Stranger Danger

Even before the water pillar started falling toward him, the wind and rain were howling like crazy, and the entire world abruptly turned dark as if it was nighttime.

Ye Qing did not dare to take it lightly. Abruptly arresting his momentum with his right foot and turning a hundred and eighty degrees toward the back, he faced toward the water pillar, sucked in a deep breath, and unleashed “Suppression Hammer”.

The moment he threw the punch, the wind died, the rain ceased, and the water pillar froze in the air as if time itself had stopped. It was quite the impressive sight.

While the water pillar was frozen, Ye Qing actually charged toward the Lord of Eternal Rain and leaped onto its head. Then, he raised both arms and smashed its skull with everything he got.

Infused with the fist intent of “Break Hammer”, his fists annihilated the water giant with no resistance whatsoever.

Ye Qing did not stay to admire his handiwork, however. He immediately started running toward the exit again after dealing with the Lord of Eternal Rain.

Buzz buzz buzz…

It couldn’t be helped, but the marshland itself seemed to be enraged by Ye Qing’s retaliation. It began shaking violently while malice so thick it was almost tangible washed in from every direction.

What was a drizzle before rapidly turned into an unrelenting storm. Besides that, every single object in the marshland—the muddles, the plants, the rain and the wind—suddenly came alive and did everything in their power to stop Ye Qing in his tracks.

The plants slithered in from every direction and blocked his path.

The rain fell like arrows and attacked him relentlessly.

And even the wind was cutting at his flesh and blood in an attempt to deal even the slightest bit of damage.

In summary, the entire marshland was impeding his progress. It made it incredibly difficult to move even an inch forward.

As if that wasn’t enough, ten water giants sprouted from the rain and puddles and surrounded him from every direction. They were all the Lord of Eternal Rain, and each and every one of them was as strong as a Great Trueman or Great Grandmaster in terms of cultivation.

This was why the Lord of Eternal Rain was feared so. So long as it was within the Marsh of Eternal Rain, it was immortal and unkillable. Unless someone could wipe out the entire Anomaly in one strike, then the Lord of Eternal Rain would always return no matter how many times it was killed.

However, the Marsh of Eternal Rain spanned nearly fifty kilometers in diameter, and not even a Sage—not even an extraordinary one—could wipe out an Anomaly this big in one attack. Even if such a person existed, his name was definitely not Ye Qing, at least not now.

So, he could only run. There was literally nothing else he could do but run for his life.

Ye Qing took one step forward and rapidly swelled in size. The next moment, he transformed into the Chaos Demon Ape.

He did not look as demonic, malevolent, or brutal as he used to, however. Instead, he gave off a steady and unshakeable feeling not unlike a grand mountain or the all-embracing earth. His normally black fur had also gained a dark yellow sheen that made him look both mysterious and titanic[1].

The “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” was the reason behind his change in appearance. His Chaos Demon Ape form was now much stronger thanks to the power of the Earthly Sovereign.

Ye Qing was like an unstoppable flood after he transformed into Chaos Demon Ape. Overwhelming and indomitable, he crushed anything and everything standing in his path into itsy bitsy pieces.

In response, a water giant roared at the top of its lungs and struck the ground with its four arms.

Rumble!

The soppy ground within a hundred meters of the center of impact exploded into a deep pit and sent an avalanche of soil and water straight toward Ye Qing.

Ye Qing did not slow down. Every time he took a step, his aura would grow just a little denser. By the time the avalanche was right in front of him, his energies had reached its peak, rapid as a flood and heavy as a mountain.

Every time he took a step, the Anomaly would shake like it was struck by a megathrust earthquake. His shoulders could knock over the heavens, and his footsteps could be felt throughout the nine provinces.

The avalanche exploded into smithereens before it even hit Ye Qing. Then, Ye Qing slammed his shoulder into the water giant.

The outcome came as no surprise whatsoever. The water giant exploded into nothing without a sound.

Ye Qing successfully broke out of the encirclement, but this was just the beginning. Relentless, the Lord of Eternal Rain chased after him with unending fury.

Ye Qing’s yell resounded throughout the Anomaly, “Chen Cang! You son of a whore!”

