Stranger Danger

It was do or die.

As his punch flew toward the wall, silver scales began appearing on his fist and his arms. They were also growing on his face, although they looked more like snowflakes than actual scales. At the same time, the image of a silvery white toad appeared behind his back, croaking. It was an Expression of his true self.

The Toads of Cornucopia were famous for their strength, not to mention that he had manifested his Expression. He refused to believe that his full-powered punch could not kill Ye Qing.

Shriek!!!

The air directly in front of his fist made this shrill, piercing noise as if it was being compressed far beyond its limit. It was deafening.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, wisps of hot air suddenly seeped out from the cracks between the bloated wall. Half a second later, they transformed into dark red flames that swayed back and forth like grass.

Then, an agony-filled face emerged from the flames in a soundless scream.

“Dammit!”

Silver Toad’s eyes glowed brilliant silver as he forced himself to speed up even more. Unfortunately, he was still too late. Right before his fist would shatter the wall, the wall exploded into a storm of fire, wind, and debris. Its howls sounded like the end of the world itself.

As Silver Toad was right next to the wall, the fiery wind struck him head on and melted most of his scales into liquid. They dripped onto melted stone and earth and vanished without a trace.

“Who dares to ambush me and my men!”

One man stood tall amidst the howling wind and raging flames. Floating above the ground like a god or demon who had descended upon this earth to exact his vengeance, he brought his fist straight down on the puny Stranger who had dared to test his wrath.

At that moment, it was like the sky itself had crashed down on the earth, and wasn’t there a saying that described this situation perfectly: “When the sky falls, none shall survive its wrath.”

The punch struck Silver Toad squarely in the head. Forget resisting, he couldn’t even react before he was driven straight into the ground.

Rumble rumble rumble!

The moment Silver Toad vanished from view, the entire street suddenly shook like it was an earthquake. Dark red flames spewed out of the cracks and shot at least thirty meters into the air before they finally faded.

“Phew… what a thick head.”

The silhouette landed back on the ground, and the raging wind around him disappeared and revealed a man who was covered in dust and mud. He was none other than Ye Qing.

He hadn’t held back just now. He had used his full Dragon Elephant strength and his perfect Burning Wind astral qi to pummel the sonuvabitch’s skull into the floor. This attack could’ve vaporized another warrior at the same level like blowing off dust, and yet the guy’s head had remained intact.

Is this what it takes to survive in this world? A thick skin and a thick skull?

He was in the middle of a battle though, so he quickly cast away the stray thoughts and pulsed his spirit. Invisible ripples washed over the streets and houses, and—

“Found you.”

In Ye Qing’s mind, Ye Qing saw a wall slowly dissolving into mud and spreading across the ground. It looked exactly the same as real soil.

If his spirit wasn’t as strong as it was, he would never have realized that the mud Stranger was still alive. The fact that he didn’t notice anything until he pulsed his spirit was the proof of that.

The walls the mud Stranger commanded were extremely bizarre and potent. Even with his current strength, it had taken him a surprising amount of effort and time to break free. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was struck by the strong premonition that he would die if the wall broke. It was quite the scary moment to say the least.

That was why the mud Stranger needed to die first before anyone. There was literally no reason to keep such a dangerous threat alive for even a second longer. He immediately dashed toward the mud Stranger.

Unbeknownst to Ye Qing, the Writer was writing a new passage inside the empty house,

“Ye Qing discovered Old Mud and gave chase immediately, but as he was passing by a restaurant, the building suddenly collapsed on top of him. He had no choice but to dodge to the left.”

Outside the house, everything went exactly as the Writer had prophesied. Ye Qing was dashing past a restaurant when suddenly, the entire building collapsed on top of him. In order to avoid being buried, he had no choice but to dodge to the left. He then attempted to circle around the building and resume his chase.

The Writer wasn’t done with him, however. He continued,

“It was at this moment a yin wind blew. Yin Woman had appeared behind him without him noticing, and she was able to catch him in a deathly embrace. An unspeakable cold immediately invaded his mind and froze his soul.”

Unfortunately, the Writer started shaking again when he wrote the words, “Froze his soul.” Then, an invisible power erased the words from existence just like before.

Left with no choice, the Writer amended his passage to, “Froze his body.”

Had the initial prophecy came true, Ye Qing would have died immediately. It was because no human could live with a frozen soul. The body though, that was much more livable.

As soon as the final word was penned, Ye Qing suddenly felt an unnatural chill behind his back. The next moment, a pair of translucent, shapeless arms wrapped around his neck and pressed her body against his back. It felt like a woman was giving him a hug.

When did she get behind me!?

Ye Qing was shocked because he hadn’t sensed anything at all. It was as if the yin Stranger had suddenly appeared behind his back… or something was blocking his spirit from detecting her.

Before he could think of anything else, an unspeakable cold invaded his body and froze him from the inside out. Not done yet, it invaded his mind and attempted to freeze his soul as well.

“Hmph!”

Ye Qing immediately visualized the Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method. The great emperor manifested inside his head and shone like the sun. The unnatural cold permeating his head immediately receded like the tide. After that, Ye Qing channeled his Burning Wind and melted the ice in his body like snow as well.

“Is that all you got? You really should’ve taken your petty little tricks elsewhere!”

