Stranger Danger

Chapter 674: I Came, I Died, I Lived Again

“Ooo... ooo...”

It was at this moment a tiny head crawled out of the ground. When Giggle saw that Ye Qing—still suspended in the air by the Dragon Binding Chains—wasn’t moving at all, it grew anxious and appeared on top of Ye Qing’s shoulder. Then, it gave his shirt a tug.

In the past, Ye Qing would look at Giggle, give it a sunny smile, and play with it as soon as it tugged his shirt. But this time, Ye Qing did not wake up. Forget playing with it, he wasn’t even looking at its direction.

Once, twice, thrice, and still Ye Qing did not awake. Sorrow slowly began to enter Giggle’s expression, and the loneliness welling in its eyes looked so thick it was as if it would never fade.

Back at the Celestial Spring, it had witnessed many, many people who never awoke again after they fell asleep like this.

The humans called it death. Some also called it the eternal parting.

That was how Giggle knew that it had lost a good friend.

That was how Giggle knew that it was alone once more.

“I completely forgot about this little thing due the all the excitement. Don’t let it escape. If it wasn’t for it, Innocent would’ve been fine, and our sect would not have suffered such a tribulation.”

Yue Hualong, Yun Chaoyu, Zhao Yuanrong and Yu Ningxin reappeared beside Yu Longzi.

“Don’t worry. The Dragon Subjugating Array is still functioning. There’s nowhere for it to run.”

“I’ll go and catch it then.” Yue Hualong let out a sinister laugh.

“Don’t kill it, Hualong,” Yu Longzi warned. “That little lotus Stranger is a natural Spirit Root. It is exactly what we need to secure its destiny right now.”

“Don’t worry. I promise I’ll treat it well.”

Yue Hualong let out another sinister laugh before leaping onto the Dragon Subjugating Platform and toward Giggle.

“To think that a mere livestock would have real emotions. How laughable.”

Giggle did not try to run even though Yue Hualong was right next to it. Eyes dripping with disdain, he sneered, “In that case, I’ll be sure to give your friend the best ‘treatment’ right before your eyes! Hahahaha!”

Yue Hualong laughed like a madman as he made a grab for Giggle. However, when his hand was three inches away from the little Stranger, he suddenly found himself unable to move an inch further.

When he looked down, he saw a face looking up at him.The young man he thought whose mind and soul had been annihilated by the Dragonslaying Blade said with a smile that did not reach the eye, “Who did you say you want to give a ‘treatment’ again? I didn’t hear you the first time. Care to repeat yourself?”

“You?!”

Yue Hualong could barely believe his eyes. Hands and legs suddenly turning as cold as ice, he felt like he had suddenly plunged into an icy hell.

That said, he was a warrior. His first instinct was to throw a punch at Ye Qing with everything he got.

As his fist traveled toward Ye Qing’s face, golden scales began growing from underneath his skin. By the time his fist was mere inches away from its target, his entire arm was covered in dragon scales, and his fist was shining gold and roaring dragon.

“Dragonmorph Fist”

The “Dragonslaying Art” mainly cultivated true qi and the spirit, not the body. The “Dragonmorph Fist” was one of the few body-tempering arts that tempered the body via consuming the blood essence of true dragon to form a True Dragon Body.

Yue Hualong’s main martial art was the Dragonmorph Fist, and he had mastered it to the point where he could grow dragon scales on his physical body. Although he wasn’t a pure body-tempering warrior, his vigor and strength already rivaled that of a late-stage body-tempering warrior. It was the font of his confidence and the reason he was able to become an elder on Dragonrider Mountain.

However, Yue Hualong’s eyes quickly widened in astonishment, then in pain.

His eyes widened in astonishment because Ye Qing had actually leaned forward instead of backward when his fist was an instant away from hitting his face. It was almost as if the young man wanted to be beaten. This was the first time in his life Yue Hualong ever encountered something like this, so of course he was astonished.

