Stranger Danger

“I see! This place is warded by a minor illusion array!”

The group was greeted by an actual valley after they passed through the fake wall. Strangely, the valley and the gully outside looked like two separate worlds even though they were only separated by a single wall, and not even a real one at that. For starters, the valley was overgrown with green grass and clearly not polluted by the blood qi. Even more conspicuous was a tree about two humans tall at the center of the valley and what looked like a man underneath it.

“Is that Old Man Xueying?” Zheng Tianyuan’s eyes lit up. As if on cue, the Sarira Bone he was holding abruptly disintegrated into fine powder. Clearly, it had used up all of its power.

This startled the group and caused them to tense up a little. When they felt no discomfort, they all let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m guessing that a minor illusion array isn’t the only thing in effect here. Old Man Xueying must have set up some other array to keep out the blood qi,” Prayer speculated.

Still staring at the mysterious figure beneath the tree, Zheng Tianyuan repeated again in a trembling voice, “Is that Old Man Xueying?”

Prayer nodded. “I believe so!”

The young master looked confused, “I thought this is just one of many treasure spots Old Man Xueying has hidden throughout the world. Why would he die at such a place?”

“Let’s head over and see, shall we?” Prayer deflected the question before warning, “There might be some traps or unexpected dangers, so be careful!”

As soon as Pao heard this, he immediately withdrew his foot and ordered Ye Qing loudly, “Take point, boy!”

Ye Qing did not resist. The exit was just a few meters away, so he could always escape if there was any danger, and unlike the others he wasn’t afraid of the blood qi at all. The Jade Dragon Lake was his homeground, and he was its lord and master!

To everyone’s surprise including himself, Ye Qing reached the tree without encountering any danger. It wasn’t until they arrived beneath the tree that they realized that the man they thought was Old Man Xueying had already decomposed into a skeleton. However, his clothes were still intact, and his skeleton hadn’t yet become so weakened that it would crumple into a pile of bones. That was why it looked like he was meditating from afar.

“He really is dead. You sure gave me a scare, you bag of bones!” Pao sneered and kicked the skeleton before anyone could react, scattering bones everywhere.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Prayer startled before rebuking the man.

“I don’t know what you people are afraid of. It’s just a bag of bones!” replied Pao with an uncaring shrug.

“Look! There’s a gravestone over here!” Granny Snake suddenly shouted and drew everyone’s attention.

After walking over to the gravestone and pulling away the overgrown grass, they noticed that a few passages were engraved to the stone. It read: “My name is Fu Xueying, and my title Old Man Xueying. I have been forced to hide here after suffering a terrible betrayal. I am gravely wounded, and I know I do not have long to live. That is why I’m leaving behind my life’s work—the “Blood Shadow Divine Art” and the “Blood Sea Fragrance”, and the Blood Shadow Divine Pill necessary to cultivate the arts—to my fateful one.”

“Should you choose to cultivate my martial arts, you will carry on my will and swear to avenge my death. My betrayer is none other than my disciple, Fu Qianqiu. Remember this well!”

“Last will of Old Man Xueying, Fu Xueying!”

“That body really was Old Man Xueying!” Prayer said with a wistful sigh. To think that the master of Blood Shadow Castle, a powerful faction that used to be famous thirty years ago, would perish at such a place. What was even sadder was the fact that he had been murdered by none other than his own disciple. It truly was a pitiable and lamentable death.

Then again, Blood Shadow Castle was an infamous demonic sect in Luoshui back in the day. They were ruthless, wanton, and self-seeking. It was perfectly normal for master and disciple to turn against one another, and even father and son to plot each other’s death. Old Man Xueying’s death—as lamentable as it was—was hardly surprising, all things considered.

Ye Qing didn’t share the same sentiment because he had never heard of an “Old Man Xueying” or a “Blood Shadow Castle”. In fact, the only thing that concerned him right now was the two cultivation arts mentioned on the gravestone, the “Blood Shadow Divine Art” and the “Blood Sea Fragrance”.

That’s right, he didn’t even care for the Blood Shadow Divine Pill that Old Man Xueying claimed was a must-have to cultivate his martial arts. It was clear it was a cultivation medicine of sorts, and cultivation medicine was nothing to him since he had the Annon Sutra!

Ye Qing scanned the surroundings but could not find anything that looked like a book around the area. Judging from the state of the earth, he highly doubted that the old man had buried his cultivation manuals either. It was then he recalled the body and the tree. If the books weren’t next to the gravestone, then it had to be on the body or the tree. Since Pao had so kindly kicked the body into a million pieces, the only place left to check was the tree.

Ye Qing walked beneath the tree and looked up. He was right. He saw three wooden boxes sitting on a tree branch in the canopy.

The boxes must contain the cultivation arts and the pill mentioned on the gravestone!

“Heh! Your eyes are surprisingly sharp, aren’t you boy? It’s too bad there’s nothing here for you!” Pao said derisively. Intelligence wasn’t a trait that was unique to Ye Qing. Naturally, everyone else in the group had figured out the truth and spotted the wooden boxes as well.

“What are you waiting for, Pao? Go grab the boxes already!” Prayer urged.

Ye Qing abruptly shot Prayer a strange look as if he was surprised. He didn’t say anything though.

“Sure!” replied an unsuspecting Pao. He then leaped into the air and made a grab for the boxes.

It was at this moment something unexpected happened. The instant Pao’s hand made contact with one of the boxes, he abruptly tensed up as if he had been electrocuted. His body turned limp as he fell down and landed with a loud thud.

“Pao! Are you alright?” Zheng Tianyuan blanched and called out to Pao, but the middle-aged man did not respond to his cry at all. It was almost as if he was… dead.

