Hui slashed the petrified wood. Rather than trying to gouge out a huge chunk or cut a piece out, he aimed at the edge, where little of the borderline immortal aura permeated. The death qi weakened the edge of the wood ahead of the blade. Even so, the wood resisted. Green light surged up, only to die back as black invaded it. The death qi cut off a slender slice of the tree, and Hui struck.

The green aura pulsed, pushing out the black death qi, but a second too late. Thin as paper, a section of petrified wood laid in Hui’s hand. He flicked his hand, storing it away.

Green light burned. It touched at the cut place the way a tongue investigates a sore tooth. Once, twice, thrice. At that, the green light quavered.

Hui stood and brushed off his robes. Time to go. I should hurry back to the Black Asp Sect’s area before Ding Lao figures out where I ran off to.

The green light flashed. It roiled with anger. A pulse of rage blasted off it, shaking the trees all around. In all its years as the precious heart of Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect, nothing had dared injure the tree, let alone cut a piece off it! To do so was unthinkable, in fact, borderline sacrilege. Not a single elder in the sect would stand to see the tree disrespected.

Anger, rage, humiliation! The tree boiled, leaves swaying as if in a great wind, branches lashing about. Though the ancient tree laid petrified and motionless for untold millennia, now it burst to life and lashed about viciously. Its branches howled on the wind, its leaves screamed in panic. A being so powerful and ancient, and yet this was the first time it had been damaged! If any human cultivator could claim such a thing, others would call them a greenhouse flower, raised in a walled garden—and such was this tree!

Although, to merely call it a greenhouse flower would be a bit rude. After all, the tree’s incredible durability after so many millennia of sturdily cultivating, and its petrification on top of that, made it nearly impossible to damage. However, it had never faced anyone as brazen as Hui, who dared to use death qi directly on its bark without fear of the consequences.

Hui stared up at the tree, frowning. I only took a small piece. What’s all this for? You didn’t even feel it! I carefully extracted the death qi afterward. Come on, don’t overreact. It’s only a little bark scraping.

Ding Lao and the other disciples looked up, startled.

“What is it?”

“Is that… Mount Mu? What happened?”

“The whole forest is attacking!”

“I haven’t seen the forest behave like this… not even when the sect was under attack!”

The ground quaked around Hui. An intense sense of crisis slammed into his heart, and he threw himself upward, blasting directly through the earth to burst out on the surface. Petrified roots squirmed through the earth, slashing at him. They swiped at empty air, a second too slow to hit.

Hui landed. Leaves and small branches fell like rain around him. A heavy whoosh caught his ear, and he glanced up in time to see a branch slamming down at him. He threw himself to the side and barely dodged. The huge branch smashed into the ground, throwing up dirt. It showered down on Hui where he laid.

Play dead…? No, ancestor tree would see through it! There’s only one way out of this!

Hui leaped upright and sprinted through the forest. He circulated his cultivation base and sped far faster than he had before when he relied only on his fleshly body. Branches plummeted from the sky. Huge fruits smashed to the ground all around him, splattering him with a sickly-sweet liquid that stuck to his limbs like glue. Hui frowned and ran faster, tearing his robes where they stuck, running with earth stuck to his feet and legs. Sharp as a sword, an acorn hurtled down at him. Hui threw a barrier talisman up to block it and sped past, letting the barrier deflect it backward.

The acorn slammed into the barrier, and the barrier shattered. Shards of golden light flew out in all directions. The acorn’s sharp tip buried into the earth, impaling itself where Hui stood seconds ago.

Senior Forest, please forgive this small cultivator! I thought you wouldn’t even notice if I took such a small piece! It was my mistake, truly, my mistake! Please accept this small disciple’s apologies!

Behind Hui, the giant tree shifted as if it wanted to climb up out of the ground. Its roots buckled the ground beneath it, thrashing around and churning the earth around the tree’s base. The ‘wood’ (mu) character wobbled on its side, throwing gold light wildly across the forest, and the stone tablet beneath the character cracked directly in two. From beneath, pure black earth could be seen, and most shockingly of all, white roots reached out of the black earth. If one looked closely, the ends of the roots branched into almost finger-like appendages, and the roots hinged like elbows, and yet, not.

Although Hui couldn’t see any of this, he felt the surge of death qi that burst from the cracked tablet. He paused a moment, then surged onward, faster than ever. Whatever that is, it’s no good! This small cultivator needs to hurry far away from here!

The tree that bore the Black Asp Sect’s palace stood up ahead. Hui drew his sword and pointed it toward the ground, leaping into the air at the same time. He channeled a burst of qi down through the sword’s tip and soared upward. Leaves lashed at him, slashing like blades. Branches pummeled him, gripping and tugging at his robes. Gritting his teeth, he pushed faster. Diplomatic immunity, diplomatic immunity! If this world doesn’t have it, I’m about to invent it!

