Stranger Danger-Chapter 1260: Breakthrough

One-armed Buddha was the one-armed arhat who transformed the river water into a lotus platform.

One-armed Buddha hailed from the Buddhist Sect of Killing. He practiced a martial art called the “Boundless Killing”[1].

“Boundless Killing” was a dark art through and through, but it required its practitioner to possess a pure, innocent heart, and deep Buddhist nature. It spoke of killing for good and becoming a Buddha through killing.

To put it in simpler terms, the practitioner must possess a pure heart, and they must firmly believe from the bottom of their hearts that their killings were done solely for accumulating good karma and boundless beneficence. Only then could they even begin to practice this art.

The more the practitioner killed, the faster “Boundless Killing” progressed. Because of this, One-armed Buddha was also known as “Killer For Good” in the jianghu.

One Sword was the man who split open Ye Qing’s forehead using his sword pellet. Originally an average killer of Westwind Inn, accidentally stumbled upon the inheritance of an ancient sword celestial and learned the way to temper a sword pellet. As the saying went, “A sword pellet in my stomach, and my sword is unparalleled and unmatched.” Since then, One Sword rose to the heavens and became one of the most famous killers in Westwind Inn.

Although One Sword wasn’t the most powerful Shopkeeper in terms of cultivation level, he was absolutely among the best. Once he unleashed his sword pellet, he did not need a second strike to end his target’s life. That was why people called him “One Sword”.

Finally, Thousand Change was the person who saved Shadow right before Ye Qing’s light would do permanent damage.

As their name implied, Thousand Change could look like anyone. The most mysterious killer of the thirty-six Shopkeepers bar none, they could take on any appearance and act out any personality perfectly. Male, female, old, young; beautiful, ugly, good, evil—they could do it all. No one except the Boss of Westwind Inn knew about their true identity. Hence, the people called them Thousand Change.

Besides boasting a “thousand changes”, Thousand Change was also a master of an art called “Catoptric Teleportation”. He owned a mirror that could turn everything within tens of kilometers into a mirror and allow someone to pass through it and appear elsewhere. That was how he saved Shadow earlier.

Because of this art, Thousand Change’s assassinations were unpredictable and indefensible. Thousand Change had accepted 1,231 assassination missions since joining Westwind Inn, and he had never failed.

“You recognize us, Mad Lord? How honored we are!”

Thousand Change let out a chuckle that sounded masculine, feminine, old and youthful all at once. It was quite bizarre to say the least.

“You’re all rather infamous. It would be stranger if I cannot recognize you,” Ye Qing replied with a smile. Despite his situation, he did not look panicked in the slightest.

“If you know who we are, then surrender already. Otherwise, don’t blame us for what comes next,” Fist Demon threatened while folding his arms in front of his chest. The demonic qi churning around him was so thick it resembled black clouds that could destroy a city.

“That’s funny,” Ye Qing said with a look of amusement. “I’ll be frank: the likes of you aren’t enough to kill me.”

“Your greatest weapon was the element of surprise, but despite all your efforts, you were unable to kill me. Therefore, there is no longer any chance you might be able to kill me.”

Fist Demon’s face darkened. He wanted to explode, but Thousand Change stopped him and said, “We admit that you are quite extraordinary to be able to survive our planned ambush.”

They had planned the ambush earlier carefully. First, Shadow would attack Ye Qing with “Hundred Shadow Killer” and draw his attention. Then, Qin Princess would use “Robbing The Six Senses” and take away his ability to seize the initiative. After that, Fist Demon and One-armed Arhat would join the fray.

If Shadow and Qin Princess’ objective was to take away Ye Qing’s initiative, then Fist Demon and One-armed Arhat’s objective was to breach his defense.

Fist Demon and One-armed Buddha were famous for their strength. The fact that they were able to weaken and crush Ye Qing protective qi and Profound Yellow Mother Qi just now was proof of that.

One Sword was the knife meant to end it all. His job was to unleash his sword pellet and deal Ye Qing a severe blow after Ye Qing’s protective qi was broken, and his Profound Yellow Mother Qi was weakened.

Finally, Thousand Change’s role was to support the group using Catoptric Teleportation and prepare for anything.

The plan was perfect, and the combined strength of six Great Truemen—all of them experts in assassination—were no joke. Forget a mere Great Grandmaster, even a Half-Sage in the top twenty of the Earthly Champions Ranking would be hardpressed to survive.

However, despite all their calculations and planning, they still underestimated Ye Qing’s strength. As a result, their plan had deviated from the expected outcome slightly.

But only slightly. A slight deviation was not a failure. Although they had failed to deal Ye Qing a severe blow, they still managed to injure him. The wound on his forehead might look insignificant, but the sword qi constantly eating away at his flesh and qi was no joke. Even at the young man’s current strength, he would not be able to eliminate it immediately.

In other words, Ye Qing had taken a moderate amount of damage, but they were mostly fine except Shadow, who had taken some light injuries.

Therefore, this was not the outcome they had anticipated, but it was definitely not a failure.

Thousand Change said, “But as extraordinary as you are, you still took damage, didn’t you?”

“I did.” Ye Qing wiped his hand across his forehead, and for a moment, the shrill cry of metal pierced everyone’s ears. So sharp was the condensed storm of sword qi that blood was drawn from his finger.

When Ye Qing lowered his hand though, the wound on his finger was already gone.

“But so what? I can just run. Can you stop me even with the six of you?”

“Run?”

Finally finding an opportunity to taunt Ye Qing, Fist Demon interjected, “Do you seriously think you can run?”

“See that moon above your head. We call it the Moon Essence Wheel. It’s a Disaster-class Strange Artifact, and it’s sealed off everything within five kilometers. So, do you still think you can escape?”

“Is that so?”

Ye Qing remained completely unperturbed. “Never mind then. Dragging some of you to the grave with me isn’t a bad idea either.”

“So, who among you are prepared to die?”

“Kekeke... I don’t think you can kill any of us either.”

Shadow let out a weird, scornful chuckle when he heard this.

“Oh? And why’s that?” Ye Qing asked.

“Because we aren’t the only ones who have come today.”

Shadow called out, “Sunlao Taijun, Old Man of Zhi, Taoist of Sleep, you can come out now.”

Five men stepped into the moonlight as soon as Shadow finished. They then stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the six killers.

“The Three Elders of Taisui...”

Ye Qing suddenly let out a sigh. “Six Shopkeepers from Westwind Inn, and Three Elders and Two Stewards from Taisui Mountain? You people sure think highly of me.”

“Hahaha... you are quite the famous one, Mad Lord. No amount of caution is too much.”

Thousand Change was obviously delighted with this outcome. They said while laughing loudly, “So, any last words?”

Ye Qing remained calm and silent. He did not reveal any of the anxiety, worry, depression, or despair the six Shopkeepers were anticipating.

In fact, they saw a flash of emotion in his eyes. It was... pity?

He wasn’t pitying himself though. He was pitying... them?

They didn’t understand why, but the six Shopkeepers suddenly felt a sense of unease and fear.

“Let’s go. It’s time to end this.”

Worried that something unexpected might happen, Thousand Change gave the order. The sooner they ended this, the better.

“Indeed, this is getting boring.”

However, the cornered Ye Qing also let out a sigh and said, “Do it!”

1. Guys I’m starting to think there’s no such thing as a good Buddhist sect in this world. ☜