Stranger Danger

“In one strike, Ye Qing cut through five lakes and four seas, blew apart five hills and three mountains, slayed the Taiping cultists and toppled the agents of hell.”

“After the Taiping cultists were slain, Ye Qing jumped into the sky and carved a poem into a stone wall with his bare hands. Did you know what he wrote?”

“For ten years, I had honed this blade without end.

Today, I used it to slay the Taiping cultists,

and tomorrow, I shall use it to destroy the Way of Taiping.

All shall fall before my might like the fall leaves.

“I am invincible, indomitable, and the king of the world.”

“Well said!”

“What an amazing story!”

“Here’s your tip!”

A chorus of applause and cheers broke out as soon as the storyteller finished telling his story. The commotion was so loud that it could be felt outside the restaurant.

Speaking of which, Ye Qing was having trouble picking up his jaw from the floor outside the restaurant. It was one thing to exaggerate a story, and another to blow it up with so much bullshit it was a miracle that it didn’t stink up the whole Luo Shui. Destroy the Way of Taiping? All shall fall like the fall leaves? Invincible, indomitable, and the king of the world? Like what the fuck?

Maybe the storyteller didn’t need to stick to facts. He was telling a story after all. But why the fuck was the audience cheering like he just told the greatest story in the world? Anyone with even a speck of brain in their heads should realize that what the guy said was utterly ludicrous, so why the fuck were they supporting him? Did they want to watch the world burn that badly?

He had only been gone for half a month at most. Why did it feel like he had stepped into a different world?

He was just a puny Patrolman of the Luo Shui Pacification Bureau. You would think that he was the bastard son of the Emperor of Chu judging from the way they were talking about him.

“There is definitely a conspiracy behind this. Who’s the bastard who’s plotting my death?” Ye Qing rubbed his nose and muttered. He had put two and two together immediately.

Generally speaking, an operation like this wouldn’t be publicized due to various concerns. However, it looked like everyone and their mothers had heard of his exploits. This could only mean that someone in the Pacification Bureau had leaked the news.

Second, someone was definitely adding fuel to the rumors, and he was at the center of it all. It was true that he had played a pivotal role in the operation, but he was hardly the only one who had made a major contribution in the operation. Lin Yuhuai had split the heavens with a single talisman, Chu Nianjiu had conjured a world of snow, and Gu Suitang had singlehandedly slaughtered the King of Sky Gate and Child Emperor. But in all the stories he had heard so far, you would think that the Pacification Bureau was just sitting on their asses while he was doing all the work. Not only that, the rumors were so exaggerated that it just had to be intentional.

The Way of Taiping already loathed him for ruining their plans, but now their hatred would be greater than ever before. After all, everyone knew of their shameful defeat now. They were going to kill him if it was the last thing they did. Some heretics would be more than happy to join in on the fun and add fuel to the fire as well.

That said, the Way of Taiping probably wasn’t the one behind this. It didn’t make sense for them to besmirch their own reputation and make it harder for them to promote their insane religion.

“Someone’s painted a big, red bullseye on my back. Bastard.”

Ye Qing muttered to himself, “But the Way of Taiping alone isn’t enough. If I was the bastard, I would pretend to be the Way of Taiping and put a juicy bounty on my head or something. That would mobilize every jianghu warrior in and out of Luo Shui to attack me as well. What a cunning ploy.”

It was at this moment another conversation caught his attention.

“I can’t believe how fast the rumors are spreading. There’s practically no one in the jianghu who hasn’t heard of Ye Qing now.”

“Heh, he’s famous now, but I doubt he’ll live long enough to enjoy it. He’s humiliated the Way of Taiping, and you know how those crazies are. They’ll never stop coming after him until he’s dead.”

“Oh, I know. The Way of Taiping has already issued an official bounty for his head. Anyone who manages to kill Ye Qing would be rewarded with a Spirit Purification stage martial art, a Taiping Godkiller Pill, an Earth Dragon Lingzhi and a Hatred-class Strange Artifact. It’s crazy!”

“I know. If I wasn’t strong enough, I swear—”

“Shh! Quiet. Ye Qing’s looking this way. Come, let us drink.”

The speakers were three jianghu warriors wearing form-fitting outfits and wielding swords and sabers.

Ye Qing: “...” Fuck, I didn’t want to be right, but I am. Seriously, who’s the sonuvabitch who came up with such a sordid idea?

The city’s too much for me, I wanna go home. But the roads at home are too slippery, and the human heart is just as complex!

“Ye Qing…”

“Ye Qing…” “Ye Qing…”

Ye Qing was raging when suddenly, he heard someone calling out to him. For some reason, the cries seemed to possess some sort of irresistible sway.

He turned around to see who was calling out to him and was greeted by a supernaturally seductive face. It seemed capable of making any expression that tugged at his heartstrings the most and tempted him to decline and indulgence. Slowly, his eyes grew dazed.

Strangely, no one else seemed to hear the cries. In fact, they didn’t even see the soulsucking beauty Ye Qing was seeing. From their perspective, Ye Qing had suddenly turned to one side and daydreamed.

No one noticed a fingertip-sized moth flying toward Ye Qing either.

The moth was smaller than your ordinary moth and grayish brown in color. It had large eyes and bright, colorful patterns at its abdominal area. The patterns seemed to form a woman’s smile.

