727. Making Money Moves (Patreon)

The second Hui hit the ground, he sprinted toward the mortal cultivator’s base camp. After watching them for a week, I have a basic idea of where they’re hiding during the day. I’ll come from the same direction, and they shouldn’t notice anything wrong.

He ran a hand over his face, giving himself one of the male cultivators’ appearances, all the way down to the ragged and patchy clothes. Li Xiang became a dirty old sword, wrapped by the swordskin to no longer appear as her pure silver self.

Sorry about this. I suppose it’s like a lie, but you’ll have to bear with it for now!

Li Xiang glowed. A buzz of sword energy accumulated under the snakeskin, then burst out all at once, shredding the disguise.

Or you could do that, I guess. Hui shook his head. “What if they notice I have a nice sword and decide to steal you, Elder Sister?”

Li Xiang had nothing to say.

Hui ran his hand over the sword’s hilt. She was originally a sword, and she’s a sword again. Rather than thinking of her as a woman, isn’t it more appropriate to think of her as a sword? Though… on the other hand, I’m hardly worthy enough to objectify anyone else. I suppose I’ll just treat her as usual, then.

He skimmed by the cultivators’ camp, without truly entering it. I don’t want to run into anyone who recognizes ‘me.’ The cultivator whose face I’ve stolen—no, no. Borrowed! The cultivator whose face I’ve borrowed is a late riser. He’ll enter the ruins later, but for now, I’ll take his place. With any luck, I’ll have found something useful and gotten out before he even arrives. As much as I want to take everything that isn’t nailed down, I can’t do that before the gold cultivators return, nor can I do that without the mortal-looking cultivators noticing. Instead, I’ll have to settle for one ideal piece of loot.

Or… two nice pieces of loot. Or, I don’t know, three or four? There’s no point stopping at one when I can get away with a heaping handful of loot.

The point is, I can’t take all of it. Just a small, reasonable portion.

Sigh. Such a waste.

He sped through the trees, dodging left and right. Abruptly, the trees fell away, leaving Hui exposed on a broad, open plain. Nothing threatened him, no danger stood anywhere in eyesight, and yet, a shiver ran down Hui’s back. Too exposed, too exposed! Anyone could be watching me from the trees. I’m a sitting duck out here, with nothing to hide behind!

Hold strong, Hui. Right now, you’re supposed to be here.

That’s right! I’m supposed to be here! I’m a mortal-looking cultivator, just another member of their mortal-looking looting team! No one should put a target on my back. No one should bother me! I’m meant to be here, I’m normal!

He crossed the plains and entered into the ruins. A faint aura of deathly yin filled the air. Instinctively, Hui absorbed it as he ran, adding yin to his dantian. The yinguin flapped out and swam through the air around him, happily sliding around on the chill air.

“Not now!” Hui hissed, gesturing the bright blue penguin back into his dantian. I’m meant to be an ordinary mortal cultivator. They’ll notice something’s wrong if I show up with a glowing blue penguin flying around me!

The yinguin clacked its beak and spun another circle around him, leaving a rime of ice and snow on the air behind it.

“Come on. Please, Elder Sibling?” Hui tried, holding his hands out toward it.

The yinguin hesitated, then whirled around him one last time, building speed, and drilled into his dantian with all the speed and grace of a feathery torpedo.

Hui shook his head, rubbing his stomach. Honestly. How troublesome. Does every bird need to act out for a little bit, before they settle in? I think the phoenixes are the only ones that haven’t been trouble for me.

He quickly looked around and spread his divine sense, checking to see that no one had noticed, but with the ruins close all around him, the light hadn’t spread far. He sighed in relief and pressed on, leaving the penguin’s flight of indiscretion behind.

A few moments later, shadows crept through the ruins, landing in the space Hui had been. Two mortal-looking cultivators, one man and one woman, exchanged a glance. The man spoke first. “That aura…”

The woman nodded. “That intense, pure yin. The Elusive Ghost… he must be nearby.”

The man flicked his hand. “Quickly, before the others notice. Trace it down.”

Unhesitatingly, the woman folded her legs under her and assumed a meditative stance. Whisps of black smoke congealed around her as she focused, then peeled off, shooting in all directions.

In the distance, Hui jolted as a bolt of yin-tinged black smoke suddenly shot toward him. What the hell? Some kind of attack? He dodged, but the bolt turned, locking onto him.

