Stranger Danger

Following behind the gong beaters were many gorgeous women, but just like the Strangers before them, these women were no humans. For starters, they had root-like legs. Every time they took a step, petals would scatter, and a refreshing scent would permeate in the air. They were obviously some sort of plant Strangers.

The wedding carriage was at the center of the procession, and it was quite something to look at. Carried by four stone giants, the carriage constantly changed in shape and color like an unfinished painting that was constantly being worked on. Sometimes it was red, sometimes it was light blue, and sometimes it was dark green. Circling above the carriage were colorful birds wearing wreaths of grass and flowers and chirping a melodious tune.

Behind the carriage were many kids who were barely old enough to be children instead of babies. Cute and round, they had root-like arms and various leaves and flowers growing out of their unnaturally shiny bodies. They were also wearing red dudous. Judging from their appearance, they were probably ginsengs, lingzhi and mushroom Strangers.

Finally, the children were followed by a bunch of humanoid Strangers riding all sorts of ferocious beasts such as bears, tigers, leopards and even lions. They were all wearing armor and carrying a massive saber. In stark contrast to the cheerful procession ahead of them, these humanoid Strangers were as quiet and expressionless as death itself.

Wherever the wedding procession went, Strangers bowed their heads in reverence, and plants went out of their way to give passage. Literally, the grass, the flowers and even the trees were bending out of its way as if they had a mind of their own. Even the wind felt especially lively and refreshing tonight, blowing in a manner that could only be described as cheerful.

“P-prayer, what the hell is going on here?” Pao stuttered out in fear.

Beside him, Zheng Tianyuan was keeping quiet and doing his best to keep up a dignified appearance, but his pale complexion betrayed just how scared he really was.

“I think… we’ve stumbled upon an ancient custom. The mountain god is taking a wife tonight!” Prayer answered with an audible gulp, but his voice still sounded raspy because his throat was completely dry.

“Can you please explain in more detail?” Granny Snake prodded in a meek voice while doing her best not to draw any attention from the procession.

Prayer shook and nodded his head as if he wasn’t quite sure how to react either. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know that much about this custom either. It’s something I read in a travel journal, and it’s only a few sentences long. I quote, ‘When the mountain god takes a wife, the birds start singing, the music starts playing, the plants start dancing, and fearsome beasts protect a carriage made of clouds. Wherever they go, all creatures bow their heads in awe, the grass and trees move away to open up a path, the wind dances in celebration, and the water drinks in joy!’”

“But I’ve always thought that it was just a myth; a fairytale. I-I never knew it was real!”

“What should we do then, Prayer?” Chi Long asked while licking his dry, cracked lips.

“I don’t know. But it’s best if we stay where we are and see what happens!”

Prayer shook his head before raising his censer high above his head. The Incense of Worship that had been burning very, very slowly in the censer up till this point suddenly began to burn up rapidly until they formed a large cloud of smoke. The smoke then slowly floated toward the wedding procession.

As soon as the smoke made contact with the wedding procession, everyone stopped what they were doing all of a sudden. The next moment, a short, portly, decrepit old man whose hair had turned completely white slowly started walking toward the group. He carried a walking stick that was much taller than him.

At that moment, all six humans felt their hearts leaping to their throats. They subconsciously stopped breathing as well.

The old man walked so slowly and shakily that it looked like it would take him forever just to shamble to their side. In reality, it took him only one step to appear in front of the group. Smiling, the old man gave them a small bow before saying, “Our Master is taking a wife today. Seeing as we are fortunate enough to run into each other during this wonderful night, the Mistress has requested me to invite you to our wedding banquet. Would you please accept our offer and bless the banquet with your presence?”

“You… want us to attend your mountain god’s wedding banquet?” The humans all exchanged panicked and uncertain looks with each other. Would they be leaving the banquet alive if they said yes? And would they live if they turned the old man down? The questions were simple, but no one had an answer to either of them.

“The Mistress insists that you bless us with your presence!” The old man pressed unhurriedly. Chuckling, he slowly swept his gaze across everyone’s face until he stopped… on Ye Qing.

Everyone turned to look at him, surprise and suspicion flitting across their faces. Unfortunately, Ye Qing was just as clueless as they were.

