Stranger Danger

Chapter 122: One Punch

“It would seem you’re wrong again, Old Tong!” The young woman said with a smile.

“...”

Imagine a veteran hunter losing an eye to a bird that he hunted for a living. That was how embarrassed Everyoung Tong was feeling right now. Worse still, this was the outcome after he had already cheated once, and not even he was shameless enough to cheat a second time. He had no choice but to feign deafness and return his attention to the battle, praying for a miracle.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing was stunned that he had sent Xiao Yang flying in a single strike. When he clenched his fist, space crackled as if it couldn’t withstand his strength. He couldn’t help but let out a silly laugh when he confirmed that he wasn’t dreaming.

It was well known that attaining dragon elephant-like strength and resilience was a major milestone in body tempering. It would seem that the young man was even luckier than he thought!

A body-tempering Astral Refiner would infuse their desired astral qi instead of true qi into their flesh, blood and bones to reforge their body, qi, and mind into a weapon that could conquer any foe and obstacle. It was why a body-tempering Astral Refiner could go toe-to-toe against a normal Astral Refiner despite losing the ability to release their qi.

When Ye Qing was trapped inside the hurricane, his flesh, blood and bones had been filled to the brim with Burning Wind. Obviously, this was not how anyone would temper their body in the norm, but the outcome was the same, if not better.

“No wonder there are so many warriors who practice at least one fist art. It feels incredible to defeat a foe with one punch!” Ye Qing exclaimed in delight.

It doesn't matter how strong you are, I’m gonna end it all in one punch! And if one punch isn’t enough, then two punches would do it! Simple and effective!

“No no no no no! This isn’t happening! I won’t accept this!” Inside the wall, Xiao Yang suddenly let out a maddened howl and jumped back into the open. His eyes were bloodshot, and his aura was climbing like crazy. It was like a cornered animal’s last stand.

When he threw a punch at Ye Qing, red light filled the sky in an instant like sunset. There was no sun, but sunlight was everywhere. The intent was invisible, but it was everywhere as well.

“Sunset”

“What a powerful move!”

Ye Qing narrowed his eyes and turned serious. The red hue in the sky was the Expression of the Purple Sun Gold Flame after it was condensed to the limit. If it hit, it could turn hundreds and hundreds of meters of ground into a wasteland, boil lakes, and sever rivers.

Ye Qing clenched his own fist and gathered his strength. He didn’t infuse any astral qi into his fist. When all of his strength was focused on a single point, he met Xiao Yang’s punch with a punch of pure power.

Boom!

The punch was simple, but the air within tens of meters of Ye Qing crumpled like a physical object. The noise it made was unspeakable. The red sky disappeared inch by inch starting from the point of impact, but the Purple Sun Gold Flame couldn’t even leave a single mark on Ye Qing.

Bang!

Ye Qing’s fist clashed directly with Xiao Yang’s fist when the red sky disappeared completely. The Astral Refiner immediately exploded into smithereens, and the Burning Wind turned his remnants into ash before they even hit the ground. That was the end of Xiao Yang.

“My precious!”

Unfortunately, Ye Qing wasn’t very happy with this outcome because his punch had also blasted Xiao Yang’s Nature’s Shell far, far away from him. He would’ve held back a little If he knew his punch was this powerful! He was gone like the wind long before the echoes of his pained scream had faded from the valley.

In the sky, the young woman said smilingly, “You’ve lost, Old Tong!”

“I did!” Everyoung Tong collapsed on his butt with a frustrated expression. However, he quickly picked himself up when he recalled the game. “It’s fine though. You’re still going to lose the game!”

The woman grabbed a black stone out of thin air just like Everyoung Tong had earlier. Then, she slowly placed it at the center point of the go board and said, “I’m sorry, Old Tong, but you’re about to lose this game as well!”

“Impossible! My dragon has taken form, and your pawns are scattered all over the place. How can you possibly defeat me?” Everyoung Tong shook his head in clear disbelief.

When he saw the board state however, he felt like a mortal who was struck by lightning. “What! How… How…”

Everyoung Tong had scattered the young woman’s pieces to the point where they resembled routed soldiers who were fleeing and fighting purely for their own survival. But when she placed her final stone at the center of the go board, her scattered troops abruptly joined together to form a massive web that trapped his white dragon at a corner! No matter how much the white dragon struggled, it was unable to break through the web. It was like a cornered animal with no way out.

The next moment, the dragon disappeared, and most of the white stones on the go board vanished just like that!

She had slain, in effect, the dragon with a single stone!

“I… you…”

Everyoung Tong’s eyes were widened like saucers. He couldn’t not believe this was happening.

“You play, you pay. The item inside the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier is mine, Old Tong!” The woman saluted him in thanks.

Everyoung Tong was pulling out his own hair and muttering in a daze, “How did I lose? I had the overwhelming advantage. How did I lose? Tell me, girl. How did I lose?”

The young woman plucked another stone out of the air and explained, “If the world is a board, then its denizens are the stones. Each space represents a person’s life journey. Whenever you want to do something, you must first weigh the pros and cons. Only then can you begin to master the world around you. Just the same, it is imperative to observe the cause and effect before taking an action in life. Only then can one ensure that every step they take is smooth and satisfactory.”

