Stranger Danger

Boom!

The two elemental powers clashed and spilled force everywhere. The surrounding fake hills, greeneries, buildings and more were easily torn to shreds. The ground was shaking violently as well.

As soon as the dust clouds covered in from view, Ye Qing immediately rushed into the violent storm of astral qis and punched right through it. He was able to close his distance with Zhou San in an instant.

Zhou San wasn’t expecting Ye Qing to be so gung ho about getting in his face. By the time he realized what happened, it was already too late to dodge out of the way. He immediately released a thick purple smoke from his body that caused Ye Qing to blank out for an instant.

It’s one of the seventy two average-grade astral qi, the Disorienting Purple Smoke, Ye Qing realized. No wonder all the moves and techniques and moves Zhou San had executed until now possessed some sort of mind-bending influence. It was because of his astral qi.

The Disorienting Purple Smoke was formless, smoke-like, and capable of bending the mind and influencing the spirit. Although it wasn’t even close to being as deadly as astral qis such as the Burning Wind, the Taibai Gengjin Qi, the Samadhi True Fire and more, it was potent in the sense that it was incredibly insidious and difficult to detect.

A savage smile flickered across Zhou San’s face when Ye Qing’s eyes grew unfocused. His palm turned purple as he launched a palm strike at his chest.

“Gut Shredding Palm”

The attack made no sound and seemed no different from the techniques he had used earlier, but in reality it was the opposite.

The Gut Shredding Palm was one of Zhou San’s trump cards. Its force was yin and soft, and it specifically targeted one’s internal organs. On the outside, the attack would only leave an insignificant imprint on one’s skin. But on the inside, it would shatter one’s internal organs, guts, and blood vessels. It wouldn’t kill its victim immediately, however. Instead, the victim would feel their guts disintegrating inch by inch until the agony finally overwhelmed them.

This was why the Gut Shredding Palm was known as one of the cruelest and insidious martial arts in the jianghu.

Bang!

The attack landed on Ye Qing’s chest as softly as a raindrop, but Ye Qing shuddered a little as if he had just suffered a huge blow. Just when Zhou San thought that the young man would start writhing in abject pain, the corners of Ye Qing’s lips abruptly curled into a disdainful smirk.

Alarm bells rang in Zhou San’s head as he attempted to pull away. However, Ye Qing landed a punch on his chest before he could do so.

You hit me first, so I’m gonna punch you right back. It’s perfectly fair, right?

The next moment, the blood drained away from Zhou San’s face. As a tremendous, unstoppable force poured into his body, his chest caved in, and his internal organs were pushed out of the way. What was worse was the fact that the force was infused with some sort of all-consuming heat that boiled his blood, cooked his flesh, and withered his mind. As invisible flames jetted out of his pores, his skin started charring and crumbling like charcoal.

“Argh!”

Zhou San couldn’t stop himself from letting out a bloodcurdling scream as he staggered away from Ye Qing. Every time he took a step, he would leave behind a scorching footprint that melted the earth below, and his body would wither just a little more. He looked horrible to say the least.

It was at this moment Zhou San summoned a bowl filled with clear water into his hand. He then snatched a yellow talisman out of thin air, set it on fire, chanted some sort of mantra and threw it into the bowl.

After the yellow talisman had burned into a crisp, Zhou San raised the bowl above his head and cried, “The Azure Sky is already dead; the Yellow Sky will soon rise. When the year is jiǎzǐ, there will be Taiping under the heavens!”

With that, he raised the bowl and drank the talisman water in one gulp.

As soon as he did this, the invisible flames burning his insides began extinguishing bit by bit. His energies turned stable, and his withered skin and flesh started regaining their vitality bit by bit. In the end, it was like he was never hurt in the first place. Its efficacy rivaled that of Ye qing’s dragon-serpent runes.

“Talisman Eating?”

Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise when he put two and two together, “You’re a Taiping cultist?!”

The Way of Taiping might sound like an orthodox sect of the Taoist, but it was a heretical sect through and through and one of the Nine Demonic Ways.

