Stranger Danger

Ye Qing was having the time of his life when Feng Qingyou suddenly warned him via sound transmission. He looked up just in time to see a pair of Strangers floating toward him. That’s right, they were floating.

They were a pair of black and white Strangers. The white Stranger was as pale as paper, whereas the black Stranger was as black as ink. Not a trace of other colors could be spotted on their person. It was as if they were the embodiment of the color white and black itself.

Besides that, the two Strangers looked nearly identical in terms of shape, size, and appearance. He would’ve believed it if someone told him that they were twins.

The two Strangers possessed a humanoid appearance and wore a long robe. They were also carrying a pair of mourning staffs [1]. They were black and white in color as well. Their lower torso was missing just like a ghost.

When the two Strangers got closer, they waved their mourning staffs and summoned some sort of invisible force that crushed the Strangers blocking their way into pieces. Strangely, the Strangers didn’t spill blood like it normally did. Instead, they scattered into black or white powder in slow motion.

The Strangers seemed unnaturally afraid of the black and white pair, so much so that they actually overcame their madness and returned to whence they came. It wasn’t long before Ye Qing and the black and white Strangers were the only ones left at the scene.

Ye Qing: “...” I can overlook a killsteal or two, but you drove away my mobs as well? I’m gonna kill you!

Ye Qing could tell that the black and white Strangers were Hatred-class Strangers. They seemed pretty powerful as well. However, no (former) gamer worth their salt would stand by and do nothing while someone stole their mobs!

Plus, it didn’t look like the two Strangers were going to overlook him anyway. They were floating right past the enticing Black White Fruits and floating straight toward him!

“I don’t know what your names are, so I’m just gonna call you Blackie and Whitie. You guys are lucky you got such cute nicknames.”

Ye Qing attacked first and appeared in front of Blackie. Swinging his arms like he would entrap the sun and moon between his sleeves, he pushed out the air within ten meters of him and replaced it all with the Burning Wind.

Blackie opened his mouth as if he were screaming, but no sound came out of his throat. At the same time, thick black qi gushed out of his mourning staff and swayed like a flame.

Blackie swung his staff again, and to Ye Qing’s shock, the black qi somehow dyed the formless Burning Wind into black. As soon as the Burning Wind had turned completely black, it somehow lost all of its potency and crumbled into invisible dust.

“What a strange power!”

Ye Qing frowned. This was the first time he encountered a Stranger that wasn’t afraid of the Burning Wind.

Suddenly, every hair on his person stood on end. Whitey was still a few meters away from him when he was fighting against Blackie when suddenly, it appeared behind his back like teleportation. He then brought down his mourning staff—which was burning hotly just like Blackie’s except with a white flame—on the back of his head. The Stranger would’ve caught him off guard if he hadn’t been monitoring his surroundings all this time with his powerful spirit.

Ye Qing sidestepped out of harm’s way and summoned a curved saber into his hand. Then, he took a swing at Whitey’s neck from a peculiar angle.

“Soulchasing Saber: Chasing Souls”

The lightning fast attack easily cut through Whitey’s neck like a hot knife through butter. Half a second later, the Stranger’s head flew into the air.

However, not only was Whitey still alive, he adjusted his aim and swung his mourning staff at Ye Qing’s shoulder instead. Caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events, Ye Qing took a solid hit on his shoulder. He immediately felt a torrent of bizarre energy pouring into his body and attempting to convert his flesh and blood into white powder.

“Hmph!” Ye Qing grunted and channeled his astral qi. Like fire in a furnace, the Burning Wind melted the invasive energy into nothing in the blink of an eye.

The battle was just beginning though. Having escaped Ye Qing’s pursuit, Blackie abruptly teleported next to him and swung his mourning staff at his head.

Having learned his lesson from his exchange with Whitey, Ye Qing chose to clash blades with Blackie instead. He imagined that he was trying to cut a river in half and launched a devastating sweep.

Bang!

One loud bang later, Blackie was sent flying through the air like a rag doll. The attack had scattered his black qi and snapped his mourning staff in half. On the other hand, Ye Qing was perfectly unharmed. The only problem was that his curved saber was quickly corroded by the black qi and dissolved into black dust.

A short distance away, the headless Whitey shook a little as white powder poured in from the White Forest and into his body. Just a few seconds later, he regrew his head as if nothing had ever happened.

Blackie’s mourning staff was restored the same way as well.

“Are you guys cockroaches?” Ye Qing lifted a curious eyebrow and kicked off the ground once more. When he reappeared, he was standing behind Whitey and swinging his arm like he would aiming to crush a stele into smithereens.

Whitey failed to react in time and lost his head a second time. Not only that, Ye Qing grabbed him with his left hand and activated both the Boundless Lightning Palm and the Netherflame. Completely locked in place, Whitey ultimately burned into a pile of ash.

The second Whitey disappeared, Ye Qing suddenly twisted around and threw a punch behind him. It was because Blackie had teleported behind his back. His fist force and Burning Wind washed over the Stranger before he could react.

“Cloud Vaporization Style”

Blackie started disappearing—or rather, vaporizing—inch by inch as dark red flames forced its way out of his body. Eventually, he turned into ash as well.

“Phew… There’s no way they can come back to life after they’ve turned into ash, right?” Ye Qing breathed out a long sigh of relief and, just in case, scattered the pile of ashes with another punch.

