Stranger Danger

“You found me? I guess I should’ve known you would have some skills considering that you dared to ruin my plans!”

It was at this moment the woman looked up with a hint of surprise.

The pond she was sitting next to was no ordinary pond. It was her Bonded Strange Artifact called A Water. It could conceal energy, seclude itself from the world, and create “life”.

Conceal energy was obvious. “Secluding itself from the world” contained two meanings. One, it could hide itself in the void and become almost undetectable even by a Half-Sage. Two, even if it was detected, the distance between the Strange Artifact and the threat was much, much further than it appeared. Most enemies would not be able to cover that distance and force her to show herself.

“A water may exist between the clouds and the sky.” Hence the name.

Her Bonded Strange Artifact gave her the ability to fight anyone from a theoretically unassailable position. That was why she never imagined that this young man would find her and even force her to reveal herself. Not only did he surpass her expectations, the alarm bells inside her head were ringing slightly and warning her of danger.

“I wasn’t expecting the notorious Mister Taozhu to be a beautiful woman either, so we’re even,” remarked Ye Qing with not a small dose of surprise himself.

Mister Taozhu was one of the Three Misters of the Way of Taiping and on the same level as the Four Sakyamunis. The Three Misters of the Way of Taiping were all named warriors on the Earthly Champions Ranking, but they were more mysterious than the Four Sakyamunis. For one, they rarely took to the battlefield themselves. Even if they did, they usually hid behind a curtain of anonymity.

Out of the Three Misters, Mister Taozhu was the most mysterious of them all. Mister Taozhu was an expert in creating life from clay, and her creations were more anomalous than most. Not only could she create an unbelievable amount of clay statues in a short time, her creations could mimic her enemy’s face, techniques, and even cultivation level.

Mister Taozhu always fought from the shadows. Specifically, her clay statues did all the fighting while she sat in the backlines. That was why very few people got to meet Mister Taozhu, and even when they did, they did not know if she was male or female, old or young.

The name “Mister Taozhu” was indicative of a man though, a portly, wealthy man too if the stereotype was to be believed. No one, not Ye Qing at least, could have expected the infamous “Mister Taozhu” to really be an attractive woman, though he guessed from the start that the mastermind behind Long Qing’s tragedy was most likely the Way of Taiping.

All of the methods Nine Word Trueman employed earlier such as consuming the light and requesting a “god” to empower him all reminded him of the Way of Taiping. It was also the Way of Taiping’s favorite method to use Strangers and deities to fool the masses and control them as they pleased. That was why he figured that the Way of Taiping was behind this as soon as he saw the so-called Golden Millet disciples.

Later, the Ghost Taisui and the talismans plastered on the altar proved his suspicion.

Of course, he only knew that the mastermind was a member of the Way of Taiping. He could not know exactly who among the Way of Taiping was behind this. Still, anyone with the strength to nurture a Ghost Taisui and undertake such an important mission could only be a VVIP. That was why Ye Qing schemed to bait them out into the open.

There were two reasons he was doing this. One, it was to save the people and eradicate the bastards. Even if he didn’t hold a grudge against the Way of Taiping, there was no way he was going to allow a ruinous organization like them to exist. He might not be so motivated that he would intentionally go out of the way to eradicate them all, but he certainly wasn’t going to overlook them when he stumbled upon their activities.

Since his goal was to save the people and eradicate the bastards permanently, he knew that just killing the Ghost Taisui and the Golden Millet small fries would not be enough. He would be treating the symptom but not the cure as the mastermind could simply cook up a new scheme once he was gone. Therefore, he desired to cut the grass by the roots.

Two, he was hoping to collect some relevant clues regarding the Kunlun Ruins from the mastermind. Ever since he left Nanjiang, he had requested his friends and his subordinates including Feng Qingyou, Cheng Qishang, Chen Wuxin etc to search for any useful info regarding the Kunlun Ruins. However, two weeks had passed, and they weren’t able to find anything.

