Stranger Danger

That said, they didn’t need to come up with too complicated an ac to trick a child. First, Ye Qing grabbed a pill and pretended to leave for some business. In reality, he had hid himself in a safe place. After he was ready, Yi Pin secretly consumed his Together In Life Or Death and immediately started weakening at a rapid pace. Just a few breaths later, he collapsed on the ground and seemingly fell dead.

The Life Leech crouching on Yi Pin’s shoulder looked surprised and confused. It circled around Yi Pin as if it couldn’t understand how a perfectly healthy human could drop dead all of a sudden.

The Life Leech fed on lifespan to survive and grow its strength. When a person dies, both their lifespan and karmic bonds would disappear completely. Therefore, there was zero reason for the Life Leech to attach itself to a dead body, and it wasn’t smart enough to determine if Yi Pin was faking his death or not. After circling around the old Taoist helplessly a few times, the Life Leech finally withdrew its beard and let out a strange cry. Then, it flew away.

Ye Qing didn’t appear right away after the Life Leech was gone. He remained in his hiding spot for about a teatime when suddenly, the Life Leech returned and examined Yi Pin for a moment. When it couldn’t find anything amiss, it left again.

Still, Ye Qing didn’t emerge from his hiding spot. Another half a teatime or so, the Life Leech returned yet again and circled around Yi Pin like before. A couple of strange cries later, it finally disappeared into the distance for real.

“Motherfucker, that was cutting it a little close. Who said that a child is easy to trick again? It pretended to leave and came back twice to check on Yi Pin.”

As the observer, Ye Qing saw clearly that the Life Leech was only pretending to leave the first two times. It had been hiding nearby and waiting to see if Yi Pin was faking his death or not. The Life Leech might have fooled him if he couldn’t see it, and that almost certainly would have resulted in a dangerous battle.

Time was running out. After he was sure that the Life Leech wouldn’t return a third time, Ye Qing hurriedly stepped out of his hiding spot and fed Yi Pin the second Together In Life Or Death. A few breaths later, the dead man’s heart began beating, and his blood started flowing again.

When Yi Pin opened his eyes and saw Ye Qing, he asked, “How did it go, brother?”

Ye Qing pulled him to his feet with a smile. “It worked. The Life Leech’s gone.”

“Thank goodness!” Yi Pin sighed in relief before boasting to Ye Qing, “Do you see how awesome I am now?”

“Yes, yes, I am very impressed,” Ye Qing replied with zero sincerity whatsoever before checking the time. “Anyway, there’s no time to waste. Let’s look for Xue Hanshan and his goons right now.”

“Yeah, let’s.” Yi Pin nodded and fell behind Ye Qing.

Locating Xue Hanshan’s group was easy, and spying on them was even easier. Xue Hanshan had taken a serious blow just now, so his spirit wasn’t nearly as perceptive as before. With how strong his demonic thought was, he could easily keep an eye on the old man from a far distance.

Despite nearly losing his life just a moment ago, Xue Hanshan remained firm in his determination to find a way to extend his life. He spent nearly the entire day trying to unearth the secrets of Longevity Village, but of course, he turned up with nothing at all.

It was ironic how he had no idea that the objective he searched so desperately for had been clinging to his shoulders this entire time.

“Huh? It’s... raining?”

On the third day, a drizzle suddenly fell from the sky. Strangely, the skies of Longevity Village remained as bright and clear as ever. Ye Qing reached out of the window and rubbed the rainwater dripping against his skin a little. It felt cool, wet, and perfectly ordinary.

It was at this moment Yi Pin drew his attention. “Brother, look.”

Ye Qing too noticed the oddity and turned to look. Xue Hanshan was getting anxious and irritable since he still wasn’t able to unearth the secrets of Longevity Village. He was about to bark an order when suddenly, his arms fell limp, and he just stood there with a glazed look almost as if he was possessed. Then, he slowly began walking toward the exit.

