Chapter 349: The Wolf Cries Wolf
“Stop! That’s the Qi Eater! You’re killing yourself!”
Qi Xuanyun was so horrified and angry that he barely waited for Ye Qing to finish before rushing forward to stop the crowd, but...
“What Qi Eater? Get out of my way, Taoist!”
“Yeah, get lost!”
“Out, out! I’ll kick your ass if you stay here any longer!”
“You guys...” Qi Xuanyun froze in place when the people he was trying to save turned on him instead. He didn’t know what he should do to convince the people that he meant well.
“Just because I’m a ghost doesn’t mean I’m a bad person!” The Qi Eater hurriedly fanned the flames. “Don’t listen to his bullshit, people! It’s clear this young Taoist just wants to claim the gold for himself! Chase him away!”
Qi Xuanyun had never encountered something like this. He truly wanted to save these people from the bottom of his heart, but not only did they not listen, they were turning on him.
Slowly, a sheen of purple colored over his eyes. His aura turned cold and murderous.
“He’s still too young and immature!” Ye Qing shook his head at this. “I’ll do it!”
He could tell that Qi Xuanyun wanted to smite these fools with a Palm Thunder. He had no qualms with that, but he was definitely going to draw the yin guards’ attention if he did that. He had to step up before the worst case scenario happened.
Ye Qing stepped forward and said loudly, “Yeah, shut up, you Taoist! Don’t get in our way, you greedy, selfish prick! Get out get out get out!”
The moment Qi Xuanyun heard Ye Qing’s voice, most of his anger disappeared like it was never there. His shock was another story though. Slack-jawed, he stared at Ye Qing and tried to understand what the Spirit Purifier was doing.
“What’s Joyless doing?” Even Chu Nianjiu was a little confused by this opening. “Did he betray us?”
Ye Qing’s companions weren’t the only ones who were confused by this. He had stolen the aggressive crowd and the delighted Qi Eater’s wind from their sails as well.
Ye Qing paid them no attention though. He Jojo-walked his way to Qi Xuanyun and shoved him away mercilessly. “The fuck ya looking at? Look at me again, and I’ll beat you up!”
He then turned toward the Qi Eater and declared imperiously, “I want to use your bottle.”
“Hey! I came—”
The guy who was supposed to go first complained, but Ye Qing tilted his head and glared at him. “Excuse me? What were you saying again?”
A powerful aura full of the promise of violence washed over the man. His words immediately died in his throat.
This guy is stronger than me. Abort, abort!
Ye Qing waited a moment just in case some other idiot wanted to challenge him. When no one spoke, he beckoned the Qi Eater with a hand and said, “What are you waiting for? Give me the bottle already.”
“Of course, my lord!” This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com
Although the burial clothes Ye Qing was wearing had covered up his yang qi, the Qi Eater could still sense it because it was his nature. Not only was it one of the most refined yang qi it had ever felt, Ye Qing was a virgin too. Yang qi that had never been vented was exceptionally nutritious for a Qi Eater.
From the ghost’s perspective, Ye Qing was the definition of a big fish. Of course it was excited by this unexpected boon.
“Alright! Watch me.”
The corners of Ye Qing’s lips curled into a devilish smirk as he stared at the massive bottle. All of a sudden, the Qi Eater felt a bad premonition. Before it could figure out where its source, Ye Qing sucked in a deep breath and blew into the bottle.
This time, every hair on the Qi Eate’s body stood on end. Although Ye Qing wasn’t targeting it, it was one hundred percent certain that the puff of yang qi was more than potent enough to kill it.
The man immediately froze in place, eyes glassy and unfocused. At the same time, a semi-transparent silhouette left his body. The yin guard had smacked his soul out of his body in one strike.
After that, the yin guard eyed the surrounding crowd and said frigidly, “This is the Yin Market and the Fengdu. We don’t give second warnings.”
“Besides, the Yin Market is a place of fair trade. You got what you paid for, did you not? It’s not anyone’s fault you’re too dumb to recognize that the price of the good is your life.”
