Stranger Danger

“Fuck! They’re so useless!” Ye Qing swore while sneaking a glance behind his back. He sucked in a deep breath before accelerating once more. As he ventured deeper into the forest, his surroundings steadily grew darker and darker. The air itself seemed to be chock full of doom and gloom and misfortune. And of course, the number of human skin Strangers chasing after him was still growing by the second.

The sea of human skin Strangers would’ve been a huge threat against most opponents, but unfortunately, a Stranger the size of a hill wasn’t one of them. Like ants, a single stomp was all the bull Stranger needed to crush an entire group of human skin Strangers into pieces. A couple more stomps later, and they couldn’t even maintain their shape anymore.

Ye Qing was still running for his life when he encountered a wall of thick fog. It was then he heard a crazed, evil laughter from behind the fog.

“Kekeke! You’re here, you’re finally here! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, kekeke…”

Ye Qing could hardly stop now, so he simply clenched his teeth and got ready for anything. A few seconds later, he saw the silhouette of a giant. It was as tall as a Gale Bird, but its width was no less impressive. It looked like a mountain of flesh from a distance.

“Fang Nianshui?” Ye Qing exclaimed in shock when the bloated giant’s face finally came into view. It belonged to none other than Fang Nianshui.

Ye Qing quickly realized that he was mistaken though. The closer he got, the clearer the giant became, and it wasn’t long before he realized that the mountain of flesh wasn’t a mountain of flesh at all. It was a body that had been cobbled together through an unimaginable amount of human skins. Covered in wrinkles and cracks from head to toe, it looked like an unbelievably ugly lump that had been stitched together using countless pieces of dirty fabric. Ye Qing could confidently say that he had never seen something so ugly and bloated in his life.

The giant’s face was somehow even uglier. The face was technically Fang Nianshui, but it was a giant face grafted together using countless heads. There were mouths, nostrils, eye sockets and ears all over the flesh. Ye Qing wasn’t even sure how the monster managed to cobble them together into Fang Nianshui’s face, but one thing for certain, it truly was the epitome of ugliness.

It was at this moment Ye Qing noticed that a disgusting, pitch black qi was constantly pouring out of the seams between the giant’s skins. Through the seams, he could just barely see a black dagger about three inches in length sticking out of its heart. It was also the source of the black qi.

“That dagger! That must be the Strange Artifact Chu Nianjiu spoke of!” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization.

The black qi flowing out of the dagger looked exactly the same as the black qi possessing the human skin Strangers. If he wasn’t mistaken, the dagger must be the culprit behind the human skin Strangers!

Ye Qing perked up not because he discovered the truth—what did the truth matter when he was moments away from death?—but because the human skin giant looked quite powerful. And since it was powerful, it should be able to delay the giant bull behind his back for a significant amount of time. Worst comes to worse, it should still buy him enough time to escape to safety!

“Heh! I’m counting on you, brother!” He did not forget me even after he passed onto the afterlife. You’re such a good guy, Nianshui!

Ye Qing charged straight toward the human skin giant while wearing a giant grin on his face.

The hatred on the human skin giant’s face deepened when it saw Ye Qing charge straight toward it. It immediately clenched its fist and punched down on the young man. As it did so, black qi flowed into the fist before bursting into black flames. It seemed intent on burning Ye Qing into ashes.

Ye Qing did not alter his trajectory though. He kept running forward like he was planning to commit double suicide with the human skin giant. But right before the punch would’ve hit him, Ye Qing abruptly sped up, hugged his head, and rolled right between the giant’s legs. Just like that, he was out of danger and free to run to his heart’s content once more.

It was obvious that the human skin giant did not have a good head on its shoulders, or rather, it was acting purely based on its instinct. After losing Ye Qing, he froze for a second before flying into a rage and roaring on top of its lungs. It proceeded to punch the giant tree beside it and shattered the trunk in one hit.

Rumble rumble!

It was at this moment the giant bull finally made it to the human skin giant. As soon as the tail-woman entrenched above the bull’s head spotted, she immediately let out a cry of dismay and horror, “How ugly! How can such an ugly thing exist in the world? Ugly, ugly, ugly! Quick, Bull! Stomp him to death before he pollutes our eyes!”

The human skin giant was already pissed off in the first place, and now an excellent target had just presented itself. It let out another roar before charging straight toward the bull.

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Well done, brother! Naturally, Ye Qing was thrilled when he saw the human skin giant charging toward the bull Stranger out of the corner of his eyes. He even gave his new best friend a thumbs-up in his heart.

On the bull’s head, the tail-woman let out a disdainful snort and swayed left and right like she was shaking her head. Even the strange bull was snorting in disdain—no, it was an attack! A powerful shockwave greater than the one it had unleashed earlier abruptly spread out in every direction! Like a tsunami, it crushed every tree, every grass, and every rock that dared to stand in its path!

Ye Qing was about fifty meters away from the two giants when the shockwave smacked him in the back and sent him hurtling across the air. By the time he climbed back to his feet and looked behind him, he realized that the gloomy woods behind him had been razed to the ground, leaving only an empty clearing behind!

The sea of human skin Strangers were nowhere to be seen. The human skin giant standing directly in the path of the shockwave was completely gone as well!

“Motherfucker! You’re useless, Nianshui!” Ye Qing cursed when he realized that the human skin giant had been annihilated. Despite its scary appearance, it was just a paper tiger! It couldn’t even survive a sneeze from the enemy!

Ka-thunk!

“What the!?” Suddenly, a dagger fell from the sky and landed right in front of Ye Qing. It was none other than the dagger he had seen embedded inside the human skin giant’s body earlier. The shockwave caused by the bull Stranger’s sneeze had probably blown it all the way to this place!

