Ye Qing shook his wrists and smiled evilly. “All it takes is one punch. If she dies, she’s Yun Yan. If she doesn’t, she’s Evergreen Ivy!”
The idea was simple, direct, and effective. Human or Stranger, anyone would reveal their truest self in a life-or-death crisis. It was a matter of survival, not morality or character.
There was just one problem. If Ye Qing was right, then everything was well. But if he was wrong, then Yun Yan would be dead!
The Pacification Bureau was ruthless, but not heartless, not to mention that Yun Yan was no ordinary person. How could Ye Qing even think to risk her life ? Was he a demon?
As it turned out, he was. Before anyone could react, he threw a punch straight at Yun Yan!
Shocked but not stunned, the group tried to stop Ye Qing. However, a strange heat suddenly rose from their chest, boiled their vigor, and robbed them of their strength. They had no idea how the young man had done it, but their pores started leaking dark red flames and steam. At the same time, their minds started burning up with unimaginable pain.
In just an instant, Ye Qing had incapacitated almost everyone in the room. They were all clutching their heads and staring blankly into the air. Ling Jianqiu was the only one who somehow withstood the pain, wrestled his vigor back under control, and attacked Ye Qing. Like cold autumn, ice cold light and sword qi filled the room in an instant.
“One Sword Autumn—Fall Silent to the Skies and Waters of Autumn”
Ling Jianqiu used his strongest move from the get go. He knew there was no chance he could stop Ye Qing otherwise. Despite this, his icy sword energy and even his sword slowly turned dark red in color. The cold temperature dominating the room also melted into a terrible heat in just a matter of seconds.
The attack could not maintain itself because its intent had been overridden. It vanished in the wave of heat.
Ling Jianqiu turned as red as a lobster and spat out a mouthful of boiling hot blood. To say that this outcome was shocking would be an understatement. Ye Qing wasn’t even attacking him, but the residual force alone was enough to destroy his strongest move. He knew that the young man was now an Astral Refiner, but the gap between their strength was even greater than he had imagined. If Ye Qing really wanted him dead, he most likely could’ve killed him in a single punch.
More importantly, if even he could not endure a single punch from Ye Qing, then how could the sick, frail Yun Yan possibly survive this?
It was clear Ye Qing really wanted to kill her!
“Joyless, stop!” Ling Jianqiu shouted, but that was all he could do. He could only watch in helplessness as Ye Qing’s fist moved closer and closer to Yun Yan. He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see Yun Yan turning into ash and scattering into the wind.
“Hahaha! To think you would actually try to kill your Sister Yun, Joyless!”
But right before Ye Qing’s fist would land on Yun Yan, a pair of green vines suddenly burst out of the floor and pulled her to safety. The woman was giggling, but her voice no longer sounded kind or gentle. Instead, it was seductive, slothful, and evil.
Ye Qing shrugged as if he knew this would happen. His smile grew as he replied, “I would never do this against Sister Yun, but Evergreen Ivy? Now, that’s a different story!”
“What are you talking about? I am both Yun Yan and Evergreen Ivy!” She continued to giggle as more vines grew out of the floor, the walls, the roof and other places. Pure white evergreen ivy flowers were growing out of the vines as well. The entire Pacification Bureau headquarters was transformed into a kingdom of ivies in just the blink of an eye!
“Yun Yan is Yun Yan, and Evergreen Ivy is Evergreen Ivy. But Evergreen Ivy can never be Yun Yan because Yun Yan is lost from the moment she transforms into Evergreen Ivy!” Ye Qing declared while taking two steps to the side. It was only two steps, but it felt like the rush of a heavenly river. He threw a punch.
The Burning Wind howled and surged toward Evergreen Ivy from multiple directions. The space simmered like it was cooked, and the air was positively scorching and unlivable. The punch felt hot enough to boil an entire marsh.
“Cloud Vaporization Style”
Everyone in the headquarters felt the unbearable heat and backed further away from Ye Qing. They felt like their bodies had caught on fire. Evergreen Ivy’s vines and flowers were not so lucky. Not only were they burning, the fire had begun from the inside. It spread unhindered to every vine and flower in the headquarters and burned it all to dust in just the blink of an eye.
Ye Qing could personally attest to the potency of Evergreen Ivy’s vines and flowers. To this day, the fear was still fresh in his mind. But of course, it was a past tense kind of fear. Even if he hadn’t grasped the Burning Wind, which was the antithesis of Evergreen Ivy’s plants and pollen, his body had become so tough that he doubted that the stranger could put even a single scratch on his person. Thick skin for the win!
The members of the Pacification Bureau and the civilians close by could not say the same thing, however. Everyone would have died if he allowed the vines and the flowers to grow unhindered. That was why he had used the “Cloud Vaporization Style” to destroy it all in one go.
Of course, part of the reason he did it was to test out the power of the fist style in real combat. The result was satisfying to say the least.
“The Burning Wind? You actually subsumed the Burning Wind into your true qi? No wonder you managed to come out alive from Firewind Valley!” Evergreen Ivy exclaimed in surprise, realization, and even a bit of worry. If she wasn’t sure before, she now knew that Ye Qing definitely had the power to kill her.
“Yun Yan! You’re really Evergreen Ivy?!” someone shouted. It was only now the realization hit everyone, and none of them looked like they could believe it.
