Stranger Danger

“Kekeke, what a devious idea. I like it.” The Fog Demon let out an eerie cackle before enveloping Fugong in its fog. An incense stick later, the fog suddenly dissipated, and the Fog Demon said in a slight weary voice, “It’s done. He is now your humble servant. You may ask him anything you wish to know.”

A few breaths later, Fugong opened his eyes and looked at Ye Qing with a reverent look on his face. “Master!”

Ye Qing nodded in acknowledgement and said, “Young master is fine.”

“Yes, young master,” Fugong replied carefully.

Ye Qing began his questioning, “What is your name?”

The middle-aged man answered without hesitation, “My name is Fugong.”

“Huh. You certainly look the part.” Ye Qing nodded again before asking, “Who sent you to kill me?”

Fugong answered without hesitation, “Fang Muyun, young master.”

“You mean Fang Muyun, the one they call Mister Farseeing?” Ye Qing was taken aback. “He’s the one who set me up?”

“Yes, young master. You killed his younger brother, so he desires your death. However, he does not want to make an enemy out of the Pacification Bureau. Therefore, he came up with a series of schemes to kill you without dirtying his own hands.”

“I killed Fang Muyun’s younger brother? Who even is his younger brother?” Ye Qing blinked in puzzlement. “Who is Fang Muyun’s younger brother?”

Fugong answered, “Fang Muyun’s younger brother is called Fang Sixue, and he was Chu Wangsun’s student. Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun are good friends, and he entrusted Fang Sixue to Chu Wangsun to correct his stubborn and obstreperous behavior.”

“Although Fang Suxie’s death is his own fault, Fang Muyun believes that your role in his death is pivotal. That is why he desires to bury you with his younger brother’s ashes.”

“It was him?!” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization. Chu Wangsun must have recognized him during the Hidden Dragon Meet and told Fang Muyun about him. That was how everything began.

Ye Qing knew that the mastermind could not be a nobody considering that they noticed the Corpse Ship’s presence at Yonghe Lake even before the Pacification Bureau, and they could afford to give Zhao Lan a few drops of the Hanba’s blood essence to assassinate him. It was also why Chu Wangsun was his prime suspect. He and Chu Wangsun had a score to settle with, and the man did not probe him further despite his obvious suspicion during their first encounter at the Hidden Dragon Meet. Chu Wangsun wasn’t the type of person to give up so easily, which was why he suspected that he was the one behind it all.

Later, his suspicion had spread to Lei Xiaodan, Chu Renhe, the Way of Taiping and even Evergreen Ivy. Basically, he suspected every enemy he had ever made since arriving in this world. However, Fang Muyun was never on his suspect list because the scholar was practically a stranger to him. He knew the guy about as well as one of the bigshots who oversaw the tournament, which was to say, not at all. It was why the revelation came as a massive shock to him.

Who could’ve thought that Chu Wangsun’s student was Fang Muyun’s younger brother? What an ill-fated relationship this was.

If the mastermind really was Fang Muyun, then he was going to have to consider his revenge at length. Fang Muyun was the eldest son of the current Grand Mentor and one of the Three Dukes of Chu, Fang Zhiyong. He himself was famous for his wisdom and benevolence to the point where he was known as Mister Farseeing. In either case, the scholar wasn’t someone he could topple in terms of status or power right now. To clash against him head on was to bash an egg against a rock—suicide.

Yes, he would have to take this slow and steady.

“You must be one of Fang Muyun’s aides considering he trusted you enough to send you after me,” Ye Qing said.

Fugong replied, “Yes, young master. I am Fugong of the Three Stars, and I served him together with Lugong (Duke of Prosperity) and Shougong (Duke of Longevity). Our job is to safeguard him and perform the dirty work he cannot perform himself.”

“Dirty work, eh? It looks like Mister Farseeing isn’t as noble or benevolent as his reputation might suggest!” Ye Qing sneered. Even in his world, anyone with a benevolent reputation was usually a scumbag on the inside. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to him that Mister Farseeing was really a piece of shit who tried to kill him multiple times and treated innocent lives such as Chu Qingli like grass.

