Stranger Danger

“That’s it! The owner!”

Cang Qingmei too was drowning in despair when suddenly, a memory struck her. She did not wait to inform anyone about her thoughts before breaking off into a run toward the counter.

Leng Tianjue was the first one to realize what she was about. All this had happened only after they entered the inn, meaning that the inn owner was most likely the mastermind behind their predicament. If they killed him, they might yet be able to escape this place!

A ray of hope pierced through the darkness welling inside Leng Tianjue’s heart. He understood that it was entirely possible for their assumption to be wrong, but at least it was still a ray of hope; a chance to make it out of this place alive.

By now, Cang Qingmei had reached the counter. However, she quickly discovered that there was no one behind it.

“Where is he?!”

Cang Qingmei was both surprised and confused. If the inn owner did not exist, then who was the one who served them food earlier?

It was at this moment Cang Qingmei noticed the large shrine sitting on top of the counter and the mysterious statue it enshrined. Now that she thought about it, the statue looked exactly the same as the one who served them. They were both wearing black robes that covered their features from head to toe.

Is this statue the one who served us earlier?!

Cang Qingmei did not hesitate when she thought until this point. She turned her sword around and slashed at the statue.

Fearing that her strength might not be enough to finish the job, Cang Qingmei yelled out to Leng Tianjue, “Senior brother! Destroy the statue!”

Leng Tianjue understood her meaning instantly. He soared into the air, made a pair of tiny circles with his thumbs and index fingers, and thrust his hands forward.

A circle makes a taichi. Hands fall, and the heavens sink.

Rumble!

The surrounding space immediately caved inward. That was how terrifying the palm strike flying straight toward the shrine was.

Considering the situation, Leng Tianjue and Cang Qingmei had done the best they could to save their fellow sect mates and themselves. Unfortunately, neither of them noticed that the surrounding ghosts were all wearing expectant, cruel, and vicious looks on their faces.

“Sigh…”

At the last moment, both warriors suddenly heard a long sigh. Then, a man abruptly appeared between them and the shrine.

The man reached out with his left hand and somehow caught Cang Qingmei’s sword with just a pair of fingers. The storm of force surrounding the sword immediately vanished into nothing.

At the same time, he raised his right hand like he was lifting the sky itself. It stopped Leng Tianjue’s terrifying palm force from descending even an inch further.

Caught completely off guard, the two warriors’ instinctive reaction was to retaliate against the mysterious man. Cang Qingmei lifted her fingers and struck the handle of her sword five times. Each time, her sword would shake and grow a tad sharper. When all of her fingers had landed on the handle, her sword qi had become as condensed as water and filled with killing intent.

“Magia: Focused Sword”

Behind her, Leng Tianjue inhaled and exhaled exactly one time to summon snowflakes from above. Every time a snowflake landed on the back of his hand, he would shake as if it weighed as heavy as a mountain. His hands also grew colder as if he was grasping the essence of wind and snow itself.

“Magia: Falling Snow”

When qi had become so condensed it was like water, the sword might slay even ghosts and gods. That was why the Magia was named “Focused Sword”.

The falling snow was as heavy as mountains and turned a corner of the world into winter. Hence, the Magia was named “Falling Snow”.

Both Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue had gone all out. The thought of holding back had never crossed their mind.

It wasn’t just because they didn’t want to, but also because they couldn’t afford to.

This was a matter of life and death. Carelessness and mercy simply weren’t on the table.

Their Magias deadly to say the least, but the mysterious man did not panic in the slightest. First, he bent the two fingers he used to trap Cang Qingmei’s sword and tapped the blade once. There was a soft ringing, and the condensed sword qi instantly scattered into nothing. Cang Qingmei’s own hand felt so numb that she could barely keep her grip on her sword.

That was impressive enough, but what was even more impressive was how he somehow directed the sword qi at Leng Tianjue’s snowflakes. When the snowflakes were scattered into bits, Leng Tianjue staggered backward like he had received a terrible blow.

