Stranger Danger

But Xu Banren disagreed, “Lord Ye, we haven’t been silent when we took over Thaiping Grain Retailer. Assuming that the Way of Taiping really is hiding in Sky Gate Abyss, I reckon that they have already heard about our appearance. Considering the potential dangers, I think it’s best if we come with you.”

“It’s exactly because it’s dangerous that it’s best if I head there alone.”

The Way of Taiping must have worked on Cow Ghost Market for years to have taken control of most of its gangs. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had eyes and ears everywhere, which was why it was most likely that the bigger group hiding in Sky Gate Abyss had already heard of their presence. If they were to travel to Sky Gate Abyss as they were, there was a huge chance they would fall into an ambush and be annihilated.

Therefore, the better plan was to secure the entrances and pretend that they weren’t aware of the group hiding at Sky Gate Abyss. Best case scenario, the group would think that Xing The Third was just unlucky to be caught by the Pacification Bureau and let down their guard. They could always storm Sky Gate Abyss after Gu Suitang and their reinforcements had arrived.

That said, their job would be made easier if they could send someone to check out the situation at Sky Gate Abyss and scout out their enemies’ numbers, arrangements and such, and the person Ye Qing decided to send was himself. It was still a risky venture, but far less risky than their whole team banging down on the Way of Taiping’s door openly.

“Lord Ye…”

Xu Banren frowned and tried to convince Ye Qing further, but Ye Qing interrupted him and said, “Enough. Just trust me and do as I say.”

Xu Banren stayed silent for a moment before offering a compromise, “How about this: Ugly Monk and I will come with you, and Amorous Nun will stay behind. She’s too hurt to participate in another battle immediately anyway.”

“It’s fine. The three of you should stick together.”

Ye Qing knew that Xu Banren was concerned for his safety, but there really was no need for additional manpower. “I’ll be frank: I don’t want to have to watch the enemy and take care of you two at the same time. It’s just too much trouble.”

Xu Banren: “...”

Ugly Monk: “...”

The two Lieutenants exchanged glances with each other. Did… Did he just imply what he did?

We’re famous warriors and Lieutenants of the Pacification Bureau, and he’s saying that we would slow him down?

Just how arrogant can he be?

Irritated and angry, Ugly Monk opened his mouth to retort only to find Ye Qing suddenly fading away like some sort of mirage. He was gone in just a matter of seconds.

It was an afterimage. The real Ye Qing had left a short while ago.

Ugly Monk did a double take and stared at the spot where Ye Qing used to be. He didn’t even know Ye Qing was gone until the afterimage started fading, much less how he pulled off such a stunt.

If the guy attacks me during this time… I would probably be dead before I could even defend myself, couldn’t I?

The three Lieutenants exchanged another glance with each other and said nothing.

I guess we really are burdens to him. Sigh. Guard duty it is.

……

How deep was the Sky Gate Abyss? No one knows.

How wide was the Sky Gate Abyss? No one knows.

What was hiding under the bottomless chasm of Sky Gate Abyss? No one knows either!

Sky Gate Abyss was an extremely mysterious place with little known facts. In a sense, it was just like the sun. Everyone knows that the sun was bright, hot, and round, but besides that, not much was known about it at all.

Ye Qing was currently standing in a secluded spot and staring at the bottomless, fog-shrouded chasm that was Sky Gate Abyss. Frankly, he wouldn’t be surprised if someone told him that the chasm was connected to a different world. The view was mind-blowing to say the least.

He was also certain that the intel Amorous Nun pried from Zhou San’s soul was true because he could sense at least five Astral Refiners hiding in the vicinity. Their auras were solid, well-hidden, and quite powerful. It was clear that they were guarding the place against any outsider.

Unfortunately for them, their auras were as obvious as fireflies in the dark to his spirit. It took him little effort to sneak past them and venture deeper into Sky Gate Abyss.

However, he couldn’t find anyone else on the surface besides these hidden guards. It was because they were inside the chasm.

That’s right, they were past the fog-shrouded, seemingly bottomless chasm.

And how did he know this? It was because he saw plenty of suspicious markings on the edge of the cliffs. They were obviously caused by people climbing up and down the cliffs for a long time.

Some effort had been done to mask the markings, but he still noticed them as soon as they came into view.

So sorry that I have better eyesight than all of you, readers.

“What could those crazies possibly be doing underground?” Ye Qing muttered to himself. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to head down and take a look.

With his strength, he should survive so long as he didn’t commit suicide.

His mind made up, Ye Qing leaped over the edge and into the chasm.

Whoosh!

It was like tossing a stone into the sea. One second he was there, and the next he could see nothing but thick fog and hear nothing but the howling wind. It was disturbing to put it mildly.

After falling into the chasm for about thirty meters give or take, Ye Qing abruptly plunged his left hand into the wall and clenched. His muscles and bones made a series of thunderous pops as he seized his downward momentum instantly.

An ordinary human would’ve easily ripped their muscles and snapped their bones like twigs if they tried this. But to an Astral Refiner like Ye Qing, he didn’t even feel any real pressure.

After pulsing his spirit and finding no danger or anomalies in the vicinity, Ye Qing let go and fell deeper into the chasm. He would be repeating this for a while to come.

The deeper he traveled, the thicker the fog and the yin qi shrouding the Sky Gate Abyss became. It was also as dead as the rumors claimed. Forget people, he couldn’t sense a single Stranger in the area.

