Stranger Danger

Chapter 136: Nightmare

What happened next did not exceed Ye Qing’s expectations. The Hundred Mouth Dragon visibly gathered its strength, opened its maws, and let out a mighty roar. At the same time, its body grew bigger than before. The watery chains immediately snapped inch by inch.

“Pwack!” Jiang Yuzhen spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and turned as pale as a sheet. While he struggled to soothe his damaged energy, the enraged Hundred Mouth Dragon squeezed even harder around the ship. The hull began to break little by little.

“Dammit!”

Jian Yuzhen’s eyes flickered with regret and despair. The passengers had long since lost their cool and were running all over the place like headless chickens. But where could they run, when even jumping off the ship wasn’t an option? The Strangers lurking in the river would consume them long before they reached the shore.

“Aren’t you going to stop it, young master?” Faceless asked Ye Qing in a hushed voice. The Stranger had rushed to Ye Qing’s side a while ago.

Ye Qing shook his head. “Not yet. Backup should arrive any moment now!”

Before he even finished saying this, a man wearing a black robe and a hood appeared in the sky. He was none other than the mysterious man from before.

Floating above the Hundred Mouth Dragon, the mysterious man brought his hand down and conjured a massive gray palm. His hand had turned grayish black as well. The attack hit the Hundred Mouth Dragon squarely on the body and pressed it back into the water.

“Roar!”

Of course, the Stranger wasn’t going to go down so easily. The next second, it burst out of the river and pounced toward the mysterious man.

The mysterious man hmphed as thick corpse energy seeped out of his body, and his limbs gradually stiffened as if he was actually turning into a corpse. The next moment, he raised his stiff right arm and met the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s charge with his own fist.

Logically speaking, the mysterious man should have turned into a star in the sky. In reality, it was the Hundred Mouth Dragon whose head was crushed like a watermelon, spilling blood and gore everywhere. Not only that, his corpse energy quickly spread from the wound to the rest of the Stranger’s body, dyeing it grayish black and robbing it of its vitality. The flesh and blood that had rotted completely automatically fell off the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s body and sank into the blue waters.

“The Heavenly Yin Corpse Qi…” Ye Qing narrowed his eyes a little when he identified the mysterious man’s astral qi.

The Heavenly Yin Corpse Qi was one of the best average grade astral qis out there. Normally found in wastelands where all life had perished, anyone who made contact with it would immediately start rotting and dying at an exponential rate. As if that wasn’t enough, it could inflict its victims with Corpse Poison as well. It was why the Heavenly Yin Corpse Qi was considered the equal of some superior grade astral qis in terms of potency.

Unfortunately, the Heavenly Yin Corpse Qi was a double-edged sword. A warrior who cultivated the Heavenly Yin Corpse Qi would gradually be corrupted by the astral qi and lose their humanity in every sense of the word. Their vitality would die, their flesh and blood would stiffen, and even their personality would gradually take on a darker tone. Those who were weak-willed could even be taken over by their own astral qi and transformed into a zombie, a ghoul, or other similar Strangers who knew nothing but slaughter.

Thankfully, the mysterious man was anything but weak-willed. Ye Qing could tell that his core hadn’t changed despite cultivating such an insidious astral qi because one, he didn’t go overboard when he was testing him out yesterday, and two, he had stepped forward to battle against the Hundred Mouth Dragon even though he could’ve stayed out of it.

He might be a little slow probably because of his astral qi, but he was definitely a good person.

“Roar!”

Back to the battle, the Hundred Mouth Dragon let out a furious roar and tried spitting its corrosive breath after taking a tremendous amount of damage, but the mysterious man easily canceled it with a single punch.

His limbs looked stiff, and his fighting style was one-note. He was basically throwing straight punch after straight punch at the Hundred Mouth Dragon. However, it was enough to push back the Stranger again and again.

Unfortunately, the Hundred Mouth Dragon was a tenacious being. Not only was it still alive, its retaliation was growing more violent by the second.

