Stranger Danger

“Oh right, what did the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance and Dragonmount Duke do while I was gone? Is Chen Cang dead yet?” Ye Qing asked.

He was so busy searching for the Endlessly Durable Water and Dustless Earth that he did not keep up to date with the happenings of the jianghu for the past couple days. He wondered if Chen Cang and the Seven Demons of Yandang were dead.

“Chen Cang is still alive,” Feng Qingyou answered.

“What? Was the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s strength exaggerated after all?” Ye Qing frowned. It had been a while since they set out to capture the swordsman. No matter how cunning Chen Cang was, he should’ve been caught at this point.

“They had Chen Cang surrounded, but a mysterious elite from Swordsgrave intervened at the last moment and even dealt several Seventy Two Water Land Alliance elders a serious blow. That was why Chen Cang ultimately managed to escape,” Feng Qingyou explained.

“Damn. Chen Cang is one lucky sonuvabitch!” Ye Qing was a bit disappointed that his scheme failed to kill Chen Cang in the end, but it was fine though. Once Feng Qingyou had recovered, he did not mind delivering the swordsman to the afterlife personally.

“What about the Seven Demons of Yandang?” Ye Qing asked another question. The group had slapped Dragonmount Duke so hard you could hear the reverberations from the other end of the realm. Knowing the man’s reputation, there was zero chance he would allow this slight to go unanswered.

“Two days ago, Dragonmount Duke attacked White Ape Sword Demon, Howling Heaven Tiger Demon, and Hundred-armed Spider Demon at Dragontail Beach in person. However, it turned out to be an ambush. The three demons had contacted the Utmost Evil King of Nine Nethers beforehand and were just waiting for Dragonmount Duke to jump into their trap.”

Feng Qingyou narrated slowly, “A great battle later, Howling Heaven Tiger Demon and Hundred-armed Spider Demon perished in battle, but Dragonmount Duke also took grievous injuries from White Ape Sword Demon and Utmost Evil King. Only his yang god managed to escape when all was said and done.”

“After dealing the Dragonmount Duke a grievous blow, White Ape Sword Demon joined Nine Nethers and became their ninth king. While the Dragonmount Duke was still injured, Nine Nether seized the opportunity to consume much of the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s territory. As a result, the latter is much weaker than they were before.”

“What in the…”

Ye Qing could hardly believe that so many things had happened in the past few days, and each one was only more surprising than the last. “White Ape Sword Demon must have colluded with the Nine Nethers from the start!”

A human heart could be split into good or bad, nature could be separated into yin and yang, and even heaven and earth could be bright or dark. If humanity was the bright beings of the world, then the Nine Nethers were the opposite.

Nine Nethers was where the darkest and vilest evils were gathered, and they served a powerful being known as the Nine Nethers Demonic Emperor.

However, Ye Qing wasn’t referring to this realm of the darkest and most evil. He was referring to a sect who called themselves the Nine Nethers Sect, one of the Nine Dark Ways.

Of course, since the Nine Nethers Sect dared to name themselves after the Nine Nethers, they must share a deep and profound connection with them. In fact, the Nine Nethers Sect served the Nine Nethers Demonic Emperor and cultivated the Nine Nethers Demonic Qi. They were one hundred percent an evil, heretical sect.

In any case, it was clear that the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s downfall was a conspiracy by the White Ape Sword Demon and Nine Nethers Sect.

“I believe so as well,” Feng Qingyou replied.

“By the way, what about the River Swallowing Toad Demon? Why didn’t they involve him in the ambush?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

“That’s because the River Swallowing Toad Demon was dead way back when the Seven Demons of Yandang attempted to steal the Lampfire Palace. The River Swallowing Toad Demon was responsible for covering their retreat, and he failed to escape before he was killed by the returning Dragonmount Duke,” Feng Qingyou answered.

“I see.” Ye Qung rubbed his nose thoughtfully. “I guess White Ape Sword Demon is the only one left among the Seven Demons of Yandang then.”

“Yes, but it doesn’t really matter to White Ape Sword Demon. In his eyes, the other six demons were just tools to be used to achieve his objective,” Feng Qingyou replied. “He would not care if they lived or died.”

“Speaking of which, did they ever find out what happened to the Nine-headed Snake Demon and Powerful Bull Demon?” Ye Qing asked.

“It would not matter even if they did.” Feng Qingyou shook her head. “From the start, White Ape Sword Demon’s objective was the Dragonmount Duke alone. Why would he care if his pawns lived or died when he had achieved his goal?”

“As for the Dragonmount Duke, he is fully absorbed with the matter of his recovery. He would not be able to intervene even if he learned the truth of the matter.”

