Stranger Danger

Chapter 273: Anomalous

“Same.”

As soon as the people set foot on the stairs, they suddenly felt a little lighter than before. It was as if some sort of invisible object had left their bodies.

Most of them could only feel the sensation, but Ye Qing could “see” it clearly. Through his spirit, he saw countless wisps of strange demonic qi leaving their bodies and dissipating into the air as soon as they set foot on the small path.

Yi Pin and Xie Chengyun—both of them extraordinary warriors in their own right—noticed the same thing as well.

“I knew something wasn\'t right with this temple,” Yi Pin muttered under his breath.

“It doesn’t matter so long as the effect is positive,” Ye Qing replied smilingly, though in reality he was feeling quite worried on the inside. Even with his spirit, he hadn’t sensed the demonic qi clinging to his body until now, much less the others. He didn’t even know if he had come into contact with the demonic qi during the day or the night.

He had no intention of dying without even knowing what killed him. He would have to be even more careful in the future.

“Hmm? Where’s Brother Wu?”

“He’s probably still loitering at the bottom. I’ll call him. Brother Wu! What the hell are you doing down there?”

“Hehe, no need to wait for me. We’re all fishes in the same jianghu, so my bleeding heart can’t bear to see my fellow warriors left in the open, you see. I’ll come up as soon as I bury all the bodies.”

Bastard! He talks a good game, but he’s really just looting the bodies! I can’t believe I didn’t think about it myself!

Brother Wu wasn’t the only one who was looting the bodies. There were a couple others who were doing the same thing. Unwilling to let go of the opportunity, a couple of warriors immediately raced down the hill to join them.

“Stop.”

However, Xie Chengyun stopped the warriors before they could take more than a couple of steps.

“Brother Xie, we just want to—”

They tried to explain that they weren’t heading down because of their greed, but the swordsman interrupted them before they could finish. “Look behind their backs.”

“What?”

His remark drew everyone’s attention. When they looked, a couple of people fell to the ground from sheer shock and horror. “What... What the hell is that?”

How had they not noticed it sooner? There were currently four people looting the bodies at the foot of the hill, and every single one of them was carrying a “person” behind their backs. The entities had long hair that covered up their faces and swayed lightly behind the warriors’ necks. They gave off a strange and evil feeling to say the least.

Strangely, the warriors didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. They were still going through the bodies with clear excitement.

“Are those... humans?” Li Longxiang stuttered in fear.

“Of course not!” Yi Pin rolled his eyes at his disciple.

“B-Brother Wu! Come back quickly!” One of the Purity Sword disciples finally regained his senses and shouted at his friend.

“It’s not going to take long, man. Stop pushing!” Brother Wu brushed off this advice.

“You fucking idiot! There’s a Stranger behind your back! Get up the hill before it’s too late!” The disciple lost his patience and shouted.

“Stranger? What Stranger?”

The four on the ground couldn’t help but stop whatever they were doing and look behind their backs. But instead of being horrified, the warriors merely looked confused. They couldn’t seem to see anything.

What happened next was almost too terrifying to describe. The warriors’ flesh started falling off their bodies chunk by chunk like fully ripe persimmons. Even scarier was the fact that the four Strangers they were carrying slowly raised their heads and stared at the group on the hill. When their faces were fully revealed, it turned out that they looked exactly the same as their victims. Then, their lips curled into a horrifying grin.

Countless people gasped as a terrible chill shot up from their feet and straight into their skull, but that wasn’t the end of the horror. They suddenly heard a great number of footsteps—it sounded like countless people were stepping on rainwater—and soon, a large group of jianghu warriors emerged from the darkness. They were rotten and decayed just like the four, and they were all carrying a Stranger behind their backs, one who shared the same face as them.

The Strangers then looked up at the group and shot them a toothy white grin as well.

“Ma... Master... tho... those Strangers aren’t going to come after us... are they?” Li Longxiang stuttered while trembling with fear.

Ye Qing[1] said while rubbing his nose, “I doubt it. If they were going to attack us, they would’ve done it already. It’s probably because this temple is special somehow.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, the demonic qi that left their bodies after they entered the temple had something to do with these Strangers. Had they dilly-dallied like the poor fucks on the ground, they would’ve suffered the same fate.

“What the hell are these things, brother?” Yi Pin gulped in fear. He had never seen or heard such a Stranger in his life.

“I don’t know, man. I’m not omniscient.” Ye Qing was also licking his lips nervously. “I can tell you one thing though. The nights of the Demon’s Tomb aren’t just dangerous. They’re anomalous as fuck.”

“At least they aren’t attacking us. Thank the heavens we chose to follow Purity Sword to this temple.” Yi Pin sighed in relief.

“There’s no saving those people, so let’s focus on saving ourselves. C’mon!” Ye Qing turned around and resumed his stride toward the temple. He never looked back. This place was way too dangerous, and the temple was the only place that looked a little safer.