“Your Beauty Moth is impressive, Moth Lady. Even Ye Qing has fallen for your trick,” a man complimented a middle-aged woman with waxy yellow complexion who was dressed in rags. “The Way of Taiping’s bounty will be ours, and we’ll surely become powerful and famous warriors in the future.”

The woman responded with an honest smile, “I don’t care about being famous. All I want is to enjoy a good meal every day and raise my children well.”

“Hehehe… You can dine like an emperor if we successfully claim this bounty.”

The man was chuckling when suddenly, his voice came to a stop. It was because a moth was sitting on his forehead. He exclaimed in shock and terror, “What are you doing, Moth Lady?”

“The bounty’s not enough for the both of us.”

Moth Lady continued to smile like everything was normal. “And I need a scapegoat since I do not plan on dying anytime soon.”

“You—”

The man was just about to resist when the moth suddenly flapped its wings. A cloud of pinkish powder engulfed his face, and his eyes became just as dazed as Ye Qing’s. The next moment, the moth crawled down his nose and entered his mouth.

Moth Lady smiled wider when the moth had disappeared completely into the man’s mouth. Then, she looked at the moth still flying toward Ye Qing with gentleness and expectation.

But right before the moth would land on Ye Qing’s forehead, the blankness in his eyes was abruptly replaced by intelligence. Then, he caught the moth between his fingers.

“The Beauty Moth, huh. It hasn’t even been an hour since I left the Pacification Bureau, and the bounty hunters are already saying hello.”

The moth he was holding was called the Beauty Moth. It was a moth-like Malice-class Stranger with large eyes and a pattern that resembled a human face on its abdomen.

The Beauty Moth’s powder possessed a powerful hallucinatory effect. The pattern on its abdomen could also bewitch a weak-willed person. Once its victim was bewitched, it would crawl through their mouths or other orifices into the body. Depending on its needs, it would either pilot the victim like a puppet, or build a nest inside their flesh and blood.

He hadn’t been bewitched by the Beauty Moth, of course. It was just an act.

Sure, he had used this tactic countless times already, but hey, don’t fix what isn’t broken, right?

A wisp of blue flame surged out of the Blue Demon Hand. The Beauty Moth was burned into ash just like that.

While this was happening, a man leaped into the air and tried to escape through the rooftop.

“You think you can run?”

A savage grin flashed across Ye Qing’s face as he bounded after the man. However, he suddenly paused mid-way and spat Lightning Bolt at him. At the sametime, he rushed straight toward Moth Lady and swept his sleeves at her.

Bang!

Two explosions happened at the same time. One of them was the sound of Lightning Bolt crushing the man’s head into bits, and the other was a clash of forces.

The headless man fell from the sky and hit the ground with a thud. Moth Lady was literally steaming from her pores and staggering away from Ye Qing with an unnaturally red complexion. Every time she took a step, she would leave behind a scorched mark on the ground.

“How did you find me out?” Moth Lady asked after she finally caught herself. She looked both shocked and stern.

Ye Qing chuckled. “It’s very simple. Your hands are too pale and smooth. An actual middle-aged woman who worked all day and night would never have hands as pale and smooth as yours. If I’m not mistaken, you must take very good care of your hands probably because of your profession.

“I was careless,” Moth Lady admitted with a sigh. Besides controlling the Beauty Moth, she was an expert in hidden weapons as well. That was why she took very good care of her hands. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to disguise her hands when she was donning her disguise.

“Also, I heard your conversation loud and clear just now. The next time you wanna do something bad, do try to keep your voice down,” Ye Qing added. This was the true reason he discovered that Moth Lady was the true attacker, and not the man.

“What?” Moth Lady was shocked to say the least. She had spoken with the man via sound transmission, and it was impossible to eavesdrop on a sound transmission unless one possessed a powerful spirit.

Moth Lady turned a little paler. “I made a mistake, my lord. I will leave Luo Shui this instant and never return.”

Before Ye Qing could reply, she added, “If you refuse, then I will take them to the grave with me.”

Moth Lady looked at her surroundings as she said this. Her voice was pure, but the contents were anything but.

“Are you threatening me?” Ye Qing’s voice grew a little colder.

Moth Lady giggled, and as she did, pimples started popping on her face, her arms, and other exposed parts of her body. They were also wriggling like there was something alive inside the pimples. It looked horrifying to say the least.

Pop pop pop!

The pimples popped, and blood spilled everywhere. Countless Beauty Moths flew out of Moth Lady’s body and into the air.

She’s feeding her moths with her own flesh and blood? Talk about crazy, Ye Qing thought to himself as he stared at the bloodied Moth Lady.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, he heard an outburst of cries from a different direction. He turned and saw the headless man he killed growing a ton of pimples just like Moth Lady. A lot more, in fact. The next moment, countless moths burst out of the corpse in a sickly shower of blood and gore.

The man’s face and stomach was utterly chewed through, and Ye Qing could vaguely see that his internal organs had been completely eaten. It was replaced by a ton of white eggs instead. Even now, the white eggs were still hatching more Beauty Moths. It wasn’t long before a massive swath of Beauty Moths hung in the sky like a dark cloud.

Moth Lady watched the Beauty Moths with gentle eyes like they were her own children. She said gently, “I’m not threatening you. I’m just stating a fact.”

She definitely had the strength to back up a threat. They were in the middle of a market, and there were countless people in the area. Considering how many Beauty Moths there were, they could inflict an insane number of casualties if they were to attack everyone indiscriminately. That was why Moth Lady said that she was just stating a fact, and why she dared to attack Ye Qing in the middle of a street.