Stranger Danger

His fist force had just reached the well entrance when the well water abruptly surged into the air. The well exploded, and water spilled all over the place. This wouldn’t be a problem at all except that everything that was touched by the water—the rocks, the bricks, the soil and more—started sizzling as if they were corroded by acid.

“Watch out! The water is corrosive!” Ye Qing shouted, but he was a little too late. Three Pacification Sentinels failed to dodge out of the way and immediately melted into a puddle. It was so fast that they never even had the time to scream. Even their weapons and their armor had melted into a puddle as well.

To say this is acidic would be an understatement, Ye Qing thought with a small frown. The ground itself was being eaten at such an unbelievable rate it was as if potholes had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“You’re dead! Bronze Toad’s venom can corrode even refined metal, much less flesh-and-blood!” Shadow sneered weakly from Ye Qing’s left hand.

Ye Qing was standing right next to the well, so most of the water had splashed onto him. He was sizzling all over as if he would melt into a puddle at any moment.

“Is that so?”

Shadow was destined to be disappointed, however. With a smirk, Ye Qing shook off his tattered clothes to reveal silky smooth skin. There wasn’t even a single scratch on his person.

“How the…” The Stranger’s ridiculing cackle abruptly cut short. It could not help but stare incredulously at Ye Qing.

Bronze Toad’s venom was so deadly that even he didn’t dare to take a direct hit, so how on earth did the human manage to survive it?

“Hahaha… so sorry to disappoint you, but I’m pretty thick-skinned. More importantly, I’m immune to most poisons,” Ye Qing answered while grabbing a new set of clothes from his Nature’s Shell and putting it on. As of late, his clothes had the tendency to go poof for one reason or another, which was why he started to keep a few sets of spares. The situation he was in right now proved that his preparation was wise. He didn’t mind being seen naked, but it would definitely damage his reputation if people saw him like this.

Also, Ye Qing was telling Shadow the truth. He had eaten the Fruit of Life before, so he was immune to all poison. Even if he wasn’t, his body was so tough that the acid had failed to corrode even his skin.

Rumble!

It was at this moment the ground within ten meters of Ye Qing suddenly collapsed entirely. A black hole had appeared underneath his feet out of nowhere, and it was turning everything that fell into it into a puddle of acid.

Upon closer look, it wasn’t a black hole at all. It was a giant maw that was aligned with countless rows of sharp teeth. Disgusting smelling acid was constantly trickling down its oral cavity.

Ye Qing didn’t fall into the all-consuming maw, however. As if he knew this would happen, he had leaped into the air the second the ground had collapsed. In fact, he had been scanning the underground with his spirit from the moment he confirmed that there was, indeed, a Stranger hiding there. He was only pretending to be distracted by Shadow.

In the air, Ye Qing clenched his left hand and elicited a final scream from Shadow. After the Netherflame had consumed every last bit of it, he formed a fist with his right hand and punched toward the maw.

“Cloud Vaporization Style”

The fist force came from every direction. It looked like nothing at the beginning, but it rapidly grew in power until it looked like space itself was being ripped apart by an invisible hand.

The underground Stranger let out a muffled roar as the collapsing ground suddenly stopped its descent and pushed upward. It was trying to use the ground itself to block the punch.

“It’s pretty strong,” Ye Qing frowned a little as he felt the Stranger’s resistance was transmitted to his fist. At the very least, it was much stronger than Black Pot and Shadow.

That said, it was hardly unbeatable. Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath until his abdomen sounded like roaring thunder. Then, he exerted more strength into the punch and pushed the giant chunk of ground back to where it began. In fact, the closer it got to the underground Stranger, the more it broke apart until eventually, there was only the fist force and the Burning Wind.

The underground Stranger howled in fury, but it was powerless to resist. When the fist force was right in front of the giant maw, the Burning Wind exploded and entered the giant maw in full force. The dark red flames easily burned its flesh, teeth and acid into ash.

“You like to eat that badly? You can choke on my Burning Wind then!” Ye Qing sneered.

“Croak croak!”

Suddenly, a toadish croak erupted from the underground. Then, the earth split apart to reveal a toad that was as large as a millstone.

“A toad? You must be a close relative of Brother Frog!” Ye Qing commented casually while rubbing his nose, but on the inside he was as serious as he could be. It was because the bronze toad had taken a punch to its mouth, and yet it looked like it wasn’t hurt all too badly.

Dark red flames were jetting out of its pores, but its body remained intact as if it was forged from the toughest metal. Its skin did turn as red as iron, but that was it. Forget turning into ash, it didn’t even look charred or melted.

“I’m going to eat you, human!”

The next moment, the Bronze Toad started growing bronze coins on its body. The round-shaped coins with a square hole at the center had the words “Heavens Bless The Cornucopia” and gorgeous patterns that resembled dragons and clouds inscribed on the surface. It was incredibly beautiful.

The more coins appeared, the bigger the Bronze Toad’s body became. It was already the size of a millstone to begin with, but at the end it became as big as a house itself. It was shining like it was forged from pure bronze.

“The Bronze Toad of Cornucopia!?”

Ye Qing’s heart sank. The Bronze Toad of Cornucopia was one of the stronger Hatred-class Strangers out there. Capable of transforming earth into bronze, and bronze into coins via consumption, its ability was as precious as it was rare. This ability was why the Stranger was named Bronze Toad of Cornucopia, and why many merchants and peddlers viewed it as a symbol of wealth and prosperity.

