Stranger Danger

Chapter 326: What A Beautiful Saber

Since he was dangerous, it made sense that he should be eliminated first[1].

The short-haired man moved very quickly. By the time a sonic boom could be heard, he had already gotten close enough to Ye Qing to punch him in the head.

Ye Qing raised his right fist and blocked the incoming attack. He tried to grip the short-haired man’s wrist, but the short-haired man tightened his muscles and dropped heavily to the ground.

The paper horse beneath Ye Qing’s butt was shredded as a result.

As soon as he landed behind Ye Qing, the short-haired man inhaled a new breath of true qi and bent his knees slightly. Then, he shot forward even faster than before to put a hole in Ye Qing’s head.

Meanwhile, the cold man tossed a pair of knives at Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai while slithering across the ground like a viper. Both men thought that the cold man was targeting them, but he suddenly changed his trajectory and pounced toward Ye Qing instead.

A moment before the fist would hit Ye Qing’s head, the cold man unsheathed his saber and attacked Ye Qing’s legs.

This was a pincer attack coming from two different directions by two different weapons. Their coordination was almost perfect.

Ye Qing seemed to know it was coming, however. He tilted his head slightly so that the fist barely brushed his cheek and landed on his shoulder instead. As his legs sank into the ground, the scattering debris shattered the incoming saber force and pushed the cold man away.

The short-haired man was a little caught off guard by this outcome. He knew just how heavy his fist was. Depending on where they were hit, even a Spirit Purifier would break a bone or ten if they took a solid hit. However, he felt like he was punching a boulder when his fist struck Ye Qing’s shoulder. He failed to elicit any response from the young man whatsoever.

The short-haired man didn’t hesitate, however. Swimming along the momentum, he raised his right hand and prepared to bash Ye Qing’s head into bits.

He refused to believe that the young man’s head was as hard as his shoulder.

Something unbelievable happened then. his fist had just crossed half the distance when Ye Qing’s tilted head suddenly swung back in his direction. It looked like he was planning to catch his fist with his... neck?

The short-haired man felt like laughing at the absurdity of the situation. That amusement lasted until he felt his fist being caught by what felt like a pair of mountains. His momentum stopped dead, and he was unable to move even a single inch forward.

Blanching, the short-haired man channeled his force and attempted to break free. At the same time, violent, pitch black flames burst out of the white bandage.

It was at this moment the short-haired man felt a pain in his stomach. The next thing he knew, a terrifying amount of force surged into his body and broke his bones and internal organs bit by bit. Even his blood was being evaporated by a scorching hot astral qi.

He could feel his life fading from his body as he sailed through the air.

Meanwhile, the cold man had jumped back to his feet and grabbed a pair of sabers from his body. They spun wildly in his hands before he unleashed a pair of saber forces at Ye Qing.

The cold man immediately dropped his weapons after unleashing the attack. Then, he grabbed another pair of sabers and did the same thing. Another pair of saber forces sailed toward Ye Qing with enough power to topple a hill. The cold man would continue to do this fifteen times in a row until he literally had no sabers left to use.

Each saber force was just as swift, powerful, and full of intent as the last. Such was their power that the surrounding maple trees were cut down, the maple leaves were shredded into pieces long before they hit the ground, and the ground was covered in savage-looking marks.

The cold man smiled just as savagely after he had used up all of his sabers. There was also a hint of relief in his expression.

He carried a lot of sabers on his person, but in reality he only knew one and only one offensive technique: the simple cut. In fact, the saber art he learned consisted of two techniques only. The first technique was the Blade Nurturing Technique where he nurtured his saber’s force and intent within its sheath. The second technique was the simple cut that slew his opponents. [2]

That was why he owned a lot of sabers despite knowing one move and one move only, and why every cut he unleashed was brimming with unstoppable power and intent.

In the past, he only needed five sabers at most to defeat his opponent. The first hit would snap their weapons, the second, third and fourth hit would destroy their protective qi and expose their body, and the fifth hit would take off their head.

But this time, he had unleashed fifteen saber forces in a row. He refused to believe his opponent could survive this.

It was at this moment he heard a strange noise. As a saber user, he instinctively knew that it was one clang, but a series of clangs that happened in such short intervals that they almost sounded like one long, odd-sounding clang. Astonishment flickered across his expression as a bad feeling hit him. He couldn’t have blocked all fifteen attacks at the same time, right?

Right?

He knew full well just how swift his saber forces were. He was certain that no one could block all fifteen of them at the same time.

Unfortunately, the thought had just crossed his mind when his eyes suddenly widened like saucers. He saw his fifteen saber forces bouncing off in multiple directions before disappearing in a shade of crimson and a gust of wind.

When the shade of crimson disappeared, he saw Ye Qing standing where he was without a single wound on his person. Even his clothes hadn’t been ruffled in the slightest. He was also holding a slightly short red saber that was as gentle and beautiful as a beauty.

The cold man had seen many sabers in the past, but he had to admit that the one he was seeing right now was the most beautiful of them all. It reminded him of passion and fire, beauty and love.

“What a beautiful saber,” he subconsciously said. But as soon as he spoke up, he suddenly realized that his voice sounded a little strange. His throat was hurting a little as well. In fact, multiple parts of his body were hurting for some reason.

He looked down and noticed that his body was covered in wounds. He had no idea when they got there, only that there were so many that he couldn’t even count them all.

It was only then he realized how weak he was. It was the feeling of his life fading from his body.

