Stranger Danger

“They’re bad people, senior uncle!” Li Longxiang complained to Ye Qing, his “senior uncle’s” appearance giving him the courage to voice his displeasure. In his head, his master and his senior uncle were powerful and invincible.

“Longxiang! Control yourself!” Ye Qing rebuked the young man before clasping his hands in apology. “He’s still a child. He didn’t really mean his words. I hope you won’t take offense, Boss Sha.”

There was no need to offend Sha Tongtian since White Sand Fort wasn’t the true mastermind behind Li Longxiang’s capture, and the man himself was a powerful warrior.

Sha Tongtian replied indifferently, “Your junior isn’t wrong. We are bad people. Then again, how many people in Bei You are truly good?”

Ye Qing ignored Sha Tongtian’s musing and said, “Thank you for your benevolence, Boss Sha.” He then rose to his feet and bade him goodbye, “My business is done here. If there is nothing else, then we shall take our leave immediately, Boss Sha.”

Sha Tongtian asked, “Are you really in such a hurry, Brother Ye? I’ve already ordered the men to whip us a delicious meal. You might as well stay for a moment and enjoy lunch with me.”

Ye Qing turned him down. “Unfortunately, my next order of business is quite urgent. Perhaps next time, Boss Sha.”

Sha Tongtian sighed regretfully. “It’s a shame.”

Ye Qing smiled. “We are friends already, aren’t we? I might not be able to drink with you this time, but there is always the next time.”

“That is true. In that case, I bid you good luck in your ventures.” Sha Tongtian nodded.

“Thank you for your understanding. Until another time.” Ye Qing laughed. “Let’s go, Longxiang!”

“Yes, senior uncle,” Li Longxiang replied obediently and fell behind Ye Qing. The duo began walking toward the exit when suddenly, Ye Qing looked back as if he just recalled something, “Oh right, I almost forgot to ask. Do you know who’s the one who requested the capture of Longxiang, Miss White?”

White Snake shook her head without hesitation. “I don’t know. They never revealed themselves from the start until the end. They paid us to do a job, so we did the job for them. That is all.”

“Understood. Thank you for clarifying, Miss White.” Ye Qing smiled and added, “No need to see us off, Boss Sha. Until another day!”

After Ye Qing and Li Longxiang were gone, White Snake began, “Boss...”

Before she could say anything else, Sha Tongtian raised a hand to stop her. Then, he waved his hand once. The surrounding desert bandits picked up on his meaning, saluted him and took their leave immediately.

After everyone was gone, Sha Tongtian wobbled a little and clutched the tree next to him. His skin began to turn coarse and wrinkly, and sand seemed to be slipping off his face. In just a few breaths, his eyes, ears, nose and mouth disappeared and left behind gaping orifices.

“Are you okay, boss?” White Snake blanched and asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.” Sha Tongtian waved off her concern. A dozen or so breaths later, he sucked in a deep breath, and the sand on the ground flew up and poured into his orifices. It wasn’t long before his face looked normal once more.

“You wanted to know why I let them go, didn’t you? This is why.”

White Snake was silent for a moment. “Is he really that strong?”

“If we fight to the death, it’s a coin toss whether I win or lose, live or die,” Sha Tongtian replied in an indifferent tone. “Why make an enemy out of someone like that when we can be friends instead? Besides, we are trading a useless person for a useful person’s favor. It’s a win no matter how you look at it.”

White Snake said nothing for a moment. “Perhaps, but we have broken the rules of our trade with this act. How are we going to explain this to our client?”

“Rules?” Sha Tongtian let out a cold, mirthless chuckle. “The strong make the rules, and the weaklings obey them. I’m the one who made the rules, so of course I can change them whenever I like. If our ‘client’ is foolish enough to ask us for compensation after they return from their business, then we’ll have the perfect opportunity to kill them all. It’s their fault for being weak, don’t you agree?”

White Snake licked her lips and hissed. “You are right, boss. So, what do we do about him?”

