Stranger Danger

Chapter 896: The Fog Rises, and The Heart Demon Comes

The palm strike descended, strong and windy. Green fog crawling with all kinds of deadly insects blew toward the group.

Eccentric Yao’s true name was Yao E, and he was a Half-Sage. He resided in the One Hundred Thousand Mountains of Nanjiang. While his official moniker was the Old Man of Nanjiang, his disagreeable behavior and temperamental personality also earned him the derogatory nickname Eccentric Yao.

Yao E practiced the cultivation art “Eight Consummate Arts of Shamanic Gu”. Legend had it that the ancient shamans were famed for their shamanism, curses, gu, poison, puppets, and beasts. Yao E was especially adroit in gu and poison.

The palm strike he was using was named “To Speak of Green Mayfly”. It was both a palm technique and a secret art.

Despite its poetic name, the palm technique was anything but. Vicious and cruel, it was something Yao E had created by combining the thousand-year-old miasma in the One Hundred Thousand Mountains of Nanjiang and a kind of tiny Stranger named the Miniscule Mayfly.

The thousand-year-old miasma of the One Hundred Thousand Mountains of Nanjiang was eerie green in color and thick as a fog. Smelling it would instantly trigger an onset of dizziness and multiple organ failure, and touching it would cause one’s flesh and blood to rot, and one’s bones to melt like liquid. It was terrifying to say the least.

The Stranger, Miniscule Mayfly was a Hatred-class Stranger. Small as a speck of dust and nigh indistinguishable with the naked eye, it was an evil and bizarre creature that fed on one’s consciousness.

As the palm strike combined the effects of a thousand-year-old miasma and countless Miniscule Mayflies, it possessed both the ability to corrode one’s astral qi and physical body, and extinguish one’s mind. To call it a vicious technique would be an understatement.

As a result, the idiotic warrior who beckoned Yao E to target his head let out a bloodcurdling scream and dissolved into a pool of pus in just the blink of an eye—though to be fair, he never thought that Yao E would dare to attack him in the Six Livestocks Market.

Mo Luo, Broken Finger Xuanyuan and the others were also caught in the attack and took damage to their body and mind.

“Argh! You have gone insane, Eccentric Yao!”

“You are courting death, Eccentric Yao!”

“I’ll kill you!”

Naturally, Mo Luo and the rest of the victims were furious. They all pounced toward Eccentric Yao and attacked him.

No one doubted Old Yao’s strength, but everyone here was a champion of a sort, and they had the numbers advantage. It wasn’t long before Eccentric Yao fell into a disadvantage.

“Stop! Something’s not right!”

Ye Feihua and a handful of people were the only ones who noticed that something was amiss and tried to stop them.

“You’re in cahoots with Eccentric Yao, Ye Feihua? I’ll kill you!” Mo Luo roared with bloodshot eyes before charging toward Ye Feihua.

In response, Ye Feihua mustered his strength and shouted like a heavenly gong, “Calm down! This is the Six Livestocks Market! Do you want to die?”

The shout snuffed out the unnatural rage gripping Mo Luo, Broken Finger Xuanyuan and more and snapped them out of their trance. When they awakened and recalled what they just did, their complexions turned as pale as death.

Yao E in particular staggered and nearly fell on his butt.

“What did I do?”

“What did I just do?”

“What on earth possessed me to attack in the Six Livestocks Market?”

No one was laughing at Yao E, however. It was because everyone was gripped by the same confusion and regret.

The next moment, the entire Six Livestocks Market started shaking. Then, a sea of fog surged out from the underground.

“Nooooooo!”

Suddenly, Yao E let out a cry of shock. When they looked, they saw Yao E’s body twisting unnaturally into something animalistic and growing fur all of a sudden. No matter how hard he screamed or struggled, he could not resist the fog. He transformed into a goat in just the blink of an eye.

Not a moment too soon, the goat Yao E had transformed into slowly grew transparent and melted into the fog.

“Dammit! This can’t be happening!”

Mo Luo, Broken Finger Xuanyuan and everyone who attacked earlier turned completely pale. They began casting their Magia or activating their Strange Artifacts in an attempt to leave the Six Livestocks Market.

Unfortunately, nothing happened no matter what they tried to use. The next moment, Mo Luo, Broken Finger Xuanyuan and the rest of the attackers transformed into various livestocks and followed in Yao E’s footsteps.

Ye Feihua and the remaining survivors all wore ugly expressions on their faces. They survived because they hadn’t broken the rules of the six Livestocks Market, but how could they be at ease when top-rate masters such as Yao E, Mo Luo and more had transformed into livestocks and were consumed by the fog? How could they calm down when they were as weak as helpless ants before the rules of the Six Livestocks Market? How could they not be shocked or terrified?

“What... what the hell just happened?” someone stammered.

“I think something influenced our emotions and desires,” Ye Feihua answered slowly. He was right. Something had influenced Yao E, Mo Luo and the others and magnified their desires without them knowing. As a result, they became temperamental and more pliable to their baser desires. That was why the tragedy occurred.

The reason Ye Feihua wasn’t affected wasn’t because he was stronger than the victims, but because his cultivation art granted him near immunity to such influences. His cultivation art was named “The Heavens and I Share One Heart”, and it made its practitioner more like the heavens: impartial, emotionless, and without desire. That was why he was able to escape disaster.

“Would... Would you happen to know what influenced us, Brother Ye? Is it that Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Yin God?” Another person asked.

“I don’t think so,” Ye Feihua shook his head. They were Great Trueman or Half Sages, and they were all on their guard. The Paranirmitava?avartin Heavenly Demon Yin God did not yet possess such power.

“Tighten your mental defenses and be ready for anything.”

It was at this moment someone asked suddenly, “Why is the fog still present?”

“Hmm?” Ye Feihua and the others noticed the same thing right after. Normally, the fog that consumed those who broke the rules of the Six Livestocks Market would automatically disappear after the deed. But not only did they remain, they were growing thicker and thicker. It was unusual to say the least.

It was then a man slowly stepped out of the fog. He looked to be in his forties and wore robes woven from coarse fabric. His countenance was gentle and cool, and his eyes resembled pools of clear water. However, they were also deep and distant as if they had been tempered by the endless passage of time and the everchanging reflections of red dust. All that remained was infinite intelligence and wisdom.

The middle-aged man looked ordinary, but everyone blanched and trembled from head to toe. Although they hadn’t felt any powerful or terrifying aura from the man, every cell in their body was screaming for them to fear him; to stay as far away as possible.

The man’s attention was not on them, however. He was looking up at the sky.

The sky of the Six Livestocks Market was pitch black, starless and infinite. When the middle-aged man stared at it, it was like someone had chucked a rock into a tranquil pond. It caused a gigantic splash that stirred the night sky and made it look like it was about to fall upon the Six Livestocks Market.

“Look! What... What is that?”

As the sky shattered, and the night churned like a whirlpool, a human face slowly appeared in the sky. The human face was stretched from one end of the sky to the other, gigantic and all-encompassing. It looked like a face, but it also looked like an amalgamation of countless faces. No face was the same as the other: male and female, old and young. Every face was wearing a different expression as well. Joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, resentment, hatred, sadness, delight. It was like a reflection of the endless facades of humanity and myriad manifestations of red dust.