Yi Pin hurriedly caught up to him while calling out to his disciple, “What are you waiting for, Longxiang? Let’s go!”

“Right, right!” Li Longxiang hurriedly responded and ran up to the duo.

“What should we do, senior brother?” A Purity Sword disciple looked to Xie Chengyun for instructions.

“We go up,” Xie Chengyun replied simply before glancing at the dazed crowd around him. “This place isn’t safe. If you would listen to my advice,head up the hill as soon as possible.”

Xie Chengyun didn’t wait for a response. He turned around and hiked up the hill with his junior brothers and sisters.

“R-Right! Thank you for the advice, Brother Xie.”

“Thank you, Brother Xie.”

“What should we do now?”

“Are you deaf? We follow them and get the fuck out of here! You guys can stay here if you want to.”

“Hehe. Same.”

“Wait for me, dammit! Don’t think I don’t know that you’re just trying to get first dibs on whatever is inside the temple!”

......

As everyone was racing up the hill, no one noticed that the Strangers on the ground were grinning wider and wider. They didn’t stop until their cheeks were split wide open, and the soil beneath them were drenched in blood.

For whatever reason, every Stranger on the ground was grinning from ear to ear. It was a wanton, arrogant, taunting, and evil grin. The blood-drenched ghouls laughed at them all.

......

“Dao births one, one births two, two births three, and three births everything.”

“One incense stick, two incense sticks, three incense sticks for the divine.”

Outside the temple, Yi Pin was admiring a couplet set above the entrance curiously. “What an interesting couplet this is. The first line reveals the truth and essence of Taoism, and the second line exposes the desire of all celestials and gods. Yes, yes, I like this a lot.”

“The horizontal scroll is even better: Sincerity begets all.”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose smilingly. “Sincerity is a must when seeking freedom and Dao. It is the same when praying to celestials and gods.”

“Hahaha! Well said, brother!” Yi Pin guffawed as he stepped into the temple.

The first thing they saw was a courtyard. The floor was smooth limestone with not a speck of unwanted weed or branch anywhere. There was a small temple hall in the middle of the courtyard where a mud statue was enshrined. It was also the only place in the temple where one could take shelter from the rain.

The mud statue was a tall, thin Taoist with blurry facial features. He was carrying a horsetail whisk over the crook of his arm and wielding a spell sword[2]. He was also standing on a patch of clouds.

The group quickly split into three groups after they entered the temple hall. Ye Qing, Yi Pin and Li Longxiang were together as a matter of course, and Xie Chengyun with his junior brothers and sisters. The last group was made up of six jianghu warriors.

That’s right. There were over twenty jianghu warriors at the beginning, but now only six of them were left. That was why they were huddling together even though they didn’t necessarily see eye to eye with each other.

“Hmm? The fruits on this incense burner table are... fresh?”

There was only one piece of furniture inside the temple hall, and it was the incense burner table set in front of the mud statue. The incense burner was nothing to write home about, but the offerings—the fruits to be exact—were still fresh.

“Wait a second... These aren’t your normal fruits! These are spirit fruits! The Langgan Golden Flower Fruits to be exact!” A man suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

“What? Are you sure, Brother Xiao?”

“I could never mistake it! Just look! You can almost see the pattern of a golden flower on its surface. It’s obviously the Langgan Golden Flower Fruits!”

“You’re right! Hahaha!”

It was at this moment Xie Chengyun spoke up, “I’d advise you not to touch those spirit fruits. Think about it. We are the first group of people to enter this temple. So who could have placed those fruits there?”

His words poured over the jianghu warriors’ heads like a bucket of cold ice. It cooled them down so much that cold sweat was breaking out of their foreheads.

“Do you mean we’re not alone in the temple? That’s... that’s not possible, right?” A man stuttered.

“Impossible. This temple is quite small, and there is no place to hide at all.”

“Where did this Langgan Golden Flower Fruits come from then?”

“Why are you asking me? I’m just as clueless as you are!”

“Maybe they’re the belongings of the deceased? You know, the master of this temple?”

“That... makes sense, actually!”

Despite Xie Chengyun’s warning, their greed gradually overcame their fear. The six jianghu warriors began eying the Langgan Golden Flower Fruits with greed once more.

“What are you doing? My senior brother told you to keep your hands off the fruits!”

A Purity Sword disciple said angrily when he saw this, “If you want to commit suicide, at least do it somewhere else! Your actions could very well doom us all!”

“Hmph! You keep saying that it’s dangerous to take the fruits, but in my opinion, you just want to keep them for yourselves!” A vicious-looking man with a muscular figure and arms so long that it reached past the knees scoffed.

1. Not a typo. He just answered before Yi Pin could. ?

2. An item a Taoist normally uses during exorcisms. ?