Stranger Danger

Ye Qing pressed a hand against his carriage and shattered it into a million pieces. The fragments fanned out toward the group and skewered at least a dozen people they could react. Cries of shock and pain immediately filled the air.

“I’ll kill you, Ye Qing!”

A dwarf-sized man rushed toward Ye Qing. Despite his small stature, he shook the ground with every step he took. The fragments that should have skewered him like blades exploded into bits when they hit his body.

It was none other than the Vajra Boy.

When Vajra Boy reached Ye Qing, he raised his fists above his head before lowering them slowly. It was as if he was pulling the sky down as the patch of sky directly above Ye Qing’s head collapsed in earnest.

“The Boy Prays the Buddha”

Although Vajra Boy was a small man, he cultivated one of the strongest and toughest body-tempering cultivation arts in the Vajra Temple known as the “Vajra Boy Sutra”. As its name might suggest, it was a cultivation art that must be learned since childhood. The practitioner would have to suffer through tribulations of water, fire, wind, lightning and so on, and it was both painful and dangerous to say the least. The slightest mistake could result in death, and even success didn’t come without a curse: the practitioner would be stuck with a child’s body forever.

That said, an accomplished practitioner would gain enormous strength and become impervious to all kinds of weapons and elements.

“The Boy Prays to the Buddha” was the ultimate technique of the cultivation art. When the boy prays to the Buddha, the Buddha shall descend and help him smite all gods and demons.

“Die!” Vajra Boy roared.

Ye Qing didn’t dodge out of the way, however. Instead, he landed a hook punch on his attacker’s fists. Vajra Boy blinked in disbelief when an unbelievable amount of strength dismantled his fists like nothing and left him wide open. The next moment, Ye Qing threw his arm forward like it was a hammer, caved in Vajra Boy’s chest, and sent him flying toward the crowd.

Some of the jianghu warriors were bowled over and killed just like that because they were too poisoned to get out of the way or protect themselves adequately.

Old Man Hemp and the rest of the late-stage Astral Refiners tried to rescue Vajra Boy, but Ye Qing was faster and was able to slip into the crowd first. He caught Vajra Boy’s leg before he could react and swung him around like a weapon. Four warriors were crushed into bits before they could even scream.

What happened next could only be described as carnage. Like a tiger wreaking havoc in a pen of sheeps, Ye Qing continued to use Vajra Boy as a weapon and smashed anyone and everyone who was unfortunate enough to stand in his path. It was easily one of the bloodiest fights these jianghu warriors had ever experienced in their lives.

The large majority of them were pretty weak, not to mention that the poison had robbed them of most of their strength. They just never stood a chance. Dozens of people were killed in just ten or so breaths.

Everyone here had witnessed Ye Qing massacring the shit out of his enemies in the Luo Shui Arena, but even that was nothing compared to what he was doing right now. Violent, brutal and ruthless, Ye Qing resembled a demon god from the lowest depths of hell. They were like ants and grass that he could slaughter as he pleased.

“He’s a monster!”

“Run! Run!”

At some point, the remaining survivors finally lost it and scattered in every direction, all the while screaming their lungs out.

“Why aren’t you running?”

Ye Qing didn’t go after the small fries. Instead, he turned around and grinned toothily at Old Man Hemp, Bone Monk, Headless Maiden and the rest of the late-stage Astral Refiners.

“Heavens…”

His bloody grin was so disturbing that even these hardened, moderately insane criminals couldn’t suppress a chill. In fact, they were starting to regret their decision to come after Ye Qing.

To be fair, they all thought that Ye Qing was hurt or tired even if his unconsciousness during the day was faked, especially since he fought the Sword Gentleman, Chen Cang. In reality, Ye Qing wasn’t just perfectly fine, he was even stronger than he was in the arena.

This meant that Ye Qing had never fought with his full strength during the day. They saw exactly what the Patrolman wanted them to see and nothing else. Even now, it was impossible to tell if he was going all out.

How could they not be afraid?

“Still not running? Okay then. I’ll personally deliver y’all to hell.”

Ye Qing sneered at their display of indecision and raised Vajra Boy, who at this point was barely clinging to life. Then, he tossed the warrior straight at Old Man Hemp.

Old Man Hemp immediately enlarged his sleeves and swung it at Vajra Boy. It caught Vajra Boy safely and neutralized his momentum. Then, the hem shirt he was wearing grew larger and larger until it was the size of a massive building, no, a hill. As soon as the shirt had reached fifty meters in height, it brought down its sleeves and attempted to squash Ye Qing like a bug.

“Hah! You’re all show and no substance!” Ye Qing scoffed and responded with a punch. The Burning Wind whistled, and the fist force threatened to seal the sky itself.

“Cloud Vaporization Style”

His fist could shake the sky and earth and vaporize anything and everything. Why would he fear a mere sleeve?

At first, the sleeves flapped wildly as if they were being blown by a strong gust of wind. Then, they began dissolving into ash.

It was at this moment a giant maw emerged from the hole in the shirt and devoured Ye Qing before he could react. After that, the hem shirt slowly shrank and revealed a small blue snake wrapped around a thick tree. Its breath smelled absolutely disgusting.

“Hahaha! Well done, baby.”

Snake Whisperer walked up to the blue snake and patted its head gently. In response, the blue snake rubbed its head across his palm like it understood what it was saying.

“Are you sure he’s dead, Brother Snake? The kid’s no joke!” Old Man Hemp warned while inspecting his hem shirt with a look of hurt in his eyes.

