Stranger Danger

Chapter 76: Incense of Fortune

“Where is the Stranger? You’re not leading us on a wild goose chase, are you?”

The group had followed Ye Qing through countless twists and turns for about half an incense stick. Yun Yan and the rest of the Sentinels were still patient, but Hu Nu just could hold it in any longer and exploded.

“We’re here! It’s right over there!” Ye Qing stopped in his tracks and pointed toward an alley.

Hu Nu stared at the alley with a frown. “That’s… Longevity Alley. Why did you bring us here?”

Right now, every shop in Longevity Alley had a white lantern hung on the entrance. They swayed to the wind and cast orange candle light and eerie shadows on the limestone floor. It looked both hypnotic and eerie.

Longevity Alley was the place to purchase candles, mock ingots, coffins, burial clothes, paper objects and all other funeral or ceremonial items. The reason every shop in Longevity Alley had a white lantern hung on the entrance was because it was a traditional custom in Chu. Nighttime was the time where yin energy was strong, and yang energy was weak. Naturally, shops that sold funeral or ceremonial items like theirs were bound to attract ghosts and other inhuman things.

This was why it was customary to hang a white lantern on the entrance and use a candle that would last throughout the night. The lantern was a guidepost that led the ghosts away from one’s home. It was also a warning to all living to stay away from this particular street because it was meant to be used by ghosts only. This was how the saying, “When yin things walk, the white lanterns show the way” came to be.

“Mister Ye, are you saying that the Stranger is hiding in this area?” Yun Yan asked slowly while staring at the dark and desolate Longevity Alley.

“That’s right!” Ye Qing nodded. It was what the Annon Sutra had told him, and the Annon Sutra was never wrong. He had lied about heading back to the bookstore to pick something up, of course. He was really using the time to ask the vellum where the Stranger who massacred the people in Coming Clouds had disappeared to.

But of course, the Annon Sutra did not specify the exact hiding location of the Stranger. It was willful like that.

“Do you know where it is exactly?” Yun Yan asked.

Ye Qing shook his head and lied, “I managed to follow it all the way to Longevity Alley, but you know how this place is. The yin energy here is thick enough that I can’t identify its exact location.”

“This won’t be easy!” Yun Yan said with a deep frown. “Longevity Alley is a crossroad with fifty-six shops in it. It is seventy-six meters long from east to west, and sixty-three meters long from south to north. The Stranger will know we’re coming very easily if we search through the shops one by one.”

“You’re not toying with us, are you?” Hu Nu grumbled in dissatisfaction.

Ye Qing ignored his rude accusation and said casually, “It’s true I don’t know where the Stranger is hiding, but I know a way to find it.”

“Oh? Do you have a plan, Mister Ye?” Yun Yan stared with Ye Qing with bright eyes.

Ye Qing turned his palm upward to reveal a half-burned incense stick. A fragrant scent quickly permeated the air after he ignited it with a flame stick.

“We’re praying to gods now, aren’t we? If prayers are useful, then why do the Pacification Bureau even exist?” Hu Nu couldn’t help but ridicule Ye Qing when he saw this.

This time, Ye Qing quipped back, “Haha. If you think you’re so hot, why don’t you catch the Stranger yourself?”

Yun Yan cut off Hu Nu before he could say anything else, “Quiet, Hu Nu. Do not bother Mister Ye!”

After Hu Nu had fallen silent, Ye Qing bowed twice to the incense stick and said, “I know you have a mind, brother. I ask you to lend me a hand!”

The incense stick was none other than the Incense of Fortune Prayer had left behind. The bad news was that it was already half-used, and it was the only one he had until he could gather the ingredients to make another. The good news was that the Incense of Fortune should be able to locate the Stranger they were looking for. After all, sometimes you have to be lucky to find someone, right?

As soon as he finished his prayer, the Incense of Fortune started burning much, much faster than before. The smoke it created started floating down a certain direction even though there was no wind right now.

“Follow it!” Ye Qing instructed and chased after the smoke immediately. His heart ached when he saw the Incense of Fortune shortening at a visible rate, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before it burned out completely. It would be bad if it burned out before they could find the Stranger.

Suddenly, Ye Qing felt like he had stepped on something and looked down. “Hmm? It’s a silver ingot!”

As if on cue, the smoke floated toward a shop that sold joss papers. It was called the “Source of Happiness”. Realizing what this meant, Ye Qing hurriedly extinguished the Incense of Fortune before pointing at the shop, “This is where the Stranger is hiding!”

“Are… are you sure, Mister Ye?” Yun Yan looked a little hesitant. She had seen various methods to track down Strangers, but this was the first time she had come across this one. It was no wonder she was feeling a little skeptical.

/p>

“We would know once you give it a try, wouldn’t we?” Ye Qing smirked and swung his sleeves at the joss paper shop.

“Don’t—” It was too late. His force was already crashing toward the shop like an avalanche. At times like this, action was far more useful than words. They would know he was right when the Stranger was forced out of its hidey-hole!

Ye Qing hadn’t tried to preserve his strength. The attack was powerful enough to destroy the entire joss paper shop. However, right before the attack would hit its target, a dense cloud of yin energy suddenly poured out of “Source of Happiness” like a tidal wave and blocked Ye Qing’s force!

