Stranger Danger

Chapter 816: Tiger Fight

Right now, Ye Qing was covered in a layer of ominous death qi. His clothes were tattered, and a pair of iron nails were stuck on his forehead.

If someone were to look closely, they would discover that the iron nails were squirming slowly as if they were alive. At the same time, a stream of energy of decay was flooding into his forehead.

“You’re not bad, brat. You’re the first person ever to leave my stomach alive,” said the black tiger Tiger Master Gong had transformed into.

“You’re not too bad yourself. You’re the first person ever to dare to eat me. I taste pretty good, don’t I?”

As soon as Ye Qing landed on the ground, he took one step forward and unleashed his vigor. A surge of dark yellow aura shot toward the sky and scattered the death qi surrounding him. The iron nails on his forehead disintegrated into nothing as well.

Despite this, a ball of black qi remained inside his forehead. It was the iron nails’ energy of decay.

Tiger Master Gong’s “Black Tiger Spirit Devouring Art” was surprisingly potent. It had transformed his stomach into a spatial furnace overflowing with black flames that were fueled by death qi and resentment. Not only that, an army of resentful souls and chang ghosts had tried to consume him.

But of course, neither the black flame nor the ghosts could harm a hair on his person. His vigor was like a great river, and all he needed to do to keep them at bay was unleashing his vigor.

The iron nails were a different story though. In fact, it was the first real blow he had received since the fight began. The two iron nails existed in between the seams of reality and illusion, and it was somehow able to ignore his physical body and attack his mind directly.

Even worse, the two iron nails had transformed into a pair of dragon serpents after invading his headspace. Overflowing with energy of decay, they wreaked havoc inside his head and even attempted to corrupt his ying god.

Although his physical body was strong, he had not yet converted his yin god into a yang god. One could say that it was his one and only weakness right now. Of course, the mind had always been a body-tempering Grandmaster’s biggest weakness, though of course his mind was much more stronger and secure compared to the average Grandmaster.

The bad news was that Nail Grandma was a Trueman whose martial art specifically attacked the mind and spirit. Strong he might be, he still had a ways before he could reach her level. The good news was that the gap wasn’t so big that he was completely helpless against her attacks, not to mention that he was protected by the Profound Yellow Mother Qi in both body and spirit. The surprise attack had definitely caught him off guard, but he was quickly able to suppress the dragon serpents with his Heavenly Demon Yin God right after.

Unfortunately, he lost his chance to disembowel Tiger Master Gong from within because of the delay. It was fine though. There was always the next chance.

“Not at all. You’re the most disgusting thing I ever ate, which is why my ghosts are the ones who will devour you in my steed!”

Tiger Master Gong let out a savage laugh before opening his mouth wide. Countless chang ghosts poured out of his throat and flew straight for Ye Qing.

What was surprising was that some of these chang ghosts were Trueman stage. Tiger Master Gong’s “Black Tiger Spirit Devouring Art” couldn’t just digest all living things and turn their remains into his power, it could also enslave their souls and make them serve him for eternity.

Unfortunately for Tiger Master Gong, he met the wrong match. In just one mighty punch, Ye Qing turned the sea of chang ghosts into ash.

“Dammit!”

Tiger Master Gong roared in frustration and loss when he saw how easily Ye Qing had annihilated his ghost army. But before he could finish roaring, he sensed danger and hurriedly surrounded himself in a cyclone of black wind.

If the clouds obeyed the dragon, then the wind obeyed the tiger. As soon as the black wind rose, his aura grew much, much more powerful than before. Everything within tens of meters of him were annihilated by the black cyclone.

It was useless though. Once again, Ye Qing destroyed the black cyclone in one punch before appearing on top of his head. He brought his foot down.

Rumble!

The massive tiger was sent plummeting into the ground like a meteor. He kicked up a huge cloud of dust and a gigantic crater.

“Graahhh!”

The black tiger roared and struggled to rise. Ye Qing merely sneered and brought down his right foot again, causing Tiger Master Gong’s half-raised head to sink right back into the earth.

This was just the beginning. Ye Qing stomped Tiger Master Gong again and again until it felt like an earthquake was beseting Goddess City. Despite his size, Tiger Master Gong was slowly but surely being buried into the underground, unable to move even a muscle.

Ye Qing was just gathering his strength for one last stomp when he saw Nail Grandma pulling out another iron nail from her leg. Then, she tossed it in his direction.

The iron nail flashed through the air before disappearing all of a sudden. When it reappeared, it had somehow nailed itself to Ye Qing’s right leg.

Ye Qing immediately felt a strange energy trapping his right foot in place. As a result, he was unable to bring his foot down and stomp Tiger Master Gong to the afterlife.

Before he could react, Nail Grandma tossed out another three iron nails and nailed his left leg and his arms in place. With this, Ye Qing’s limbs were completely shackled.

Tiger Master Gong immediately seized the opportunity to jump to his feet. At the same time, nine figures dashed out of their hiding spots and attacked Ye Qing together.

All nine figures were extremely powerful. Even the weakest among them was a late-stage Spirit Master. They were the elders of Goddess City, and they had been waiting for this golden opportunity since the beginning.

However, a black fish and a white fish appeared and swam in a circle around Ye Qing at the last possible moment. All of the attacks were reflected back at the attackers with even greater power than before. Caught completely off guard, the nine elders were bowled over by their own attacks.

“Scatter!”

Ye Qing growled as he swelled and contracted his muscles in rapid succession. A dark yellow qi circulated throughout his body, and all four nails crumbled into nothing at the same time.

As soon as he was free, Ye Qing made a beeline for Nail Grandma. Every step he took felt like the footsteps of a giant, and anyone foolish enough to stand in his way was bowled over or sent flying into the air.

Nail Grandma did not panic. She kept pulling more nails from her legs and flicking it at Ye Qing, aiming for his limbs, internal organs, and even his face.

Each iron nail was imbued with some sort of anomalous energy that made it immune to astral qi or the physical body. As a result, they passed right through his physical body like it did not exist and hit his soul and yin god directly. If it hit a limb, he would not be able to move that limb for a moment. If it hit his internal organs, his body would suffer a temporary decline. And if it hit his face, then he would be disoriented for a brief moment.

Despite shielding his Yin God with the Profound Yellow Mother Qi and his demonic thought, despite the fact that not a single one of the nails was able to hurt his mind for real, he was unable to prevent its effects entirely. It was extremely annoying.

Not only that, Tiger Master Gong had jumped back into the battle after catching his breath. This time, he learned from his mistakes and avoided clashing directly against Ye Qing. Instead, he transformed into a black tiger once more and kited Ye Qing with his ghosts, wind, Magia and secret arts.

The rest of the elders were unleashing their respective attacks at Ye Qing as well.

Despite their combined strength, they were unable to pin Ye Qing down. Not only that, he was slowly but steadily gaining the upper hand as he adapted to their techniques. Unfortunately, it would be some time before he could tip the tides of battle in his favor completely.

While this was going on, a gigantic disc had appeared in the sky of Goddess City. It was so big that it blotted out the sky, but it was also invisible and intangible. To be specific, the wind and clouds came together to form the shape of a fengshui luopan. Countless demonic runes and strange restrictions adorned its surface, and their light came together to form the word “Fortune”.

Ye Qing had no idea this was happening right above his head.