Stranger Danger

“I will remember, master.”

“Also, a man should be kind, generous, and forgiving. It’s not good to be petty and calculating in everything like your senior uncle.”

“I will remember, master.”

Ye Qing: “...” I don’t mind you teaching your disciple, but why are you using me as a negative example?

“Ahem…”

When Ye Qing showed himself, Yi Pin abruptly stopped talking and ran up to him with an obsequious smile. “Well done, brother! Poisoner is an absolute bastard who committed countless crimes when he was still alive. You saved the people much pain and suffering by taking him out.”

“Har har…” Ye Qing let out a monotonous laugh and went over to Li Longxiang. Then, he said, “Longxiang, allow me to teach you a life lesson today.”

“Do tell, senior uncle!” Li Longxiang hurriedly straightened up and saluted Ye Qing.

Ye Qing glanced at Yi Pin meaningfully and began, “A man should practice as they preach, meaning that they shouldn’t talk behind someone’s back. A man should especially avoid being sanctimonious, high-sounding, two-faced, despicable, shameless, juvenile—”

Yi Pin: “...” I was just teaching my disciple, bro. Sure, you were caught in the crossfire, but do you have to slap all those negative adjectives on my person?

“Ahem, that’s enough. Just… remember what your senior uncle said, disciple,” Yi Pin interrupted with a disgruntled expression before changing the subject, “Let’s take a look at the Sky Devouring Fish, shall we?”

“Heh…”

Ye “Petty” Qing felt much better after lambasting a certain old man indirectly. Since Yi Pin thought he was petty, he decided to oblige him. That was what he wanted, right?

Of course, Ye Qing knew better than to push things too far. He stopped prodding Yi Pin and gazed into the distance.

The Sky Devouring Fish slowly opened its mouth after devouring its prey. It wasn’t long before a massive, bottomless pit appeared before their eyes. A short while later, saliva started rising from the bottom of the pit. When the pit was completely filled, the clear lake they had seen earlier appeared before their eyes once more.

Had it not been for his earlier experience and what was happening right before his eyes, he would never have believed that the lake was the Sky Devouring Fish’s mouth and saliva.

This wasn’t the end, however. After the “lake” was formed, the Sky Devouring Fish started manifesting an illusion. This time, it didn’t create the Seven Star Blue Lotus and the lotus flowers. Instead, it manifested a small island that was covered in jujube trees. The jujube fruits were as big as a human’s fist and fiery red in color. It looked extremely enticing and smelled very fragrant.

“Fire Jujube?” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise. The jujube fruits on the island were called the Fire Jujube, and the Fire Jujube was a kind of fruit that flowered and fruited only once every one century. It was even rarer than the Seven Star Blue Lotus.

It was said that a mature Fire Jujube could be consumed by humans, animals, and spirits alike. A single fruit could increase their cultivation by ten years and save them ten years of hard work. It was a priceless treasure to say the least.

There were at least a dozen Fire Jujube Trees on the island and hundreds of Fire Jujubes. If they were real, there might be enough Fire Jujubes to create a Grandmaster. Ye Qing had no doubt that this lake was going to be a hotspot for the next three days to come.

“Damn… this Sky Devouring Fish sure knows how to lay a bait,” Ye Qing said with a sigh. He could already imagine the conflict that was going to happen, and how it would all benefit the Sky Devouring Fish in the end.

The Stranger was clearly intelligent. The best thing they could do was to get the hell away from this place as soon as possible.

He said as such, “Let’s leave. There is nothing for us here.”

“Agreed.”

Yi Pin’s eyelids were twitching violently from what he just saw. He did not hesitate to grab his disciple’s hand and walked away. It was just too dangerous to linger.

On their way away from this place, Ye Qing asked with a dubious tone, “Brother, was the Seven Star Blue Lotus the so-called opportunity you divined earlier?”