It was at this moment Ye Qing called out via sound transmission, “Brother, the Hundred Mouth Dragon is like an earthworm! You can break it into a million segments, and it’s still going to survive unless you hit it in its weak point!”

The mysterious man was slow, but he wasn’t a bad person. That was enough for Ye Qing to lend him a hand.

The mysterious man visibly slowed down and glanced at Ye Qing’s direction. It was clear that he had heard his voice. His hands hadn’t stopped, but he was clearly waiting for Ye Qing to say his piece.

Ye Qing continued, “To kill a snake, one should hit it seven inches from its head. It’s because that’s where its heart is located. As it happens, the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s weakness is its seventh mouth. Destroy it, and it will cease to be.”

“Hundred Mouth Dragon? The seventh mouth?” The mysterious man slowly processed the information. The Hundred Mouth Dragon must be the name of the Stranger it was fighting, and the seventh mouth… The mysterious man started counting down from its head, and as expected, he noticed something strange about its seventh mouth.

Every other mouth on the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s body was agape, but its seventh mouth was only half-open almost as if it was afraid to get hurt. It was confirmation that the Stranger’s weakness was, indeed, its seventh mouth.

Choosing to believe in Ye Qing’s words,the mysterious man took one step forward and appeared on the river surface where the seventh mouth was in the blink of an eye. Then, he punched it with his full power.

For the first time, the Hundred Mouth Dragon let out a panicked roar and tried to twist out of the way. Although the mysterious man’s movements were stiff, his speed was a completely different story. The punch landed squarely on its target and ripped it in half. This time, it neither regenerated nor continued its mad attacks like before. It was over.

It was at this moment Ye Qing disappeared from the deck and reappeared at the spot where the Hundred Mouth Dragon had split apart. He grabbed something from its severed torso and returned to the deck just as quickly as before.

Ye Qing had moved so fast that no one except the mysterious man, Jiang Yuzhen and a handful others even noticed his movement, and even they couldn’t capture his movements perfectly or figure out what he took from the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s body. Not that it mattered. Even if the item he took turned out to be exceedingly valuable, his one move had made it clear that he was no one to be trifled with.

After the Hundred Mouth Dragon was dead, and the mysterious man had returned to the ship, Jiang Yuzhen hurriedly went over to him. “On behalf of everyone on the ship, thank you so much for saving our lives, senior!”

The mysterious man replied coldly, “Your thanks is unnecessary. Jiang Shan helped me, so I’m just repaying the favor. With this, my debt is settled.”

He then pointed at Ye Qing and added, “Also, the one you should really be thanking is him, not me!”

Jiang Yuzhen did not understand why—he hadn’t heard the silent conversation between Ye Qing and the mysterious man—but he still went over to Ye Qing to thank him. The young man looked like an extraordinary person anyway, so there was no harm making his acquaintance whatsoever.

Before Jiang Yuzhen could say anything, Ye Qing said smilingly, “It’s fine. I’ve already received my compensation.”

He was telling the truth. The Hundred Mouth Dragon was a tenacious bastard, so it wasn’t immediately dead even after taking a fatal strike to its weak spot. That was when Ye Qing stole its exposed gallbladder away. The gallbladder was the Hundred Mouth Dragon’s true weakness; the beating heart of a monster that didn’t possess a true heart. It was only then the Stranger truly died.

The Hundred Mouth Dragon’s gallbladder was extremely valuable. It was a potent medicine that could strengthen one’s vigor and body. Not only that, scoring the last hit had netted him a silver dragon-serpent rune as well, so Ye Qing had essentially killed two birds with one stone.

Ye Qing then looked at the mysterious man and asked, “My name is Ye Qing, and my moniker is Joyless. May I know your name, brother?”

The mysterious man hesitated, but not because he didn’t want to tell Ye Qing his name. He just seemed uncomfortable with social situations in general. A while later, he finally said, “My name is Xu Banren. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Brother Ye!”

