Stranger Danger

“Would you?” Ye Qing returned the question with a smirk.

He knew what Hong Linglong was worried about. After all, he was the one who engineered the situation to produce such an effect. The reason he didn’t execute the plan immediately after their agreement was because one, to further weaken Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang using the Incense of Misfortune, two, to incite their suspicion naturally and led them into his trap, and three, to buy time so he could refine his Profound Yellow Qi and strengthen himself as much as possible.

Yesterday, he had refined nine wisps of Profound Yellow Qi in total. As a result, he was now nine dragon-elephants strong and one step away from reaching the adept level of the “Chaos Demon Ape Body Tempering Sutra”.

The increase from eight dragon elephants worth of strength to nine dragon elephants seemed insignificant, but his enemies would beg to differ. Even Chen Ah Sheng was only nine dragon elephants strong back then.

That didn’t mean he was now as strong as Chen Ah Sheng though. On the contrary, the dead man would most likely kick his ass like nothing in a straight brawl. Chen Ah Sheng had tempered his body for many years and honed his strength to perfection. In fact, he was one step away from breaking through his physical limit and attaining ten dragon elephants worth of strength—also known as one sky dragon—which would make him a Trueman Grandmaster.

Besides that, Chen Ah Sheng had long since mastered his body, vigor and strength to perfection and forged a true Chaos Demon Ape Body. Compared to him, Ye Qing was no different from a fat man who hadn’t converted his fat into muscles, or a raw gem that hadn’t been refined into a diamond.

Thankfully, his opponents were no Chen Ah Sheng. His raw, unrefined strength alone was enough to take down Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang at the same time.

Finally, the show of strength was also meant to put Huo Linglong in her place. Considering how cunning and whimsical the woman was, the show of strength was absolutely necessary to keep her in check.

Technically, he could kill her and end the threat she represented cleanly and permanently, but it was unnecessary. For one, he couldn’t anticipate what kind of secret art her seniors might have planted in her. If he killed her, he could be afflicted with an irremovable curse just like the Bronze Toad of Cornucopia had done back then, or it could be something else that allowed her sect to identify her murderer. In any case, the point of killing her was to remove the risk of discovery, so if that wasn’t possible, then the risk just wasn’t worth the reward.

Second, she didn’t know who he was, so she couldn’t seek him out and cause him trouble. Moreover, she was the one who stood to lose the most if this matter was exposed. Therefore, there was little harm in leaving her alive. He just needed to make sure that she remained intimidated until their eventual departure from the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin.

“Of course not,” Huo Linglong replied smilingly.

Ye Qing let out an amiable chuckle. “The feeling is mutual. Once again, all I want is the Profound Yellow Qi, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” said Huo Linglong while patting her voluptuous chest and causing it to wobble outrageously.

“One more thing. Are you sure no one would find out what we did today?”

“My fog can prevent others from spying with their senses, and the owner of this room had already died last night. No one will find out about this.”

Ye Qing looked away and said slowly, “Speaking of which, I will be pretending to be Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang and collecting the Profound Yellow Qi for the rest of my time here, so make sure to hide them properly after you return to your room. So as long as the genuine article remains hidden, no one will ever find out what happened today.”

“I get it. I promise I will cherish my cute little treasures.” Huo Linglong giggled.

“Alright. If there’s nothing else, you may return to your room, Miss Huo,” Ye Qing declared.

Huo Linglong said in an aggrieved tone, “Don’t you want to stay with me a little longer, dearie.”

“Frankly, no,” Ye Qing replied bluntly. If you think you’re more attractive than the Profound Yellow Qi, think again.

“How heartless!” gasped Huo Linglong, though it was only in jest. After all, she needed to plant her demonic seeds in Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang as soon as possible. What if the two men were teleported out of the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin before she took control of them? The consequences would be unimaginable to put it mildly.

“Goodbye then, but do know that my door is always open to you, dearie!” Huo Linglong said one last time before leaving with Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang.

After the woman was gone, Ye Qing assumed Sun Xuanzhen’s appearance and walked toward a room.

Here I come, my Profound Yellow Qi!

......

“Phew... it’s finally over. I can finally go home!”

Inside a room, Yi Pin let out a huge sigh of relief after the Plague Cloud harassing them many hours ago had finally departed. At the same time, a sense of pure joy filled his veins.

Today was the ninth day he entered the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin. It was also his last day in this place. It wouldn’t be long before he could finally go home and enjoy his peaceful, carefree life once more.

The past few days had been absolute hell for Yi Pin. Every time he thought that the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin couldn’t possibly surprise him anymore, it would produce a trial that was even scarier and more anomalous than before. For example, there was the Nightmare Skull that gave its victims endless nightmares and no way to awaken back to the real world, The Air Devourer that could rob an entire region of air and leave only vacuum behind, the Laughing Crying Spores that were smaller than dust and could enter a people’s body through the respiratory system and make them laugh or weep like they were crazy, and finally the Plague Cloud that could infect them with all kinds of diseases.

Although Ye Qing’s presence ensured that most of these trials ended in harmless fashion, there was no avoiding the suffering. Even a youngster in his prime could’ve crumbled under such torture, much less an old man like him!

Thankfully, he could finally leave this heavens-forsaken-place.

It wouldn’t be long before he could finally have happiness once more!

“Congratulations, brother!” Ye Qing congratulated Yi Pin while rising his feet. The simple motion somehow gave Yi Pin the impression that a tall, imposing and massive mountain was growing out of the ground and shaking the world around him.

