Stranger Danger

Chapter 397: When The Frogs Cry

Their fists and astral qi met and mingled for an instant. Then, every piece of furniture in the dining hall crumbled into fine powder.

Both Ye Qing and the woman were sent flying, but they quickly met at the center and clashed once more. Now, the entire inn was in serious danger of crumbling.

The woman’s fist art was a gorgeous spectacle. Each punch was like the flowers of spring, colorful, bright and welcoming. But despite the flamboyant display, its power wasn’t weak in the slightest. Her techniques were exquisite, her fist force was overwhelming, and her fist intent seemed almost endless. He supposed he should’ve expected this. Spring was the season that chased away winter after all.

Like a demonic ape, Ye Qing darted all over the place and threw punch after punch with wanton regard and animalistic fervor. His attacks were brutish and forceful, but his incredible agility more than made up for it. For a time, the duo was locked in a stalemate.

Ye Qing knew that he was no match for the woman, however. There were multiple reasons. For one, the woman was also a body tempering warrior. Two, she was a Spirit Master. And three, her mastery of her fist art and her fist intent exceeded his by a considerable margin.

Despite this, he still managed to fight her temporarily stalemate because he wasn’t a pure body tempering warrior. He didn’t walk the path of one power overcoming everything. On top of that, he possessed a prodigious amount of astral qi and spiritual power, so he was overall more nimble than his opponent.

Speaking of movement, something wasn’t quite right about the woman. Her fist art and fist intent were as strong as they came, but her movements felt a little stiff and robotic for some reason. It was almost like she was fighting with just the battle instincts that were drilled into his body for untold years. That was the other reason he was able to hold out for so long.

That said, it was only a matter of time before she overwhelmed him. Even if she didn’t, there was no way he could outlast a Spirit Master.

Iron determination flickered in his eyes as he executed “Illusionist’s Grace” and split into nine illusions. They all charged toward the woman at the same time.

In response, the woman clenched her fists and threw nine punches at each illusion. From a distance, it looked like nine blooming lotuses.

Eight of the silhouettes popped out of existence like bubbles. The real Ye Qing tanked the punch flying toward him head on.

There was a muffled thud as the “Illusionist’s Grace” was dispelled, and his entire body wobbled. Web-like cracks spread out from his feet.

“I knew it!”

Despite this, Ye Qing was delighted. Her strength was prodigious, but since she had to throw nine consecutive punches to ensure that she didn’t miss her target, it was inevitable that each individual punch was a lot weaker than before. Thanks to the “Nine Impetus of Tai Chi” and his tough body, he was able to take the one punch without any issue.

There was a lull between the woman’s movements after she dished out her attack. While she was still recovering, Ye Qing closed the distance and hit her right in the stomach.

“Break Through”

The lone cavalry charges the army. It was do or die.

The woman bent like a prawn as her muscles and bones popped ominously. It was the most effective strike he had landed since fighting her. A faithful believer of kicking a dog when it was down, he appeared behind her, punched her in the spine, and smashed her at least one meter deep into the floor.

Strangely, the woman never made a sound even after receiving the deadly blow. Surely even a mute would’ve let out a grunt of pain or something, right?

Ye Qing was still trying to figure out the woman when a frog’s cry suddenly resounded inside his headspace. The frog cry quickly grew into a chorus of cries and disoriented him.

Farmers often said that one could hear loud frog cries from the paddy fields if it was a harvest year. To them, a frog’s cry was something to be celebrated.

But right here and now, it was a noise that would rob Ye Qing of his life if he didn’t defend against it with all his might.

The frog cries felt like a sharp blade trying to slit his mind in half. The pain was so bad that his control slipped a little, and wisps of his astral qi shot here and there.

“Pwack!”

He threw up a mouthful of fresh blood as he pressed a hand to his forehand. He cycled the “Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” at full force and slowly but surely suppressed the frog cries ravaging his headspace.

“Hehe, you’re a genius alright. Not only do you have a strong body, your spirit is strong enough to withstand my Frog Cry of the Reaper. However, you offended Lord Chu and even injured my darling. No one will be able to save you today, boy.”

It was at this moment the cold, ancient voice spoke up again. The next moment, the frog cries he just suppressed began growing in strength once more.

Ye Qing furrowed his brows and tapped the space in front of him. An invisible shockwave washed out as he executed the “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul”.

If he couldn’t defend against the attack, then he might as well trade wounds with his attacker.

Buzz!

Invisible energies clashed and rippled within the inn. In an instant, a dozen or so Intelligence Guards shuddered, bled from all orifices, and died.

“You are dead!”

An angry shout erupted and caused the inn to groan ominously. Then, a massive frog appeared in the air. Strangely, the frog didn’t have eyes. Blood was flowing out of its pitch black, empty sockets.

There were strange patterns behind the frog’s back. They looked like the face of a laughing ghost. In fact, the face was laughing right now.

On its stomach was a mouth full of rows and rows of sharp teeth.

The frog’s belly swelled and deflated. Then, a booming croak blasted Ye Qing in body, mind, and spirit.

“CROAK!”

The interior of the inn turned ghastly and dark. His brain felt like someone was twisting a knife in it, his mind threatened to tear sunder, his vigor churned like a sea storm, and another mouthful of blood sprayed out of his lips.

Another Spirit Master?

Ye Qing’s eyes were bloodshot, and his heart was heavy as he considered his circumstances. If the woman was a half-baked Spirit Master, then whoever was attacking him with his Yin God was a Spirit Master through and through.