I haven’t even done anything, and they’re already attacking? Has someone seen through my disguise that easily? Hui leaped over a block of stone and found himself facing a small gap, where the roof of a house hadn’t fully collapsed on the floor below. He glanced left and right, then lodged his body beneath the house and played dead.

The bolt of yin stopped seeking him the moment his aura cut off. It hovered in the air, almost nervous as it darted left, right, then left again. Annoyed, Hui watched it with dead eyes, only his head and shoulder still poking out from under the house. Go. You’ve caused enough trouble already!

Rather than obeying his mental command, the bolt settled in, sitting firmly in the air and refusing to move. It occasionally spun around his head, drawing attention to his location.

Hui scowled at the yin. Shoo. Go on. I’m a dead body. There’s no need to pay any attention to me!

A rush of energy drew close, so powerful it made Hui’s skin tingle. He stopped making faces and went totally dead, no longer allowing any signs of life to remain.

A man and a woman appeared, following the bolt of yin’s path. The woman drew to a halt. Frowning, she called the yin back to her with a wave of her hand. “No sign of the Elusive Ghost.”

“Eh… Jun Ke?” The man walked over to Hui’s side and crouched, turning Hui’s chin to get a better look at his face.

Oh. You know me? That is, this face? My apologies, Elder Brother, but you’re going to have some awkward conversations later today…

“Jun Ke? Really? What killed him?” the woman asked, walking over.

“Looks like the ruins collapsed on him,” the man commented.

The woman frowned. “This house collapsed in the ancient era. We pass it every day. How’d he end up beneath it?”

The two of them exchanged a glance. The man began murmuring a technique.

I don’t know what they’re doing, but I don’t like it! Hui continued to lay still, but internally, his heart trembled. Should I get up and run away? But that’s too obvious. Oh! I know.

Quickly, he separated the snakeskin from his body, firming it up with a layer of crystal inside, leaving a small spot underneath un-crystallized. Activating the compression technique, he shrank down, then slipped out of the newly-formed shell of his body. Hui flew halfway up his waist, latched on to Li Xiang with both hands, and flew off, dragging his many-times-larger-than-him sword after him.

Ahead of him, at the far end of the ruins, a small square of pale light glimmered. Hui flew toward it at speed, even as the pressure of the technique intensified behind him. He broke through the crack and tugged Li Xiang after him, coming out into the moonlight again.

Behind him, a pillar of white light, sheathed in wispy black qi, shot into the sky. Every hair on Hui’s body stood on end. He sped away even faster than before, leaving the pair of immortals behind with his false body.

Terrifying, too terrifying! That wasn’t an attack, but the pressure alone could have flattened small little me. I can’t forget that I’m in the Immortal Realm now, nothing but a small bug in the Immortal Realm! Even ordinary, no, weak-looking Immortals can crush me with their pinkies. I’m the equivalent of a first-realm cultivator here, barely stepped into the realm of Immortality! Caution, caution, caution!

But… no one is looking out for me here. No one is going to help me here. I can’t rely on a Master or teacher. I have to find my techniques myself. And I can’t sit still and stagnate, either. I need to free Ying Lin, find Master, and confront the Golden Immortal. I need more power.

Which means looting ruins! Even if it’s dangerous, I have to loot the ruins!

Ah, and not… not confront the Golden Immortal. That was a poor choice of words. Prepare to defend against the Golden Immortal!

No, that isn’t right, either. I can’t allow him to continue to exist. He’s willing to hunt down people who aren’t me in order to get to me, the one thing I cannot allow. No. I have to confro… I have to… to… face… ah, yes! I’ve got it. Cautiously rebuke the Golden Immortal!

Abruptly, a female voice cut into his thoughts. “Xie Tiangong, look! A flying sword flying all on its own! Is this one of the rumored events of the ruins?”

“Fa Longhua, I think you’re correct! Quickly, follow it!” another woman replied to her.

Hui stiffened. He looked around, then turned slowly to face Li Xiang behind him, glimmering brightly in the moonlight. Elder Sister! Elder Sister, I told you!

“Quickly, Fa Longhua! It’s stopped!” Xie Tiangong shouted from just out of sight.

“I’m on it, sister!” An attractive young woman shot out of a nearby building and hurtled after Hui.

Hui burst off at top speed, zooming faster than ever before. Shit!