Stranger Danger

“Clay?”

Wan Dusheng frowned. Before he could think deeper into this, a series of footsteps came from the distance.

Somehow, the footsteps sounded both soft and loud at the same time. Specifically, the footsteps were soft, but there were so many of them that it inevitably sounded loud. The noise was also coming from every direction.

The footsteps were coming closer and closer, but he couldn’t see anything at all.

Knowing that he could not afford to be careless, Wan Dusheng released his spirit and was immediately greeted by a shocking scene.

In his senses, they were surrounded by an entire army of clay statues. The whole place was covered in them.

The clay puppets came in different sizes, shapes, and colors. They all looked lifelike and real.

Strangely, none of the clay statues had a face. There was only a smooth, unblemished surface where there should have been a face. And yet, Wan Dusheng could clearly feel them watching him somehow. It was spine-chilling to say the least.

As if on cue, the sea of clay statues began marching toward him and Ye Qing with stiff footsteps.

“Young master…”

Wan Dusheng was a jianghu veteran who could kill without batting an eyelid, but even he could not help but feel fear and trepidation toward the clay statues.

“Attack!” Ye Qing ordered with raised eyebrows.

These bizarre clay statues could only be the work of the mastermind behind the Ghost Taisui. When he took out the Stranger, he had intentionally left behind a wisp of energy to bait the mastermind into showing themselves, so this “surprise attack” wasn’t a surprise to him at all.

He was surprised by the fact that the mastermind was even stronger than he thought, however[1]. It was because he could not locate the mastermind even with his spirit.

It wasn’t a problem though.

If you won’t show yourself, then I will kick your ass until you do.

Wan Dusheng had been itching to throw himself into battle. As soon as he received the order, he immediately pushed out with both hands and shattered countless clay statues into pieces.

The next moment, Wan Dusheng summoned his Xiangliu yang god and have its nine heads spray enough poisonous liquid to transform an entire area into a kingdom of swamp and poison. Every clay statue caught within the swamp was instantly melted into nothing.

Strangely, the clay statues kept charging even though Wan Dusheng’s kingdom of swamp and poison was melting them all like nothing.

It was both amusing yet strangely terrifying.

In just a dozen breaths or so, thousands of clay statues had melted into nothing. However, Wan Dusheng’s senses told him that the number of clay statues was increasing, not decreasing. Not only that—he wondered if it was his imagination—but the clay statues’ smooth, blank faces seemed to be growing eyes, nose, mouth and ears. On top of that, they seemed to be just a tad stronger than before.

It’s not my imagination!

Wan Dusheng soon found out that he wasn’t imagining things at all. Just a few breaths after the strange sensation struck him, he realized that the clay statues’ faces were growing increasingly defined. The clay statues were several times stronger than they were at the beginning as well. 𝙧Άℕ𝙤ꞖÈŜ

This wasn’t the strangest thing about the clay statues, however. It was the fact that they were growing his face. Although the facial features weren’t fully grown yet, there was enough that he felt like he was looking into a mirror.

Besides that, the clay statues were becoming more and more nimble and lifelike. Some of them were sporting dark green-colored poison auras as well. His aura was stronger as a matter of course, but otherwise, their auras were practically identical to his.

The clay statues were all showing the same changes.

Worse, as the clay statues looked more and more like Wan Dusheng, their power became infinitely close to Trueman stage as well. The techniques and abilities they used were exactly the same as Wan Dusheng.

At the beginning, Wan Dusheng was able to crush them all like ants. But as time passed, he was slowly but surely straining to maintain the defense.

What frightened Wan Dusheng was the uncertainty. It seemed impossible, but would the clay statues eventually looked exactly identical to him and become exactly as strong as him?

Would he have to go up against an entire army of Great Truemen?

Just the mere thought was enough to send chills up his spine.

“Should we retreat, young master?”

Wan Dusheng looked at Ye Qing and suggested.

“No need. Keep defending.”

Ye Qing ordered indifferently with eyes as black and deep as the night. He seemed to be observing the clay statues in front of him and the distant horizon at the same time.

“Yes, young master!”

What could Wan Dusheng do? He could only carry out his order faithfully.

“Young master… it’s going to get dangerous at this rate.”

Another dozen breaths passed, and the clay statues’ facial features were almost exactly the same as Wan Dusheng. Their strength had risen to the level of Trueman stage, and their moves, tactics and everything were exactly the same as his.

Fighting these clay statues felt like fighting himself. It was a bizarre experience to put it mildly.

Of course, he was a Great Trueman, and the clay statues Truemen. For now, he could still hold them back, albeit barely. However, his senses were telling him that the clay statues were still rapidly growing in power.

If they did not retreat now, then they might not be able to retreat at all.

Ye Qing paid Wan Dusheng’s words no attention, however. His expression remained calm and collected.

Wan Dusheng dared not disobey his master. He could only hang on with all his might.

Another dozen breaths passed, and the clay statues’ strength had become infinitely close to Wan Dusheng’s. The Great Trueman was now mere seconds away from being overwhelmed.

“Found you.”

At a critical moment, profound light suddenly exploded from Ye Qing’s eyes like a sun that chased away the black clouds.

The next moment, he clenched his fist and punched diagonally toward the sky.

Purple qi seemed to be seeping out of the punch. The fist force chased away the clouds, and the fist intent could be felt from thousands of kilometers away. It was a grand, fearless, and majestic punch.

Boom!

The entire sky was cleared in an instant. Sunlight as warm as spring shone down from the nine heavens.

Beneath the sun, a pond appeared not far away from the desert.

The pond was only ten meters in radius. It was a flawless blue color with lotuses floating above its surface, and colorful koi swimming in its waters. It was quite the picturesque pond.

Sitting beside the pond was a woman sporting cascading black hair that looked like a waterfall, and wearing a dress as white as snow. She was gorgeous.

The woman dug some mud out of the pond with one hand. A couple of careless squeezes later, a lifelike clay doll appeared in her hands. When the woman washed away the dirt using the clear pond water, the clay doll became dry and clean. It was now a clay statue.

The clay statue looked lifelike, but it neither had a face nor sentient. It was just an inanimate object. Then, the woman conjured a sculpting knife and carved a face on the clay statue.

Every time a facial feature was added, the clay statue grew just a bit more sentient. Every time an orifice was added, the clay statue grew just a bit more lifelike.

This was creation in the work; bringing the dead to life.

After she was done, the woman placed the clay statue on the ground. As if it had come alive, the clay statue wobbled forward as if it was adapting to its new body.

Even stranger, as the clay statue walked forward, its facial features slowly turned into Wan Dusheng’s, and its power climbed until the Trueman stage. Its aura was exactly identical to Wan Dusheng’s as well.

The woman’s movements were elegant and relaxed. It looked like she was taking her time, but multiple clay statues hit the ground in just the blink of an eye.

There was no doubt about it. The army of clay statues assaulting Ye Qing and Wan Dusheng was her handiwork.

1. Is there level scaling in this world? Fuck! ☜

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