Stranger Danger

Wang Yang let out a cold hmph, raised his right foot half an inch, and stomped the ground. A gush of White Flame of Nothingness immediately spread out and dyed over half of the arms and the bodies into pale white, freezing them and turning them into dust.

“I don’t care what you are, you must die a horrible death for daring to trick me!”

Wang Yang’s eyes turned pale white as well. The White Flame of Nothingness he unleashed earlier immediately rolled back and gathered behind his back. It was like hundreds of white streams coming together to form the break of dawn. Soon, a white sun slowly rose into the air.

Boom…

The streams surged violently, and the white sun painted both heaven and earth white. An unbelievable pressure enveloped everything within this tiny corner of hell.

“As expected of an Expression. It’s like nature itself has awakened to smite his enemies.”

Ye Qing ashed the few corpses running toward him with the Burning Wind while squinting at the white sun and white rivers in the air.

The three stages of the Astral Refinement stage was formally known as the Astral Refinement, Astral Tempering, and Expression, but both Astral Refinement and Astral Tempering were just foundations of the Astral Refinement stage. Expression was the stage where a warrior was considered to have reached the adept level.

Expression was the stage where an Astral Refiner’s control of their astral qi had become so good that they could manifest an aspect of nature and borrow its power to execute their will. To put it in simpler terms, Expression was the infusion of an aspect of nature into one’s techniques so that every hit was as flexible and powerful as a god or demon.

This was why Astral Refinement and Astral Purification were considered to be basic uses of one’s astral qi. One could not manifest the true power of their astral qi until they had reached the Expression stage.

Looking at Wang Yang right now, Ye Qing wasn’t sure he could defeat him if he fought against him right now. At best, the battle would end in a stalemate. That was how powerful the scion was with his Expression manifested.

“Kill!” Wang Yang growled and threw out a punch. The white river poured down from the heavens, and the white sun crashed down on the world like the sunset.

The writhing, wailing corpses in the temple turned pale white as if their very color was wiped away by Wang Yang’s astral qi. When his fist force blew through the area, every taint was wiped clean until all that was left was pure white.

The withered corpse was the only thing that wasn’t wiped away together with the others. While leaking incredibly thick yin qi, the demonic flame on the crazed side of his face flared strongly.

“Mara Buddha…”

In response to the attack, the withered corpse reached out with his left hand and pressed upward. An invisible, demonic sound resounded throughout the temple.

Behind the withered corpse, the giant statue also raised its left hand and put its handful of wailing souls between the corpse and the white river and white sun. In a sense, it was a clash between heaven and hell.

A series of rumbles later, the left palm decisively defeated the white sun and the white river. The sky full of white flames were immediately dyed black and demonic.

“Pwack!”

Wang Yang spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered backward. His energies were thrown into disarray after his Expression was destroyed.

Shock flickered behind Wang Yang’s pupils as he backed two steps away from the withered corpse. It was then he caught Ye Qing watching from the sidelines out of the corner of his eyes. His eyes flashed with anger, but he quickly broke into a hidden sneer and said, “We need to fight together, Brother Ye. Only then can we defeat this Stranger and survive!”

“Sure. Let’s fight him together!”

Ye Qing’s response was firm and decisive, but he didn’t hesitate to run toward the exit.

Do you think I’m as stupid as Yang Xuan?

He knew exactly what Wang Yang was thinking the moment he heard his words. The young hill lord just wanted to trick him into stopping the withered corpse and buying him time to escape. Naturally, he wasn’t going to comply with his wishes.

The reason Ye Qing didn’t run earlier was because he wanted to know exactly how strong the withered corpse was. Now, he confirmed that it was at least stronger than Wang Yang and maybe even a Soulstealer-class Stranger. There was no way he could defeat a Stranger like that as he was, so running away was the only course of action here.

Meanwhile, Wang Yang pretended to take one step forward before turning around immediately. He was just in time to see Ye Qing rapidly vanishing into the distance like the wind.

The heck? You should be in front of me, not behind! How did I become the meat shield?

Wang Yang was stunned for an instant. Then, he erupted in anger, “You are courting death, Ye Pingshan!”

His anger was real, and his swearing came from the heart itself. But he did not hesitate to chase after Ye Qing. He wasn’t suicidal after all, and why wouldn’t he, a late-stage Astral Refiner, fail to outrun an early-stage body-tempering warrior?

Wang Yang was also going to bury the bastard when he caught him. He was the one screwing over others since he was young, but today he was tricked once by a Stranger and a second time by Ye Qing. How could he not swear bloody vengeance against them?

“Keke…”

Behind the duo, the withered corpse let out an evil cackle, and the massive statue behind it began weeping blood. Another mantra resounded throughout the temple.

“Mara Buddha…”

“Mara Buddha…”

An invisible energy spread across the entire Thousand Buddhas Temple. Then, every single corpse in the compound opened their eyes.

Wang Yang was passing by a stupa when it suddenly grew an innumerable number of arms and held him tight. Wang Yang immediately threw a punch and blasted the stupa into smithereens, but all the flesh-and-blood buildings started charging at him as well. Despite his strength, he was unable to break free immediately.

Ye Qing was the same. While he was crossing a bridge of tongues, the tongues suddenly rolled up and attempted to ensnare him.

