Stranger Danger

Chapter 260: Hill Mover Bell

Meanwhile, Ye Qing and the red apple had almost drained the puddle of Nature’s Water completely. The red apple wasn’t a red apple anymore. It was now shining gold from head to toe. Ye Qing himself was the same. His skin looked as smooth as jade, and his pores were discharging golden air that was overflowing with life. If he cut his hair, he would look just like a golden Buddha.

It was because the water contained too much power. He wasn’t able to absorb and refine it before it was released from his body.

Ye Qing could feel that his body and his soul had undergone a fundamental transformation. His mind was solid and perfectly transparent, his reservoir of spirit was enormous, and all impurities within his body had been removed. In fact, his body had gone from a nurtured body to a natural body, meaning that he was now what they called a one-in-a-million martial genius.

Even better, his strength was now the equivalent of four dragon elephants. Thanks to Gu Suitang’s training a while ago, he was able to hone his strength further and hit the ceiling of one dragon elephant. However, any progress after this point would require an enormous amount of precious resources.

Luckily for him, Nature’s Water was exactly that. It contained so much power that it outright quadrupled his body strength even though he wasn’t able to refine all of it. If he did, he might even be able to hit five or even six dragon elephants.

“Phew… it’s so worth it…”

Ye Qing kept drinking until he couldn’t anymore. It was only then he stood up and let out a loud, golden burp.

The apple was also floating inside the puddle and burping loudly. It looked so happy and at peace that it might ascend to the heavens at any moment. From time to time, he could also hear it pulsing, “Fragrant… so fragrant…”

“Glutton,” Ye Qing chided it jokingly before rubbing his own swollen belly.

I feel like peeing, but that would be a waste!

Suddenly, an icy voice entered his ears, “Are you the thieves who stole my Nature’s Water?”

Ye Qing flinched and wheeled around. He immediately saw an old man with white hair and beard glaring at them.

Before Ye Qing could say anything, the apple hurriedly climbed to its feet and protested loudly, “Uwu… it’s him! He’s the one who forced me to bring him to the fragrant thing!”

“I didn’t want to, but I’m just a kid! What can I do?”

“...”

Ye Qing immediately glared at the apple. You couldn’t even wait a second before selling me out? Also, you’re the mastermind here, okay? I didn’t even know the water was here until you brought me over, and now you’re accusing me of coercion? Shameless!

“Senior, I—”

Ye Qing was going to put his silver tongue to use when the old man slammed his wooden stick on the ground. As if sensing his fury, the earth abruptly swelled like a tidal wave and threatened to bury him alive.

“Not even going to let me explain myself? Come on!”

Clearly, the old man was planning to kill him. Ye Qing stomped the ground with the strength of four dragon elephants. The ground shook violently, and the avalanche was blown apart just like that.

“Time to go!”

Ye Qing didn’t hesitate and took off immediately. If he wasn’t mistaken, the old man was the spirit of this forest and something like the Mountain God or a River God. He was unkillable and immensely powerful so long as he remained inside this forest. Therefore, his only chance of surviving was to leave the forest as soon as possible.

Ye Qing was fifty meters away from his original location in just the blink of an eye. His speed after his recent improvement was insane.

“You think you can escape after drinking my Nature’s Water? I will bury you alive, thief!” The old man let out an angry roar that literally shook the mountains. The wind howled, and the tree branches twisted and flailed all over the place.

It was clear that both the old man and the forest were angry. Or rather, the forest was the old man.

Ye Qing was unafraid, however. He surrounded himself in astral qi and unleashed his newfound strength. Like a brute, he sprinted toward the north while crushing every branch and root that tried to stop him. They were unable to impede him for even an instant.

“Rarrgh!”

Seeing that the usual method was unable to stop Ye Qing, the old man roared again and caused all the fruits to open their eyes. Their colors weren’t nearly as bright and clear as the small apple’s, however. They were blood red in color, and their center split apart to reveal rows and rows of sharp teeth.

There were strawberry giants who were made of countless strawberries and spat poisonous strawberry juices at him, pears that grew holes that released a sickly sweet mist that was dark green in color, watermelons that grew black wings that flew up to Ye Qing before exploding and more. Every plant and fruit in the forest had become Ye Qing’s enemy.

“Flashy but useless,” Ye Qing sneered in disdain. His physique was stronger than ever, and he was immune to all poison. Such attacks wouldn’t even be able to tickle him, much less threaten his life.

Suddenly, a crack appeared right underneath his feet. “What the—”

He fell inside, and the crack slammed shut as if it would crush him alive.

Boom!

The earth exploded, and Ye Qing was back on the surface. However, he had just leaped into the air when a massive hand that was made of mud smacked him right back toward the ground.

At the last second, Ye Qing slammed his palm against the earth and swiped backward. He immediately shot forward like an arrow.

Hmph! Did he think this is enough to—

Bang!

Ye Qing hadn’t even finished his thought when he slammed head first into a craggy hill. Literally half of his body was stuck in its sides.

