Stranger Danger

Chapter 66: Soulchasing

Ye Qing remained unmoving after the collision. It was Jie Chen who staggered a few steps away despite his protection.

“Damn, this lad is stronger than he looks!” The Rash Vajrapani exclaimed in astonishment while rubbing his slightly sore chest.

“Do you seriously think we’d believe that, Vajrapani? I bet you must’ve spent all your energy in Le Smoke Brothel last night!” Shi Jiang cackled loudly.

“Screw you! I was just careless!” Jie Chen yelled back in embarrassment before manifesting the golden light surrounding him in full. It took the form of a golden bell.

“The Golden Bell Shield?” Ye Qing exclaimed with a strange look.

“Guess you’re not clueless after all!” Jie Chen sneered and rushed straight toward Ye Qing. Every time he planted his foot on the ground, he would kick up a shower of dirt and leave a deep hole behind him. Not only that, his muscles would grow a tad thicker. By the time he was right in front of Ye Qing, his arms had become as thick as a tree trunk.

Next, Jie Chen hurled his arms over his shoulders before bring it back like he was trying to flatten Ye Qing between his palms. The air exploded from the sheer amount of force behind the move, and for a second he looked like a true Vajrapani crushing a demon mercilessly.

“Big Crush Tomb Hand”

“What incredible strength!” Ye Qing squinted and channeled the Toad Force. A series of rapid croaks later, he landed a punch directly at the center of Jie Chen’s palms.

Rumble!

Fist met palms, and a shockwave washed out from both men. The earth churned away from Ye Qing like a tidal wave, but he did not move an inch from his location. On the other hand, Jie Chan stumbled back and grew paler each time he took a step. By the time he took his fifth and final steps, his Golden Bell Shield shattered into pieces just like that.

“The Toad Force? But how?” Jie Chen’s eyes widened like saucers as he tried to quell his raging vigor. He just couldn’t believe it. His Golden Bell Shield was a Qi Invocation stage body art, and “Big Crush Tomb Hand” was a technique famed for its forcefulness and strength. On the other hand, the Toad Force was the most common qi mental art. This outcome should not have happened!

“The target’s stronger than expected! Get him!”

Originally, Shi Jiang and Tao Xian weren’t going to get involved. When they sense the presence Ye Qing had exuded for an instant when clashing against Jie Chen though, they blanched and rushed Ye Qing together.

Shi Jiang’s stomps weren’t as loud or potent as Jie Chen’s, but a layer of black qi slowly covered his face and turned his coal black complexion even darker than it already was. His hands also turned pitch black with a fiendish aura.

“Black Fiend Palm”

Black Fiend Palm, as its name suggested, infused the practitioner’s palms with fiendish energy. If the attack landed, it would leave a black palm print on the victim’s skin. The victim might look perfectly fine on the surface, but in reality the palm energy had shattered their insides. It was a dirty technique that was a lot deadlier than it seemed.

The reason people called Shi Jiang the Blackfaced God wasn’t just because he was born with a black complexion, but also because his face was covered by a layer of black qi every time he channeled the Black Fiend Palm. Black aura would also pour out of his body and give him the appearance of a fiendish god, hence the name.

The Black Fiend Palm was his signature move. Like a fiend, one strike was all he needed to turn his victims’ innards into goo.

Ye Qing’s expression turned serious, but a folding fan attacked his major points before he could take evasive action. It came from none other than Tao Xian, of course. The folding fan kept opening and closing like a flower going through the seasons rapidly, making it difficult to predict exactly which point of the fan he intended to tap Ye Qing’s major points with. Even trickier was the fact that green needles shot out of his fan every time it opened and shut exactly once. The color of the needles made it clear that they were coated in poison. They were also aimed at his eyes, throat, mouth, solar plexus and other vital spots.

The technique was Tao Xian’s signature technique. Its name was “Blooming Fan, Flying Needles”, and the Sick Scholar had even composed a short poem for it:

“Farewell! Farewell!

A folding fan blooms,

leaves and petals falling scattered on the street,

Into garden, Heavens’ garden,

Where she could bloom again…”

[1]

That wasn’t all. Jie Chen was stomping toward Ye Qing again and using the same technique as last time, the “Big Crush Tomb Hand”!

The trio’s teamwork was better than expected, attacking Ye Qing at the same time from three different directions. There was nowhere the young man could hide or dodge!

“Die!” Shi Jiang declared with a vicious grin when he saw that Ye Qing was trapped. He thought for sure that this was the end for the young man.

