Stranger Danger

Chapter 377: When Yin Soldiers Walk During The Day

“Huh... Why did the sky turn dark all of a sudden?”

At Auspicious Phoenix Market, Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai had just left a residence when suddenly, the bright, sunny sky was covered by thick, dark clouds, and the wind howled like it might turn into a rainstorm at any moment.

“Something’s not right,” Lin Yuhuai remarked with a frown.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The world grew darker and darker, and the howling wind grew increasingly powerful and icy. It wasn’t long before it got to the point where it was impossible to see anything without squinting.

A troop of yin soldiers abruptly marched out of the yin wind. Such was their yin qi that it overshadowed even the yang qi of the sun itself. Despite this, their march did not elicit any sound whatsoever. The ordinary citizens couldn’t see them either. Only warriors like Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai could.

“Yin soldiers appearing during the day? Is the Fengdu planning to invade the yang world again?”

Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai exchanged severe looks with each other. This was a lot worse than yin soldiers appearing during the night because only a yin soldier who was sufficiently powerful could manifest during the day. This meant that their strength was such that even they felt threatened to an extent.

Even worse, this was a whole platoon of yin soldiers. Such were their numbers that their yin qi could blot out the sun and change the weather itself. It was terrifying to say the least.

Thankfully, the yin soldiers disappeared as quickly as they came. They were gone in just the blink of an eye.

After the yin soldiers were gone, the yin wind and yin clouds slowly faded, and the clear sky and hot sun were revealed once more. An ordinary person would’ve thought that it was just a passing storm.

“Should we inform the Feng Yang Pacification Bureau about this?” Chu Nianjiu took a sip of wine to calm his nerves.

“Unless everyone in the Feng Yang Pacification Bureau is blind, they should’ve seen the yin soldiers as clearly as we had. There’s no need to tell them about it.” Lin Yuhuai frowned deeply. “What worries me is something else.”

“What a coincidence. We may be worrying about the same thing.” Chu Nianjiu rubbed his chin as he sent Lin Yuhuai a sound transmission. “You don’t think they’re after Joyless, are they?”

“I don’t know,” Lin Yuhuai also replied via sound transmission. “Joyless didn’t tell us exactly what he did this time, but judging from his history, I’d say that it is very likely.”

“Should we notify Joyless about this?” Chu Nianjiu asked.

“It’s fine.” Lin Yuhuai shook his head. “Assuming that this really is Joyless’ doing, he would have anticipated it and made the appropriate preparations already. I don’t want to risk sending him a letter and having it intercepted by his enemies.”

“I think so too.” Chu Nianjiu nodded. “We have our own problems to take care of anyway. We haven’t even found Hou Er yet, and another two people have gone missing. What a pain.”

A day and night had passed since Ye Qing left, and they looked into Hou Er’s disappearance. Another two people had gone missing in the exact same way.

“Yeah.” The two Peacemakers exchanged a glance with each other before leaving.

They didn’t need to worry about Qi Xuanyun at least. The young Taoist had no idea why Ye Qing had left and where he went.

......

At a location where the two Peacemakers couldn’t see, Corpse Child was standing on top of a one-horned giant’s shoulder and looking at Auspicious Phoenix Market from the distance.

Suddenly, a tall, brawny, ghastly general covered in tattered armor and smoking black qi appeared in front of Corpse Child and saluted him. “Young master, I have intercepted nine letters and caught three people who were leaving Auspicious Phoenix Market.”

“Speak. Did you find any useful information?” Corpse Child asked.

“None,” The ghost general responded in a muffled voice, “After interrogating the suspects, I discovered that two of them were Patrolmen leaving Auspicious Phoenix Market on official business, and the third man was just a paranoid man thinking that something is about to befall Auspicious Phoenix Market because of our ascent[1].”

“Good job. Keep a garrison of yin soldiers in Auspicious Phoenix Market. Inform me immediately if you find anything suspicious,” Corpse Child instructed. “You may leave.”

“As you command.” The ghost general saluted. The earth beneath him split in half and devoured him whole.

“What are you thinking, big brother?” The one-horned giant underneath Corpse Child asked after the ghost general was gone. When he talked, countless sparks spilled out of his mouth and burned the ground it touched. His voice was also loud and reverberating.

Corpse Child said slowly, “Although the thief had left Auspicious Phoenix Market, who is to say that they don’t have an accomplice or two? That’s why I tried beating the bush to check if there are snakes still hiding in here. If they sent the thief a letter or something, then it would lead us straight to the thief and give us some bargaining chips.”

“Since no one sent a letter just now, does that mean that the thief has no accomplices?” The one-horned giant asked.

“Maybe. Or maybe, the snakes are just extremely smart. That is why I left behind some men just in case,” Corpse Child replied while taking a seat.

“It doesn’t need to be so troublesome, brother. Just let me eat them all, and you’ll know everything you need to know,” the one-horned giant complained.

“That won’t do.” Corpse Child shook his head. “This is the human’s world, not Fengdu. There are rules we must obey, or there will be great trouble.”

“Hmph. I don’t like this.” The one-horned giant looked down and muttered, “Human flesh is so tasty.”

