Stranger Danger

“Hohoho, I knew that a Trueman stage cock would look mighty handsome.”

Ye Qing chuckled while staring at the two large cocks who were still trying to escape while crowing in panic.

The two cocks Blue Fiend and Red Fiend had transformed into were mighty impressive. They were large and looked incredibly fierce[1]. Their feathers were bright and colorful, and their crowns were golden like that of an emperor’s crown. Their crows especially sounded like thunderclaps that could jolt even the deepest sleeper from their slumber. It would not be an exaggeration to call them exotic animals.

“Congratulations on catching another two big fishes, young master.”

Seeing that the battle was over, Tao Chong congratulated Ye Qing with a complex expression on his face.

Despite having witnessed several of Ye Qing’s fights for the past couple days, he still couldn’t help but be astounded by it. It was a level of strength so lofty that anyone who saw it could only feel hopeless awe and despair.

“It’s all thanks to you. You did well for the past few days,” Ye Qing praised him.

“Thank you, young master, but it is also because you and miss’ plans are well thought out. This slave dare not claim the credit,” Tao Chong said humbly.

He was speaking from the heart. He was at most the errand boy of this plan. For the past few days, he had kidnapped countless Seventy Two Water Land Alliance and Nine Nethers Sect warriors exactly as Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou had taught him to. Of course, not every kidnapping had gone smoothly, but thanks to the countermeasures they had discussed beforehand, most of them did not devolve into a true threat to his being.

In just three days, he had captured over a hundred warriors for their cause. It was quite the satisfying harvest to say the least.

Two days ago, he started consciously or unconsciously leaving behind traces and tracks that the elites of the two sects could follow. However, Ye Qing was able to capture all of them.

Just yesterday, they were able to capture three Seventy Two Water Land Alliance gang bosses or Hallmasters and four Earth Fiend Hall stewards or branch leaders. The large majority of them were Half-Step Grandmasters or Truemen, and even the weakest among this bunch were late-stage Spirit Masters.

Ye Qing still wasn’t satisfied, however. Today, he actually commanded him to lure the Hallmaster and vice Hallmaster of the Earthly Fiend Hall to his side.

Of course, Tao Chong was against this at first. How could he not? Blue Fiend and Red Fiend were no ordinary warriors. Not only were they longtime veterans, they were named warriors on the Earth Champions Ranking, and they had defeated a Half-Sage before. To say that they were famous would be an understatement.

If it turned out that Ye Qing had overestimated himself, then the position of the fisherman and the fish could easily be reversed.

Unfortunately, he failed to change Ye Qing’s mind, and he understood that he did not truly have a choice in the matter. In the end, he had no choice but to lure the two warriors over to the ambush site as per his order.

Before the fight began, Tao Chong was prepared to fight the duo to the death. However, for once in his life, reality actually decided to show him mercy. Ye Qing had folded the two warriors so easily he almost wondered if they were fakes.

Of course, that wasn’t the case. Ye Qing was just that strong. Given enough power, you really could do anything.

“You have a silver tongue, but your skills… you should have been more careful,” Ye Qing commented.

“I’m sorry?” Tao Chong was confused by his remark.

“Didn’t you notice that you have a tail?” Ye Qing turned and looked to the distance.

“A tail?” Tao Chong exclaimed in shock, “You mean… the Blue and Red Fiends aren’t the only ones who followed me here?”

He couldn’t spot anyone even when he was actively searching for people though. Was Ye Qing just teasing him, or…?

“What do you think?”

Ye Qing looked at a blue bird perched on a distant branch and called out with a smile, “You can show yourself now, my friend.”

Tao Chong was still confused when he saw the bird flapping its wings and taking off to the sky seemingly in fright.

“Come now. Did you really think you could leave?”

Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath and threw a punch.

Space shook, and heaven and earth collapsed.

“Argh!”

A bloodcurdling scream cut through the air, and the blue bird abruptly transformed into a bearded old man. He fell from the sky.

