Stranger Danger
Chapter 1308: Lone Fisherman

Chapter 1308: Lone Fisherman

“You’re right.”

Westwind’s Boss thought for a moment. “So, you’re saying you found another Sage to help you?”

Ye Qing didn’t answer him. He simply smirked.

“But I investigated your background before. Your origin is grassroots, and your background is non-existent. Forget building a good relationship with a truly influential figure, you have made enemies out of many of them. Who else could you possibly recruit besides Xiahou Zun?”

Undisguised scorn crept onto the Boss’ face. “Just so you know, a useless trash like Papersmith isn’t going to help your situation one bit.”

“Speaking of which, why isn’t your reinforcement here yet? Surely you must have contacted them while we were conversing with each other. Is it because they’re not responding?”

Ye Qing remained silent. He did not say a single word.

“Hahaha...”

Westwind’s Boss chuckled. “I forgot to tell you, but the Three-Day Nightmare Spell doesn’t just torture you with the impending march of death and tribulation. It will also consume your fortune until nothing is left.”

“Do you know what are the consequences of losing your fortune completely? Generally speaking, anything and everything you try to do will end in abject failure.”

The Boss’ smile grew brighter even as the killing intent in his eyes grew colder. “In this case, it means that even the most perfect and meticulous plan will contain a flaw you failed to predict; encounter an obstacle you cannot possibly expect.”

“To put it simply, your reinforcement might have run into some sort of accident. For example, they could’ve run into a sworn enemy. They could’ve been held up by a Stranger. They could be experiencing a stomachache. Or they were sleeping right now and did not notice your message.”

“In conclusion, the aid you’re expecting will never arrive. Even if they did, they’ll only be in time to collect your corpse—if I choose to leave anything behind for them to collect, that is.”

As soon as the Boss finished, his eyes abruptly turned dark, eerie, and cold.

At the same time, the cloud of death and tribulation plaguing Ye Qing’s person erupted in earnest.

A tall, terrifying ghost god was born from the thick clouds. It was so big that its head touched the sky. It had a tiger’s head, a human’s body, and an elephant’s legs. It had a giant eye that reflected the celestial bodies on its skull, but its face was completely devoid of any facial features. There was only a tiger’s maw holding a memorial tablet riddled with countless bloody names between its teeth.

The ghost god’s body was massive like a mountain, and it was covered in countless graves. Each grave was marked with a gravestone, and each gravestone had a person weeping blood and kowtowing to it without end. It was eerie and cold.

Finally, the elephant legs were thick as pillars. They were standing on a sea of nether where millions of corpses and countless more bones floated on it.

The living trembled, and heaven and earth shuddered at the appearance of the ghost god.

It was the Ghost Territory Spirit the Boss had mentioned just now.

In ancient times, the Ghost Territory was the master of death. When it opened its eyes, thousands and thousands of living creatures died. When it opened its mouth, tens of thousands of ghosts perished. Wherever it went, all creatures fell silent, and all souls returned to the Nether Sea. That was why they named it the Ghost Territory.

The next moment, the singular eye on Ghost Territory’s skull blinked open, causing the sun, the moon, and the stars to tremble violently. When it opened its maw, the names on the memorial tablets shot bloody beams that filled the sky. The graves on its body exploded, causing countless resentful souls to roar in rage. The Nether Sea beneath its feet stirred, and the corpses flipped around with their eyes stretched wide open.

The next moment, the eye fixed its gaze on Ye Qing, the head bent down so that the maw would be faced in Ye Qing’s direction, the swarm of bloody light joined together into Ye Qing’s name, and the resentful souls and bloated corpses all chanted Ye Qing’s name with hateful gazes.

Infinite killing intent, fear, and despair transformed into an invisible butcher’s knife that swung straight at Ye Qing.

If this hit, it would cut his body, his mind, his soul.

As the butcher’s knife descended, Ye Qing found himself shackled in body, mind, and soul. It looked like he could do nothing besides waiting for the knife to hit him.

“Senior, please help me!”

And so Ye Qing finally used his ultimate trump card: Summoning Jutsu!

As soon as Ye Qing said this, a fishing line abruptly descended from the sky. One end of the fishing line was a bluish green bamboo rod, and the other a silvery fishing hook.

The fishing hook landed squarely in the Ghost Territory Spirit’s mouth.

The fishing hook, fishing line, and fishing rod looked positively puny compared to the titanic-sized Ghost Territory Spirit, and yet the Ghost Territory Spirit was the one who was pulled into the air like a fish.

As soon as the Ghost Territory Spirit was caught, the fishing line abruptly grew taut, and waves of spiritual light rippled out of it. The bamboo rod was also emitting rainbow-colored light like a rainbow in the sky.

No matter how hard the Ghost Territory Spirit roared and struggled, it could not break free from the fishing hook no matter what. At this moment, it was just a fish.

The Ghost Territory Spirit grew smaller and weaker as it was pulled further into the air. In the end, it turned into a black fish and fell into a fishing basket.

It wasn’t just the Ghost Territory Spirit that went missing either. The cloud of death and tribulation plaguing Ye Qing had completely vanished as well.

“The Lone Fisherman...”

The Boss’ pupils contracted slightly as he wore a severe expression.

“Fishing alone between heaven and earth, one rod is all I need to live as I please.”

A refreshing laugh cut through the air, and a thin figure slowly emerged from the clouds. He was smiling widely despite being dressed in a coarse garment, and his hair and beard were completely white. He carried his fishing rod and fishing basket with both hands. Seated on the edge of a cloud, he looked like a free, independent celestial.

“Tao Youran greets the Boss of Westwind.”

“Why are you here?” Westwind’s Boss asked in a puzzled tone, “You should not be here!”

There were two layers of meaning behind the Boss’ accusation. First, Tao Youran wasn’t the type of person to get involved in a jianghu conflict like this. Tao Youran—the one they called the Lone Fisherman in the jianghu—was said to be capable of fishing anyone and anything. The sun, the moon, the stars; gods, demons, celestials and Buddhas. He was a famous figure even among his sagely peers.

However, Tao Youran was also a free, easy-going soul who loathed the endless troubles of the rest dust and the myriad conflicts of the jianghu. That was why he usually secluded himself from the world and strictly interacted with the wind, the clouds, and his fishing rod. This was all he needed for him to entertain himself for eternity.

This was why the Boss was confused. Logically speaking, someone of Tao Youran’s character would strive to stay out of all jianghu matters, much less show up in person to save someone.

Besides, he never heard that Ye Qing was affiliated with Tao Youran in any way, so why on earth was he helping him?

Second, Ye Qing had lost all of his fortune due to the Three-Day Nightmare Spell. Even if Ye Qing somehow managed to recruit Tao Youran’s aid, even if Tao Youran was a powerful Sage, the spell still should have affected him. He should have run into all sorts of troubles and be incapable of helping Ye Qing immediately. And yet, the fact was that Tao Youran had appeared at first notice.

“Who is truly free when they live in a cage?”

Tao Youran let out a long sigh. “I am here simply because I had no choice.”

“As for the rest, my young friend could answer you better than I do.”

Westwind’s Boss looked at Ye Qing.

“That...” Ye Qing intentionally dragged out the word before ending with an anti-climatic, “... is a secret. I’ll burn you the truth after you’re dead[1].”

Wasting no more time, he saluted Tao Youran. “Please finish him, senior Tao. And do not hold back! This man is a cunning, treacherous bastard!”

1. Chinese have the practice of burning things as offerings to the dead. ☜