“That is correct. So sorry to disappoint you all!” said the Stranger, though it was clear from her smile and her tone that she wasn’t apologetic in the slightest.
“Why?” Ling Jianqiu broke his silence. His tone was calm, but everyone could tell that he was anything but. Hidden behind the mask of calmness was pain, incomprehension, and anger.
Evergreen Ivy looked at him with the same smile as before. “Why? Isn’t this what you wanted, foster father? Since I was young, you’ve always wanted me to practice martial arts and grow stronger. You’ve always wanted me to make a name for myself like a man, haven’t you?”
“And I did, foster father! Not only that, I’ve surpassed your expectations! You should be happy for me!”
Ling Jianqiu’s eyes were full of sorrow. “What I wanted? Yes, I did want you to practice martial arts and grow strong. I did want you to become famous throughout the realm. But that is because I want you to become someone who would protect the weak and defenseless and raise justice for those who could not. I want you to become someone who could protect tens of thousands with your sword!”
“When I found out that your body is too frail to practice martial arts, I had immediately withdrawn those expectations. I searched high and low to find a cure for you, but I have never heaped my personal expectations on you. All I ask is that you be good to yourself and others, stay safe, and be happy!”
“But what did you do? Who did you become? You became a Stranger who wanted to destroy Anyang! You tried to kill tens of thousands of innocent people!”
“I, Ling Jianqiu, am not the best father, but I dare say that I have taught my daughter right at the very least. Ask yourself this. Did you really do this for me? Or did you do it for yourself?”
“Aw. You found out?” Evergreen Ivy cupped her cheeks in mock embarrassment. “I still remember the day you found me in the snow, foster father. It was eighteen years ago. My parents were killed by a group of Stranger hunters who were passing through the area, and the only reason I didn’t die with them was because they didn’t see me.”
“I remember hiding behind my mother’s corpse for a whole day and night. I didn’t dare to cry, scream, call for help, move or anything because I was afraid of making noise. I felt like a cattle that might be slaughtered for meat if I so much as twitched the wrong way. The only things that kept me company were the snow, the wind, and my dead parents’ bodies.”
“At the time, I couldn’t help but ask myself the same question over and over again: How could human beings be so cruel to their own kind? How are they worse than even the Strangers who haunt the lands? Since then, I swore that I would become so strong that no one could ever prey on me again. I would rather be a monster of chaos than a woman among pigs and dogs.”
“Unfortunately, I had stayed in the snow for so long that my body was permanently damaged. I had become so weak that I couldn’t even practice the mildest martial art to begin my dream. You have no idea how disappointed I was.”
“Thankfully, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I happened to stumble upon a book that taught me how to summon the Nether Lord and fulfill any wish. I didn’t actually think it would work of course, but despair can be a powerful motivator. And what do you know? It actually worked!”
“The Nether Lord turned me into a Strangerkin and taught me how to cultivate. Thanks to it, I became stronger than I could possibly imagine. It’s a great feeling, an intoxicating feeling, a feeling I can never, never, let go.”
“I know you don’t agree, but humans and Strangers are the same to me. Sometimes, humans can be worse than Strangers. I would know. There is only the strong and the weak, high and low, life and death!”
“Is that so?” Ling Jianqiu eyed his daughter coldly as he raised his sword and took one step toward her. As he gathered a devastating torrent of sword qi, he uttered, “In that case, you won’t mind if I abuse my strength and end your tyranny once and for all, right?!”
Unfortunately, he failed to bring his sword down before Evergreen smiled and did a little wave. A pair of vines suddenly burst out of the ground, slammed into his sword qi, and shattered it with ease. Not done yet, they whipped Ling Jianqiu and sent him flying through the air like a rag doll.
Right before he would crash into a wall, Ye Qing took one step and appeared behind Ling Jianqiu in the blink of an eye. He caught the Chief of Bureau, rotated him to exhaust his momentum, and gently laid him on the floor.
“You’re too good a man to abuse others, Chief Ling. Leave this kind of work to me!” Ye Qing rose to his feet and slowly turned toward Evergreen Ivy. “If nothing else, I have a score to settle with her!”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Evergreen Ivy crossed her legs and caressed her bangs lazily. “Now, please get out of the way, my dear seniors. I would be very sad if you were accidentally hurt during our fight!”
Ye Qing had talked a lot just now, and he didn’t feel like wasting his breath on Evergreen Ivy any longer. His spine curved like a dragon, he unleashed a devastating punch using the “Cloud Vaporization Style” once more. The Burning Wind howled, and dark red flames spread toward the Stranger like a fog!
“Is that an Astral Refinement stage fist art? You truly are full of surprises!” Evergreen Ivy giggled as she sensed the incoming heat wave. After commanding a vine to pull her out of the way, a wall of vines burst out of the ground and blocked in front of the punch like a wall.
Unfortunately, fire was highly effective against plants, and Ye Qing’s Burning Wind was the bane of Evergreen Ivy’s vines. The Burning Wind easily burned the wall of vines into dust before continuing toward the Stranger like a fiery dragon.
“How does it feel to be the hunted, Evergreen Ivy?” Ye Qing taunted. So long as he was still alive, the punch would not fade on its own. In fact, it grew stronger the longer it traveled. It wasn’t named the “Cloud Vaporization Style” for nothing.