Stranger Danger

A gigantic blue lotus was floating in the air at the center of the lake. It was also blooming. Literally, it was in the middle of unfolding its petals while the rest of the blue lotuses followed suit. It was a beautiful, calming sight that soothed the soul just looking at it, not to mention the sweet floral scent that filled the air.

“Is that… the Seven Star Blue Lotus?” Yi Pin took a look at the massive lotus and sucked in a deep breath. When he felt his fatigue being washed away like a dream, he confirmed, “It has seven petals with starry patterns on it. It’s definitely the Seven Star Blue Lotus.”

“Is that the plant that could strengthen one’s God and increase one’s spirituality?” Ye Qing’s eyes lit up.

“Strengthen one’s God” meant strengthening one’s Yin God, while increasing one’s spirituality meant purifying and strengthening the spirit and mind. Both were things that all Spirit Purifiers and Spirit Masters sought.

“You’re quite knowledgeable yourself, aren’t you? That’s right!” Yi Pin said excitedly, “The Seven Star Blue Lotus only grows in clean, pure places with great spiritual qi. It takes forty nine years to grow its leaves, and another forty nine years to grow its flower. However, it takes only a single day to go from full bloom to wither. When a day has passed, every lotus flower in the lake would wither, and the pocket of spiritual qi around it would dissipate completely. It’s literally the opportunity of a lifetime!”

“Yeah.” Ye Qing nodded understandingly. Obviously, the Seven Star Blue Lotus could only be harvested when it was in full bloom. If it withered, then it would lose its effects.

“So, should we go, master, senior uncle?” Li Longxiang asked.

“What do you think, Brother Ye?” Yi Pin looked at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing replied, “It’s bad karma to reject a gift from the heavens. I see no reason to pass over it.”

“That said, there’s no hurry. We can make our move after someone has done the scouting for us.”

“Good idea!” Yi Pin laughed.

“The Seven Star Blue Lotus! It’s the Seven Star Blue Lotus!”

As if on cue, a couple of warriors suddenly rushed out into the open and toward the Seven Star Blue Lotus. When they got close to each other, a man in black outfit yelled, “Fuck off! You scums dare to covet the Seven Star Blue Lotus?”

A black light flew out of his sleeve and beheaded three jianghu warriors before they could react. It was a saber. The only person who managed to block it was a white-robed scholar who wielded a fan. When the saber force got close, he tapped it with his fan and shattered it into pieces.

“Don’t you think you went a little too far, Wei Yifang?” The scholar rebuked the man in black outfit with an unfriendly tone.

Although the man in black outfit didn’t follow up the attack, he scoffed disdainfully, “Quit pretending. Your body count is no less than mine, Yu Shuiqing.”

“The Seven Star Blue Lotus is mine, so you better stay the fuck away from me. Otherwise, don’t blame me for what comes next.”

Wei Yifang took off toward the center of the lake after leaving behind that threat.

For a time, Yu Shuiqing simply stared at Wei Yifang’s back with cooling eyes. Then, he glanced at the three bodies on the ground and flipped open their shirts to reveal the Nature’s Shell. He didn’t claim it, however. He simply let out a cold chuckle before dashing into the fog.

“Man oh man, no wonder they say that scholars are the worst scums of them all. Watch and learn, silly boy,” Yi Pin clicked his tongue disdainfully.

“Learn what?” Li Longxiang didn’t understand.

This time, Yi Pin didn’t give him an answer. “You’ll find out in a moment.”

“Do you recognize those two, brother?” Ye Qing asked. The two warriors were both late-stage Astral Refiners, and they were both pretty strong.

“Yeah,” Yi Pin explained, “The guy in black is called Wei Yifang, and he is the only son of Wei Tianlang, a Grandmaster. He is famous for his ‘Eight Sabers of the Heavenly Wolf’ and is nicknamed the ‘Little Wolf King’.”

