Stranger Danger

Chapter 982: Kindly Provide Me Guidance

The Chief Libationist asked for clarification, “So, you’re rejecting those terms?”

“I apologize,” Ye Qing clasped his hands in salute, “but I cannot and will not accept such an outcome.”

Chu Wangsun, Su Bancheng, and everyone else listening in on the conversation were stunned. A Sage was offering Ye Qing, a Grandmaster, a generous compromise, and instead of accepting it with gratitude, he actually dared to rebuff him? Who did he think he is?

“You understand the consequences of rejecting me, don’t you?” The Chief Libationist asked slowly.

“I believe so.”

Ye Qing met the Chief Libationist’s gaze head on and declared with a determined expression, “Kindly provide me guidance.”

“Are you really going to fight me? Do you truly understand what fighting me entails?”

The Chief Libationist examined the young man before him curiously. “Let me think. I’m a scholar, so the number of fights I’ve gotten into is few and far between. Yes, I think I’ve only fought twice or thrice my whole life.”

“Fifty years ago, when I had just become a Sage, I happened upon the man called Blood Cicada using infants to practice his ‘Blood God Art of Nine Lifetimes’. Enraged, I fought him for three days and nights, shattered his Three Heavenly Souls and Seven Earthly Souls, and ended his path permanently.”

“Thirty years ago, I happened to stumble upon the Yellow Sky Way Lord making misery out of the people, so I fought him, slew his Thirty Three Yellow Sky Avatars, and buried him in the Nether, never to be reborn.”

“A little over a decade ago, White Lotus Holy Mother recruited the aid of the Heavenless Emperor of Buddha, Sky Devouring Ghost King, Corpse Hiding Old Man, Fortune Capital Heavenly Sovereign and ambushed me. However, I killed two of them and wounded three, breaking their Way in half and throwing them back to the mortal coil. To this day, they haven’t recovered.”

“Having said all that, do you still desire to fight me?”

The Chief Libationist was telling the truth. It was true he rarely fought anyone in his life, but the few times he did, they were all the stuff of legends.

Blood Cicada, Yellow Sky Way Lord, White Lotus Holy Mother and more were all famous Sages on the Heaven Champions Ranking.

Of the group, Blood Cicada was the deputy head of the Blood God Sect and practiced a martial art called the “Blood God Art of Nine Lifetimes”. When the practitioner had reincarnated and recultivated their strength nine times as the Blood God True Spirit, they would reach the adept level and gain nine lives. It was why he was also nicknamed the Nine-lived Blood Demon. Back in the day, he was an infamous monster everyone in the jianghu feared.

But despite his strength and infamy, the Chief Libationist, a newly ascended Sage at the time, was able to kill him nine times in a row. In the end, a wisp of Blood Cicada’s True Spirit managed to escape, but his Way was forever ended as a result of the battle.

The Yellow Sky Way Lord was one of the three Way Lords of the Way of Taiping[1]. Exceedingly powerful, his cultivation art was called the “Yellow Sky Avatar”. At the adept level, he could manifest thirty three Yellow Sky Avatars. Not only was each avatar an individual capable of independent thought and cultivation, the Yellow Sky Way Lord could not die as long as even one avatar was still alive.

At the time, the Yellow Sky Way Lord had reached the adept level of “Yellow Sky Avatar” and created thirty three Yellow Sky Avatars. Each avatar was in the Sage stage as well. In other words, the Yellow Sky Way Lord was equal to thirty three Sages. To say he was horrifying would be an understatement. Thanks to him, the Way of Taiping was positively invincible for a time.

Unfortunately, the Yellow Sky Way Lord’s legend of invincibility came to an abrupt and meek end when he encountered the Chief Libationist. Not only did the scholar massacre all thirty three Yellow Sky Avatars, he had suppressed and sealed the Yellow Sky Way Lord at the Nether as well. To this day, he was unable to break free. One might say that the Chief Libationist had singlehandedly beaten the Way of Taiping back to the Middle Ages.

Finally, the White Lotus Holy Mother was the founder of the White Lotus Sect over a decade ago. The Heavenless Emperor of Buddha, Sky Devouring Ghost King, Corpse Hiding Old Man, Fortune Capital Heavenly Sovereign were infamous titans of the Dark Ways as well. They were all Sages. Together, they set up a death trap for the Chief Libationist and ambushed him at Sunset Sea.

