Painted Skin's Night Hunt, an Abandoned District

As he walked home, Li Feng's aura kept shifting, and the skin on his body underwent subtle adjustments.

The new skin born from shedding was more sensitive and easier to control than before, so minor adjustments were naturally no problem.

By the time he returned home, Li Feng's skin was still smooth and supple, but it had gained an unhealthy pallor. His aura warned others to keep their distance, and he seemed somewhat less lively.

He now bore a strong resemblance to other Ghost Tamers and Ghost Cultivators.

Though his appearance was almost unchanged, he suddenly looked ordinary, no longer drawing attention.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Li Feng smiled in satisfaction.

After a day of cultivation, Li Feng washed up, went to the living room table, picked up the Tracking Compass, and slowly poured power into it.

A hazy, clear light bloomed. The compass needle spun rapidly before slowly stopping, pointing toward the Weird Painted Skin.

Sure enough, the Weird Painted Skin had already been classified as a supernatural Vengeful Ghost.

However, Li Feng could also sense that the Tracking Compass did not lock onto it instantly, as it did with other supernatural monsters and demons.

It was as though the Tracking Compass hesitated, uncertain whether the Weird Painted Skin was a supernatural Vengeful Ghost.

Hmm...

Li Feng pondered briefly, then willed the Weird Painted Skin to suppress its power further.

Sure enough, the Tracking Compass's needle no longer pointed toward the Weird Painted Skin.

In other words, if the Weird Painted Skin did its utmost to suppress its power, even someone holding a Tracking Compass would be unable to detect anything abnormal about it.

Unless...

Li Feng turned the Tracking Compass over. An image of the Weird Painted Skin appeared on it, wreathed in a faint layer of black energy that represented supernatural power.

Even when Li Feng suppressed its power as much as possible, he could not conceal that energy completely.

Ultimately, the Weird Painted Skin was different from his real body.

He could suppress every bit of his own power, but the Weird Painted Skin could not.

Ordinary methods might fail to detect it, but special abilities, such as a Ghost Eye, could reveal the difference.

Still, this was already enough for Li Feng as he was now.

Putting the Tracking Compass back, Li Feng returned to bed and closed his eyes.

It looked as though Li Feng was getting ready to sleep.

Unlike before, however, this time Li Feng separated a strand of his consciousness and merged it into the Weird Painted Skin.

The next instant, the Weird Painted Skin slumped on the sofa twisted and writhed, then eerily floated upright.

He drifted over to the window one step at a time. Looking at the closed window, Li Feng considered for a moment, but instead of opening it, he squeezed forcefully outward through the gap.

In the process, the Painted Skin compressed even further, becoming too thin to describe even as a cicada's wing, while exerting three hundred jin of force.

Li Feng actually managed to force himself out through the window.

His whole body hung against the wall, with one foot still inside the window. An eerie smile spread across his nearly transparent face.

"Hehe, I didn't think that would actually work..."

He looked toward the surrounding buildings. Through the Weird Painted Skin's eyes, every building was shrouded in a faint, peculiar glow that subtly resisted his approach.

Looking back, he saw that room 1501, where he lived, also bore a layer of that peculiar glow.

Yet he felt no resistance from it. Instead, it gave him a sense of closeness.

Sensing this, Li Feng could not help pondering.

These were probably the rules of institutional order contained within human buildings.

With a slight exertion, Li Feng pulled his remaining foot free.

Instantly, he lost his foothold and drifted downward.

As he neared the ground, Li Feng made the Weird Painted Skin twist, swiftly adjusting the direction of his descent.

Like a paper figure, he landed eerily yet steadily on his feet.

Immediately afterward, the Weird Painted Skin rapidly inflated and filled out like an inflatable doll.

A handsome young man in a brownish-yellow coat stood in the night, his face brimming with a delighted smile.

Li Feng clenched his fists. He was somewhat weaker than his current real body, but considerably stronger than before.

Despite that strength, however, Li Feng felt strangely weightless and hollow.

After all, there were no other bodily tissues beneath the skin, so of course he felt hollow.

With a single step, he glided several meters forward.

Approaching the Compound Wall, he took just one light step and floated over it, leaving Pine Court Residential Community.

Walking through the pitch-black night, Li Feng could see as clearly as in daylight. Countless rooms and buildings around him shimmered with faint light, suppressing and repelling his power.

Only the streets and open spaces made him feel like a fish in water.

He moved with light, drifting steps, landing without a sound and covering several meters, or even a dozen or more, with each stride.

After traveling a little over a hundred meters, Li Feng suddenly had a thought and stopped.

Could he use Mind Fog in his current state?

He put the thought into action immediately.

