Stranger Danger

“Do you want to give it a try?” Nefarious Codger asked after noticing that Sword Ghoul and Xiang Weilong had been silent for a while.

“No thank you.”

Xiang Weilong shook his head immediately. I would rather kill myself than test your smoke, old man!

“That’s a shame,” Nefarious Codger grumbled with obvious disappointment.

“Let me try, grandpa! I wanna try!”

The woman named Tyrant Bow tried to grab Nefarious Codger’s smoking pipe, but the old man hit her in the back of her hand and scolded her, “You’re a young girl! You shouldn’t be smoking!”

Tyrant Bow rubbed the sore spot on her hand and turned red in the eyes. She looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.

“Oh, heavens. Don’t cry, don’t cry. I was wrong, alright?” Nefarious Codger hurriedly said when he saw her eyes reddening. “I’ll find some children and make a milder shag for you to smoke next time, okay?”

“Okay! Thank you, grandpa.” Tyrant Bow broke into a wide smile when she heard this.

What a disgusting pair, Xiang Weilong thought to himself. There was nothing more revolting than a pair of heartless murderers playing house with each other.

“Are you sure your Soul Ender will work, Nefarious Codger?”

“Don’t worry. If this was any other time, then that girl might have had the power to resist my Soul Ender. However, she is currently in the middle of cultivation and absorbing all the origin energy in the air. There is no way she can avoid absorbing the smoke I released into the air, and in vast quantities as well. By the time she realizes that something is amiss, it will already be too late.”

Nefarious Codger took another two puffs before declaring confidently, “As for the other guy, Sword Ghoul said that he was a body-tempering warrior, right? I am lacking in many ways, but there is no easier prey to me than a body-tempering warrior.”

“Hells, you might not even need to get involved. If everything goes smoothly, I could probably take them out all by myself.”

“Hmph… if you’re as good as you claim to be, then why aren’t they falling over yet?” Xiang Weilong scoffed.

“Patience, Head Xiang.”

Nefarious Codger exhaled a smoke ring and let out a cold chuckle. “Give my Soul Ender time to work its magic, will you?”

……

At the top of the Rain Listening Tower, Ye Qing was impressed by the phenomenon Feng Qingyou’s Enlightenment had triggered.

Not all Enlightenments were made equal. Some were big or deep, while others were minor or shallow. It depended on the warrior’s martial foundation and accumulation. Those who were just starting or paid little attention to their foundation would only gain Enlightenment equal to that of a dragonfly’s ripple, insignificant and miniscule. On the other hand, those who were strong and well-refined might experience a deep Enlightenment that could skyrocket them to the heavens.

To put it simply, fortune was one part luck and another part self-effort. Those who fought to improve themselves would naturally be aided by the heavens.

Ye Qing could tell from the sheer flair of Feng Qingyou’s Enlightenment that her martial foundation must be as solid as a fortress, and her accumulation must be as deep as the sea itself.

Ten or so breaths later, the raging storm and gigantic vortex of origin qi gradually disappeared into nothing. What came after was a rare, miraculous scenery that might not happen even once in a century.

The wind stopped, and the rain came to an end. Twilight mingled with moonlight and sprayed countless colorful beams throughout the entire Anomaly.

It looked so fantastical it was like a dream.

At the center of this dreamlike reality, Feng Qingyou walked to the edge of the platform and held her arms wide. She looked like she was embracing the celestial bodies or even the world itself.

Right here and now, as countless rainbow lights gathered around her, Ye Qing thought that this was the most goddess she had ever looked.

……

“‘When the sun and moon gather around Him, know that you just witnessed the birth of a true god’... In this case it’s a goddess, but heavens above, youngsters these days are quite something, aren’t they?”

Nefarious Codger could not help but pay the feminine silhouette wrapped by both twilight and moonlight a compliment when he saw this.

Xiang Weilong and Sword Ghoul were stunned as well. Who on earth was that woman to produce such an astounding phenomenon during her Enlightenment?

At the same time, Xiang Weilong hid a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he hadn’t given in to his impulsiveness, or it was possible that this assassination attempt would end in failure or even his death.

“Grandpa… I like that big sis… she’s gorgeous!” Tyrant Bow remarked enviously as she stared at the unknown woman standing on top of the Rain Listening Tower.

“Is that so? I like her a lot as well.” Nefarious Codger said indulgently, “When I turn her soul into a shag, I will concoct her body into a puppet and give it to you. Would you like that?”

