Stranger Danger

“A stunning feast for both the eyes and the ears. Truly impressive.”

Inside their guest room, Ye Qing finally allowed himself to breathe out and complimented the performance from the bottom of his heart.

This performance was put together using a combination of master class music, dance, illusion, and magic trick, and the end result could only be described as spectacular.

As before, the performers weren’t ordinary people either. The woman with rabbit ears was a Stranger named Jade Rabbit, and it was extremely rare not because it was wantonly hunted like the Beautifly or the Melody Vine, but because they were extremely rare to begin with. Practically nothing was known about them except the fact that they were born in a place of absolute darkness and generally associated with the moon.

As for the man who never revealed his true face and hid himself in the clouds from the start to the end, he wasn’t actually shy or anything. In fact, this was his true appearance. Called the Boy Behind The Clouds, he was neither a Stranger nor a human. He was a combination of both; the descendant of a human and a Stranger.

A Boy Behind The Clouds was the descendant of a human and a Cloud Celestial, and a Cloud Celestial was an extremely mysterious and powerful Stranger. Born in the clouds as a Disaster-class with the potential to grow stronger, a Cloud Celestial earned his namesake because he was normally found in the clouds, and he was extremely handsome. He was also a womanizer and especially fond of copulating with ordinary women and persuading them into giving birth to his children.

Since a Cloud Celestial’s bloodline was quite powerful, all of his descendants were born a Strangerkin. They were collectively known as the Boy Behind The Clouds.

A Boy Behind The Clouds possessed both a human and a Stranger’s bloodline. Although he was both sapient and humanoid-shaped, his impure bloodline meant that he was neither as strong as a Cloud Celestial nor capable of maintaining a human form perfectly. That was why he looked like he was hiding behind the clouds.

For obvious reasons, it was taboo for a human and a Stranger to copulate. Not only that, there were very few Cloud Celestials and even fewer Boy Behind The Clouds in the entire world.

A Boy Behind The Clouds was a natural illusionist. His illusions were so real and lifelike that only the incredibly strong could see through them.

The Jade Rabbit was a master at dancing, and the Boy Behind The Clouds an expert in illusions. The combination of their skills was what created that incredible performance they saw.

Ye Qing thought that the Jade Rabbit and the Boy Behind The Clouds’ performance was the apex of the show, and the rest of the show would just be going through the motions. He was wrong, however. While they weren’t as stunning as the Jade Rabbit and the Boy Behind The Clouds’ performance impression wise, they all had their own unique characteristics and highlights that allowed them to stand toe to toe with their fellow performers.

There was an intersex person who was a man and a woman joined together walking up a mountain of blades and catching blades with their bare hands.

There was a golden man who claimed to hail from a Kingdom of Gold in the western region who showed off the power to turn stone into gold, and turn gold into spirits.

There was a treant who transformed into a massive tree and bore many Beauty Fruits that could sing and dance.

There was a three-headed, six-armed and Buddha-faced monkey wearing a monk’s robe who showed off an illusion of the three thousand Kingdoms of Buddha and the Six Paths[1].

There was a clam woman who played a harp made of pure water and summoned the endless sea with her music.

There was a little person from a country named West Pole who could summon wind and rain with just words and breathe thunder into existence.

There was a lotus child who climbed a mountain of blades, wade through a sea of flames, dunked himself in a pot of oil and bathed in a tub of boiling water.

There was an old man in an earthen jar who played out an opera show with a thousand characters all by himself.

There was a headless body in a coffin who could draw portraits that turned into living people and act out the myriad facades of human society.

……

In conclusion, the Three Perfections Troupe more than deserved their reputation. From the start until the end, their show was incredible, stunning, eye-opening, and spectacular. Every single person sitting in the inn today would probably remember this performance until the end of their lives.

“The Three Perfections Troupe truly deserve their reputation!”

Even after the show had come to an end, Ye Qing was finding it difficult to extricate himself from it. He almost wished that it could go on forever.

“It really is amazing,” Feng Qingyou echoed in agreement. “Did you know that the Three Perfections Troupe really had a fourth ‘perfection’ despite their name?”

“A fourth ‘perfection’? What is it?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

“Their fourth ‘perfection’ is that they never show off the same performance twice. Each time, there would come up with something that is wholly new yet equally stunning,” Feng Qingyou explained.

“Have you seen their show before?” Ye Qing asked.

“In fact, I have. I was lucky,” Feng Qingyou answered simply. “And I can tell you that that show is no less spectacular than this one. In some ways, they are even better.”