A snort sounded out, echoing over the entire forest. Instantly, the forest laid still. Mount Mu, the giant tree, shuddered in indignation one last time, then settled back into the earth, quiet once more.

“Who dares touch Mount Mu?” a voice echoed over the forest.

Hui threw himself into the palace and hurtled into Liu Baozhai’s room, rolling to a halt. Gu Tian stood up from the table, startled, and stared as Hui threw himself directly under the bed. He glanced out and lifted a finger to his lips. You saw nothing!

Gu Tian frowned. He stood, pressing himself up with a hand on the table. “Xie Hao, what…”

Pressure slammed down onto the palace. The wood creaked, and the branch sagged. Gu Tian crumpled back into his chair, and under the bed, Hui laid completely prone, equally unable to stand up to the pressure as Gu Tian.

“Here…?” the voice asked. A shadow fell over the palace.

“Sect Master Mu, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Erlan asked, flying up. The pressure lessened, and the branch wobbled upward. Hui sucked a breath as the pressure grew bearable.

A harrumph sounded out. “Our ancient heavenly tree claims one of your cultivators injured it. What do you say?”

“Sect Master, I’m sure I don’t know about that. One of our cultivators injured your ancient tree? I’ve been with Mysterious Heavenly Forest cultivators all day, and no one else I brought was over fourth tier. Surely it would be impossible for a fourth tier cultivator to wound your Mount Mu,” Erlan said, as if he were truly startled by the news.

Ah! Someone who knows how to have a battle of words! If Sect Master Mu pushes the issue, he’ll be stuck admitting the ancient tree, the central point of Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect, is weak enough to be injured by someone as small as me—as small as us Black Asp Sect juniors. Erlan is indirectly asking Sect Master Mu to give him face without openly asking for face, by injuring Sect Master Mu’s face if he decides to press on! Hui’s eyes lit up. Senior Erlan, allow this small cultivator to praise your prowess! Truly, what poisonous words!

“I don’t know what poisonous technique you used, but the tree has been injured by one of yours. It said so itself. Do you mock our ancient tree?” Sect Master Mu replied sternly.

“Naturally not. If your tree claims one of ours attacked it, can it not say who attacked it?” Erlan said, putting a hand to his chin.

Sect Master Mu scowled. “Will you not divulge who attacked our tree?”

Erlan spread his hands. “You say that as if I must know. I was with Mysterious Heavenly Forest cultivators until moments ago. I cannot possibly know who was where.”

“You still bear responsibility for your disciples,” Sect Master Mu thundered.

“Naturally, naturally. I do not dispute this. However… do you want me to punish all my disciples for a mistake one disciple made? A disciple you can’t even name,” Erlan said, shrugging.

“You… do you refuse to reveal who has done this?” Sect Master Mu asked. Pressure weighed down on the palace once more. The branch creaked under them.

“I’m not refusing anything. Your demands are unreasonable. Unless you want to murder the entire delegation, I can’t reasonably punish someone for something when I don’t even know who did it,” Erlan argued. “I will punish whoever did this, you can trust me, but this is an internal affair. Outsiders have no right to butt in.”

“Damn demonic sect,” Sect Master Mu growled. The branch began to tremble, the air shuddering around them.

Hui tensed and huddled under the bed, glancing nervously at the window. Should I run for it?

Erlan laughed. Despite the pressure, he stood tall, utterly unconcerned. “Are you going to kill us all? You can try. But we’re the only ones who can control the lotus.”

“You louse. I could kill you with the back of my hand,” Sect Master Mu snarled, at the end of his patience. He stepped forward, drawing his wooden sword. Sword qi buzzed is the air, cold and sharp.

“Could you kill Yunxu?” Erlan asked, chuckling. He stood there in the air, his hands tucked behind his back as casually as ever.

Sect Master Mu scowled. He turned away, green robes billowing, his wooden sword scintillating with a bizarre, rainbow light in his hand. “Try this again, and it doesn’t matter who Yunxu is, nor how powerful he is, nor about the lotus. I will slaughter every last one of you.”

Erlan chuckled. Arms tucked behind his back, he watched Sect Master Mu go, a pleasant smile on his face.

The second Sect Master Mu vanished into the forest, Erlan turned toward the palace. His smile remained equally pleasant, but his eyes turned dangerous. “So… who bothered Sect Master Mu’s precious tree, hmm?”

Hui trembled. Oh no. Oh no! I—I should’ve confessed to Sect Master Mu! Erlan is infinitely more dangerous! Especially if he realizes I’m a righteous cultivator!