Sha Tongtian ordered, “Look into his background, but do it discreetly. I don’t want him to catch a whiff of our operations.”

“Understood, boss.”

......

“Why have you come to Bei You, senior uncle?”

Li Longxiang had mostly recovered by the time they left the White Desert. He was currently eyeing his senior uncle with a look of excitement in his eyes.

“To pay you and your master a visit, of course.” Ye Qing smiled. “How did they capture you, Longxiang?”

Li Longxiang scratched his head and answered, “I was buying food at the market when suddenly, a couple of passersby ambushed me and captured me. Then, they took me to White Sand Fort.”

“Did they mention why they captured you?” Ye Qing asked.

“No.” Li Longxiang shook his head.

Ye Qing didn’t feel disappointed since he had anticipated this answer. “This is where we part ways, Longxiang. I’ll see you another day.”

“Won’t you come back with me, senior uncle?” Li Longxiang asked. “I’m sure master will be very happy to see you!”

“I have something I need to take care of. I’ll visit the two of you in a couple days,” replied Ye Qing. Clearly, Li Longxiang had no idea that Yi Pin had left for Longevity Village with his captors.

Ye Qing added, “Speaking of which, your master is not at the temple right now. He’s left for some sort of business, so don’t worry about him, alright?”

He told Li Longxiang a white lie because he didn’t want the young man to run off on his own. That would only make it harder to rescue Yi Pin.

“Okay,” Li Longxiang replied without suspecting a thing. Yi Pin must be absent pretty often if this was the young man’s response.

There was a chance Wen Shu might slip up and tell Li Longxiang the truth, but Ye Qing wasn’t worried. Wen Shu was a cunning brat. Even if he hadn’t informed him about this, there should be no chance he would commit such a mistake.

“I’m leaving now. Take care, senior uncle,” Li Longxiang said.

“Yeah.” Ye Qing nodded and gave him one last instruction, “Stay inside the temple and don’t go anywhere unless absolutely necessary, understand?”

“Oh. Got it.” Li Longxiang didn’t question the instruction and nodded obediently. He bowed to Ye Qing again before he finally took off toward the city.

After Li Longxiang was gone, Ye Qing immediately took off toward Longevity Mountain. Every second he delayed was a second Yi Pin might fall into greater danger.

......

Despite its name, Longevity Mountain was really a series of barren, interconnected hills. Vegetations were sparse, and desolation was everywhere.

No one knew how the mountain came to earn its name. Maybe it was because Longevity Village came first, and people eventually associated it with the village. Maybe it was the other way around, or maybe it had originated from something else completely. As far as the people and records were concerned, there was a mysterious village called Longevity Village in the mountains named Longevity Mountain.

To reach Longevity Village, one must first enter the Longevity Mountain. However, not everyone who entered the Longevity Mountain could reach the Longevity Village. To this day, no one knew an exact way to find and enter Longevity Village, not even those who had entered the place before.

Most people claimed that entering Longevity Mountains during the night was the key to finding Longevity Village, but there were plenty of people who tried that and turned up with nothing. From this, one could deduce that there were some other conditions one must meet before they could enter Longevity Village, but no one could say for certain what it was.

Thankfully, Ye Qing knew a way. When in doubt, ask the Annon Sutra!

Ye Qing pulled out the Annon Sutra and asked, “How do I enter Longevity Village?”

He then channeled his internal force and spat out multiple globs of blood onto the piece of vellum.

A short while later, the blood came together and formed a single line: “Water in the sky, moon on the ground.”

Ye Qing frowned deeply. He recognized each and every word on the vellum, but he couldn’t make heads or tails of them when they were put together in a sentence.

How could water exist in the sky?

How could the moon appear on the ground?

It was one thing if it was the other way around—water on the ground, moon in the sky—but this? This made no sense at all.

“Why must you riddle me so? I know you can give me a straight answer,” Ye Qing muttered under his breath as he put the Annon Sutra away. Once done, he began racking his brain for an answer.

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