Stranger Danger

“You will speak to me face to face, coward!”

Xu Xiu reached out, and the silver spear on the ground rang loudly before flying back to the commander’s hand. While grabbing the spear in a reverse grip, he stabbed the shadow behind his back with bloodshot eyes.

Boom!

The ground within tens of meters of the man collapsed a single inch before dissolving into fine powder.

At the same time, a black shadow removed itself from Xu Xiu’s shadow and floated in the sky.

“It’s you! Sakyamuni Myriad Shadows!” Xu Xiu glowed bright red in an instant, and his bloodthirst grew so thick it was practically tangible. “You dare show your face before me?!”

In the sky, Sakyamuni Myriad Shadows scoffed, “Why wouldn’t I? For what reason do I have to fear you when even your troops of tens of thousands could not harm me?”

Sakyamuni was insulting Xu Xiu the same way he had insulted Haze. However, Xu Xiu was nothing like Haze. Although Haze was a Grandmaster, he was a weakling who wasn’t strong enough to enter the Human Champions Ranking. Not only that, he was a nobody and a coward who did not have the courage to stand up to Xu Xiu.

Xu Xiu was different. Background wise, Myriad Shadows was one of the four Sakyamunis of the Way of Taiping, and Xu Xiu was the battalion commander of the Silver Spears, a famous battalion in Northern Xinjiang. Myriad Shadows was backed by the Way of Taiping, whereas he was protected by Chu’s border army.

In terms of individual strength, Myriad Shadows was an elite Grandmaster and the thirtieth warrior on the Earth Champions Ranking, whereas Xu Xiu was the fifty-first. Although Myriad Shadows was stronger than Xu Xiu in terms of cultivation level, Xu Xiu was a member of the border army and exceptionally talented in the art of killing. Not only that, Xu Xiu was more commonly known especially among his enemies as “Madman Xu”. It was because he fought like an actual madman when he engaged in battle, and he wouldn’t stop fighting until one side was dead. The “Mad Demon Spear” he invented was such that even some seniors and elites avoided him like the plague.

That was why many warriors were unwilling to fight Xu Xiu even though they were stronger than him. After all, who in their right mind would provoke a madman if they could help it?

Maybe it was because Sakyamuni Myriad Shadows was supremely confident in his power, or maybe he had other tricks up his sleeves. In any case, he had done the unthinkable: he had ruffled the tiger’s hair. As a result, Xu Xiu immediately grabbed his spear and clashed against Myriad Shadows.

Dark Overlord Token? Secret of the Death Sea? Xu Xiu shoved it all into the deep recesses of his mind. Right now, he had one and only one goal, and that was to end Sakyamuni Myriad Shadow’s life.

Boooooooom!

The world turned upside down as spear lights and shadows clashed against one another. They were both named Grandmasters on the Earth Champions Ranking, so the impacts of their battle were terrifying to say the least. Forget the weaker warriors, even Blood Rakshasa and Soul Seeker had turned as pale as a sheet.

The fight between the two men had also raised the curtain of a most bloody prologue. The sandy ground beneath one man’s feet suddenly became as soft as mud and devoured him in an instant. A muffled grunt leaked out of the hole, and crimson blood slowly seeped out of the sand.

A woman was staring at the craziness happening all around her in shock when Haze enveloped her in a cloud of haze. When her bloodcurdling screams finally faded, and the haze dissipated into nothing, all that was left on the ground was a pile of bones.

“RUUUUUNNNNN!!!”

It was impossible to say who was the one who shouted amidst the chaos. However, not a single person hesitated as they scattered in every direction like rabbits.

On his white horse, Xu Rulin[1] swung his spear horizontally and picked two runaways off the ground. A series of thrusts later, the two men broke into many, many pieces.

Right before the two Nature’s Shells would land in Xu Rulin’s hand though, a withered, severed hand flew out of seemingly nowhere and caught them first. A mouth opened on the hand’s palm and cackled,

“These tokens are mine, boy!”

It then shot into the distance like an arrow.

“Suicidal fool!”

Murder crinkled between Xu Rulin’s eyebrows as he lifted his spear and attacked the withered hand. Surprisingly, the hand responded by unleashing an exquisite palm art that was as torrential as a river, ceaseless like the rain, and unpredictable as the shadows. As a result, the one man and one hand were locked in a temporary stalemate.

Those hiding in the shadows too jumped out of their hiding spots and began fighting for the Dark Overlord Token as well.

