Stranger Danger

Chapter 331: All Cattle Inn

“Calm down, I’m not done yet. Youngsters these days are so impatient.” White Lord explained smilingly, “The truth isn’t as complicated as you think. The reason we want you to become our master is very simple: we think that you’re an interesting guy.”

“Interesting?” Ye Qing frowned.

White Lord’s smile turned meaningful. “One, you, an early-stage Spirit Purifier, managed to snatch us from the hands of Huo Hao, an early-stage Spirit Master. That proves that you have great potential. Two, you carry a lot of secrets, and frankly... some parts of you are an enigma even from us. We are fairly certain that you’ll make for an interesting master.”

Something flickered behind Ye Qing’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

“Aaaaaaand finally, we are just a weak, pitiful Strange Artifact. We are as delicate, frail and helpless as an innocent young girl whom anyone could overwhelm should they so desire. When we fell into Huo Hao’s hands, we had no choice but to do his bidding. Now, we have to do your bidding.”

White Lord said with a pitiful voice, “But only if you feed us properly, of course!”

Ye Qing was silent for a moment. Then, he broke into a sudden grin and said, “In that case, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Regardless of whether White Lord was telling him the truth, Nanke undoubtedly represented a golden opportunity. He couldn’t think of a real reason to discard it.

“Hahaha... Li’l White at your service, my dear master!” White Lord replied in an exaggerated fashion.

“We promise you won’t be disappointed,” Black Lord supported its companion as usual.

“Who are you talking to, Joyless?” It was at this moment Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai walked over after hearing an unfamiliar voice. “Huh? What’s that?”

Ye Qing put away Nanke and said, “It’s called Nanke, a rather unique Strange Artifact. Let us walk as we speak.”

On the road, Chu Nianjiu took a sip from his wine gourd to calm himself a little. “Holy shit! I’ve never heard of such a Strange Artifact! It’s practically as good as the Martial Tower!”

“That’s what they said, but I won’t know if it’s true until I’ve tested it,” Ye Qing replied.

He could have pretended that Nanke was just a mundane object and enjoyed its benefits himself, but one, Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai were his friends; two, they had both contributed to him obtaining Nanke; and three, Nanke could be shared with others. Hence, he saw no reason not to share it with his friends.

“I’ve heard of Nanke before,” Lin Yuhuai said suddenly. The man had been conspicuously quiet until now.

“What do you know, Brother Lin?” Ye Qing asked.

Lin Yuhuai thought for a moment. “You’ve both heard of the Strange Artifact Register, right?”

Ye Qing and Chu Nianjiu nodded. The Strange Artifact Register was a ranking list distributed by a sect known as the White Jade Capital, and it recorded some of the most famous Strange Artifacts across the world.

“Five towers and twelve cities,

Look up to find the White Jade Capital.”

White Jade Capital was a mysterious sect in jianghu that supposedly possessed a powerful Strange Artifact known as the “Watcher of Heavens”. Omniscient in a sense, it automatically recorded the Natural, the Construct, and the Human. The Natural referred to extraordinary objects that were born naturally, the Construct referred to extraordinary objects that were created artificially, and the Human referred to extraordinary humans.

Thanks to the Watcher of Heavens, White Jade Capital was able to create all kinds of ranking lists such as the Heaven, Earth and Human Champions Ranking that listed the best warriors in the entire world, the Natural Creations Ranking that listed the greatest natural creations of the world, the Strange Artifact Register that recorded some of the most famous Strange Artifacts of the world and more.

Lin Yuhuai continued, “Assuming my memory isn’t playing tricks on me, I’ve seen Nanke on the Strange Artifact Register before. It’s ranked quite highly among its peers too. Its review regarding the Strange Artifact was: ‘One hundred years, a Nanke dream. All to prepare, a life of conflict.”

“Er, I’m gonna need you to break that down for me,” said Ye Qing while scratching his head. He understood the individual parts of the sentence, but he couldn’t quite figure out what the whole sentence meant.

Lin Yuhuai answered, “‘One hundred years, a Nanke dream’ refers to Nanke’s ability. It’s more or less the same as what you told us.”

