Stranger Danger

Chapter 371: I Am Ye Qing, And I’m About To Die

“He can’t die, at least not now.” Greenlake explained smilingly, “He’s a member of the Ghost Tower, and he’s both strong and wields enough authority to check our location. We’re in the yin world right now. If we kill him now, there’s a good chance the master of the Ghost Tower would find out about our transgression. That would be very bad.”

“Makes sense.” Ye Qing nodded before asking, “You helped me, didn’t you?”

Seventh Young Master might have experienced a swift defeat, but he wasn’t actually weak. In fact, he was a powerful Phenomenon-class Stranger. Although Ye Qing wasn’t a normal Spirit Purifier himself, and his strongest abilities just so happened to be the bane of ghosts, it still should’ve taken him a lot of energy to defeat him on his own.

Ye Qing keenly sensed the ghosts Seventh Young Master were controlling were far weaker than they should be. It was like someone was keeping their powers suppressed. Seventh Young Master himself just stood there like a training dummy when he unleashed his ultimate attack. Since he had nothing to do with it, it could only be Greenlake.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if you weren’t strong enough to end things swiftly,” Greenlake admitted honestly.

“Let’s talk later. We need to leave the Yin Market first,” Ye Qing declared. Killing Seventh Young Master would most likely alert the Ghost Tower that something was wrong, but there was no saying that capturing him wouldn’t result in the same thing. Besides, if there was a Seventh Young Master, who was to say that there wasn’t a Young Master Eight or Nine lusting after their riches as well? The sooner they got out of this palace, the better.

Greenlake replied with a gentle smile, “As you wish, husband.”

“But how are we going to do that?” Another question occurred to Ye Qing.

He knew that everyone would automatically be ejected from the Yin Market as soon as dawn broke, but that was the only method he knew. Considering the circumstances, he seriously didn’t want to leave his fate to luck and hope for the best.

“How about we take off our clothes?”

He remembered Mank Ee saying that the reason one must wear a set of burial clothes before entering the Yin Market was because yin and yang were natural opposites that repelled each other. If he tried to enter the Yin Market without it, it wouldn’t have worked. Maybe the same principle would work here.

“Excuse me?” Greenlake was dumbfounded for a moment. Then, she began shaking a little with amusement. “Oh, husband. You’re not trying to eject yourself out of the Yin Market by exposing your yang qi, are you?”

“Er... I’m assuming it doesn\'t work?” Ye Qing rubbed his nose.

“When someone crosses into the yin world, they must wear a set of burial clothes to prevent the clash between yin or yang from ejecting back into the yang world. But after you entered the Yin Market, the boundaries between the two worlds became solid once more. Naturally, you won’t be able to cross it via mundane means.”

Greenlake teased him, “In other words, you won’t be able to make it out even if you strip down to your underwear.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you for answering my question.” Ye Qing forced down his embarrassment and feigned calmness. Embarrassment is just a condition! If I have no shame, then no one can embarrass me!

“In that case, do you know a way to leave the Yin Market immediately? I would rather not wait until the Ghost Tower or the yin guards search us en masse.”

“You really are a cute man, husband.” Greenlake chuckled and handed him a yellow talisman. “This is a Void Breaching Talisman. It can breach the barrier between the two worlds. You can use it to return to the yang world immediately.”

“Thank you, Miss Bai.” Ye Qing accepted the talisman without hesitation. What was one more debt when he was already neck deep in them?

“One thing, Miss Bai. I don’t like to take without giving anything in return, so whatever your intentions are, I cannot accept these items. Also I will pay you back what I owe when next we meet,” Ye Qing declared and tried to give back the Nature’s Shell Greenlake had given him earlier.

But Greenlake didn’t accept it. She grumbled, “Aren’t we husband and wife? What is mine is yours, right? Wait, did you find a new lover when I wasn’t looking?”

“Sigh... It is natural for the new to replace the old, but I had hoped that our love would last longer than that. You are a cruel man, husband.”

To say that was Ye Qing was confused by her reaction would be an understatement. What’s with this overreaction, sister? I just want to give you back your stuff!

“They say that one day of marriage is equal to a hundred-day relationship, but to think that you’d be so cold, so cruel, so heartless. In that case, I shan’t stay here any longer.”

Greenlake uttered in an aggrieved tone, “Yes, I shall leave. I shall make space for you and your vixen. Hmph!”

Greenlake then ripped apart her own yellow talisman and turned transparent. She looked like she might leave this place at any moment.

Before she left, she gave him a final warning, “But although you’re an unqualified husband, I shan’t be an unworthy wife. I would advise you to leave Auspicious Phoenix Market as soon as possible, husband. Trust me, you won’t want to be around.”

“Wait! At least explain what the heck you mean before you leave! Who are you?” Ye Qing hurriedly shouted.

“I’m Greenlake Bai, husband. Goodbye.”

The next moment, Greenlake disappeared into thin air, leaving behind only her gentle voice.

“I don’t get it.”

Ye Qing frowned deeply. He just could not understand what Greenlake was thinking or what she was trying to do.

“Oh well. I can think after I get out of this place.”

