Stranger Danger

“‘Cast Beans Into Soldiers’? A Taoist Magia…”

White Crane Taoist chuckled and shook his sleeves a little. Seventy two little strawmen immediately flew out of his sleeves and rapidly grew to the size of a human. Each strawman was covered in yellow talismans and wielding a large saber. They also carried banners on their back and looked mighty impressive.

Mountain Tunneling King explained when he saw this, “That is White Crane Taoist’s trump card, the Seventy Two Grasshead Gods. Derived from Mount Maoshan’s Seventy Two Earth Fiend Gods, they are created using Evil Repelling Straws and talismans. They are impervious to most weapons and natural elements and are as strong as Spirit Masters.”

As he spoke, the thirty six golden-armored soldiers clashed against the seventy two Grasshead Gods. Strong they might be, the golden-armored soldiers were both outmatched and outnumbered. It wasn’t long before the seventy two Grasshead Gods slew the soldiers and turned them back into soybeans.

It wasn’t without a considerable cost, however. A good number of the seventy two Grasshead Gods were damaged beyond repair in the fight, and White Crane Taoist’s heart positively ached at the loss.

White Crane Taoist wasted no time in resuming his flight, and this time, he met no opposition whatsoever. He quickly reached the Magia Tree.

“It looks like White Crane Taoist is about to succeed,” Mountain Tunneling King said enviously. Once White Crane Taoist reached the tree trunk, the Magia Tree would attack him no longer and allow him to pluck any one Magia Fruit.

However, Ye Qing said something unexpected, “No, he’s about to die.”

“What? What do you mean?” Mountain Tunneling King was confused as a matter of course. Before Ye Qing could answer him, he noticed White Crane Taoist suddenly freezing when he was just one step away from the tree trunk. Then, his complexion rapidly turned bluish black, and the cackling face of a ghost overlapped with his own face.

“What in the…” Mountain Tunneling King murmured in shock and horror. Even from this distance, he felt chilled from the bottom of his heart.

“It’s probably a curse!”

Mountain Tunneling King couldn’t see it, but Ye Qing’s senses were way sharper. When White Crane Taoist was making his way toward the Magia Tree, he had seen a ghastly Magia Fruit on the tree slowly unfolding itself and writing the word “Death” with blood. Then, it landed on top of White Crane Taoist’s forehead.

Unfortunately for White Crane Taoist, he never noticed anything amiss from the start until the end. By the time the ghastly face appeared, it was already too late. His body began shriveling and rotting at a supernatural pace. Just a few breaths later, he had turned into a pile of bones.

“Mother of heavens…”

Mountain Tunneling King gulped. Where he felt envy before, now there was only deep, terrible fear.

“Do you want to give it a try?” Ye Qing joked. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime, you know?”

“You jest, young master,” replied Mountain Tunneling King while shaking his head firmly. Yes, he was tempted to give it a try earlier, but that desire had disappeared like smoke after witnessing White Crane Taoist’s downfall.

As he mentioned earlier, he was more or less on the same level as White Crane Taoist. In fact, he was probably the weaker between the two of them. If even White Crane Taoist could not overcome the Magia Tree’s trials, what was the chance that he would succeed? It would be like lighting a candle inside a toilet—suicide.

A Magia Fruit was valuable, but nothing was more valuable than his own life.

“If you’re not going, then I will,” Ye Qing said while staring at the Magia Tree.

“You will definitely succeed, young master,” Mountain Tunneling King took it as a cue and paid Ye Qing a compliment.

“Your well wishes are appreciated.” Ye Qing chuckled and dashed forward. He ran straight toward the Magia Tree.

As soon as he got within a certain range of the Magia Tree, a Magia Fruit that was chanting Buddhist mantras unfurled its pages.

The next moment, red lotuses and hellfire descended from the sky.

“The Hellfire Red Lotus? Interesting!”

Ye Qing barely held back his laughter when he saw the sky of hellfire and red lotuses. If he was anyone else, then this would’ve been quite the problem. But him? He was the man who mastered “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art”! If there was one person in the world who was familiar with the Hellfire Red Lotus, it was him!

Ye Qing straightened his palm and slashed upward like he was wielding a saber.

Red lotuses immediately bloomed on the ground and floated into the air.