In reality, the Bronze Toad of Cornucopia was one of the most brutal Strangers out there and were killed on sight for good reason. It loved eating humans and especially babies, and it possessed the power to transform its whole body into bronze and become impervious to weapons and natural elements such as water, fire, wind and earth. It also possessed enormous strength and could change its size as it pleased. It was a difficult Stranger to defeat to say the least.

It shouldn’t need to be said, but there was also a Silver Toad of Cornucopia and a Gold Toad of Cornucopia. Each one was more precious than the last.

“Oh dang. Bronze Toad looks angry. You’re so dead, human!” Black Pot taunted while pulling a second paper saber out of its pot. As it turned out, the clay pot Stranger was still hiding its strength. Not only could it run its mouth at Ye Qing, it started driving Xu Banren back as soon as it revealed its second weapon.

“Die, human!”

The gigantic Bronze Toad of Cornucopia raised a limb and attempted to crush Ye Qing underfoot. Ye Qing chose not to endure the attack head on and dashed out of the way. Its foot was strong enough to put a deep pit in the ground.

“What incredible strength. Too bad you’re too slow to hit me!”

While Bronze Toad was still recovering, Ye Qing appeared on top of the Stranger and swung his arms down like a hammer. Tang tang! It sounded like someone was hitting a giant gong twice in rapid succession. Knowing that Bronze Toad could take it, he did not hold back his dragon-elephant strength. The arm smash was so powerful that Bronze Toad’s skull caved in about three inches and spewed bronze yellow liquid.

The Bronze Toad of Cornucopia cried out in pain and staggered on its feet. Knowing that his attack was effective, Ye Qing did not hesitate to punch the same spot again and again.

“Croak! It hurts! Croak!”

Bronze Toad shook its head in hopes of throwing Ye Qing off, but it might as well be trying to shake off its own coins. A few futile attempts later, Bronze Toad changed its tactics and unfurled a coin-studded tongue from its throat. Like a python, the tongue swept toward Ye Qing with titanic strength.

Ye Qing crouched a little and firmly rooted himself on Bronze Toad’s head. Power comes from below, and force from the body. When the tongue got close, he punched it so hard that it snapped in half. However, the attack also sent Ye Qing crashing through at least a dozen houses before he finally came to a stop.

“Kill!”

When the Pacification Sentinels saw this, they immediately fired their crossbow bolts at Bronze Toad. Knowing full well that getting close to the Stranger was a death sentence, they unanimously chose to harass it from range. Unfortunately, the crossbow bolts easily bounced off its body and failed to leave even a mark behind.

However, Bronze Toad seemed to be angered by the assault. It opened its mouth and inhaled all the surrounding rubble and earth. New metal began growing over its wounds, and its severed tongue quickly regenerated to normal. The next moment, it flailed its tongue across a wide area, caught a few Pacification Sentinels who failed to dodge in time, and swallowed them all.

“Die, humans!”

Not done yet, the Bronze Toad of Cornucopia leaped into the air and landed on top of five Pacification Sentinels. They never stood a chance. They were flattened like pancakes, and the shockwave turned all houses within tens of meters from the point of impact into rubble.

“You fucker!”

Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from the rubble. Then, the silhouette of a war general appeared in the sky. It was wielding a crescent blade and overflowing with killing intent.

“KILL!” The general roared and swung his weapon. A bloody battlefield where two armies were battling each other to the death suddenly appeared behind him. The soldiers were shouting, the weapons were clashing, the cavalry was rampaging, and blood was everywhere. It was as if the blade energy had cut a literal wound in the sky and spilled its blood.

Bronze Toad seemed to recognize the danger and turned around to escape, but the second it moved, a red line suddenly appeared from the top of its skull and stretched all the way to the bottom. A wobble later, the massive Stranger split in half just like that.

Rumble!

It was only after Bronze Toad was dead that cracks suddenly appeared all across the ground. The blade intent permeating the area was so potent it was stupefying.

“It’s… dead?!”

The surviving Pacification Sentinels were deeply worried about the damage the Bronze Toad of Cornucopia would cause, and they were about to charge into the fray and sacrifice themselves for the good of all. Then, the Stranger died just like that.

What the hell just happened?!

It was at this moment a man wearing a bronze mask stepped out of the rubble. He was overflowing with such bloodthirst that everyone who saw him shivered in frozen terror.

Then, the man took off the mask and revealed a handsome face. He was none other than Ye Qing.

“My lord!”

“My lord!”

The Pacification Sentinels immediately saluted him.

“At ease!” Ye Qing answered, though his eyes were still bloodshot with fury. It was partially because of the bronze mask, and also because his mistake had cost many Pacification Sentinels’ lives.

He could not bring them back to life, but he could send them a few parting gifts. Shadow was the first, Bronze Toad was the second, and Black Pot… would be the third!

On the other side of the battlefield, Black Pot suddenly felt a chill behind its back and looked behind. It was just in time to meet Ye Qing’s bloodshot eyes and see the split Bronze Toad behind him. Words could not describe the shock and disbelief it was feeling.

What the hell happened?

The answer came to him a moment later.

I’m so fucked.