Stranger Danger

“This can’t be… it just can’t…”

All the color and arrogance drained away from Li Yuechun’s face when he saw Gold Toad’s true form. He collapsed on the ground and couldn’t say anything for a long time.

He honestly didn’t know that a Stranger was hiding in his residence; didn’t think that a Stranger would even dare to do such a thing.

Naturally, he had no idea how Ye Qing had traced this Stranger to his residence.

One thing for certain, it was over for him.

At the lightest, the crime of harboring a Stranger would see him dismissed and imprisoned. At worst, it was execution to the three generations as Ye Qing said.

The court wouldn’t sentence him to death since he hadn’t harbored the Stranger on purpose, but he would definitely be charged for dereliction of duty for failing to notice the enemy hiding in his own backyard. Even if the court ultimately gave him a verdict of not guilty, he would still lose his post, and his reputation would be tarnished forever.

A scholar without reputation was like a jianghu warrior without martial arts. It was basically the end of the road for them.

All light vanished from Li Yuechun’s pupils when he realized this.

“Do you have anything else to say, Lord Li?” Ye Qing asked while shaking his head. It was clear that Li Yuechun wasn’t faking his reaction. The bookkeeper was just too unlucky.

Ye Qing’s voice jolted Li Yuechun back to reality and injected a sliver of hope back into his body. He asked in a hurry, “Lord Ye, I have no knowledge of this whatsoever! I don’t even know how they made it inside my residence! Please understand that I’m just a victim in this matter!”

“Perhaps,” Ye Qing replied indifferently, “but you should save your protests for the Inquisition Department. There is nothing I can do to help you.”

Li Yuechun had done a one-eighty the second he learned that there was, in fact, a Stranger hiding in his residence. At least he was smart enough not to protest his innocence or worse, attack him in an attempt to silence him. Otherwise, Ye Qing possessed the right to end him on the spot.

The Pacification Bureau had always abided by the presumption of guilt when it came to Strangers.

Suddenly, the dying Gold Toad looked up at a certain person and cried, “Save me, Steward Zhou! I know who you really are! Save me, and I will tell you a great secret; one that is connected to the Demon Lord himself! Refuse, and I will bring you down with me!”

Ye Qing followed her gaze and saw a middle-aged man in his forties. He had an ordinary appearance and was slightly overweight. He was also wearing a smile that looked like it would never fade.

The man was the steward of the residence, and he had an ordinary name that befit his ordinary appearance, Zhou San.

Ye Qing and Zhou San stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, the steward’s smile suddenly grew just a tad sinister.

Sensing that something was amiss, Ye Qing immediately launched a palm strike at Gold Toad. However, a dark cloud suddenly floated over and dropped a rope on top of the Stranger. The rope wrapped around her neck and pulled her into the sky. She was gone in the blink of an eye.

After Gold Toad was pulled into the cloud, it slowly faded away and revealed a clear sky. Strangely, neither the rope nor Gold Toad was anywhere to be found. It was like they had disappeared into thin air.

Boom!

It was only now Ye Qing’s palm force finally hit the spot where Gold Toad was. It blew up a deep pit in the ground like a bomb.

“The Divine Rope?” Ye Qing raised an eyebrow at Zhou San.

The steward smiled back and replied, “You are quite the knowledgeable man, Lord Ye! That’s right. It is none other than the Divine Rope.”

The so-called Divine Rope was really a popular circus trick performers often used to entertain their audience. There were many versions of it, but generally speaking it involved a cloud dropping a rope down to the performer, and the performer climbing up into the cloud and seemingly vanishing into thin air.

“Who are you?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

Zhou San saluted him and answered, “I am Zhou San. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Ye.”

“Zhou San?” Ye Qing skimmed through his memories but couldn’t recall anyone with such a name. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re plotting, but you are aware that obstructing the Pacification Bureau from carrying out their duties and colluding with Strangers are both crimes that are punishable by death, right?”

Zhou San didn’t seem to hear Ye Qing’s threat. He continued to smile as if nothing was going on and replied, “I don’t understand, my lord? The Stranger disappeared on her own. What does it have anything to do with me?”

“Heh…” Ye Qing let out a cold chuckle. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Ye Qing charged toward Zhou San as soon as he said this. He was about halfway there when suddenly, he changed directions and threw a punch at what looked like an empty patch of space. His action looked completely random, but then the space rippled and collapsed all of a sudden, revealing Gold Toad.

It looked like his fist force would kill Gold Toad, but Zhou San abruptly appeared in front of her with his palms pointed at each other and circling in opposite directions. A pair of flood dragons—one made of fire, and another made of water—manifested into existence, and they formed a tai chi circle of fire and water, hard and soft, yin and yang.

When Ye Qing’s punch struck the fire-and-water tai chi circle, he immediately felt like he was punching rubber. At first, his fist force sank into the tai chi circle and vanished into nothing. The next moment, it rebounded with even greater strength than before.

Caught off guard, Ye Qing took a solid hit to his torso and let out a pained grunt. As he was pushed back, he left behind footprints that were at least several inches deep. When he finally neutralized the offending force, Ye Qing watched the man intently and asked, “A Half-Step Spirit Purifier who knows the Fire Water Flood Dragon Palm? Are you a member of the Bai Clan?”

The Fire Water Flood Dragon Palm was the signature martial art of the Bai Clan, a major clan in Luo Shui. Inspired by the complementary attributes of yin and yang, it was a palm art that used fire and water astral qi to embody the qualities of yin and yang; soft and hard. At the adept level, one could not only neutralize the force of a thousand mountains, but also redirect it back against one’s opponent. It was a potent palm art that was equally good in both offense and defense.

