Stranger Danger

Chapter 141: You Asked For This

Ye Qing smiled amiably as he looked around the area. “At ease, everyone. I am—”

Before he could finish, Luo Feibai suddenly turned into a paper doll. At the same time, Ye Qing sensed the flicker of a faint, almost indiscernible aura. When he looked, he saw a ghastly old man who was covered from head to toe in paper dolls. The old man raised his hand, and Luo Feibai appeared next to him like magic. Then, he stared Ye Qing right in the eye—he must have sensed his gaze—and cracked a dreadful grin. As if on cue, the paper dolls fluttered rapidly as if they had a life of their own.

“What a peculiar ability. He must have used it to save many lives!” Ye Qing exclaimed in amazement.

“You dare enter the Pacification Bureau without permission while holding a hostage? Take him down!” A dignified voice suddenly boomed across the air. The Pacification Sentinels immediately fired their crossbows at Ye Qing.

“...” Take me down? Are you sure you’re not trying to wipe me off the map?

Ye Qing immediately threw out a punch and unleashed his Burning Wind. The bolts immediately burned into a crisp before they could hit him. The Pacification Sentinels tried to react, but the Burning Wind hit them first and scorched their flesh, blood, bone and mind. The weaker ones blacked out immediately, whereas the stronger ones were writhing in pain and struggling to gather their energies. Naturally, they could no longer participate in the battle. Ye Qing had taken them all out in one punch.

“Please listen to me. I am Ye Qing. I have—”

Unfortunately, he was interrupted again by an angry roar, “Who dares to cause such a commotion in the Pacification Bureau?”

At the same time, a brawny man who looked like he was forged from steel stepped out of the crowd and charged straight toward Ye Qing.

Every time he took a step, bricks exploded into smithereens, and the ground shook like it was an earthquake. His behavior was more like that of a wild beast’s than a human as well.

“An Astral Refiner—no, a body-tempering Astral Refiner!” Ye Qing exclaimed with great interest. He could feel how thick the brawny man’s vigor was and even hear his muscles and bones roaring with every moment. The guy wasn’t just overflowing with strength, his astral qi was completely infused inside his flesh and blood. Generally speaking, that was how you identified a body-tempering warrior.

This was the first time Ye Qing encountered a true body-tempering warrior, and he was quite curious to put it mildly. He made up his mind to test the man right there and then. His sleeves billowed and flapped everywhere like clouds that were constantly being blown by the wind. It looked like it was slapping, sweeping, rolling or caressing all at the same time.

“Flowing Cloud, Flying Sleeves”

When the brawny man’s fist finally struck Ye Qing, he felt like he was punching a ball of cotton, not a human arm. It was because the technique had depleted most of his momentum.

He is as strong as seven pythons or so. Not bad! Ye Qing thought while sensing the force transmitting through his arms.

A warrior’s attainment in body-tempering was measured differently from their cultivation. It could be categorized as fiery stallion, mad python, dragon elephant, and sky dragon. In ascending order, ten fiery stallions equaled one mad python, ten mad pythons equaled one dragon elephant, and ten dragon elephants equaled one sky dragon.

To put it in simpler terms, fiery stallion was the beginner level, mad python was the initiate level, dragon elephant was the journeyman level, and sky dragon was the adept level of body-tempering.

The brawny man’s punch was equal to seven mad pythons, meaning that he was close to entering the journeyman level of body-tempering. It was quite impressive considering that Ye Qing only gained a dragon elephant’s strength after a narrow brush with death in Firewind Valley. Had he been any other Astral Refiner, this punch would’ve been enough to deal him a severe blow.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing didn’t just possess a mighty amount of astral qi. His body was incredibly strong and tough as well. Naturally, the weakened punch failed to do any damage to him whatsoever.

“RAAAHHHH!”

Knowing that his punch had failed to wound Ye Qing, the brawny man let out a mighty roar that caused the ground beneath his feet to collapse. His muscles and veins bulged dangerously as he threw another punch so powerful that it caused a sonic boom.

Ye Qing responded the same way as he did before. He kept swinging his sleeves and neutralized the layers of force surrounding the man’s fists. This would continue for a time as the shockwaves of the battle were so deadly that most people could only watch from afar.

Inside a pavilion, a long-haired young man wearing a blue robe sipped his wine and asked in a lazy tone, “Who do you think is gonna win, Yuhuai?”

“The youngster is most likely going to win!” The man named Yuhuai answered. He was around twenty seven or eight years old, and his looks were perfectly ordinary. However, he possessed a warm aura and kind smile that easily endeared him to most people.

“Oh my, how can you say this, Yuhuai?” The lazy man teased him, “Wei Yueshan is one of us. How can you not believe in his strength? Shouldn’t you support your comrade no matter what?”

Yuhuai countered, “Who do you think is gonna win then, Nianjiu?”

The man in blue robe was none other than Chu Nianjiu, a Windcatcher of the Luo Shui Pacification Bureau and the man who had saved August Hill Village back then.

Chu Nianjiu took another sip from his glass and shot Yuhuai a disdainful look. “I think that that guy named Ye Qing is going to win as well.”

A warm smile crossed Yuhuai’s lips. “If that’s the case, then why did you question me just now?”

Chu Nianjiu started bullshitting through his teeth, “I arrived at my conclusion after careful observation and deduction. You were just saying whatever comes to your mind.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yueshan may be an early-stage Astral Refiner, but he’s also a body-tempering warrior. This means that he’s on the same level of a mid-stage Astral Refiner. Unfortunately, he severely lacks control and wastes most of his strength. It’s like he’s trying to punch a mosquito to oblivion!”

