Stranger Danger

Chapter 902: Bay Laurel Celestial Stunning Spell

“Go on. Why aren’t you running?”

The Moon King leisurely stepped out of his pavilion and glanced at the despairing Tao Chong, taunting. Following right behind him was the one-eyed, one-armed and one-legged old man who led him to the Moon King’s residence earlier. Clearly, he was the one who unleashed the cane strike that nearly killed Tao Chong.

“I figured out what’s going on, Moon King! Someone is trying to kill me through you!”

Tao Chong snapped out of his thoughts and said as quickly as he could, “I’m not lying! Someone is trying to use you! It doesn’t make any sense that I would try to kill you, does it? If you let me live, I am more than willing to bring his head to you myself and atone for my crimes!”

This was his absolute last chance to survive this crisis. He must grasp it no matter what.

“Oh? A fancy tale. Who might this person be?” The Moon King stopped in his tracks and asked curiously.

Relief flooded Tao Chong’s mind. So long as the Moon King believed him, then he still had a chance of turning this around. He began, “It’s like this, Moon King. Ye—”

But as soon as the word “Ye” escaped Tao Chong’s lips, the Trueman suddenly trembled where he stood and looked confused.

“Hmm?”

Noticing that something was amiss, the Moon King appeared in front of Tao Chong and grabbed his head. Eyes narrowing into crescents, moonlight cascaded from above his head.

The next moment, the Moon King was looking directly into Tao Chong’s headspace. He saw a bluish black demonic lotus slowly growing bigger and as Tao Chong’s yang god grew smaller and smaller. It wouldn’t be long before the Trueman completely lost his consciousness.

“Hmph. There really was a mastermind.”

At this point, the Moon King believed Tao Chong completely. He let out a cold hmph and made a grab for the demonic lotus.

A moon descended from the sky, alone yet brimming with seemingly infinite power. The next moment, silver light shone into Tao Chong’s headspace and illuminated it as bright as daytime. Then, a gigantic hand reached down to grab the demonic lotus like this was some sort of fantasy dream.

However, right before the gigantic hand would catch the demonic lotus, it abruptly turned transparent and passed right through the hand like it was intangible. The next moment, it leaped into the void and vanished completely.

“You think you can escape me?”

The Moon King hmphed again, and the moon abruptly shone as bright as the sun itself. At the same time, a bay laurel tree in full bloom appeared in the sky and swayed gently to the wind.

Suddenly, its white flowers began wilting one after another. Each time a flower wilted, a silver ripple would spread throughout Moon Bay as if the air was water. Wherever the ripple went, stars fell, sun hid, celestials succumbed, and Buddhas died.

When the rest of the flowers started wilting in rapid succession, it was as if the entire Moon Bay was submerged inside a sea. The ripples were everywhere, and there was nowhere for celestials or demons to hide.

At that moment, everyone in Moon Bay felt as if the moon in the sky was a little brighter than usual. The darkness of the night was chased away, and all things were dissolving except the silver moonlight.

There was no one who wasn’t concerned; no one who wasn’t afraid.

“The Bay Laurel Celestial Stunning Spell?”

There was an old man with silver hair fishing at the Moon Spring. He was wearing a conical bamboo hat and staring at the scattering fishes, sighing. “Who’s the idiot who provoked that crazy fucker?”

The old man put away his fishing rod and climbed to his feet, getting ready to leave.

“Dammit, my poor Moon Fishes. Looks like it’s another night of wine with no side dishes.”

As the old man trod away, the Moon Spring suddenly rippled even though there was no wind. The next moment, every Moon Fish in the Moon Spring disintegrated into nothing.

......

“Uwah! Uwah!”

“Sigh... don’t cry, my dear. It’s gonna be alright. Don’t cry...”

Inside a residence, a woman wearing woolen clothes and generally dressed like a farmer’s wife was cooing to a baby and rocking it from side to side.

There was no way to tell if it was just a coincidence, but as soon as the baby started crying, every child in Moon Bay started crying as well. Naturally, their deafening cries were annoying to say the least.

