Stranger Danger

Chapter 216: Soul Scouring

Ye Qing crouched beside Xing The Third and asked slowly, “You can start talking now. Who are you? What is your identity in the Way of Taiping? Do you have any other bases in Luo Shui besides here?”

Xing The Third grunted and kept his silence. He didn’t bother answering Ye Qing’s question, nor did he try to defend himself. There was just no point at this point.

He was also waiting to see if his fellow cultists still hiding inside the building might be able to make an escape. If they did, then he might still have a chance to survive this.

Seemingly capable of reading Xing The Third’s thoughts, Ye Qing added with a chuckle, “Oh? Are you waiting for someone to rescue you? Save your thoughts. We have this place completely surrounded. Not even a fly will be able to escape this place.”

As he spoke, rumblings and echoes of battle came from inside the building. It was often accompanied by the sounds of muffled groans and painful screams. As Xing The Third listened to the screams, the hope in his eyes faded, and his expression grew darker and darker. In the end, there was only despair.

About half a teatime later, Xu Banren, Ugly Monk and Amorous Nun returned to his side. Their clothes were stained with blood, and their aura was a lot more erratic than before. It was impossible to say if the blood belonged to them or their victims.

“Lord Ye, we’ve captured a total of fifty six people. Two of them were Astral Refiners, thirty of them were Vessel Augmentors, eighteen of them were Qi Invokers, and the rest were ordinary people,” reported Xu Banren after taking a moment to calm his true qi [1].

“My lord, we also discovered a hidden room in the granary filled with gold, treasures, and cultivation manuals,” A red-faced Ugly Monk reported while licking his lips. Ye Qing wondered if it was due to exertion or excitement.

Not to be outdone, Amorous Nun reported her findings as well, “My lord, I too discovered something incredible. There is a water prison [2] beneath the granary, and an incredible amount of Cow Ghost Market warriors are imprisoned in it. In fact, most of them were gang bosses or people of importance. If I’m not mistaken, most of the gangs in Cow Ghost Market have been subverted by the Way of Taiping openly or covertly.”

Right now, Ugly Monk and Amorous Nun were brimming were happiness. Even their hostility toward Ye Qing had decreased considerably. After all, the young man had brought them on a mission to destroy a deadly faction that was hiding right under Luo Shui’s nose, the Way of Taiping. A merit like this was greatly beneficial for their future to say the least.

They were also starting to grow a measure of true respect toward Ye Qing. His earlier battle against two powerful Hatred-class Strangers and a warrior could still be rationalized a fluke—after all, who hasn't gotten lucky with their opponents once in a while?—but just now, they saw with their own eyes how Ye Qing had incapacitated Xing The Third in a single exchange.

Xing The Third was an infamous gang boss and a late-stage Astral Refiner. While some of the rumors were definitely exaggerated, there was no denying that he was a powerful enemy. Even so, Ye Qing still defeated him in a single exchange. Sure, he used a Strange Artifact and caught the man by surprise, but a victory was a victory. The fact that he could employ such a potent Strange Artifact also proved that he was strong.

In this world, the strong were always deserving of respect. That was why their impression of Ye Qing had improved massively.

“Wow! To think you guys almost took over the Cow Ghost Market!” Ye Qing remarked teasingly, “You guys must be plotting something big!”

However, his expression quickly turned into a frown. “Still, something isn’t quite right about this. This is your hidden base, right? Why would it be guarded by three Astral Refiners only? You’re the boss of this place, and yet you’re not even close to being at Zhou San’s level. Nah, something’s definitely fishy.”

“Zhou San? Did he… betray us?” A shocked Xing The Third abruptly broke his silence. “No, no, it can’t be. Envoy Zhou would never betray the Yellow God!”

“Envoy Zhou? Sounds like he’s more important than I thought.” Ye Qing shrugged and continued his musings, “Where was I? Right. There’s no way you guys could’ve stood your ground in Cow Ghost Market if this is all you have, much less subvert most of its gangs. Therefore, you must have a bigger army elsewhere!”

Ye Qing clapped his hands and looked at Xing The Third all of a sudden. The man subconsciously looked away to avoid Ye Qing’s eyes.

“Gotcha.” Ye Qing grew certain of his deduction when he saw Xing The Third’s guilty reaction.

“Tell me, who else is in your group, and where are they hiding? If you’re honest, I can grant you a swift death. Otherwise, you will wish that you were dead!”

“Haha! So what if you managed to guess the truth? There’s nothing you can do without the details.”

A vicious grin suddenly spread across Xing The Third’s face as he spat, “It wouldn’t be long before the Yellow God enacts his divine judgment upon you all. It’s not just the Pacification Bureau, the entire Luo Shui will be destroyed for their sins! Only those who worship Him may partake in his immortality!”

“Hahahaha! The Azure Sky is already dead; the Yellow Sky will soon rise…”

Xing The Third laughed madly as a yellow talisman surfaced from his forehead, but the talisman had just lit up when a soft tang suddenly disrupted his concentration and destabilized his mind. The gong sound would continue until he felt like the apocalypse was taking place inside his head, and his consciousness was growing blurrier and blurrier. Finally, the All Is Well Talisman turned dim and disappeared into nothing.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” Ye Qing recited with a sneer as he put away the Soul Absorbing Gong. “You’re not allowed to die until we have wrung every drop of information from you.”

