Stranger Danger-Chapter 1258: Ambush

“Blasphemer! You will enter Avīci and suffer for eternity!”

An angry howl erupted from the temple, and lapis lazuli golden light shot into the air, slamming against the river water.

If the river water was ordinary river water, then of course it wouldn’t be able to threaten the lapis lazuli golden light one bit. However, the cascading water was filled with Break Hammer’s fist intent right now.

Break Hammer could break all arts and shatter all forms. There was no such thing as an object or an art it couldn’t break.

Therefore, as the river water infused with Break Hammer’s fist intent crashed against the mountain again and again, the lapis lazuli golden light grew dimmer, the mountain looked more and more transparent, and the temple at the peak grew increasingly old and tattered.

Inside the rundown temple, a rotten, withered monk shining with Buddhist light was sitting at the center.

However, the river water kept eroding his Buddhist light until nothing was left.

“Blasphemer! Blasphemer!”

The instant the Buddhist light vanished completely, the monk roared with overflowing resentment and hatred.

The next moment, his body dissolved into ash and vanished into the river water. Following the monk’s demise was the temple’s utter collapse and the mountain’s complete disappearance.

After the Anomaly was gone, the eighteen people surrounding the gondola finally regained their consciousness.

Unfortunately, their cultivation was vanishing at a rapid pace. The lapis lazuli golden light they were wearing was disintegrating as well.

In just the blink of an eye, they had returned to their original cultivation levels. This was not the end though. They would continue to lose their cultivation until they had transformed back into an ordinary human being.

Having lost all of their true qi and turned back into a normal human being, the eighteen warriors could no longer stand on the river as a matter of course. They fell into the waters.

“Help!”

“Help!”

The eighteen warriors cried out desperately for help while trying to stay afloat.

However, their cries for help gradually weakened as if even their physical strength was fading from their bodies. Eventually, they could no longer swim and began sinking.

“All opportunities in this world are like shadows and reflections. Once you disturb it, it is gone. A pity... a shame...”

Ye Qing sighed while swinging his sleeve, causing the eighteen warriors to fly out of the river and landing on a distant flower boat.

Then, he lifted his boatman with the curl of a finger—he had fallen unconscious during the battle—and sent him all the way to the wharf. The wharf was over a kilometer away from the gondola’s current position.

The boatman awakened as soon as he landed on the wharf. Not only that, the injuries and damage he had accumulated throughout the years had healed completely, leaving him better and healthier than he had ever been in his life.

“Excuse me, but I’ll be borrowing your boat for a bit, friend.”

The next moment, a bright, gentle voice rang beside his ear. When the boatman instinctively looked where the voice had come from, he saw Ye Qing standing on the bow of his gondola with his hands behind his back. Once their eyes met, Ye Qing gave him a smile and a nod of acknowledgement.

The next moment, he saw his gondola speeding away like an arrow even though no one was controlling it.

By the time the people had recovered from their shock, by the time they tried searching for the young man who had kicked up a river with a punch, they discovered that he was already nowhere to be found.

All that was left behind was rippling waters, a red moon, and a bloody river.

......

Ye Qing paid no heed to the Anomaly he just crushed earlier. It might have worried him if he hadn’t experienced an enlightenment, but now, it was simply a matter of one punch.

And if one punch wasn’t enough, two would do.

Although Red Moon River was relatively safer at night, that didn’t mean it was completely free from danger. That was why most activities were focused around the shores.

As soon as Ye Qing piloted the gondola to the center of the river, he found that the number of boats and lamps had decreased drastically. He could only see flickers of light here and there, and it was very quiet and peaceful.

“Hmm? The water’s changed.”

Suddenly, Ye Qing sensed something and looked down at the river. The river was red as blood a moment ago, but now, it was clear and pure exactly like an ordinary river.

“The moon is different as well.”

Ye Qing then looked up and stared at the moon in the sky. Flawless and silvery white, it looked no different from the usual moon at first glance. However, he had the distinct feeling that it was lifeless and static like an inanimate object.

Silvery moonlight spilled across the river like a sheen of snow, monotonous and cold.

Not only that, the flickers of light and few boats floating at the center of the river had disappeared in unison, leaving behind only desolate silence and iciness.

Red Moon River was a mysterious and anomalous river, yes, but it was also full of life. Right now though, there was only coldness, desolation, and silence.

It was almost as if he had crossed into a completely different world.

“The fishes have finally taken the bait.”

Anyone in Ye Qing’s shoes would be deeply worried.

However, Ye Qing himself was grinning widely.

Suddenly, Ye Qing kicked off the gondola. As if on cue, the gondola flew up with him.

As it turned out, nine people were pressing their hands against the bottom of the gondola. Their forces were gathered together like they were one entity.

Seeing this, Ye Qing abruptly stopped his ascent and plunged toward the gondola. There was a loud thud, and the nine people scattered in every direction as if they were struck by lightning. They were bleeding from all orifices long before they hit the waters.

As they fell, another dozen figures burst out of the waters and charged toward Ye Qing.

At the same time, the moonlight suddenly rippled like water and conjured countless figures into existence. They too attacked Ye Qing from all sides.

“Hmph!”

A disdainful expression flitted through Ye Qing’s face as he lifted his foot three inches and waited three breaths. Then, he stomped.

It was like he was attempting to shake the nine provinces. There was a loud thump, and profound light abruptly washed out of the gondola like a cyclone.

Everyone charging toward him was first discombobulated by the thump before they were swept away by the cyclone like helpless leaves.

At the same time, the gondola descended even faster than it was before and slammed into the people who just burst out of the water.

It was as if the gondola was heavier than a mountain. The space within three hundred meters of it collapsed at the same time, and the dozen figures could not even slow its descent, much less stop it. They crashed into the water even faster than they initially flew up to the gondola.

Finally, the gondola struck the river like a hammer.

Rumble!

A depression appeared on the river surface and kicked up waves that were over hundreds of meters tall. They washed out in every direction and slammed into the figures who were blown away by the cyclone earlier, staggering their footsteps and extracting blood from their mouths.

“Westwind Inn...”

Standing tall on the bow of the gondola, Ye Qing scoffed, “If you’re trying to kill me, you’re going to have to send someone stronger than these pieces of trash!”

“Do I qualify?”

Ye Qing had just finished when a quiet voice suddenly came from his shadow.

As soon as the voice appeared, a figure leaped out of Ye Qing’s shadow and swung their saber at him.

The figure was almost shapeless and semi-transparent like a fog. It was impossible to tell what they looked like.

Not bothering to look back, Ye Qing threw his elbow against the incoming strike like a punch.