The mysterious man spoke up after neutralizing their Magias with ease, “Calm down, you two. I bear you no ill will.”

“Who are you?” Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue asked at the same time, though neither of them threw themselves into another attack.

Had the thought not crossed their mind? Of course not. They just didn’t dare to execute it.

Before the mysterious man had neutralized their Magias, they could still rationalize his success as a result of the advantage of surprise. But now? They knew better than to underestimate his power.

“Focused Sword” and “Falling Snow” were two of the most powerful Magias taught within their sect. It was also their respective trump cards. Despite this, the mysterious man had neutralized both Magias effortlessly. That took a kind of power and skill that they could only dream of at their current level.

They knew immediately that the man was beyond their reach. They would be lucky if their combined might managed to put a scratch on the man’s robe. That was why they wrestled down their irrational impulse to attack further and forced themselves to listen to the man.

“My name is Joyless Ye. I am a nobody, so I do not expect either of you to have heard of me.” The mysterious man smiled. “That’s not important though. What is important is that I’m a living, breathing human being, not a ghost.”

The mysterious man was, of course, Ye Qing.

“It’s an honor to meet you, senior.”

Ye Qing’s words were reassuring to say the least, not to mention that they couldn’t sense any dark or anomalous presence from him. Both Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue let out an involuntary sigh of relief. However, it was quickly replaced by doubt as Leng Tianjue asked, “But why are you stopping us?”

If this Joyless Ye wasn’t a ghost, then why was he stopping them from destroying the statue? Was he in cahoots with the inn owner? Or maybe he was the true mastermind behind it all?

They couldn’t help but get nervous again when they realized this.

Ye Qing noticed their emotions, of course. He relinquished his grip on Cang Qingmei’s sword and chuckled. “I’m not stopping you because I want to kill you. I’m stopping you because I’m saving your lives.”

“I… don’t understand what you mean, senior,” Cang Qingmei voiced her confusion.

“Come with me.”

Ye Qing gestured for them to follow and began walking back toward his table. Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue exchanged a glance with each other before falling behind him, though they kept a close eye on the ghosts who had stopped laughing before they knew it. At the same time, they noticed that the ghosts were looking resentful, snarling, and angry for some reason. They didn’t understand why, though they had no doubt that the ghosts would devour them alive should they let down their guard even a little.

“Don’t worry. They cannot hurt you.”

Noticing their nervousness, Ye Qing reassured them while patting a rotting, bloated ghost with three heads squirming out of a split stomach. He said, “Excuse me,” and the horrifying ghost was pushed out of the way just like that. It did not do anything to him despite looking offended to hell and back.

If Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue were suspicious of Ye Qing’s claims at the beginning, now they were feeling slightly less worried and anxious. There had to be some truth behind his words considering that he was able to stroll right through the sea of ghosts without a scratch.

When they reached the table, they abruptly realized that Gu Mingfei, Tan Tao and Fei Fei were already sitting at the table. It was Wen Anran who brought them back, though the trio still looked quite terrified as a matter of course. Fei Fei especially still looked deathly pale and completely out of it. Thankfully, neither of them was hurt.

Cang Qingmei could not hold back her confusion any longer and asked, “If I may ask… what on earth is going on here, senior?”

“Sit.” Ye Qing pointed at the table next to his. “Sit, and I’ll tell you everything.”

What else could Cang Qingmei and Leng Tianjue do? They could only do as Ye Qing ordered.

After they took their seats, Wen Anran poured them a cup of tea each. The calming scent of tea eventually quelled the group’s fear and anxiety.

It was only then Ye Qing began, “You all saw the name of the inn before you walked in, right?”

“Yeah. It’s ‘Living Enter Not’.” Leng Tianjue nodded.

“In that case, then you should understand the purpose of this inn.” Ye Qing explained, “This isn’t an inn for the living. This is an inn for the dead.”

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