Stranger Danger

Chapter 301: With A Thought

Bloodthirsty by nature, the Cocoonoids awoke to the smell of blood. It would attack any flesh-and-blood being to the death.

Generally speaking, the Cocoonoids’s power level was more or less the same as the Cocoon Tree[1], meaning that these Cocoonoids were most likely Soulstealer-class Strangers. This meant that Ye Qing was facing a small army of Soulstealer-class Strangers right now.

This was why the Cocoon Tree intimidated even some Phenomenon-class Strangers.

After confirming that the Cocoonoids had fully awakened, Ye Qing immediately turned around and ran away. The Strangers gave chase as a matter of course. When the time was right, Ye Qing shouted on top of his lungs, “Help! Help! Save me, dad!”

Meanwhile, Xue Beikun was meditating and recovering his wounds when suddenly, he heard his son crying for help, he immediately broke into a run in that direction.

By the time he reached his son, Xue Shiwu was already covered in blood and surrounded by a bunch of Cocoonoids. Realizing that his son had seconds at most, Xue Beikun let out an angry shout and thrust his spear forward. Spear-shaped astral qi immediately rained from above and skewered several Cocoonoids into pieces.

However, Xue Beikun’s action angered the remaining Cocoonoids. They immediately abandoned Xue Shiwu and attacked Xue Beikun instead.

The Cocoonoids flapped their wings and released a cloud of powder that transformed into a sea of flames. At the same time, they opened their mouths and emitted some sort of sound wave. The sound wave couldn’t be heard by the human ear, but it was potent enough to cause spatial tremors. Xue Beikun immediately felt a stabbing pain in his ears and his mind.

The powder the Cocoonoids released was a substance that caught on fire as soon as they made contact with force. It was also highly poisonous. As for the soundwave, it was something that could attack the mind.

If Xue Beikun was at his peak, he could’ve handled twice the number of Cocoonoids without trouble. But after suffering a serious blow from Feng Liunian, struggling the entire night to survive the Demon’s Tomb, and having to protect a good-for-nothing like Xue Shiwu, he was exhausted in both body and mind. And after the battle against the remnant of the Blackwind Bandits, it would be a stretch to say that he possessed even a tenth of his original strength. As a result, he was struggling against the Cocoonoids.

Things worsened when the Cocoonoids opened their mouths and emitted the inaudible sound waves together. His headache grew so horrid that he was just barely keeping it together.

No, no, I need to finish this as soon as possible. Otherwise, I’m going to die here.

Fatalistic determination flickered in Xue Beikun’s eyes as the pattern of a Greedy Wolf appeared on his forehead. A bloody mist abruptly discharged from his pores, and his skin gradually turned translucent and bright red until he looked like red-hot iron.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”

Xue Beikun roared on top of his lungs as veins bulged across his forehead and exposed skin. He looked like he was enduring a lot of pain right now. However, his aura was also strengthening rapidly. It was as if he had returned to peak form in just the blink of an eye.

“Die!” Xue Bei let out a guttural growl as a violent gust of bloody wind swept across the area. Countless trees were ripped in half just like that, and the Cocoonoids could barely stand against the howling gale.

The next moment, Xue Beikun raised his bloodied spear and unleashed a series of rapid spear thrusts. He moved so fast it was as if a magical eraser had erased the Cocoonoids from existence. Just like that, the battle was over. The Greedy Wolf howled, and the stench of death was everywhere.

Except it wasn’t over. Xue Beikun’s bloodthirst only grew after he slew the Cocoonoids, and he started cutting down the nearest forest like a madman. Trees collapsed in clumps, rocks flew through the air, and the ground was shaking like an earthquake.

Motherfucker! Did he lose it? He’s not going to kill me too, is he?

Ye Qing’s scalp was numb with fear as he listened to the swishes and booms happening not far away him. Clearly, Xue Beikun wasn’t in control of himself right now.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Xue Beikun had activated some sort of secret art that would return him to his peak form or even beyond that in the blink of an eye. However, it came at a high price. For starters, it looked like he was barely clinging to the threads of his sanity. Second, Ye Qing had a feeling that Xue Beikun could only maintain this state for a short time. Once his time was up, he would become as weak as a baby.

I mean, that’s how it goes in most web novels, right?

At the same time, Ye Qing was patting himself in the back for choosing not to attack Xue Beikun recklessly. Otherwise, he would be in deep shit right now.

Most warriors were poor as shit, but it made sense that a Spirit Master would have a trump card or two that could turn the tables against his enemies. It could be a Strange Artifact, or it could be a secret art. Regardless, trump cards must never be underestimated.

“Hah... hah...”

Ye Qing was still congratulating himself when a pair of murderous, scarlet eyes abruptly appeared before his eyes. It looked like they might devour him at any moment.

“D-Dad... Are you... alright...?”

The eyes belonged to Xue Beikun, of course. The man was still brimming with bloodthirst, and his eyes were bloodshot with murder. He was also panting like a wild beast that was just barely holding back the urge to devour Ye qing.

Ye Qing could’ve attacked Xue Beikun right now, but he forced himself to act scared and worried. This was a good opportunity, but not the best he could strive for.

“Useless trash.”

A hot, furious insult slipped through Xue Beikun’s teeth. “You can’t even forage food without stumbling into Strangers, you useless trash?”

“...”

“I had to use a secret art to save you. When it wears off, I’ll become incredibly weakened. It will take me a full day to recover, so you must protect me until then. Fail, and we will both die here.”

Ye Qing copied Xue Shiwu’s tone and expression and mumbled helplessly, “Dad... I... What should I do?”