“What a swift saber,” he spoke one last time before collapsing on the ground.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Ye Qing replied with a smile on his face.

Ye Qing was wielding the Red Sleeve, of course. The saber technique he used to kill the cold man was the first technique of “Saber of Spring Wind and Fine Rain”, “Spring Wind”.

The spring wind was a gentle wind, coming and going without a trace. Naturally, it killed without a trace as well.

It wasn’t quite the same technique though. The original “Saber of Spring Wind and Fine Rain” emphasized on gentleness and ceaselessness; to be as soft and gentle as the spring wind, and to be as unending as a fine rain. But during the training process, he subconsciously added the Soulchasing Saber’s speed into the technique. And so it became what it was today.

Whoever said that the spring wind and fine rain couldn’t move as swiftly as lightning? Could not behead a man before they realized what was going on?

The old man, Slave of Fire, and the woman hadn’t anticipated this at all. It had all happened so quickly. One moment ago the duo were still attacking Ye Qing, and the next they were both dead on the ground.

There was no time to ruminate on what just happened, however. It was because Ye Qing was walking toward them. One step, and he went from being twenty meters away to less than one in the blink of an eye.

“Do it now, Gu Lady!” Slave of Fire growled. Maybe it was because he was too nervous, but his voice sounded hoarser than it should be.

The smelly pus covering Gu Lady’s body instantly burst open, and all sorts of venomous creatures crawled out of the wounds.There were venomous mosquitos, venomous spiders, venomous centipedes and more. Each and every creature carried a deadly poison in them, and their mere appearance was enough to cause the nearby plants to wither earnestly.

On the other side, Slave of Fire summoned a flame-like sword to his hand and executed a wide swing at Ye Qing. The wind howled, and the fire danced as they merged into countless Strangers and pounced toward Ye Qing.

Some of the Strangers were real, and some weren’t. Most people would have problems distinguishing between the two, much less defend themselves against the attack. It could disrupt a person’s mind as well.

Ye Qing didn’t panic despite facing down a sea of flames and a tide of venomous creatures, however. Black and white astral qi circulated in harmony around him with the power to reverse even life and death. When the Strangers and the flames got close to him, they flowed harmlessly past Ye Qing almost as if they were brushed aside by an invisible hand. The flames melted the ground behind him, and the Strangers fell to the ground for seemingly no reason whatsoever.

Ye Qing alone walked amidst the sea of flames, unhindered and untouched.

“Nine Impetus of Tai Chi”

A bit of regret welled up in Ye Qing’s heart. Unfortunately, he had so many martial arts he needed to train that even with the power of the Martial Tower, he just barely managed to reach the journeyman level of the “Nine Impetus of Tai Chi” before his time was up. It would be a long, long time before he incorporated it into his fighting style. Otherwise, he could’ve borrowed strength from the enemy and even reflected their attacks right back at them.

He had only finished dealing with one threat, however. Gu Lady’s venomous creatures abruptly burst through the flames and attempted to catch him by surprise. In response, the Red Sleeve released a crimson, half-transparent wave that looked as loving as a gust of spring wind and as all-encompassing as the fine rain.

Dancing under the wind and rain was a gorgeous, red beauty. She was so beautiful that hearts could melt, and so did the tidal wave of creatures assaulting Ye Qing. As they melted, the crimson wave grew more and more distinct. An invisible, fragrant scent was also permeating from the wave.

Slave of Fire and Gu Lady inhaled the fragrant scent before they could react. Their eyes grew unfocused, and their movements slowed as if they were entranced by the gentle yet murderous saber force.

Slave of Fire was ultimately a veteran Spirit Purifier. He realized the danger at the last moment and managed to break free from its influence. However, Gu Lady was overwhelmed by the gentle force and killed just like that.

Slave of Fire let out a screech of terror and darted off like a rabbit. Unfortunately, he only made it halfway before Ye Qing tapped the space in front of him with his finger and stole his mind, his spirit, and his soul.

When the Slave of Fire collapsed on the ground, the crimson wave finally receded from view and revealed Gu Lady’s charred, tattered body.

“Keep watch.”

Ye Qing disappeared from view before Chu Nianjiu or Lin Yuhuai could say a word. The two Peacemakers exchanged shocked looks with each other and thought the exact same thing in their heads:

What a monster.

On the other side, the scholar who antagonized Ye Qing during the duel between the young Taoist and Duamnu Yu earlier was running for his life. He was afraid that he would follow in his companions’ footsteps if he was too slow.

In fact, he hadn’t underestimated the trio. That was why he had notified his four companions. He was sure that two Spirit Purifiers and two Half-Step Spirit Purifiers would be more than enough to overwhelm Ye Qing’s group, but it was the other way around. Ye Qing alone had annihilated his group without so much as breaking a sweat.

Terrified, he didn’t hesitate to run for his life. He needed to tell the captain what happened as soon as possible.

Unfortunately for him, he had only taken a few steps when his head suddenly felt heavy. It was as if someone had stolen his mind from his body. His eyes glazed over, and his vision abruptly turned pitch black.

Right before he fainted, he saw the young man who slew Slave of Fire and the others appearing in front of him with a small but devilish smile on his lips.

1. This isn’t necessarily true. In fact in most cases it is wrong. But this is his belief and doesn’t necessarily need to be accurate. ?

2. It’s kinda like Iaido, but not really. Iaido creates the force through the slash. The way this guy does it, it’s more like firing a revolver with a dozen bullets in the chamber. ?