But just because he was astonished didn’t mean that Yue Hualong wasn't going to capitalize on this opportunity. Why the hell wouldn’t he?

So, he gave it his 120%. In his head, he swore his name wasn’t Yue Hualong if he didn’t smear Ye Qing’s face like a blooming flower.

His imagination did not come true, however. In fact, it was he who let out a cry of surprise and pain. When his fist made contact with Ye Qing’s face, his fingers snapped like twigs, his dragon scales cracked everywhere, and his arm bent in ways it never should have. To say he never expected this to happen was an understatement, but it wasn’t the end yet. The next moment, he felt a powerful stream of force flooding his every vein and throwing him back like a cannonball. It was a miracle he hadn’t cracked like an egg when he struck a Dragon Binding Stake and stayed there for a good few seconds before he slowly slid to the floor.

His condition was terrible, but neither Yu Longzi nor his fellow elders were sparing him a second glance. It was because their attention was completely stolen by the young man who struck him.

Yu Longzi in particular was seriously wondering if he was experiencing a nightmare. The others might not know this, but as the mountain lord and the controller of the Dragon Subjugating Platform, he knew just how potent the final cut that was the Dragonslaying Blade was.

It was an attack that contained the power of five Strange Artifacts, the accumulated energy of the Dragon Subjugating Platform, and even the destiny of Dragonrider Mountain. It was easily several times more powerful than the previous four cuts combined. Even a Grandmaster would be severely injured after taking such a powerful attack, if not dead.

Before this, he did not think that anyone below Grandmaster could possibly survive the attack. At the very least, he couldn’t.

After becoming a Half-Step Grandmaster ten years ago, he had continuously honed his strength until he reached perfection. Literally, there was nothing left for him to improve unless he entered the Grandmaster stage. Speaking of which, he was one flimsy paper away from becoming a Grandmaster. All he needed at this stage was inspiration; the right opportunity at the right place at the right time.

Strength wise, Yu Longzi was on par with some newly ascended Grandmasters. Even so, he wasn’t confident that he could survive the Dragonslaying Blade at all. However, the young man had done what he thought was impossible.

If this Joyless Ye was a Grandmaster, he would have accepted it as a matter of course. But no, he was just a middle-stage Spirit Master.

Fine, so what if he was a middle-stage Spirit Master? His body and his actual power were on the same level as a body-tempering Half-Step Grandmaster.

That was the problem though. Joyless Ye was a body-tempering warrior. He and his ilk were supposed to possess weak spirits. In reality, his spirit was strong enough to block a blow from the Dragonslaying Blade, which meant that he was also stronger than him, a Half-Step Grandmaster who specifically cultivated the spirit.

It was such a realization that he actually questioned his sanity for a moment.

I don’t need a bloody reminder that I’m not a genius, dammit!

If he wasn’t the mountain lord, if he wasn’t in the presence of many, Yu Longzi would be cussing like a ruffian right now. Seriously.

Meanwhile, Giggle was jumping and giggling like crazy when it saw that Ye Qing had awoken. It was so happy that its eyes were narrowed into tiny slits.

Ye Qing gave it a comforting pat on the head and explained smilingly, “Sorry to worry you. I wanted to tease them a little, you know?”

“Hahaha...”

Giggle giggled again, but a second later, it seemingly recalled something and grew worried. It began jabbing a finger at the exit repeatedly.

“You want me to leave?” Ye Qing asked while petting Giggle. It was clear that the little Stranger worried for his safety and wanted him to leave while he still could.

“Seriously, you don’t need to worry about me. I am fine.”

Ye Qing consoled it, “Besides, I promised I would avenge you, didn’t I? How can I leave before I fulfill my promise to you? I’m a man of my word, and I hate leaving things unfinished.”

Having said that, Ye Qing finally looked at Yu Longzi and the others and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, if you have anything else up your sleeves, now is the time to use it.”

The Dragonrider Mountain group finally jolted back to reality and stared at the beaming young man blankly.

“Otherwise, you won’t get another chance.”