Stranger Danger

The Earth Puppeteer’s voice kept fluctuating in pitch and direction as they [1]spoke, “I know you’re trying to buy time, Hill Lord Wang, but it’s useless. No one will come to save you, so just be a good boy and die, will you?”

“Hahaha! You think you can kill me just because you got lucky with that trash, Zhuo Tianying? You must be quite new to your profession despite your fame!” Wang Luori suddenly burst out laughing. “I will remember this, Earth Puppeteer.”

He said “Earth Puppeteer” instead of “Jester Tower” because the killer was just a member of the organization, not their representative. Also, it was one thing to make an enemy out of Earth Puppeteer, and another to declare the whole organization as his enemy. He didn’t have a death wish, and he was no fool.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, Earth Puppeteer hurriedly commanded their earth dolls to attack Wang Luori. It was at this moment a massive ship with an equally massive sun floating above its sails appeared in the sky. It was none other than the Heaven Patrolling Sun Ship.

The Heaven Patrolling Sun Ship was a Hatred-class Strange Artifact just like that Seven Bejeweled Glazed Lamps. Although it lacked any offensive capabilities whatsoever, it made up for it by being incredibly fast. Capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers in the blink of an eye, it was one of Wang Luori’s lifesaving trump cards.

Wang Luori spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and growled. The Heaven Patrolling Sun Ship abruptly shone like a golden sun before vanishing in a flash of light. Wang Luori himself was nowhere to be seen.

“Dammit! I screwed up! I can’t believe I forgot that Wang Luori had the Heaven Patrolling Sun Ship! Oh, this is going to be so annoying!”

Earth Puppeteer let out a deep, frustrated sigh, “Calm down, girl [2], it’s not entirely your fault. Who would’ve thought that a macho guy like Wang Luori was really a scaredy cat who keeps his Heaven Patrolling Sun Ship with him all the time? The spineless coward should be ashamed of himself! Ugh!”

“Thankfully, his cadre is still around. Hopefully, killing them would be enough to convince my employer not to take back most of his money!”

“Sigh, the smoked chicken and duck-in-wine from Smoke and Fire, the sweet prawn and hibiscus brew from Cloud Tower, and the osmanthus biscuits and rice-ball-in-wine from Yuxiu Diner… I won’t be able to enjoy these delicacies this time or meet up with my cute and beautiful Cui, Hong and Red either. Whatever shall I do…?”

“I need to work harder to earn more money. Beautiful people and delicious food are the two things one must never betray…”

……

Back in Thousand Buddhas Temple, the space around Ye Qing had turned into a vacuum. The three divine winds were still pouring into the temple, but they automatically vanished when they came within a meter of the young man.

A closer look would reveal that Ye Qing wasn’t really surrounded by a vacuum, but an invisible cyclone of air. The wind looked weak and powerless, but in reality it was hot enough to boil even space itself. In fact, the ground underneath Ye Qing had melted into molten lava a long time ago.

Ye Qing seemed completely unperturbed though. It was almost as if he was existing in a completely separate space.

Boom!

Suddenly, a terrific amount of power gushed out of Ye Qing. The invisible cyclone abruptly grew much bigger, and the three divine winds inside the temple were blown away in an instant. Speaking of the temple, the structure had stood strong despite a century of erosion and the constant battering of the three divine winds, but now, it was melting inch by inch under the invisible cyclone’s influence. The entire Thousand Buddhas Temple was gone in just the blink of an eye.

“Phew…”

The next moment, Ye Qing opened his eyes and inhaled deeply. Like a whale taking a deep breath, he somehow inhaled the invisible cyclone back into his abdomen. It cleared up his mind in an instant and made him feel like he just had a satisfying meal.

Ye Qing rose to his feet and walked forward, his feet flowing seamlessly from one step to another like a stream. Then, he threw out a punch.

BOOM!

The wind howled, and the air was blown away in an instant. The cavern he was in and all the life in it abruptly disintegrated into nothing just like that.

Now this was a punch that could vaporize lakes and change the sky itself!

“Hahaha! My astral qi is now rich, dense and pure in every sense of the word. I’ve finally entered the late-stage of the Astral Refinement stage.” Ye Qing let out a boisterous laugh as he admired his handiwork.

Thanks to the Star Lotus and the Blood Jade Lotus, he was able to skip the middle stage and enter the late-stage of the Astral Refinement stage in one fell swoop. Not only that, his astral qi was at least as rich, dense and pure as those warriors who tirelessly cultivated their astral qi for over a decade, if not more.

Even better, the Blood Jade Lotus had purified his Burning Wind to the point where it turned invisible and resembled its truest essence. As a result, his astral qi was at least several times stronger than before.

After this, all he needed to do was to improve his fine control until he could manifest his Expression, and he would finally be able to call himself a true late-stage Astral Refiner.

“Alright. It’s finally time to go home.”

It had been a few days since he came to Thousand Buddhas Grotto, and he was still the Patrolman of Luo Shui. It was one thing to take a few days leave for important business, and another to actively abscond his responsibilities for personal pleasure.

Besides, he wanted to know if his ploy had worked. Wang Luori should’ve learned of his son’s death a few days ago. Had he gone to White Horse Academy for revenge? And had he died for his foolishness? As the one who had single-handedly directed this scene, he could hardly wait to enjoy the final product.

I sure hope I’m not too late for the show.