Their fears were proven just a second later. All of a sudden, Pao’s body started shriveling up like something was draining his vigor. It took only a few seconds before he turned into a dry corpse.

“What happened?” Zheng Tianyuan backed away from the corpse with shock and terror written all over his face.

Chi Long stepped in front of Zheng Tianyuan and watched the tree warily. “Be careful, young master. Something’s not right about this tree.”

He wasn’t just saying this because Pao was dead. As if the middle-aged man’s death had awoken something in the tree, its tree trunk began changing from dark brown to vibrant green, and new leaves began growing on its branches. At the same time, a flower bud grew out of a tree branch.

The flower bud was swaying even though it was completely windless inside the valley. It was also changing color constantly. Sometimes it was emerald green, sometimes it was yellow gold, and sometimes it was as red as blood. A sweet, aromatic, intoxicating scent permeated the air.

“What is that?” someone whispered. Everyone was staring at the flower bud with a mixture of curiosity and fear. No one dared to get close to it because it was definitely the culprit behind Pao’s death. The middle-aged man was a late-stage Qi Invoker, and yet he had died in an instant and without any resistance whatsoever. Of course they weren’t going to approach it carelessly.

There was one person whose reaction was noticeably different from the others, however. No one saw that Prayer was clenching his fists and visibly shaking with excitement behind them.

After observing the flower bud for a moment and sensing no danger from it, Granny Snake stepped up and said, “Let me try!” She blew a whistle, and something green shot out of her sleeves and landed on the tree. It was none other than the little green snake she used to threaten Ye Qing a while ago.

At first, the snake seemed perfectly fine. It was when it got within a certain range of the boxes when it came to a sudden stop.

“Return!”

The blood drained away from Granny Snake’s face as she blew another whistle, but her snake did not respond to it. The next second, it fell off the tree and shriveled up just like Pao had.

“My baby!” Granny Snake screeched on top of her lungs. The snake was a Stranger she had tamed and raised using countless medicines and poisons. It was so venomous that it could threaten some Vessel Augmentors. Without exaggeration, it was the apple of her eye and a treasure she cherished second only to her own life. Of course she was heartbroken by its demise.

Speaking of which, the flower bud on the tree grew again after the snake was dead. Its scent was also much sweeter than before.

It was at this moment Chi Long had been crossing his arms and watching the show from the sidelines. He immediately yelled at him, “Go get the boxes, boy!”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows at the red-haired man. Then, he barked out a laughter and said, “Fuck no!”

“What did you say? I dare you to say that again!” Surprise flitted across Chi Long’s features before it morphed into anger. He wasn’t expecting Ye Qing to dare to refuse him.

“Are you deaf? I said I’m not going! A blind man can see that getting up that tree is to commit suicide! How stupid do you think I am?” Ye Qing shrugged before saying something incomprehensible, “Also, I’m warning you, but you better think twice before you attack me!”

As if he was unable to comprehend Ye Qing’s defiance, Chi Long barked out a furious laugh before saying, “You’re not going? Okay then! You can die in my hands instead!”

The red-haired man took one step toward Ye Qing and appeared in front of him like magic. Then, he made a grab for the young man’s head. Chi Long wasn’t just tall and muscular, his hands were the size of a leaf fan. It was quite intimidating to stand beneath it as it came closer. From another’s perspective, Ye Qing looked like a defenseless child who could do nothing but be crushed beneath his palm, not to mention that it was giving off a massive wave of heat like it was on fire. It warmed up even those who were standing a good few meters away from Chi Long.

The red-haired man cultivated a martial art called the “Red Dragon Force”. It was a hegemonic and brutal martial art that imbued its wielder with the power of the scorching son. Those who failed to defend against the force would find their blood vessels crushed and their internal organs burned into a crisp. If they failed to expel the force in time, then they would literally burn down into a charred corpse.

“Die, boy!” Chi Long said with a vicious laugh. His complexion was beet red due to the “Red Dragon Force”, so he looked just like a story book demon when he laughed.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, Ye Qing turned his body sideways and took one step away from Chi Long. Then, a bright flash cut through the air and halted the red-haired man dead in his tracks.

“What… how did… you…” Chi Long exclaimed in disbelief as shock spread across his face. As if on cue, blood burst out of his cut throat before he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

It was only then a bead of blood fell off Ye Qing’s blade.

“I warned you not to attack me, but you just can’t help yourself, can you?” Ye Qing said with a smirk. He looked so calm and uncaring it was as if he had just slaughtered a chicken, not a late-stage Qi Invoker.

“You’re… not…” Zheng Tianyuan and Granny Snake were stunned, of course. Chi Long wasn’t just any late-stage Qi Invoker, he was pretty well-reputed in Anyang. Who would’ve thought that he would die like a wimp to a mere “journeyman Reforged”? It was like a dream, but the dead body on the ground told them it was anything but!

Bang!

It was at this moment Prayer launched into action. While Zheng Tianyuan and Granny Snake were distracted, the old man suddenly raced forward and… hit Granny Snake squarely in the chest.

Completely caught off guard, Granny Snake could do nothing but slam into the tree.

“Argh! Prayer, what are you—” Granny Snake cried out in pain before shooting Prayer a confused and furious glare. Unfortunately, that was all she managed before she shriveled up and died right next to her snake. She remained stunned and confused until the very end.

Prayer wasn’t looking at her or Zheng Tianyuan, however. He dashed over to Chi Long and kicked him over to the tree. The vigor flowed out, and the flesh rotted. Just like that, the dead man shriveled up to a dry corpse!