“It’s considered bad luck to turn down free stuff! Especially if it’s from the heavens themselves!” Ye Qing declared in justification of his greed. Every Strange Artifact was a priceless relic in its own right. He might not have wanted it when it was still embedded in the giant’s body, it would be foolish of him not to take it now!

But of course, he wasn’t bold enough to grab it directly. The dagger looked completely unassuming now, but the horrifying things it had committed—peeling skin off both living and dead people, conjuring armies of human skins, and even creating a monster straight out of one’s worst nightmares—was still fresh in his mind. That was why he brought out the Annon Sutra. He wrapped it around the dagger and tucked it all under his shirt.

If the Annon Sutra could suppress even the mysterious blood, then it should have no problems suppressing the dagger as well.

With that done, Ye Qing continued to flee for his life. He hadn’t forgotten that a bloodthirsty Stranger was right behind him!

……

On a previously scenic hillside, Chu Nianjiu was floating in the air and surveying the ruined and collapsed mess in front of him. He looked grave and solemn.

“What happened here, my lord?” Zheng Tao and Wu Biao blurted from behind when they saw the destruction. They were searching the area opposite of Ye Qing and Chen Zheng when suddenly, they saw the contact talisman exploding in the air. While they were rushing over to their comrades’ rescue, the earth suddenly shook as if an earthquake was happening. They already had a bad feeling then, but it would seem that things were even worse than they had imagined!

“Have you seen Captain Chen and Ye Qing, my lord?” Zheng Tao asked urgently.

“No, I have not. The presence of a powerful Stranger permeates this place. I suspect that Chen Zheng and Ye Qing must have used a contact talisman after encountering a serious threat!” Chu Nianjiu speculated. Unfortunately, he was just a little too far away from the duo when the contact talisman was fired. Now, he could only pray that Chen Zheng was still alive. Otherwise, he was going to catch hell from a certain sword maniac.

How bothersome!

Chu Nianjiu scratched his head in irritation as he observed his surroundings. “Looking at the marks on the ground, it looks like the powerful Stranger that caused all this destruction had gone that way. We should follow it. Let’s hope… that they’re both fine!”

Chu Nianjiu took a sip of alcohol before taking a step. As if magic, he shot ten meters forward like the wind. Zheng Tao and Wu Biao hurriedly chased after him. The Wine Gentleman might look like he was sauntering, but in fact he was moving at high speed. The two watchmen had to give everything they got just to keep up with him.

As they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, their astonishment steadily grew as well. The hoofprints were the size of a lake, and countless trees lay broken or shattered on the ground. The forest itself had been split in half. They could only wonder what kind of Stranger had caused this destruction.

“Wait, this presence… it belongs to the human skin Strangers!” Suddenly, Chu Nianjiu stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes in concentration. Then, he walked up to a shattered tree and lay his hand on the fragments. “Yes, this was definitely where the Strange Artifact was!”

Chu Nianjiu hurriedly rushed forward until he reached the location where the presence was the strongest and stopped in his tracks once more. His usual expression had been replaced by a look of utter shock.

“What’s wrong, my lord?” Zheng Tao and Wu Biao asked between heavy breaths after catching up to Chu Nianjiu. Their question was automatically answered when they looked up and saw the clearing in front of them; one that definitely had not been present before. The wide clearing in front of them looked like it had been struck by a meteor. The blast radius was at least thirty meters wide, and the pit at least ten meters deep. The crystallization at the center of the pit and the lingering heat in the air all suggested that a terrifying explosion or tsunami had taken place here just a while ago. Lying just beyond the pit were countless fallen trees and debris.

“What… What could possibly have done all this?” Wu Biao stuttered as he gulped.

“A Stranger!” Chu Nianjiu replied expressionlessly before resuming the pursuit.

…… 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

“God dammit! It’s been a full hour since she started chasing me! Why is she still chasing me!?” Ye Qing panted heavily while glancing behind his back with bloodshot eyes. There, a giant bull with a carnivorous tail-woman were still nipping at his heels relentlessly.

“You should stop, cutie! The place you’re about to enter is very dangerous! You won’t be able to leave once you enter the place!” The tail entrenched on the bull’s head cried sweetly. “Just join me already! You’ll be able to see me everyday if you do!”

“...” I would rather die than see your bloody face everyday.

Truth be told, the Stranger’s warning was unnecessary. The unnatural blood stench in the air was all the warning sign he needed to know that he was entering a dangerous place. What was curious was that the smell felt very familiar to him.

“You’re a very naughty boy, cutie! I’m starting to get angry!” Perhaps it was because Ye Qing had ignored her “advice” one too many times, but the tail-woman grew visibly angry this time. The hair around the tail started growing at an insane rate before plunging toward Ye Qing like a flood of snakes.

“Fuck!”

Ye Qing spat out a bloody spittle before sucking in a deep breath. His stomach swelled and deflated rapidly for a couple of times before a powerful aura seeped out of his body. Suddenly, he was running several times faster than before.

In essence, the Toad Force was a technique that greatly enhanced the wielder’s physical attributes. That was why it could also be applied to fleeing as well.

Whoosh! Ye Qing abruptly burst into a clearing. He was greeted by the sight of a massive lake.

Something was very wrong with the lake, however. A normal lake was azure blue or emerald green in color, but this one was jarringly red—the color of blood.

“A lake of blood? Is… Is this the Jade Dragon Lake?” Ye Qing exclaimed in shock and horror. He finally realized why the blood stench had smelled so familiar to him. It was the same smell that had permeated the village when they were under attack by the sarcophagus!

The lake before him could only be the resting place of that terrifying sarcophagus, the Jade Dragon Lake!