That’s right, the ghastly frog in front of him was the manifestation of a Spirit Master’s Yin God. Although his spirit was far out of the ordinary, he still wasn’t strong enough to go up against a Spirit Master who had created their Yin God. As a result, the single exchange had suppressed his demonic thought.

“CROAK!”

Unrelenting, the ghastly frog let loose another booming crack that caused blood to seep out of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. His complexion was as pale as a sheet, and his face looked like he had pulled a couple of all-nighters.

That wasn’t all. Four ugly ghosts with twin horns on their heads and shrouded by a ghastly white flame swung their swords straight at him.

“Hmph!”

Ye Qing growled and swung his hands at the ghosts like sabers.

“Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art”

Red lotuses descended from above as his hand knives cleaved through the ghosts faster than they could kill him. Hellish red flames seeped out of their wounds and turned them into ash in an instant.

At the same time, a moderate-sized wound appeared on the frog’s stomach. Yin qi mixed with wisps of Red Lotus Hellfire poured out of the wound like smoke.

The ghost frog tried to extinguish the flames with its yin qi, but it just refused to die no matter what. Its face was contorted with pain and anger.

Ye qing wasn’t doing so hot, however. His head was hurting like a bitch because he had used up all of his spiritual power in one go.

Compared to “Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul”, the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” obviously did more damage against yin creatures and ghosts. That was why he chose to attack the ghosts with it.

The effects were obvious. The attack was such that even the Yin God suffered a moderate wound.

Time to go!

Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to dash toward the exit.

There was no reason to stay and fight an opponent he couldn’t defeat.

As expected, crossbow bolts flew toward him the second he dashed out of the building.

He didn’t need to dodge them though. A black astral qi and a white astral qi appeared around his body and formed a tai chi circle. It altered the trajectory of the crossbow bolts and caused them to smack into one another. Someone who didn’t know what was going on might even think that the Intelligence Guards had purposely missed Ye Qing.

The Astral Breaking Crossbow was a fearsome weapon, but it failed to stop Ye Qing even a little.

It was at this moment someone suddenly burst out of the ground, grabbed Ye Qing’s legs, and pulled him downward.

It was none other than the warrioress he fought earlier.

The woman’s veil was nowhere to be seen. It had probably been destroyed by Ye Qing’s final blow.

Her face didn’t look human. Not exactly. Her eyes were lifeless, her pupils were dilated, and Ye Qing could sense no air flowing in or out of her nose or mouth. Her face was covered in white fur, and there were a pair of fangs on the corners of her mouth.

“A Vampire[1]...”

Ye Qing finally understood what she was when he saw her appearance.

The woman was probably a body tempering Spirit Master when she was still alive. After she died, someone refined her body into a weapon. That was why she possessed the body and strength of a Spirit Master, but none of the intelligence or awareness a Spirit Master should possess. It would also explain why her fist art seemed a little stiff and unnatural.

Now wasn’t the time to think about such things though. He needed to get out as soon as possible.

Ye Qing detonated his astral qi and forced her to loosen her grip. Once he was out, he kicked her in the head and sent her crashing to the street like a meteor. At the same time, the momentum pushed him further toward safety.

Unfortunately, he had just traveled ten meters or so when a boy about five or six years old appeared on the rooftop directly in front of him. He was wearing a cold smile on his face.

“You think you can run?” The boy asked, but his voice sounded nothing like a child’s.

He was the other Spirit Master Ye Qing had fought briefly. He was also the boy sitting next to the woman earlier in the inn.

Clearly, the boy wasn’t a real boy. He was an old monster.

That short pause was all the woman needed to get up from the ground and catch up with him.

Clearly, she was the boy’s puppet.

“What is your name, senior?” Ye Qing sighed. No one wanted to be stuck between an old man and a dead woman, not to mention that Chu Renhe and a truck load of Intelligence Guards were watching from the sidelines. This escape was looking impossible.

“Hehehe! I’ll tell you after you’re dead!” The boy let out a harsh, evil laugh before he and the woman pounced toward Ye Qing at the same time.

The boy was a keeper of the Intelligence Department, Tong Zhen. He thought his puppet alone would be enough to kill Ye Qing, but the young man had wildly surpassed his expectations. Not only did he manage to repel his puppet, he even dealt a moderate wound to his Yin God.

That was why he showed himself. It was to kill Ye Qing for certain.

His name might be Tong Zhen (Childish Innocence), but he wasn’t childish or innocent at all. He wasn’t going to make the stupid mistake of talking too much and giving Ye Qing the time to call for help or something.

In fact, he went for the killing blow as soon as he was done speaking.

Ye Qing sighed. “You done watching, Brother Chen? If you are, then get your ass over already. If not, I’ll take you to the grave with me.”

“Your trickery won’t work on me!” Tong Zhen sneered. He moved faster and shot five powerful beams of force at Ye Qing.

Tong Zhen himself moved even faster than his attack, however. By the time Ye Qing neutralized the force beams with his “Nine Impetus of Tai Chi”, Tong Zhen was already on top of him and moving to crush his skull.

“Wayayaya! Who dares to attack my Brother Ye? Are you courting death?!”

It was at this moment a ridiculous shout broke out from the distance. There was a low rumble, and a massive hand grabbed Tong Zhen’s whole body from behind. At the same time, the man swung his left elbow and smashed the woman so hard that she left a ten-meter long mark on the floor.

“Don’t worry, brother! No one can harm a hair on your person as long as I’m around!” The man declared and shot Ye Qing a sincere-looking smile.

1. Chinese vampire. Basically zombie slash vampire. ?