The Way of Taiping worshiped the Yellow Sky and believed that the Yellow God was the one who created the world and the humans. When the Yellow Sky was reigning, the world was at peace, and humanity enjoyed its greatest, most prosperous era. There was no oppression, no starvation, no natural disaster, no sickness, and most definitely no Strangers. At the time, every human was living a free and happy life.

It was on top of this belief that the Way of Taiping created the slogan, “The Azure Sky is already dead; the Yellow Sky will soon rise. When the year is jiǎzǐ, there will be Taiping under the heavens!” They spoke about the wonders of the world under the Yellow Sky and preached to others to worship the Yellow Sky. They claimed that anyone who worshiped the Yellow Sky and drank talisman water could invite good luck, avoid misfortune, gain strength, acquire a healthy body, and be free from all evil influences and dangers.

Of course, if the Way of Taiping only preached their faith peacefully, then they would be considered a religion at best. The reason they were labeled a demonic cult was because they enjoyed nothing more than to preach their faith in poverty-stricken lands and encourage the populace, rebel against their superiors, and take over the territory. Then, they would dress up the senseless massacre as glorious conquest and chant, “The Azure Sky is already dead; the Yellow Sky will soon rise!”

At the time of the founding of Chu, the way of Taiping had once gathered a peasant army of one hundred and fifty thousand in Tian Liang, Long Xi and He Dong and sparked countless wars. They were this close to destroying the foundation of Chu.

Thankfully, the Son of Heaven at the time and founder of Chu, Chu Qiuyang personally invaded the Way of Taiping’s main camp and fought their leader, Huang Sangong the “Taiping Sage” for three days and nights. With the Human Emperor Brush, he was ultimately able to slay him at Giant Deer Mountain.

Their battle was said to be so epic that the mountains were crushed, entire lands were wiped from the surface of the earth, and the sky was pitch black with dust. It was like the apocalypse was upon Chu.

Although Chu Qiuyang managed to slay Huang Sangong, he himself suffered grievous injuries that he wouldn’t heal from. He would pass away in sickness after finally uniting the country.

As the Way of Taiping had proven themselves to be a great threat, Chu named the Way of Taiping as a demonic cult that must be eradicated at all cost. There were multiple times in history where armies were dispatched to eradicate the Way of Taiping. However, they were never able to completely uproot the cult from the land of Chu. In fact, an outstanding talent would crop up in the Way of Taiping every once in a while, lead them to glory, and continue to cause problems for Chu here and there.

Talisman Eating was a unique art that only members of the Way of Taiping could use. Normally, talismans were used externally, but the Way of Taiping did the opposite. They consumed their talismans to imbue themselves with various powers. That was why people named it Talisman Eating.

Zhou San’s actions just now were pretty much a declaration that he was a member of the Way of Taiping. Now that Ye Qing thought about it, his martial arts resembled that of a Taiping cultist as well.

The martial arts of the Way of Taiping emphasized on the Five Elements, the yin and yang, and the practice of qi. Their signature martial arts such as the “Book of Taiping Heaven”, the “Yin Yang Five Talisman Scripture”, the “Five Pecks of Rice Scripture”, the “Liuding Liujia Incantations” and more were all talismanic and qi-focused martial arts. Zhou San’s ability to split himself into several illusory bodies, exhaling qi that transformed into dragons and more were right up the alley of the Way of Taiping as well.

“You are quite knowledgeable, Lord Ye.”

A hint of viciousness flickered in Zhou San’s eyes. “But it’s not necessarily a good thing to know too much. Surely you’ve heard the saying that the more you know, the sooner you die?”

Although he was quite wary of Ye Qing’s strength, there was no way he could leave the young man alive now that he had figured out his true identity.

At first, he only interfered because he wanted to know this secret regarding the Demon Lord. Five hundred years ago, Yu Xiaoyao, the man would would come to be known as the Demon Lord, was famed as the greatest warrior in the jianghu. Supposedly, he had reached the apex during his prime and spent the rest of his life doing whatever the hell he wanted and spreading love across the world. No one was as free and unfettered as he.

