Stranger Danger

The air turned unsettling and cold as soon as they entered Little August Hill, chilling them all the way to the heart.

“On your guard, people. Little August Hill is an evil place with plenty of malicious Strangers about. It’s on you if you lose your life as a result of your own negligence!” Chu Nianjiu warned.

It was unnecessary advice. Everyone in August Hill Village knew Little August Hill was a place to avoid at all costs. Few villagers had ever ventured into the place and lived to tell the tale. Even Qi Invokers like Granny Xia, Lin Hu and Chen Zheng had never gone farther than the outskirts of the mountains.

“Huh? What’s that?”

It had only been a few minutes since they entered Little August Hill when the group encountered a clump of shiny mushrooms. Not only were they as big as a millstone, the caps were covered in magnificent-looking star-shaped spots. They twinkled like actual stars in the sky.

“Oh! It smells good!” Liu Jinshui suddenly exclaimed in wonderment when he sniffed the air.

“You’re right! These mushrooms smell really good!” Zheng Tao closed his eyes and took a deep breath as well.

Ye Qing had a bad feeling about this, however. He immediately stopped breathing and watched the duo carefully.

“Stop it. Do you want to die that badly?” Not far away, Chen Zheng was breathing deeply with an intoxicated expression as well. He was about to breathe again when he felt someone smacking him on the shoulder and infusing him with an icy sensation. He jolted awake immediately.

Chen Zheng looked beside him and saw that it was Chu Nianjiu. He looked puzzled as he asked, “What’s the matter, my lord?”

Chu Nianjiu smirked. “What’s the matter? Why don’t you take a look at them?”

When Chen Zheng looked, he noticed that Liu Jinshui and Zheng Tao were staggering toward the big mushrooms with dazed expressions. No matter how intoxicating the mushrooms smelled, they should’ve known better than to approach something so obviously suspicious. Even scarier was the fact that star-shaped spots started appearing on their bodies as soon as they got within a certain range. They looked exactly as the twinkling stars on the mushrooms.

“No! Please save them, my lord!” Chen Zheng exclaimed in horror.

“What’s the hurry?” Chu Nianjiu sipped from his drinking gourd before flicking a drop of alcohol at Liu Jinshui and Zheng Tao each. Frost immediately spread over their body and jolted them out of their intoxicated state.

“What happened?” The two men shivered when they woke up and realized that they were just a few meters away from the millstone-sized mushrooms. They immediately scrambled back to the group.

Chu Nianjiu answered, “What else? You were nearly killed, that’s what!”

“This mushroom is a Red-class Stranger known as the Sea of Stars. It bewitches and lures its victims close with a delicious scent. As soon as you get close to it…”

Chu Nianjiu snapped off a tree branch and threw it at the Sea of Stars. As it sailed toward the mushrooms, dreamy, star-shaped spots began to twinkle on its surface, and it started melting like it was ice under a hot son. By the time it reached the mushrooms, the branch had melted completely into a pool of sparkling liquid. It disappeared as soon as it made contact with the mushrooms.

“Heavens…” Gulps could be heard from everyone in the group. If it wasn’t for Chu Nianjiu, Zheng Tao, Liu Jinshui and even Chen Zheng would be dead already!

“See?” Chu Nianjiu was the only one who remained unperturbed by the eerie sight.

“Thank… thank you for saving our lives, my lord!” The trio thanked him immediately.

“Sure, but how are you guys still so careless at your age? Even the lad has more sense than the three of you combined! He stopped breathing as soon as he noticed that something’s amiss.” Chu Nianjiu pointed at Ye Qing.

The trio immediately glanced at Ye Qing with a mixture of embarrassment, jealousy and of course, resentment.

Ye Qing: “...” Why are you dragging me into this?

“Let this be a lesson to you all: keep your eyes open, and don’t be careless!” Chu Nianjiu warned before moving on.

Some time later, the group entered a valley and encountered a massive burning tree immediately. It had a huge trunk that took two people to cover completely, and its canopy was even more impressive, not least because it was literally on fire. The fire was so massive that the entire valley was dyed red.

The tree didn’t feel particularly dangerous, but no one dared to get closer since the encounter with the mushrooms was still fresh in the mind. Instead, they looked to Chu Nianjiu for guidance.

“My lord, is this tree dangerous?” Chen Zheng asked.

Chu Nianjiu shot him a look. “What do you think? It’s literally on fire!”

Chen Zheng let out an awkward chuckle before continuing, “What should we do then? We’ll have to take the long way up if we decide to circumvent this valley, and the long way is really long.”

Chu Nianjiu sipped from his drinking gourd before replying, “It’s dangerous, but it’s also quite easy to handle!”

Chu Nianjiu abruptly tossed an amulet into the air that transformed into a dark cloud. It then started raining over the burning tree.

Flutter flutter flutter!

The next moment, every lick of flame on the tree suddenly flew away from the tree like they had wings. As it turned out, the flames weren’t flames after all. They were butterflies that looked almost identical to fire. Not even Ye Qing had noticed this until Chu Nianjiu had disturbed them. The magical things flew deeper into the forest and were gone just a few seconds later.

“That is the Fire Butterfly, a Mundane-class Stranger. Individually, the Fire Butterfly is an insignificant threat, but as you may have noticed, they are gregarious Strangers just like the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes or the Skull Ants. Never provoke them unless you have no other choice.”

Chu Nianjiu continued, “On the other hand, the Fire Butterflies love the heat and hate the cold. You’ll often see them on a hot, sunny day, but never during the winter or the rain. All you need to do to chase them away is to create a bit of rainwater.”

“You’re as erudite as you are strong, my lord!” Chen Zheng seized the opportunity to flatter Chu Nianjiu. Unfortunately for him, the Windcatcher did not appreciate it.

