Stranger Danger

Chapter 350: Can One Yin Token Cause A Massacre?

If I can’t marry the love of my life, then I won’t have children.

If I don’t have children, then no one will take care of me when I’m old.

If no one takes care of me when I’m old, then I will be beset by hunger and cold.

If I’m hungry and cold, then I would commit crimes to fulfill my needs.

If I commit crimes, then public unrest will happen.

If public unrest happens, then the people will suffer.

If the people suffer, then they will rebel.

And if they rebel, then the world will plunge into chaos.”

“Do you understand how important this gold is to me now? How it will affect world peace if I don’t have it?”

We... don’t understand, you madman! Everyone rolled their eyes when they heard this. Who the fuck do you think you are? If your logic works the way you say it is, then the world would’ve been annihilated by bachelors a long time ago!

The yin guard took a moment to bleach the memory out of his mind. When he was ready, he said coldly, “Are you done? If you are, then it’s my turn now.”

“You broke the Qi Eater’s bottle, but the Qi Eater was the one who tried to scam you in the first place. Since you’re both in the wrong, you should both make a compromise and forget about this matter.”

He didn’t want to get involved in this matter. Ultimately, The Qi Eater was the one who was in the wrong here, and although he was a ghost himself, he didn’t want to be seen as too biased. Most importantly, the Qi Eater had no proof that Ye Qing had done something to its bottle to break it. So, asking both parties to back down was the best way he knew to resolve this matter.

Of course, he had his own selfish reasons for wanting this matter to go away as quickly as possible.

“Forget this?” The Qi Eater blurted.

“You want me to just forget my gold?” Ye Qing also cried.

“What, you don’t like my decision? How about I throw you both in prison and investigate this matter slowly?” The yin guard looked displeased.

“Oh, fine. Since you’ve given your verdict, I shall be the bigger man here and forgive him,” Ye Qing declared with a magnanimous wave.

This was a better outcome than Ye Qing had imagined when he kicked up a fuss. He was fully prepared to be kicked out of the Yin Market. But now, he had killed the Qi Eater’s conspiracy dead, broke its bottle, saved the victims from certain death—without the bottle, the gold would lose its ability, and the Qi Eater wouldn’t be able to suck their yang qi dry whenever it felt like it—and he didn’t even have to pay any price for it. It was perfect.

“Good.” The yin guard nodded and looked at the Qi Eater next. “What do you say?”

“I...” The Qi Eater was extremely displeased with this outcome as a matter of course, but one look at the yin guard’s face was enough to end any protest it might have. He had no doubt that the yin guard would throw him into the Eighteen Hells if he so much as said the word, “No.”

“Fine.” In the end, the Qi Eater caved into the pressure. He could only glare impotently at Ye Qing.

The verdict seemed fair to both parties, but in reality the Qi Eater was the only one who suffered an actual loss. He didn’t understand why this was happening either. Usually, the yin guards were biased towards their fellow ghosts even if the humans were the ones who were in the right. But today, the yin guard had done a one-eighty and favored the human instead.

Don’t you love us anymore, my lord?

Heh. You should be thankful this isn’t the yang world. Otherwise, you would be a rune already! Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to return an icy glare. Glare at me some more, and I might make you into a rune anyway!

“What are you waiting for? Get lost already! Scam another person, and I will throw you into the Hell of Tongue Ripping!” The yin guard rebuked the Qi Eater.

The Qi Eater shot the yin guard a resentful look. You really have changed, my lord! You don’t love us anymore!

It transformed into a gust of yin wind and disappeared after that.

“Thank you for your fair words, my lord.” Ye Qing thanked the yin guard after the Qi Eater left.

“You’re welcome. It is our duty.” The yin guard returned the salute and hesitated for a moment. He then began, “Your Yin Token...”

“What about it?” I was hoping you would ask!

Ye Qing got ready to receive an explanation regarding how special it was, but instead, he received an unexpected question.

“Would you like to sell it to me?” The yin guard asked.

“You can sell the Yin Token?” Ye Qing was completely caught off guard by this.

“Normally, no. But I possess the authority to buy it from you,” the yin guard replied.

Ye Qing was puzzled. “But why would you need my Yin Token?”

Something flashed behind the yin guard’s eyes as he explained, “I’m a collector of Yin Tokens, and yours is a rare item. That is why I would like to add it to my collection. I’ll pay you a reasonable price, of course. How does one hundred yin gold sound?”

Before Ye Qing could give a response, a deafening, booming voice pierced his ears. “I’ll pay you five hundred yin gold for your Yin Token, human. Would you sell it to me?”

The shout was so loud that even Ye Qing felt like his eardrums were vibrating a little, much less those who were weaker than him. Some of the warriors clutched their heads and screamed the second they heard it.

The yin guard was about to blow his top when he saw who it was. He then asked in a wary voice, “What are you doing, Loud?”

“What do you mean what I’m doing? I’m trying to buy his Yin Token just like you? Is that a crime?” Loud side-eyed the yin guard before turning his attention back to Ye Qing. “Are you selling, human?”

Even the speaker’s normal voice was so loud that it deafened the ears and inflicted a horrible headache upon everyone who was in the vicinity. As for the ghosts, the weakest ones straight up exploded into a puff of yin qi, and those who were lucky enough to survive the noise barrage hurriedly ran away. It was chaos.

One might imagine that the speaker was a tall, imposing ghost. They could even be a giant for all they knew. But in reality, the speaker was no bigger than a human child. A human boy to be exact.

