Stranger Danger

“Your presence is unfamiliar to me. I’m assuming this is your first time, customer?” The Night Walker asked while looking Ye Qing up and down.

“I thought it’s one of your motto to serve any paying customer without asking unnecessary questions?” Ye Qing said coldly.

“Hahaha, you’re right. I apologize for overstepping my bounds,” the Night Walker didn’t take offense and replied cordially. “So, where would you like to go?”

“Homesick Pavilion!” Ye Qing answered.

“Oh?” The Night Walker smiled. “Homesick Pavilion’s a wonderful place located at the junction between Bei You, Xuan Hua, Huai Shuo and Wu You[1]. Well connected and overflowing with merchants, it is one of the most prosperous places in Northern Xinjiang.”

“Are you there to visit a friend or relative, dear customer?”

Ye Qing side-eyed the Night Walker and said nothing. As if he just realized his mistake, the Night Walker let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot my rule again. Much apologies, customer. I hope you won’t take offense.”

“Anyway, I require a payment of ten thousand silver if you wish to travel to Homesick Pavilion,” the Night Walker made a ridiculous request.

“Ten thousand silver?” Ye Qing fell silent for a moment before nodding. “Acceptable.”

What’s this? A cash cow with more money than sense?!

A stupidly wide grin suddenly appeared on the Night Walker’s face. His mask was hiding his expression, but his trembling arms and clenched fists still betrayed how happy he was.

Doing business was never easy, and easy prey showed up only once in a blue moon. How could he not be delighted by this discovery?

“Ah, my apologies for not explaining myself clearly, customer. What I really mean to say is that passing through Carefree Pass alone costs ten thousand silver. Traveling from Carefree Pass to Homesick Pavilion requires another ten thousand silver.”

Behind his mask, Ye Qing’s lips slowly curled into a devilish smirk. He could sense the Night Walker’s emotions, of course. Some people just couldn’t control their greed, could they?

“Twenty thousand silver? I can afford that.” Ye Qing said slowly, “But dare you accept it?”

Ye Qing lifted a finger as soon as he was done speaking.

A bad feeling suddenly overcame the Night Walker, and the three men standing behind him abruptly burst into cold, green flames. Then, they surrounded Ye Qing using the Three Powers Formation[2] and charged toward him.

Unfortunately for the Night Walker, there was no chance his lackeys could move faster than Ye Qing could tap the space in front of him. Demonic thought rippled out like a wave, and the three men abruptly froze in place.

The Night Walker blanched. Somehow, Ye Qing had severed his connection to his lackeys.

The three men were, in fact, not real people. They were puppets named the Suspended Puppets of Yin and Yang. The Suspended Puppets of Yin and Yang were created from corpses who were born on a yang year, a yang month, a yin day and a yin hour. Their dual nature allowed someone in the know to refine them into corpse puppets that neither feared yang energy, yin energy, and most evils. They could traverse freely between yin and yang, and even most Strangers would choose to avoid them than engage them in a fight.

The Night Walker had received his puppets from an expert corpse craftsman within his ranks, and he literally manipulated them like puppets on strings using threads of spirit. As strong as an early-stage Spirit Purifier, the three puppets could even give a late-stage Spirit Purifier a run for their money when using the Three Powers Formation. They were the source of his confidence.

The other reason he dared to scam Ye Qing was because he could sense how weak his body was. His body was frail, and his vigor was as weak as a candle flame.

In his opinion, Ye Qing must be the stupid, hedonistic son of some big clan. Somehow, he discovered the secret of the Carefree Shrine and decided to give it a try. The Night Walker was certain that he could trick him into coughing up big bags of cash using a combination of the carrot and the stick.

He wasn’t going to kill Ye Qing, of course. There were rules within their group, and one of them explicitly stated that they could do anything to increase their profits except killing. Those who did would have their martial arts destroyed and expelled from the Night Walkers.

He wasn’t expecting Ye Qing to attack him before they even began the negotiations, however, and he definitely wasn’t expecting him to sever the threads he used to control his Suspended Puppets of Yin and Yang—also his biggest trump card—with a single flick of his finger.

Speechless, the Night Walker didn’t hesitate to slip into the black litter behind him. The transport immediately started shining brightly and growing translucent as if it was entering a different world.

“Interesting.”

While examining the abnormal changes overtaking the black litter with his senses, Ye Qing’s eyes turned black as the night, and a pair of black lotus slowly surfaced into view. He then lifted his finger and tapped the space in front of him again.

“Heavenly Demon Captures The Soul”

Heaven and earth trembled once,

The wind stopped blowing,

The clouds stopped moving,

And all sound ceased to exist.

The space surrounding the black litter folded upon itself like a piece of fabric, and the black litter turned solid once more.

