Stranger Danger

“Hehe...” Fugong chuckled at his own punch with great satisfaction. He was planning to tell Ye Qing some portions of the truth so he might rest in peace, but he also thought that he shouldn’t underestimate his opponent. That was why he decided to incapacitate the young man first. After that, well, they could talk for as long as they wanted, couldn’t they? One way or another, it was going to end with Ye Qing’s death.

What can you do? He was a better-safe-than-sorry kind of guy.

“That’s a low blow, my friend!”

Fugong’s smile stiffened. He watched as Ye Qing slowly lifted his head back into view and gently shook his head left and right, causing the bones to crack a little. His forehead was slightly reddened, but besides that, the young man looked perfectly... fine?

Impossible!

The Spirit Master had a bad feeling about this. He immediately curled his toes and jumped away even faster than when he charged Ye Qing.

Ye Qing lifted his arm and threw a punch at Fugong, and the middle-aged man’s eyes immediately widened. At first, there was no sound at all. Then, it grew into a terrible rumble that enveloped both heaven and earth. The space around him was cracking and falling apart like a mirror, and he was right at the center of it.

Fugong scrunched his face in abject pain as it felt like his body was being torn apart. He slapped his forehead and summoned a humanoid figure above his head.

The humanoid figure was round, plump, and wearing a fiery red robe. It was also surrounded by an auspicious cloud. It almost looked like Fugong except that it was holding the word “Fortune” in its hand instead of wearing it on his torso. Besides that, the word was glowing with a profound spiritual light.

The humanoid figure was Fugong’s Yin God, the God of Fortune.

“The Heavenly Palace Bestows Fortune”

Fugong muttered something under his breath, and the Yin God tossed the word over his head. The word immediately burst into a shower of light, stuck itself onto his back, and enveloped him in its spiritual light.

All this time, Fugong was trying to get away from Ye Qing’s attack, but as soon as the spiritual light surrounded him, it was like the heavens themselves were watching over him. Whenever the space around him broke into fragments, he would somehow avoid them by a hair’s breadth. Every time he was caught between a rock and a hard place, he would always find a solution and escape somehow. Thanks to this, he was able to leave the affected area just a few breaths later.

Fugong let out a sigh of relief. His cultivation art was a martial art passed down from the ancient Heavens called the “Lucky Star”. Once upon a time, there existed three gods who were collectively known as the Three Stars—Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity—and “Lucky Star” was said to be Fortune’s main cultivation art. As the god who was responsible for managing the flow of fortune of a world, Fortune could bless anyone with a prodigious amount of good luck. If a blessed one tried to do something, it would be done with little to no problem. If they ran into trouble, then they would somehow overcome it no matter how impossible the situation looked.

It was why he came to be known as Fugong (a Duke of Fortune).

Of course, the cultivation art Fugong received was incomplete and difficult to decipher. The heavens could bless him with another century of lifespan, and he would never be able to reach the heights of Fortune.

Despite this, what he currently had was quite incredible. The technique he used just now, “The Heavenly Palace Bestows Fortune” was a Magia that could bestow him with unparalleled luck for a short time. It was how he was able to avoid the worst of Ye Qing’s punch and escape.

But how did Ye Qing become so powerful? The young man hadn’t employed any astral qi or spiritual power just now. He had punched him with pure physical strength, and yet the attack was deadlier than even the full-powered attack of a late-stage Spirit Master.

Also, wasn’t Ye Qing seriously injured? He certainly didn’t look like it right now, and he was so powerful that he wondered if he was dreaming. Maybe the real Ye Qing was dead, and the one currently standing in front of him was a Stranger wearing his skin?

Fugong’s doubt was such that he couldn’t help but ask, “Are you Ye Qing?”

“What do you think?” Ye Qing withdrew his fist and looked down on Fugong scornfully.

“You weren’t hurt?” Fugong himself thought that his question was a bit silly. If a Stranger really had consumed the real Ye Qing, then the Blood Bond Grass would have withered long ago.

“What does it look like? Like that fatty can ever hurt a hair on my person,” Ye Qing replied indifferently.