This time, Ye Qing didn’t need to explain himself. Everyone noticed that something was amiss and took action immediately. Hu Nu roared loudly and threw out a mighty punch, whereas the rest of the Sentinels moved closer toward Yun Yan and formed a tight circle. They kept a firm grip on their bows and watched their surroundings carefully.

Boom!

Hu Nu’s punch force rolled toward the joss paper shop like a raging river. It easily blew away the yin energy surrounding it and crashed into the door.

Bang!

To everyone’s surprise, the door didn’t budge an inch. Hu Nu was the one who was pushed back a few steps by the rebound. A flinty glint entered Ye Qing’s eyes immediately. He knew first hand just how brutal and powerful Hu Nu’s punch was, and yet it still wasn’t enough to threaten the Stranger within. It was proof that the Stranger was quite powerful, so powerful that it had to be a Malice-class Stranger!

Knock—knock knock!

It was at this moment a series of crisp and rhythmic knocks came from the door. The Sentinels didn’t recognize the noise because they hadn’t experienced it before, but not Ye Qing. He immediately cried, “Watch out!” and tightened his own mental defenses. Before he even finished speaking, an ominous air suddenly flooded the alley and chilled the humans to their core. Ye Qing was fine, but some of the Sentinels suddenly looked dazed and almost sleepy.

Knock—knock knock!

Knock—knock knock!

As if on cue, the Stranger inside “Source of Happiness" knocked twice more and thickened the ominous air rapidly.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The dozen or so Sentinels collapsed to the ground and died one after another. Hu Nu and Yun Yan were the only ones who were still hanging on to life.

Hu Nu was an early-stage Vessel Augmentor, so it made sense that he would be able to withstand the fatal knocks. But Yun Yan, if he remembered the rumors correctly, was born with a frail body and incapable of practicing martial arts. It was why Ye Qing was very surprised to find she was still alive.

That said, the light in their eyes were dimming and weakening at a visible rate. They clearly could not hold on for much longer!

Thankfully, Ye Qing had already come up with a plan based on his previous encounter with the Stranger. The moment he heard the knocks, he immediately visualized the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method” and dispelled the ominous air that had invaded his mind immediately. That was why he wasn’t affected like the others. Then, he united his essence, qi and spirit into one and let out an imperious, “Hmph!”

His voice was so loud that it reverberated throughout the alley like a huge bell. Strange ripples started appearing in the air as the invisible energies clashed against one another. The ominous, deathly air hanging around them was immediately disrupted, and the knocking in the joss paper shop ceased in an instant.

“Hooo… KILL!”

Not done yet, Ye Qing sucked in a huge breath and gathered his energy within his chest. When his sleeves started billowing wildly like they were being blown by a powerful storm, he unleashed a tidal wave of force at the joss paper shop!

“Flowing Cloud, Flying Sleeve”

It was at this moment a pale, wrinkly hand shot out of the pitch black shop and grabbed Ye Qing’s sleeve. If the sleeve resembled a tidal wave, then the hand was a reef that parted it right at the center. The two forces clashed, and Ye Qing was thrown into the air. His sleeve was shredded into bits as well. However, the hand wasn’t doing so hot either. It turned almost transparent as it slunk back into the darkness.

Thump!

Suddenly, a heavy thump that sounded like a massive rock crashing against the ground came from inside the joss paper shop. The darkness churned, and a bunch of humanoid silhouettes rushed out of the shop and straight toward Ye Qing. Their limbs were stiff, and their movements were eerie. It was because they were paper dolls!

Ye Qing drummed his fingers like he was strumming a pipa. A dozen or so throwing knives immediately shot toward the paper dolls like lightning bolts. They were useless though. The throwing knives drilled through their paper bodies without resistance but failed to slow them down in the slightest.

Ye Qing raised an eyebrow and changed tactics. This time, he brought down his left hand and unleashed a jet of bluish black flames at the paper dolls. It worked. Every paper doll that so much as brushed against the bluish black flames were burned into ashes in an instant.

It was at this moment a crooked old man with a face that looked as pale as a sheet appeared behind Ye Qing like a ghost. His index and middle finger curled slightly, he lowered his right hand like he would knock on Ye Qing’s head!

“I was waiting for you!”

Ye Qing was anticipating this, however. He had sensed the old man hiding in the darkness since the beginning. Right before the old man’s fingers would land on his head, he wheeled around and opened his mouth. A brilliant light appeared from behind his throat, and Lightning Bolt pierced through his head without resistance.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Half of the old man’s head was blown away just like that. He let out a bloodcurdling scream before vanishing into thin air. When the old man disappeared, the ominous air permeating the area vanished as well.

“Where’s the Stranger?” Hu Nu woke up and asked weakly after his mind was freed. Right now, he looked nothing like the fearsome man he was earlier. His eyes were dazed, his face was deathly pale, and his body language exuded death and weakness.

“He escaped. But don’t worry. I have him in my sights!” Ye Qing glanced at him and Yun Yan. “Just take care of Miss Yun and leave it to me!!”

“Be… careful!”

Ye Qing was already gone by the time the words tumbled out of Hu Nu’s mouth.