Stranger Danger

“Correct me if I’m wrong, brother, but is your plan really to take a stroll outside every once in a while and pretend to be a quiet beauty for the rest of the time?” Yi Pin asked with a doubtful look on his face.

Every four to six hours or so, Ye Qing would head out and linger in front of Sun Xuanzhen, Huo Linglong and Yue Juezhen’s door for a bit. Then, he would return to his room, sit in his corner, and do absolutely nada. It was puzzling to say the least.

I thought you said you want to use your brain to snatch some Profound Yellow Qi? So why aren’t you doing anything? Are you waiting for the Profound Yellow Qi to waltz into your room or something?

If this is what you call using your brain, then I could’ve done it myself. Like seriously, even a baby could do this so long as they didn’t trip and fall on the way!

Ye Qing opened his eyes and shot the old Taoist a mysterious smile. “It is time.”

He then rose to his feet.

Yi Pin rose to his feet as well and asked, “What is?”

“The time has come for me to take my Profound Yellow Qi,” Ye Qing replied enigmatically before heading out once more.

“Brother, wa—wow!” Yi Pin was just about to follow him when the door slammed shut and nearly hit him in the nose. Then, he heard Ye Qing’s voice beside his ears, saying, “Stay inside the room, brother.”

“Come on, brother! Don’t be so stingy. I wouldn’t make fun of you even if you were just pretending,” Yi Pin taunted. He really thought that Ye Qing was just putting on a show, and that he prevented him from following because he didn’t want his act to be exposed.

Ye Qing ignored the old Taoist’s taunt and went to Sun Xuanzhen, Huo Linglong and Yue Juejiang’s room as usual, planting a new Incense of Misfortune in front of their doors. Then, he transformed into Yue Juejiang and entered a room.

A few breaths later, he came out and entered a different room. Once again, he was able to procure the resident’s Profound Yellow Qi with this.

This would happen a few more times before he transformed into Sun Xuanzhen next. Then, he repeated the process all over again. It wasn’t long before he had visited every room in the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin except the trio’s. In total, he had collected ten wisps of Profound Yellow Qi.

His plan was very simple. He used the Incense of Misfortune to plague Sun Xuanzhen, Huo Linglong and Yue Juejiang with a continuous string of ill fortunes. While they were busy fending for themselves, he would collect the Profound Yellow Qi at his leisure.

This was why he visited their rooms every once in a while. It was to plant a new Incense of Misfortune in front of their door after the previous one had run out. It would ensure that they had no choice but to stay inside their rooms.

Of course, he didn’t know if the Incense of Misfortune was powerful enough to affect a Spirit Master, which was why he waited almost eighteen hours before he finally took action[1]. Since the trio hadn’t set foot outside of their rooms even once throughout this time, it proved that the Incense of Misfortune could affect them.

The three Incense of Misfortune he just lit would last until the next trial began. They hadn’t set foot out of their rooms before, so they definitely weren’t going to do so now. He was free to claim his prize.

When all was said and done, they would only think that the other two people had taken the Profound Yellow Qi. They would never suspect that a fourth party was secretly screwing them over.

The plan wasn’t foolproof, of course. If Sun Xuanzhen, Huo Linglong or Yue Juejiang conversed with each other and mentioned how unlucky they had been for the past day, then they would almost certainly notice that something was amiss. But knowing how prideful the trio were, he was fairly certain that they wouldn’t bring up the matter of their own accord.

That might change when a sufficient amount of time had passed, but for now, his secret was safe.

Even if he was wrong, he wasn’t worried. After all, he had already claimed his prize. Ten wisps of Profound Yellow Qi was enough to increase his strength drastically. When the time came, he was certain he could 1v3 them without issues.

“Wait a second, I have another idea...”

Ye Qing was just about to return to his room when he caught sight of the Incense of Misfortune out of the corner of his eyes.

What if he lit an Incense of Misfortune for the trio right before the trial began?

