Stranger Danger

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

At some point, Xiong Kuohai could no longer stand it. He clutched his head and slammed his head into the floor.

Crack!

A massive crack appeared on the limestone floor, and blood dripped down Xiong Kuohai’s face. That was how much strength he used. The Grandmaster couldn’t seem to feel the pain, He simply clutched his head tighter and slammed his forehead against the floor again and again.

A full incense stick later, the silver needle finally crawled out of Xiong Kuohai’s forehead and disappeared into the shadows. The Grandmaster was lying limp on the ground with a bloodless face and a pair of lifeless eyes. If it wasn’t for the fact that his chest was still heaving up and down, anyone would think that he was dead.

“Your punishment is over, and your sin forgiven,” the shadow declared.

Despite his condition, Xiong Kuohai climbed to his feet and knelt in front of the shadow. “Thank you for showing mercy, Sakyamuni.”

“However, Bei You represents a critical part of our plans. Nothing else must go wrong, understand?” The shadow said.

“I understand. Don’t worry, Sakyamuni. I promise that everything will go exactly as planned,” Xiong Kuohai promised.

“Good. I do hope you’re a man of your word. Otherwise, not even I can save you from my lord’s wrath.” The shadow paused for a moment before handing out the carrot. “But if you do a good job, then rest assured that you will be rewarded handsomely.”

“As you command, Sakyamuni,” declared Xiong Kuohai with a salute.

That was the end of the conversation. The shadow writhed and grew fainter over time. A couple more seconds later, it looked no different from a normal shadow.

“Phew...” Xiong Kuohai exhaled deeply before his eyes turned violent and hateful.

“Dad?! Are you alright?!”

It was at this moment a young man burst into the room. When he saw how sorry Xiong Kuohai looked, he could not help but blurt out in shock and concern.

“Who allowed you to come inside? I said I don’t want anyone to disturb me while I’m cultivating! Get out!” Xiong Kuohai roared like an enraged lion. Such was his wrath that the entire hall shook like it was beset by an earthquake.

“I-I’m sorry! I was just worried about you, dad!” The young man replied in a hurry. He was Xiong Kuohai’s son, Xiong Tianlie.

“Get out! GET OUT!”

Xiong Kuohai roared, and a terrible power surged toward Xiong Tianlie like a flood. Blood spewed out of the young man’s lips as he was blown out of the hall.

“JOY BODHISATTVA, YOU BITCH! I SWEAR I’LL KILL YOU IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”

Xiong Kuohai let out another roar, and his expression looked savager than even the vilest ghoul.

......

“Strength comes from the ground, force comes from the body, and will comes from the mind...”

Inside the Temple of Divination, Ye Qing was sitting on a chair and giving Li Longxiang various instructions. The disciple was currently practicing his fists in the courtyard.

“Your strength must be concentrated, your force must be condensed, and your will must be strong. You already possess a good powerbase, Longxiang, but your strength is too scattered, and your force is too chaotic. A small fry might be intimidated by your thunder, but they would never fall to your lightning, and that’s just depressing. You want it to be the other way around, understand?”

“I understand, senior uncle.” Li Longxiang wiped away some sweat and gave him an honest smile.

Ye Qing nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Now keep training. I want you to repeat Break Through a thousand times.”

“Yes, senior uncle,” Li Longxiang responded and resumed his training.

He was the one who taught Li Longxiang Break Through, of course. The young man might be dumb and simple-minded, but he was pure and innocent like a newborn and extraordinarily talented in martial arts. He was able to reach the journeyman stage of Break Through just two or three days after he learned it.

Objectively speaking, a good teacher was all Li Longxiang needed to have a bright future. Unfortunately, Yi Pin was the “live and let live” type of teacher, so Li Longxiang wasn’t able to live up to his full potential. It irked Ye Qing so much that he eventually got involved in his learning.

In fact, Li Longxiang wasn’t the only one he taught. Wen Shu, the brat living at the funeral shop, was quite gifted in the martial way as well. Objectively speaking, he was even more gifted than Li Longxiang. If one hint was all Li Longxiang needed to grasp a concept, then Wen Shu could grasp three concepts from the same hint. He was intelligent in a way Li Longxiang could never hope to become.

