Stranger Danger

“Keke… so what if you’re strong? You’re still dancing in my palm!”

Chen Cang coughed a couple more times before glancing in the direction of the Marsh of Eternal Rain. Although his current location was five or so kilometers away from the marshland, he could still feel the anger and clashes emanating from within the Anomaly. A cruel smile spread across his pale face.

If there was one flaw with his backup plan, it was that the Lord of Eternal Rain probably wouldn’t be able to kill Ye Qing. Although the Lord of Eternal Rain was powerful—in fact, one might say that it was on par with a Sage—it had two massive and irreparable flaws. One, it had no intelligence. Two, it could not leave the Marsh of Eternal Rain. If Ye Qing managed to escape the Anomaly, then the Lord of Eternal Rain would stop chasing no matter how furious it was.

There was no chance in hell Ye Qing would ever be able to defeat the Lord of Eternal Rain. But escape? That was a different story. At most, the Lord of Eternal Rain would give Ye Qing a bruise or two. In the end, the young man was almost certainly going to make an escape.

In fact, the backup plan was not meant to kill Ye Qing. It was insurance in case he failed to kill Ye Qing, and his nemesis was healthy enough to come after him. He was going to delay Ye Qing with the Lord of Eternal Rain while he made his escape.

Sure, he did not need to run since he possessed a second life thanks to the Pregnant Soul Reincarnation Art, but its sequelae were so severe that he would rather not activate it if at all possible.

Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men often went awry. Ye Qing was even stronger than he expected, and his nemesis managed to kill him before he could even begin to run. His backup plan still worked, but it came at a terrible cost to himself with no actual gain.

That was fine though. After all, his trump card had always been Xiang Weilong and the Dragonmount Duke.

“Don’t worry, Ye Qing. The show has just begun.”

Chen Cang let out a cold chuckle and finally left the cemetery.

……

Bang!

A man fell from the sky and hit the ground like a meteor, kicking up a ton of dust and smoke.

“Cough! Cough! Cough…”

A few breaths and a series of violent coughs later, the man finally crawled out of the deep pit he created. His face was swollen, and he looked dirty and disheveled.

“Phew… I finally got out of that hellhole. It wasn’t easy!” The man let out a long sigh after wiping away the blood on his lips.

He was, of course, ye Qing.

Why did he fall from the sky? Because the Lord of Eternal Rain had punched him in the back.

The Lord of Eternal Rain was a stupidly annoying foe. Not only was it powerful, it was unkillable and endless, not to mention that the marshland itself was conspiring to kill him. It was no exaggeration to say that he had to give everything he got for every inch of ground.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Feng Qingyou had suffered a grievous blow thanks to Nefarious Codger’s Soul Ender earlier. She managed to escape the battlefield using a secret art earlier, but she had chosen to stay behind just in case he needed her help. That proved to be a mistake when Chen Cang, that asshole, killed the Rain People and awakened the Lord of Eternal Rain from its slumber.

The Lord of Eternal Rain’s wrath spared no one. Once it awakened, it would kill every living being in the marshland. There was a real chance that Feng Qingyou might be caught up in its rampage and killed if he left the marshland too quickly.

That was why Ye Qing purposely wasted time here and there and even enraged the Lord of Eternal Rain further by killing the Rain People, buying time for Feng Qingyou to escape. He succeeded, but almost wished he didn’t. To say that the piece of shit snapped at his heels like a mad dog would be an understatement. If he hadn’t practiced the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” and become at least twice as sturdy as before, he might not have walked away from the Marsh of Eternal Rain alive.

“Ow… that fucker didn’t hold back at all.”

Ye Qing gasped when he accidentally touched a sore spot on his face. He was alive, but god did it hurt like hell.

After taking a moment to collect himself, Ye Qing wiped away the dirt on his person and channeled his vigor. His swollen face quickly returned to normal after that. Then, he took off in Feng Qingyou’s direction in a hurry.

When Ye Qing reached her, he saw that Feng Qingyou was sleeping with her eyes closed. A bubble of deep, dark energy composed of multiple layers of space surrounded her. She both looked like she was right in front of him and infinitely distant somehow.

When Ye Qing got close, Feng Qingyou opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. “You came, Joyless.”

“Yeah. I’m here.”

Ye Qing’s heart ached at her frail appearance. “Are you alright, Qingyou?”