Liar. Fugong might not have witnessed Ye Qing and Zhou Hengshan’s battle with his own eyes, but he knew that Ye Qing had taken a solid punch from Zhou Hengshan, and that the general had even employed the Slaughterer of Ten Thousand. No matter how monstrous Ye Qing was, it was simply impossible for a late-stage Spirit Purifier could go through all that without a scratch.

Ye Qing shrugged and admitted a second later, “Fine, I was lying. I was hurt, but I recovered and even became much stronger than before. So if you know what’s good for you, you would tell me who your master is and why they set me up. Otherwise, I will kill you.”

Ye Qing was telling the truth, but Fugong narrowed his eyes with uncertainty. It was because his senses told him that Ye Qing was still a late-stage Spirit Purifier.

There is no way a late-stage Spirit Purifier can push me back, much less kill me. He must have used some sort of secret art or even forbidden art just now, which means that he’s just trying to bluff me into retreating.

Despite his suspicions, Fugong didn’t rush Ye Qing again. He had always been a cautious man, and he wasn’t able to break the habit now.

“Is that so? Come and kill me then! I dare you!”

Fugong chose to taunt Ye Qing into attacking him. If Ye Qing dared to approach him, then it would prove that the youngster really did possess the power to challenge him. Otherwise, it would prove that he was just bluffing.

“I have never heard such a masochistic request in my life.”

Ye Qing smirked ridiculingly and stomped the ground. Mountains shook, and the clouds scattered as if struck by an invisible force. Despite standing tens of meters away from Ye Qing, Fugong immediately lost his footing, and his circulation of energy was disrupted.

At the same time, Ye Qing leaped into the air and moved his arm backward with his hand stretched wide open. As he descended, he slowly clenched his fist until it felt like he was holding a hurricane between his fingers.

The moment the fist descended was the moment heaven and earth swapped places.

The blood drained away from Fugong’s face as he hurriedly made a hand seal and muttered, “Lucky star above me, sunshine on my way!”

The Yin God above his head quickly swelled in size, and the auspicious clouds came together to form a massive “Fortune”. Shining brightly and spinning round and round, the word flew up and took Ye Qing’s punch head on.

The next moment, the word shattered, and the auspicious clouds scattered into nothing. Fugong was nowhere to be seen, but Ye Qing ignored this and smashed his fist into the ground.

Rumble!

The ground within tens of meters of him abruptly split into multiple chunks like tofu. Fugong reappeared tens of meters away from the center of impact and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“How is this possible?” Fugong muttered while staring at the ruined earth with shock and horror. Not only was Ye Qing’s second punch stronger than his first, he had damaged his Yin God as well.

It was at this moment Fugong felt something and instinctively sidestepped to his right. As if on cue, a silhouette burst out of the dust clouds and struck a massive tree behind him.

BOOM!

The tree was so thick that it would’ve taken several people to wrap their arms around it. However, the punch easily went through the tree trunk like it was paper.

Ye Qing didn’t slow down despite missing his target. He pushed through the wood fibre—ripping the tree in half in the process—and launched an elbow strike at Fugong.

Once again, the auspicious clouds surrounding Fugong flashed, causing the middle-aged man to “slip” and turn a few centimeters to the side. That was enough for him to dodge the devastating blow without a scratch.

As the elbow strike sailed harmlessly past him, Fugong exhaled a puff of spiritual light that took the form of an auspicious cloud from his nostrils. The next moment, the words “Fortune” descended from the cloud, but they were standing upright instead of upside down, and they looked as black as ink. They also reeked of misfortune, decline and other inauspicious aura. They were all flying toward Ye Qing.

The word “Fortune” was commonly plastered or hung on one’s walls during the New Year, and it was commonly believed that it should be upside down so that fortune would fall from the heavens toward the household. Otherwise, the household’s fortune would be robbed by the heavens instead.

Fortune was the god of fortune. Naturally, he could rob one’s fortune as easily as he bestowed them. Hence, the technique Fugong was currently using was another Magia named, “Robbing Fortune”.

If Ye Qing was struck by the black words, then his good fortune would be robbed by Fugong. He would become so unlucky that even breathing would present a problem to him, much less fighting.

But once again, Ye Qing defied Fugong’s expectations. When the black words struck his body, a dark yellow light washed out and melted it all like snow.

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