But despite owning both the advantage of surprise and numbers, the five Sages were absolutely trounced by the Chief Libationist. Not only did that battle change the geography forever and turned Sunset Sea into Sunset Valley, the Chief Libationist had killed two and grievously injured the remaining.

To be specific, White Lotus Holy Mother and Sky Devouring Ghost King were dead, and Heavenless Emperor of Buddha, Corpse Hiding Old Man, and Fortune Capital Heavenly Sovereign were grievously injured. To this day, they hadn’t recovered. As a result of White Lotus Holy Mother’s death, the White Lotus Sect fell apart and was never able to regain their former glory.

Since then, the Chief Libationist never fought anyone again. It wasn’t because he had gotten old and weak, but because no one dared to fight him or even plot against him.

A Sage was a transcendent being wielding immense, unparalleled power that a mortal could never hope to surpass. Naturally, they were just as difficult to kill. Less than five Sages had died in the past century, but half of that tally belonged to the Chief Libationist. It showed just how terrifyingly powerful he was.

In conclusion, Ye Qing was an ant; a dog the Chief Libationist could massacre as he pleased if he really wanted to.

Sure, this Chief Libationist was just a wisp of the original’s divine thought, but so what? He was still a tree Ye Qing could never hope to topple. He would be foolish to think otherwise.

But today, Ye Qing must become that foolish ant. He must challenge the impossible no matter what.

He might die, but he would not live without regrets.

Ye Qing stubbornly saluted the Chief Libationist again. “Kindly provide me guidance.”

“Do you really not fear death?” The Chief Libationist asked.

Ye Qing answered, “There are things a gentleman must do and must not do.”

“Hahaha! Your courage certainly reminds me of my youth.”

The Chief Libationist did not get angry with him. In fact, he was guffawing and saying, “It is my unworthy disciple who is in the wrong in the first place, not to mention that I am far more powerful and experienced than you. If I fight you, well, let’s just say that it would be embarrassing beyond words, so let’s do it this way.”

“I will defend, and you will attack. If you can overcome me and kill my unworthy disciple, then it is his fate to die in your hands. What do you say?”

“You are very generous, mister. This junior is most impressed.” Ye Qing saluted him gratefully. He was ready to fight to the death, but he did not think that the Chief Libationist would promise to defend only. This way, whether he succeeded or not, his life would probably not be in danger.

He must admit that the Chief Libationist of the Jixia Academy, despite his truly unworthy disciple, was a square and proper gentleman. He could have overwhelmed him via brute force, but he did not do so because it was beneath him. He deserved his title as a Confucian Sage at the very least.

“Generous my ass, I may look like this, but I’m still a scholar, you know?” The Chief Libationist urged. “Now get started already. The sooner we can get this over with, the better.”

“Very well. This junior shall begin his offense.”

Hands still clasped in a salute, Ye Qing took one step forward and channeled his qi, essence and spirit to pinnacle perfection. Then, he threw out a punch.

The wind stopped, the clouds stilled, the mountains froze, and even yin and yang came to a stop. It was Suppression Hammer.

At his current strength, Ye Qing’s Suppression Hammer was still far behind the Dark Overlord’s as a matter of course. However, it sported some of the essence of the Dark Overlord’s Suppression Hammer while boasting some unique characteristics of his own. Specifically, Ye Qing’s Suppression Hammer was thicker and denser because he practiced the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”, a marked difference compared to the Dark Overlord’s brutal and vicious fists.

Those with great virtue are heavy.

“The Dark Overlord’s ‘Suppression Hammer’! Not bad, not bad.”

Ye Qing’s fist was one meter away from the Chief Libationist when the old man suddenly let out a chuckle. Then, he reached out to grab Ye Qing’s fist, flipped it around, and pushed it away. From stillness to action; from yin to yang. What was the way of yin and yang? Infinity. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Ye Qing staggered backward backward uncontrollably, but every time he took a step, his aura would grow a little stronger, and his fist intent greater. When his aura was as vast as the mountains, and his fist intent peaking over the nine heavens, Ye Qing arrested himself and swung his arm a celestial striking the earth like it was a drum. The sky threatened to break, and the earth tethered on the brink of collapse.

As it turned out, it wasn’t a celestial drumming the earth after all. It was “Break Hammer”. However, Break Hammer cared nothing for form and everything about fist intent. As long as the practitioner desired to break the origin, then anything could be Break Hammer.

1. If you figured out who the Yellow Sky Way Lord is before this sentence, good for you. ☜