“The scholar is called Yu Shuiqing, and he is a scion of the Yu Clan of Qing He[1]. The Yu Clan styled themselves a literary clan and the students of Confucianism, but in reality every single member in that clan is more devious than the last.”

“Here comes five unfortunate bastards.”

Five men wearing form-fitting outfits appeared as soon as Yi Pin said this.

“Boss, we have bodies,” said one of the guys while staring at the three corpses warily.

“Huh? They still have their Nature’s Shells.”

“Whoever killed them probably forgot to take them or was in a hurry. That’s good for us,” said another guy before walking over to grab the Nature’s Shell. However, as soon as his hand touched the Strange Artifact, he abruptly let out a bloodcurdling scream.

His entire palm blackened in an instant, and the three bodies suddenly exploded at the same time. As the group of five was standing too close to the bodies, everyone was caught in the shower of blood and gore. The next moment, every body part that was touched by the flesh and blood started blackening as well.

There was no miracle. As they screamed, the black spots spread wider and wider until it covered their entire body. They were dead in just a matter of breaths, and when a breeze blew past them, they abruptly crumbled into black dust. The only proof of their existence was their clothes, their weapons, and their Nature’s Shells.

“Master… what…” Li Longxiang couldn’t help but swallow loudly. His complexion was as pale as a sheet.

Yi Pin chuckled. “See? Now you know how dangerous the jianghu is.”

“Remember this lesson well, Longjiang. There is no such thing as a free lunch in his world. If there is, then it’s either a trap or comes with strings attached. You must be careful.”

“I will remember your teachings, master.” Li Longxiang nodded solemnly.

Yi Pin sighed. “I wonder how many more people are going to fall for this? The Black Fiend Poison isn’t something that’ll dissipate with just a few deaths. Anyone who gets greedy will save themselves a burial or a cremation, though that is certainly not something to be proud about.”

A few breaths later, a strange cackle suddenly broke the silence. “Kekeke! The Seven Star Blue Lotus? Today must be my lucky day!”

The strange cackle belonged to an old man covered in dark green phosphorous fire and flying atop a human skull. Yes, a human skull. As he was passing by the Nature’s Shells that was poisoned with Black Fiend Poison, he exclaimed with excitement, “Oooh, Black Fiend Poison! I haven’t tasted one for a very long time! What a great day today is turning out to be!”

The old man pulled the Nature’s Shells into his hands—the poison seemingly having no effect on him whatsoever—and held them in front of his face. Then, he inhaled deeply. What looked like a wisps of black smoke immediately flew out of the Strange Artifacts and into his nostrils. Not only did he look completely fine, he looked intoxicated as if the Black Fiend Poison wasn’t poison, but fine wine.

“Ah, shit. This bastard’s here too? This is going to be troublesome.” Yi Pin frowned when he saw the old man.

“You recognize him, brother?” Ye Qing asked again.

The old Taoist explained in a worried tone, “That’s the Poisoner, Tong She. He’s an independent middle-stage Spirit Purifier with no background. The reason he came to be so powerful is because he accidentally came across the ultimate art of the Myriad Poison Palace, the ‘Myriad Poison True Scripture’, and cultivated a Body of Myriad Poisons. As its name might suggest, he is a bag of poison in human shape and not someone you want to trifle with.”

It was clear that Yi Pin was incredibly wary of Tong She.

“Master—”

Li Longxiang wanted to ask a question, but he never managed to finish it. It was because Poisoner suddenly turned toward their hiding spot and chuckled. “Oh? There are some mice over there.”

As soon as he said this, he unleashed a palm strike in their direction. The dark green flames immediately formed a gigantic palm that gave off a sickly sweet stench and killed every plant that was even remotely close to it. It was clear that the attack was deadly poisonous.

“Shit! Get away from it!” Yi Pin yelled and grabbed Li Longxiang’s shoulder.