……

There was an unmarked cemetery about five kilometers south from the Marsh of Eternal Rain. It was where the unfortunate victims who tried to cross through the marshland and died were buried.

It was also why people named it the Rain Cemetery.

Despite its name, it wasn’t raining at the Rain Cemetery right now. In fact, it was bright and sunny. Rocks and the occasional human bones were strewn haphazardly across the plot. It looked both lonely and desolate.

Rustle… rustle…

It was at this moment a rustling noise suddenly came from a grave. It sounded like insects chewing on a leaf or someone scratching the earth with bare hands. Considering that this was an unmarked cemetery without a soul in sight, it was an eerie, inescapable noise to say the least.

A few breaths later, the rustling noise abruptly ceased, and for a moment, it looked like silence had returned to the cemetery.

Then, a loud crack shattered the short-lived silence. A pale, skinny hand had burst out of the grave where the strange rustling noise had come from.

A woman climbed out of the grave. She looked deathly pale and lifeless. Anyone could tell that she had been dead for some time.

In a world full of anomalies, it was hardly surprising that the dead could move. What was strange was the fact that the dead woman gave off no yin qi or evil feeling whatsoever. It meant that she wasn’t a zombie or even a Stranger.

As if that wasn’t enough, the woman’s belly was unnaturally swollen. It was as if she was ten months pregnant.

Thump… thump… thump…

A short while after the woman climbed out of her grave, her belly suddenly started beating with a slow, steady rhythm. It was as if a lifeform was growing inside her stomach.

The woman’s stomach grew bigger and bigger until finally, it burst open in a shower of blood. Then, an infant slowly crawled out of her belly.

The woman withered rapidly as soon as the infant was out. On the other hand, the infant was growing at an unbelievable rate.

In the end, the baby had turned into Chen Cang.

“Cough! Cough!”

Chen Cang coughed weakly. Right now, his face was as white as a sheet, and his hair was grayish white as if he had aged an entire decade. His cultivation was fluctuating up and down between late-stage Spirit Master stage and Trueman stage as well.

Chen Cang hurriedly produced a pill and swallowed it. Some time later, when his cultivation level finally stabilized at the Trueman stage, the swordsman finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Ye Qing… what on earth is that fist art?”

To say that he suffered tremendous losses during this mission would still be an understatement. Despite all his plotting and preparation, he still failed to kill Ye Qing and took a grievous blow in return.

The strange art he used just now was a Swordsgrave exclusive secret art called the Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art.

The Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art was a lifesaving art that required a scapegoat. First, the practitioner must seek out a woman who was ten months pregnant and inject a wisp of their soul into her unborn child[2]. It would take over the unborn child’s body. After that, the pregnant woman was buried alive inside a grave so that her flesh wouldn’t decay, and her life wasn’t lost.

With this, the preparations were complete. If the practitioner’s true body was killed for whatever reason, they could be reborn through the unborn child’s body and soul.

The Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art was incredibly useful. It was basically a second life for the practitioner. However, it was also an unbelievably cruel art that required the sacrifice of a pregnant woman and an infant to execute.

The rebirth wasn’t perfect either. The practitioner faced massive sequelae were they forced to activate the Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art.

For one, splitting out a wisp of one’s soul did massive damage to a warrior’s mind. Second, executing the Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art cost them their lifespan and an entire cultivation level. That was why Chen Cang’s aura was fluctuating rapidly between Trueman stage and Spirit Master stage earlier.

Luckily for Chen Cang, he had prepared a pill that could stabilize his cultivation level beforehand. Otherwise, he was almost certainly going to fall back to the Spirit Master stage, and he would have to put in multiple times the time and effort to re-enter the Trueman stage.

He hadn’t planned to use this failsafe at the beginning. It was right before they were about to execute the plan that the idea suddenly occurred to him, and he decided to set it into motion just in case. And thank goodness he did, because he would be dead otherwise. Ye Qing’s final punch had inflicted true terror and the certainty of death upon him before it annihilated his original body.

1. This is 100% super saiyan form lol. ☜

2. Getting pregnant in this world is practically half a curse lol. ☜