Stranger Danger

Chapter 77: Did I Give You Permission To Leave?

“This way!”

If someone was watching Ye Qing right now, they would have mistaken him for a ghost. His feet never touched the ground, and he did not make a sound as he dashed through the darkness.

His spiritual power had grown by leaps and bounds ever since he practiced the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method”. Although the old man was almost as untraceable as an actual ghost, he could still pick up a faint trail of yin energy. It was how he managed to stay on the Stranger’s trail.

The old man was pretty cautious. They must have traversed at least one quarter of the entire county before he finally entered a house.

Ye Qing jumped over the wall and skulked through the courtyard without a sound. It wasn’t long before he found the old man sitting opposite a scholarly man holding a folding fan in the living room.

Faceless?

Ye Qing’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the scholar. He did not recognize his appearance, but his aura was unmistakable.

The old man and Faceless are acquaintances? Is Faceless behind today’s incident? Ye Qing thought. He was going to kill the Stranger immediately, but now he decided to wait just a bit longer. They might give him some interesting information.

In the living room, Faceless asked in a puzzled voice, “What happened, Ghastly? Who did you run into to be injured this badly?”

The old man named Ghastly looked terrible. Half of his head was completely gone, and black smoke was rising from the gaping wound. The other half was contorted in an expression of fury and hatred as Ghastly stared at Faceless unblinkingly. It was like he was staring at a dead man.

His chilling stare rolled off Faceless like water off a duck’s back, however. Faceless chuckled while fanning himself, “Don’t look at me like that. I might just dig out your remaining eye if you keep this up.”

Ghastly finally squeezed out a dark, raspy reply, “Why didn’t you tell me that man possesses an outstanding mind and spirit, Faceless? He even has two potent Strange Artifacts!”

“You were hurt by Ye Qing?!” Faceless exclaimed in shock. His dark eyes flickered with uncertainty as he muttered to himself, “That can’t be right. I’ll grant him that he displayed a prodigious amount of true qi, incredible movement art, and unpredictable saber techniques, but his mind was so-so at best! There should be no way he could withstand your knocks!”

“And yet he had!” Ghastly rasped angrily.

Faceless tapped his table twice before realizing something, “Wait a second, didn’t I tell you to leave immediately if Ye Qing somehow survives your ability? I told you I had other tricks up my sleeves in case it fails. Did you ignore my advice, or did something unexpected happen? Tell me everything, Ghastly!”

The old man kept quiet for a moment but did as he said. When he was finished reciting his tale, Faceless’ expression turned cold and brooding. “What a lucky bastard! My original plan was for you to eliminate his mind with your ability and take revenge on my behalf. On the off chance you failed, I even notified the Pacification Bureau that a massacre had taken place at Coming Clouds so that their deaths would be pinned on him.”

“If Ye Qing decided to resist capture and fight against the Pacification Bureau, he would have signed off his own death sentence. If he followed them back to their headquarters, then even better. I have a million ways to kill him without a trace once he entered the Pacification Bureau and had his true qi suppressed!”

I knew that something was off! Ye Qing thought in realization outside the building. He had been thinking what were the chances that the Pacification Bureau showed up within the same minute he entered Coming Clouds. As it turned out, it was a trap Faceless had laid down to catch him.

He had to admit that Faceless’ plan this time was pretty tight. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough that he would’ve fallen for it if a number of good fortunes hadn’t happened to him in the nick of time.

If he hadn’t accidentally triggered the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method” and discovered its secrets, he might not have survived Ghastly’s deadly knocks. Besides that, the Pacification Bureau was very different from the administrative division. In case of a murder, the administrative division did not have the authority to detain a suspect without evidence. However, the Pacification Bureau could detain anyone and everyone with or without any evidence especially when a Stranger was involved. They even had the right to execute anyone on the spot if they dared to resist arrest.

If he was anyone else, Faceless’ trap would have succeeded. He would have been hunted down and killed by the Pacification Bureau or die to Faceless’ tricks while he was being interrogated at the Pacification Bureau’s headquarters. It was only thanks to the Annon Sutra that he unknowingly broke out of the Stranger’s trap, which led to him defeating Ghastly and even discovering their hidden relationship!

“My plan is so perfect that even I was impressed with my bout of inspiration, so how did that bastard manage to see through it? It should’ve worked!” Faceless lamented in a wistful tone. Only his eyes revealed the fact that he was really burning with hatred and bloodthirst.

Faceless then asked curiously, “By the way, how on earth did the bastard and the Sentinels manage to find your old haunt? I know full well just how elusive you are!”

For the first time, a trickle of uncertainty entered Ghastly’s eye. He shook his head as he replied, “I’m not sure. I’m certain I haven’t left any trace behind, so it shouldn’t have been possible for them to track me, much less my hideout!”

Suddenly, Faceless exclaimed in realization, “Wait a second. If they can find your hideout, they might be able to find my hideout as well! You’re the most careful of us, Ghastly! How could you have committed such a rookie mistake?”

Ghastly’s expression darkened. “Watch your mouth, Faceless. The reason I’m like this in the first place is because of you. I don’t expect gratitude, but I would greatly appreciate it if you don’t accuse me of failure!”

“In any case, you’re worrying over nothing. I left most of the Sentinels hurt or dead before I escaped. They were in no condition to chase me, much less track me to your hideout!”

Faceless let out a strange cackle. “I’m worrying over nothing? No, I’m just being cautious. Our plan has just reached a critical stage. From now on, everything must go perfectly until we are ready to execute the plan!”

