a velvet hush as he leaned closer, stealing another kiss, insistent this time, his lips pressing harder to force Xue Tuzi back down into the bed.
But Xue Tuzi's eyes narrowed. He flinched beneath the touch, suspicion glinting faintly in his gaze. Searching. Testing.
"Shushu…" he breathed softly, his words tinged with unease.
The demon only smiled at him, warm and affectionate, as though there was nothing in the world to fear.
Xue Tuzi hesitated, fingers tightening on the edge of the bed. Finally, he whispered, almost childlike, "Who do you love more—me, or Tuanzhu?"
Shudu chuckled, leaning down until their foreheads brushed, his eyes crescent moons of delight. "You, of course."
The answer, so easy and without hesitation, twisted something inside Xue Tuzi's chest. His lips pressed into a thin, trembling line, the small mole at the corner quivering with his suppressed emotion. Slowly, he lifted both hands, cupping Shudu's face as though he wanted—desperately—to believe him.
"Even in dreams," he whispered, voice breaking with a sigh, "you're too good to me."
With one hand, he reached up and tugged free the ribbon from his hair. In a swift flick, the shimmer of false sunlight shattered, peeling away like smoke.
The illusion dissolved.
And there, in the dimness that remained, Xue Tuzi clutched Tuanzhu tightly against his chest, holding her as if she were his only truth.