“While Ye Qing is also an early-stage Astral Refiner, and he’s the defending side right now, his astral qi is much thicker than you might expect for someone his level. Assuming I’m not mistaken, it seems to be the rare Burning Wind as well. ‘Flowing Clouds, Flying Sleeves’ is all he needs to block Yueshan’s full-powered attacks.”

“It is risky to stay on the defense for too long, but a long defense can also weaken the enemy. At this rate, Yueshan is going to lose for sure!”

Yuhuai nodded in agreement even though he could have poked many holes in Chu Nianjiu’s logic. “You are correct. Besides that, I’m pretty sure that Ye Qing still has many tricks up his sleeves.”

“Wait a second. Ye Qing? Ye Qing?” Chu Nianjiu leaned on top of the handrail and rubbed his forehead. “Why do I feel like I’ve heard this name before?”

Yuhuai chuckled. “Of course you’ve heard of him. Remember the recommendation letter Anyang’s Chief of Bureau, Ling Jianqiu handed us a while ago? The person they’re recommending this year is Ye Qing, and the timing is about right.”

“Moreover, Ye Qing is the man who rescued Anyang and ruined the Strangers’ plan to bring the Nether Lord to this plane a while ago. Both the Chief and the Deputy Chief of Bureau couldn’t stop praising him to the high heavens. They all think that he has a bright future ahead of him.”

“Finally, Ye Qing is also the one who ultimately uprooted the mastermind that plotted the descent of the Nether Lord and the spy who had been lurking in the Anyang Pacification Bureau for a long time, Evergreen Ivy. This was also mentioned in Chief Ling’s letter.”

“Ohh! I was wondering why he sounded so familiar!” Chu Nianjiu exclaimed in realization before sighing, “Man oh man, I can’t believe he’s already so accomplished at such a young age! The young truly are formidable!”

Yuhuai chuckled. “You realize you’re pretty young too, right?”

Chu Nianjiu asked,? “Why did Chief Ling let Ye Qing go then? Shouldn’t he hold onto him like his future depends on it?”

“That was also explained in Chief Ling’s letter. Apparently, Evergreen Ivy had killed Xiao Yang and pinned the blame on Ye Qing as revenge. You know how Wang Luori is. It doesn’t matter if the news is true or false, he will capture Ye Qing first and find out the truth later. The Anyang Pacification Bureau isn’t strong enough to protect him, so Chief Ling recommended him to us instead! Say, do you think we should help him?”

Chu Nianjiu raised his eyebrows in surprise before chuckling. “No wonder Xiao Yang was in a hurry a few days ago! He was rushing to meet his maker! This is very good news. All sect disciples who join the Pacification Bureau are two-faced ingrates. They deserve to live fast and die young!”

Yuhuai shook his head. “Come now. One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch. Anyway, you haven’t answered my question.”

Chu Nianjiu replied without hesitation, “Of course we’re going to help him. If Wang Luori is stupid enough to challenge us, I will simply head to Sunset Hill and flatten his sect myself!”

Yuhuai smiled. “Oh yeah? Since when are you strong enough to fight a half-step Spirit Master?”

Chu Nianjiu shrugged. “I cannot, but we have the Chief and the Deputy Chief, don’t we? The Deputy Chief especially is just as protective of his underlings as Wang Luori, if not more. And let’s not forget that Chief Ling is the Deputy Chief’s disciple, and Ye Qing is the man Chief Ling recommended to him. He’s practically half a disciple even though he doesn’t know it yet.”

“Long story short, the Deputy Chief would turn Sunset Hill into a pile of rubble if Wang Luori dares to harm a hair on his person.”

Yuhuai shook his head again. “That’s not a praise, Nianjiu. Anyway, we’ve dilly-dallied long enough. Let’s get down there and stop the fight before someone crosses the line!”

“Yeah!” echoed Chu Nianjiu after taking another sip from his wine gourd.

The duo were just about to jump off the pavilion when a palm-sized sparrowhawk landed squarely on Yuhuai’s shoulder. The young man immediately stopped in his tracks and grabbed the secret letter that was tied to its feet. When he read the contents of the letter, his warm smile abruptly turned stiff and plastic.

“What’s wrong? What’s gotten your panties in a bunch?” Chu Nianjiu asked curiously. There were few things in the world that could faze Lin Yuhuai, which was why it was rare to catch him in a moment like this.

A short silence later, Lin Yuhuai answered, “It’s a message from Banren. He said that Wang Luori’s third disciple, Xu Wushang the ‘Little Sword King’, tried to intercept Ye Qing at Luo Shui River this morning.”

“Oh? Wang Luori sure is a hasty man!” Chu Nianjiu snorted in derision before asking, “So, how did it go? Did Banren persuade Xu Wushang to change his mind?”

Lin Yuhuai hesitated for a few seconds. Then, he finally said, “No. Ye Qing took out Xu Wushang in one punch and nearly killed him.”

“Pff!!!” Chu Nianjiu spat out the mouthful of wine that just entered his mouth. “Excuse me?”

.

Xu Wushang was strong enough that even they couldn’t treat him lightly, and Banren was saying that Ye Qing had nearly taken him out in one punch?

How was that possible?

Lin Yuhuai said slowly, “Banren believes that Ye Qing has reached the initiate level in terms of body-tempering.”

Chu Nianjiu took a second to process that information. If Ye Qing is this strong, then… What’s going to happen to Wei Yueshan?

The two men exchanged glances with each other before turning to the entrance. It was at this moment Wei Yueshan let out a frustrated roar, “Stop dodging and fight me like a man, bastard!”

Ye Qing’s lips curled into a devious grin. “Okay! You asked for this!”

Ye Qing rolled up his sleeves to reveal his fists. Then, he casually “bumped fists” with Wei Yueshan.

The next second, the body-tempering warrior flew out of the Pacification Bureau. It wasn’t until a long, long time later that they finally heard a soft thump from somewhere.