Stranger Danger

Chapter 120: Ding Ding Ding

“If you surrender the painting you got from Zheng Feng, then I promise to give you a swift death! Otherwise, you’ll wish that you were dead!” Xiao Yang threatened with an evil grin.

But to his surprise, Ye Qing laughed, “Hahaha! What a coincidence! I’m not afraid of this valley either! Come chase me if you dare!”

He immediately kicked off the ground and raced deeper into the valley.

Evergreen ivy flowers grew as soon as he used his true qi, but they withered practically the second they reached full bloom. In fact, Ye Qing had noticed this when he accidentally brushed against the Burning Wind earlier. Every flower on his body had withered and fallen off together with their roots. This meant he could use his true qi like normal inside Firewind Valley, which was of course most welcomed.

“Is that a challenge?” Xiao Yang uttered icily. He was done playing games with his “brother”. He kicked off the ground with a loud boom and charged toward Ye Qing like a loose arrow.

If Ye Qing’s movement art made him light as smoke, then Xiao Yang’s transformed him into a beast of brute force and speed.

Theoretically, Ye Qing should have the upper hand in this cat-and-mouse game, but he had only refined a strand of Burning Wind. He might have adapted to the valley’s high temperature, but he still couldn’t take a gust of the astral qi head on. That was why he had to run and avoid the Burning Wind at the same time.

On the other hand, Xiao Yang had no such problems. Not only was he a true Astral Refiner, his Purple Sun Gold Flame was powerful enough to block the Burning Wind completely. That was why he could chase after Ye Qing in a straight line. As a result, he was slowly but surely closing the distance between them.

The deeper the duo ventured into the valley, the hotter it became. The Burning Wind grew increasingly deadlier and bigger as well. Every time a patch of air suddenly caught on fire, it would transform into a towering inferno that seemed capable of devouring anything. It was as beautiful as it was dangerous!

“Got you!”

When Xiao Yang was mere meters away from Ye Qing, he finally let out a triumphant roar and made a grab for him. It was at this moment a deadly gust of Burning Wind rolled out from deeper within the valley and engulfed both men before they could react.

Whoosh!

His clothes were gone, and his flesh was charred in the blink of an eye. The Burning Wind had evaporated every drop of blood in his body and even caused sparks to fly out of his bones. None of these injuries could compare to his burning mind and spirit, however. The pain was so bad that Ye Qing immediately visualized the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method” to steady his mind, circulated the “Nirvana Sutra of Burning Wind” to absorb the Burning Wind ravaging his insides, and popped a gray dragon-serpent rune every time his body threatened to give out.

At first, his recovery speed was utterly incapable of keeping up the speed at which the Burning Wind was eating through his flesh. Thankfully, he had enough gray runes to replenish his vigor non-stop and keep himself alive.

For a time, his body died, came back to life, died, then came back to life again in a cycle that seemed like it would never end. It was said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and that was definitely true in Ye Qing’s case. Every time his body came back to life, it was a little tougher than before. Like a piece of iron that was slowly being refined into steel, his body gradually adapted to the Burning Wind. It was becoming less and less painful to maintain the “Nirvana Sutra of Burning Wind” as well. He was slowly but surely becoming highly resistant to the all-consuming wind.

Even better, visualizing the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method” to fend off the Burning Wind actually improved his mind and spirit by leaps and bounds as well. In fact, his improvement in this area had slowed to a crawl after the initial growth spurt. He had never stopped practicing, but it turned out that being burned by the Burning Wind was worth an entire month of hard work.

Ye Qing managed to overcome his crisis, but Xiao Yang could not say the same. His Purple Sun Gold Flame had long been blown away by the Burning Wind. The only reason he was still alive was thanks to his hat and the ancient robe it conjured. Even so, holes were slowly but surely appearing all over the robe. His face and exposed flesh looked as red as a lobster, and steam was constantly rising from his pores. His consciousness was flickering in and out because the Burning Wind was attacking his mind and spirit as well. He kept hammering his own head in a desperate attempt to stay awake.

“Hehe. You got what you deserved!” Ye Qing mocked when a devious idea suddenly occurred to him. He immediately unleashed a Boundless Lightning Palm at Xiao Yang—or at least, he tried to. The attack had just left his hand when the Burning Wind melted it all away into nothing.

“You can save your energy! This Fire Wind is strong enough to blow apart even my Purple Sun Gold Flame, much less your true qi!” Xiao Yang mocked back when he noticed what Ye Qing was doing.

“You’re right! Thanks for the advice!” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization. He had completely forgotten that he was now a half-baked Astral Refiner. This time, he channeled the Burning Wind inside his dantian before launching a second attack.

“You’re an i—” Xiao Yang was going to mock Ye Qing again when suddenly, his chest exploded with pain. His flesh was charred, his internal organs felt like they were on fire, and the blood he spat out evaporated into white steam as soon as it left his mouth.

“Fire Wind? How did you—” Xiao Yang exclaimed in shock before realization hit him. “Is this why you came here? You were planning to refine the Fire Wind? No wonder you were able to resist it for so long!”

“Ding ding ding!” Ye Qing laughed. “As your reward, allow me to correct one thing. Fire Wind isn’t the astral qi’s true name. It’s called the Burning Wind!”

