Stranger Danger
Chapter 1382: Come Kill Me

Chapter 1382: Come Kill Me

“Is this the Yin Horse Carriage?” Feng Qingyou examined the horse carriage in front of her with interest.

Ye Qing greeted the Yin Coachman sitting on the shaft. “Long time no see!”

The Yin Coachman’s response to his greeting was flaming anger and malice. Literally.

“Why so angry? We’re old friends, aren’t we?” Ye Qing paid it no heed. He knew this would be the case. After all, who wouldn’t be angry if their life was in another person’s hands?

That’s right. The Yin Horse Carriage was now under Ye Qing’s control. He could now kill the Stranger with a thought if he wanted to.

But how did he gain such control over the Yin Horse Carriage? It all began from the Void Stomach City.

At one point, the Yin Horse Carriage was suppressed by the Void Stomach Ghost King while they were fighting together. It only survived thanks to Ye Qing’s aid. It was during that moment that he implanted a wisp of demonic thought on the Yin Horse Carriage.

The demonic thought flourished and assumed control of the Yin Horse Carriage without alerting it. By the time it noticed something was wrong, it was already far too late for it to resist.

In fact, Ye Qing had coveted the Yin Horse Carriage for a long time. The Yin Horse Carriage possessed the power to travel through the Yin Yang Gap and other anomalous and mysterious places, and those places were generally chaotic, lawless, and near impossible to divine. Any tracking method would instantly become unusable or near unusable in those places as well. This meant that the Yin Horse Carriage was an excellent tool be it for traveling or escaping from pursuers.

Ye Qing had the upper hand to begin with, and the Yin Horse Carriage had no idea that he was coveting it. Naturally, it was completely helpless.

Sure, the Yin Horse Carriage technically counted as a comrade and even a benefactor, and what he did to it was definitely immoral. But remember, the Yin Horse Carriage was a malicious Stranger who had committed countless sins in the past. Why would he treat such a Stranger with morals and principles?

Anyway, the reason he called the Yin Horse Carriage now was precisely because it was fast and untraceable. It was his best insurance against Haotian Hong, Xuanyuan Wang, and Emperor Jing Run’s inevitable retribution.

There were faster, more convenient ways of escape as a matter of course, but those methods might leave behind traces that could be detected by his pursuers. That would be terrible.

The Yin Horse Carriage guaranteed that he would not need to worry about such problems.

The Yin Coachman did not say anything. The churning black fog around it was all one needed to know its displeasure and anger.

That was all though. The Yin Coachman did not do anything besides fuming impotently.

It was because it couldn’t, and because it was afraid of the consequences.

“Let’s go.”

After Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou climbed into the carriage, Ye Qing commanded, “Take us to Tai Kang City.”

Tai Kang City was a city at the southern border of Wei. The reason they were going there instead of Canglang City of Qi was for safety reasons, of course.

Although his pursuers most likely wouldn’t be able to find him due to the Yin Horse Carriage’s unique abilities, it was better to be safe than sorry. They were supremely powerful Sages after all. Who could say that they did not know some sort of unknown method that could track down even the Yin Horse Carriage?

That was why Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou had planned out an entire escape route. Tai Kang City was their first stop.

First, they would travel to the Tai Kang City of Wei using the Yin Horse Carriage. Once they arrived, they would take a detour to Nanjiang and go overseas from there. Finally, they would return to Canglang City.

Hao Tianhong and the others might be able to pursue them to Wei and Nanjiang, but could they continue to pursue them to the other side of the sea and back to Canglang City?

The time and cost were simply too much.

Of course, it was a troublesome and complicated process. However, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou’s safety weren’t the only things on the line here. They needed to consider Fang Xiaoman, Gu Suitang, and the others as well.

Their opponents were a bunch of Sages after all. No amount of precaution was too much.

“Oh right, I don’t care if you hate me, but you best not try to pull a trick on me. I know everything you’re thinking.”

The Yin Coachman was just about to take off when Ye Qing’s voice suddenly rang beside his ears.