“You…” Xing The Third was stunned by this outcome to say the least. He didn’t think that Ye Qing would have a way to disrupt the All Is Well Talisman from manifesting.

Ye Qing shot him a diabolical grin. “Heh. Death is the easiest thing in this world, but sometimes, it is a luxury.”

“Can I give it a go, my lord?”

Ye Qing was just about to interrogate Xing The Third when suddenly, Amorous Nun stepped forward and offered her service.

“What is your plan?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

Amorous Nun smiled. “I happened to learn a soul scouring art in the past. It is most effective against a pig-headed person like him.”

Ye Qing hesitated for a moment but nodded. “Very well. I leave it to you.”

“Soul scouring!?” Xing The Third blanched and tried to resist, but as soon as Amorous Nun chanted something only he could hear, his eyes immediately grew unfocused.

Amorous Nun’s eyes gradually turned as black and boundless as the night. It looked like it had the power to submerge the entire world in eternal darkness. The next moment, a pitch black, mysterious eyeball appeared above Xing The Third’s head.

The eyeball turned slowly and cast invisible light into Xing The Third’s head. Slowly, his slackened expression became overwritten by struggle and pain. Despite this, he never woke up.

A dozen or so breaths later, the blackness in Amorous Nun’s eyes faded, and her face turned as pale as a sheet. She staggered away from Xing The Third as if she had just spent most of her strength.

On the other hand, Xing The Third was bleeding out of all of his orifices. His breathing had stopped a while ago.

This was normal. Soul scouring arts were extremely brutal interrogation techniques meant to forcefully drag out the memories of the victim from their minds. Naturally, it damaged one’s mind severely. In the best case scenario, the art would damage the victim’s mind and turn them into retards. In the worst case scenario, their mind would be annihilated, and they would die.

Ye Qing stepped forward and caught Amorous Nun before she could fall to the ground. Sensing an opportunity, the Lieutenant tried to lean against his chest.

Ye Qing didn’t step out of the way, but he did release a wisp of killing intent. Amorous Nun froze in mid-movement and hurriedly caught herself. She cursed inside her own head, what a dull man!

“So? Did you find anything useful?” Ye Qing asked seriously.

Amorous Nun wasn’t so far gone that she would fail to recognize the severity of the situation, so she turned serious as well and reported, “Xing The Third’s mind is protected by a powerful restriction, and my soul scouring art is incomplete in some ways. As a result, I only managed to glimpse a handful of memory fragments.”

She was telling the truth, not to mention that all soul scouring arts required the user to possess a certain level of spiritual power. Xing The Third’s spirit wasn’t too far behind hers because they were at the same cultivation level, so a handful of memory fragments were about the best one could expect.

“Tell me!” Ye Qing urged. He didn’t blame her for doing a “poor” job because he knew that she had done her best, and the longer they delayed, the greater the chance the Way of Taiping might notice the destruction of their hidden base and react accordingly.

Amorous Nun took a moment to organize her thoughts before answering, “I saw Xing The Third and his cohort planning something big that could potentially subject the entire city in danger, but I am unsure about the details.”

“So, he wasn’t lying when he said that the Yellow God would soon enact its ‘divine judgment’ upon Luo Shui,” Ye Qing muttered with a frown. He looked calm on the outside, but on the inside he was swearing left, right, and center.

How do I keep running into city-level disasters like this? First it was Anyang, now it was Luo Shui. All I wanted was to get revenge against my wrongdoers! How the fuck did I get into this mess?

I’m just a kid, man. I’m not nearly strong or tall enough to carry the heavens if they collapse!

Amorous Nun didn’t interrupt Ye Qing thinking that he was mulling over the situation. A while later, Ye Qing finally came back to reality and let out a resigned sigh. If there was one silver lining to this mess, it was that he had already informed the Pacification Bureau about the Way of Taiping. It shouldn’t take too long before they sent an actual professional to handle this.

“Did you find out anything about his cohort?”

“No.” Amorous Nun shook her head but added, “However, I did find something unusual. Every three to five days or so, Xing The Third would deliver a large shipment of grain to the Sky Gate Abyss of Cow Ghost Market.”

“Sky Gate Abyss?” Ye Qing repeated while narrowing his eyes. Sky Gate Abyss was a natural crack in the ground deep within Cow Ghost Market. It also functioned as a border of some sort. It was said that Sky Gate Abyss was constantly shrouded by a fog of cold, dead energy, and there was no signs of life in the area whatsoever. As it was labeled as a forbidden zone, few people would get close to that place.

If what Amorous Nun said was true, then it made little sense that Xing The Third would send large shipments of grain to Sky Gate Abyss every three to five days.

Grain was food, and food was meant to be consumed. This meant that there was a group residing in Sky Gate Abyss for some reason, a pretty massive one too considering the amount of food that was delivered.

Who could these people be, and what were they doing at Sky Gate Abyss? The answer was blindingly obvious. These people were most likely cultists of the Way of Taiping, and they were doing something bad at Sky Gate Abyss!

This would also explain why Thaiping Grain Retailer was guarded by so few people. It was because the large majority of the group was entrenched in Sky Gate Abyss.

1. Note that practically everyone except Ye Qing at this point still have true qi in their bodies, and even Ye Qing might still have a tiny, tiny percentage of true qi in him. Rarely anyone ever fully convert their true qi into astral qi before ascending to the next level. ☜

2. Please refer to “water cure” for more details. In short, it’s a prison where the prisoners are partially submerged in water. ☜

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