Stranger Danger

Chapter 753: Too Smart For Your Own Good

“What’s wrong? You wish to know who is the man who bested you?”

Ye Qing turned around and patted the dust on his hands away, lips curling into a smile that was anything but weak. “Sure! I don’t mind. It’s not like there’s anything you can do against me.”

Cui Qiuyuan scoffed. “Hmph! Who do you think you are to make such a boast?”

“I am Chu Wangsun, student of the Chief Libationist.” Ye Qing’s smile grew diabolical. “Do you recognize me now?”

“It’s you!” Cui Qiuyuan’s eyes widened in disbelief. He was so shocked that even his yang god was wobbling a little.

“It’s me.” Ye Qing made a face at him. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“But… you’re supposed to be a Half-Step Grandmaster. How…” Cui Qiuyuan arrived at the answer by himself. “You’re the one whose ascension summoned a tribulation earlier!”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact.

“So you can count to three after all. How very wise of you.” Ye Qing teased.

“Well played. I remember you now. Pray that you don’t run into me a third time, or I swear I will rip you to pieces!” Cui Qiuyuan uttered through gritted teeth.

Right now, the Mortician’s eyes looked like a pair of burning coals. Since he began practicing martial arts, he had always been the one to toy others instead of the other way around. At one point, he even toyed with an entire nation before escaping at his leisure. Never did he imagine that he would be played a fool not once, but twice by the same person. How could he not loathe Ye Qing to the very bone?

“I would say I look forward to it, but I’m not sure you’re going to leave this place alive!” Ye Qing chuckled.

Cui Qiuyuan laughed hatefully. “Hahaha! If I wasn’t sure before, now I know for sure that you are boasting! Who could possibly harm me while I still have the Undying Phoenix Feather?”

It was why he dared to stay behind despite losing his physical body.

Ye Qing did not say anything. No, it was a lazy voice who answered Cui Qiuyuan from behind. “Oh? Is the Undying Phoenix Feather that potent?”

The alarm bells in Cui Qiuyuan’s head abruptly blared in full force. At the same time, a streak of red light flew toward him. It moved so fast that it reached the Mortician before the lazy voice had finished talking.

“Scree!”

Cui Qiuyuan did not wait. A phoenix’s cry pierced through the air, and a phoenix covered in black flames manifested into existence. It flapped its flaming wings and enveloped Cui Qiuyuan’s yang god in a protective cocoon of black flames.

“Undying Black Phoenix”

The flames were cold and black unlike your normal fire. It appeared just in time to stop the red light in its tracks.

It was only now the others realized that the red light was really a peachwood nail. It was none other than Repentance.

Qu Langhuan and Blood Rakshasa subconsciously turned and looked at Murong Xianxian. The peachwood nail that was nailed to her forehead was long gone, leaving behind only a single red dot. It didn’t mar her beauty though. On the contrary, it made her look devilishly charming.

“Scree!!!”

The Undying Black Phoenix let out a painful screech, and pain appeared on Cui Qiuyuan’s face as well. There was more fear than pain, however. The Undying Phoenix Feather was his final trump card. So long as it was present, his yang god would never die, and it was only a matter of time before he returned to power.

For the first time since he obtained the Strange Artifact though, he was afraid. This was the first time someone actually managed to hurt the Undying Black Phoenix and damaged the Undying Phoenix Feather. Not only that, he could sense that the surrounding space had been sealed. There was nowhere for him to run; nowhere for him to hide.

He was trapped, and death was slowly but surely coming to claim him. Naturally, he was afraid and panicked.

There was one thing he didn’t understand though. Why was Murong Xianxian helping Ye Qing?

“Why, miss? Why?!” Cui Qiuyuan roared.

“Because I like him more than I like the rest of you, naturally.”

Murong Xianxian gave him a gentle, dreamy smile. “Are you aware that one of the people I dislike the most are those who think of me as a fool? I especially loathe those who go back against their words thinking they’re infallibly smart. Am I right, Mister Cui?”

“You never planned on cooperating with us in the first place! You were going to toss us aside as soon as we freed you!”

Cui Qiuyuan roared in anger. “What else are you waiting for, Mistress Qu, Blood Rakshasa? Kill them already, or you will be next on the chopping block!”

Qu Langhuan hesitated, but she ultimately decided to take action. She crossed her palms in front of her, and her astral qi transformed into a storm of flowers. A bleak wind howled as the falling flowers sang of humanity’s greatest tragedy; the final parting.

When the song ended, so would its audience’s life. Hence, the technique was named “Heartbreaker”.