“‘All to prepare, a life of conflict’ referred to the fact that all owners of Nanke were famous warriors who shook the world during their time such as the ‘Young Marquis’ Huo Wushang from a hundred years ago, the ‘Sky Climbing Qilin' Xiang Tianling, the 'Absolute Truth' Fang Xing, the ‘Grand Snow Gentleman' Yu Tianxing and so on.”

“Wait a second. Aren’t they all warriors who died young because of one reason or another?” Chu Nianjiu rubbed his nose.

Lin Yuhuai nodded. “Exactly. That is why it says, ‘all to prepare, a life of conflict’ at the end. Everyone who owned Nanke was an extraordinary warrior, but their life was also full of turmoil. So much turmoil that, as far as we know, none of them had ever died a peaceful death.”

“That’s why you need to be careful, Joyless. In a sense, Nanke is a cursed object.”

“Thank you for the warning. I will.” Ye Qing smiled. He wasn’t too surprised because he had a feeling that this was the case.

“Eh, most Strange Artifacts are cursed objects. As long as you’re strong enough to ward off the curse, then there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Chu Nianjiu declared boldly before sipping his wine. “By the way, can we use Nanke?”

“Naturally.”

“Oh ho! Now we’re talking!” Chu Nianjiu snapped his fingers. “Do you want to give it a try tonight?”

“Sure. Why not?” Both men exchanged wide grins with each other.

“As long as you know what you’re doing.” Lin Yuhuai shook his head at the duo.

......

“All Cattle Inn?” A gloomy-looking man wearing a tight martial outfit recited the name on the inn’s roof before speaking to his companions, “This is it. The young Taoist should reach this place by nightfall, and barring exceptional circumstances, he should stay the night here. This is our chance to eliminate him.”

“Okay. What should we do, squad leader?” A Dark Guard[1] asked.

“The young Taoist is extremely powerful. It would be folly to attack him directly.”

The leader of the group thought for a moment before saying, “Let’s do it this way. We’ll kill everyone inside the inn and pretend to be the innkeeper, the waiters and more. We’ll poison the food and drink and kill him once he’s weakened.”

“As you command,” Everyone in the squad responded.

“It’s still early though. Why don’t we eat lunch at this inn before we kill them?” A Dark Guard suggested.

The man mulled over the suggestion. “Sure. I see no reason to make lunch ourselves when we can save ourselves the trouble.”

“A wise decision, squad leader.”

The squad had just entered the inn when a woman walked up to greet them. “Are you here to eat or to stay, customers?”

The woman was in her thirties,[2] but she was still very beautiful. She also wore a revealing dress that flashed her assets just enough to draw a man’s gaze, but not enough that it would be immodest. She was like a beautiful wildflower in these barren, dangerous lands.

For a time, everyone stared at the woman for a good few seconds. Some were even swallowing from how dry their throat was.

“You’re going to embarrass me if you keep staring at me like this, customers.” The woman giggled at their wide-eyed reactions.

“Oh! Ahem. You are...?” The squad leader coughed to cover up his embarrassment.

“I am the innkeeper of All Cattle Inn. You may call me Mrs. Jiao.” The woman smiled brightly. “Please, come in.”

“Mrs. Jiao (Lovely)? A fitting name.” One of the Dark Guards licked his lips and allowed his eyes to roam freely across her body. He didn’t try to conceal his lust at all.

Mrs. Jiao didn’t seem to feel it, however. She simply beamed at him and said, “You have a sweet mouth, customer.”

After the Dark Guards had occupied a table, Mrs. Jiao asked, “What do you like to eat, customers?”

“What do you have?” The squad leader asked.

Mrs. Jiao answered, “You might have already figured out from our inn’s name, but we are an inn that specializes in beef. There isn’t a single part of a cattle’s body that we cannot cook into a delicious meal, and our cook is proficient in all kinds of cooking methods such as stir fry, deep fry, stew, boil and more. As for our signature dishes, we have boiled beef, stir-fried tripe, crystal beef tendon, dried beef head meat, charcoal-grilled short ribs, oxtail soup and more.”