“Yay! Thank you, grandpa!” Tyrant Bow cheered.

“Oh, look. It’s time.”

A few breaths later, Nefarious Codger exhaled a puff of smoke and smiled. “Get ready, people. The show’s about to begin.”

……

“Pwack!”

On the Rain Listening Tower, Feng Qingyou’s Enlightenment was moments away from the end when suddenly, she turned as white as a sheet. The next moment, she threw up a mouthful of blood and wobbled on her feet.

“Qingyou! What’s wrong?”

Ye Qing immediately appeared beside her and supported her.

“The rainwater is… poisoned. A soul… poison,” Feng Qingyou stuttered out. Every time she spoke a word, her face would turn paler, and large beads of sweat would roll down her forehead. By the time she finished the short sentence, she was sweating all over. It looked like she was enduring an unimaginable amount of pain.

“Soul poison?” Ye Qing frowned deeply.

As the name implied, a soul poison was a poison that specifically attacked the soul and spirit. It was even deadlier and scarier than your conventional poison.

Ye Qing looked inward and noticed that he had been infected by the soul poison as well. It was barely bigger than a speck of dust, and it was invading his headspace through his breathing and other tangible and intangible channels without a trace.

At first glance, the poison seemed weak and tiny. In reality, every wisp, every thread was infused with a potent amount of deathly stillness, annihilation, and more forms of pollutant and destructive energy.

Although his Heavenly Demon Yin God was founded on human desire and a master at toying with the human heart using the Five Poisons, Six Desires, and Seven Emotions, and although it was naturally resistant toward this form of pollution, Ye Qing could feel it trembling in fear and trepidation as well.

Clearly, this was the soul poison Feng Qingyou was talking about.

The soul poison was terribly potent, but it was equally undetectable prior to its activation. It was to the point where even his sensitive demonic thought had detected nothing until Feng Qingyou had suffered a massive injury and warned him about it.

The moment he detected the soul poison, they abruptly activated and exploded like bombs inside his headspace. His Paranirmita Vasavartin Heaven immediately ruptured as potent contaminants such as annihilation, deathly stillness and more gushed toward his Heavenly Demon Yin God like a tidal wave.

It was at this moment the Earthly Sovereign Bell suspended above his Heavenly Demon Yin God’s head suddenly shook a little. Profound light immediately illuminated his headspace, and a melodious bell chime filled his ears.

The profound light washed away the deadly pollutants like they were reflections on a pond. They faded away into nothing like they never were.

Not only that, the bell chime was both restoring his crumbling and chaotic demon thought and mending his ruptured Paranirmita Vasavartin Heaven. It wasn’t long before he was back to normal.

Five-colored light suppresses all evils, a grand chime quells the fiery wind.

“Hmph…”

The bad news was that he was currently too weak to withstand the power of the Earthly Sovereign Bell. Not only was he hit by a vicious dizzy spell, blood was pouring out of his orifices.

The good news was that the injury was only superficial. Neither his mind nor his consciousness were damaged.

Ye Qing did not think that the Earthly Sovereign Bell possessed the power to cure soul poison as well. Overjoyed, he immediately said, “Qingyou, open your mind to me.”

By now, Feng Qingyou’s eyes were unfocused and seemingly staring at nothing. Visible and invisible energies were mingling and clashing with each other, warping the air around her and causing occasional thunderclaps.

Ye Qing stared into her eyes and said softly, “Trust me, Qingyou.”

“I… trust you.”

Maybe Feng Qingyou did hear his plea, because her glassy eyes abruptly regained a bit of focus.

“Good. Trust me,” Ye Qing repeated again.

As soon as Feng Qingyou lowered her mental defenses, Ye Qing immediately saw what was happening inside her headspace.

Feng Qingyou’s headspace was a sea of murky darkness. Not a sliver of light or vitality could be found anywhere. All sorts of terrifying pollutants and toxins had combined into what looked like a howling typhoon, unstoppable and all-encompassing. Her entire headspace was shaking and crumbling into pieces as a result.

Ye Qing’s expression was as grave as it could be. He had no idea that the soul poison in Feng Qingyou’s headspace was this severe until now. It was probably because she absorbed a ton of ambient origin energy during her Enlightenment.

Knowing that every second counted, Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath and shifted both his Heavenly Demon Yin God and the dark yellow bell into her headspace.

Then, his Heavenly Demon Yin God punched the Earthly Sovereign Bell with its fist.