He was wrong. A steely flash appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Ye Qing. It wasn’t until they heard a series of metallic clinks, and the blinding light had faded that they realized the young man had deflected every needle Tao Xian had shot at him. Not only that, a series of whistling sounds followed, and they felt a jolt of pain from their weapon hand. When the trio looked down, they discovered that a two-inch deep wound had magically appeared on their wrist. It was just deep enough to sever the wrist tendon, no more and no less.

Somehow, the young man had managed to deflect all the needles flying toward him and sever their wrist tendons with one saber!

Was it really one saber? Or was it three? Maybe more than that?

The trio didn’t know. Their eyes were too slow to keep track of the young man’s movements. One thing was certain, however. He was too fast for them to even react!

The trio exchanged glances and saw the exact same thought in each other’s eyes: Retreat. After all, if they couldn’t defeat their target in their best condition, what chance did they have when both of their arms were useless? The trio immediately backed away from Ye Qing. Unfortunately, they were too late.

“Did I say you can leave?”

Ye Qing frowned at the fleeing trio and summoned a new saber into his hand. Unlike the saber he normally used, this one was curved like a crescent. Then, he took off into a sprint. He closed their distance faster than the trio thought was possible and conjured what looked like a storm of blades. The trio could clearly see that Ye Qing had swung his saber only one time, but for whatever reason, they saw countless blades flying toward them instead of one. The blades were swift, bizarre, and bone-chilling like a phantom. Their hair stood on end long before the blades even reached them, and they felt like their souls were being pulled toward the deadly storm.

Their hearts sank like rocks as they prepared for the worst. Shi Jiang roared and covered himself in layer upon layer of fiendish aura. He also raised his left arm and moved it rapidly in front of him to form a protective shield.

Tao Xian tapped the air with his folding fan multiple times to create ripples of invisible force in front of him. At the same time, he flew backward like a flower that was flying in the wind.

Jie Chen’s choice of defense was the most straightforward. He simply let out a mighty roar and summoned a lifelike bell around him. The golden bell was also covered in Sanskrit and mysterious runes. The monk must have cultivated the defensive art to the adept level.

It was futile though. The next second, all three men let out a muffled groan and suddenly collapsed to their feet. It was because a wound had split open on their ankles. At the same time, the blades flying toward them disappeared like they never were.

“It’s fake?”

The trio could not believe it. It was only now they realized that the storm of blades they saw was just an illusion, and the real attack cut their ankles a long time ago. The attack was just so fast they couldn’t even feel the pain until several seconds later, much less see it and react to it in time.

“I’ve never seen such a fast blade before. What is this art?” A pale-looking Tao Xian asked dazedly while coughing a couple of times.

“The Soulchasing Saber!” Ye Qing answered simply and tapped a finger against his blade to shake off the blood.

The “Soulchasing Saber” was a tricky saber art that relied on speed, illusion and intimidation to catch its victims off guard, but that it was also quite powerful in its own right. The reason Ye Qing executed it with a curved saber instead of his usual weapon was because that was what the saber art demanded. According to the manual, only a curved saber could unleash the unusual qualities of the “Soulchasing Saber”.

“Can we talk now?” Ye Qing tilted his head to one side and smiled wickedly at the trio.

Shi Jiang, the Blackfaced God simply spat on the ground and began, “Fuck you, you sonuva—”

He stopped short when the blood in his body suddenly churned unnaturally. Before he could figure out what the hell was going on, his face turned beet red, and blood started pouring from every pore on his body. He looked like a blood popsicle in just the blink of an eye.

“Wait—”

Shi Jiang screamed in pain, but whatever he was going to say was lost forever when he exploded with a loud bang, showering the area with blood and gore. His blood did not fall back to the ground, however. Instead, they formed a ball in the sky and flew toward Ye Qing. His aura visibly grew after he swallowed it all in one gulp.

“There’s nothing more I hate than people who swear!” Ye Qing licked his lips with an intoxicated expression before looking down at the remaining duo. “Can we talk like proper adults now, or do I have to make another example?”

Tao Xian and Jie Zhen gulped. For a time, they could only shiver like a leaf and stare at Ye Qing in terror. They didn’t dare to keep him waiting for long though. Clutching his folding fan with a death grip, Tao Xian stuttered, “Are… are y-you a Vessel Augmentor?”

