Stranger Danger-Chapter 1785: Anomalous Flat Peach

“That’s Indulgence Monk!”

Feng Qingyou recognized the man. “Indulgence Monk is a notorious evil warrior in the Southern Sea land region. He was originally a monk of the Vajra Temple but could not stand the many rules and monastic discipline of his temple. In the end, he killed his master and escaped from his temple. Later, he obtained the ancient No Guard Ancient Buddha’s ‘Indulgence Buddha Speaks of the Sacred King Sutra’ by chance and became a Sage. Since then, he called himself the Indulgence Sacred Buddha. However, most jianghu people simply called him Indulgence Monk.”

“As he is indulgent, he indulges in all of the sins that a temple or a monastery usually forbids. Greed, anger, delusion and desire; wine, sex, avarice and temper; the five poisons and six desires, the seven emotions and eight distresses. He indulges in all of them. Therefore, Indulgence Monk is a heinous man who has committed every crime under the sun. He is an evil cultivator every man and woman of the Southern Sea loathes.”

Ye Qing nodded. To summarize, Indulgence Monk was a bad person.

“Is that... an immortal peach?!”

Indulgence Monk appeared at the scene in the blink of an eye. Looking at the distant peach tree and immortal peach, he said excitedly, “The immortal peach actually exists? Hahaha! It looks like my fortune is equal to the heavens’ today!”

Although his eyes were overflowing with excitement and greed, Indulgence Monk did not succumb to rashness and seize the immortal peach immediately. He was a man who became a Sage after all. He could not be a brainless idiot.

After observing for a moment and confirming that there were no danger, Indulgence Monk slowly made his way toward the peach tree. His expression was guarded and cautious.

Ye Qing smirked but did not try to stop him. Calm and collected, he did not look worried or anxious in the slightest.

Why would he, when a fodder was testing the waters for him?

Ye Qing wasn’t worried that Indulgence Monk would get the immortal peach before him either. For starters, he did not think that the monk had the skills to succeed. Even if the monk somehow surpassed his expectations, he could just take the immortal peach from him afterward.

After all, Indulgence Monk was just a first level Sage; a matter of a few punches at best!

Meanwhile, Indulgence Monk was approaching the peach tree at a painstakingly slow pace. Every time he took a step, he would stop in his tracks and observe his surroundings for a moment. Nothing was happening though. He did not encounter any resistance or anomaly. It wasn’t long before he arrived in front of the pecah tree.

Excited, Indulgence Monk made a grab for the immortal peach.

Was I wrong? Was there no danger after all? Ye Qing wondered.

It was at this moment Elder Furnace suddenly spoke up, “The monk’s about to die!”

Caught off guard by the comment, Ye Qing asked, “What do you mean?”

Before he could finish, he saw Indulgence Monk’s hand coming to a stop just several inches away from the immortal peach. His whole body was shaking, and veins were popping on his arms, necks, and exposed skin in general.

Then, for whatever reason, Indulgence Monk slowly turned around and looked behind himself. He was looking straight in the direction of the group and so gave them a perfect view of his expression.

Right now, Indulgence Monk’s eyes were wide open and full of fear, panic, and struggle. He looked like he saw something horrifying.

The next moment, blood flowed out of Indulgence Monk’s eyes, ears, nose and mouth profusely. At the same time, the struggle and terror on his face slowly turned into an eerie smile.

Suddenly, Indulgence Monk’s head fell off his neck and rolled all the way to Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou’s feet. His eyes were staring straight at them, eerie and terrifying.

“Hah! It’s trying to intimidate us!”

Ye Qing chuckled when he saw this.

It was clear that the peach tree was warning them to stay away. Not only were they over a kilometer away from the peach tree, the ground between them was also craggy and uneven. There was no chance the head had rolled all the way to their feet by coincidence.

“Look!”

It was at this moment something even more terrifying happened. A breeze blew, and the peach tree swayed. The next moment, the immortal peach fell off the branch and landed squarely on Indulgence Monk’s neck.

The immortal peach slowly grew a pair of eyes and a mouth. Its pupils were pitch black, and its mouth was pink and small. It looked rather appealing.

Once the transformation was complete, Indulgence Monk’s corpse began moving. At first, the corpse moved unsteadily probably because the peach wasn’t used to controlling it. However, it adapted just a few breaths later and circled around the peach tree twice as if it was searching for something. Finally, it crouched down and dug one big pit and five small pits underneath the peach tree.

“What is it doing?” Ye Qing asked Elder Furnace.

Elder Furnace shook his head. This was the first time he encountered such a weird scenario either, not to mention that he never knew that the immortal peach could move on its own.

Then again, he rarely saw the immortal peaches throughout his life. After all, the twelve divine herbs were the Shennong Dao Lord’s precious babies. Not anyone got the permission or the chance to see them.

While they were chatting, Immortal Monk ripped open his own chest and dug out all five of his visceras—the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lungs, and the kidneys—and buried them inside the five small pits. Then, he covered up the pits.

Then, he lay himself inside the big pit and covered himself in soil. It looked like he was burying himself.

“Oh? It’s smarter than I thought!”

Ye Qing remarked with a raised eyebrow. The small pits Indulgence Monk had buried his five visceras corresponded to the Five Phases, and the large pit where he was burying himself was facing Kun, a.k.a the earth position. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

In other words, this immortal peach was at least knowledgeable about yin, yang, and the Five Phases. It was incredible to say the least.

“Hey! You forgot the head!” Ye Qing yelled. The five visceras matched the Five Phases, and the body matched the Kun. Now, it just needed the head to match the Qian—the heaven position—to attain perfection.

Indulgence Monk froze as if caught by surprise by Ye Qing’s yell. The immortal peach’s tiny eyes roamed in circles as it mulled over Ye Qing’s words.

A few breaths later, Indulgence Monk sat up and looked in Ye Qing’s direction.

“Here you go.”

Ye Qing picked up Indulgence Monk’s head and tossed it to the immortal peach’s feet.

The immortal peach looked back and forth between Ye Qing and the head beside its feet once before picking up the head and walking to the Qian position. Then, he dug a hole and buried the head inside.

Once done, Indulgence Monk returned to his previous position and resumed his burial. It wasn’t long before he had buried himself completely.

Of course, the immortal peach was buried as well.

After the burial was complete, the peach tree swayed even though there was no wind. Its branches and leaves spread out, and ribbons of profound and mysterious-looking light weaved many fantastical mirages. It was at this moment the immortal peach reappeared in between the mirages and wobbled a little. It was clearly having a great time.

“How interesting!”

Ye Qing smirked. At this point, it was clear that the peach tree and the immortal peach had undergone an anomalous transformation. Just like the Five Phases Celestial Vine, it had become a man-eater.

However, the peach tree and the immortal peach were smarter, stronger, and more dangerous than the Five Phases Celestial Vine.

“Is there anything I should watch out for while plucking this immortal peach, Elder Furnace?”

Elder Furnace had declared Indulgence Monk’s death while the monk was getting ready to pluck the immortal peach. Clearly, he knew something that they didn’t.

Elder Furnace looked at Ye Qing. “Seriously? You still want the immortal peach? Haven’t you seen what happened to the monk?”

“He and I are not the same,” Ye Qing said calmly. “Besides, this is the mythical immortal peach. It would be a shame to not give it a try at least.”