Chapter 177: Garden Patch Kid

Chapter 177: Garden Patch Kid

Hui looked down at his hands and at the black robes he wore. He hesitated, then stripped off the ghoul skin. If the triplets and Huang Yan think Im dead I should act dead. At least for now. I dont want anyone to get suspicious of this small cultivator!

Instead He closed his eyes and focused, circulating the snake shed skill. In his minds eye, he held the image of one of the cultivators hed spotted in the lotus root room. As he focused, he changed the cultivators green robes to a darker shade and gave them black details. I dont want to look entirely like a Mysterious Heavenly Forest cultivator, nor entirely like a Black Asp cultivator. For now, lets be neither!

He hesitated, then changed the cultivators face features slightly, moving them closer to his ghoul skins features. On second thought, I shouldnt abandon Xie Haos identity entirely. I only want Huang Yan or the triplets to hesitate before they attack me. If they give me a moment or two, I can explain myself, or failing that, play dead! But theres no reason to stop being Xie Hao in the eyes of the Black Asp Sect yet. They dont have any reason to attack me yet.

But on the other hand, I shouldnt wear the ghoulskin until I have to. It has a strong death aura, one that can supplement the aura of my own death qi. In the Black Asp Sect where Im death cultivator Xie Hao, this is an advantage. Here, in the middle of a righteous sect thats about to be the location of a conference of righteous sects, its more advantageous if I can turn my death aura off and on of my own volition.

Ah! It does mean this small cultivator has to sacrifice my best armor for a little while! Mmm the first time I get attacked, Ill put it back on! But for now, its best this way.

The skin settled against his own. Lighter than the ghoulskin, he barely felt it. Hui touched his hand, then drew out an ice talisman and created a patch of ice in his hand. Xie Haos face stared back at him, though slightly off, as if he saw it from a strange angle.

Hui nodded. Like this, Huang Yan might not recognize me, since she only saw me once. The triplets probably wont recognize me, and if they do, they dont have it out for me the way Huang Yan does. On the other hand, Gu Tian and the other Black Asp Sect cultivators should still recognize me.

He stretched and looked around, then walked toward the boundary of the garden patch.

Something crunched under his foot. Hui glanced down.

It struck Hui again, in that moment. He shook his head, wide-eyed. This is insanity. The Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect theyre seriously planning to attack the Southern Sect Conference. Down to their budding plants, with every inch of their sect, theyre preparing for war!

Circulating his qi, he recalled the chant from within the snakes scale and created a second copy of the not-quite-Xie Hao skin hed created moments ago. The skin responded sluggishly, and Huis qi drained faster than it had the first two times. He watched the skin crawl over his hand and clenched it. So it seems three times is my limit right now. But why? Im not out of qi. Is there some other limiter? Some failure in my comprehension?

Well clearly its a failure of my comprehension! Im sure Master would be able to take a single glimpse and be able to tell why I can only use it thrice in a row!

He glanced around him, then reined in his death aura. For now I need to investigate Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect. If they have these mysterious plants as well as the Lotus Pill Blossom and the Qi Seed trees, who knows what else they have?

I can move more freely if I can pass amongst righteous disciples as a righteous disciple. Hmm to not stand out, Ill limit my cultivation to the third realm. When Starbound Sect arrives, Ill swap back to being Xiao Hui and tell them everything I find out! I wont let Starbound Sect get caught up in whatever Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect is planning!

He hopped from one branch to another, passing deeper into the sect. The further he moved from the garden patch, the more cultivators appeared, flitting through the trees like him. Hui put a hand on his chin as he flew along. There are few cultivators near both of the zones Mysterious Heavenly Forest would rather no one saw. Then, should I head in directions where there are few cultivators to find more dangerous zones?

His eyes flashed. Lets find out! He sped through the sect, racing through the trees. Instinctively, he started to send the death ducks out, but stopped himself at the last second. Now is not the time! If death qi ducks appear in a righteous sect, the sect will riot. Even if they invited demonic cultivators, that doesnt mean they want demonic cultivators to wander around the sect and use weird, demonic arts.

Not that this small cultivator is a demonic cultivator. Butah, of course! I stole the death qi ducks from a demonic art. So naturally they are demonic, but I, a pure and righteous cultivator, am not. Right. Clearly.

Nodding to himself, Hui hurtled through the forest, trees no more than a swoosh of brown and green on either side of him.