The old man wasn’t incapacitated, however. As soon as he hit the ground, he transformed into a pangolin and dug into the earth.

Ye Qing took one step forward and appeared tens of meters away in an instant. When his feet touched the ground, it began rippling unsteadily like it wasn’t solid earth, but water.

The underground pangolin was abruptly spat out into the open.

While the pangolin was still in mid-air, it transformed into a goshawk and took to the skies.

“That’s the Hundred-formed Old Man!” Tao Chong exclaimed in realization.

Hundred-formed Old Man was a Trueman elder in the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance. His strength was average at best, but his expertise lay in his ability to transform into all kinds of animals[2].

Hundred-formed Old Man’s cultivation art was called the “Hundred Beasts True Scripture”. Sharing deep ties with the power of Nature, it was said that those who reached the adept level in the cultivation art could transform into any and all kinds of animals, undetectable by all but the most perceptive. It was quite the useful and profound ability to say the least.

There were obvious similarities between the “Hundred Beasts True Scripture” and the “Livestock Creation Art”, but they were really completely different martial arts with their own respective strengths. The “Hundred Beasts True Scripture” could transform the practitioner into any and all kinds of animals, but it only applied to the practitioner themselves.

The Livestock Creation Spell could target both the practitioner themselves and others, but it could only transform the target into the six livestocks.

In terms of profoundness and mystery, the Livestock Creation Spell was superior to the “Hundred Beasts True Scripture”. However, that by no means meant that the “Hundred Beasts True Scripture” was a lousy martial art.

Hundred-formed Old Man was a supernatural scout and spy thanks to the “Hundred Beasts True Scripture”. He could take any form that best suited the situation—a bird, a mosquito, a worm etc—and infiltrate any location. In fact, it was majorly thanks to him that the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance was able to obtain all sorts of secret information and swiftly rise to power back in the day.

This was why Hundred-formed Old Man was highly respected in the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance and feared by everyone in Yannan’s wulin despite his average combat prowess.

Tao Chong had no idea that Hundred-formed Old Man was tailing him. He was even more curious how Ye Qing managed to identify him.

When Hundred-formed Old Man transformed into an animal, his aura would transform to mimic said animal as well. That was why he was so difficult to suss out. How on earth did Ye Qing notice that the random bird in the distance was really Hundred-formed Old Man?

The goshawk Hundred-formed Old Man had transformed into flew much faster than your ordinary goshawk. It had disappeared into the clouds in just the blink of an eye.

“I told you. You can’t escape me.”

Ye Qing lifted his right hand high with his palm facing toward the sky. Then, he clenched his fingers tightly as if the entire sky was under his control.

When all five of his fingers made contact with his palm, there was a soft pop like someone had tossed a stone into a lake. Then, the entire sky started shaking and rippling like it was water.

Stunned by the sudden shockwaves, Hundred-formed Old Man’s wings abruptly snapped in half. Blood spilled out of his wounds as he plummeted toward the earth.

Right before Hundred-formed Old Man would hit the ground, he let out a roar and swelled in size all of a sudden. The next moment, he transformed into a massive tiger and attempted to swallow Ye Qing whole.

Ye Qing sneered. With one palm strike to the head, he smashed the tiger into the ground so hard that it formed a deep pit.

That was a mistake, however. When the dust cloud faded, the tiger that was Hundred-formed Old Man was nowhere to be found. It was almost as if he had vanished into thin air.

Ye Qing’s eyebrows wrinkled imperceptibly.

“He’s over there.”

It was at this moment Feng Qingyou spoke up for the first time and walked to the edge of the pit. She pointed at a dead ant in the pit and added smilingly, “He’s pretending to be an ant.”

“So you’re the one who found me!”

Suddenly, the dead ant transformed into a viper and pounced toward Feng Qingyou with lightning speed.

“I’ll kill you!”

1. You think I would let go of the opportunity to make a cock joke not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times? Well you don’t know me very well. ☜

2. Wukong lite version. ☜