Stranger Danger

A crescent moon hung in the air while adorned by a sea of stars, bright and dreamlike.

The wind enveloped mountains and rivers and seeped through every crack, cold and biting.

Nighttime in Carefree Mountain Range was like a picture with the night as the canvas, the stars and moon as the backdrop, and the icy wind as the colors. Inside the picture were colorful, transparent mushrooms that glowed intermittently like fireflies, shrubberies that glittered like crystals, red butterflies that flapped idly through the night air, plant-shaped creatures that were playing about with each other...

Colorful and magical, it was a fantastical world that belonged to Strangers only.

Unfortunately, an unexpected guest suddenly barged into the picture and shattered its peace and tranquility. He was a man in his forties wearing a square crown and a red robe. Various auspicious patterns adorned the robe, and there was a big red “Fortune” sewn at the center of the fabric. His appearance was extremely jubilant and festive.

Right after the unexpected guest intruded upon their territory, the glowing mushroom began blooming like a flower and releasing a cloud of spores, barbed vines began snaking out of the crystalline shrubbery, the red butterflies flapped their wings and poured red powder from the sky, and the plant-shaped Strangers bared their fangs at him.

The man didn’t panic, however. He simply produced a bamboo flute from his sleeve, held it close to his mouth, and blew.

A gentle, mellifluous sound began resounding in the darkness, and the restless Strangers gradually calmed down. The spores flew back into the mushrooms, the barbed vines slithered back into the shrubbery, the butterflies landed back on the flowers, and the plant-shaped Strangers relaxed and went back to their games.

Everything had returned to normal. It was almost as if the man had never barged into the area in the first place.

His eyes narrowed into slits, and a smile stretched across his round, plump face as the man put away his flute. Then, he grabbed a shoot of grass from his shirt. Verdant and small, its roots functioned like legs as it stood on his palm.

The man caressed the grass gently. Some of its leaves immediately swayed and drooped.

“If its leaves droop, then its bond must be nearby. Ye Qing should be somewhere around here.”

The man looked left and right as doubt crept onto his plump face. “But why can’t I sense him anywhere?”

The man was none other than Fugong, the assassin who had traveled all the way from Tian Yong to kill Ye Qing, and the grass he was holding was none other than the Blood Bond Grass.

The Blood Bond Grass could always perceive the person it was connected to. If its bond wasn’t nearby, then its leaves would always point in the direction of its bond. If not, then its leaves would point downward.

So... where was Ye Qing?

Slowly, the puzzlement on Fugong’s face turned into anger and bloodthirst. His red robe looked like writhing blood as it flapped in the wind.

On the day Ye Qing escaped Tian Yong, Fang Muyin had ordered him to hunt down Ye Qing. At the time, he had believed it to be an easy task that he could complete in three to five days at most since Ye Qing was grievously injured, and he had the Blood Bond Grass to guide him.

But before he knew it, two weeks came and went in the blink of an eye. For the past two weeks, he had chased after Ye Qing with a kind of relentlessness that bordered on zealotry. He ate rations on the road, drank dew from the plants, and slept in the wilderness. By the time he made it to Carefree Pass, he was feeling fairly tired and frustrated to put it mildly.

Then, something unexpected happened. Instead of passing through Carefree Pass, Ye Qing actually chose to enter the Carefree Mountain Range instead.

If Ye Qing had died there, then all was well. He would have saved him the trouble of having to kill him himself. But not only was the rebel alive, it looked like he had chosen to stay in the mountains. He even had the strange feeling that the young man was having the time of his life—relatively speaking, of course.

What else could he do? He had no choice but to venture into the Carefree Mountain Range.

Luckily for him, he was a strong and lucky man. Not only that, he possessed a powerful Strange Artifact called Peace of Mind. It was the only reason he managed to make it into the inner belly of Carefree Mountain Range alive.

Peace of Mind was the bamboo flute he blew just now. Forged from the Soulstealer-class Stranger called the Calming Bamboo, its tune possessed the ability to inflict calm and tranquility upon its targets and reduce their hostility.