Snake Whisperer declared proudly, “Don’t worry, Brother Hem. My baby possess the bloodline of an ancient Blue Hui[1], and it is said that the Blue Hui’s poison is so potent that a single drop of blood could rot metal, and a drop of venom could massacre an entire city. There are few creatures that are as venomous as the Blue Hui.”

“Although my baby isn’t that powerful, its venom can still easily corrode flesh like nothing. Ye Qing’s probably pus water by now, hahaha…”

“Ahhhh! I told you to leave me his head, Snake Whisperer! How could you let your snake eat him whole? Give me back his head, you bastard!” Headless Maiden cried and strode up to Snake Whisperer menacingly.

“Sorry, sorry, I totally forgot,” Snake Whisperer apologized quickly. “Don’t be mad, dear lady. How about I compensate your loss with a hundred heads in the future? I promise that they’ll all be young and beautiful.”

“You promised! Don’t blame me for falling out with you if you break your word!” Headless Maiden hmphed cutely.

Snake Whisperer chuckled. “I would never. Ye Qing is—was a member of Luo Shui, right? I’ll head there in a moment and gather your heads for you, hahaha…”

Suddenly, Snake Whisperer turned to his snake and frowned. “What’s wrong, baby?”

He was still congratulating himself when suddenly, he felt a wave of pain and unease coming from his pet. Since he and his blue snake were connected by his heart’s blood, he could sense what it could sense.

It was at this moment the blue snake suddenly let out a bloodcurdling screech and split in half[2]. Since there was no warning, both Snake Whisperer and Headless Maiden were drenched from head to toe in its blood.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!”

Disturbing sizzling noises filled the night air as both Astral Refiners started smoking and melting at an insane rate. Their screams of pain only lasted a short while because their vocal cords were melted, but their soundless screams made the scene even more horrifying.

The Blue Hui was one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Although this blue snake wasn’t nearly as venomous as its ancestor, its venom was by no means gentle. It was nigh impossible for a flesh-and-blood creature to withstand it unless they were powerful body-tempering warriors like Vajra Boy and Ye Qing.

Just a moment later, Snake Whisperer and Headless Maiden had melted into a pile of white bones. Any plant that was touched by the blood was melted, and even the ground where most of the venom was had visibly depressed.

“Were you celebrating my death? So sorry to disappoint you.”

Ye Qing was standing at the center of the venom with the Bronze Tiger Head on. Behind him, a fiendish general wielding a Green Dragon Crescent Blade brimmed with bloodlust.

“It’s my turn now…” Ye Qing chuckled ominously and sent a mental command. The general immediately swung his Green Dragon Crescent Blade eight times in a row. His movements were fluid, powerful, and surprisingly gorgeous. It was like all of spring and autumn were contained within the eight strikes.

“Eight Swings of Spring and Autumn”

Thick, powerful blade forces surrounded Old Man Hem and the Bone Monk from all sides, carving up the ground like tofu as they pressed closer. Neither man died, but it was clear they wouldn’t be able to hold their ground for long. Old Man Hem’s hem shirt was growing increasingly tattered, and his face looked as pale as a sheet. Multiple blade wounds were blooming across his skin like crimson flowers as well.

Bone Monk looked less strained than Old Man Hem probably because he was still in top shape. He wielded a bony saber and used a strange saber art that kept fluctuating back and forth between righteousness and deviousness, benevolence and cruelty from time to time. It was like that saying, “Good or evil lies in a single thought.”

As he danced, bony Buddhas appeared around Bone Monk and kept the deadly blade qis at bay.

“Bone Taboo Breaker”

It looked like Bone Monk might be able to hold on until the blade qis were spent, but he himself knew that was impossible. Something needed to change now, or both him and Old Man Hem were going to die.

There was nothing he could do though. It was taking all of his energy and concentration just to keep the blade qis at bay.

“These useless pieces of trash! They outnumbered Ye Qing one hundred to one, and it looks like Ye Qing is going to win anyway!”

Somewhere in the darkness, Xue Shiwu couldn’t help but curse under his breath as he watched the ensuing battle.

“Calm down, Little Commander. The battle’s not over yet.” Pang Kun chuckled. “And you shouldn’t underestimate the jianghu people. They can be quite annoying to deal with if you don’t defeat them as quickly as possible.”

“Speaking of which…”

Five nails abruptly appeared in the sky. There were shaped like a square cone and covered in bloodstains. They were also giving off an incredible amount of yin qi.

“Corpse Suppression Nails?” Pang Kun looked surprised. “Now this is interesting.”

“What’s that?” Xue Shiwu asked.

Pang Kun explained, “The Corpse Suppression Nail is a kind of Strange Artifact developed by the Corpse Suppression Sect. It is specifically designed to counter corpse qi, resentment and so on.”

“As the Corpse Suppression Sect thrives on refining corpses, they often steal bodies from tombs and graveyards. In order to avoid the corpses from transforming into walkers or creating ghosts, vengeful spirits and so on, they would often use the Corpse Suppression Nails to suppress the corpse’s unnatural energies. Generally speaking, four of the five nails were nailed into the limbs, and the last nail is nailed into the head or more accurately, the mind.”

“Since the Strange Artifact Ye Qing is using channels a similar energy, the Corpse Suppression Nail is the bane of its existence. It’s going to be destroyed very soon.”

Xue Shiwu grunted. “I guess they’re not completely stupid after all.”

1. A mythical venomous snake. ☜

2. Certified Alien moment right here. ☜