Before he could move away though, Ye Qing said, “It’s fine.” While pinning the duo in place so they wouldn’t run off somewhere he couldn’t protect them, Ye Qing swept his sleeve at the incoming attack.

Buzz!

Space shook, and the clouds parted. A powerful gale appeared out of nowhere and trapped the entire area inside an invisible furnace. As the Burning Wind swayed, the dark green flames that were less than ten meters away from the trio suddenly disintegrated into nothing. Then, it surged toward Poisoner while crushing everything in its path.

At the distance, Poisoner blanched when he felt the torrent of Burning Wind surging toward him. The counter attack hadn’t even reached him yet, and already his blood was boiling, and his mind was quaking in terror. He didn’t hesitate to turn around and plunge head first into the fog. After Poisoner was gone, Ye Qing clenched his hand and canceled his power just like that. “Spirit Purifier my ass. What a coward!”

“You’re incredible, senior uncle!” Li Longxiang exclaimed with heartfelt amazement.

“You’re a goddamn monster, you know that?” Yi Pin shook his head. Unlike Li Longxiang, he knew exactly why Poisoner had decided to retreat. It was because Ye Qing’s counterattack was as strong as a middle-stage or even late-stage Spirit Purifier’s full-powered attack. It was unthinkable that Ye Qing was still an Astral Refiner.

Of course, the world wasn’t lacking in geniuses. It was entirely possible that there was a monster out there whose cultivation in astral qi was greater than Ye Qing. However, Ye Qing didn’t just possess an unbelievable amount of astral qi, his body was stupidly strong as well. Five dragon elephants, man. Is he actually a dragon elephant in disguise?

The trio decided to wait a little while longer, and a dozen more people entered the lake during this time. But for some reason, they could not hear or felt anything from the lake. It was almost as if the jianghu warriors had vanished into thin air.

A moment of consideration later, Ye Qing decided to stop waiting. “Let’s go. It would be annoying if someone actually got the blue lotus before us.”

The lake was pretty huge, and the jianghu warriors could’ve left from the opposite direction for all he knew. Assuming one of them took the Seven Star Blue Lotus, what were the chances that they would go back the way they came and risk running into a fellow competitor? It was nice to dream about getting the drop on a stupid warrior, but a dream was a dream. In the end, the only real way to obtain the Seven Star Blue Lotus was to venture into the lake themselves.

The reason he hadn’t entered the lake immediately was one, he wasn’t sure if the lake was safe, and two, there was still some time before it reached its full bloom. If they went in too early, there was a high chance they might have to clash against multiple jianghu warriors. There was just no need to take such a risk.

For now, it looked like the lake was safe, and it was about time the Seven Star Blue Lotus had reached its full bloom. If they waited any longer, then they would truly miss their treasure.

“Agreed.” Yi Pin nodded in agreement as well. After they reached the edge of the lake, Yi Pin produced a paper boat from his sleeve and tossed it into the water. The paper boat swelled in size and became as big as a normal boat in just one breath.

“Hop on!” Yi Pin beckoned before jumping onto the paper boat first. Ye Qing and Li Longxiang were right behind him. After everyone was aboard, the paper boat moved toward the center of the lake on its own.

The fog shrouding the lake was incredibly thick. At first, they could still see a distant object. But as the fog grew thicker, not even Ye Qing could see through the fog completely.

Strangely, the deeper they went into the lake, the colder and deader the environment became. The lotus leaves were either withering or outright rotten, and the stems were pitch black in color. The way they were strewn haphazardly across the surface of the lake felt both oppressive and unsettling.

“Something isn’t right. Keep your eyes open.”

Yi Pin too noticed the oddities and frowned. “When a Seven Star Blue Lotus blooms, you should be able to smell its fragrant scent from far, far away. The plants would sway as if rejoicing, and the animals would roar with joy. It makes no sense for this place to be so cold and silent.”

“Strange. How strange!”

1. A commandery. ☜