Stranger Danger

Chapter 1049: The World Is Like A Speck Of Dust

Wherever Ye Qing traveled, clay statues crumbled or shattered at the briefest contact. It was like they were made of rot, not clay.

There were two reasons. One, Ye Qing was powerful. Two, these clay statues were more fragile than he thought.

Although these clay statues boasted the cultivation level and power of a Great Trueman, they were still made of clay. They were even more fragile than an ordinary Spirit Master, no, a Spirit Purifier. He, a strong Great Grandmaster, was the perfect counter to them.

On top of that, his Profound Yellow Mother Qi was blocking most of the attacks, and the few that reached him could not even harm his skin. Therefore, these clay statues were no different from ants to him. Specks of dust.

“Great Grandmaster?!”

Mister Taozhu looked shocked. She did not expect the young man to be a Great Grandmaster.

Her cultivation art was called the “Empress Nüwa’s Art of Creating Life”. In ancient times, Empress Nüwa was the mother goddess who created countless lives from soil. The “Empress Nüwa’s Art of Creating Life” was an imitation of that art. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as potent as Empress Nüwa’s ability to create flesh-and-blood beings out of soil or imbue them with varying degrees of sentience, but it was close enough. Not only could the practitioner create imperfect life out of soil, the earthen statues were extremely lifelike and could imitate another person’s abilities.

Alas, imperfect life ultimately wasn’t true life. This art was almost a perfect imitation of Empress Nüwa’s ability except one component: the part where earth transforms into flesh and blood. As a result, the creations of this art were all stuck with an earthen body, meaning that they were naturally countered by physically strong warriors.

Of course, it wasn’t that big of a counter. For starters, numbers could make up for the frailty of their bodies. In fact, body-tempering warriors generally had weaker spirits, so they had even less of a chance of seeing through A Water and locating her compared to a Trueman. Worse came to worst, the average body-tempering warrior still could not harm a hair on her person, which was why they were never a concern for Mister Taozhu.

The young man before her was different though. Not only was he monstrously strong and resilient, his spirit was almost as powerful. After all, he had pierced through A Water’s obfuscation and successfully discovered her. Just what kind of monster was this guy?

She finally understood the source of her unease.

Seeing that her clay statues were breaking at the briefest contact and unable to put even a dent on Ye Qing’s person, she stopped hesitating and tried to retreat.

Her clay statues were her everything. If even her clay statues could not effectively limit her enemy, then there was no way she could do better. That was why she decided to make a break for it.

A spring wind blew, and ripples appeared on the pond. As the surface of the pond began glittering, both the pond and its immediate surroundings slowly slid into the void.

It might look like she was right in front of them, but if they did not do something soon, Mister Taozhu was going to escape.

“Young master! She’s escaping!”

Wan Dusheng hurriedly cried out in warning when he saw this. It was unnecessary as Ye Qing noticed Mister Taozhu’s intentions even sooner than he did. He took a step forward and threw out a punch.

His footsteps shook the earth, and his arm punched through the heavens.

“Break Hammer”

Everything began crumbling before the might of Break Hammer. The wind disappeared, the clouds collapsed, and the Five Phases all returned to nothing. In one punch, every clay statue in the area shattered into pieces at the same time. Even the sky itself seemed to be shattering like glass. Countless cracks were spreading from the fist imprint to every corner of the sky, throwing the surrounding wind and clouds into chaos. It was quite the spectacle.

If even the sky was suffering, then the pond could only do worse. Break Hammer easily broke it into pieces and caused Mister Taozhu to fall from the sky, throwing up blood.

Ye Qing did not wait for her to hit the ground. He dashed forward and punched her right in the skull.

Bang!

Like a nail, Mister Taozhu sank almost all the way into the underground. Only her head remained out in the open, and blood was pouring out of her orifices. It was impossible to say if she was alive or dead.

“Do you want to kill her, young master?”