Why the heck is he looking at me!? Does he want me to make the decision?

In the end, Ye Qing could only see one way out of this. He forced out a smile and answered, “If it’s not too much of a bother, then… sure! W-why not?”

“Haha! It’s no bother at all! We are most honored to have you, young master!” The old man laughed heartily before doing a little wave. The earth surged, and six smaller carriages suddenly appeared before the group. He beckoned, “Come, come! Please enter your carriages!”

At this point, it was far too late to reject the old man’s request. They could only enter the carriages whether they liked it or not. As soon as they had taken a seat, the music resumed, and the carriages immediately started moving toward somewhere. Ye Qing couldn’t quite tell where they were, not just because it was dark outside, but also because the windows were covered up by semi-transparent curtains. He could only tell that they were moving very quickly judging from the sound of the wind. Strangely, Ye Qing could not feel the slightest bump even though they were traveling across the mountains. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought that they were traveling on flat ground.

An unknown amount of time later—Ye Qing literally couldn’t tell, for it felt like they had traveled for a breath and a few hours at the same time—the old man’s voice suddenly came from outside, “We are here, dear guests!”

Ye Qing obediently stepped out of the carriage and found himself standing inside a massive hall. Not only was the hall richly ornamented and overflowing with riches, the ceiling was embedded with countless night pearls that glittered like stars. They brightened the hall so much that it felt like daytime.

“If I may be so bold, elder one—where are we?” Ye Qing asked.

“Oh my, please do not call me that, dear guest! I am not worthy to be your elder one! If you don’t mind, please address me as Uncle Fu!” The old man saluted Ye Qing brightly before answering his question, “We’re currently in one of the Master’s imperial palaces. The wedding will begin shortly, so feel free to rest your legs and partake in our hospitality until then. I have to get busy now, so please, enjoy your stay!”

Before anyone could say anything, Uncle Fu bowed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“What’s the plan, Prayer?” Zheng Tianyuan looked to Prayer for instructions as soon as Uncle Fu was gone.

Prayer performed some finger calculations and observed his surroundings for a moment. Then, he shook his head and said, “The threads of fate here are completely hidden, so I cannot determine our exact location. In other words, we are trapped.”

“We’re trapped? You might as well say that we’re dead!” Pao visibly blanched before turning on Ye Qing and growling, “It’s all your fault, boy! We would not be in this situation if you haven’t guided us down the wrong path! I’ll kill you!”

Chi Long, Granny Snake and Zheng Tianyuan were wearing ugly expressions as well.

Pao was halfway to Ye Qing when Prayer stopped him. “Calm down, Pao! Now is not the time to be blaming others!”

To their surprise, Ye Qing seemed completely unperturbed by Pao’s threats. He crossed his arms and said calmly, “It is as Prayer says. In my opinion, these Strangers don’t hold ill will toward us. I’m not saying it’s not dangerous, but I don’t think we will die if we play this out properly!”

Prayer shot Ye Qing a surprised look. He wasn’t expecting Ye Qing to be so calm considering their circumstances. Regardless, he nodded in agreement and said, “The lad is absolutely right. These Strangers are many times stronger than we are. If they were planning to kill us, they would not have waited until now. They would’ve killed us as soon as we ran into them.”

“Okay… what do we do then?” Chi Long asked.

Prayer thought for a moment before answering, “We are guests, aren’t we? We may as well act our role and get comfortable!”

Crunch!

Suddenly, a crisp crunch drew everyone’s attention. Everyone turned and saw Ye Qing leaning against a table and eating a fresh, emerald green fruit without a care.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zheng Tianyuan blurted in shock even as anger flooded his veins. He could not believe that Ye Qing would be so bold as to touch anything in this hall, much less enjoy the food. All of them would die if the Stranges decided to take offense with his impudent behavior!

As if he couldn’t sense the group’s rising anger, Ye Qing waved the fruit in his hand and replied casually, “I’m eating a fruit, duh! What’s the matter? Uncle Fu said that we are free to partake in their hospitality. Surely it would be impolite not to enjoy the sweet fruits and delicious wine they had purposely laid out for guests like us?”