“Will someone go check what lunacy has gripped the Moon King again?”

The farmer’s wife ordered while looking at a corner of the house, but strangely, there was no one there. There was only an unusual amount of colorful embroidered shoes. There were red shoes, white shoes, green shoes, yellow shoes, blue shoes...

The next moment, something even more unusual happened. The embroidered shoes raised their heels and hopped merrily out of the door.

After the embroidered shoes were gone, the farmer’s wife began cooing the baby again, “Don’t cry, don’t cry. See what you did? Every child in Moon Bay is awake because of you...”

“Fine, mama’ll give you a kiss...”

The farmer’s wife bent down and kissed the baby on the forehead. This should have been a heartwarming scene, but it was clear under the bright moonlight that the baby had an ashen complexion. It was dead.

......

“Cunning rat!”

Back at the Moon King’s residence, the Moon King withdrew his right hand with an ugly expression on his face.

The Magia he used earlier was named the “Bay Laurel Celestial Stunning Spell”. “Even celestials and demons shall quake beneath the bay laurel tree.” That was how the martial arts manual had described the Magia. An extremely potent spirit killing secret art, it needed only one wisp of vitality and vigor to kill an enemy that was tens of kilometers away.

Using the demonic lotus as a medium, the Moon King had killed the ratlike scum who dared to toy with him remotely using the Magia. Or at least, He tried to. The instant the demonic lotus had slipped into the void, he realized that he had completely lost track of it. This was the first time he encountered a situation like this since grasping the “Bay Laurel Celestial Stunning Spell”.

Right after he lost track of the demonic lotus, he immediately scanned everything within ten kilometers of him using his spiritual power. Despite this, he still wasn’t able to find the demonic lotus almost as if it never existed in the first place. Naturally, he was unable to discover the identity of the mastermind, much less kill them.

“Elder Cripple...”

A few breaths later, the Moon King spoke up, “Look into his background and find out who has made contact with him recently. I want to know who is the mastermind who dared to toy with me.”

“As you command, Moon King,” The old man wielding a walking cane answered and took his leave.

The Moon King then accepted a handkerchief from a servant girl, wiped his hands clean and ordered, “Someone, drag him out and feed him to the dogs. I will not tolerate filth in my residence.”

Tao Chong wasn’t dead yet, but his mind and consciousness were totally gone. In this state, he was no different from a vegetable.

“As you command.”

Two Silver Moon Guards stepped forward and dragged Tao Chong away from the residence.

“Tsk tsk... to think that someone dares to use me as their butcher’s knife; to toy with me... how interesting.”

The Moon King looked at the moon shining above his head and spread his dainty lips into a cruel, sick smile. “Don’t let me find out who you are, or else... you would wish that you were dead.”

......

“Hmph!”

Ye Qing was sitting cross-legged in the mountains when suddenly, a muffled groan escaped his lips. Blood rapidly drained away from his face and flowed out of his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

“Joyless? Are you alright?” Feng Qingyou immediately voiced her concern.

“I’m fine.” Ye Qing wiped away the blood on his face and shook his head. He commented with a self-derisive smile on his face, “This is why you shouldn’t get a big head, ever.”

“What happened? Did you fail to kill Tao Chong?” Feng Qingyou asked.

“No, no. Tao Chong will never speak again. That Moon King though, phew. It was a closer call than I would’ve expected.”

Ye Qing said thoughtfully, “I did not think that Moon Bay’s leader would be so powerful.”

It was exactly as Tao Chong had guessed. He was going to make the Moon King do his dirty work for him. The “Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent” possessed the power to slay his dependent without a trace, but that wasn’t all it could do. It could secretly take control of his target as well.

As for why he hadn’t killed Tao Chong outright, it was because Tao Chong’s “Skin Painting Soul Sealing Technique” could transfer any and all damage he received and save him from one lethal blow, and because he had just grasped the “Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent”. Its potency was limited, and it would not be easy to kill Tao Chong from tens of kilometers away.

Finally, he wanted to test out the “Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent” in a live setting. So, that happened.