“Also, you’re the one who should watch your mouth. You’re not doing me a favor, you’re paying me back for the favor I have done unto you. If you think you can twist things around just because you’re older than me, think again!”

Ghastly did not take offense despite Faceless’ tone. He asked curiously, “Speaking of which, what on earth are you plotting with Rotten Crown and Dark Eye? Is it still not safe to tell me?”

A mesmerized look came over Faceless. “You’ll know in two days. Hehehe! When the day comes, I will be able to eat all the flesh I want, and you all the souls you ever dreamed! It’ll be a feast of epic proportions!”

“I look forward to your group’s success!” Ghastly did not press the matter. There was even a hint of anticipation and excitement in his tone.

“Trust me, we will succeed!” Faceless chuckled. “Speaking of which, it’s time we go our separate ways. Like I said, it’s just a precaution. Let’s drink together when this is all over!”

“It’s a promise!” Ghastly replied. “One last thing. With this, my debt is settled. I will not be responsible for what happens if you ‘forget’ and try to coerce me to do your bidding again, understand?”

“Relax, Ghastly. I will remember. After all, I’m not a brainless old fart like you, haha!” Faceless laughed and headed toward the front door.

“Sigh. I’m going to have to get a new face after this. How trouble—”

Faceless was opening the door in mid-grumble when suddenly, he felt like something was off. Not one to disregard his intuition, he immediately tried to back away only to find a hand flying out of the darkness like lightning. It hit him right in the solar plexus with a thunderclap-like boom and fried him until he looked like a lump of red hot iron. Not only that, he felt like something was hitting his insides again and again not unlike a blacksmith who was tempering a piece of molten iron with his hammer. His limbs felt weak, his aura was a mess, and there wasn’t a part of his body that didn’t hurt like a bitch.

That moment of distraction was enough for the hand to move above his head and burst into bluish black flames. Although the hand was simply hanging above his head like a thundercloud, Faceless knew with terror-stricken certainty that it would burn both his body and his soul into ashes if he dared to make a move. Thick walls of aura had also surrounded him from all sides and prevented him from escaping.

The surprise attack had happened in just the blink of an eye. By the time Ghastly realized what happened, the mysterious attacker had already rendered Faceless immobile. The old man did not hesitate to abandon his companion and escape through the window—or at least, he tried to.

“Did I give you permission to leave?” taunted Ye Qing as the dark cloud covering the moon abruptly parted in half. It wasn’t a coincidence. A bolt of lightning abruptly zapped across the sky and struck Ghastly squarely in the chest. It was none other than his new Strange Artifact, Lightning Bolt.

Ghastly’s body abruptly exploded to reveal a strange creature. It had a massive mouth and a head as big as a bucket, but its limbs were shockingly thin and short. It almost looked like a ghost baby with a giant head. As soon as it appeared, yin wind suddenly filled the house, and ghastly wails resounded everywhere as if they had been transported to the Nether in an instant. It was a bone-chilling phenomenon to put it mildly.

“You’re a Soul Eater? Hmph! No wonder you can kill without a trace!” Ye Qing remarked curiously while still keeping his left hand above Faceless.

A Soul Eater was a Malice-class Stranger and a type of yin soul. It had a head as big as a bucket, but a body as small as a baby. It was usually found in a hollow of a yin-infested mountain. Intelligent and cunning, this Stranger usually lured its victims with sound so it could consume their souls. Although it was only classified as a Malice-class Stranger, it was extremely dangerous and could threaten Vessel Augmentors or even Astral Refiners. It was weak to lightning, fire, heat, and yang.

A Soul Eater was a highly dangerous and intelligent Stranger. Forget the average Vessel Augmentor, even Ye Qing would have perished to Ghastly’s fatal knocks if he hadn’t accidentally uncovered a visualization method and greatly bolstered his mind and his spirit as a result.

“Kekeke…” The Soul Eater let out a dark, evil cackle after manifesting its true form. The yin energy in the house immediately churned like a tidal wave, and the countless wandering souls in the area started cackling as well. The sound was twisted and impossible, shrill and painful. Despite knowing it was coming, Ye Qing still felt dizzied and destabilized by the sound attack.

“Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method”

Ye Qing did not dare to treat the attack lightly. He immediately visualized the painting and dispelled the evil energies that had intruded his head in an instant. Then, he grabbed Faceless’ skull with his right hand so he could free his left and launched a palm strike.

“Boundless Lightning Palm”

“Blue Demon Hand”

The Netherflame was deadly, but it was even deadlier when combined with the Boundless Lightning Palm. Like a raging inferno, it spread to every corner of the house in just the blink of an eye.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Countless souls screamed as the Netherflame burned them all into ash. The Soul Eater itself was writhing in pain and flying all over the place in search for a way out. However, it was neither able to extinguish the flames consuming its body or break out of the ring of flames. As if that wasn’t bad enough, yin energy seemed to accelerate the spread of the dark flame. It grew hotter and hotter until finally, the struggling Soul Eater melted away completely like a candle and disappeared.

Ye Qing clenched his left hand after the Soul Eater was dead. The unholy flames immediately surged back into the Blue Demon Hand and vanished.

Meanwhile, Faceless had just recovered from Soul Eater’s cackle. Just because he was a Stranger didn’t mean he was immune to the other Stranger’s sound attack. He looked around the empty house once before stammering in fear, “Is… is he dead? Did you kill Ghastly?”

“Obviously.” Ye Qing’s lips widened into a diabolical smile. “Now, it’s your turn to pay the price!”

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