His reaction wasn’t slow, of course. He leaped away from the bridge and landed on a pond next to it. He was about to jump away when the bodies floating on the pond abruptly split open their stomachs and revealed long, barbed tongues that resembled whips. Not only that, countless blood-drenched hair swayed above the waters like grass and shot toward him.

A ripple appeared when Ye Qing kicked off the waters. His movement made no sound and left almost no traces, but the pond suddenly started bubbling like it was boiling hot. Then, the blood-drenched hair ignited into flames at the same time.

Hair wasn’t supposed to be alive, but this one was apparently because it let out a bloodcurdling scream. The next moment, he half-turned in the air and severed all of the barbed tongues flailing toward him with a curved saber.

However, the short delay was enough for the bridge of tongues to reach him. Slimy fluid covered the entire structure, and within the slimy fluid were countless human heads that were all staring wide-eyed at him. An evil, filthy energy immediately spread toward him.

“Heavens, you’re so disgusting.”

Ye Qing’s spirit was strong enough that the evil energy wasn’t able to influence him. His response was to swing his curved saber and release a ripple of moonlight toward the bridge.

The ripple looked frail enough to shatter at the slightest touch, but in reality it was the bridge of tongues that shook violently and sprouted fountains of blood as soon as contact was made.

The moonlight saber looked like one saber, but it was really a million sabers and a million attacks.

The bridge of tongues broke into pieces in just the blink of an eye, and the flesh and blood burned into ash before they could hit the ground.

After he had taken out the bridge of tongues, Ye Qing inhaled slightly and dashed forward once more. However, he had just moved a short distance when he abruptly came to a stop.

“Keep running. Why aren’t you running?” Wang Yang taunted. He had broken free from the flesh-and-blood buildings and reached Ye Qing as well.

“I’m tired, so I’m not gonna run anymore. You can leave first if you want to!” Ye Qing shrugged and stepped out of Wang Yang’s way as if he couldn’t hear the scorn in his voice.

“Hmph! You’re—”

Wang Yang was going to provoke Ye Qing some more when he finally saw what had balked Ye Qing. All the words he wanted to say immediately went back down his stomach.

The far end of the road of corpses that they walked across earlier had stood up before they knew it. They were blocking all of the exits like walls. At the same time, countless corpses were surging toward them like tidal waves.

Wang Yang narrowed his eyes and swung his palm thirty six times in a row like it was a saber. Thirty six fiery saber forces manifested in the air and slammed into the wall of flesh.

“Minor Flame Saber Art”

Flesh and blood spilled everywhere as the saber forces sank meters deep into the wall of flesh. At the same time, the White Flame of Nothingness gushed out of the cracks and melted them into nothingness. However, it only lasted for two or three breaths before it was devoured by the seemingly endless amount of corpses. The cracks had also healed themselves to normal.

This isn’t going to work! Wang Yang thought with a dark expression. He knew the moment he saw his damage dealt that he wasn’t going to be able to breach through the wall of flesh, at least not within a short time. Unfortunately, time was the one thing they couldn’t afford to waste right now. Already, the countless flesh-and-blood amalgamations behind their backs were almost upon them.

Am I really going to die here? Despair began to slip its insidious tendrils into Wang Yang’s heart. When he glanced at Ye Qing out of the corner of his eyes though, he noticed that the young man looked perfectly unperturbed for some reason.

“Do you have a plan, Brother Ye?” Wang Yang’s eyes lit up. Ye Qing looked like he had a plan.

“A good plan? No!” Ye Qing shook his head.

Wang Yang: “...” Then why are you acting like you can get out of this situation one hundred percent?

Before Wang Yang could say anything, Ye Qing continued, “But I do have an immature plan.”

“What is it?”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose but didn’t give him an answer. Instead, he ordered, “Can you block these monsters for a moment, Brother Wang?”

“Me?” Wang Yang instinctively loathed the idea. “Why me?”

Ye Qing rolled his eyes at Wang Yang. “Sure! I’ll block the monsters, and you can figure a way out of this situation!”

Wang Yang: “...” I wouldn’t be talking to you if I could come up with a plan, could I?

“Can’t do it? Then just shut up and do what I say!” Ye Qing hmphed coldly before urging, “What are you waiting for? Go get them!”

“You…” Wang Yang’s complexion turned ashen with anger. If they weren’t grasshoppers bound to the same rope right now, he would’ve ripped Ye Qing to shreds already.

“You best not lie to me, Ye Pingshan! You won’t like it when I’m pissed off!”

Wang Yang finally charged toward the incoming flesh-and-blood monsters and slowly raised his right fist. His arm had just reached its full length when the corpses were right in front of him.

There was a saying that to raise your fist above your head was to raise it above the heavens.

A seemingly endless amount of white flames converged in the air. The sky turned pure white for a moment.

Then, he dropped his fist, and the sky fell.

“Sunset Hill Fist—Sunset”

Ye Qing had witnessed this technique from Xiao Yang before. When he used it, it was overflowing with a kind of fatalistic sorrow. But Wang Yang’s “Sunset” was very different from Xiao Yang’s. There was neither sorrow nor fatalistic determination. There was only power that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth; one that reminded Ye Qing of the meteor that had wiped out the dinosaurs.

Rumble!

The sun set, and every corpse and flesh-and-blood amalgamation within tens of meters of Wang Yang was annihilated. The flesh-and-blood floor itself depressed greatly and formed a huge pit.