Right now, Ye Qing’s skin color didn’t look human. It was a strange mixture of yellow and black that ended up looking like neither. His skin was covered in crisscrossing lines that gave it the appearance of a withered tree bark, except no tree bark could possibly exude this much vitality and strength. Despite its chaotic-looking patterns, a closer examination gave the impression of enigma, strength and beauty.

Not only that, the surrounding air hummed low and insistent almost as if they were cowering before his presence when he moved around, and some sort of profound, mysterious power quietly poured out of his pores according to the flow of his vigor and the movement of his muscles.

“Congratulations to you as well, brother!” Yi Pin sighed. These days, Ye Qing felt less like a human and more like a Stranger clad in human skin.

After he cooperated with Huo Linglong, and Sun Xuanzhen and Yue Juejiang were removed from the equation, there was no one left in this anomalous space that could threaten Ye Qing. So, he began training all day and night. Yes, training. Instead of rushing to refine all of the Profound Yellow Qi he had collected, he instead focused on familiarizing himself with his new strength.

The effects were quite profound. Technically speaking, his physical strength had barely grown since a few days ago. In reality, he was much, much stronger than before. He could now fight a late-stage Spirit Master head on and was practically on the same level as a late-stage body-tempering Spirit Master.

There are countless body-tempering warriors out there who never reached his heights despite spending half their lifetimes in training, and yet he did it before he’s even, what, twenty? Is he really human? The old man thought to himself while clasping his hands together in salute. “Looks like this is goodbye, brother. Thank you for protecting me for the past few days. Not gonna lie, I think I’m actually going to miss our days together.”

“No need to be sad. I’ll be visiting you in Bei You in two days. You’ll be able to see me all you want then.” Ye Qing smirked.

The smile Yi Pin plastered to his face immediately disappeared. I was just being courteous, you bastard! Can’t you tell?!

“Ahem... that might be a little too soon, brother. Maybe another day?”

By now, he knew exactly what had happened to Ye Qing. He didn’t want to, but Ye Qing insisted on telling his story regardless of his will. When he listened until the end, he felt enough regret to strangle his past self.

Right now, Ye Qing was akin to a pile of dog shit. Anyone who happened on him was going to stink like hell. Naturally, Yi Pin wanted to stay as far away from Ye Qing as possible. Get the hell away from me, man!

“Nah, it’s never too soon to visit a brother.” Ye Qing mercilessly rejected Yi Pin’s plea.

The question of what to do with Yi Pin had plagued Ye Qing for a long time. Considering that he was on the run, the simplest and best way to protect himself was to kill Yi Pin. In fact, he had had countless chances to do so by his own hands or someone else’s.

In the end though, he chose not to. Yi Pin might be a little shameless, greedy and lazy, but he had never harbored any malicious intent toward him. They had briefly journeyed together in the Demon’s Tomb, and the old Taoist had given him a lot of help during their time in the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin. No matter how he looked at it, he just couldn’t think of a good reason to kill Yi Pin. He didn’t want to.

He was a man, not an animal. He couldn’t bring himself to bite the hand who helped him, couldn’t bring himself to betray his conscience, couldn’t bring himself to kill his own heart. Besides, he had interacted with Yi Pin long enough to know that the old Taoist wouldn’t betray him.

That was why he chose to let Yi Pin live—but not without some insurance, of course. Believing in someone’s character and letting down his guard were two different things after all. That was why he decided to seek out Yi Pin and stay at his place for a bit.

Yi Pin’s Temple of Divination was located at Bei You, and Bei You was a border city seated between Chu and Yan. Although the commandery nominally belonged to Chu, in reality it was a no man’s land. Overflowing with independent factions and endless strife, the imperial court’s influence at that location was limited to say the least. That was why it was his best destination for the moment. He would be able to watch Yi Pin and hide from Chu at the same time, so why not?

The old Taoist entered the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin two days before Ye Qing, so of course he was going to leave two days earlier as well. Two days were a lot of time for Yi Pin to do a lot of things such as informing Chu about his whereabouts, going into hiding, and more.

Ye Qing was confident that Yi Pin wouldn’t do that though.

The human heart was some of the most complex things in the world.

But sometimes, it was also the simplest.

It wasn’t worth believing in, and yet it was always worth one’s belief.

“Fine. If you must come, then come. Just don’t expect me to hold a reception for you!” Yi Pin rolled his eyes and succumbed to his fate. From the moment Ye Qing told him about his story, he knew that the young man was going to haunt him like a ghost. That said, he didn’t actually feel much annoyance or resentment toward the young man at all.

He knew that Ye Qing had had countless opportunities to silence him and end his worries once and for all, but in the end, the young man hadn’t. Not only that, Ye Qing had saved him multiple times from crises that absolutely would’ve killed him if he were alone. Could he really turn his back on the man who had saved his life multiple times? No, he could not.

In making his decision, Ye Qing had basically placed his life in his hands. It was some of the stupidest decisions he had ever seen in his life.

And yet... wasn’t a man like him deserving of the deepest respect?

That was why he wasn’t planning on tattletaling to the Intelligence Department even though the promised rewards were great. That was why he was willing to help Ye Qing even though he knew that it would most likely land him in deep, potentially fatal trouble.

He had lived a long life and experienced more or less everything one might experience in this world.

Even still, he never thought that humanity wasn’t worth it.

The world was anything but perfect, but some parts of it—some of its people—were always, always, worth it.

“Thank you, brother.”

Ye Qing clasped his hands together and gave Yi Pin a deep bow.

“Take care, brother.”

Yi Pin too smiled and returned the salute.

There is no end to the abyss, but be like a flower, and always face toward the light.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