“That’s a lot of choices. I’m not sure we can arrive at a decision quickly. Do you have a suggestion, innkeeper?”

One man abruptly grabbed her hand and chuckled. “It needs to be sweet, tender and smooth.”

“Hmm? Are you talking about my hand or the dishes?” Mrs. Jiao lightly extracted her hand from the man’s grip and suggested, “Since there are so many of you, why don’t you try out our specialty, the Beef Buffet?”

“The Beef Buffet? I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like it’s worth trying.” The squad leader then asked, “Is your beef fresh?”

“I’m offended by that question, customer! We slaughter our cattle on the spot! It’ll be the freshest beef you ever taste!” Mrs. Jiao giggled. “If you don’t believe me, I can take you to the back garden so you may pick a bull yourself.”

“I’ll go!” A Dark Guard who was just as lecherous as he looked hurriedly jumped to his feet. “I’ll come with you to the back garden, innkeeper! Don’t worry, brothers! I promise I’ll pick a big and strong bull so you may enjoy lunch to your heart’s content!”

“Let’s go, innkeeper!”

Before anyone could react, the guy was already pulling Mrs. Jiao toward the back garden.

“Hmph! It’s been a while since he became a Dark Guard, and Yang Yun still couldn’t fix his lecherous nature! He’s going to die to a woman someday!” A Dark Guard who was just a little too slow to make his move grunted with clear jealousy.

“That’s because he’s a rapist who specifically targets married women back in the day. He would never have been accepted into the Dark Guards if the young master didn’t think highly of his movement art and poisoning skills,” another guy echoed in agreement.

“I can hear your jealousy all the way from here. It’s only going to get worse when the screaming starts, so you best plug up your ears while you still can!” Another guy taunted.

“That lucky bastard.” Someone sighed enviously.

Noticing that the conversation was steadily spiraling out of control, the squad leader decided to rein them in. “Enough. The walls have ears. Zhao Lei, Ju Shui, scout out the area and check if there’s anyone else staying in the inn besides the staff. I don’t want to miss anyone when we clean out the place later!”

“As you command,” two Dark Guards responded before leaving to carry out their orders.

At the back garden, Yang Yun watched Mrs. Jiao’s plump, swaying bottom and felt his mouth growing drier and drier. When they arrived at the cattle pen, Mrs. Jiao said, “This is the place, customer!”

Yang Yun reluctantly removed his gaze from Mrs. Jiao’s body and looked at the cattle pen in front of him. He immediately exclaimed with surprise, “Heavens, your cattle pen is massive! The cattle look pretty amazing too! What shiny fur and fat, strong muscles!”

“Hahaha! Our cattle are quite famous, you see. A lot of inns and restaurants buy their cattle from us!” Mrs. Jiao giggled.

Yang Yun checked out the feeder tray. “I can see why. Your cattle eat better than many people. White mantou, candied fruit, jerkies and even flatbreads? No wonder your cattle look as strong as they are.”

“Well, the best feed produces the best cattle, don’t you agree?” Mrs. Jiao smiled. “Have you made your selection, customer?”

“I sure have. I choose you.” Yang Yun chuckled.

Mrs. Jiao giggled behind her hand. “You flatter me, customer, but I’m asking which bull you want for your lunch!”

Yang Yun took one step forward and embraced her. “The bull can wait. Why don’t we do something else first?”

“Haha! Please don’t, customer. It wouldn’t be good if someone else sees us!” Mrs. Jiao struggled, but she was unable to break out of Yang Yun’s iron grip.

“Like there’s anyone at this place at this time,” Yang Yun replied while fondling Mrs. Jiao everywhere. “And even if there is, I can’t wait any longer.”

1. I don’t think you guys have forgotten it already, but these guys were planning to assassinate the young Taoist Qi Xuanyun under Duanmu Yu’s order a few chapters ago. ?

2. Imagine someone in her fifties. In this day and age unless you’re a warrior you age quite rapidly due to hard work and living conditions. ?

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