If it was, then Yi Pin’s so-called ability to “observe the stars, divine qi, measure heaven and earth, and search for treasures” was unreliable at best and deadly at worst. He would have to consider leaving their group.

Knowing what Ye Qing was implying, Yi Pin shot him a reassuring smile. “Of course not. The lake isn’t the location I divined where the treasure should be, so relax. I’m not trying to trick you.”

The fact that a trickster like you is telling me that only makes me even more suspicious!

“Help! Help!”

They had just circled around the lake that was the Sky Devouring Fish and approached a forest when suddenly, a man bolted out of the forest. He made a beeline for them as soon as he caught sight of them.

Ye Qing frowned. It was clear that the guy was trying to lead whatever was chasing him to them.

The good news was that the guy never got close. A strange bird with a human’s face abruptly descended on top of the guy and clung to his head.

The strange bird was about the size of a goshawk and had hook-like claws. Its feathers were a mix of black and white. However, a closer inspection would reveal that the black patterns on its feathers were really tiny scripts. It looked ancient and full of meaning.

As soon as the strange bird landed on the man’s head, he abruptly stopped moving as if a spell had been cast on him. His energies disappeared into nothing, and the only thing he could move was his head.

“Please, brothers! Please save me!” The man begged Ye Qing, Yi Pin and Li Longxiang with a terrified expression.

“Coo coo…”

Before the trio could react, the Stranger cooed twice and spoke using a human’s language, “Five brothers live together in a house. Their names and heights are different. What are they? Coo coo…”

The man started trembling involuntarily. Large beads of sweat slid down his forehead and dripped off his chin. His lips were shaking, but he didn’t dare to make any sound whatsoever.

“Coo coo…”

Seemingly impatient, the strange bird cooed at him. Even more sweat pooled on the man’s forehead, and his face was completely contorted from how afraid he was. There was even more confusion and despair on his face, however. He seemed to have no idea what to do.

“Coo coo!” The strange bird cried out again as if giving the man a final warning, but still he didn’t say a word. Seemingly furious, he abruptly split the man’s head in half and stretched its thin, long tongue into his brain. Then, it started suck his brain juice like its tongue was a straw.

“Heavens… that can’t be tasty, can it?” Ye Qing muttered to himself while scratching his nose.

Yi Pin: “...”

Li Longxiang: “...”

Is this the time to think about such things? Actually, there’s never a time to think about sucking brain juice, is there?

“Brother, let’s leave while the Stranger is still distracted!” Yi Pin muttered while feeling sweat pooling on his forehead himself.

The strange bird’s abilities were just too strange. Not only could it freeze someone by landing on their head, it could also speak like a human. Besides that, it seemed to want an answer from its victim, but how could they give it an answer when its question made no sense to them whatsoever?

“It’s too late. Look.”

Ye Qing motioned with his eyes, and Yi Pin subconsciously followed his gaze. He immediately saw a tree that was crawling with countless human-faced birds. They were all looking at them, and Yi Pin could practically hear the threat that was implied: Take a single step, and we’ll rip y’all to pieces!

Yi Pin immediately broke out in cold sweat. This was a scene straight out of a nightmare!

“Don’t be afraid. These birds are a kind of Hatred-class Stranger called the Bird of Riddles,” Ye Qing said.

He was trying to assure Yi Pin, but his assurance only caused the old Taoist to panic even harder. Don’t be afraid? With these numbers, they could threaten Spirit Purifiers and even Spirit Masters. How can I not be afraid?

“The Bird of Riddles is a human-faced goshawk who is capable of human speech and flying at extreme speeds. When it encounters a human, it would descend on their head, freeze them in place, and ask them a riddle. If you can answer the riddle, then they would leave alone. If not, or if you choose not to answer the riddle, then the Bird of Riddles would rip your head open and suck on your brain juice.”

Ye Qing continued in a casual tone, “The guy just now didn’t dare to speak, probably because one of his companions gave the wrong answer and was killed as a result. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that keeping silent would result in his death as well.”