“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Feng Qingyou said smilingly, “Your Earthly Sovereign Bell eliminated most of the contaminants, and the remnants are under control. It is only a matter of time before I remove it all.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Ye Qing let out a deep sigh of relief.

Despite what Feng Qingyou said, he knew it wasn’t easy. After all, he had seen just how badly the soul poison had eroded her mind and spirit with his own eyes. Even if the soil poison was mostly removed, there was no changing the fact that her mind and spirit had suffered a huge blow, and such an injury was difficult to heal even for a warrior.

Still, he had to look at the silver lining. So long as she was stable, it was only a matter of time before she recovered in full.

Ye Qing bowed his head and apologized, “I’m sorry. I’m the one that bastard wanted, but you’re the one who suffered the brunt of his ambush. I swear I’ll make it up to you one day!”

“Don’t apologize. We are close friends, are we not?” Feng Qingyou smiled again. “Speaking of which, I recognize two of the warriors who attacked you earlier. I believe they’re Nefarious Codger and Tyrant Bow. However, you have only recently come to Yan, and I don’t believe you have crossed paths with them before. Why did they try to kill you?”

“You are correct. They are Nefarious Codger and Tyrant Bow,” Ye Qing answered. “However, they’re just the hired lackeys. The true mastermind is a man named Chen Cang. He was an enemy I made back when I was in Luo Shui.”

“Chen Cang?” Feng Qingyou prodded, “Can you give me the details?”

“Sure. it’s like this…”

Ye Qing proceeded to recount in detail the conflict between Chen Cang and him, as well as the swordsman’s conspiracy and calculations.

“What a shrewd, formidable man,” Feng Qingyou complimented Chen Cang when he was done speaking. “If you were anyone else, his vengeance would have been complete. Unfortunately for him, he targeted the wrong foe.”

In fact, Chen Cang’s plan was flawless. The only problem was that the subject of his ire, Ye Qing, possessed unparalleled fortune. He could topple any man, but not even he could overturn fate.

“He’s definitely a character,” Ye Qing sighed. Chen Cang might be his enemy, but that was no reason to downplay his excellence.

Then, he launched into an angry tirade, “That piece of fuck! He’s already dead, and he still managed to dump a massive bomb into my lap!”

The mere thought of the Dragonmount Duke made Ye Qing feel like grabbing his head and groan.

“The Dragonmount Duke is definitely a problem.” Feng Qingyou nodded in agreement. “He is a heartless, ruthless man who does not take to slights kindly, much less the murder of his only son. Worse, his forces are numerous and everywhere. If he manages to find us, then it will be a pain to try and shake him off.”

“Luckily for us, the Dragonmount Duke is also incredibly prideful. Barring exceptional circumstances, he would not come after us in person, so in the short term, we should be fine so long as we act with caution.”

“While we still have time, I want you to collect a couple items for me, Joyless. They will help recover my injuries and, with luck, even improve my cultivation further. So long as I am recovered, we should have a fighting chance even if the Dragonmount Duke comes after us himself.”

“What do you need?” Ye Qing asked immediately. It wasn’t because he wanted her to recover as soon as possible so that he wouldn’t be helpless against the Dragonmount Duke. He would do anything to heal Feng Qingyou even if that wasn’t the case.

“The items I need aren’t particularly valuable, but they are very rare.”

Feng Qingyou began, “I need a Finger Ring Metal, Lightning Struck Wood, Endlessly Durable Water, Thousand Frost Fire, and Dustless Earth.”

“I know what a Finger Ring Metal and Lightning Struck Wood is, but what is an Endlessly Durable Water, Thousand Frost Fire, and Dustless Earth?” Ye Qing asked with a frown.

The large majority of metals in the world were tough and solid. However, a Finger Ring Metal was a unique metal that was as soft and flexible as silk, so much so that one could weave it into rings around one’s finger. Hence the name. It was also unnaturally durable and very resistant to slash damage.

As for Lightning Struck Wood, it was exactly what it sounded like. It was a piece of wood that was struck by lightning, but did not combust into flames from the reaction.

As Feng Qingyou said, neither items were particularly valuable, but they were incredibly rare. It was because neither a metal that was soft as silk nor a piece of wood that was struck by lightning was something a person might need barring extremely niche situations.

As for the Endlessly Durable Water, Thousand Frost Fire, and Dustless Earth, he knew absolutely nothing about them.