Stranger Danger

Chapter 539: The Demonic Ape Crushes The Arhat

The sword qi was called the Tai Bai Hepta Metal Sword Qi. Known as the sharpest sword qi in the world bar none, killing was its bread and butter. Its mere presence alone filled the world with an air of desolation and murder, chilling Ouyang De down to the very bones.

No wonder Master of Swords was able to defeat a Grandmaster. Even Ouyang De, the strongest Grandmaster in Bei You sensed true danger from the sword qi. He had no choice but to stop in his tracks and defend himself.

Ye Qing hadn’t missed the Wisdom King of Joy’s arrival, of course. He immediately rushed toward the newcomer in an attempt to stop him.

It was almost never a good idea to quit halfway after making a decision, and Ye Qing intended to see his through until the end. Joy Bodhisattva must survive no matter what.

“You killed my junior sister… YOU KILLED MY JUNIOR SISTER! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

Unfortunately, he hadn’t even taken a single step when the Joy Arhat suddenly let out a crazed howl and rushed toward him.

At first, Ye Qing paid the Joy Arhat no attention whatsoever. Generally speaking, body-tempering warriors were clumsy and slow, and the Joy Arhat was a body-tempering warrior who relied on brute strength to overwhelm his enemies. He highly doubted that the monk would be able to catch up to his “Illusionist’s Grace”.

However, the brute grew bigger and bigger with each step he took. The tattoos of naked women on his body were also swaying their voluptuous bodies and moaning like they were alive. Then, the tattoos flew away from his body and danced around him, releasing layers of golden light and transforming into runes that covered every inch of the Joy Arhat’s body.

A few breaths later, the Joy Arhat transformed into a ten-meter-tall Golden Arhat with three heads and six arms. Golden light circulated throughout his body, and semi-transparent images of celestial women danced around him. The two heads that had sprouted beside his head, and his three right arms were female as well. It was an expression of the belief that men should appear on the left side, and women the right especially during funerals.

In this form, the Joy Arhat’s aura was no weaker than the Half-Step Grandmaster, Master of Swords.

Yi Pin—the old man had been hiding this whole time—called out, “That’s the Trailokya[1] Joy Arhat Golden Body! Be careful!”

After his transformation was complete, the Joy Arhat bent his knees a little and leaped into the sky at unbelievable speed. Such was his force that the ground within sixty meters of his feet crumbled. Once he had reached the highest point, his six arms formed a circle, and his fingers crisscrossed to form the shape of a lotus flower.

“Divine Palm of Trailokya”

Boom!

The palm strike didn’t even reach Ye Qing yet, and the ground within sixty meters of him abruptly exploded into a massive pit that was shaped like a lotus flower.

Ye Qing didn’t falter, however. Standing as tall as a mountain, he looked up at the Joy Arhat and let out a mighty roar of his own.

“RAAAAHHHHH!!!”

His body began swelling rapidly in size, and black fur as tough as steel needles grew out of his skin. He had transformed into a demonic ape in just the blink of an eye.

As soon as his transformation was complete, a dark, heavy and demonic aura enveloped the world. The maverick energy shot up into the air and warped the sky itself.

“Chaos Demon Ape Body”

This was the first time he fully unleashed his Chaos Demon Ape Body after nearly entering the adept level of the “Chaos Demon Ape Body Tempering Sutra”. Compared to his previous transformations, his Chaos Demon Ape Body was a lot bigger, stronger, and intimidating than before. Size and strength weren’t the only things he had improved either. Every muscle was exquisitely sculpted, and even his hair possessed enough strength to stab right through a wall.

Fueled by seemingly infinite strength, Ye Qing felt like there was nothing in the world that he couldn’t crush with his bare hands. So what if you have a Golden Body? I have a Chaos Demon Ape Body myself. Let’s see who will remain standing when all is said and done!

As the “Divine Palm of Trailokya” descended toward him, Ye Qing made a fist and punched up at the sky. He was now a Chaos Demon Ape, and a Chaos Demon Ape was a foolish, fearless being that would dare to give even the sun and the moon a new make-up!

When his punch took form, the sky darkened, and it felt as if the world itself had been turned upside down. The very fabric of space was punched clean through before his fist slammed into the Joy Arhat’s palm.

BOOM!