He turned around and left after saying that.

“Xu Banren? He’s Halfman Xu!” Jiang Yuzhen exclaimed in surprise when he put two and two together.

Ye Qing asked curiously, “Halfman Xu? Is he famous?”

Jiang Yuzhen told Ye Qing everything he knew. “Xu Banren is an Astral Refiner and a Lieutenant of the Pacification Bureau. Although he is withdrawn and unsociable, he is famed for his strength and has slain many Hatred-class Strangers singlehandedly. In Luo Shui, everyone calls him Halfman Xu.”

“I see! I didn’t realize he’s a colleague!” Ye Qing rubbed his nose in relief. Thank goodness he hadn’t gone too overboard during their first meeting, or else… “Halfman Xu, eh? That’s a pretty cool moniker!”

Jiang Yuzhen: “...” Are you sure? Because it sure sounds more like an insult to me. And it would be an insult if he isn’t as strong as he is…

“If there’s nothing else, then I shan’t keep you from your duties any longer, Steward Jiang. See you later!” Ye Qing waved him goodbye and left just like that.

“See you later, Warrior Ye!” Jiang Yuzhen really wanted to curry favor with Ye Qing, but the ship had just survived a Stranger attack. If he, the chief steward, did not assuage his passengers’ fears as soon as possible, then Cloud Mountain’s reputation would suffer for sure. So, he had no choice but to leave and perform his duties.

Ye Qing immediately resumed his training after returning to his room. The sky may fall, but training must never stop. Cloud Mountain would continue to encounter more Strangers during their voyage, but thankfully, none were nearly as malicious or deadly as the Hundred Mouth Dragon.

Night soon fell, and everyone was feeling tired after the day’s excitement. It wasn’t long before the passengers returned to their rooms and fell into a deep slumber.

For a time, everything was quiet and peaceful. The only sound that could be heard was the river sloshing in the background. It was almost dreamlike.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew through the air and caused some ripples. Then a curtain of fog gently draped over the waters and added a mysterious and dreamlike quality to the night sky.

The unexpected phenomenon was supposed to make the night even more pleasant, but the sleeping faces of the passengers on Cloud Mountain suddenly grew uncomfortable. Their expressions looked fearful, and beads of sweat rolled down their foreheads as if they were experiencing a nightmare.

What was really strange, however, was the fact that not a single one of them was able to wake up from the nightmare!

In his room, Ye Qing was sleeping soundly when his eyebrows suddenly twitched imperceptibly. It was because he was being chased by a rabbit inside his dream. No, the rabbit was neither a normal rabbit nor a bunny girl. Instead, it was the Arnold Schwarzenegger of all rabbits! Not only was it taller and bigger than him in every way, it was also a kung fu rabbit! Although he was an Astral Refiner, the rabbit had easily beaten him blue and black without being able to resist whatsoever with its Mad Rabbit Fist! That was why he was running for his life right now!

Even in this strange, new world, Ye Qing reckoned that he was the first person ever to be hunted by a rabbit. No one would ever believe it if he told them.

Ye Qing knew he was dreaming because the higher a warrior’s cultivation was, the greater their control over their essence, qi and spirit would become. That was how he was able to distinguish the difference between dream and reality. Strangely, he wasn’t able to wake up even though he was fully aware, and he was done getting his ass kicked by a kung fu rabbit since practically the beginning.

“No. No. Something’s wrong! This must be some sort of mental attack!”

His fear seemed to fuel the kung fu rabbit’s growth, because the greater his fear, the stronger the kung fu rabbit became. Not only that, his surroundings kept growing more and more bizarre as he ran. He had seen a battlefield of corpses, scarecrows that ate hearts, dolls with wicked grins on their faces, flying rivers with mountains covered in giant maws growing out of their waters and more.

“I need to wake up now!”

He had a strong inkling that this nightmare would never end so long as he was still asleep. Worst case scenario, he would be stuck in this nightmare until he died!