Stranger Danger

“Say, Ye Qing. Why are there so many people in this world who overestimate themselves? Why are there idiots who would purposely go out of their way to get themselves killed?” Chen Zheng asked suddenly from the front.

Ye Qing replied in an indifferent tone, “Some people overestimate themselves not because they’re unaware of their limits, but because going beyond is the only way to better their future. Just the same, some people do desperate things not because they’re actually suicidal, but because they want to live!”

Chen Zheng let out a disdainful chuckle. “But an ant is always going to be an ant, Ye Qing. It’s not going to live or have a future no matter how hard it struggles.”

Ye Qing shrugged. “You won’t know until you try.”

Chen Zheng sneered. “Is that what you think?”

But Ye Qing shook his head decisively. “Me? Not at all. After all, I’m neither an ant nor desperate, so why would I ever entertain such thoughts?”

“Hahaha!” Chen Zheng burst out laughing like a madman. “That is the funniest joke I’ve ever heard in my life!”

“Is that so? Don’t stop laughing then. After all, it’s going to be the last laugh of your life.”

That was the last thing Ye Qing said before his saber abruptly exited its sheath as quick as lightning. Chen Zheng’s laugh died in his throat as surprise flitted across his features, but he was too late. He never reacted before the saber had cut through his throat.

Ye Qing thought it was over, but Chen Zheng abruptly disappeared into thin air. In his place was a wooden doll with a thin line across its throat.

“The hell is this thing?” Ye Qing stared at the wooden doll with a slight frown. The surprise attack should’ve ended Chen Zheng’s life.

“Where is Chen Zheng?”

Ye Qing looked around but could not spot the Qi Invoker anywhere. It was as if the guy really had vanished into thin air.

Ye Qing shook his head. No, be realistic. Chen Zheng is no Houdini, he can’t pull a vanishing act. There are two possibilities. Either he teleported away to safety, or… he’s invisible!

Ye Qing squinted at his feet as if he was absorbed in thought, but in reality he was watching his surroundings carefully. His caution was rewarded just a moment later. A bush to his right suddenly depressed as if something had stepped on it. Without hesitation, Ye Qing rushed forward and unleashed a devastating series of slashes at the space directly above the bush.

Clang clang clang!

A series of metallic clangs rang out. Ye Qing was sure he had hit something, but instead of the softness of flesh, he felt as if he had struck steel.

The truth was revealed just a second later. The air in front of him abruptly distorted, and Chen Zheng popped back into view. He was covered in a layer of golden light that was shaped like a bell.

“Impossible! How are you so fast?” Chen Zheng exclaimed in astonishment, rage and even a bit of fear. If it wasn’t for his brother’s Scapedoll and golden bell talisman, he would probably be dead already.

The Scapedoll was the wooden doll that had replaced Chen Zheng right before Ye Qing would have cut his throat open. It was a potent Strange Artifact his older brother had requested a respected senior to create in exchange for a huge favor. The Scapedoll didn’t just take a life-threatening hit in place of its owner, it turned the owner invisible to help them escape as well.

The Scapedoll was priceless even though it only worked one time. After all, it could save a life in a critical moment. Its value should be self-evident.

Chen Zheng believed that his own carelessness was the reason Ye Qing was able to surprise him. If he hadn’t showed his back to the young man like an idiot, there was no way in hell his life would’ve been in danger. That was why he chose to stay instead of leaving. He was going to repay the “favor” by ambushing Ye Qing with his invisibility.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing had found him before he could enact his revenge. Not only that, the young man had once again surpassed his reaction and triggered another life-saving item, the golden bell talisman. He would already be in pieces if the item didn’t trigger automatically!

He might be able to dismiss his first near death experience as a result of his own carelessness, but the initiative and surprise factor were firmly in his corner during the second exchange. Despite this, he still failed to defend himself against Ye Qing’s saber. That was just how fast the young man was.

“Is it? I can go faster. Come try me!”

Ye Qing remained cool and collected on the surface, but on the inside he was ranting about how Chen Zheng’s older brother was a total bro-con. He could hardly believe that the sonuvabitch had two life-saving items when he, the main character of this story, didn’t even have one!