“That’s good.” Ye Qing shrugged as a schadenfreude smirk crossed his lips. “Hehehe… the Dragonmount Duke managed to live most of his life dominating his enemies and avoiding any repercussions, but not this time.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Ye Qing. “Say, do you think there is a chance that the Nine Nethers might be able to consume the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance entirely?”

“It is quite unlikely.” Feng Qingyou shook her head. “Although the Nine Nethers is one of the Nine Dark Ways and quite powerful, neither the Dragonmount Duke nor the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance is weak. Moreover, the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance is composed of countless factions and spread throughout large chunks of Yan.”

“The Nine Nethers may have succeeded in catching Dragonmount Duke off guard and coming very close to killing him, but once he recovers, the Nine Nethers[1] would find it much harder to maintain their current rate of conquest. As for conquering the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance entirely, that seems almost impossible.”

“But of course, just because they would survive this crisis doesn’t mean that it won’t cost them dearly. When the dust has settled, we may find the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance much, much weaker than before.”

“It’s going to be a tumultuous period in the near future then,” Ye Qing let out a schadenfreude chuckle.

“Yes. It will be a while before Yannan’s wulin is calm,” Feng Qingyou smiled as well.

……

Feng Qingyou’s comment would prove to be an understatement. The entire Yannan and its wulin had plunged into chaos as a result of this series of incidents.

In the past, the Nine Nethers Sect kept a low profile when operating in Yannan. Now, led by the Utmost Evil King and White Ape Sword Demon, they were openly assaulting and occupying the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s territories.

Of course, the members of the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance weren’t willing to take this lying down. They mustered their forces and struck back as hard as they were able. As a result, not a day went by where people weren’t fighting for their lives, and bodies weren’t littering the streets.

For a time, blades and blood smeared every corner of Yannan’s jianghu.

None of this had anything to do with Ye Qing or Feng Qingyou, however. They had departed Mirror Lake City and were currently moving toward their next destination.

Refining the five extraordinary items was not a simple matter. Before the process could begin, they must find a location where yin and yang existed in harmony.

As everyone knows, fire and water could not co-exist, and yin and yang naturally stood in opposition against each other. However, it was also the truth that nothing was absolute. There were, in fact, places where fire and water, yin and yang somehow co-existed in harmony. They were just incredibly rare.

Luckily, Feng Qingyou was prepared for this. She had managed to identify one such location after repeated inquiries.

Their next destination was a strange place named the Sun Swamp. The Sun Swamp was an extremely cold swamp overflowing with yin qi and miasma, but for whatever reason, every time it was past midnight, a sun would appear in the sky and cause the Sun Swamp to combust into flames. The resulting inferno was usually enough to kill any and all living beings residing in the swamp.

It was unnatural for a place of absolute yin to create a great sun that burned everything during the time of most yin[2]. Considering all the signs, the Sun Swamp could only be a location where yin and yang existed in harmony.

The Sun Swamp was pretty famous in Yan—or more accurately, infamous.

The Sun Swamp was a place of absolute yin, so it was overflowing with yin qi and miasma. The fact that it created a sun that burned everything in the swamp certainly did not help to promote life either.

As if that wasn’t enough, its extraordinary environment had resulted in the birth of many anomalous and terrifying Strangers such as the Ash Woman, the Gray Bug, the Smoke Ghost and more.

The Ash Woman was a Disaster-class Stranger made up of yin qi, ash, and souls. Although it was categorized as a type of Yin Spirit, it was unaffected by thunder or fire. Incorporeal and intangible, they enjoyed luring travelers using a woman’s appearance and feast on their souls.

An Ash Bug was a Phenomenon-class Stranger made up of yin qi and ash. As tiny as a speck of dust and invisible to the naked eye, it existed in groups and attacked humans via inhalation. The moment an unsuspecting human had inhaled a cloud of Ash Bugs into their body, they would instantly combust into ash.

The Smoke Ghost was a Disaster-class Stranger created from smoke. It was incorporeal and extremely difficult to kill due to its ability to spread out like smoke. It enjoyed trapping travelers in its smoke and making them lose their way. Those who failed to identify their situation and take measures to remedy it would never find their way out and eventually die of exhaustion.

The Ash Woman, Ash Bug, and Smoke Ghost were three of the more dangerous Strangers in the Sun Swamp. There were countless other Strangers that lived there.

In summary, the Sun Swamp was extraordinarily dangerous and feared by most people.

Luckily, neither Ye Qing nor Feng Qingyou were among those people.

In order to ensure that Feng Qingyou would not be disturbed during her ritual, Ye Qing went through the effort of cleaning up the Strangers residing in the Sun Swamp.

1. This will be the only chapter where you see them addressing the Nine Nethers Sect as Nine Nethers. I had to make a call and I believe it would be much less confusing if the two terms are separated properly. ☜

2. If you don’t know, it means the darkest hour a.k.a 12 am midnight. ☜

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