To be fair, it wasn’t like they weren’t able to find anything about the Kunlun Ruins at all. In fact, there were just as much information as they were useless. Who cared if the Kunlun Ruins was the “sanctuary of the divine” or “the place where celestials and gods still live” or “the blessed land of the Queen Mother of the West”? He needed to know how to find the Kunlun Ruins and get inside. He needed to know how he could save his Yi Pin. None of these folktales or legends could help him in this regard!

Since he ran into the Way of Taiping, he was hoping that he could pry some useful information from the mastermind.

The mastermind must be someone important in the Way of Taiping, and the Way of Taiping had a long, storied history. It wasn’t impossible that they would have information regarding the Kunlun Ruins. Even if they didn’t know anything, he could still turn them into his dependent and use the Way of Taiping to collect useful information regarding the Kunlun Ruins.

This was why he intentionally left behind a wisp of energy for the mastermind to trace when he killed the Ghost Taisui earlier.

He knew that the mastermind would be a big fish, but the fish turned out to be bigger than he thought. He wasn’t expecting to catch the notorious Mister Taozhu of all people.

This was perfect though. The stronger the mastermind was, and the higher their position in the Way of Taiping, the bigger the power he would be able to mobilize and collect some actual information regarding the Kunlun Ruins.

As for why he managed to recognize Mister Taozhu at first glance, that was because he shared a grudge with the Way of Taiping, of course. He had looked through the files of all the elites of the Way of Taiping while he was still serving under the Pacification Bureau, and Mister Taozhu was mentioned among them.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Mister Taozhu curled her lips into a beatific smile, but when she saw that her opponent was smiling as well, she suddenly had a bad feeling about this. “Is it just me, or do you look rather happy?”

“You’re right. I’m feeling quite happy right now,” Ye Qing admitted honestly.

“So, this is definitely a trap to lure me out?” Mister Taozhu frowned and felt increasingly uneasy. She didn’t understand why though. Her enemy wasn’t weak, but her clay statues had also reached full maturity and gained the power of a Great Trueman. No matter how strong the young man was, he was alone against an army of thousands. How could he possibly hope to stand up against her? ṟÃℕо฿ĚṤ

She might just be a Great Trueman, but her strategy was so effective that more than one Half-Sages had perished to it. That was why she wasn’t afraid—didn’t need to be afraid—even though her opponent was clearly plotting something.

She calmed down a little once she convinced herself that she was still secure.

“But of course!” Ye Qing’s smile grew even sunnier.

“For what reason have you lured me out?” Mister Taozhu asked.

“To catch you, of course!” Ye Qing beamed at her. “So, are you going to surrender quietly, or do I have to detain you noisily?”

“The arrogance!” A hint of killing intent flashed in Mister Taozhu’s eyes. The next moment, the clay statues stopped attacking Wan Dusheng and charged toward Ye Qing.

“Heh…”

Ye Qing was already moving the second Mister Taozhu changed targets. He took one step forward and appeared thirty meters away from his original position. Profound light surrounded his body and gave him an aura of mystique.

He was less than two meters tall, but he felt as lofty as the sky above.

His body was flesh and blood, and yet it felt as thick as the earth below.

Such was the case for the Earthly Sovereign True Body.

Of course, Ye Qing hadn’t attained the true Earthly Sovereign True Body yet. He was still at the journeyman level. This was a natural breakthrough he made after entering the Great Grandmaster stage.

This “minor” growth wasn’t to be underestimated though. The Earthly Sovereign Scripture described this level as, “Carry three hills and five mountains on one shoulder, lift a river, a lake, and even a sea in one palm.”

If he could carry mountains and lift a sea, then why on earth would he fear a little clay army?

Get 50% off for a limited time only.Become a Champion today. Support authors and translators, and be rewarded for it!50% off now!: 03days: 16hrs: 57min: 02secAll Chapters + 2 Advance$2.50 $5.00 / monthSUBSCRIBEMundane-class Stranger

You are mostly harmless, but one does not need a weapon to kill.

* Renews at $5.00 / month