The resulting impact reminded Ye Qing of the time he traveled in the Yin Yang Gap. It sounded like two mountains crashing into one another at full speed, and the shockwaves it generated were such that even the God Sealing Curse’s chains were shattered into pieces. The thunderous rumbles would spread far, far away and astound ordinary people and warriors alike

The ground beneath Ye Qing’s feet stretched inward like it was a piece of cloth before exploding into fine powder. Considering the sheer force of the impact, the reaction was all too natural.

The Joy Arhat shot through the clouds like an arrow and vanished in the blink of an eye. Ye Qing shrank back to his human form and threw up a mouthful of blood.

“Pwack!”

Ye Qing was swaying on his feet and looking a little pale. After transforming into a Trailokya Arhat, the Joy Arhat’s strength was almost equal to that of the old Chen Ah Sheng. It was inevitable he sustained some injuries after clashing against him head on.

But of course, the injury wasn’t particularly serious. A single breath was all he needed to heal away most of it.

One of the biggest advantages of a body-tempering warrior was their insane recovery speed. So long as the injury wasn’t mental or fatal, they could recover from just about anything in a short time.

Ye Qing didn’t relax, however. If anything, his expression looked uglier than ever. It had taken him a few breaths to send the Joy Arhat flying, and that was all the time the Wisdom King of Joy needed to reach Joy Bodhisattva and thrust a finger at her forehead.

“Fuck!”

Ouyang De blanched. Ye Qing blanched.

Ouyang De was angry at himself for being too lax and careless, whereas Ye Qing was thinking how he was going to make his escape with Yi Pin.

Master of Swords was leaning on his sword for support and panting heavily, but he was laughing triumphantly. And why wouldn’t he? Despite his enemies’ best efforts, they had ultimately succeeded.

Or did they?

Right before the Wisdom King of Joy’s finger would pierce through Joy Bodhisattva’s forehead, the seemingly unconscious woman abruptly opened her eyes. As if time and space themselves were frozen, his finger immediately stopped dead and refused to move an inch further.

Joy Bodhisattva watched the Wisdom King of Joy with pure, clear eyes. She said indifferently, “So you’re the one who betrayed me.”

Joy Bodhisattva’s face was as calm as her voice. It was almost as if she was a third party observer and not the person at the center of this assassination plot.

“It is I.”

Although Joy Bodhisattva’s awakening surprised the Wisdom King of Joy, he didn’t look too worried. It was because she was currently bound by the God Sealing Curse, and the one who cast it was none other than the Master of Curses.

Just like Master of Swords, Master of Curses was also a vice leader of Endless Sand and a Half-Step Grandmaster. But unlike Master of Swords, Master of Curses earned his fame not through martial power, but his slippery, indefensible curses.

A curse caster was someone who cursed others through verbal incantations. They could cast horrifying, anomalous curses from the shadows and slay their enemies without a trace.

One of a curse caster’s greatest advantage was their ability to cast a deadly curse without having to make contact with their target in any way. They could simply cast their curses from a safe place, and rarely anyone could detect it until the curse had fully taken shape.

Worse still, curses came in all shapes and sizes. It could range from something as minor as flu or ill luck, to a plague or natural disaster that could wipe out an entire region. It was why curses were as enigmatic as they were feared.

Master of Curses was originally a member of the Curse Sect before he joined Endless Sand. He operated within Yan as a killer-for-hire who would do anything for money. He had cursed countless warriors to death, and even created a plague that annihilated a town of tens of thousands just because he felt like it.

A genius in the way of curses, the Master of Curses was ranked seventeenth on the Human Champions Ranking and seventy-ninth on the Black List. His crimes were so atrocious that the imperial court and the jianghu—both orthodox and unorthodox—wanted him dead. As a result, Master of Curses had no choice but to book it and escape all the way to Chu. Not long after that, Xiong Kuohai, head of Endless Sand would recruit him into his ranks.

After joining Endless Sand, Master of Curses kept a much lower profile and never committed something as atrocious as killing an entire town again. However, some of Endless Sand’s enemies would occasionally drop dead for seemingly no reason whatsoever since his joining. It was entirely possible that Master of Curses had a hand in it.

Master of Curses knew many bizarre and anomalous curses, and the one he was most familiar with was the God Sealing Curse.

1. Trailokya literally means "three worlds". It can also refer to "three spheres," "three planes of existence," and "three realms". ☜