There was an old man covered in liver mortis exhaling a puff of murky air that turned a warrior into a pool of disgusting fluid.

There was a beaming lady who disemboweled another warrior with a single finger.

A young man with androgynous features let out a seductive chuckle and caused someone to suddenly bleed from every orifice until they died.

A woman carrying a coffin on her back raised the coffin with one hand and flattened one man like a pancake.

A fat monk who wore his robes so loosely it was a miracle it hadn’t fallen right off his shoulders ripped a poor woman into two.

A strange man with a tiger’s head and scarlet eyes bit into a man’s neck and ripped off his head.

……

It wasn’t long before the former owners of the Dark Overlord Token were completely slaughtered.

Those who arrived late or weren’t fortunate enough to seize a Dark Overlord Token during the first round began attacking the robbers. Even more people were flooding in from every direction since the word had spread like wildfire.

Even the likes of Zhang Lingyang, Blood Rakshasa, Soul Seeker, Haze and more were forced to fight again and again.

At some point, nearly everyone had lost their heads to the bloodlust. They started killing indiscriminately whether or not they had already gotten a Dark Overlord Token.

What was once a lifeless wasteland had transformed into a living hell where greed and human nature reigned supreme.

While all this was going on, the dark blue waters of the Death Sea stirred restlessly, and the yellow sand of Bei Mo drank the blood of both living and dead with unbridled greed.

The heads rolled like tumbleweeds, the blood ran like a river, the bodies littered the ground, and the souls filled the sky.

……

Ye Qing had no idea about the bloody massacre that was happening outside the Death Sea. Even if he did, he couldn’t afford to spare it any attention.

After all, he was submerged inside the Death Sea right now.

The Death Sea did not seem to possess any buoyancy whatsoever. He kept sinking the moment he plunged into the waters[2].

The Death Sea was sky blue without a trace of impurities in it. This was a bad thing because it also meant that he was submerged in pure, unadulterated death qi, and its concentration only increased the deeper he sank. It was easily several times, no, dozens of times thicker and deadlier than it was outside.

As if that wasn’t enough, the death qi was turning skin and flesh sky blue just like the Death Sea, and the deeper he sank, the greater the pressure became. If he was a weaker man than he was, his internal organs might have ruptured and killed him already.

If this was all the dangers the Death Sea posed, it would’ve been fine. However, he quickly discovered that there was no oxygen inside the Death Sea; not even a little. With his body strength, he could endure a little over two hours without oxygen. However, it had been almost an hour since he entered the Death Sea. Even now, he still hadn’t found the sea bottom, or more accurately, the sea “ceiling”. How much longer must he remain in the Death Sea until he found something—if he found anything at all?

Right now, he had two options. One, he could turn around and swim back to the ground. He definitely had enough time to make it back. He would survive, but he would most likely miss the Dark Overlord’s inheritance as a result.

Two, he could continue his journey until he passed the point where he definitely could not turn back. Again, the option had its pros and cons. The pro: he would find the mysterious place where the Dark Overlord’s inheritance supposedly resided. The con: he might never find that place and drown inside the Death Sea.

The first option was obviously the safest option, but it also meant giving up on this opportunity.

The second option was highly risky in the sense there was no guarantee he would succeed. Considering the seemingly bottomless depths of the Death Sea, it was entirely possible that he might run out of breath and drown before he found anything.

Ye Qing quickly arrived at a decision. He decided to continue.

He was already here. This was what he had been striving for for the past few months. He had no intention of giving up until the very end.

Sure, there was a good chance he might fail and die here. Even if he found the place, he would just be at the starting line of a most perilous journey.

Having made up his mind, Ye Qing mustered his courage and swam deeper into the waters.

……

Time passed slowly. At some point, his heart and lungs felt like they were on fire, and his chest felt like it might explode. It was because he was lacking oxygen.

Ye Qing knew full well that he was approaching his limit. If he didn’t find the place where the Dark Overlord’s inheritance resided soon, he was going to die.

He couldn’t turn back, however. It was far too late for that. His only option was to go forward.

1. The crazy spear guy who fought until he was too injured to advance further during the Hidden Dragon Meet ☜

2. So like, I feel like the author forgot that the sea is above, so if he’s “sinking” upward, that technically means that the buoyancy is lifting him, right? But well, maybe I’m interpreting this wrongly. ☜

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