Stranger Danger

“It’s only you and me now, Chu Wangsun.”

Looking at Chu Wangsun, the corners of Ye Qing’s lips for a chuckle. Then, his figure slowly turned transparent. As it turned out, it was just an afterimage.

To Chu Wangsun’s credit, his reaction speed was top-notch. The moment he noticed something amiss, an inkstone had appeared above his head.

Ink stirred inside the inkstone and transformed into many mysterious dragon-headed and phoenix-tailed ancient seal scripts. They formed passages of profound scriptures and danced around Chu Wangsun.

At the same time, the sound of chanting filled the air, loud and flew right off the tongue.

At that moment, the scripture unleashed infinite radiance and manifested a divine phenomenon that shook the world.

The inkstone was called the Inkstone of Learning. Just like the ruler, it was a treasure his teacher, the Chief Libationist of Jixia Academy, had bestowed him. On a related note, the ruler he used earlier was called the Five Virtue Ruler.

Both treasures were items the Chief Libationist carried with him when he was young. They were immeasurably powerful due to countless years of exposure to the Chief Libationist’s literary qi.

The Five Virtue Ruler excelled at offense. It could attack anyone who disobeyed the five virtues, benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and fidelity. It could be blocked, but not avoided.

The Inkstone of Learning excelled at defense. It contained the essence of the poems and scriptures learned and crafted by the Chief Libationist. At a critical moment, Chu Wangsun could manifest the text to defend himself from all harm.

In fact, the Inkstone of Learning was even stronger than the Five Virtue Ruler. It counted as an artifact that had protected the Chief Libationist’s Dao before he became a Sage. Therefore, it was almost impervious to anyone below the Sage stage.

When Chu Wangsun fought against the North Duke, he chose not to use the inkstone because he still had trump cards and was nowhere close to being pushed to the brink of death. It was different now. He had a feeling that he would die if he did not use it.

As if on cue, Ye Qing appeared behind Chu Wangsun and threw out a punch.

Thump!

It sounded like someone striking a gong or a bell. The text surrounding Chu Wangsun stirred to the impact, but the man himself was perfectly fine. Not only that, Ye Qing was staggering backward hard enough to crush the ice beneath his feet with every step. He arrested himself only a dozen or so steps later.

The second he stopped moving, Ye Qing threw himself forward even faster and stronger than before. The earth trembled visibly with every step he took, wind and thunder howled as he raced forward, and his fist intent astounded anyone and everyone.

Rumble…

Force spun like a hurricane in the space between Ye Qing and Chu Wangsun. Such was its power that it ripped through the ground like it was paper and threw entire chunks of it into the sky.

The North Duke Consort, Lu Daoweng and the remnants of the North Duke Office were going to attack him until they saw this. They all wore terrified expressions and backed off in a hurry. Ṛ�

“Break!”

The hurricane was still going when Ye Qing let out a low growl and tore it asunder. His fist landed on the wall of text blocking in front of Chu Wangsun and pushed three inches deeper.

Chu Wangsun was blown back like a dry leaf, a deep gorge forming underneath his feet for every inch he traveled. Such was Ye Qing’s punch that the scholar eventually fell into a heap on the ground, but…

“Hmm? It’s still standing?” Ye Qing frowned at the wall of text still standing around Chu Wangsun.

“You can’t kill me.”

Chu Wangsun slowly climbed back to his feet. All Ye Qing’s punch had done was decrease the amount of ink inside the inkstone.

“That’s the Strange Artifact the Chief Libationist gave you to protect you, isn’t it?” Ye Qing asked while shaking his wrist a little. He could feel the thick Sage energy emanating from the inkstone.

“If you know this, then you know that I am telling the truth.”

Chu Wangsun declared, “You cannot kill me.”

Instead of talking, Ye Qing made a grabbing motion and caused a gigantic, dark yellow hand to descend from above. It grabbed Su Bancheng with ease—the chief disciple was still dazed and recovering from the earlier outburst of force—and brought him over to Ye Qing.