Unfortunately, the very intelligence and adaptability that made him so gifted was also his greatest crutch. He lacked perseverance and could not work tirelessly toward a goal like Li Longxiang. He was also impatient and possessed little taste for hardships. He could train hard for a week at most before he ran out of motivation and spent the next two weeks doing nothing in particular. That was why his cultivation was lousy to put it mildly.

To be honest, Ye Qing was rather fond of Wen Shu. Since he was teaching Li Longxiang anyway, he wanted to elevate Wen Shu to the point where he could stand his ground in Bei You at the very least. Unfortunately, the boy had spurned him in disgust—disgust!—as soon as he learned that he didn’t know any sword-based martial arts. He refused to learn even the basics and pissed Ye Qing off so much that he kicked the boy in the butt.

Li Longxiang was much, much better in this regard.

“I’m going out for a bit, Longxiang. Keep training, and tell your master that I won’t be coming back for dinner.”

“Got it, senior uncle,” Li Longxiang replied before turning his attention back to his fists.

After Ye Qing left the Temple of Divination, he spent some time just strolling about and relaxing before heading toward the biggest restaurant in the city, Number One. Then, he ordered a jar of wine and slowly drank at his leisure.

The biggest and most famous restaurant in Bei You was called Number One. It was because they claimed that their wine, food, and women were the best in all of Bei You.

Obviously, this was a slight exaggeration. For starters, everyone acknowledged that the women of Shade of Scents were far more alluring than Number One’s.

That wasn’t to say that their boast was empty, of course. Their wine, food and women were undoubtedly top class, which was why the restaurant was already jam-packed with people even though it wasn’t mealtime yet. The alcoholics were drinking, and the gossipers were gossiping. It was a bustling day for Number One as usual.

Right now, the hottest gossip as of late was Joy Bodhisattva. No, they weren’t talking about the conflict and enmity between Joy Bodhisattva and Xiong Kuohai. They were discussing the Trueman banquet Joy Bodhisattva would be holding on November 1st—which was a little over a month from now—to celebrate the fact that she had become the fourth Grandmaster of Bei You after Ouyang De, Xiong Kuohai and Huang Tianba.

Everyone was welcomed to her banquet at the Buddhist Hall of Joy, and as compensation, she would be publicly sharing her knowledge and experience.

Although some people were still talking about the collusion between Endless Sand the Buddhist Hall of Joy, the conflict between Joy Bodhisattva and Xiong Kuohai, and the deaths of Master of Swords, Master of Curses, the Wisdom King of Joy and more, most of them were just speculating. Since both Xiong Kuohai and Joy Bodhisattva had chosen silence regarding the truth of the matter, time was slowly washing away the memories.

It had been three days since that harrowing day, and for three days straight, everything was peaceful and calm. It was almost as if nothing had happened.

This was exactly what Ye Qing wanted, of course. Peace, quiet, and some time for himself and only himself.

When he had downed roughly three cups of wine, a man suddenly sat down opposite Ye Qing and asked tentatively, “Brother Ye?”

Ye Qing looked up and smiled at the newcomer. “Brother Chen.”

The newcomer was none other than Chen Wuxin, the Heartless Brain who had taken over Chen Ah Sheng’s body.

“Hah! It really is you. It looks like you’re doing pretty well!” Chen Wuxin guffawed at Ye Qing’s reply and poured a cup of wine for himself. He then drained it all in one gulp.

“Not as well as you, brother. It’s only been a little over a month, and you almost made it all the way to Qi,” Ye Qing replied with a smile that did not quite reach the eye.

That day, after they left Carefree Mountain behind, Ye Qing had found an opportunity to use the Annon Sutra to locate Chen Wuxin and call him to his side, so imagine his surprise when the Annon sutra told him that Chen Wuxin was at a border commandery between Chu and Qi at the time.

While he was traveling north, the Stranger had been traveling east this whole time. If he hadn’t checked up on him, the bastard might have run all the way to fucking Qi.

“Ahem... I was trying to hide from the Intelligence Department, so...” Chen Wuxin pretended that he didn’t catch Ye Qing’s meaning and asked, “Speaking of which, there’s something I’m really curious about. How did you find me?”

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m