Fugong himself was sneering. “Of course he isn’t. He was born in the capital, the place where the greatest powers of Chu are concentrated. How many people could live at that place and still maintain the purity of their heart? I’m not saying that such a person does not exist in the capital, but most of them are just two-faced scumbags who are only spotless on the outside.”

“Fang Muyun may call himself the disciple of the wise sages and enjoy a spotless reputation, but the blood on his hands is as thick as any infamous monster in the jianghu, if not thicker.”

“It really does look like you know a lot about him. Tell me everything you know about Fang Muyun’s personality, strength, hobbies, deeds, relationships and more. Do not miss a single thing,” instructed Ye Qing. The first step to defeating any opponent was to know them like the back of your hand. Only then could one ensure victory.

“As you command,” replied Fugong before launching into a long and detailed explanation. When the middle-aged man was finally done, Ye Qing thought to himself: Fang Muyun is as ruthless as he is formidable.

When he was a child, Fang Muyun had already learned how to handle political affairs, manage relationships, and stand his ground in the imperial court, a place where the slightest weakness could see you killed, under his father, Fang Zhiyong. When he was an adolescent, he became his father’s left and right arm and eliminated many of his political enemies through methods such as invitation, bribery, entrapment and more. Without exaggeration, he was one of the key reasons Fang Zhiyong was able to hold an obscene amount of power in the imperial court for so many years.

Despite the river of blood he coated his hands with, Fang Muyun appeared to be a noble, generous, materially indifferent, and farsighted disciple of the wise sages to all outsiders. Well respected and loved especially by examination candidates and Confucian scholars, his reputation was such that even Ye Qing was completely blinded to his true nature.

Besides that, Fang Muyun was very accomplished in the martial way despite his young age. He was a late-stage Spirit Master who walked the way of Confucianism and cultivated the Air of Greatness in his abdomen.

That said, Fang Muyun was an exceptionally shrewd and tricky man. It was entirely possible that what he told his aide was but the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, Ye Qing did not take Fugong’s words—at least not in regards to Fang Muyun’s cultivation level—as gospel.

Long story short, Fang Muyun was an exceptionally dangerous man. No amount of caution was too much when he was the enemy. He would have to plot his revenge very, very carefully.

What? No this isn’t cowardice! This is called caution, understand?

“What other instructions do you have for me, young master? I shall fulfill it even if it costs me a thousand deaths!” Fugong asked while clasping his hands together, but the movement jolted his injuries and triggered a series of violent, bloody coughs.

“This is the Nature’s Water. Use it to recover your injuries,” said Ye Qing while throwing a porcelain bottle into Fugong’s hands.

Just now, he had shattered the middle-aged man’s bones, muscles, meridians and more. He had also broken his dantian. Without proper treatment, Fugong would be crippled permanently.

This wasn’t a problem for Ye Qing though. After all, the Nature’s Water could heal even a cripple back to full health. The reason he hadn’t given Fugong the elixir immediately was because he wasn’t sure if the Fog Demon had fully controlled him.

“I humbly accept your gift, young master.” Fugong accepted the bottle gratefully and drank it without any hesitation. Just a dozen or so breaths later, the Nature’s Water had restored him to full health. Fugong thanked Ye Qing again with heartfelt gratitude, “Thank you, young master!”

Ye Qing nodded and gave him a new order, “Now that you’re healed, you will head back and continue to act as Fang Muyun’s aide. Observe his every move and report back to me if you find anything important—but only if it’s urgent. It would be bad if he discovers that you are acting strangely.”

“As you command, young master,” Fugong replied.

“What will you say when you get back to him?” Ye Qing asked.

Fugong thought for a moment before answering, “I will tell him that I have killed you with my own two hands. I will also make sure that no one knows that you are still alive.”

“Good.” Ye Qing nodded in satisfaction and looked up at the dark, starry sky.

Once upon a time, I was the prey, and you the hunter.

But now, our roles are reversed.

You better watch your back, Fang Muyun.

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