Tiger and Hawk were the same. They too followed Xue Hanshan out of the residence they were staying in.

Ye Qing could see that the Life Leeches attached to their bodies were looking pointedly in a certain direction, eyes betraying a glint of eagerness and urgency.

The trio were walking deeper into the village. Ye Qing gave Yi Pin a look and said, “Let’s go.” They proceeded to follow behind the trio like ghosts.

A short while later, the trio arrived at the center of the village where the village well was situated. They were bending over the well and looking inside for some reason.

“Did you notice anything when you were inspecting the well earlier, brother?” Ye Qing asked in a hushed voice when he saw this.

Yi Pin shook his head. “No, not at all. It’s just an ordinary dead well.”

He and Xue Hanshan’s group had inspected the well earlier. As far as they could tell, there was nothing special about it whatsoever.

A short while later, another three people emerged from three separate directions. One of them was none other than Zuo Ming.[1] They too wore a blank expression and a pair of glazed eyes on their faces. Once they reached the well, they bent over and looked into it as well.

It was impossible to say what the six men were trying to do. They painted an eerie sight to say the least.

Meanwhile, the rain was getting bigger and bigger. What was a drizzle was now a roaring downpour, and all six men were wet all the way down to their breeches. Even so, they continued to stand next to the well like wooden, motionless puppets.

The rain would continue for a little over two hours, and the well slowly became filled with rainwater. When it was filled up completely, the downpour abruptly came to a sudden stop. Seriously, it was like someone had pressed the off button on the weather or something.

After the rain came to a stop, the six men abruptly looked up into the sky.

“What are they looking at?”

Ye Qing and Yi Pin were raising their heads as well. A bright, round moon slowly appeared in the sky, and its silvery light shone straight toward the well. As soon as its reflection appeared on the waters, all six men immediately jumped into the well.

The well was neither big nor deep. Frankly, it wasn’t even big enough to fit two men. However, the six men were able to jump into the wall and not cause a single splash almost like they weren’t six adult men, but six specks of dust.

In Ye Qing’s senses, the six men disappeared completely after they leaped into the well. It was almost as if they had been transported into a different world—and that was most likely the truth.

“Come on!” Ye Qing beckoned before dashing out of the house they were sheltering in. A moment later, he stood next to the well and stared at the wavy, beautiful reflection of the moon.

“The well is the exit?!” Yi Pin exclaimed curiously after he caught up to Ye Qing.

“I think so,” Ye Qing replied. He had no idea that the way to leave Longevity Village was identical to the way he entered it in the first place.

“Let’s go.”

But Yi Pin hesitated. “If we head out now, we will surely stumble onto Xue Hanshan and his goons. Even if they couldn’t remember what happened in the village, they would never let me go.”

“That is precisely why we need to head out now.” Ye Qing smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You know Xue Hanshan. Does he look like the type of person you can hide from? Assuming he’s regained his consciousness, I’m willing to bet a silver that he’s waiting for you to show up.”

“Even if you could hide from him this time, what about the next time, and the next next time? Even if you could hide from him forever, what about Longxiang? Unless you leave Bei You behind you, Xue Hanshan will never let you go.”

Yi Pin frowned deeply not because Ye Qing was wrong, but because he was right.

Ye Qing continued, “Therefore, the best way to handle a scumbag like him isn’t to hide, but to kill him and end the threat once and for all—or that is what I would say if he wasn’t infected by a Life Leech. Since that isn’t an option, I say we scare him and his goons into leaving you alone permanently. We’ll teach them a lesson they aren’t liable to forget for the rest of their lives.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll be counting on you, brother.” Yi Pin gave Ye Qing a slap on the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ye Qing smirked. “Let’s go.”

Yi Pin nodded and jumped into the well first. Ye Qing followed right behind him.

1. Remember, they were a group of seven including Yi Pin. ☜

Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)