Ye Qing launched a third palm strike at Xiao Yang, and the Astral Refiner tried to dodge out of the way to no avail. It was because the Burning Wind was still blowing and pinning him in place. The hit worsened his injuries and made him look even redder.

The good news was that Ye Qing’s attack was still weakened by the blowing wind despite its new attribute. Otherwise, the second hit would’ve been enough to kill him.

The bad news was he was still going to die at this rate. Worse still, there was absolutely nothing he could do to save himself!

“What do I do? Am I actually going to die here? Impossible! I won’t accept this!” Xiao Yang roared on top of his lungs, but there was no use. He could only watch as Ye Qing raised his hand a fourth time to attack him.

Whoooooooooooosh!

It was at this moment a powerful gust of Burning Wind slammed into the existing wind and joined into one. They spun round and round toward the sky until they formed a massive tornado. But unlike an ordinary tornado, this was one crooked and bent almost like a serpent. As it moved deeper into the valley, everything that stood in its path—giant rocks and even whole chunks of earth—were pulled into the tornado and melted into molten lava, which of course made it even deadlier than before. It was like a scene straight out of the apocalypse.

As Ye Qing and Xiao Yang were flying smack dab in the middle of the tornado, their situation was bad to say the least. The temperature rose to unprecedented levels, and it was a miracle both men were still alive. They looked like human torches who could burn out at any moment.

Whooooooooooooooosh!

The molten tornado continued toward the heart of the Firewind Valley.

……

Deep within Firewind Valley, there was a vast valley with a narrow entrance that led to a wide space. It almost looked like a calabash from above.

The walls of this valley were glassy, translucent, and colorful like gemstones. They were also brimming with an unimaginable amount of heat and energy.

The sky above the valley was dark red in color. From time to time, it would ripple like a heat wave was passing through and catch on fire.

There was a golden bagua brazier at the center of the valley. It was unusually huge and shaped like a round pagoda. Two-eared and three-footed, the brazier was engraved with images of the eight trigrams and taichi, it looked both ancient and shrouded in mystery.

There were a pair of circular openings to the left and right side of the brazier. If someone were to look through the openings, they would spot a roaring, dark red flame. The eight trigrams and taichi images on the brazier’s surface were slowly spinning in a way that seemed to resonate with the world itself.

Suddenly, a terrific roar erupted from within the brazier. Bursts of flame spun wildly inside the brazier before flying out into the open. It was like a dragon was born as the river of flame and wind circled around the sky. It was so hot that even the crystalline walls were partially melted into red hot lava. The entire valley resembled a natural furnace of some sort.

In the end, the fiery wind flew out of the narrow entrance and joined its many “brethren” outside.

Who would’ve thought that the Burning Wind of Firewind Valley was born from a single brazier?

“There is no longer any chance you can turn this around, girl! The item inside the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier is mine!”

The chuckle of an old man suddenly came from above. As it turned out, an old man and a young woman were floating in the sky and facing each other.

The old man was over sixty years old and completely white in both hair and beard. However, his complexion was healthy, and his skin looked as smooth as a babe’s. He wore a gaudy robe that gave him the appearance of a manchild.

The young woman was around twenty years old and wearing a long dress with black embroidered flowers. Her long, black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, and she possessed a devastatingly beautiful countenance that could topple kingdoms should she so desire.

Her eyes were bright and clear as a mountain that had just been cleansed by a refreshing rain. They seemed to represent all that was new, clean, good and beautiful in this world. Not only that, one could almost see the orbit of celestial objects and the birth and destruction of stars behind those eyes. It was like there existed an entire universe behind them.

There was a transparent go board floating in between the duo. Much of the go board had already been covered in black and white stones. For those who played the game, the go board resembled a battlefield where two sides were vying for control over the other. One could almost hear the drums of war, the cries of men, and the sounds of weapons clashing against one another.

At first glance, it looked like both sides were more or less on equal footing. However, a more experienced player would be able to tell that the white stones had dominated the center area and formed what looked like a dragon. On the other hand, the black stones were scattered all over the place like routed soldiers who were desperately trying to flee from the great dragon.

“The game isn’t over yet, and victory and defeat may yet change hands. You best not get careless, Old Tong!”

As it turned out, the woman’s voice was as sweet as her appearance. Colors seemed to fade from the world itself before returning to normal.

Speaking of which, the Burning Wind around them was hot enough to annihilate heaven and earth, and yet it wasn’t able to affect the duo at all for some reason.

“Still haven’t given up yet, girl? Fine. If a crushing defeat is what you desire, then it is what you will get!” Old Tong held up his hand and conjured a white stone between his fingers.Then, he gently placed it on a point.

A wind blew across the go board, and the shadow of the white dragon loomed over everything. Multiple black stones were crushed with this one move!

The young woman was already behind to begin with. Now, it looked like the crushing defeat Old Tong spoke of was going to come true!

Suddenly, Old Tong looked down and exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? How did a pair of kids make it into this place alive?”

A mighty tornado had forced its way through the narrow entrance and into the inner area. It continued to spin for a bit before scattering into many smaller gales.

Two men fell from the sky and hit the ground with a soft thud. One of them was Ye Qing, and the other Xiao Yang. However, they were pitch black and smoking not unlike a piece of charred wood. They also appeared to be dead as they showed no signs of life at all.