“Oh, you...” Corpse Child patted the one-horned giant’s head like he was consoling a child. “You may eat to your heart’s content when we find the thief.”

“It’s only one person. They won’t even fill the gap between my teeth,” the one-horned giant grumbled.

“I never said that. You’ll get to eat his family and friends as well. You may eat all of them. Surely that would be enough?” Corpse Child asked.

“Oh, that’s great! I’m so happy!” The one-horned giant cheered, scarlet flames rushing out of its mouth and turning everything around him into ash.

“You really are a kid.” Corpse Child chuckled and extinguished the flames with some of his corpse fluid. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah! Let’s go, let’s go and eat some meat...”

The one-horned giant took off, but its footsteps made no sound whatsoever. It was gone in the blink of an eye.

......

“Young master, this is the place Heartless Brain had divined earlier,” Ghost General appeared beside Corpse Child and reported.

“I can’t sense any living human’s presence in the area. They’re probably gone. But just in case, have the soldiers scour the place for any signs of abnormality,” Corpse Child ordered from atop the one-horned giant’s shoulder.

“As you command.” The ghost general waved his hand, and the yin soldiers split into several squads and vanished into the trees.

Just a short while later, the ghost general reappeared and reported, “We found something, young master.”

“What is it?”

The green flames in the ghost general’s eyes flickered a little. “Come with me, young master.”

“Hmm?” Corpse Child didn’t understand why his subordinate didn’t just report the situation to him, but he said, “Lead the way!”

“As you command.”

The ghost general led Corpse Child to what looked like a huge pile of sand, and on top of the sand was a wooden board with a couple of words scribbled on it.

The one-horned giant crouched down and recited the words loudly, “You think you can catch me, Ghost Tower? Eat shit!”

Both Corpse Child and the ghost general had to resist slapping their own faces. Are you trying to spread our shame?

“They found out that we were coming after him?” Corpse Child muttered, “How?” contemporary romance

“Eat shit... big brother, they’re telling us to eat shit? Are they swearing at us?” The one-horned giant finally processed the words.

“What do you think?” Corpse Child narrowed his eyes a little.

“Ah? He’s actually swearing at us?! Ahhhh! I’m going to kill them!” The one-horned giant’s fist-sized eyes turned red, and it brought its feet down on the wooden board.

BOOM!

As soon as the wooden board was crushed, a huge explosion consumed the one-horned giant and the ghost general before they could react. It sounded like the sky itself had collapsed as lightning and fire engulfed everything within tens of meters of the center. The explosion was such that the trees, the rocks, and the earth closest to the center were blasted into smithereens, and many yin soldiers were annihilated just like that.

“Raaaarrrghh!”

It was at this moment a thunderous roar ripped through the sea of lightning and fire. An axe ripped through the overpowering heat and light and struck the ground, causing it to split apart. The massive crack was at least tens of meters long and several inches deep, and burning within the crack was a line of crimson flames.

The next moment, the one-horned giant, Corpse Child and the ghost general rushed out of the sea of flames. However, the one-horned giant had lost half of its foot, and the ghost general’s armor was barely clinging to his body. A copious amount of yin qi was seeping out of the cracks as well.

Countless yin soldiers rushed over to their location. They had heard the explosion as well.

“How dare this scum set a trap for us!” Corpse Child rarely showed emotion, but this time, there was clear anger on his face. The surrounding plants immediately began to wither earnestly[2].

“Grrr... I’m going to kill them! I’m going to kill them!” The one-horned giant also let out a throaty roar. The yin wind he discharged sent some of the flames into the air, and countless ghosts roared from the yin wind.

“Earth Ghost, tally our losses and give me a report,” Corpse Child ordered the ghost general while waiting for the one-horned giant to vent its fury.

Earth Ghost received his order and rounded up their remaining troops. But before he could do anything else, the yin soldiers suddenly started crumbling like burned paper.

“Shit!” Earth Ghost blanched as well. It was because he noticed that a strange energy was rapidly corroding his yin body and soul.

“Poison?!”

Corpse Child’s face turned ugly as a coin-sized spot on his face grew bigger and bigger until it covered his whole face. At the same time, he emanated a strange energy that felt rotten, decayed, and dead. A short while later, Corpse Child spat out a glob of black liquid, and the liquid instantly eroded the ground in front of him.

Earth Ghost was lying on the ground and shoving soil into his mouth non-stop. It wasn’t long before he had dug a deep pit. As more and more soil entered his mouth, Earth Ghost also grew increasingly solid. Soon, he looked just like an earth golem.

A while later, the earth surrounding his body crumbled, and Earth Ghost regained his normal appearance. However, the chunks of earth he discarded were pitch black in color.

“What are you doing, big brother? What happened to them?” The one-horned giant asked. It was the only one who didn’t get what Corpse Child and Earth Ghost were doing. He didn’t understand why the yin soldiers had suddenly disintegrated into nothing either.

“Young master, the soldiers?” Earth Ghost asked Corpse Child urgently after he returned to normal.

1. Because they ascended from the underworld, get it? ?

2. I realized that the plants had it the worst in this world more than anyone else lol. At the rate they’re dying I’m surprised this planet isn’t a wasteland already. ?𝑓𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸𝘦𝒷𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝑐𝘰𝘮