Stranger Danger

A man surrounded by golden light appeared in the sky of Delightful Cliff Point after the dignified voice boomed.

The man looked to be in his fifties, pale and clean shaven. He was wearing a long dark red robe and a tall crown. His whole body was flashing gold, and smoke was dancing underneath his feet. His dignified, terrifying presence covered the entire sky like a celestial or a god.

“I greet you, my lord!”

“I greet you, my lord!”

“I greet you, my lord!”

The people at the ferry point immediately dropped to their knees, trembling beneath the priest’s terrifying pressure.

“Who dares to damage the Greater River Monument? Surrender to the law, now!”

The man in the sky paid them no heed, however. His eyes shone like a pair of suns as he scanned his surroundings again and again.

“You won’t show yourself? Very good! When I find you, I shall cut you down for your crimes!”

Suddenly, the man looked at the center of Wind Fury River. As if his gaze was some sort of divine power, the thick fog surrounding the entire river disappeared all at once. Only the fog surrounding the whale tomb remained unaffected.

“There you are!” The next moment, the man narrowed his eyes at the whale tomb and launched a palm strike.

A gigantic, golden palm appeared and descended from the sky.

However, it didn’t manage to go far before a violent and brutal sword qi ripped the giant palm to shreds.

The next moment, Old Child burst out of the fog and swung a huge sword at the priest.

Her sword qi was brilliant and potent like the sun itself.

“How dare you resist arrest! You deserve death!”

The man roared like thunder before summoning what looked like a pair of golden truncheons from the distance.

Once he grabbed his weapons, he swung them down on Old Child.

Rumble!

Old Child’s brilliant sword qi was shattered in one strike. Then, the priest executed a cross strike. One truncheon to smash mountains, and the other to split the river.

The mountain smashing truncheon crushed every speck of sword qi within tens of meters.

The river splitting truncheon struck the river and kicked up a wave hundreds of meters tall.

Old Child was swallowed by the wave.

“Spicy. I like it!”

The next moment, the giant wave was divided in two. As the wave collapsed, she swung her sword horizontally and sent the falling wave toward the man instead. Not only was it faster and more forceful than before, it was also infused with her sword qi.

Old Child was following right behind the wave. Right after the priest smashed the wave into bits, she returned the favor and sent him flying with a furious slash.

Enraged, the man returned quickly and clashed weapons with Old Child.

If Old child’s sword style was violent, brutal, and wide-ranged like the whims of nature, then the priest’s style was imposing, righteous, and full of divine might.

Strength versus divinity, brutality versus righteousness. For a time, neither combatant could gain the upper hand, and countless quaked beneath the shockwaves of their battle.

“Is that the power of wishes?”

On the whale tomb, Ye Qing looked at the man fighting against Old Child and asked softly.

“That’s correct,” Feng Qingyou confirmed. “That man is a third rank priest of the Platform of Gods.”

“That’s a priest? No wonder he’s so powerful,” Ye Qing exclaimed in realization.

The so-called Platform of Gods was an institution Qi specifically set up to supervise and manage the deities in their realm. The Platform of Gods were generally manned by priests, and the priests could be split into nine ranks. The first rank was the highest, and the ninth rank the lowest. Priests were garrisoned in nearly every region to manage and control the deities and prevent harm from coming to the people.

Just like the deities themselves, the large majority of priests walked the way of worship. They received offerings and power of wishes from the people and cultivate a golden body of merit.

A person who walked the path of offering and godhood faced many restrictions. For starters, their cultivation and strength were directly related to the size of their land, the amount of offerings they received from the people and so on. Not only that, if they left their territory, or if they did not receive a sufficient amount of worship, their strength would decline dramatically.

That said, assuming they received enough worship, and they were fighting within their territory, then they would become twice, even several times stronger than normal.