Only a Vessel Augmentor could separate their true qi from their body, manipulate them remotely, and defeat three famous late-stage Qi Invokers with the kind of ease Ye Qing had displayed earlier.

“What do you think?” Ye Qing countered with his own question, but the absence of denial was itself an implicit admission!

Tao Xian and Jie Chen drooped their heads and lost all will to resist. If Ye Qing was a Qi Invoker, then there was still a chance they might be able to turn things around. But a Vessel Augmentor? The only thing resisting would get them was a quicker death.

It wasn’t their fault for misjudging Ye Qing’s strength. His blood could already camouflage his strength, but the Annon Sutra also possessed camouflaging properties. As long as Ye Qing didn’t show off his aura on purpose, there were very few humans or Strangers who could perceive his true strength. There was also the fact that he hadn’t gone all out because he wanted to test his newfound skills against actual warriors. It wasn’t until Shi Jiang died the way he did that the duo finally figured out his true cultivation level.

“So? Who sent you to kill me?” Ye Qing asked.

Tao Xian kept quiet for a moment before letting out a cough. “We were sent by Boss Yan, the leader of the Iron Shirt Gang.”

“Boss Yan? You mean Yan Tieyi?” Ye Qing frowned. The Iron Shirt Gang was a major gang in Anyang and stood on equal footing as Qiao Six’s faction. But unlike Qiao Six, the Iron Shirt Gang’s business was far more heinous including such as smuggling, protection, assassination and so on.

“I have no grudge with Yan Tieyi. Why would he send the three of you to kill me?”

“I don’t know. We were just following orders. That said, I saw Boss Yan reading a letter before he ordered us to take you out, so perhaps it was an assassination request,” Tao Xian answered with clear regret. All three of them had thought that Boss Yan was being too cautious when he ordered them to take out some nobody they had never heard before. Now, it wasn’t just too late for regrets, it looked like their “prey” was planning to take it out on their gang.

An assassination request? But I’ve only arrived in Anyang for a week or two. Who would want to kill me? Ye Qing thought. Could it be Faceless and Co.? No, it can’t be. Faceless knows that I’m a Vessel Augmentor, and not an ordinary one at that. He’ll never send three late-stage Qi Invokers to commit suicide! Who else holds a grudge against me?

A face slowly appeared in his head.

“Take me to your boss!” A cold glint entered Ye Qing’s eyes as he stared at the duo. “I shouldn’t need to say this, but don’t try anything unless you want to end up like Blackfaced God.”

“We wouldn’t dare!” The duo hurriedly nodded like woodpeckers. They were already beyond thankful that Ye Qing was willing to let them live. Only a total idiot would choose to defy the young man after witnessing his unnatural and unpredictable arts, and that person had already exploded into itsy bitsy pieces.

“You better!” Ye Qing said slowly, “Now take a moment to treat your wounds and tell me more about Yan Tieyi. I want to know what martial arts he practices, how many elites there are in the Iron Shirt Gang and so on. You can lie of course, but know that I’m an acquaintance of Qiao Six. All I need to do to verify the truth is to pay him a visit. If I learned that you’ve lied to me, hehe…”

“We wouldn’t dare!” Tao Xian hurriedly repeated and launched into an explanation, “Boss Yan is a Vessel Augmentor just like you, and his signature art is called the Iron Sleeve Art. He is known as ‘Iron Shirt Yan’ in the jianghu…”

……

Ye Qing was riding his donkey while Tao Xian and Jie Chen limped behind him. Tao Xian was still explaining everything he knew about Yan Tieyi and the Iron Shirt Gang when suddenly, he glanced at the duo with a steely glint in his eyes. “Wait a second. Did you just say he’s sworn brothers with Zheng Feng?”

“Y-Yes? What’s wrong?” Tao Xian visibly shuddered when Ye Qing’s gaze drilled into his skull.

“They’re sworn brothers, huh?” Ye Qing muttered to himself before ordering, “Tell me everything you know about their relationship.”

When Tao Xian was done talking, Ye Qing stared at them for a couple of seconds and said, “You’re my prisoners now. One thought is all I need to send you to the afterlife like Shi Jiang.”

A smile cracked on Ye Qing’s face when the blood drained away from both their faces. “But since I’m a good person, I’m going to give you one chance to redeem yourself. Are you interested?”

Before they could answer, Ye Qing shook his head and said, “What am I saying? Unless you’ve changed your mind about living, you’ll do what I say no matter how much you loathe the idea! Hahaha!”

“...”

“Anyway, this is my plan…”