Stranger Danger

While the two men were chatting, Old Child and the priest’s fight had reached its climax.

Old Child had pushed her “Sun Shatterer Sword Art” to its limits, her sword qi carving cubes out of space, and the light of her sword chilling the river below.

On the other hand, the man had manifested a one-hundred-meter tall golden body using the power of wishes and transformed his golden truncheons into a pair of golden dragons. Their roars could be heard even from far, far away and stunned both heaven and earth.

The good news was that Fury Wind God was very wide. Otherwise, the shockwaves of their battle alone could have destroyed the entire Leya Point.

In the end, it was the priest who gained the upper hand. A constant supply of power of wishes meant that his stamina and strength were always at their peak. On the other hand, Old Child’s energy reserves were slowly but surely declining. In the end, after repelling Old Child with a punch, the priest chanted, “Bind!” and summoned a golden rope. It wrapped around Old Child and bound her tightly.

Logically speaking, it should be well within Old Child’s abilities to break out of the bind. However, she could not either because something was unusual about the golden rope, or because she was fatigued.

“Hahaha… It’s futile. This is the Celestial Binding Rope, and you are just a mortal. There is no way you can break free from it!”

The priest laughed loudly as Old Child continued to struggle furiously but futilely. Then, he ordered, “Go! Devour her!”

The two dragons circling around the priest let out a mighty roar before pouncing toward Old Child.

Old Child was seconds away from being devoured when suddenly, a figure appeared in front of her. He extended his hands forward and made a clenching motion.

Space shook, and it was as if the golden dragons were caught by a pair of invisible hands. Their dragon scales crumbled, and golden sparks flew everywhere.

The next moment, the golden dragons exploded and turned back to a pair of truncheons. However, they were dim and powerless unlike before.

“My Dragonmorph Truncheons[1]!” The man growled and glared at the unknown figure.

“You want it back? Here you go.”

The figure flicked his fingers, and the golden truncheons flew back to the man.

The man tried to grab the golden truncheons[2], but he blanched the moment his fingers touched them. He felt an unstoppable force flooding into his body through his weapons.

His arms broke first, followed by his one-hundred-meter tall golden body. It shattered into smithereens like it was made of paper.

“Pwack!”

The second the golden body shattered, the man threw up a mouthful of blood. His actual body also began cracking here and there. Breathing shallow, the man did not hesitate to grab his two golden truncheons and escape in a flash of golden light.

When the golden light faded, an angry roar erupted in the air, “You damaged the Greater River Monument and destroyed my golden body! The Platform of Gods will not forget this!” 𝔯

Ye Qing paid the escaped man no heed. He made a slicing motion with his fingers, and the golden rope binding Old Child broke and fell off. After she regained her freedom, she hurriedly thanked him, “Thank you for saving my life, young master!”

Withered Sword arrived next to him and asked puzzledly, “Why didn’t you kill him, young master?”

“Damaging the Greater River Monument is a small offense, but killing a priest is a huge crime. I have important business to see to, and I don’t intend to cause unnecessary trouble if I can help it.”

Ye Qing added, “You should leave. Enemy reinforcements may show up at any moment.”

Withered Sword and Old Child saluted him. “As you command, young master.”

“Let’s go, Qingyou.”

Ye Qing gave Feng Qingyou a glance, and they both leaped into the air. They were gone in just the blink of an eye.

“Until next time, young master.”

After Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou were gone, Withered Sword and Old Child immediately returned to the whale tomb and sailed away.

Not long after they were gone, a platoon of armed soldiers rushed out of the commandery gates and surrounded Leya Point. At the same time, countless officials led by Platform of Gods elites began searching for the culprits who damaged the Greater River Monument and injured the priest. Of course, they found nothing.

Furious, the priest plotted to draft an order and command all other settlements and deities to capture the culprits when suddenly, he realized in shock and horror that he could not remember anyone’s faces. He could not even quite remember how his battle against the villains had unfolded, only that it ended with his resounding defeat.