Ye Qing lifted his finger a third time, but the Night Walker didn’t wait for him to finish his move. He stumbled out of the litter and collapsed on his knees in front of Ye Qing, begging, “Please stop, my lord! I was wrong, I was wrong so please!”

“What’s wrong? You don’t want your money anymore?” Ye Qing teased him.

“No! No! I shouldn’t have allowed my greed to overtake my good senses! Please have mercy, my lord!”

The Night Walker was white-faced and shaking like a leaf. He never imagined that Ye Qing’s spirit would be strong enough to affect even his transport. The black litter was called the Yin Yang Litter, and it was a miraculous Strange Artifact that allowed him to travel between the cracks of yin and yang. To be more specific, there existed a strange space that was neither yin nor yang between the gaps of the yin and yang world.

It was how the Night Walkers were able to deliver a customer from one place to another without being detected.

The Yin Yang Litter was the Night Walker’s livelihood. It was also their final insurance. If, for whatever reason, they found themselves facing down a life-threatening threat, they could escape into the litter and slip into the cracks between yin and yang to live another day. In fact, he had escaped many ill-intentioned people who wished him harm using this exact method, and some of them were even Half-Step Grandmasters.

The Night Walker didn’t expect Ye Qing to use some sort of spirit art to pull him back into reality, however. The sheer power of his spirit and the profoundness of his secret art were terrifying to say the least.

He thought that Ye Qing was a young, stupid and hedonistic noble, but it was the opposite. He was certain that the young man was really an old monster pretending to be a young fool. He could even be a ruthless master of the Dark Ways.

Why is a powerful, prestigious champion like you pretending to be a small fry? Is it fun to tease us actual small fries like that?

The Night Walker felt like crying right now. Scratch that, he was crying.

“Please spare me, my lord! If you do, I swear to carry you safely to Homesick Pavilion for free!”

For a moment, Ye Qing didn’t say anything. Silence slowly cut away at the Night Walker’s mental defense like a sharp blade until he was shaking all over by the end of it.

What felt like a few years later—just when the Night Walker was sure that he would perish—Ye Qing finally said, “Stand.”

“Thank you, my lord! Thank you!” The Night Walker let out a huge sigh of relief. It had been too long since he felt death breathing down his neck, but he could confirm that he still hated it with every fiber of his body.

“You must have a death wish to try and scam me. You would’ve paid the price of death if I didn’t have urgent business at Homesick Pavilion.”

Ye Qing pretended to speak like an old monster the Night Walker misunderstood him to be. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but try your little tricks again when we’re moving to Homesick Pavilion, and you will wish that you were dead.”

“Of course, of course!” The Night Walker nodded like a parrot.

Seeing that the time was right, Ye Qing finally showed the Night Walker the carrot. “However, I am not an unreasonable man. If you do a good job, then I will pay you ten thousand silver.”

Ye Qing had never planned to kill the Night Walker. After all, he needed the guy to take him through Carefree Pass, not to mention that he was a man-on-the-run. He hardly wanted to make an enemy out of a group who was notorious for their ability to appear anywhere, anytime.

The Night Walker didn’t have any principles. Or rather, they would do anything in the name of profit. Even if the Night Walker didn’t scam him earlier, Ye Qing was certain that the guy would intentionally make trouble for him on the way to his destination. Rather than suffer the trivialities later, he chose to intimidate the guy now and teach him that he was no one to be trifled with.

That said, pure intimidation would only breed resentment, so he promised to pay the Night Walker the ten thousand silver he requested at the beginning. If applied properly, there was nothing the carrot and the stick couldn’t do.

“Thank you, my lord! You are a generous and a magnanimous man!” The Night Walker immediately complimented Ye Qing. The budding resentment and defiance in his heart also evaporated into thin air.

“Enough flattery. Did you forget that I have urgent business to attend to? Take me there already,” Ye Qing ordered.

“Of course, my lord.” The Night Walker peeled away the curtains covering the entrance and said with an obsequious smile, “Please enter, my lord.”

Ye Qing stepped into the litter. It was exquisitely decorated, and even the floor was covered with an animal carpet. It was far more comfortable than it looked from outside.

Outside the litter, the Night Walker waved his hand and rebuilt his connection with the three Suspended Puppets of Yin and Yang. After the puppets moved into position and lifted the litter, the Night Walker called out, “Sit tight, my lord! We’re departing right away!”

“Wind and rain cannot block the path between yin and yang, gods and demons cannot stop the Night Walker! Let’s go!”

A powerful gale blew through the mountains, and the Night Walkers began running deeper into the mountains. Both the Night Walkers and the Yin Yang Litter grew increasingly transparent until they were completely gone.

When the wind subsided, the dead leaves returned to the ground, peace and tranquility returned to Carefree Shrine. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened.

1. Carefree, but a commandery. All four places mentioned are commanderies as well. ☜

2. If you guys remember, this formation was used during chapter 200+ or something. ☜

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