Thanks to Leya Point, the commandery of Leya enjoyed a huge amount of traffic and businesses. It was about as prosperous as a ferry point could get. Naturally, the priest received a lot of worship. This was why he was able to go toe to toe against Old Child, a veteran Trueman, despite being a third rank priest and a late-stage Spirit Master only.

“Should I lend her a hand, young master?”

It was at this moment Withered Sword’s voice rang from behind Ye Qing.

“Not yet.” Ye Qing asked, “How goes the task I give you?”

“The investigation is complete, young master,” Withered Sword answered. “The Chu embassy who will be attending the Four Sea Summit this year has already arrived at Four Seas. They are currently staying in the Chu River Embassy.”

“The Chu embassy is led by the Pacification King and Martial Might Duke. It is made up of thirty six members, all of them Chu geniuses including the third son of the Emperor of Chu, the ‘Phoenix King’ Chu Mingfeng; the oldest son of Duke Fang Zhiyong, ‘Mister Farseeing’ Fang Muyun; the ninth disciple of the Chief Libationist of the Jixia Academy; ‘Mister Nine’ chu Wangsun, the chief disciple of the Qing Emperor, Su Banchen; the son of the Godly Strategist General, the ‘Young Military God’ Chen Wuji…”

“Here is their detailed information, young master. Please, take a look!”

Withered Sword ended his report by handing Ye Qing a jade cicada.

The jade cicada was about the same size as a green cicada. It was indigo in color and pure and flawless like an exquisite piece of art.

When Ye Qing accepted the jade cicada and pressed it against his forehead, the jade cicada flapped its wings and clicked softly. To everyone else, it sounded no different from a cicada’s cry. But to Ye Qing, all the information relating to the Pacification King, Martial Might Duke, Chu Mingfeng and more were entering his headspace.

The jade cicada was named “Indigo Ming”, and it was a Strange Artifact Swordsgrave created specifically to transmit information using the body of the Soulstealer-class Stranger, Indigo Ming Cicada. Installed with various restrictions, only those who had mastered the restrictions would understand the message contained within Indigo Ming. Otherwise, all they would hear was cicada cries.

He was the one who ordered Withered Sword to obtain this information. There was now less than two months before the Four Seas Summit began, and he reckoned that the Chu embassy should have arrived at Four Seas at this point. His plan was to take revenge against Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun, so of course he should collect intel on them; the more the better.

Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

“Well done.”

A few breaths later, Ye Qing passed Indigo Ming to Feng Qingyou and praised Withered Sword from the bottom of his heart.

Withered Sword’s intel didn’t just mention the background of the Chu embassy. It also mentioned their current cultivation level, their martial arts and more.

His decision to keep Withered Sword and the other Swordsgrave disciples alive was definitely a wise one.

It might look like Swordsgrave keep a low profile and care nothing for the world they lived in, but they really had their own intelligence system. Because of this, their grasp of the myriad matters of the jianghu, the origin of certain rumors and more far exceeded his individual capabilities. Through Cheng Qishang, Withered Sword and Old Child, he could easily manipulate Swordsgrave into spying on Chu Wangsun and Fang Muyun for him, saving him time and effort while gaining far more.

“You flatter me, young master. It is Withered Sword’s honor to be able to serve you,” Withered Sword said respectfully.

“Continue to keep an eye on the Chu embassy and especially Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun. Inform me immediately if you find anything.”

Ye Qing instructed, “Besides that, I want you to gather information on Yan, Qi and Wei’s embassy as well. I specifically want to know who is friendly with Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun and who isn't.”

It would give him more options if he could figure out Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun’s allies and enemies.

“As you command, young master,” Withered Sword answered.

“After I’m gone, I want you, Old Child and Cheng Qishang to bring some Swordsgrave disciples with you and head to the Four Seas. Be ready to carry out my orders at a moment’s notice once you’re there.”

Ye Qing added, “And remember, do not expose yourselves no matter what.”

“As you command, young master,” Withered Sword answered again.