The priest knew then that the one who tampered with his memories had to be the mysterious man who shattered his golden body in one finger flick. However, he was sure even with his fuzzy memories that he did not know when or how it happened.

The priest broke out in cold sweat when he realized this. It was only now he realized that he was able to escape not because he was oh-so-strong or skilful, but because his enemy had not intended to kill him from the start.

Otherwise, he would probably be dead without even knowing.

Having figured out the truth, the terrified priest immediately withdrew the men searching for Ye Qing and his group and ordered them all to keep their mouths shut about what happened today.

If he did not cover this up well, he was afraid that that champion would return and send him to the afterlife.

This wasn’t cowardice, this was just knowing when to submit before circumstances.

The Leya Point denizens thought for sure that it was going to be an exciting day tomorrow, but instead, nothing happened. The gates of the Platform of Gods were shut tight.

……

Ye Qing did not know what happened after he was gone, of course—not that he would have cared even if he did.

He had long since departed Leya and was currently beelining for Four Seas.

Four Seas was located at the Eastern Shores and just a couple hundred kilometers away from Leya. With Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou’s strength, it only took them two days to make it to Four Seas.

Qi was founded on the low plains where the weather was comfortable, and the land was rich and fertile. Their people weren’t just wealthy, they were positively thriving. That was why their cities and buildings were generally tall, vast, and spectacularly designed. It was distinctively different from the elegance of Chu or the ruggedness of Yan.

Ye Qing had witnessed many tall, vast, and prosperous cities on his way here, and he had been impressed by many of them. However, it wasn’t until he saw the Four Seas that he realized that his horizons were still too narrow.

None of the cities he visited until now could hold a candle to Four Seas. It was the difference between a firefly and the moon; an ant and the sky.

Four Seas was big. Stupidly big. It had a radius of five thousand kilometers and could not be fully viewed below a certain point of the sky.

Four Seas was vast. Stupidly vast. He did not think it was possible for a city to stretch from one end of the horizon to the other, nor go on and on like the sea. And yet, that was Four Seas.

Four Seas was strong. Its walls were at least three thousand meters tall and dozens, maybe even a hundred meters thick. Ye Qing could not imagine anything breaking through its formidable defenses.

Four Seas was prosperous. Travelers from every corner in the world could be found in this place, and the population density was something Ye Qing rarely saw even back in his own world. Shoulders rubbed against one another, raised sleeves looked like wide expanses of clouds, and sweat fell off the human body like the rain.

In conclusion, Four Seas was bigger, wider, stronger, and more prosperous than any city he had ever seen in his life. He did not believe that even the capital of Chu or Qi could surpass it.

But of course, every light casts a shadow. Four Seas was massive and prosperous, but it was also incredibly chaotic.

Armed jianghu warriors were crawling through the streets like ants, and strange people wearing strange outfits hailing from strange places were everywhere. As a result, violent conflicts could start from the smallest of disagreements, and although the city wasn’t so lawless that the warriors would fight each other to the death, it was inevitable that blood was drawn. It was long after the conflict was over that the authorities showed up to investigate or clean up the mess with obvious half-heartedness.

The entire Four Seas gave Ye Qing the impression of a jianghu wulin that was far away from the influences of the court and imperial household. It was lawless and unscrupulous. It was a canvas full of strokes of passion and freedom.

To put it in simpler terms, Four Seas bore some striking resemblance to Bei You.

“You think that Four Seas is quite warrior-like and chaotic, don’t you? That it’s completely different from other settlements of Qi?”

Feng Qingyou asked smilingly as if she could read his thoughts. “It was quite different from your imagination, right?”

“It really is. It actually reminds me of Bei You more than any other city.”

Ye Qing asked curiously, “Does Qi not care that the Four Seas is like this?”

Bei You was the way it was because it was a barren land where criminals and ruffians gathered. Realistically, no one wanted to be there unless they had no other choice. However, Four Seas wasn’t like that. That was why it confused Ye Qing.

1. Probably just a coincidence, but remember the other guy who has Dragonmorph in his martial art who’s also an ass? ☜

2. And stupid too. ☜