Stranger Danger

Ye Qing observed the Black Water for a moment before making a grabbing motion. In the sky, a two-headed bird that had been circling his head and watching him hungrily this whole time suddenly flew toward the Black Water against its will.

The strange bird was shaped like a goshawk, and it had a black head and a white head. The black head looked handsome, formidable, and dignified, but the white head was rotten, partially melted, and absolutely disgusting.

The two-headed strange bird was a Disaster-class Stranger. It had been circling Ye Qing’s head the moment it discovered him. It was clear as day that it harbored malicious intentions toward him.

Ye Qing had never been merciful to his enemies. Since the two-headed strange bird clearly meant him harm, he decided to return the favor by pitting it against the Black Water.

“Oo oo oo!”

“Ah ah ah!”

The two heads let out a strange cry at the same time. One of them sounded like a woman sobbing, and the other sounded like a man howling at the top of his lungs. Together, they produced a horrifying shriek that could only be described as chaotic and full of madness.

Even stranger, the shriek didn’t enter Ye Qing’s ears. It had appeared right inside his heart.

If he was a weak-minded, weak-spirited warrior, the noise would instantly cause him to lose control of himself and fall into madness.

However, Ye Qing was a different story. The second the sound invaded his mind, the Profound Yellow Mother Qi rippled and dispelled both the noise and the taint in an instant.

You tried to hurt me first, so it’s perfectly reasonable for me to mind control you and use you as my test subject, right?

Ye Qing ignored the two-headed bird’s struggles and forced it to fly toward the Black Water using his demonic thought.

“Oo oo oo!!”

“Ah ah ah!!”

The closer the two-headed bird got to the Black Water, the shriller and fiercer its cries and struggles became. Ye Qing could clearly sense its growing terror.

Too bad for the bird, it could not break free from Ye Qing’s control no matter how hard it struggled. It could only fly closer and closer to the Black Water.

As soon as the two-headed bird crossed into the Black Water’s airspace, it reacted violently and decisively like a provoked beast. Massive waves immediately took form and lashed out at the two-headed bird.

Surprised, Ye Qing hurriedly commanded the two-headed bird to fly higher. However, not only did the Black Water keep chasing like it was a dragon or a serpent viciously defending its territory, it moved faster than the bird could fly and reached unbelievable altitudes in just an instant. The next moment, it engulfed the two-headed bird.

The two-headed bird was a Disaster-class Stranger. It was anything but weak. However, as soon as the Black Water caught it, it could not break free no matter how hard it struggled. The water bound it firmly as if it had a will of its own.

Not only that, Ye Qing could tell through his demonic thought that the two-headed bird was weakening at an accelerated rate. The Black Water was somehow eroding its strength.

Just a dozen or so breaths later, the two-headed bird lost even the strength to struggle and sank helplessly into the Black Water.

As it sank, its life force leaked profusely until nothing was left. It was dead.

Even after the two-headed bird had died, it continuously sank deeper into the Black Water. Seemingly bottomless, the two-headed bird failed to reach the bottom even though it had been sinking for an entire teatime.

Ye Qing discovered something curious. The deeper the two-headed bird sank, the darker the Black Water became, and the more bodies he found floating inside of it.

He saw a strange fish the size of a large hill, a flood dragon over three hundred meters long, a ferocious tiger that was covered in scale armor, a strange snake with a single horn on its head, so on and so forth.

There were far too many Strangers in the Black Water to count, and their faces were all frozen in horror and despair almost as if to show off the terror that was the Black Water.

Another dozen breaths passed, and the Black Water finally eroded the demonic thought Ye Qing had imbued to the two-headed bird completely. Right before it was gone, Ye Qing still could not see the bottom. He only saw an ever increasing amount of Stranger carcasses. It was chilling to say the least.

Some of the Strangers Ye Qing recognized, and some he had never seen or heard before ever in his life. One thing was certain, however. The Strangers were all very powerful. Even in death, the auras they gave off intimidated him.

“Hah… it looks like the Black Water is even more dangerous than I imagined!”

Ye Qing exhaled deeply after the demonic thought was fully eroded. He knew that the Black Water was dangerous, but its true threat level still exceeded his imagination.

He only needed to recall the bodies in the Black Water to know that.

A moment of thought later, Ye Qing produced a log from Nine Heavens and tossed it into the river. The good news was that the Black Water did not become enraged. The bad news was that the log turned black and melted into nothing not long after it left the shore.

“Heavens…”

Ye Qing couldn’t help a gasp. The log was an extraordinary log called the Iron Cotton Wood. As its name implied, it was as tough as iron but as light as cotton. It was quite the unusual material, and yet it had taken the Black Water almost no time to erode it completely. How terrifying!

“This is troublesome…”

Ye Qing muttered while furrowing his brow. It looked like the Black Water was uncrossable by the animate or the inanimate.

What did he mean by that? If a living, animate object attempted to cross the Black Water, it would come alive and devour that object. A dead, inanimate object could cross the Black Water without enraging it, but it would be eroded and melted by the Black Water in a short time. In short, it was an impassable river.

To reach the Radiant Tree, one must first cross the Black Water and scale the Cyan Mountain.

Earlier, he had observed the landmarks carefully and realized that the Black Water seemed to circle around the Cyan Mountain completely. Therefore, it was impossible for him to reach the Cyan Mountain without crossing the Black Water.

Unfortunately, it did not look like it would be easy to cross the Black Water at all.

“Screw it, I’m just gonna ask the Annon Sutra!”

A few breaths later, Ye Qing gave up on his brain. When in doubt, ask the Annon Sutra! It would save you time, energy, and many brain cells!

Ye Qing produced the Annon Sutra and asked, “How can I cross the Black Water?”

Then, he dripped his blood on the piece of vellum.

A short while later, the Annon Sutra replied, “Calm the waves, still the wind.”

“Calm the waves, still the wind?”

Ye Qing repeated the answer a few times as he mulled it over in his head.

Was it saying that the only way to cross the Black Water was to freeze the Black Water’s wind and waves?

It made a certain amount of sense. If a living being tried to cross the Black Water, it would become enraged and kick up a towering wind and wave that devoured everything. However, if he could somehow freeze them in place, then the Black Water would not be able to do anything. He would be able to cross it safely.

“In that case, there is an easy solution to this.”

A smile appeared on Ye Qing’s face as he extended his left hand. A dark yellow bell appeared on his palm.

The next moment, Ye Qing flicked the dark yellow bell lightly.

Thang!

A grand, solemn bell chime resounded throughout heaven and earth, and a profound light seemed to illuminate anything and everything.

Wherever the bell chime traveled, the wind subsided, and the waves receded.

Wherever the light reached, the ripples smoothed over, and the waves disappeared like it never was.

It was a magical scene. The Black Water that was still raging and surging a moment ago suddenly became perfectly smooth and peaceful. It was almost as if an invisible power had stretched out a wrinkled piece of fabric. The torrent was no more, and the wind and waves vanished into thin air. All that was left behind was a perfectly smooth, shiny surface that resembled a black mirror.

“The bell chime quells earth and water, the profound light illuminates wind and extinguishes fire.” Such was the power of the Earthly Sovereign Bell.

In simpler terms, the Earthly Sovereign Bell could suppress an entire area and shackle both space and time. This was why Ye Qing was confident it would work.

This was also the first time he fully unleashed the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s power in the real world, and its power did not disappoint him.

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