The second he regained control of his body, the Burning Wind exploded out of Ye Qing’s body and turned everything into dust. As Yin Woman was hugging him from behind, she got a boat load of his unfiltered passion.

Yin Woman screamed in pain and attempted to freeze the Burning Wind with her cold, but it didn’t even last a second before it burst out of its confines once more. The next second, dark red flames began bursting out of her translucent body. No matter how she screamed and struggled, she was unable to extinguish the deadly flames. Over time, she grew more and more transparent and flickered erratically. It was like a simple gust of wind could blow her away.

Yin Woman was a ghost-type Stranger. As she didn’t possess a physical body, she was immune to conventional weapons and could even change her form as she pleased. At her level, the one thing she was afraid of was objects or creatures of absolute yang and fire, and it so happened that Ye Qing’s Burning Wind fit that criteria perfectly. That was why he was able to deal such a severe blow to Yin Woman so easily.

It looked like Yin Woman would burn to death just like that when the ground suddenly shook unnaturally. It felt like something terrifying was about to burst out.

“So, his true form is a toad, a silver toad no less. But why does it look so familiar?” Ye Qing’s spirit allowed him to grasp the underground Stranger’s clearly.

“Wait a second. Silver toad? Bronze Toad? Now I get it. The guy’s family has come for revenge!” Ye Qing figured out the truth as soon as he connected the dots.

He had wondered why so many Strangers had come together to ambush him. He hadn’t terrorized that many local Strangers just yet, or so he thought. As it turned out, it was because he killed the Bronze Toad of Cornucopia. This silver toad must be the Silver Toad of Cornucopia, and it—well, he, since his human form was that of a man—had gathered this band of misfits to take revenge for his fallen kin. The only reason he only figured this out now was because Silver Toad had assumed a human form.

As for how Silver Toad was able to track him down, he already knew the answer. It was because Bronze Toad had cursed him with the Dying Grudge. It should be trivial for him to locate Ye Qing unless he wasn’t trying at all. It made sense that this ambush would be so well-orchestrated.

In fact, he only survived this ambush because he was exceptionally powerful for his level. Any other early-stage Astral Refiner would’ve died a million years ago.

I might have survived this ambush, but I might not survive the next one. These Strangers need to die right here and now.

As soon as the thought crossed Ye Qing’s mind, he raised his foot and stomped the ground with all his might. There was an ominous rumble as the entire street undulated as if it was fabric, not earth. Silver Toad was going to make a grand appearance, but the combination of Ye qing’s Dragon Elephant strength and his Burning Wind astral qi forced it another ten meters into the ground.

Even better, the Burning Wind was so hot that it literally burned the earth and the rock into molten lava. It cooked the Silver Toad of Cornucopia like a furnace.

Your skull may be too thick for me to punch through, but what if I slow cook you alive like a frog—I mean, toad?

Of course, Silver Toad wasn’t just going to sit in the ground and slowly boil to death, so Ye Qing stomped the ground again and again like he was playing the drum. Silver scales shattered, and blood flowed like a river. Powerless to change the situation, the Stranger could do nothing but be ground by the earth over and over again.

Suddenly, Ye Qing looked up into the sky. Yin Woman had transformed into a gust of yin wind and was attempting to escape.

“Leaving already? The night’s still young!”

Ye Qing opened his mouth, and a thunderclap shook the earth. A white flash later, Yin Woman disappeared in a long, mournful scream.

The second Yin Woman was dead, Ye Qing suddenly broke into a strange grin and jumped backward. It was because he sensed Old Mud sneaking toward the three Artifact Wielders while he was killing Yin Woman. Whatever he was planning, it could not be good!

While Ye Qing was dashing toward Old Mud, the Writer continued to work hard to meet tonight’s word count:

“Ye Qing discovered Old Mud’s plan and tried to stop him, but tonight’s wind was very naughty. So naughty, in fact, that it kicked up a pile of dust that blinded Ye Qing and slowed him for just a beat. This minor delay was enough for Old Mud to take control of the three Artifact Wielders and manipulate them into attacking Ye Qing with the Miracle Doctor Calabash. And so Ye Qing…

DIES!

DIES!

DIES!”

The Writer’s last three words were so potent that they bled ink. At the same time, an evil, unspeakable power rippled outward like the curse of a thousand wraiths.

Whoosh!

A gentle wind blew across the street, and it kicked up a pile of dust that just happened to hit Ye Qing squarely in the eye. It came as such a surprise that he slowed down a beat.

“I got dust in my eyes?! How is this even possible?”

At this point, Ye Qing finally realized that something wasn’t right. A moment before the ambush was sprung, he had slipped on a rock and crashed into the wall that was Old Mud. That was how the Stranger was able to devour him and nearly doomed him. Then, the restaurant he was passing through collapsed without warning and forced him to dodge out of the way. As a result, Yin Woman was able to surprise him and almost killed him a second time.

Now, a bloody gust of wind had kicked some dust into his eyes and delayed him at a critical moment. He, an Astral Refiner, had somehow been blinded by a bloody gust of wind! How was this even possible? Was tonight’s wind really that naughty, or was a Stranger behind these series of inexplicable phenomenon? It didn’t take a genius to figure out the answer!

He had thought that the mud Stranger was the biggest threat of them all, but no, this hidden Stranger was even worse!