“Go is, in a sense, a representation of life. Before a player makes a move, they must first view the whole board. Only then could one know their plan after placing the first stone, and win the game after placing three stones!”

“You have perfected your go skills, Old Tong. Like a gold ingot that had been refined over a hundred times, every step you make is perfect and flawless. Unfortunately, you are so focused about perfection—so concerned about losing a single stone—that you’ve lost sight of the big picture. You have even forgotten that you are playing to win, not to be perfect.”

“A player who loses sight of the big picture cannot move with purpose. A player who has forgotten to win cannot win!”

“That is why you’ve lost from the beginning, Old Tong!”

“A player who loses sight of the big picture cannot move with purpose, and a player who has forgotten to win cannot win…” Everyoung Tong muttered these two lines over and over until he finally let out a long sigh. “I lost!”

“My senior brother and I used to play a lot of go, and he always told me that I care too much about artistry. He said that I only look at what’s in front of me and not what comes after, which is why I could never master the essence of my ‘Cloudside Record’.”

“I used to think that he was just trying to put me off balance and paid me no heed, but now, I can see that he was right!”

The young woman replied, “‘Cloudside Record’ of Cloudside Mountain places emphasis on unpredictability. It expects its players to play their stones like a cloud; free, formless, and everchanging. It is a poor fit for you, someone who strives to build something up to a desired shape in your mind.”

“However, playing go is like trying to become the person you want to be. As long as every stone you place comes from the heart, there is no such thing as a bad move. If you try to conform yourself to a style you dislike, you’ll be a poor player of that style at best, or ruin yourself at worst!”

“As I mentioned earlier, your go skill is already perfect. So long as you set aside your design and pursuit for flawlessness, so long as the move you make comes from the heart, you have what it takes to turn even the worst board state around. You do not need to obsess over the ‘Cloudside Record’.”

Everyoung Tong was silent for a long time after hearing this. In the end, he let out a long, regretful sigh. “I lost, girl, and it’s a well-deserved loss! The item inside the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier is yours!”

“Thank you, Old Tong!” The woman smiled like spring.

……

“A pill brazier? Why is there a pill brazier at this place?” Ye Qing furrowed his brow while staring at the huge and mysterious golden brazier in front of him.

He was chasing after Xiao Yang’s Nature’s Shell just now, and he was just about to catch up to it when it fell into one of the brazier’s openings and burned to ashes.

“That’s… the Burning Wind!” Ye Qing recognized the dark red flames shooting out of the golden brazier instantly.

“What kind of pill needs the Burning Wind as the fire?” Ye Qing rubbed his nose curiously.

Whoosh whoosh!

It was at this moment the dark red flame in the pill brazier roared out of the opening and turned into Burning Wind. Instead of dodging, Ye Qing scattered the incoming wind with a single punch. It failed to do any damage to him whatsoever.

Ye Qing was too shocked and distracted to be delighted by his growth, however. “It can’t be… is this the source of the Burning Wind that created Firewind Valley? That’s not possible… right?”

As much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn’t deny the reality before his eyes.

Should I check out what’s inside the brazier? A thought suddenly occurred in Ye Qing’s mind. The Burning Wind was the greatest threat in this place, but it so happened that he was almost immune to it. So why not?

Ye Qing licked his lips unconsciously as his caution warred against his greed. In the end, greed won out, and he jumped into the air and punched the cover. Why suffer temptation when he could afford to indulge in it?

Tang!

His full-powered punch was powerful enough to shatter Xiao Yang like a vase, but the brazier cover didn’t budge an inch. In fact, he was the one who was sent stumbling.

“What the hell? Just how hard is this thing?” Ye Qing shook his hand and exclaimed in astonishment after catching himself.

The golden brazier seemed angered by the punch, however. It shook once and fell still as if it was gathering its power. The next moment, it unleashed a pair of Burning Winds that were far, far hotter than anything it had released from its two openings. In fact, it was so hot that their color had turned from dark red to black. Like a pair of black dragons, they engulfed Ye Qing before he could react.

“Hahaha! Look at the kid! He actually thought he could steal what’s inside the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier!” Everyoung Tong laughed boisterously when he saw Ye Qing being engulfed by the Burning Winds.

The woman smiled but paid no attention to Ye Qing’s plight. Instead, she made a hand gesture and pointed at the brazier, causing its cover to rise slowly into the air.

A dark light shone out of the brazier the moment it was opened. It moved slowly, but everything the light touched turned dark as well.

Strange, rainbow colors swam within the unnatural light, and the Burning Wind was everywhere. The dark light seemed to exist between the line of real and unreal, and the longer it persisted, the more the surroundings seemed to fade into reality.

“What a beautiful yaoqin you are. When you play, the world itself seems to descend into a dark dream. I shall name you Dark Dream!”