So what if you have a brother who’s both rich and powerful? Pshaw! You’re still going to die!

Disgruntled he might be, Ye Qing did not allow it to affect his performance in the slightest. He was attacking even as he taunted Chen Zheng.

Clang clang clang clang clang clang!

It looked like he was only unleashing one strike, but it clearly rang six times when the saber landed on Chen Zheng. Obviously, it was because Ye Qing had attacked six times in a row. It just looked like one to the naked eye because he was moving too quickly.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work. “Just how tough is this thing?” Ye Qing complained out loud. He had struck the same spot six times in a row, but still there wasn’t a scratch on the golden light.

“This strength… you’re not a journeyman Reforged! You’re a… Qi Invoker?!”

Although the golden bell talisman prevented Ye Qing’s attacks from hurting him, it didn’t prevent the force from transmitting into Chen Zheng’s body. It was how he was able to identify Ye Qing’s true cultivation level. Not only that, he could tell that the true qi behind the attacks were incredibly dense. This level of power was only possible if Ye Qing had been cultivating his true qi for years!

Has he been pretending to be weak this whole time?

But no, that couldn’t be right. Just a month ago, he had beaten Ye Qing hard enough to put him in bed for days. The young man’s vigor had been weak, and his body as fragile as what you might expect from someone who had never cultivated before. This meant that he had really entered the Qi Invocation stage in a single month.

But how was that possible? He knew that geniuses did not conform to common sense, but this was still a little too ridiculous, wasn’t it? Did he encounter a once-in-lifetime opportunity that completely overturned his fate? Was he the reincarnation of a legendary warrior of old? Or maybe he wasn’t human at all, and a Stranger had possessed him?

All sorts of possibilities flashed in Chen Zheng’s mind, but he had nothing that might help him in narrowing down to the truth.

While Chen Zheng was distracted, Ye Qing mustered his vigor and readied a powerful attack. His arm wriggled like there were tiny mice scurrying underneath his skin before it abruptly swelled up like a balloon. Then, he brought it down on Chen Zheng with everything he got.

CLANG! This time, the golden light flickered unsteadily as if its power source was disrupted, but in the end it still wasn’t enough. Not only that, his arm was numb and sore from the recoil.

The terrific impact startled Chen Zheng and brought him straight back down to the earth. He quickly checked his body and was infinitely relieved to find that the golden bell talisman was still functioning. When he looked up and saw the look on Ye Qing’s face, he finally realized something: wait a second, why am I acting scared? The golden bell talisman protects me from all attacks! Ye Qing’s the one who should be afraid of me, not the other way around!

“Hahaha! So what if you’re a Qi Invoker now, Ye Qing? No matter how fast your saber is, you still can’t break through my golden bell talisman! Today is the day you die!”

Chen Zheng’s laugh was full of scorn and hatred. Just a month ago, the young man was an ant he could literally squish to death with a finger. Now, he was actually threatening his life! How could he let him live? How could he wash away this rage if he did not hack him into a million pieces and feed him to the Strangers?

And so Chen Zheng turned his wrist and summoned a sword to his hand. It had a crystalline body and a fine edge that looked as cold as frost. It was clearly no ordinary weapon. When he thrust the sword forward, it looked like a plum blossom had bloomed in the middle of a cold winter. It was proud and elegant, lofty and cold, beautiful and poignant.

If the edge was the petal, then the tip was the pistil. When the plum blossom descended on Ye Qing, seven cold stars cut through the air and zipped toward Ye Qing’s forehead, throat, heart, dantian and three other vital spots.

Parting Song of the Seven Plum Blossom Plays!

Most parting songs weren’t deadly, but this one definitely was. If any one of these “stars” landed, Ye Qing was going to wake up on the other side!

Ye Qing’s eyebrows shot up his hairline as he swung his saber furiously, weaving a mighty storm of blades to intercept all seven thrusts before they could hit him. At first, it seemed like he was successful as metal rang seven times in a row, and the plum blossom slowly faded into nothing. Then, an eighth star shot out from the center of the plum blossom not unlike a viper striking out from its hiding, vicious and unexpected. Empowered by a strange force Ye Qing couldn’t make sense of, it shattered his barrier of blades and struck him squarely in the chest.

