Stranger Danger

“Cough cough…”

The hill looked like it was tethering on the brink of complete collapse by the time the dust clouds faded. Dancer, Earth Walker and Slaughterer all cut a sorry figure.

Dancer was covered in dust and soot and looked a little pale. She no longer looked like a heavenly goddess.

Earth Walker crawled out of the underground with a dark expression. His aura was unstable, and the flame burning on his head was flickering erratically.

Slaughterer looked the worst out of all of them. There was a several inches long wound on his chest that went deep enough to reveal his insides. Powerful purple intent could be seen leaking out of it.

It wasn’t too serious though. As he inhaled and exhaled, the flesh nubs on both sides of the wound slowly restored it to normal.

“Who is that man, Dream Master? I’m going to tear him to a million pieces for wounding me!” Slaughterer uttered through gritted teeth while his eyes shone with the promise of murder.

Earth Walker was also looking at Dream Master with green flames boiling in his pupils.

“He is Defeated,” Dream Master answered.

“The seventh named warrior on the Human Champions Ranking, ‘The Man Who Never Wins’, Defeated?” Dancer exclaimed in surprise. “No wonder he’s so strong!”

“Seventh named warrior my ass, I would’ve torn him to shreds if I wasn’t careless!” Slaughterer scoffed. “Why didn’t you attack just now, Dream Master? With our strengths combined, we absolutely could have slain him just now.”

“You are right, but there is no need,” Dream Master said indifferently. “The price would have been too great—cough!”

Suddenly, Dream Master let out a quiet cough. His face also turned unnaturally red.

“Are you hurt?”

Dancer supported Dream Master and asked concernedly.

“I am fine. It’s just a minor injury.” Dream Master shot her a gentle smile before tapping her forehead. Something dirty trickled out of his nose, and it was saying all kinds of unspeakable words. Just listening to it caused one’s head to hurt like a migraine and threw one’s mind into disarray.

When Dream Master pinched the dirty object, it actually started squirming and struggling like it was alive.

“What is that?” Dancer asked.

“This is a taint created by the Demon Eye of Taint.” Dream Master explained, “The Demon Eye of Taint is a secret art created by Yellow Spring of the Nine Demonic Ways. It could inflict someone with the whispers of gods and demons and pollute one’s mind and soul. It is a most potent terror.”

“The Demon Eye of Taint was how Defeated managed to break out of my dream when we fought earlier.”

“Is Defeated really that strong?” Earth Walker asked with a frown.

Although Defeated managed to repel the three of them and escape earlier, none of them were employing their full strength. He was confident that they could crush Defeated like nothing if they had gone all out. But now, Dream Master was saying that he had fought against Defeated earlier, and the warrior had actually managed to wound him.

Earth Walker knew just how strong Dream Master was. To give an example, he could go all out and still not leave a scratch on Dream Master’s person. However, Defeated not only injured Dream Master, he managed to break out of their encirclement with ease afterward. That put the man on a level he did not think was possible.

“He is strong. He is at least as strong as I am.”

Dream Master did not hide anything. “Most named warriors on the Human Champions Ranking do not deserve their reputation, but that does not apply to the top ten warriors. No one is a weakling that we can afford to underestimate.”

“Defeated may be called ‘The Man Who Never Wins’, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a martial genius. Martial arts came to him as easily as breathing, and he could pick up even the most esoteric technique without too much effort. Moreover, he had challenged countless elites since he entered the jianghu, and no matter the outcome to the duel, he could always grasp their ultimate arts and turn it into his own.”

“Without exaggeration, Defeated is an extremely accomplished warrior and a master of hundreds of martial arts. No one can tell how many trump cards he has except himself.”

“Defeated might not be the strongest warrior in the Human Champions Ranking, but he is one of the hardest to kill for sure.”

“No matter how strong he is, there is no way he can fight all of us on his own, can he?” Slaughterer asked.

“Of course not,” Dream Master replied. “However, it would be extremely difficult to pin him down without full preparation. To kill him? That might as well be a pipedream.”

“Even if, by some miracle, we managed to slay him, I cannot imagine us doing it without paying a hefty price. Do not forget that the reason we are on this journey is to regain Nanke. It would be terrible if we fail our primary objective over some risky side quest.”

“Instead of risking our lives for a tantalizing but unlikely outcome, I would rather stay our hand and enjoy the handsome spoils we’ve already gotten.”

Annoyance and bloodthirst churned behind Slaughterer’s eyes. “Hmph. I suppose you’re right. But the next time we meet, I’m going to rip him into pieces for sure.”

“You sure it won’t be the other way around?” Earth Walker sneered.

“He’s just a mere mortal. You may fear him, but I don’t,” Slaughterer scoffed. “Don’t shame the Eight Legions of Devas and Nagas with your cowardice.”

“Are you so damaged that you can’t even tell dreams from reality, Slaughterer?” Earth Walker eyed him coldly. “If that’s true, then I might as well end your misery right now.”

“Enough with the chatter.”

It was at this moment Dream Master interrupted. “Let’s catch a break. Our next stop is the thief who stole Nanke.”

“Yeah. It’s about time he pays the blood price.”

……

“Phew…”

Ye Qing suddenly opened his eyes with a look of puzzlement.

“That’s the second time I dreamed of that bride. Strange.”

Ye Qing slowly lay down and cushioned the back of his head with his hands. He looked at the starry sky with a small frown on his face.

After he left the Hill of Services, Ye Qing kept journeying north until it was dark. Then, he sought out a random shelter and caught some rest. He had just fallen asleep when suddenly, he dreamed of the bride he had dreamed at the Hill of Services. Even odder, she was now standing inside his room instead of outside like last time. It was unusual to say the least.

“That’s the second time I had the same dream. Is my subconscious telling me to get married, or am I possessed by a ghost or something?”

Ye Qing rejected the first theory immediately. Even if he desired the opposite sex and wanted to marry someone, why on earth would he dream of a ghost bride of all things?

However, he didn’t feel like he was possessed either. He was sure that he would notice with his spirit.

Strange. How strange!

A short while later, Ye Qing sat up and brought out the Annon Sutra. When in doubt, ask the Annon Sutra!

“I keep dreaming about brides as of late. What’s going on?”

Ye Qing spat out several mouthfuls of blood after asking the question. Soon, the Annon Sutra gave him an answer:

“As of late, I’ve had the same dream twice. It was a dream about a bride slowly approaching me. People say that what you think about in the day, you will dream of at night. Is this a sign that I’m missing female companionship?”

“But even if I am, why would I dream of a ghost bride instead of Young Red or Young Cui from the House of Red Delights? Am I secretly a spectrophilia?”

Ye Qing’s mouth twitched when he saw this. You’re the spectrophilia! Your whole family is spectrophilia!

“No, no. This feels more like the Ghost Marriage of the legends. Someone must be trying to kill me. That’s right! When the ghost bride reaches me, and I see her face, I will become her ghost husband and die!”

When the Annon Sutra manifested the word “die”, blood poured profusely out of the word, and ghastly wails could be heard from it.

Ye Qing: “...” Is it just me, or is the Annon Sutra getting feistier and feistier as of late?

Complains aside, at least the Annon Sutra gave him a straight answer this time. The dream was no coincidence. Someone was trying to kill him!

The name of the dream was Ghost Marriage, and the bride in the dream was called a ghost bride.

The moment the ghost bride reached him inside the dream was the moment he died.

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