Whoosh!

Ye Qing was just about to take his leave when a school of fishes abruptly swam in from the surrounding cracks and crevices. That’s right, swam. It was as if the Stranger was born to the three divine winds like fish to water. They also wore a human woman’s face.

“Hehehe…”

“Hahaha…”

“Kekeke…”

The fishes giggled melodiously as they swam. Although the faces were all different, they were all unnaturally beautiful and seductive. At the same time, an inexplicable energy spread across the area and conjured countless half-naked women in all sorts of embarrassing poses into existence. It was like he was suddenly teleported to the imperial harem.

“The Bewitching Fish?” Ye Qing muttered while the corners of his lips turned up. Eyes completely free from desire, he ignored the half-naked women trying to draw his attention and simply examined the fish Strangers curiously.

The fish Strangers swimming in the air was called the Bewitching Fish. They were a rare Malice-class Stranger.

The Bewitching Fish possessed a fish’s body and a human’s face, and although it was called a fish, it was actually terrestrial. Born from a multitude of vengeful souls, it possessed the ability to conjure illusions. It fed on its victims’ souls by conjuring seductive illusions and keeping them distracted until it was too late. The action allowed them to gain control over their victim’s body and mind.

Although the Bewitching Fish was just a Malice-class Stranger, it lacked a physical body and was immune to physical attacks as it was a ghost-type Stranger. Normally, it would take a considerable amount of effort to vanquish them.

Even worse, the Bewitching Fish normally lived in groups. A handful of Bewitching Fishes alone could create an illusion that would drown even an Astral Refiner. In bigger numbers? They could scare off even Spirit Purifiers.

Right now, Ye Qing was facing over two dozen Bewitching Fishes. If his spirit wasn’t as strong as it was, he would be cumming out his brains already. Possibly literally.

As for why the Bewitching Fishes hadn’t shown themselves until now, he reckoned that it was because Jing Hui’s heart demon was in control of this place until recently. Now that the heart demon was sealed, and even the Thousand Buddhas Temple itself was destroyed, the Bewitching Fishes finally gathered enough courage to enter this place.

“Heh. it looks like someone’s underestimating my strength!” Ye Qing smirked diabolically. “This is the perfect opportunity to test out my new Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art!”

Ye Qing straightened his palm and swung it downward. The first thing he learned when studying the saber art was that there was no specific form he must abide to when executing the saber art. He could use his saber, his hands, his legs, or anything to execute a technique.

Countless demonic red lotuses bloomed in the air in an instant. The way the red flowers floated across the air painted a paradisiacal scene, and yet it was bewitching in the sense that it could somehow unearth one’s emotions, desires, and sins.

The illusion conjured by the Bewitching Fishes vanished as soon as the red lotuses descended. They themselves shuddered unnaturally as their human faces turned blank and seemingly confused. The next second, countless demonic flames burst out of their orifices and consumed them from the inside out.

The Bewitching Fishes couldn’t break free no matter how hard they struggled. Even stranger was the fact that their expressions grew increasingly calm and peaceful as time passed. This shouldn’t be possible as they were the embodiment of vengeance and darkness. Over time, the Strangers forgot how to struggle or despair. They even looked relieved and happy when the flames finally burned them into ashes.

“Heavens… what a demonic art this is!” Ye Qing couldn’t help but gulp as he stared at the pile of ashes that were once the Bewitching Fishes.

He hadn’t used his Burning Wind earlier because he wanted to test out the strength of the saber art. Instead, he had executed the technique using his spirit. The flames were not the flames of the Burning Wind, and it was named the Red Lotus Hellfire.

As the flames were created from the sins of the Bewitching Fishes, one could say that Ye Qing wasn’t their true killer. They had died to their own sins. Not only that, not a sound could be heard as the fishes burned to death. Assuming that the circumstances were right, he could probably use this to assassinate someone without a trace.

On a related note, he had practiced the Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art while he was refining his astral qi. As Jing Hui had imprinted his martial arts essence directly into his mind, it took him little effort to grasp the basics of the saber art.

This was the first time he applied it in true combat, and he must say that he was extremely pleased with the outcome.

He could see why it was classified as a Spirit Purification stage saber art. He wasn’t even a Spirit Purifier yet, and its potency was still far greater than any Astral Refinement stage martial art he had ever seen.

Of course, he was just an initiate of the art right now. If he wished to unleash its true power, he would have to merge his spirit, astral qi, and saber intent into one and combine his essence, qi and spirit first.

“It’s a shame,” Ye Qing sighed regretfully. If he knew he was going to pick up this saber art in the future, he might have considered cultivating the Red Lotus Hellfire as his astral qi instead of the Burning Wind to maximize its potential. The Red Lotus Hellfire was one of the thirty six superior astral qis and rarer than even the Burning Wind.

Of course, the combination of his formless Burning Wind and the saber art wasn’t necessarily weaker than if he had cultivated the Red Lotus Hellfire. After all, the warrior was the one who decided the strength of a martial art, not the other way around.

“Alright. Now it’s really time to say goodbye to this place.”

Ye Qing withdrew his palm, looked around the ashen cavern that was once the Thousand Buddhas Temple, and smiled. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

It was time to go home.

1. Although it’s a “feminine” voice, there’s no telling if she’s actually a woman yet, hence they. ☜

2. NOW we can confirm she’s probably a she. Probably. ☜