Morning came. Hui still sat in the corner, contemplating the petrified wood and the severed plant leg.

The door opened. “Xie Hao—”

Hui gestured, sending the petrified wood and leg back into his storage ring.

Gu Tian stared. “Was that… the lotus girl’s leg? And…”

Hui stood and gave him a subservient smile, straightening his robes. “Elder Brother, how can I help you today?”

Gu Tian frowned at him for another second, then shook his head. “I came here to ask… Xie Hao, are you ready? Master Erlan’s going to take us to see the lotus later today, and in the evening, the sects should be arriving for the Southern Sect conference.”

“Already? I thought we had a week,” Hui muttered.

Gu Tian nodded. “One of the sects scried an auspicious date for the conference, but when they checked again, the date had changed. Thus, the sects asked to move up the date. Sect Master Mu didn’t have a reason to refuse without sounding suspicious, so he had to agree.”

Hui twisted his lips. Auspicious date? What auspicious date! Why are you making things harder for me, huh? He sighed and shook his head. “Thank you for alerting me, Elder Brother. How long until we go see the lotus?”

Gu Tian glanced at the sun. “Another hour or so.”

An hour or so? That should be long enough for me to get to the Garden Patch and back! Hui nodded at Gu Tian. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Where are you going?” Gu Tian asked.

Hui smiled and bowed. “Please don’t concern yourself with this small cultivator.”

Gu Tian frowned. “Every time you go out, something strange happens. Of course I’d concern myself with you!”

Hui laughed and backed away. His legs hit the windowsill, and he jumped up. “Then, see you later, Elder Brother!”

Before Gu Tian could say anything else, he threw himself out the window and hurtled toward the opposite branch. In moments, he vanished into the distance.

Gu Tian stared after him, then sighed and shook his head. “Xie Hao… I don’t think I’ll ever understand you.”

--

Hui hurtled through the sect, bouncing from branch to branch. Other cultivators moved around, sleepy and bored, none particularly urgent. It doesn’t feel like a branch on the verge of a sneak attack… but if Sect Master Mu gave the order, how many of them would leap to and attack? It wouldn’t matter who was in the right or in the wrong. Cultivation is all about the survival of the fittest.

That’s right, Hui! Never forget. At all times, you’re surrounded by coldblooded, bloodthirsty killers!

Hmm… though I guess I got pretty desensitized to that in my first life.

A trio of shadows bounded toward him. Hui glanced around, but relaxed when he caught sight of the triplets. “Elder Brothers, hello!”

“Hello!”

“Good to see you!”

“Glad you got away. Huang Yan gave us a tongue-thrashing when she caught us! Even though she didn’t sense anything wrong.”

The triplets exchanged a glance and scoffed.

“Of course not.”

“No sense of romance!”

“She’s never seen the lotus beauty. Totally un-sexy. Can’t even attract the lotus beauty!” the third said, shaking his head in disappointment.

Hui laughed lightly. Ah, so that’s why no one came running after us. Huang Yan doesn’t know the importance of the lotus beau—ahem, the lotus beast!

Why not? Did Erlan not tell the Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect about it?

No, it makes sense! He is a demonic cultivator. He’s fine as long as any righteous sect gets taken down! If the lotus pill blossom infects all the rest of the Southern Sect Conference’s attendees, and then the lotus beast wreaks havoc amongst Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect, the Black Asp Sect comes out ahead! Even if Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect survives the lotus beast’s attack—which it probably will, unless Erlan has a separate plan for Sect Master Mu—the Black Asp Sect can simply say it’s an anomaly that didn’t happen last time, and the Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect has no reason to disbelieve them. Black Asp Sect will land a powerful blow to weaken the Mysterious Heavenly Forest Sect, without raising a finger!

After all, the only ones outside of the Black Asp Sect who know about the lotus beast are the Bai Clan, who suppressed the information, Li Xiang, and myself. Li Xiang can’t lie, but isn’t a blabbermouth, either. She likely never brought it up.

One of the triplets nudged Hui. “So?”

“How’d it go?”

“Was she friendlier once you got her alone?”

Hui shoved them away. “It’s—Elder Brothers, you shouldn’t ask about these things.”

The triplet’s eyes lit up. They looked around at one another, hiding smirks behind raised hands.

“I see.”

“So that’s how it is.”

“I understand, I understand. You want to keep her all to yourself. Don’t want to tell us the sordid details. Your Elder Brothers understand!”

Hui sighed. “That’s not…” Oh well. It doesn’t matter if they understand or not. Even if I get a bad reputation from the triplets spreading a rumor, it’s Xie Hao’s reputation, not mine!

Smiling, Hui ran on. The triplets ran alongside him. He sped up, but the triplets matched pace. Hui darted suddenly to the left, and the triplets darted to follow him. A tree with a narrow hole through its center loomed up. Hui threw himself through the hole, then burst out the other side. Like peas popped out of a pod, the triplets followed him, bursting out seconds behind him.

Hui glanced at them. “Er, Elder Brothers, are you following me?”

The triplets grinned.

“Interesting things happen around you!”

“You’re fun to hang around.”

“We’re bored, and we have nothing else to do. Why not?”

I’m about to go absorb your garden patch’s qi. Can’t you find some other way to spend your time?

“So?”

“So?”

“Where are you going?”

Hui smiled. “I’m… going to visit Ding Lao. Elder Brothers, shall we all go cultivate our bodies together?”

“Ding Lao?”

“Ugh… exercise.”

“Cultivate our bodies together? Xie Hao, we’re not into necrophilia.”

The first two glared at the third.

“Hey!”

“Don’t be rude.”

“What? We were all thinking it.”

Hui waved his hand. “It’s fine, Elder Brother. I’m the one who misspoke. I should have phrased it better.”

The triplets glanced at one another.

“Is he really going to Ding Lao?”

“Would anyone willingly torture themselves?”

“Hmm… he is a weirdo, though. Maybe he likes it.”

The three frowned at one another thoughtfully, considering.

Hui smiled politely, waiting. Please leave, Elder Brothers. I’m busy! I need to disarm the final trap!

The triplets continued to think, murmuring amongst themselves. Hui watched on, impatient. I’ll be here all night, at this rate!

He cleared his throat. “Ah… I remember Ding Lao saying he found some really nice boulders. Boulders that were almost too big for him. We’re really in for it today, haha!”

The murmuring went faster. The third triplet shook his head, but the other two continued to argue.

“Come to think of it… Ding Lao said something about… an extra ten laps?” Hui said, putting a hand on his chin.

The triplets didn’t even twitch.

“Oh, that was it. An extra hundred laps!” Hui said, nodding.

At that, the murmuring got louder. One of the triplets jabbed his finger at Hui.

“He said, ‘Brother! A kindred soul! You’ve seen the magnificence of muscles!’ I can’t wait to see the kind of workout we get today. I’m sure you three will love it,” Hui said nobly, an almost yearning expression on his face.

“Absolutely not.”

“I won’t go!”

“I’m telling you, this—”

Abruptly, the triplets stopped arguing. They shook their heads at one another, then shot off in different directions.

Hui breathed a sigh of relief. Alright, I finally ditched them. Now to head to the garden patch!

A hand landed on his shoulder.

Hui’s scalp went numb. He turned, slowly.

Ding Lao smiled down at him. “Brother! A noble pursuit indeed. I’ll be sure to work you hard today!”