In an instant, wisps of mist slowly spread around him.

This...

Li Feng was overjoyed. He had not expected the Weird Painted Skin to be able to use the power of Mind Fog as well.

What about the Weird Mirror, the Delivery Ghost, and the Ghost Cat—Chief?

Li Feng tried reaching out to them and found that he could indeed establish a connection.

To his disappointment, however, that was all he could do. Unlike Mind Fog, they could not manifest directly around him from a distance.

Still...

Looking at the Mind Fog enveloping him, Li Feng's spirits rose again.

What he could do now was already very good.

Heading south, Li Feng manipulated the outer edges of the Mind Fog, turning it into almost imperceptible mist that covered an area one li in radius and sensed every trace of supernatural power.

Surging onward, Li Feng soon discovered something.

A drifting figure dressed in red suddenly entered the area covered by Mind Fog.

At his first glimpse of the red-clad figure, Li Feng jumped in fright.

He thought the Wedding-Dress Bride had manifested again to cause him trouble.

After Li Feng had slain her and devoured her power, if the Wedding-Dress Bride truly manifested again, she probably would not be the same as before.

Her power would surely have increased further. If it exceeded his current strength, wouldn't he be done for?

Fortunately, after sensing the figure, Li Feng discovered that it was not the Wedding-Dress Bride. Its aura was far weaker, too. It was merely an ordinary Vengeful Ghost of the Low Danger Level.

For Li Feng as he was now, a Vengeful Ghost of that level was truly easy prey.

Whoosh!

The surrounding mist churned and gathered. What had been extremely thin and faint thickened at a visible rate, trapping the red-clad Vengeful Ghost firmly within it.

A powerful devouring force erupted, consuming it completely in just five or six minutes.

The power flowed into the Weird Painted Skin, then passed into the Mind Space.

At that moment, Li Feng achieved remote energy transfer, using the Weird Painted Skin as an intermediary.

"Heh!"

Thrilled, Li Feng could not help letting out a chuckle.

However, because he was nothing more than a Weird Painted Skin, his voice carried a hollow echo that spread through the silent night, eerie and terrifying.

Over the following hours, Li Feng devoured several more supernatural Vengeful Ghosts in succession, and also killed and devoured a demon.

By the end, the power Li Feng had gained from devouring creatures that night had reached a level comparable to the Wedding-Dress Bride's.

In the latter half of the night, Li Feng reached the edge of Yuanyang City. Beyond lay the outskirts and the land outside the city.

The darkness outside the city resembled an ocean that swallowed everything. A tremor of unease arose in Li Feng's heart, making him stop instantly.

Danger. Extreme danger...

It emanated from the endless ocean of darkness outside the city.

It felt as though taking a single step beyond would plunge him into mortal peril.

Li Feng lifted his foot several times, only to slowly draw it back each time.

Better not court death.

In the end, Li Feng decided to remain inside the city.

Turning around, Li Feng suddenly realized that the entire city was shrouded in a faint layer of light.

This power was extremely weak and probably did little to hinder supernatural Vengeful Ghosts from entering.

Li Feng glanced back at the terrifying darkness outside the city, unable to understand why those powerful supernatural monsters and demons stayed peacefully outside instead of attacking the city.

Instead, it was the weaker supernatural Vengeful Ghosts and demons that wandered into the city from time to time.

Shaking his head, Li Feng stopped dwelling on it since he could not figure it out for now. He set off again, resuming his search for supernatural Vengeful Ghosts.

Another two hours or so passed. After he devoured some more supernatural Vengeful Ghosts, the eastern sky began to pale.

Only then did Li Feng snap back to his senses.

He had gotten carried away and failed to return ahead of time.

Perhaps that was because he was currently acting through the Weird Painted Skin, so his real body would not be endangered.

Looking at the pale eastern sky, then toward Pine Court Residential Community to the southeast, Li Feng frowned slightly.

He was now more than ten li from Pine Court Residential Community. No matter how fast he moved, he could not reach it before sunrise.

If he went home openly like this, he would inevitably attract attention.

After pondering briefly and looking down at his body, Li Feng finally decided not to return home that day.

He surveyed his surroundings, quickly chose a direction, and hurried off.

It was a cluster of abandoned buildings. Apart from the occasional beggar or homeless person taking shelter, no one came here.

Even Night Patrol Officers did not enter this area on their rounds.

Because it was essentially deserted, even supernatural monsters and demons did not come here.

It was as though this was a forsaken place.

Li Feng only knew such a place existed because he had happened upon it while searching for supernatural Vengeful Ghosts.

And this was his destination.

Wasn't a place like this, where almost no one ever came, the perfect hiding place for him now?