Stranger Danger

“Haha... I knew I made a good friend.” Yi Pin smiled awkwardly. Ye Qing was saying that he was the reason he lost his reward. “Besides, you might have gotten your reward already. For some reason, you’re able to see the Life Leech with the naked eye, nor did you enter the evil side of Longevity village with a Life Leech attached to your body, right?”

“Sure, whatever.” Ye Qing couldn’t be bothered to argue semantics with Yi Pin. Right now, their first priority was to remove the Life Leech attached to the old Taoist’s body and leave this place.

The Life Leech was powerful and anomalous. There was no way he could remove it by force. If things went poorly, then Yi Pin’s life would be in grave danger. Li Hanshan was the perfect example of this. When he had tried to kill the old man earlier, the Life Leech grew so angry that it nearly sucked him dry.

“Don’t worry, it’s actually quite simple to get rid of the Life Leech,” said Yi Pin with an easy chuckle. It was one thing if he had to remove the Stranger without knowing its identity, but now? He knew exactly what he needed to do to get rid of it.

“Simple?” Ye Qing shot Yi Pin a dubious look. As the man who fought the Life Leech firsthand, simple was the last thing he would describe the creature.

Yi Pin explained, “I told you earlier that the reason a Life Leech attaches itself to a human is to devour the lifespan of all those who interact with them, right? Not only that, they purposely kept their host alive so as to maximize the amount of lifespan they could absorb. However, if there was no lifespan for the Life Leech to absorb, then it would automatically leave its host, wouldn’t it?”

“And how do you plan to make that happen, exactly?” Ye Qing asked.

“There are several ways. One, I can seclude myself in a mountain and isolate myself from all people. Once the Life Leech had absorbed the lifespan of everyone who had interacted with me, and I could no longer offer it any lifespan, then it would automatically detach itself from me and leave. But of course, I would age several times faster than normal and perish without the Life Leech to sustain me.”

Yi Pin paused for a second before continuing, “Two, I can kill myself. If I’m dead, then the Life Leech would have no choice but to leave me, wouldn’t it?”

“Neither method sounds viable like, at all.” Ye Qing rolled his eyes. The first plan was inhuman and ultimately futile, whereas the second plan was straight up stupid. Where was Yi Pin going with this? “You’re not planning to go with the first method, are you?”

If Yi Pin said yes, then he was going to bring justice upon him. After all, he had interacted with the old Taoist and so counted among the Life Leech’s prey as well, though he should be fine since he was protected by the Purple Sun Trueflame.

“Hmph! Is that what you think of me, brother? I am no saint, but I would never resort to such a method to increase my lifespan, especially since I would die lonely and become a monster.” Yi Pin glared at him.

“Hahaha... No need to be so serious, brother. I was just joking.” Ye Qing smirked. At the very least, he knew that Yi Pin would never, ever sacrifice Longxiang. “Still, you gotta admit that neither method sounds appealing one bit. We might as well try and kill the Life Leech.”

“Now that’s a stupid idea if I ever heard one.” Yi Pin scoffed. “The Life Leech exists in the illusory world and so is normally unseeable and untouchable. Besides that, it is incredibly powerful. Even if you’re strong enough to kill it, it would take its host to the grave with it.”

“Sounds like we don’t have a solution then,” Ye Qing said.

“You say that only because you’re too young and inexperienced.” Yi Pin shook his head.

The corners of Ye Qing’s lips turned up. “Oh yeah? What’s your plan then?”

Yi Pin smirked back. “Death has many facades, brother. A false death is also a kind of death as well.”

“Oh! I get it now. Not bad, brother.” Ye Qing’s eyes lit up in realization. According to Yi Pin, the Life Leech would leave if the host is dead. If Yi Pin could fake his death well enough to convince the Life Leech that he was dead and leave, then the problem would resolve itself.

The Life Leech was only as smart as a five or six years old anyway. How hard could it be for a cunning adult to trick an innocent child?

Pleased with Ye Qing’s reaction, Yi Pin stroked his beard and said proudly, “Who do you think I am?”

“So, do you wanna start now, or?” Ye Qing asked.

Yi Pin shook his head. “No, not yet. What if I got rid of the Life Leech, but another Life Leech finds me? We should find the exit first.”

Ye Qing nodded in agreement. “So, do you know how we can leave this village?”

“Not yet.” Yi Pin’s mood took a dip as he shook his head.

“You’ve been here for a little more than two days. Surely you must have found some sort of clue?” Ye Qing urged.

Yi Pin shook his head again. “Xue Hanshan and I had turned the village upside down since we entered this place, but we weren’t able to find anything. The village itself is surrounded by some sort of mysterious power. If you cross through the boundary, then you would reappear on the opposite side of the village. As far as I know, there is no way out”

“I see.” Ye Qing frowned deeply. This was definitely a problem.

The duo fell silent for a moment when suddenly, Ye Qing spoke up, “Actually, we don’t need to find the exit at all. There are many people who returned from Longevity Village safely, aren’t there? This means that there are two possibilities. One, we can only remain in Longevity Village for a certain amount of time. When our time is up, we would automatically return to the real world. Two, the Life Leeches know the way out but didn’t kick us out immediately because they’re waiting for some sort of timing. When the time is right, they will take control of their hosts and leave the village.”

“In both cases, we don’t need to look for the exit ourselves. We simply need to spy on Xue Hanshan and his goons from a safe place.”

Yi Pin stroked his beard again and nodded in agreement. “Makes sense.”

Ye Qing looked at Yi Pin again. “But before that, you’ll have to get rid of your Life Leech. Maybe the exit is a portal that’ll appear for only a few minutes. Maybe we’ll be teleported out of this place in an instant. If we wait until the last moment to get rid of the Life Leech, then we may not have the time to finish the job.”

“On top of that, there is a huge chance we may lose all of our memories regarding the Longevity Village. We may not even remember that the Life Leeches are the ones causing the strange phenomenon. After all, none of the previous victims remembered what happened, and I don’t believe that we’ll become the exceptions. Worst case scenario, we leave the Longevity Village without our memories, and I can no longer see the Life Leeches because I don’t know, the ability only works within Longevity Village or something and so cannot spot anything wrong with you. The consequences would be unimaginable.”

Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath. “That is why you should deal with the Life Leech attached to your person now. I’ll handle it if we run into another Life Leech in the future.”

He should be able to protect Yi Pin from further infestation with the Purple Sun Trueflame.

“Alright. I’ll do as you say.” Yi Pin produced a bottle from his Nature’s Shell and explained, “This medicine is called Together In Life Or Death. When I consume one, I would fall into a state of false death that is no different from true death. I must consume a second pill within an incense stick to break out of this state of false death. Otherwise, I would die for real.”

“The name is fitting.” Ye Qing nodded. As usual, this old Taoist owns a ton of good stuff.

“I’ll be trusting you with my life, brother. Please make sure you save me before my time is up,” Yi Pin instructed.

Ye Qing gave him a pat on the shoulder and declared, “Just entrust everything to me and rest in peace!”

Yi Pin: “...”

Suddenly, I no longer feel sure about this.

Yi Pin and Ye Qing spent the next period of time discussing how they should put on a convincing act for the Life Leech. The Stranger might possess the intellect of a child, but not even a child would be stupid enough to fall for their ruse if Yi Pin consumed the pill right in front of its face.

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