“In any case, we have nothing to worry about. We only need to answer its riddles to be able to escape safely.”

“The Bird of Riddles?” Yi Pin exclaimed in realization, “Now that I think about it, the bird was asking that poor guy a riddle earlier. You’re seriously knowledgeable, brother!”

Phew. I should be able to answer a riddle without problems.

Ye Qing smiled. Every time he was idle, he would ask Wawa to recite to him books regarding Strangers. That was why his knowledge wasn’t necessarily poorer than those experts who had researched Strangers their whole lives.

“Coo coo…”

After the Bird of Riddles was done sucking the guy’s brain, it appeared on top of Ye Qing in the blink of an eye and asked, “I have a face but no mouth, legs but no hands, and I cannot walk despite having four legs. What am I? Coo coo…”

Ye Qing thought for a second before answering, “A table.”

“Coo coo…”

The Bird of Riddles cooed in satisfaction. Then, it flew over to Li Longxiang’s head and asked another riddle, “A girl is born in a pool of water. She is dressed in pink and sitting on a green boat. What is she?”

Li Longxiang immediately scrunched together into a deep frown.

“Idiot, it’s—” Yi Pin was just about to tell Li Longxiang the answer when the Bird of Riddles abruptly looked at him and spat. Its saliva landed squarely in Yi Pin’s mouth and filled his nostrils with a disgusting stench.

“Blaaaaaaargh!” Yi Pin immediately started throwing up uncontrollably. It was clear that the Bird of Riddles was punishing him for trying to spoil the answer.

It took the old Taoist a while before he finally recovered. As soon as he recalled the situation, he immediately looked at his disciple with panic. Spoiling the answer was a no-go, and he doubted that a hint would fly with the Bird of Riddles either. Even if that wasn’t the case, he couldn’t risk it. After all, there was an entire horde of Birds of Riddles watching from the sidelines.

But if he didn’t try to give a hint, could his stupid disciple really answer the question?

The next moment, Li Longxiang suddenly broke into a grin and said, “It’s a lotus flower!”

Yi Pin blanked out for a moment. When did Li Longxiang become smart? Or did his ancestor suddenly come back to life and send him a revelation?

“Coo coo…”

The Bird of Riddles cooed in satisfaction and took the sky once more. However, it didn’t land on Yi Pin’s head. It simply flew circles around him for a bit before flying back to its brethren.

Yi Pin: “...”

Ye Qing: “...”

Did it go away because Yi Pin smells horrible?

After the Bird of Riddles was out of earshot, Yi Pin immediately flew into a rage, “How dare you overlook me, you stupid bird!”

Also, you’re the one who spit on me! You should’ve reaped what you sowed!

After he was done ranting, Yi Pin looked at Li Longxiang and Ye Qing—the two men were currently standing far, far away from the old Taoist due to how smelly he was—and asked curiously, “Did you figure out the answer yourself, stupid boy?”

Li Longxiang shook his head. “No? Senior uncle’s the one who told me!”

“He did? I didn’t hear anything though?” Yi Pin looked confused.

“That’s because he told me the answer through sound transmission, master!”

“Sound transmission?” Yi Pin stared blankly at Ye Qing.

Ye Qing smirked as he explained, “Oh, I totally forgot to say this, but you cannot interfere with a riddle or even speak until it’s over. Otherwise, it would spit on you as punishment. That said, the Bird of Riddles’ intelligence is limited, so it could be fooled via sound transmission.”

Yi Pin: “...” And why didn’t you tell me sooner? You’re totally doing this for revenge, aren’t you?

Ye Qing ignored Yin Pin’s resentful gaze and continued, “Don’t worry, brother. The Bird of Riddles’ saliva is harmless, so you’re in no danger of dying. At worst, you’ll stink for the next two or three days.”

Yi Pin: “...” He absolutely did this for revenge.

I apologize for everything.