Su Bancheng was seriously injured to begin with, and the shockwave of Ye Qing and Chu Wangsun’s clash did him no favors. Ye Qing was able to seize him without meeting any resistance.

“Come out and die, Chu Wangsun, or I will kill him,” Ye Qing threatened while grabbing Su Bancheng’s neck.

Su Bancheng’s face rapidly turned red, but he was unable to break free from Ye Qing’s control.

Chu Wangsun didn’t react. Ye Qing taunted him, “I thought he is your friend? What, are you really going to just stand there and watch him die?”

“He is my friend,” Chu Wangsun said emotionlessly, “but just because he is my friend doesn’t mean that I must trade my life for his. Besides, I don't believe that you will let him live even if I do as you say and surrender.”

“How would you know if you didn’t try?” Ye Qing smirked.

“There is only one life. I see no merit in gambling it away on an enemy’s whim.”

Chu Wangsun said, “However, I, Chu Wangsun, swear that I will destroy you and take revenge for my friend if you kill him.”

Chu Wangsun’s voice was calm and indifferent, but no one suspected that he was lying.

It was because he was Chu Wangsun, disciple of the Chief Libationist of the Jixia Academy, the one they called “Mister Nine” in the jianghu.

“Take revenge? Do you even know who I am?” Ye Qing scoffed.

“In fact, I think I do.” A hint of steeliness flashed in Chu Wangsun’s eyes. “You’re Ye Qing, aren’t you?”

“Haha…”

Ye Qing was a bit surprised, if he was being honest. He did not think that Chu Wangsun would actually guess his identity correctly. “I’m curious. How did you find out?”

The steeliness in Chu Wangsun’s eyes grew. “It really is you. You really are still alive.”

Ye Qing exclaimed with even more surprise, “Huh. It almost sounds like you’ve had suspicions even before today.”

“That’s right,” Chu Wangsun confirmed. “The one who fought me at Bei You was you as well, wasn’t it?”

“And how could you possibly know that?” Ye Qing raised his eyebrows. Chu Wangsun was referring to the time he passed through Bei You on his way to the Dark Overlord’s inheritance. At the time, Ye Qing had encountered Chu Wangsun at the restaurant called Number One by accident and decided to ambush him while he was fatigued from his battle against the ‘Demon Refining Hand’ Pei Qiansui.

“Since young, I have had a highly retentive memory. I never forget who or what I saw.”

Chu Wangsun said, “I have met you several times at this point, and I am even more familiar with the characteristics of your martial arts and the way your energy changes. At Bei You, you may have disguised yourself in appearance, fought using basic martial arts, and become much stronger in terms of cultivation, but you cannot change the way your energy changes, the characteristics of your martial arts, your habits and so on. Since then, I have suspected that you are still alive. I simply decided not to look into it because the Dark Overlord’s inheritance takes priority.”

“You may be a Trueman now, and your martial arts are nothing like what it was back then, but it is not like you have completely shedded who you were. There are characteristics and traces that are reminiscent of who you were at the beginning. Besides, you kept saying that you have a grudge with me. It’s not terribly difficult to guess who you were.”

“Haha, I see!” Ye Qing chuckled. “I must say that you are an impressive man, Mister Nine!”

“I’m the one who should say that.” Chu Wangsun’s expression grew a little complicated. “To think that you would transform from an ant I could kill at any moment to a man-eating tiger in just the matter of years. I really am surprised.”

“Thank you for your praise.” Ye Qing chuckled. “Seriously though, it’s all thanks to you and Fang Muyun. Without your ah, encouragement, I might not be as strong as I am today.”

Chu Wangsun was silent for a few breaths before asking, “Are you the one behind Muyun’s death?”

“Why do you say that?”

Ye Qing neither admitted nor denied his accusation, but sometimes, the lack of denial itself was an admission.

“It’s just instinct. It’s just feels like too much of a coincidence.” Chu Wangsun said, “Sometimes, three times is enemy action. It’s the same with the Ten Directions Stupa.”

“Haha…” Ye Qing chuckled. “Correct. If only you found out sooner, eh?”n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Ye Qing took half a step forward, bent his knees, lifted his arms, and punched.