“Poo! Poo! Ptooey! The fuck? When was there a hill at this location?” Ye Qing complained after pulling his head out and spitting out the soil inside his mouth.

His answer came a second later. When he looked around, he saw the ground swelling into countless hills, and they were all moving in his direction.

“Okay, this is getting annoying…”

Ye Qing hmphed coldly and stomped the ground. After the hills collapsed from the shockwave, he continued to sprint toward the distance.

“You cannot escape…”

“You cannot escape…”

Unfortunately, he had only taken a few steps when a loud, invisible, yet all-encompassing voice enveloped the world. More hills rose all around him and surrounded him from every direction like prison bars.

Shit shit shit! This is bad!

Ye Qing frowned as he stared as the layers upon layers of hill blocking his way. Despite his newfound power, It was just too difficult to go up against a whole forest.

Ah, I regret everything. I shouldn’t have allowed that cunning little apple to tempt me. I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for it…

“This way, brother!”

Ye Qing was getting ready to fight for his life when suddenly, the hills parted to reveal a small path. He then saw an old Taoist holding what looked like a silver ox horn bell standing in the middle of the path and calling out to him. Standing behind him was a brawny, simple-looking man.

It’s them? How did they survive?

Ye Qing immediately recognized the old Taoist. He was none other than the bastard who, together with his disciples, exposed most of his schemes to his enemies.

What was strange was that he clearly remembered smashing Vajra Boy into his simple-minded disciple’s chest and sending both him and the old Taoist flying. Logically speaking, there was no chance they could’ve survived the attack, but not only did the old Taoist look alive, he looked quite healthy.

He had a feeling that the old Taoist didn’t recognize him though. After all, his whole body including his face was shining like a light bulb right now. It wasn’t impossible to see through all this light, but if the old man knew who he was he most likely wouldn’t have tried to save him.

“What are you waiting for, brother? You’ve become the forest’s enemy! If you don’t leave now, then you’ll never leave!” The old Taoist urged.

“Right. I’m coming.”

Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to run over to the old Taoist. The guy could’ve saved him out of kindness, or he could be scheming something. Regardless, the politicking could wait until he had left the forest!

It took Ye Qing only one step to appear next to the old Taoist. The old Taoist immediately turned around and said, “This way!”

Ye Qing and the simple-minded disciple and Ye Qing followed closely behind the old Taoist. Whenever a hill or ten rose to crush them, the old Taoist would shake his bell to emit some sort of strange energy. The hills would immediately move out of the way like meek lambs.

“What’s that?” Ye Qing’s eyes lit up with curiosity. It wasn’t every day you saw such an interesting Strange Artifact.

“It’s called the Hill Mover Bell and one of my master’s treasures. It possesses the power to move hills and is quite powerful,” the simple-minded disciple explained after hearing Ye Qing’s question.

“It has a fitting name alright,” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization. No wonder the old Taoist dared to rescue him. With the Hill Mover Bell in hand, no hill could possibly stand in his path.

“Ignore the idiot. My Hill Mover Bell can move hills and only hills. We still need your help to push through the plants, brother.”

“It’s only fair,” Ye Qing agreed without hesitation.

Ye Qing was treated to a show after that. Every time the old Taoist waved his bell, the hills would either move out of the way or crumble where they stood, crushing the unfortunate plants who happened to be underfoot. It could even fill up the fissures on the ground, which was most appreciated.

The bad news was that the Hill Mover Bell only worked on the hills and not the plants, and the good news was that plants were the last thing Ye Qing was afraid of. And so he and the Taoist’s disciple worked together to crush every plant and fruit that tried to attack them. It wasn’t long before the trio had stepped out of the forest.

The trio felt a burden lifting from their shoulders as soon as they left the first. At the same time, a reluctant, hateful and angry voice deafened their ears. When they looked behind, they saw a giant silhouette floating above the forest and roaring at them again and again.There was nothing he could do though. He could only watch helplessly as the trio got farther and farther away from them.

The trio wasn’t stupid enough to linger at the edge of the forest. They continued running until they were far, far away from the forest.

“I’m done. I need a break. We should be safe anyway, so let’s take a break, shall we?”

The old Taoist’s stamina was the worst of the three of them, so he was sweating bullets and panting like a dog after just a bit of running.

On the other hand, his disciple looked completely unperturbed. His breathing wasn’t even disturbed in the slightest.

Ye Qing had noticed something abnormal with Li Longxiang even before they left the forest. He was definitely a Vessel Augmentor, but his vigor was unnaturally rich, and his physique was awe-inspiring to say the least. This was high praise coming from a cheat like him.

“Yes, we should be fine now. I don’t think the forest spirit is coming after us,” Ye Qing echoed in agreement after pulsing his spirit.

Mountain Gods, River Gods, spirits of a land and more were Strangers who were born from the essence of their nature. Inside their territory, they could borrow the power of the land and unleash power that were several times greater than their own. But outside their territory, they were much weaker just like the officials of Chu.

The spirit of the forest was wise to not chase them down. If he did, Ye Qing wouldn’t mind delivering him to the afterlife.

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