It would be a very entertaining experience, wouldn’t it?

It was only a matter of time before he clashed against the trio anyway. If he could exploit the trial to weaken them, then why not?

If he could take them out in one fell swoop, then even better.

Of course, he knew that this was unlikely to happen. The Incense of Misfortune didn’t kill no matter how unlucky it made its victims.

Even so, he was fairly certain that the combination was going to weaken them by a significant amount.

Assuming that everything went as planned, he didn’t need to wait for them to pay him a visit any longer. He could pay them a visit himself.

“Alright, I’ve made up my mind,” Ye Qing declared with a snap of the finger.

If his ploy succeeded, he could probably conserve his Incense of Misfortune tomorrow. If not, well, the night was still young.

In any case, there was no harm having extra insurance whatsoever.

After Ye Qing returned to his room and made idle chat with Yi Pin, he began refining the Profound Yellow Qi and practicing the “Chaos Demon Ape Body Tempering Sutra”.

Now that he was no longer plagued by his injuries, and the Profound Yellow Qi was basically a miracle elixir for tempering one’s body, of course he was going to use it to boost his cultivation in the martial art. Hopefully, he could make significant progress with his Chaos Demon Ape Body.

After he was done refining a wisp of Profound Yellow Qi, Ye Qing calculated the time and set out. Then, he ignited a new Incense of Misfortune for Sun Xuanzhen, Huo Linglong and Yue Juejiang again. They should last until the end of the trial.

“I’m counting on you, Brother Incense.” Ye Qing bowed to the incense sticks as usual and got ready to return to his room. It was at this moment the silence outside was broken by a peal of laughter.

The laughter came from the darkness, and it sounded sweet and melodious. This was the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin, however. All it elicited in him was fear and trepidation.

As soon as the laughter appeared, Ye Qing felt an indescribable, unstoppable chill spreading throughout the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin. With his physique, he could stand naked in a frozen snowland and feel almost nothing. But right now, the chill was such that it seeped into his very bones. It was even worse than when he was fighting against the Black Sky Divine Palm force and Zhou Hengshan’s saber intent.

To be fair, there were some differences between this chill and those two energies. The Black Sky Divine Palm force and Zhou Hengshan’s saber intent were naturally cold because of their yin nature, but this chill was pure coldness without any other energy mixed within it. Like the incarnation of coldness itself, it chilled both his body and soul to the very core.

“Hahaha...”

Another peal of laughter came, and this time it sounded much, much closer. At the same time, Ye Qing felt someone tugging at his sleeve.

When he looked down, he saw a young girl standing behind him and tugging at his sleeve timidly. She looked around five or six years old, and she was barefooted. Cute, innocent and healthy, she looked as perfect as a doll.

The young girl was wearing an innocent smile on her face and looking up to Ye Qing with a giggle. When their eyes met, Ye Qing felt an indescribable chill spreading out of his core and threatening to encase his body and soul in eternal ice.

In fact, frost was growing on the floor, the walls, and his body at a visible rate. He was going to turn into an ice sculpture if he didn’t act soon.

Right before the frost would spread throughout his body, purple flame washed out of his body and enveloped him like a robe.

“Purple Sun Trueflame”

It was like the sun itself was crashing down on humanity. The temperature within the coffin instantly shot up and melted the ice into steam.

“Uwah!”

Behind him, the girl let out a wail and melted into a puddle in just the blink of an eye. Then, the puddle itself evaporated into steam.

Ye Qing’s expression only grew more severe, however. It was because a worse chill was pouring forth from the darkness.

The next moment, thick crusts of blue frost emerged from the walls, the floor, and the ceiling and transformed the entire Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin into a world of ice.

Then, a tiger-like Stranger elegantly stepped out of the darkness.

1. It looks like the guy has made a lot more Incense of Misfortune since the last time. That’s like nine incense sticks he used at the minimum. ☜

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