It wasn’t a threat or even a warning. His tone was calm and even after all. However, terror gripped the Yin Coachman as he shuddered from the bottom of his soul. He felt as if his captor had seen through even that tiny seed of rebellion hidden deep within his heart.

At the same time, he did not doubt for a second that he would meet a terrible end if he dared to pull something.

No, it would be a fate worse than death.

“Let’s go.”

Ye Qing ordered again, and the Yin Coachman withdrew his anger and thoughts. He swung his whip, and the Yin Horse Carriage disappeared amidst a wall of black fog and the neighing of horses.

The black fog immediately started receding like a tidal wave. It slipped into space and vanished just like that.

......

Chu, the imperial capital, the Star Embracing Mountain.

Haotian Hong, Xuanyuan Wang, Yue Hanhai and Emperor Jing Run were currently standing in the air. They were looking down on the empty spot where the Star Embracing Mountain, the Heavens’ Eye, and the Earthly Sovereign Bell used to be in complete silence.

They were still in the midst of battle when the Heavens’ Eye and the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s presence suddenly disappeared from their senses. They immediately hurried over to check out what was going on, but in the end, it was still too late.

“Hahaha...”

Suddenly, Emperor Jing Run burst out laughing. Right now, the emperor’s face was deathly pale, his hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot. His previous nobility and regalness were nowhere to be seen. His expression crazed and gloomy, he spat, “The clam and sandpiper goes to war, and the fisherman takes all! You worked so hard just to benefit a third party! How amusing! How very amusing!”

A grim-faced Haotian Hong glared at him. “Are you the one behind this, Jing Run!”

“It’s me! Yes, it’s me!”

Emperor Jing Run glared right back with a manic grin. “I’m sure you want to kill me, so do it! I dare you!”

Haotian Hong narrowed his eyes slightly as bloodthirst washed out of him. In the end though, he did not take action.

“Hahaha... I knew you wouldn’t dare, you coward!”

Emperor Jing Run seemed to have gone completely crazy. He looked at Xuanyuan Wang and Yue Hanhai next and schouted, “What about you two? Come! Come and kill me! I swear I wouldn’t retaliate!”

When no one made a move, Emperor Jing Run jeered even louder, “Hahaha... no takers? Descendants of the Three Sovereigns my ass! You’re just a bunch of useless cowards!”

“You—”

Haotian Hong and Yue Hanhai’s eyes grew bloodshot. They only wished they could kill Emperor Jing Run right now.

But they couldn’t. The consequences were simply too great. Emperor Jing Run was still the regent of a nation after all. If they killed Emperor Jing Run, not only would they suffer tremendous backlash from the Heavenly Way and the Will of the Empire, a terrible karma would be slapped onto their backs as well. To say that the consequences would be unimaginable would be an understatement.

In fact, they already had to bear a certain amount of karma for their assault of Emperor Jing Run. Even if their cause was righteous, their action resulted in inevitable and unavoidable effects.

For example, their assault of Emperor Jing Run would wipe out any dignity the emperor had, dealt massive damage to Chu’s strength, and weaken their Will of the Empire even more than it already was. This would in turn trigger a cascade of terrifying consequences such as natural disasters and man-made disasters, demons and Strangers, military attacks and conflagration of war. It might even trigger the four empires to go to war against each other, throw the world into chaos, and take countless lives.

And they would have to bear a certain amount of karma for all of these consequences.

It was one thing if they managed to take back the Earthly Sovereign Bell, but the reality was that they had nothing to show for it. As things stood, it was one of the worst losses they had suffered in recent years.

“It’s not him. It’s probably someone else.”

Xuanyuan Wang was the only one who maintained his cool despite the provocations. He made a grabbing and a swiping gesture, and a picture sprang into existence just like that.

The picture showed none other than Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou collecting the Earthly Sovereign Bell and the Heavens’ Eye. However, the picture was blurry to the point where they could not see their faces. In fact, they could barely tell that it was a man and a woman.

The spell Xuanyuan Wang just used was called the “Time Intercepting Spell”. It allowed him to intercept a certain timespan from the past and replay it as an image. It was both mysterious and powerful.