“You useless trash! Just how did I sow a useless son like you!?” Xue Beikun grew even angrier when he saw how lost Xue Shiwu looked. Seriously, he would have killed him ages ago if he wasn’t his son.

“Just stay here and go nowhere. This forest is dominated by a powerful Cocoon Tree, so there shouldn’t be any other Stranger in the area. Just in case, I left behind a potent mark that should ward off most Strangers. So just stay here and protect me to the best of your abilities. When I recover, we will leave this place immediately.”

“G-Got it!” Ye Qing exclaimed with delight.

“Hmph! Dig a hole under the Cocoon Tree. That is where we’ll be passing through the night. With luck, we should be able to survive the night safely,” Xue Beikun instructed.

The commander had more to say, but his aura suddenly started weakening slowly. The intimidating red light in his eyes disappeared, and so did his killing intent. A short while later, he abruptly collapsed to the ground.

“Dad! Are you alright? Dad!” Ye Qing called out weakly and sorrowfully like a boy who lost the pillar of his life. If he was nominated for an Oscar, this would be the scene they played on the big screens.

A few breaths later, Ye Qing confirmed that Xue Beikun wasn’t faking his unconsciousness. Not only that, he could sense that little to no energy inside the commander’s body. He had used practically everything he had to save his son.

Slowly, Ye Qing’s panicked and sorrowful expression was replaced by a devilish smile. His plan had worked perfectly, and now, Xue Beikun was no different from a fish waiting to be dissected on the chopping board.

Originally, his plan was to ambush Xue Beikun as Xue Shiwu. Judging from what he observed, there was no way Xue Beikun would be on guard against his own son. However, the encounter with the Cocoon Tree gave him a better idea, and he decided to use the Cocoonoids to deplete Xue Beikun’s strength first.

However, Xue Beikun was even weaker than he imagined. He could hardly believe his good luck when the commander activated his secret art to wipe out a handful of Cocoonoids. He hadn’t just achieved his objective, he had surpassed every expectation he had set for himself. It literally couldn’t have gone any better than this.

Ye Qing raised his hand and gently dropped it on Xue Beikun’s head. As soon as contact was made, the commander would die, and all of his troubles would be resolved.

However, Ye Qing stopped himself at the last possible moment. The Fog Demon asked tauntingly, “What’s wrong, boy? Did you suddenly find your conscience?”

“The fuck? He wants me dead, and he’s not even a pretty lady! Why the fuck would I feel any mercy toward him?” Ye Qing snorted. “I just realized that he’s more useful to me alive than he is dead!”

The Fog Demon cackled. “Just spill it already.”

Ye Qing rolled his eyes at the Fog Demon but explained, “Xue Beikun is the commander of the Black Feather Guards. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a waste to just kill him like this?”

This piqued the Fog Demon’s interest. “It is a waste. Xue Beikun is the regional general of Luo Shui and the commander of ten thousand Black Feather Guards. If we can control him, those Black Feather Guards might as well be ours. When that happens, you could become a regional lord yourself and give the Pacification Bureau, Sunset Hill or whatever the middle finger.”

“Not only that, if you can pull the same trick on key members of the Pacification Bureau as well, then you would become the king of Luo Shui in all but name. You want power? All of Luo Shui is yours to see fit. You want women? They would flock to you themselves without trying. You want wealth? Luo Shui is the city of wealth of Chu. You want strength? The Pacification Bureau is yours to plunder. You will obtain everything, kekekeke...”

The Fog Demon’s voice was full of temptation. It seemed to possess the magic to draw out a person’s deepest desires and heart demons.

In his headspace, Ye Qing saw a profoundly extraordinary seed bobbing up and down and absorbing his desires and heart demons. As it grew stronger, an evil power began emanating inside his headspace.

The “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was powerful, but it was one hundred percent a cultivation art of the Dark Ways. This meant that he must absorb various heart demons and desires such as the Five Poisons, Six Desires, Seven Emotions, Eight Fears, Nine Terrors and more to strengthen his demonic thought.

At the beginning, the demonic thought was in the shape of a seed. As he nurtured it, it would eventually bloom into a nine-leaf demonic lotus. Each leaf represented a stage in his cultivation level.

He had just unlocked his Xuanguan point and entered the Spirit Purification stage, and he was just starting to practice the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra”. Therefore, he hadn’t converted all of his spiritual power into demonic thought yet. That was why his demonic thought was still in the form of a seed.

As the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” had a peculiar appetite, whatever heart demons and desires the Fog Demon drew out of his mind were turned into its sustenance. Forget tempting him off the right path, he wouldn’t even feel it if he wasn’t constantly monitoring his headspace.

That wasn’t to say the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was completely risk free, however. Quite the contrary, if he failed to maintain a pure mind while practicing the cultivation art, it was entirely possible that his personality would be warped by the very thing he cultivated. The demonic thought could very well warp him into a perverse, ruthless, and heartless man.

In fact, all martial arts of the Dark Ways possessed this characteristic. They were easy to grasp but hard to master. If you ignored the warning signs and just focused on speed, then your cultivation would most likely suffer in the future.

The Fog Demon was still prattling while he was absorbed in his thoughts. It was clear that it carried impure motives as it kept drawing out Ye Qing’s greed, wrath, lust and other desires.

In fact, the Fog Demon was trying to drag Ye Qing into the Dark Ways. It would allow it to slowly take control of Ye Qing and eventually break free from his control.

1. Note, power level should not be confused with threat level. The Cocoon Tree is powerful, but on its own its threat level is minimal. ?