The Strange Artifact wasn’t omnipotent, however. Even with the right equipment and power, his journey through the mountains was rarely peaceful.

As if that wasn’t enough, when he finally reached the location the Blood Bond Grass was pointing to, the man he was searching for was nowhere to be found.

Where could he be? In these mountains, a human would stand out like a sore thumb. He has to be here somewhere!

This was why Fugong was feeling very angry and depressed right now. What would Fang Muyun say if he went back and told him that his mission was a failure?

Unwilling to give up just yet, Fugong began searching the area with the Blood Bond Grass in his hand. He looked and looked and looked until finally, he returned to the spot where the Blood Bond Grass was still pointing.

Still, he couldn’t find Ye Qing anywhere.

Angry and resigned, Fugong told himself that he would search the area one more time. If he still couldn’t find anything, then he would give up and return to Tian Yong.

It was at this moment the Blood Bond Grass suddenly shook violently. Then, all of its leaves pointed at something—or more accurately, someone—behind Fugong. The plump man gingerly turned around, and lo and behold, the man he spent days searching for tirelessly was there.

It was Ye Qing.

To be fair, Ye Qing didn’t look like Ye Qing be it in shape or size. However, Fugong was one hundred and twenty percent that the unfamiliar man before him was who he was searching for.

He finally showed up! Thank goodness I didn’t give up until the end.

Fugong was practically jumping with catharsis and joy.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Ye Qing asked while watching the grinning man warily.

Everyone who survived the trials of the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin would be transported back to their last location before they were kidnapped, and that worried Ye Qing deeply because there was a chance the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin could’ve teleported him to the Yin Yang Gap. Thankfully, he had returned to the yang world an instant before the sonuvabitch stole him into his coffin, or he would be in a world of hurt right now.

Unfortunately, he didn’t even have the time to pat his chest in relief when he saw a plump man beaming at him excitedly like he was the love of his life. It was no wonder he was instantly on his guard.

“I finally found you, Ye Qing.”

Fugong ignored his question. He simply stared at the young man like a big bad wolf coveting a plump, delicious sheep.

“Who on earth are you?” A steely glint flickered in Ye Qing’s eyes. He knew practically from the second he set his eyes on Fugong that he wasn’t a good person. It was midnight in the belly of the Carefree Mountain Range, and this strange man was staring at him like he would swallow him alive, not to mention that he had called out his name even though he was still in disguise. He couldn’t imagine that his intentions were anything but good.

Some quick thinking later, Ye Qing guessed Fugong’s identity immediately. “You’re the one who set me up!”

It wasn’t a question. He knew in his bones that Fugong was the one.

“Yes. We did it,” Fugong admitted. And why not? From his perspective, Ye Qing was already a dead man. Besides, considering how much time and effort he had invested into finding Ye Qing, it would be criminal not to confess his achievements at least a little.

“Why did you do it?”

Ye Qing narrowed his eyes. Us, the plump man had said. This proved that it wasn’t the act of a single person, but a group. He had expected this as he didn’t think that any single person—and especially not a late-stage Spirit Master—would dare to manipulate the Pacification Bureau, the Harmony King and the Hengshan Army to achieve their goals. Therefore, this guy was just a pawn serving a mastermind.

“Do you even have to ask? Don’t you remember what you did and who you offended?” Fugong retorted with a wide grin on his face.

Ye Qing shrugged. “There are too many. You’ll have to narrow it down for me.”

Fugong chuckled. “I’ve always believed that dying with regrets is one of the worst ways to go in this world, and I’m a kind, benevolent man. So, I will tell you the truth.”

“Thank you so much for your generosity,” Ye Qing replied with dripping sarcasm.

“You’re welcome.” Fugong waved uncaringly. “So, the reason we set you up is because you killed—”

As soon as he said this, Fugong abruptly floated toward Ye Qing like a leaf and threw a punch at the young man’s face. Seemingly caught completely off guard, Ye Qing did nothing and allowed the punch to hit him squarely in the forehead. His head flew backward so hard that the back of his head nearly touched his back.

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