“Also, these fruits are seriously tasty. Are you sure you don’t want to take a bite?”

Granny Snake was examining the fruit in Ye Qing’s hand when she suddenly exclaimed, “That’s the Emerald Fruit, a fruit that refines one’s true qi and strengthens the body!”

“What? Are you sure?” Prayer appeared in front of Ye Qing and snatched the half-eaten fruit from his hand. He inspected it closely for a moment before breaking into a wide smile. “It really is the Emerald Fruit! And those are…”

Prayer’s mouth fell open when his eyes shifted to a bunch of crystalline grapes on a fruit tray. “Crystal Grapes! They’re fruits that can increase the amount of one’s true qi!”

His eyes continued to widen as he looked at the fruit next to the Crystal Grapes. It was as big as a longan and as red as blood. “That’s the Blood Bodhi, a fruit that can supposedly create flesh out of nothing and increase one’s lifespan. A priceless restorative, it is said to be capable of rescuing anyone from the brink of death so long as they are still alive!”

“That… that tea is the Purple Haze Tea, a drink that can improve the mind and eyesight. The Flowerless Fruit… The Passion Lotus… The Gem Flower… these are all top-grade spirit fruits that are sold for thousands and thousands of silvers in the market!”

“Om nom nom nom nom nom nom…”

Prayer was still ranting about the value of the spirit fruits on the table when the sound of eating abruptly disrupted his train of thoughts. He turned around and saw that everyone was sitting around a table each and busy stuffing their mouths with food.

“...”

Prayer was speechless for a moment. Just a moment ago, these people were so frightened that they didn’t even dare to touch a single object in the hall. Now? They probably wouldn’t stop even if he told them that the food was poisoned!

Disgruntled as he was, Prayer did not hesitate to grab a seat and start shoving food into his mouth as well. He might still die when the wedding banquet was over, but he certainly wasn’t going to go to the other side on an empty stomach!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Suddenly, the hall darkened for a second before the candles strategically placed throughout the place all lit up at the same time, dyeing everything dark red and chasing away the cold. The atmosphere felt warm and festive.

Two people suddenly appeared at the center table. The person to the left was tall and fierce, while the one to the right was dainty and delicate. They were both wearing red wedding outfits. As warriors, the humans should be able to see the two people clearly despite the dim lighting. In reality, some sort of mysterious force had blurred out the bride and the groom’s appearance so that the most that they could make out was their gender.

Suddenly, bamboo flutes and string instruments started playing in the hall. Before the humans could react, Uncle Fu’s voice came from outside the hall,

“The wedding begins! You may now enter the hall, dear guests…”

A young man wearing a blue robe sauntered into the hall. He had long, blue hair and carried a jade folding fan. He looked to be in his twenties, and he was so handsome he didn’t look like he belonged in this world.

Uncle Fu introduced, “First, we welcome Scion Sea. Scion Sea brings the bride and groom not one, but two thousand-year-old Dew Water Jade Lotus Flowers! He sincerely wishes that they will love and cherish each other till death do them part!”

“Huh. Someone managed to get ahead of me?” Scion Sea commented as soon as he saw Ye Qing’s group. He shot them a dashing smile and saluted them before walking all the way to the table at the end of the hall; table number one.

“Next, we welcome Old Man of the Mountain. Old Man of the Mountain brings the bride and groom a long-life statue, and he wishes that they will love each other as equals for one hundred years, then another one hundred years to come!”

A benign-faced old man wearing a yellow robe walked into the hall—or rather, the earth beneath his feet carried him forward like the tides. When he passed by the center table, he bowed to the bride and groom before moving onto his seat.

“Thirdly, we welcome Tiger General! Tiger General brings the bride and groom a ten-thousand-year-old Rindo Grass! He too wishes that they will love and cherish each other till death do them part!”

A tall, massive humanoid Stranger with a tiger’s head stepped into the hall. Clad in war armor, he gave off a brutal and tyrannical aura that was very much at odds with the festive atmosphere around him. As soon as he stepped through the entrance, he glanced at Ye Qing’s group and laughed maliciously. “Why are humans attending the Master’s wedding day? Should I eat them and save us all some eyesore?”

He then made a grab for Ye Qing before anyone could react.