“Heartbreaker” was a killer move in the “Divine Art of Hateful Separation”. It could destroy one’s insides without a trace and especially influence their mind. Its victim would feel so much sorrow it was as if their insides were crumbling inch by inch.

“You broke my heart, and so I shall break yours.” ~excerpt from the “Divine Art of Hateful Separation”.

“You truly are the successor of that menial, Yan Qingyan. You are exactly as stupid as her.”

Murong Xianxian giggled as she raised her left hand and snapped her fingers. There was a soft pop, and both the howling gale and the storm of flowers disappeared like it was never there, leaving behind only peaceful quiet.

Qu Langhuan let out a grunt of pain and staggered away from Murong Xianxian. Her face was pale, and her eyes were widened in shock.

Murong Xianxian snapped her fingers again, and suddenly, Qu Langhuan felt her true qi running wildly inside her body. It refused to obey her command no matter what she tried, and her temperature kept rising and dropping at random. It was torturous to say the least.

“Ah…”

Unable to endure the torture any longer, Qu Langhuan let out a groan and collapsed in a heap.

Murong Xianxian simply shook her head with scorn and pity. “I already told you that I’m the one who invented the ‘Divine Art of Hateful Separation’, and you still attacked me with its technique? How hopelessly stupid you are.”

While Murong Xianxian was dealing with Qu Langhuan, Ye Qing was dashing toward Blood Rakshasa. The Trueman had no intentions of fighting him though. As soon as Ye Qing truly revealed himself, she immediately recognized him as the man who had played her like a puppet on strings at the basin some time ago. She hated him as a matter of course, but she feared him even more.

This was a man she already couldn’t defeat even after he overcame the Profound Yellow Tribulation, which was said to be the strongest of the Seventy Two Earthly Fiends Tribulations. What were the chances she would be able to do it now that he had time to come into his power?

Now that both Cui Qiuyuan and Qu Langhuan were incapacitated, she dared not hesitate any longer. She transformed into a beam of red light and exploded toward the exit.

Ye Qing was a step too late to stop her. He could only watch as she made her escape and disappeared in the blink of an eye. He didn’t feel too disappointed though. He shrugged and turned back to Cui Qiuyuan.

He could already kick Blood Rakshasa’s ass right after he entered the Grandmaster stage. If she hadn’t run away, he could have ended right where she stood. In the future, she wouldn’t even deserve to be his prey anymore. With that in mind, why would he fear the consequences of escape?

Cui Qiuyuan and Qu Langhuan though, now they were a different story.

He had detected Cui Qiuyuan, Qu Langhuan and Blood Rakshasa’s scheming almost as soon as the thought appeared in their heads. Although they hadn’t communicated one word, he knew that they were plotting to kill him.

Ye Qing had never been kind to those who plotted to kill him, so naturally he racked his brain for a way to surprise them. If he could somehow kill them all in one fell swoop, then even better.

He was still thinking when it was his turn to remove ‘Repentance’ from Murong Xianxian, and the woman called out to him spiritually. Somehow, Murong Xianxian had noticed their scheming as well, and she asked if he wished to cooperate with her. As for why she was doing this, her reason was very simple: the trio meant to do her harm, and she did not take kindly to those who harbored malice toward her.

Ye Qing found her reasoning and her cooperation most agreeable, so they arrived at an agreement almost immediately. He would tackle Cui Qiuyuan, and Murong Xianxian would deal with Qu Langhuan. As for Blood Rakshasa, the Trueman would have to be insane to stay behind after her companions were defeated, so there was no need to worry about her.

Things went as expected. Well, almost. Ye Qing wasn’t expecting Murong Xianxian to possess the power to trap Cui Qiuyuan despite his Undying Phoenix Feather.

No matter how hard the Mortician struggled, he was unable to break out of the prison Repentance prepared for him.

“What else do you have, Trueman? Show me.”

Murong Xianxian watched the struggling Cui Qiuyuan like a cat would stare at a bird trapped inside a cage, playful and predatory. “I truly do not understand you people sometimes. Everything would’ve been fine if you had just done as I asked. Why must you overestimate your intelligence?”

“Fine. It is inevitable that the foolish will overestimate their intelligence. But why on earth did you think you could trick me? What gave you the courage to actually go through with your foolish scheme? Youngsters these days must be quite arrogant and suicidal.”

A short while later, Cui Qiuyuan stopped struggling. His expression gradually returned to calm as well. It was because he noticed that Repentance could not truly breach the Undying Phoenix Feather’s protection and hurt his soul even though it could pin him in place.