It was said that the patriarch of the Bai Clan had earned its current status, wealth and influence thanks to the Fire Water Flood Dragon Palm. Although the Bai Clan had recently diverted their focus from martial art to business, the Fire Water Flood Dragon Palm had remained a family secret to this day. Only a direct descendant of the family was allowed to learn it, which was why Ye Qing was certain that Zhou San was a member of the Bai Clan.

“Haha, the Bai Clan is a lofty and prestigious family. How could humble old me have anything to do with them?” Zhou San denied the accusation before changing the topic, “How did you know Gold Toad is here, my lord?”

“Are you serious? There’s a reason the Divine Rope is more known as a circus trick than anything else!” Ye Qing scoffed disdainfully. The Divine Rope was, essentially, just an illusion trick. To put it simply, everything he saw just now was just an illusion.

At the beginning, Zhou San used some sort of concealment and transference-type talisman to move Gold Toad to this location. Then, he created that flashy illusion to misdirect his attention. It was nothing special at all.

“Hehe, it is true that the Divine Rope is just a circus trick,” said Zhou San with a careless chuckle. “Speaking of circus tricks, I have a couple more up my sleeves. Would you like to try them, my lord?”

As soon as he said this, Zhou San abruptly went poof in a puff of blue smoke. At the same time, the real Zhou San appeared behind Ye Qing with a pair of mandarin duck sabers. The weapons burst into black flames when he brought them down on Ye Qing’s neck.

Ye Qing wheeled around instantaneously almost as if he knew that Zhou San was there the entire time. Swinging his arms like a pair of whips, he easily crushed the black flames into bits.

He wanted to crush Zhou San with the flames, but the middle-aged man proved more elusive than he appeared. Narrowly dodging Ye Qing’s fist force and astral qi by a hair’s breadth, he swung his mandarin duck sabers again at the Patrolman’s vital spots from an unpredictable angle. At the same time, the air suddenly became filled with ghastly, disorienting wails, and ghastly faces emerged from the torrent of flames and pounced toward Ye Qing.

“Ghastly wails that disorient the mind, and deadly sabers that kill the soul”. Is this the Screaming Ghosts Saber?

Ye Qing recognized Zhou San’s saber art in an instant. The “Screaming Ghosts Saber” sounded pretty intimidating, but in reality it was a third-rate saber art at best. To make a comparison, it was on the same level as the “Door Breaking Five Tigers”.

However, it was the warrior who decided the power of a martial art, not the other way around. In Zhou San’s hands, the saber art actually rivaled some potent Astral Refinement martial arts.

Zhou San was hoping to disorient Ye Qing with the saber art, but unfortunately for him, Ye Qing’s spirit and mind far exceeded the norm. The Patrolman easily sidestepped out of the way and counterattacked with a palm strike. At the same time, his left palm burst into lightning and Netherflame.

“Boundless Lightning Palm”

“Blue Demon Hand”

There was a loud explosion as Ye Qing’s palm strike punched through Zhou San’s torrent of flames like wet tissue. Before the middle-aged man could pull back, Ye Qing closed the distance with “Blood Sea Fragrance” and swung his sleeve.

“Flowing Cloud, Flying Sleeve”

The sleeve strike was as thunderous as it was forceful, but it hit Zhou San about as effectively as the wind blowing against a leaf. He floated harmlessly away from Ye Qing before splitting into four all of a sudden.

All four silhouettes were incredibly lifelike and indistinguishable from the real thing. After they had Ye Qing surrounded, they all started executing a martial technique.

One silhouette pointed a finger at Ye Qing and conjured what looked like a sea of shooting stars.

Another curled his hands into claws and ripped at the space in front of him like a vicious, bloodthirsty animal.

The third silhouette formed a fist and punched down on Ye Qing, and the fist force descended like a massive, unstoppable spear.

And the last person unleashed a series of rapid, powerful kicks that roared like dragons.

Starfall Finger, Soul Scattering Claw, Great Spear Fist and Dragon Serpent Kick!

Ye Qing was quite astonished. He had never seen someone executing four different styles of martial arts at the same time. It was like trying to write with your left hand, juggle with your right hand, practice kicks with your left leg and draw with your right leg all at the same time. It was an incredible feat to say the least.

No, it’s not just four martial arts. Whatever martial art he used to split into four earlier is a fifth martial art. In fact, it’s the main reason he’s able to execute four different types of martial arts at the same time.

Astonished he might be, Ye Qing’s reaction was swift and immediate. Sucking a deep breath until his bones popped as loud as thunder, he raised his fist and threw a punch that shook the heavens.

“Cloud Vaporization Style”

The clouds in the sky were instantly scattered by the punch. The Burning Wind transformed into a raging cyclone, and invisible flames descended from above.

The cyclone crushed all four attacks into bits, and the invisible flames enveloped it all and popped three of the four silhouettes like bubbles, leaving only the real Zhou San behind. So what if he had a million transformations? Ye Qing could still destroy it all with one punch.

“Most impressive, Lord Ye!”

Zhou San didn’t panic even though the cyclone was moving straight toward him. Cupping his mouth with both hands, he blew out like he was blowing a horn.

A lightning snake covered in purple lightning emerged into existence. When it first crawled out of Zhou San’s mouth, it wasn’t even a third of a meter long. Just a few seconds later, it was much bigger and grew a pair of legs on its head and four claws under its belly. Purple lightning and silver snakes shot everywhere.