It was only now Wan Dusheng caught up to Ye Qing. He could not help but speak in a reverent voice when he saw the bleeding, half-dead Mister Taozhu.

Although he had experienced Ye Qing’s power firsthand, it wasn’t until now that he realized just how scary the young man really was. It was extremely possible that he only needed one punch to blow him away like ash.

“Nah, I need her for something!” Ye Qing answered. “Guard me. Do not allow anyone or anything to come close while I’m working.”

“As you command, young master.” Wan Dusheng saluted him and stepped away.

Ye Qing grabbed Mister Taozhu’s head with his right hand. His eyes slowly turned as black as the night as a demonic lotus took form at the center. When the demonic lotus had fully formed, it slipped straight into Mister Taozhu’s forehead.

Seemingly sensing something, Mister Taozhu’s face slowly became contorted as if she was struggling and resisting. Ye Qing’s expression turned serious and careful as well.

Time passed slowly, and Ye Qing’s complexion grew increasingly pale. Beads of sweat were sliding down his forehead.

An entire incense stick later, Ye Qing finally lowered his palm with a tired and disappointed look on his face.

He was tired because converting Mister Taozhu into his Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent took way too much mental energy. Although the woman was grievously wounded, her mind and consciousness were still incredibly tough. There seemed to be a powerful restriction buried within her mind as well. Therefore, it took quite the effort to plant the demonic lotus and convert her into his Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent.

On top of that, he had to spare some of his focus to search her memories and search for clues regarding the Kunlun Ruins. Naturally, he was quite tired.

In the end, he was left disappointed. It was because he failed to find anything regarding the Kunlun Ruins in Mister Taozhu’s memories.

“Are you alright, young master?” Wan Dusheng asked carefully when he saw Ye Qing’s somewhat ugly expression.

“I’m fine.”

Ye Qing shook his head and pressed a finger on Mister Taozhu’s forehead.

A few breaths later, Mister Taozhu slowly awakened. At first, she looked a little dazed. Then, she looked at Ye Qing and became respectful and pious like she had just come face to face with her god.

“I greet you, honored master.”

Mister Taozhu rose to her feet and bowed to him.

“Rise. From now on, you may address me as young master.”

Ye Qing could not help but feel a chill when he saw Mister Taozhu’s reverent expression.

This was hardly the first time he used the Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent Magia, but it never failed to leave an eerie impression on him.

This was a Great Trueman he just converted, a named warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking no less. Despite this, she still could not resist the effects of the Magia and changed from his sworn enemy to his most faithful worshiper. How was it possible for anything to distort and alter one’s consciousness so thoroughly and without leaving any trace behind? It was both anomalous and terrifying.

No wonder the “Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was resisted by the world. No wonder it did not have a way to sagehood. If it was already this powerful at the Trueman stage, how much stronger would it become at the Sage stage?

Ye Qing was wary as a matter of course. In fact, it felt like a bomb that might explode on his face at some point. The Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent Magia was just too anomalous and scary. If outsiders found out that he practiced it, the consequences would be unimaginable. He would become public enemy number one at the least.

It was understandable. Who wouldn’t fear such a terrifying and anomalous Magia? And what better way to dispel that fear than to kill him?

He would die if his secret ever came to light.

Ye Qing could not help but feel a wave of fear and trepidation when he thought until this point.

He wasn’t going to quit the Magia as a matter of course, but he was going to practice it with the highest level of caution. He must never succumb to the impulse of using it without restraint, or it would surely come back to bite him in the future.

“As you command, young master!” Mister Taozhu replied respectfully. “Catch some rest. I have a couple of questions for you when you’re ready,” Ye Qing said after taking note of Mister Taozhu’s pale complexion.

“Thank you, young master!” Mister Taozhu did not hesitate. She threw a pill into her mouth, closed her eyes and began meditating.

Ye Qing sat next to her and entered meditation as well.