Another question occurred to Ye Qing. “Would you happen to know who’s the leader of the Three Perfections Troupe? I can only imagine the caliber of person who could put together such a diverse and unusual group of people and have them perform on stage.”

Feng Qingyou shook her head. “Unfortunately, I have no idea. Their leader is a mysterious figure who only shows themselves once in a blue moon, and even then, they wear a green veil that covers up their face and a black robe that hid their features completely. The number of people who saw their true face could probably be counted on one hand, much less know their true name and origin.”

“I see.” Ye Qing nodded but wasn’t disappointed by her answer. He had a feeling that would be the case and was just making conversation.

“By the way, this should be your first time at the Southern March Pass, right? There are quite a number of fun and interesting places in this pass. What do you say we experience all of them for a day or two before we actually set off on our journey?”

“Why not?” Feng Qingyou agreed with a smile.

The Southern March Pass was the greatest pass in Yan and a major trading center. Not only was it extraordinarily rich in both culture and history, it also enjoyed its own unique culture that was an amalgamation of all the other cultures from across the whole world. It was also why there were many tourist spots in the Southern March Pass such as the scenic Southern March Mountain, Great Snow Valley, and Sun Watching Lake; the historical and cultural Fire Beacon, Army Destroyer Temple, and King Sacrifice Bell; and the entertaining Red River Restaurant, Soundproof Lane, and Red District.

The famous historian Shi Zaohai once noted in the “Records of the Four Countries”, “Those who hadn’t entered the Yan capital would not understand their strength; those who hadn’t ventured to Southern March would not know their prosperity.”

In fact, there were many people of the educated class who chose to travel all the way to the Southern March Pass just to experience their culture and scenery.

In the end, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou toured the Southern March Pass for three whole days. It wasn’t until they had visited every famous tourist spot and enjoyed every famous food in the Southern March Pass that they finally, reluctantly, embarked on their journey.

……

Outside the Southern March Pass, a horse carriage was slowly and leisurely braving the wind and snow and traveling toward somewhere.

The horse carriage looked normal at first glance, but it was abnormally steady and even-paced especially considering that a snowstorm was beating against it. It was almost as if the natural elements did not exist at all.

Even stranger, the driver of the carriage wasn’t a living person. It was a paper doll.

It was endlessly white and bitingly cold outside the carriage, but inside, it was as warm as spring. Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou were sitting opposite each other with a small stove between them. A pot of wine was cooking on top of it.

Feng Qingyou was currently flipping through a book about unofficial histories and interesting folklore with a serious expression on her face. Ye Qing was closing his eyes and cultivating just as hard.

Now that he was here in person, Ye Qing could declare with complete confidence that their weather was absolutely terrible. It was currently April, and if this was Chu or any other southern country, then they would be basking in warmth and sunlight right now. Instead, a frigid snowstorm was hitting the entire Southern March Pass.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the weather was liable to lighten up or worsen at a moment’s notice. And how did they know this? They had passed through the gates early this morning, and at the time the weather was pretty great. It was fairly windy, but there was no snow. Not even half an hour after that, the wind suddenly grew much stronger, and snow began falling furiously. It wasn’t long before the entire place was hit by a terrible snowstorm.

If Ye Qing was alone, he would be walking in the snowstorm and testing himself against the elements right now. But since Feng Qingyou was accompanying him, he could not possibly subject her to the same conditions.

Thankfully, he had predicted that this would happen and made all the necessary preparations—though to be fair, calling it “preparation” might be overstating it. All he really did was purchase a bunch of food and wine. As for everything else such as transport, he dealt with all of it using the Magia Tree.

For example, the horse carriage they were currently riding was a Magia from the Magia Tree called “Cutting Paper Into People”.

“Cutting Paper Into People” was a profound Magia that was even more impressive than its name implied. It couldn’t just cut paper into people, it could cut paper into anything and imbue them with the sentience necessary to perform their tasks. At the adept level, it could even turn false into truth and illusion into reality.

Unfortunately, the Magia cast by his miniature Magia Tree could only grant a paper object a basic level of sentience. Not only that, he had to invest some of his concentration to control it as well. One might say that it was a pale imitation of the real thing.

Even so, it was quite convenient. It was more than good enough for simple stuff such as transport.

1. The Six Paths in Buddhist cosmology are the six worlds where sentient beings are reincarnated based on their karma, which is linked to their actions in previous lives. ☜

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