The stories regarding Yu Xiaoyao could only be described as epic. He was most famous for his sword, his poetry, and his love for wine. His swordsmanship was unmatched, his poetry skills were unmatched, his fondness and stomach for wine was unmatched, and no single person in his area of expertise could even come close to defeating him.

In the jianghu, he had challenged countless warriors with his sword and supposedly never suffered a defeat.

In the court, he could supposedly drink everyone in the room under the table, and while doing so create a hundred poems that all deserved to be remembered for eternity.

On the battlefield, he alone was worth an army of tens of thousands. Armed with only a saber, a qin, and a stomach full of poems and songs, it was said that he had singlehandedly stopped a hundred thousand well-equipped barbarians from breaking through Fangcun Pass.

And as a hero, there was no one closer to the definition of hero than him. Free and unfettered, he was a man who died as he lived.

Because Yu Xiaoyao hailed from the Demon Palace of Kunlun and cared little for rules, laws, and societal norms, he was eventually known as the Demon Lord.

Zhou San wasn’t really expecting Gold Toad to know much about the Demon Lord, but even a simple lead could potentially lead him to his inheritance. What if Gold Toad was telling the truth? What if he could obtain the Demon Lord’s inheritance and become the next Demon Lord?

Besides, Gold Toad knew of his, or rather, his sect’s secrets and was threatening to divulge it all if he didn’t save her. Frankly, he was surprised that there were Strangers hiding in the very same residence he had been using as a base this whole time. The Yellow Sky only knows how many secrets he had accidentally let slip during this time. That was why he ultimately decided to intervene [1].

He thought that this would be easy, really. He had arrived late, and Ye Qing was exuding the aura of an early-stage Astral Refiner, so he thought it would take him little to no effort to defeat him. However, not only was Ye Qing a late-stage Astral Refiner, his astral qi was powerful, his body was strong, and his will of the fist was supreme. It was such that even he, a Half-Step Spirit Purifier, had fallen into a disadvantage.

If he hadn’t learned “Talisman Eating” from the “Five Pecks of Rice Scripture”, he might actually have died here.

Frankly, he was starting to regret getting involved in this business at all, but at this point, he only had one course of action. Ye Qing must die not just for the Demon Lord’s inheritance, but also to preserve the Way of Taiping’s secrets.

“Oh, you’re going to silence me? Can you do it though?” Ye Qing snorted in disdain. “I was just gonna catch a loach and call it a day, but a shark? Today must be my lucky day!”

“Hmph! Just because you learned a few years of kung fu and slayed a few Strangers doesn’t mean that you’re invincible. Allow me to show you the ways of Taiping!”

Zhou San’s expression darkened as he dropped his smile. He shook his bowl once and elicited some clinking noises. The water was gone, replaced by a handful of yellow beans. The beans were engraved with tiny runes.

Zhou San grabbed a bunch of beans and tossed them in front of him. When they hit the floor, they transformed into thirty six halberd-wielding soldiers that were clad in thick armor.

“Taiping Thirty Six Arts: Scatter Beans Into Troops”

“Oh my… that’s pretty impressive!” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise. All thirty six soldiers possessed the strength of an early-stage Astral Refiner, and their charge while swift was very organized. They were also using some sort of battle formation.

If the thirty six soldiers managed to entrap him, even he would be hardpressed to defeat them without suffering a major injury or two. That was why Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to put on a bronze mask on his face.

“Bronze Tiger Head”

Blood began flowing down the eyeholes of the mask. At the same time, an unbelievable amount of killing intent gushed out of Ye Qing’s body and formed the silhouette of a war general above him. The general wielded a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and his eyes were bloodshot with murder.

1. I know that some people would say, “Why the fuck didn’t Zhou San just let Ye Qing kill her to keep his secrets? He was going to silence her anyway!” But the thing is, Ye Qing could just question his ass and threaten him with death if he protested his innocence, and since the Pacification Bureau goes by a presumption of guilt policy Ye Qing could easily take him in for a torture session or ten if he wants to. So realistically saving Gold Toad seemed like the best decision at the time ☜