Ye Qing was a bit weirded out by this, to be honest. Sky Gate Abyss was chock-full of yin qi and unsuited for life, but it should’ve been a haven for Yin Spirits, Vengeful Souls, Walkers and the like. However, he couldn’t sense even a single Yin Spirit in the area despite having come this far. It was strange to say the least.

Eventually, Ye Qing began sensing something other than yin qi. To be more specific, it was some sort of aura. An ominous one.

At the beginning, it was so faint that he couldn’t tell what it was beyond the basics. But the deeper he went, the more obvious the aura became. It was bizarre and overflowing with evil in the sense that it filled one’s head with illusions and one’s heart with desires. If Ye Qing had to describe it somehow, it would be temptation on steroids.

After falling down the chasm for another kilometer or so, Ye Qing finally saw the bottom. It was covered in crisscrossing crevices and upturned earth. He also saw many broken walls and ruins. He could vaguely see collapsed buildings, shattered bricks, rotting wood and more signs of decay.They looked like monsters hiding in the dark to ambush their prey.

“This… This must be the ruins of Sky Gate.”

Ye Qing wasn’t expecting to find more remnants of the old city so deep in the underground. Sensing a small trail that had probably been created from the footsteps of the cultists, he carefully followed it while keeping his spirit out in the open.

He still couldn’t quite make heads or tails of the situation. There was no life here whatsoever, and while an archeologist might find this place interesting, what did it matter to the Way of Taiping?

Snap!

Ye Qing had been treading through the area as carefully as he could, but one of the tiles he was stepping on had become impossibly fragile after years and years of erosion. As a result, he accidentally crushed it underneath his foot. The soft noise sounded impossibly loud in this dead valley.

It was a mistake. As if the lock on the gates of hell had suddenly been released, countless Yin Spirits started flying out of the fog and the ruins around him.

No, they’re not Yin Spirits. They’re Grudge Spirits!

The two names were almost identical, but a Yin Spirit was just an ordinary, yin soul-type stranger that was born from one’s attachments. That attachment could be love, regret, longing and more. On the other hand, a Grudge Spirit was born from resentment and hatred. Much more cruel and violent than a Yin Spirit, a Grudge Spirit knew slaughter and nothing else.

The Grudge Spirits in front of him had black pupils that burned like a pair of black orbs, savage and eerie. They were also overflowing with so much resentment it was almost tangible. Soon, Ye Qing found himself staring down at least tens of thousands of Grudge Spirits. There were male, female, young and old, but they were overflowing with resentment and hatred.

“What the fuck? Why are there so many Grudge Spirits in this place?” Ye Qing muttered with a deep frown. It was strange enough that each and every one of these Grudge Spirits was at least as strong as a Vessel Augmentor, but what puzzled him even more was their numbers.

Normally, Grudge Spirits could be found in places where a large number of people had died unjustified deaths. However, Sky Gate Abyss was a forbidden zone, and few people frequented this place, if at all. Even if he presumed that the Way of Taiping was behind this, it should be impossible for them to kill this many people without alarming the Pacification Bureau ages ago.

Were they born from the dead of Sky Gate?

Five hundred years ago, the battle between two peak champions had resulted in the destruction of the city and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. It would make sense if these Grudge Spirits were the remnants of those who died.

But if that was true, then why had Luo Shui never experienced a Grudge Spirit outbreak during the centuries it had existed? Heck, Cow Ghost Market was right up there, but they had never logged a massive or even a minor attack by Grudge Spirits either.

I’m still missing pieces of the puzzle.

Ye Qing was still thinking when the Grudge Spirits in the air rushed toward him like a tidal wave probably because they sensed his vitality.

An ordinary person would’ve collapsed on all fours already, but Ye Qing was no ordinary person. Before they could get close, a magnificent golden light shone out of Ye Qing’s body and melted it all like snow. At least half of the Grudge Spirits were vanquished just like that.

A golden Buddha with his hands pressed together in prayer and wearing a merciful expression appeared behind Ye qing’s back. At the same time, Buddhist chants began resounding across the valley.

Countless Buddhist necklaces and golden lotuses started flying in the air, and the golden light felt as warm as the sun itself. Incredibly, the Grudge Spirits were exorcised of their negative emotions and returned to the cycle of reincarnation just like that.

Only a handful of Grudge Spirits were left after the powerful attack. Even the dark, gloomy fog surrounding the area had dissipated slightly.

“As expected of the Boundless Mara Buddha.”

This was the first time Ye Qing used his latest Strange Artifact, and he was very satisfied with what he saw. He hadn’t even unsealed it yet.

In its sealed state, the Boundless Mara Buddha was a Hatred-class Strange Artifact. As it was forged from the husk of an enlightened monk and a Buddhist artifact, it naturally possessed the power of the Buddha. Not only could it be used to protect his mind, spirit, and soul, it could also suppress demons and exorcise yin spirits.

In short, the sealed Boundless Mara Buddha was the bane of these Grudge Spirits.

If he didn’t have the Boundless Mara Buddha, he would’ve booked it long before they gathered en masse. Forget him, even a Spirit Purifier would have to run and fight another day.

So long as the Boundless Mara Buddha had power, no number of Grudge Spirits could threaten him.

“An EXP rush! It’s been too long, man!”

For Ye Qing, this meant that he could farm these Grudge Spirits for dragon-serpent runes to his heart’s content. He was immediately reminded of the jubilation and excitement he felt when he first realized that he was immune to them. He thought he would never feel this rush again, but here he was!