“Joyless, these two Strangers are called the Black and White Spectres. Born from the essence of the Black White Forest, they are something like the guardian spirits of the Black White Forest. That is why they cannot die so long as the Black White Forest remains standing.”

Feng Qingyou deflated his optimism like a balloon, “So, no, it’s not over yet. You’re going to have to hang on a while longer.”

“...”

Blackie and Whitey have infinite lives? Are you shitting me right now?

Ye Qing turned around and stared at Feng Qingyou with an aghast expression. Feng Qingyou favored him with a beaming smile and cheered him on, “You can do it, Joyless!”

Ye Qing rolled his eyes and tried to say something, but something drew his attention away. He saw black and white powder pouring in from both sides of the forest and reforming the Black and White Spectres in the blink of an eye.

“I…”

They say that a man must be strong under any circumstances, but unkillable Strangers are on a whole ‘nother level! I just can’t do it, my queen!

“Watch out, Joyless! Here they come again!” Feng Qingyou warned and jolted him back to reality. Sighing, he swung his sleeves and sent the Black and White Spectre flying like a batter. He was hoping to incapacitate the two Strangers or at least delay them a little, but they immediately got back on their feet and charged as if they couldn’t even feel his attack, not to mention that they could teleport a short distance. Left with no choice, Ye Qing charged forward and engaged the Black and White Spectres in melee combat.

While Ye Qing was keeping the Black and White Spectres busy, Feng Qingyou pulled out a jade box from her Nature’s Shell and walked up to the Black White Shrub. Then, she began picking the Black White Fruits.

Something strange happened then. Every time she picked a Fruit of Living or Fruit of Death, the color of the corresponding forest would fade just a little. On the Black Forest’s side, It was like someone was adding clear water into a glass of ink and diminishing its purity. Pale spots were beginning to appear on the objects as well. On the White Forest’s side, dirty spots were starting to appear on everything and tarnishing its previously flawless white.

“Shaaah!”

The Black and White Spectres weren’t the guardian spirits of the Black White Forest for nothing. Sensing the oddity immediately, they let out an unholy roar and abruptly disengaged themselves from Ye Qing. Then, they charged straight toward Feng Qingyou.

Ye Qing wasn’t going to allow them to reach Feng Qingyou, of course. While the two Strangers were distracted, he opened his mouth and unleashed Lightning Bolt. The mini sword’s deadly lightning easily annihilated the Black and White Spectres into dust.

By now, Ye Qing had noticed the Black White Forest’s strange transformation. The more fruits Feng Qingyou picked from the Black White Shrub, the worse the changes became. It was like watching a painting slowly losing its color one fruit at a time.

Whoosh whoosh…

It was at this moment a cool breeze blew in from both sides of the forest, making howling noises and shaking the leaves. He could actually sense a hint of sorrow and… hatred from the wind.

“What the heck? Do forests have emotions as well?”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose in disbelief. Before he could process this information, a massive amount of black and white powder suddenly floated out of the forest and toward their location. On one side, it looked like an avalanche. On the other side, it looked like a tidal wave of black snow straight out of a post-apocalyptic fiction.

It can’t be! Ye Qing suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

“Time to go, Joyless!”

Feng Qingyou finally finished plucking all of the mature Fruits of Living and Death and beckoned Ye Qing. Then, she ran straight for the exit.

Ye Qing did not hesitate to follow behind Feng Qingyou. The black and white powder had converged into many Black and White Spectres, and even at a glance he could tell that there were at least hundreds of them. They looked exactly the same as the pair they had fought earlier, and they were all expressionless like a doll. What really scared Ye Qing wasn’t just the fact that they were coming from every direction, but also because they were all Hatred-class Strangers! In other words, they were currently being hunted by hundreds of Hatred-class Strangers!

“You didn’t tell me that there were hundreds of Black and White Spectres, Qingyou!” Ye Qing gulped audibly as he ran next to Feng Qingyou.

For whatever reason, the young woman seemed completely unperturbed by the dire situation they were in. she explained in a perfectly collected tone, “I told you that the Black and White Spectres are the guardian spirits of the Black White Forest, but I never said that there was only one pair.”

“While the Black White Forest is normally guarded by a single pair of Black and White Spectres, there are certain situations such as a forest fire, large-scale logging, malicious sabotage and so on that will spur the forest into creating more Black and White Spectres to protect itself.”

“Okay… and what on earth did you do to cause hundreds of Black and White Spectres to hunt us down?”

While what Feng Qingyou said made sense, what was happening right now was on an even bigger scale than the situations she had described. There was absolutely something the young woman still hadn’t told him about.

This time, Feng Qingyou gave him the whole truth, “The Fruit of Living and Death is born from the countless deaths of the creatures of the Black White Forest. Strictly speaking, it is the essence and source of the Black White Forest itself. What would you do if someone had stolen half of your essence of being? It’s only natural that the forest would hate us.”

What us? You’re the one who took the fruits! I’m just the pitiful worker who was kept in the dark until the last moment! Ye Qing complained on the inside.

Suddenly, Ye Qing tripped and nearly fell. This should be impossible considering his strength. He looked down and saw grass, vines and other plants wrapping around his ankles and attempting to root him in place. The surrounding branches were stretching over to block their path as well. All of them were overflowing with malice.

1. In Chinese culture, this is something used by the son or sons of the deceased in a funeral procession to show filial piety. ☜