Bang! There was a dull impact as Ye Qing’s chest exploded in a shower of blood and gore. It threw him a good couple of steps away from Chen Zheng before he caught himself. He quickly looked down on his wound with an indecipherable expression.

“Hahaha! If the seven sword thrusts are the parting song of the Seven Plum Blossom Plays, then this one is the requiem for the dead!” Chen Zheng cackled madly when he saw that he had successfully wounded Ye Qing. “Requiem For The Dead” was a lethal move in the “Plum Blossom Sword Art”. It was deadly, swift, and nigh impossible to guard against without forewarning.

The “Plum Blossom Sword Art” was a Qi Invocation stage sword art Chen Cang had gifted his younger brother. Naturally, it was much better and profound than the mundane “Five Tigers Door Breaking Saber”!

“That technique’s pretty good!” Ye Qing swung his arm a bit in an attempt to alleviate some of the soreness in the limb. The Requiem For the Dead wasn’t just extraordinary, it was empowered by an indescribable force that numbed his arm upon contact.

“Of course it’s a good technique! You ought to be honored that you’re going to die under my ‘Plum Blossom Sword Art’!” Chen Zheng cackled again before closing the distance. The plum blossoms began to bloom in the winter once more.

Ye Qing’s techniques were nothing special. In fact, one might say that they were completely basic—basic chops, basic slashes, basic sweeps, basic flicks and basic parries. But sometimes, you could make magic happen by pushing a certain aspect to the extreme. In Ye Qing’s case, he was going so fast that it was like he had summoned a literal storm of sabers to attack Chen Zheng. If nothing else, it looked a lot more imposing than the plum blossoms.

So what if you have plum blossoms that can thrive in winter? I have a storm that will crush all life no matter how tenacious!

For a time, the only sounds that could be heard was the sound of a sword clashing against a saber. Every time a plum blossom bloomed in the frigid wind, a ruthless storm would crush it without mercy. The plum blossom would then bloom again before another storm scattered its petals across the ground.

That was the problem though. No matter how hard the storm blew, the plum blossoms kept coming back to life. Although Ye Qing’s saber was swift and unending, Chen Zheng’s sword was equally profound and unpredictable. It was soft, but not without an unyielding hardness at its core; proud, but not so proud that it was beneath using surprise and illusions to gain an advantage; straightforward, but perfectly willing to use trickery to achieve its goals. Combined with the fact that Chen Zheng was protected by the golden bell talisman and so did not need to defend himself, and you get a helluva threat that could fight one or even multiple cultivation levels above oneself.

Slowly, Ye Qing started accumulating more and more wounds. His clothes were drenched in blood as well.

Bang!

Once again, Ye Qing’s chest exploded in a shower of gore and blood and threw him backward. He dodged a follow-up attack with a slight frown on his face.

“Hahaha! So what if you’re a Qi Invoker now, Ye Qing? You’re still an ant, and an ant will never be able to climb the heavens!” Ye Qing’s miserable state filled Chen Zheng with ecstasy.

“That’s what you believe. I believe that an ant only needs to grow wings to scale the heavens,” said Ye Qing smilingly while looking down on his wounds. When his blood hit the ground, the grass and the flowers beside his feet suddenly started sprouting like weeds. The flowers grew brighter than ever before, and the grass shot over Ye Qing’s head in just a matter of seconds. It was like he was a walking plant booster.

“Your blood is…? Now I understand! You’re a Strangerkin! You have Stranger blood in your veins! No wonder you shot through the cultivation levels so quickly!” Chen Zheng exclaimed in realization even as a wave of jealousy and hatred threatened to choke him where he stood.

A “Strangerkin” didn’t necessarily refer to a descendant between a human and a Stranger. It could be anyone who had somehow gained the power of a Stranger. All Strangerkins possessed mysterious abilities, and Chen Zheng’s older brother, Chen Cang himself was a Strangerkin. He was a one-in-a-million Innate Immaculate Swordsmaster who was born to wield the sword from the very day he left his mother’s womb. It was why he was scouted by his master at a young age.

Not all Strangerkins were accomplished in life, but most of them were certainly one-of-a-kind.