Stranger Danger

A moment of silence later, Ye Qing asked suddenly, “What would happen if someone who’s completely alone enters Longevity Village?”

Wen Shu looked surprised for a moment before lighting up. “That’s a bold idea. If you have no friends or family, then the curse can’t take place, but you will still enjoy an extended lifespan. You’d be killing two birds with one stone! You know, I almost feel like this Longevity Village is made for me.”

Wen Shu was saying this because he was an orphan.

Ye Qing smiled but didn’t give him a response. Personally, he didn’t think that things would be so simple. If he could come up with the idea, why not others?

Ye Qing pulled the conversation back on track. “So, how did Reverend Yi Pin get involved with the Longevity Village?”

Wen Shu slapped his head as if he couldn’t believe he almost forgot about his original objective. “I’m not too sure about the details myself, but three days ago, a group sought out the Reverend and said he wishes to visit the Longevity Village or something. Everyone here in Bei You knows that Longevity Village is not a place you want to get anywhere near to, and the Reverend was no exception. But for some reason, he changed his mind later on and agreed to guide them.”

“Before he left, he secretly spoke to the old man and asked him to call for help from a friend named Ye if he doesn’t return in three days. He was probably talking about you.”

Ye Qing thought for a moment before shooting another question, “What about Yi Pin’s disciple, Li Longxiang? Where is he, and how is he doing?”

“Longxiang?” Wen Shu scratched his head a little. “Now that you mentioned it, I haven’t seen the dunce in a long time. Where is he? Oh! I get it! They must have captured the dunce and used him to force the Reverend into submission! No wonder he changed his mind later on!”

Wen Shu might be young, but he was without a doubt a shrewd boy. He figured out the truth as soon as the words had passed his mouth.

“That is definitely one possibility,” Ye Qing echoed in agreement.

“Hmph! Those shameless bastards! One day, I will cut them all with my sword and cleanse this jianghu of their filth!” Wen Shu unsheathed his wooden sword and swung it a couple of times in anger. “Let’s go, bud! I’ll take you to Longevity Mountain and rescue the Reverend and his dunce!”

“Wait. Give me a moment.” Ye Qing caught Wen Shu before the young man could do anything rash and stepped toward the Temple of Divination.

“Where are you going?” Confused, Wen Shu tried to follow only for Ye Qing to shut the door in his face.

“Hmph! What’s he trying to hide?” Wen Shu sat his butt on the stairs and poked some unfortunate ants who happened to catch his eyes with his wooden sword. “Whatever. It’s not like I care about it.”

A dozen or so breaths later, the door opened, and Ye Qing stepped out into the open once more. Wen Shu rose to his feet, patted away the sand on his butt and asked, “Can we go now?”

“Not yet. There is one other thing that we need to do,” Ye Qing replied with intentional suspense.

“What is it now?” Wen Shu sounded displeased.

“You’ll find out in a bit.” Ye Qing gave him a pat on the head before asking, “Do you know where White Sand Fort is?”

“White Sand Fort?”

Wen Shu was trying futilely to stop Ye Qing from ruining his hairstyle, but the name “White Sand Fort” surprised him so much that he froze for a moment. He wrinkled his brows and asked with puzzlement, “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I have something to do, of course,” Ye Qing replied. “Just answer my question.”

“Of course I do, but...” Wen Shu’s eyes slowly widened in shock and horror. “You’re not planning to go there, are you?”

The second Ye Qing nodded his head, Wen Shu immediately cried, “You must be crazy! White Sand Fort is filled with bloodthirsty desert bandits! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“Quit it with the theatrics and just tell me where it is already!” Ye Qing got impatient and flicked him in the forehead.

Wen Shu yelped in pain and wanted to rebuke Ye Qing for the unwarranted violence, but he immediately covered his forehead with both hands when he saw Ye Qing curled his fingers again. He answered obediently, “White Sand Fort is located at the White Desert to the north. Just travel five kilometers after leaving the city gates, and you will find a desert with sand that looks as white as snow. White Sand Fort is just up ahead.”

“The owner of White Sand Fort is a man named Sha Tongtian. They call him the Lord of White Sand. An early-stage Spirit Master, he...”

“You’re pretty well-informed, aren’t you?” Ye Qing exclaimed with surprise when Wen Shu was done with his detailed explanation. He only wanted to know where White Sand Fort was, but Wen Shu had told him their head’s identity, his strength, his martial arts, the amount of manpower he commanded, the things he had done and so on. It was definitely a pleasant and welcome surprise.

So, why did he want to know about White Sand Fort? It was because he asked the Annon Sutra about Li Longxiang and Yi Pin’s whereabouts, and the vellum told him that Li Longxiang was at White Sand Fort, and Yi Pin was at Longevity Village, of course. His plan was to save Li Longxiang first before going after Yi Pin. If White Sand Fort really had captured Li Longxiang to coerce Yi Pin into guiding them to the Longevity Village, then he didn’t mind making them pay the price of blood as well.

“Of course I know! There is nothing in Bei you that I, the greatest swordsman in the world, don’t know about!” Wen Shu declared proudly when he heard Ye Qing’s praise.

“Yeah, you did a great job. Thank you.” Ye Qing gave him another head pat before getting ready to leave.

“Wait! You’re not bringing me with you?” Wen Shu blurted in a hurry when he realized that Ye Qing was going to leave without him.

“Why would I?” Ye Qing turned back and shot him a smirk.

“Are you looking down on me?!” Wen Shu glared at him.

“What do you think?” Ye Qing snorted. You’re a Vessel Augmentor, for heavens sake.

Wen Shu pointed his wooden sword at Ye Qing and declared loudly, “Hmph! How dare you look down on the greatest swordsman in the world! Come! We shall exchange three hundred blows with each other!”

“You can challenge me after you’ve actually become the greatest swordsman in the world.” Ye Qing gave him one last head pat before leaving for real.

Wen Shu tried to give chase, but the distance between them kept growing by leaps and bounds. In just a few steps, the young man had lost track of Ye Qing completely. Left with no choice, he could only shout his displeasure, “Hmph! Just you wait! I will defeat you one day!”

A second later, he added, “You better come back, you bastard! I’ll be waiting for you!”

......

“So this is the White Desert. It definitely looks impressive.”

Astonished, Ye Qing took a moment to admire the borderless white desert before his eyes. Pure and white, it almost felt like he was staring at a blank piece of paper. Even the sky was dyed white to the point where he could barely tell where the ends met. It made for one hell of a sight for sure.

Ye Qing grabbed a handful of sand and let it fall through his fingers. They were fine, soft, and felt no different from normal sand. The only thing that differentiated it from normal sand was its color.

After he was done admiring the view, Ye Qing took his first step into the desert. To say that he stood out like a sore thumb would be an understatement. Like a drop of ink dripping onto a blank piece of canvas, it was impossible to miss him even from dozens of kilometers away.

He had just taken a few steps when suddenly, a pair of white silhouettes burst out of the sand and swung their blades at his legs. In response, Ye Qing stared straight ahead and lightly stomped his foot.

The footprint on the sand looked shallow and, frankly, pathetic. A child could probably had left a deeper footprint than him. However, the attackers’ blades abruptly shattered into pieces, and they themselves abruptly collapsed on the floor, unable to move even a muscle. Both men were looking up at Ye Qing in shock.

The white silhouettes were human. To be specific, they were desert bandits. The reason they looked indistinguishable from their surroundings until just now was because they wore white outfits, their skin was pale, and even their hair, eyebrows and pupils were white-colored.

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