Ye Qing ripped the Void Breaching Talisman, and a strange power erupted from it and surrounded him. The next moment, vertigo struck him with the force of a jackhammer. It only lasted for an instant though. When light hit his eyes, he abruptly realized that he had left the Yin Market.

He wasn’t at Mank Ee’s residence though. He was standing on top of a mountain. To the east, he saw a hint of white peeking out of the horizon. It was going to be daybreak very soon.

“Where is she?”

Ye Qing immediately searched for Greenlake after checking out the horizon. For some reason, he felt like she was setting him up. Unfortunately, he was unable to find her despite searching the nearby area thoroughly.

“Hmm? Why is this on my person?”

Suddenly, Ye Qing discovered a purse hanging on his waist. It was none other than the purse that Greenlake had used to capture Seventh Young Master.

“Something definitely isn’t right about this.”

His fingers clenched around the purse as he licked his lips. His sense of unease was growing stronger and stronger.

A moment of thought later, Ye Qing took out the Annon Sutra and asked, “Is someone plotting to hurt me?”

Ye Qing spat a mouthful of blood on the Annon Sutra, but to his surprise, the blood slid right off the vellum’s smooth surface.

“It won’t answer?!”

Ye Qing frowned before realizing that his question was probably too broad. He had many enemies, and even those he never offended wished him harm for one reason or another. That was probably why the Annon Sutra didn’t answer his question.

“Is Greenlake Bai trying to set me up?” This time, Ye Qing specified the name before spitting another mouthful of blood. The blood slowly seeped into the vellum, but no words appeared.

“Gotcha.”

This was normal. This reaction meant that the Annon Sutra could answer the question, but he would need to offer more blood before he could do so.

Ye Qing proceeded to spit a dozen mouthfuls of blood essence before the Annon Sutra’s bloody words slowly emerged into view.

“I am Ye Qing, and I’m about to die. Why? It’s because someone has framed me for a most heinous crime. And who is the person who set me up? It was none other than a woman named Greenlake Bai. However, is that really her name?”

“Motherfucker! I knew there was a conspiracy!” Ye Qing’s gaze turned cold and steely. “But what did it mean by ‘framing me for a most heinous crime’?

“What is Greenlake plotting?” Ye Qing spat some blood and asked another question, but this time, his blood slid off the vellum again.

“What is it now? Is it because Greenlake isn’t her real name?” Ye Qing frowned deeply.

To be honest, he still hadn’t figured out how the Annon Sutra decided which question it could answer, and what it couldn’t. Sometimes, it felt like he knew why the Annon Sutra wouldn’t answer a certain question—perhaps it was because the question was too broad, or because the question involved someone way above his power level etc—but honestly, he was just guessing.

Sometimes, the Annon Sutra gave him an answer instantly. Sometimes, it took a lot of wrangling before he got the answer he wanted. And sometimes, it just outright ignored him.

To put it simply, it was all up to the Annon Sutra’s mood.

He was certain about one thing, however. The Annon Sutra had never told him a lie. Everything it told up until this point was the truth.

“What is Greenlake’s true name? And where is she right now?” Ye Qing asked tentatively, and this time it properly absorbed his blood. Delighted, Ye Qing hurriedly spat out a dozen mouthfuls of blood essences.

Bloody words slowly appeared on the vellum’s surface:

“I knew a woman in the Yin Market. I told her that my name is Bluehill Ye, and she told me that her name is Greenlake Bai. But is that really her name?”

“Clearly, it isn’t. I gave her a fake name, so she must have given me a fake name as well.”

“In fact, her real name is Bai Xiao—”

The message abruptly stopped at the word ‘Xiao’. In fact, the word ‘Xiao’ kept appearing and disappearing like the Annon Sutra had run into some sort of obstacle.

“What’s going on?” This was the first time he saw the Annon Sutra reacting like this. “Is something stopping it from deducing Greenlake’s true name?”

The next moment, a thick coat of bright red blood enveloped the entire vellum.

......

At an unknown location beneath a peach tree, Greenlake was holding up a mirror. There was a black silhouette inside the mirror that was crouching down and throwing up black water.

As the vomit was trapped within the mirror, the mirror slowly but surely grew darker and dirtier.

“Who’s trying to look into my information and location?”

Greenlake furrowed her brows slightly as she examined her mirror. “Did Ghost Tower discover the theft already? It couldn’t be. It’s not time yet.”

“Is it my convenient husband? Or is it my dear senior uncles, brothers and sisters?”

“Blargh... Blargh...”

Inside the mirror, the black silhouette was still throwing up black water. It eventually grew to the point where black fog was rising inside the mirror, and the mirror itself was deteriorating at a visible rate.

For the first time, Greenlake’s expression grew severe. “This isn’t good. I can’t believe there exists a diviner who can push my Soul Hiding Mirror to this extent.”

......

Back to Ye Qing, the Annon Sutra was still leaking blood. In fact, so much blood had leaked that every inch of ground within twenty meters of the vellum was covered in blood.

Ye Qing was standing beyond the circle of blood and struggling not to panic. This had definitely never happened before.

The next moment, the word “FUCK OFF” appeared on the Annon Sutra’s surface, and the blood began shaking violently. It was like the Strange Artifact was livid with anger.