Stranger Danger

The tiger’s bone was milky white like jade and brimming with terrific killing intent. Before it was thrown into the bronze furnace, Ye Qing had clearly seen the image of a white tiger looking up at the sky and roaring.

The dragon’s whisker was bluish gold and transparent. Smooth and soft like water, it swam in the air like it was a dragon itself. The draconic pressure it gave off was quite something as well.

As for the leaf, it was emerald green in color and overflowing with vitality. A single breath was enough to make anyone feel soothed to the core.

Clearly, every single one of these items were extraordinary.

“You’ve already prepared them? In that case, everything will be fine,” the bronze furnace said while slapping its belly.

“Sorry to trouble you again, Grandpa Xuanyang,” Feng Qingyou replied.

“It’s my duty.”

Having said that, the bronze furnace sat down and stacked its hands in front of its chest, palm facing upward as if it was meditating.

Buzz…

The next moment, the bronze furnace turned bright red in color. The surrounding temperature began rising rapidly as if it was the sun.

Despite holding the furnace in her palm, Feng Qingyou’s expression did not change one bit. It was almost as if she couldn’t feel the heat.

Wen Anran stared at the bronze furnace for a bit before a look of realization flitted across her face. She exclaimed in surprise, “Is that the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace?”

“That is correct,” Feng Qingyou admitted.

“The seventy fifth Strange Artifact on the ‘Strange Artifact Register’, the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace?!” Ye Qing was surprised as well. “How did you get it? I thought it belongs to Gu Shentong?”

The Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace was a Disaster-class Strange Artifact. Ranked seventy fifth on the ‘Strange Artifact Register’, it was said to be created by Xuanyang, the supreme elder of the Pill Cauldron Sect over a thousand years ago. At the time, the Pill Cauldron Sect was a powerful, influential sect that was famed under the heavens for their pill making skills.

Elder Xuanyang was a slothful man, and he did not like the fact that he had to make pills himself. So, he decided to forge an intelligent pill furnace that could do the work for him. After investing an enormous amount of natural treasures, all of his wealth, and forty-nine years of hard work, he finally managed to create the pill furnace of his dreams.

Unfortunately, reality was a cruel mistress. The pill furnace was, at first glance, perfect. Not only was it highly intelligent, it was capable of creating three thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine types of pills on its own. As if that wasn’t enough, the quality of its pills were better than even his best work.

However, it had one tragic flaw, and that was the fact that every pill it created would turn into a demonic pill. That’s right, a demonic pill.

It did not matter what materials or pill formulae were used. Somehow, every pill it created would turn into the purest, finest demonic counterpart. It was unorthodox to say the least.

If Elder Xuanyang belonged to a demonic sect or even a small sect no one gave two shits about, then this would not have been a problem. However, the Pill Cauldron Sect was a famous orthodox sect of the wulin whose life’s mission was to treat people and save lives. The martial arts they practiced were the purest, most orthodox arts one could find as well.

For a practitioner of the orthodox arts, the only thing a demonic pill was good for was suicide. What this meant was that the pills the pill furnace created were utterly useless to the Pill Cauldron Sect.

Not only that, it had created quite a lot of trouble for the Pill Cauldron Sect. This was because the demonic pills, while completely useless to those who practiced orthodox martial arts, were exceedingly beneficial for those who practiced the opposite. In other words, what was a valuable but essentially worthless treasure to the Pill Cauldron Sect was a priceless treasure to warriors of the Dark Ways. That was why its mere existence had drawn an unhealthy amount of attention and put the sect in danger.

Naturally, the higher-ups of the Pill Cauldron Sect unanimously agreed that the pill furnace should be destroyed. Elder Xuanyang was just as disgruntled as they were at his pill furnace’s unexpected trait, but he was reluctant to destroy the pill furnace he had spent forty-nine years to create as a matter of course.

In the end, Elder Xuanyang chose to preserve the pill furnace despite all the opposition he faced. He then named it the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace.

Obviously, he originally meant to name it the Xuanyang Celestial Ascension Furnace, but thanks to its “unique” trait, that was plainly impossible. So, he had no choice but to compromise.

Even after Elder Xuanyang passed away, the Pill Cauldron Sect respected Elder Xuanyang’s will and kept the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace in their vault. This lasted until three hundred years ago when a disciple turned dark, stole the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace, and escaped. As the Pill Cauldron Sect was far weaker than they were a thousand years ago, they were incapable of retrieving the Strange Artifact and had no choice but to see it disappear into the jianghu.

The Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace went through a dozen or so owners after that, and countless lives were lost each time it changed hands. In the end, it fell into the hands of Gu Shentong, the Undefeated Urchin[1].

Gu Shengtong the Undefeated Urchin was a top ten champion on the Earth Champions Ranking. He was, without exaggeration, a true monster, so how did his treasure fall into Feng Qingyou’s hands? Were the rumors just a rumor after all?

However, Feng Qingyou defied his expectations and said, “Gu Shentong lost a bet to me, and the prize is the Xuanyang Demonic Ascension Furnace.”

“A bet?” Ye Qing asked curiously. What kind of bet was it? And how on earth did Feng Qingyou manage to win?

“It’s just a simple hide and seek game,” Feng Qingyou replied casually.

“Hide and seek? There has to be some crazy rules, right?”

This… fit with what he knew of Gu Shentong. Although Gu Shentong was an Earth Champions Ranking monster, he acted like a naughty child who liked nothing more than to play and bet against others. It was why people called him an urchin.

Ye Qing wanted to know exactly how the game went because he did not believe for a second that it was anything like your ordinary hide-and-seek. After all, this was Gu Shentong they were talking about. Even if it was an ordinary hide-and-seek game, the participants made all the difference.

For example, Gu Shentong once challenged Han Qinjiao, the River Dragon to an underwater breath-holding match. The duo stayed underwater for ninety-nine days straight, and in the end, Gu Shentong emerged victorious with a small margin.

One time, Gu Shentong challenged Zen Master Empty Cicada of Lanke Temple to a sitting contest. The duo then traveled to Snow Dragon Mountain and sat at the peak for over three years. In the end, Gu Shentong succumbed to his restlessness and forfeited the match.

Another time, Gu Shentong challenged Hu Xiaoshan, the Mighty Demon God to a contest of strength. One only needed to infer from Hu Xiaoshan’s moniker that his strength was supernatural. First, Hu Xiaoshan grabbed a river and lifted it into the air with his bare hands. In response, Gu Shengtong lifted two rivers with his bare hands. Next, Hu Xiaoshan carried an entire mountain on his shoulders. Yet again, Gu Shentong one-upped the guy by lifting two mountains. Furious, Hu Xiaoshan ripped out an entire chunk of the earth—it spanned over three hundred meters at least—carried it on his back, and ran over a thousand kilometers. In response… Well, there was no response because Hu Xiaoshan died from exhaustion.

Long story short, Gu Shentong’s games and bets were all beyond mortal imagination. Naturally, Ye Qing thought that the “simple hide-and-seek game” he played against Feng Qingyou was pretty extraordinary as well.

One good thing about Gu Shentong was that he was a man of his word and a good loser. No matter who he played against, he never reneged on a bet. He never went back on his word just because he was stronger or something.

One time, a Spirit Master junior challenged Gu Shentong to a fasting contest. Whoever lasted the longest would have to kowtow three times to the winner before running to the entrance of the Heavenly Master Mansion and yell, “Zhang Dongxuan is an old tortoise!” three times, naked.

Gu Shentong thought that it was a most interesting challenge and did not think that he would lose to a Spirit Master junior. So, he agreed. However, he later realized that his opponent was a living dead. Did a living dead need to eat or drink? No. Naturally, Gu Shentong lost the bet utterly.

Technically speaking, his opponent had tricked him. It was entirely within Gu Shentong’s right to renege on his bet. However, the man did no such thing. He kowtowed three times to the Spirit Master on the spot, stripped himself naked, ran all the way to the foot of Dragon Tiger Mountain, planted his hands on his wrists, and shouted, “Zhang Dongxuan is an old tortoise!” at the top of his lungs three times.

Zhang Dongxuan was the Old Heavenly Master of the Heavenly Master Mansion of Dragon Tiger Mountain. He was a living celestial who was revered by countless.

Therefore, Gu Shentong wasn’t just insulting the Old Heavenly Master. He was insulting the entire Dragon Tiger Mountain.

Naturally, Gu Shentong’s inexplicable actions infuriated the Heavenly Master Mansion. A lightning bolt quickly descended from the sky and sent Gu Shentong flying at least fifty kilometers before he finally landed. He was lucky. If Zhang Dongxuan wasn’t a mild-tempered man, if not for the fact that he took no offense from Gu Shentong’s insult, the so-called Undefeated Urchin would have been a pile of bones already.

1. Not to be confused with Wu Shentong the Undying Urchin, who is dead as a dodo. I guess similar names are a problem even in ancient times. ☜

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