“Cut it out. Praise from a pretty woman is one thing, but praise from a guy is just ass. Let’s get out of here before anything else shows up!” said Chu Nianjiu before resuming his march.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing was staring at the direction the Fire Butterflies had disappeared to with a twinkle in his eyes. The Fire Butterflies… I could farm them if I ever run out of Bloodsucking Mosquitoes!

That said, the Fire Butterflies weren’t hard-countered by his blood like the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were, so it would be wise to come up with a perfect plan first before he threw himself against them.

“Ye Qing? What are you doing? Let’s go already!” Wu Biao called out and snapped him out of his reverie.

“Coming!” Ye Qing hurriedly replied and caught up to the group before he was left behind.

More time passed, and the group made it through the valley without incident. It was at this moment a bunch of white things suddenly descended on the group.

“What the…! Oh, for heavens’ sake, it’s just catkins!”

Liu Jinshui was walking at the forefront of the group, and at first he was quite startled. When he realized what he was looking at though, he swore and batted the catkins away from him.

It was a mistake.

“Don’t touch those catkins!” Chu Nianjiu suddenly yelled.

“What’s wrong?” Liu Jinshui looked confused by his outburst. “It’s just catkins. What could possibly—”

He never got to finish his sentence. Liu Jinshui abruptly shivered like he had a cold before he started sneezing uncontrollably. It sounded like he was trying to dislodge something in his throat or his nose. His sneezes only grew louder and louder over time, and he could not control himself no matter what. Then, something horrifying happened: catkins began to spill out from his mouth and his nostrils. No matter how many he spat out, there were always more catkins. It was as if his insides were filled with them.

“Save—achoo!Achoo! Achoo!—me—achoo!”

Liu Jinshui reached out desperately to his companions as he staggered toward them. Zheng Tao was going to rush over and support his friend, but Chu Nianjiu stopped him immediately. “Leave him! It’s already too late!”

As soon as he said this, catkins sprayed out of Liu Jinshui’s eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth with a vengeance. Finally, he collapsed on the ground and stopped breathing just like that.

“What… what in the world is that?” Zheng Tao asked shakily.

Chu Nianjiu explained, “That is a Stranger called the Catkin’s Lie. If you touch it, it will transform everything within your body including your blood into catkins. You can open his stomach and take a look if you don’t believe me. I guarantee that it’s filled to the brim with catkins!”

No one said a word after hearing this. Of course, no one was crazy enough to inspect Liu Jinshui’s body either.

Whoosh! Chu Nianjiu tossed a fire talisman over Liu Jinshui’s corpse to cremate him before sighing, “I know it was an accident, but try to remember this simple rule as we continue forward: Don’t. Touch. Anything. That I haven’t given you permission to touch. Otherwise, not even the heavens can save you!”

“Let’s go!”

They did not linger. The group of five moved on after catching a small break.

The atmosphere was a little gloomy, however. It was because Liu Jinshui’s death made them realize that they weren’t one hundred percent safe even with Chu Nianjiu’s protection.

“Phew. We’re finally out!”

Eight or so minutes later, the group finally left the thick and gloomy forest and entered a massive clearing. The hill they were standing on was covered in beautiful red flowers and green meadows, and the blue sky above their heads was as clear as a mirror. It immediately uplifted the mood that had taken a huge hit since Liu Jinshui’s death.

“Alright, we’re going to take a small break here, everyone! Feel free to dig into your rations!” Chu Nianjiu ordered. The reprieve was much appreciated as everyone was feeling a little tired after a two-hour march.

Chen Zheng wiped away the sweat on his forehead and asked, “If I may ask, my lord, how much longer do we have to go before we reach our destination?”

“Why do you want to know? Are you scared?”

Chu Nianjiu was lying flat on the ground with his drinking gourd sitting on his chest. Every time he took a breath, a stream of alcohol would shoot out of the container and land squarely in his mouth. It looked mighty impressive as a matter of course.

Before Chen Zheng could muster a response, Chu Nianjiu continued, “We’re close. Don’t you feel it? There is an evil aura in the air that is exactly the same as the human skin Strangers’. Naturally, the Strange Artifact that produces them must be pretty close!”

“I’m glad to hear that!” Chen Zheng nodded before looking down on his feet. It was impossible to say what the martial artist was thinking.

A while later, Chu Nianjiu put away his drinking gourd and clapped his hands. “Alright! I can feel that the Strange Artifact is somewhere nearby, so here’s the plan. I want the four of you to split into two two-man squads and search around the area. If you find anything unusual, you will come back and report to me immediately. Do not go off on your own, understand?”

A cunning glint immediately flashed in Cheng Zheng’s eyes. “Yes, my lord. Wu Biao, you will team up with Zheng Tao. I will team up with Ye Qing!”

No one—not even Chu Nianjiu—had any objection to offer. From their perspective, Chen Zheng’s arrangement made perfect sense as Ye Qing was the weakest warrior in their group, and Chen Zheng the strongest. Of course the strongest should pair up with the weakest to maximize everyone’s chances of survival.

Ye Qing knew better, of course. He was sneering behind a mask of obedience. Everyone thought that Chen Zheng was looking after him, but he knew that the guy was just trying to isolate them both so he could kill him!

Luckily, he didn’t mind this arrangement one bit. Today was the day they settled their feud once and for all.

After the others were gone, Chen Zheng shot Ye Qing an amiable smile and said, “Let’s go!”

Ye Qing’s smile was just as friendly. It was almost as if there wasn’t a blood feud between the two that could only be settled with death.

Chen Zheng took the lead, and Ye Qing followed right behind him. No one was saying a word, but the air between them could only be described as cold and murderous. The word "two-faced" had never described the two men better than this moment.