In the sky, red lotuses fell like the rain. On the ground, red lotuses floated like sky lanterns.

For a time, red lotuses clashed against red lotuses, and hellfire clashed against hellfire. The entire world seemed to have turned into a sea of fire and red lotuses.

Ye Qing swung his palm downward, and the sea of fire and red lotuses split apart to reveal a path.

Ye Qing strode along the path. Neither the red lotuses nor the hellfire could so much as harm a hair on his person.

After he passed through the sea of flames and walked about ten meters or so, a series of draconic roars erupted from the sky. When he looked up, he saw three thunder dragons bursting out of the clouds with a chariot behind their backs.

A divine being clad in golden armor was riding the chariot. A spear in his hand, he cast his gaze down onto the world.

There was another roar, and the chariot rapidly descended toward the earth. Long before the divine being got close, his pressure already enveloped both heaven and earth in its suffocating embrace.

By the time he was halfway toward the ground, the divine being raised his spear and threw it straight at Ye Qing.

Rumble!

An outrageous amount of lightning immediately spilled down the heavens like someone had tipped over a thunder pool.

“Gulp…”

Mountain Tunneling King gulped audibly. Although he wasn’t the divine being’s target, he still turned as white as a ghost. He could not imagine how he could even begin to resist such power.

Ye Qing remained calm and collected, however. A black fish and a white fish began swimming around him in a profound manner. Their movement encompassed both soft and hard forces, inaction and action, yin and yang. It looked like a scar of the Great Way itself.

White Crane Taoist’s tai chi circle only had the shape and none of the essence. On the other hand, Ye Qing’s tai chi possessed both appearance and essence.

The waterfall of lightning engulfed Ye Qing the next moment, but once again, not one speck of it managed to harm a hair on Ye Qing’s person. He strode ever forward like he was taking a stroll in his backyard.

Of course, the waterfall of lightning was just the appetizer. The real threat was the divine being’s spear.

Suddenly, the spear disappeared and reappeared just ten meters away from Ye Qing’s head. A thousand lightning howled at the same time and aligned themselves next to the spear like armed escorts. Every time the spear descended three meters, the lightning surrounding would condense around the spear.

Ten meters later, the spear looked positively purple, and lightning runes surrounded it from head to toe. Somehow, the spear had taken in the waterfall of lightning unto itself.

Thunder could not be seen, but right here and now, there was no denying that the spear was a symbol of divine retribution.

At first glance, the purple spear did not look nearly as intimidating as before. After all, the waterfall of lightning that accompanied it before was nowhere to be found. However, there was no denying that both its power and its aura were many, many times stronger than before.

Ye Qing did not try to block the spear. He didn’t even try to dodge out of the way. It was as if the spear that could split mountains and rip the earth in half was no more but a harmless breeze. He allowed it to hit him squarely in the head.

The world grew silent for a moment, and two fishes swimming around Ye Qing came to a stop as well. At the same time, invisible waves rippled to the surroundings.

The next moment, the two fishes began swimming again, and a noise started from underneath his feet.

At first, it was as weak as a cicada’s chirp. Then, it grew louder until it resembled a running stream. Next, it evolved into a thunderstorm that seemed like it would never end, and finally, it roared as if an earthquake was about to happen.

In fact, the earth was shaking violently, and the ground directly beneath Ye Qing’s feet began crumbling inch by inch after the noise began.

“Reciprocation is important. Eat spear!”

Ye Qing smirked, lifted his foot, and brought it down strongly. Half of the floating island that supported the Magia Tree instantly shattered into pieces and fell from the sky. It was a stunning sight to say the least.

At the same time, the two fishes swimming around grew increasingly profound. They generated action from inaction, changed soft to hard, transformed slowness to swiftness, and converted yin to yang.

The spear standing on his head immediately shot back toward the divine being even faster and stronger than before.

Buzz!

Space itself ripped apart like cheap fabric. The three thunder dragons and golden-armored divine being never stood a chance. Not only did the spear rip them to shreds, it punched through the clouds and disappeared into the sky in just the blink of an eye. It would be a long time before the thunderous rumblings in the sky ceased.

“Nine Impetus of Tai Chi. When the nine impetuses are as one, heaven and earth itself may be overturned. Not bad.”

Satisfaction welled in Ye Qing’s heart as he glanced at the divine being’s remains.

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