The yin guard knew it would be folly to underestimate him because of his size, however. In fact, the ghost boy was as strong as he was famous.

It seemed obvious, but Loud was very loud. Originally a human child who was killed by lightning, Loud’s voice was as loud as thunder and possessed the ability to tear most ghosts asunder. It was why he was considered a powerhouse even in the yin world.

Ye Qing had read about Loud before, but this was the first time he saw him with his own eyes. His name definitely fit his volume.

“I can offer you one cycle of yin lifespan, young man. Will you sell it to me?”

Once again, a voice interrupted Ye Qing’s train of thought. This time, it belonged to a hunch-backed old lady carrying an oil lamp that glowed a dark green color. The old lady didn’t have a face, however. More accurately, her face was plastered at the back of her skull.

“Granny Lampflower...” Ye Qing’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately recalled the Stranger’s description.

Granny Lampflower was an evil spirit born from the light of a lamp. Shaped like an old lady, her face was on the back of her skull, not the front. She carried an oil lamp that never goes out, and she prefers to manifest herself after midnight when everyone has extinguished their lights. If she encountered someone on the streets, she would offer to guide them home. Once there, she would kill and devour the insides of everyone who lived inside that house.

Most ghosts were malicious by nature, but Granny Lampflower was vile even compared to them.

What’s with this Yin Token? Why is it attractive to these monsters?

“One cycle of yin lifespan. Are you trading or not?” The face behind Granny Lampflower’s skull asked again.

Ye Qing didn’t answer. Granny Lampflower was talking about a person’s lifespan after they died. Yang lifespan was the amount of time someone could live in the yang world, and it was predetermined unless you were a warrior. But yin lifespan was different. It referred to the amount of good fortune, virtues and achievements they had accrued, and the longer their yin lifespan, the better the service, status, and respect they would receive after they joined the afterlife. It was why people with long yin lifespans were normally made into official deities after they died.

Generally speaking, yin lifespan was accumulated by being virtuous, performing good deeds, and making worthwhile achievements when someone was still alive. The better one’s virtue and achievements, the longer their yin lifespan to become. Evil, horrible people normally possessed a short yin lifespan, so the second they joined the afterlife, they would be thrown into the Eighteen Hells to atone for their sins.

This was what Granny Lampflower was referring to. It was very attractive to dying people and the ghosts of Fengdu.

Ye Qing wasn’t very tempted though. He wasn’t even in his twenties yet. Why would he worry about his life in the afterlife when he still had so much time in the world of the living?

“Hahaha... are you stupid, Lampflower? He’s young and full of life! Why the heck would he want your yin lifespan?” Loud taunted.

“Human, I’ll pay you a thousand yin gold. Give me the Yin Token.” Loud looked at Ye Qing next and threatened, “I’m doing this for your own good. Countless ghosts have set their sights on your Yin Token, and there is no way you’ll be able to keep it. It’s not worth losing your life over a shitty token, is it?”

Ye Qing frowned. As Loud said, he could feel a lot of ghosts watching him from the shadows. There was one problem though. Can someone tell me what the fuck this token is used for? How can I sell something when I don’t even know what it’s used for, much less its value?

“Loud, Lampflower, can you give me face and leave this token to me?” The yin guard asked with a deep frown.

“And why would we do that?” Loud scoffed in disdain. “You look like you wield a lot of authority, but you’re really just a dog. Why would we lower ourselves to your level?”

“You dare!” The yin guard lost his cool after receiving a terrible insult in front of so many people. Roaring, his clothes popped like a balloon as he transformed into a blue-faced ghost with huge, long fangs and yin fire spitting out of his mouth. Now over three meters tall, the yin guard raised his millstone-sized foot and stepped on Loud. The ghost boy looked like an ant compared to the foot.

Ye Qing immediately darted a few steps away from the yin guard for fear of getting hit by the attack. Loud had no such qualms, however. His childish face was overflowing with arrogance as he declared, “Out of my way!”

Rumble!

The thunderous shout blew the yin guard’s foot away and annihilated the foolish ghosts who stood too close to the battlefield to watch the show. The records hadn’t exaggerated when they said that Loud’s shout possessed the power to tear a hundred ghosts asunder.

Seeing that the attack had failed, the yin guard roared and swung his Soulstealing Chain—now as thick as a baby’s arm—at Loud. A hideous, several inches scar erupted from the road, and Loud took some serious damage as well.

“HAH!” Furious, Loud opened his mouth and shouted even louder. It sent the yin guard flying all the way to a stone pillar on the far end of the street.

As the yin guard stifled a groan, his expression suddenly turned ugly when he realized something. A few breaths later, he shrank back to his original size and declared, “Stop! We’ve been had!”

“Hmm?” Loud noticed that something was wrong and stopped in his tracks as well.

The yin guard was hot-tempered, but he wasn’t a powder keg that might explode at the slightest spark either, much less someone who would break his own rules and fight Loud in the middle of the Yin Market.

The reason he did was because his anger had spiraled out of control. Specifically, someone had done something to fan his flames of anger into an inferno.

“It’s Angry Ghost.”

Angry Ghost was a ghost of someone who died while full of anger. Possessed by the anger they felt prior to their deaths, the Angry Ghost loved nothing more than to observe an argument. If someone were to argue in the Angry Ghost’s presence, it would fan their fury until they started fighting.

Their strange behavior earlier was most likely caused by the Angry Ghost.

“Shit! Lampflower and that human are gone!” Loud suddenly exclaimed in realization.