Like a cool breeze brushing against a tranquil pond, the young woman’s voice caused ripples to appear across the dark light. The dark light was about to slip into the void when it suddenly flew into the young woman’s palm and transformed into a yaoqin. It was almost like it was responding to its master’s call. When she stroked its strings, clear notes resonated throughout the unnatural space and folded it up like a painting. When all was said and done, the valley had returned to normal.

After the young woman had put away the yaoqin, Everyoung Tong hurriedly made a grab for the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier. His palm kept growing bigger and bigger until it became as big as a mountain. He then lifted the brazier into the air with his impossibly huge hand.

The Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier struggled with all its might, but in the end it was unable to break free. It was about halfway through the air when it abruptly stopped shaking as it had been tamed.

Suddenly, a tiny smirk crossed Everyoung Tong’s face when he recalled something. He then “accidentally” tipped the brazier over and poured the Burning Wind—the astral qi was compressed so much that it resembled molten lava—into the valley. Specifically, he was pouring the Burning Wind right on top of Ye Qing.

At that moment, the world turned to fire, and the Burning Wind roared louder than ever before. Everything in the valley—the earth, the rocks, even the mountains—melted into molten lava. It was like the end of the world.

“Hehehe…” Everyoung Tong chuckled deviously. As soon as he grabbed the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier, he vanished into thin air and left behind only his voice,

“I promised you I would give you what’s inside the Heaven Scorching Bagua Brazier, girl, but I never said anything about the brazier. Surely you won’t blame me for taking it, right? With this, my senior brother shouldn’t be too mad about returning empty-handed!”

“Also, feel free to visit Cloudside Mountain if you like!”

“Old bastard!” The young woman chuckled while staring at the sky, but she wasn’t angry. She then turned back to the valley and observed Ye Qing as he struggled.

Meanwhile, Ye Qing was seriously regretting his earlier decision. Although the two black dragons weren’t powerful enough to hurt him, a giant hand had appeared out of nowhere and taken the golden brazier with it.

By now, he realized that he was in the presence of a terrifying power. He immediately played dead and prayed that the owner of the giant hand wouldn’t notice him. However, the fucker “accidentally” slipped and poured the hottest substance inside the brazier right on top of him. It was easily tens of times hotter than the black dragons that had engulfed him earlier.

Naturally, he was in deep trouble. His body might be strong enough to resist the Burning Wind, but his mind wasn’t. Like a candle flame, it flickered violently and threatened to disappear at any moment. The only reason he was still alive was thanks to the “Emperor Fuxi Visualization Method”. It was completely up to fate whether he could outlast until the downpour of Burning Wind!

“You sonuvabitch! You’re going to kill me just because I touched your stupid brazier one time? You old bastard!”

Ye Qing knew he wouldn’t last when the creeping blackness grew closer and closer to the center of his vision. That was why he decided to say screw it and started cursing the old man to hell and back. He was going to die anyway, so who cares?

During his final moments, he let out a bitter chuckle and started singing,

“Goddess, I know that you are good

You came to rescue me

So please, hear my humble plea

Save me, goddess, save me

I have nowhere else to go~”

In the sky, the young woman smiled as she listened to Ye Qing’s curses. “Old bastard, he says. I completely agree.”

When he started singing out of nowhere, she tilted her head a little and smirked. “I’m pretty sure he tweaked the lyrics a little, and his tone is all off. That said, it is a good song, and it reminds me of some tunes from the previous dynasty…”

“Fine. I’ll be your goddess one time.”

The young woman started playing her new yaoqin. Like a spring hidden in the depths of a dark valley, the music was pleasing to the ear despite its dark, silent tone. As she played, a whinny noise broke out from afar, and a clopping sound drew nearer and nearer. Soon, a horse-drawn carriage appeared and stopped in front of the young woman.

The carriage was indigo in color and covered in mysterious runes and patterns. The driver was an old man wearing a conical hat. The fine horses pulling the carriage had blue skin. Every time it snorted through its nose or shifted its feet, invisible ripples would spread across the air.

“Please get in, Miss!” The old man asked. His voice was heavy and creaky. It didn’t sound like the voice of a human at all. In fact, he wasn’t. His eyes were lifeless and metallic, and his expression seemed permanently affixed. In fact, the horses weren’t alive either. They looked and acted like living creatures, but their bodies were really made of bronze.

“Uncle Bronze,” she responded affirmatively and climbed into the carriage. She then said, “Let’s go. Please take the young man trapped within the Burning Wind with us.”

“As you command, Miss!” The old man she called Uncle Bronze bowed and rolled down the curtains. He then whipped the horses and drove the carriage into the Burning Wind.

The horse-drawn carriage seemed to be protected by a mysterious power. When it got close, the Burning Wind immediately parted ways like the Red Sea.

Ye Qing had already fainted at this point, so Uncle Bronze easily caught him with his whip and pulled him into the carriage. He then laid the young man on a soft cushion.

“Neeeeeeeeeeigh!”

The horses neighed and broke through the Burning Wind. Just a second later, the valley was already behind them.

Inside the carriage, the young woman shot Ye Qing a glance. He was completely red and naked right now, but she didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest. With the wave of a hand, she covered him up with a blanket and grabbed a book from the carriage’s hidden compartment. Then, she began reading in silence.