The victims’ faces were ugly, but they didn’t dare to mouth a retort. For one, the yin guard was incredibly strong. Two, this was the ghost’s home turf. And three, what he said made sense. They were the ones who were too stupid to recognize the Qi Eater’s trick.
The yin guard hmphed one more time before turning his icy gaze on the Qi Eater. Of course he knew that the Qi Eater had inflamed the crowd on purpose.
“Er...” The Qi Eater shivered when it felt the gaze. It immediately put on a crying face again and wailed, “I have always been an honest and law-abiding ghost, my lord! You gotta defend me, my lord!”
“Hmph.”
Although the yin guard found the Qi Eater’s actions despicable, it was also true that it wasn’t illegal. This was how the Yin Market functioned. Just like the yang fault, you only had yourself to blame if you were tricked. Sure, the price of getting tricked in the Yin Market could very well be one’s life, but so what? A human’s death would only benefit Fengdu.
No, they weren’t stupid enough to encourage such behavior. That was one way to promote the destruction of Fengdu. But the higher-ups certainly saw no reason to forbid it either.
The yin guard looked at Ye Qing next and ordered, “You look like a malicious human. Show me your Yin Token.”
And finally, the yin guard was a ghost and a member of Fengdu. He might be a neutral party in this case, but he was biased in favor of his kind as a matter of course.
You can tell I’m a “malicious” person even though I’m wearing a mask? Why don’t you flap your wings and ascend to the heavens then?
Knowing better than to antagonize someone who was already biased against him, Ye Qing obediently bided his time while producing his Yin Token. “Over here, my lord.”
At first, the yin guard regarded Ye Qing just like any other human. But when he saw the Yin Token Ye Qing handed him, his eyes flickered with a hint of astonishment, gravity, and envy. He immediately shoved his bias and arrogance to the back of his mind and asked respectfully, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“All I ask you to see justice through, my lord. This clearly isn’t my fault,” Ye Qing said while mulling over the flickers of emotions he sensed from the yin guard. It would seem that his Yin Token really was an extraordinary item.
Now was not the time to be distracted, however. Ye Qing gathered his mind and continued, “He said that anyone can blow into his bottle and receive a block of gold, so I did. But not only did the bottle shatter, I didn’t even receive my share of gold. Now, he’s demanding compensation for me? How is that fair?”
“Everyone here is a witness, my lord. You can ask them if you don’t believe me.”
The yin guard frowned and looked at the Qi Eater. “Is he telling the truth?”
“Of course not! You know that my bottle is my innate magic! How can anyone blow it up like a balloon? He obviously did something to my bottle I couldn’t see. You can’t fall for his sophistry, my lord!” The Qi Eater complained.
“And what do you have to say to that?” The yin guard looked at Ye Qing again.
“What do you even want me to say? It claims that I did something to his bottle, but it didn’t have any evidence to support it. But I have scores of witnesses who can prove that all I did was blow into the bottle. Surely someone would notice something if I really tried to pull a trick under their noses?”
Ye Qing sneered. “Also, this bastard got it all wrong. I’m the one who’s demanding compensation here, not it.”
“What do you mean?” The yin guard raised an eyebrow.
Ye Qing explained, “First, all I did was blow into the bottle, and the damn thing suddenly shattered on its own. It said it itself that the bottle is its innate magic. How could I possibly blow it up with my breath alone? It’s obvious that the bastard’s trying to scam me.”
“Second, it promised that anyone who blew into the bottle would be rewarded with a block of gold. I did, but it didn’t give me the gold it promised. Don’t you agree that it owes me a block of gold, my lord?”
“You want the gold?” The yin guard narrowed his eyes. I bet you want to be the King of Hell too, don’t you?
“Of course I do! You’re the one who said that this is a place of fair trade, isn’t it? I already paid it my breath, but where is my gold?” Ye Qing shrugged. “Also, this gold is very important to me. It’s the key to world peace, you know?”
“The key... to world peace?” The yin guard’s tone turned incredulously. Is he crazy, or am I crazy?
“Yep! Everyone needs money to build a family, don’t they?” Ye Qing scratched his head embarrassedly.
“And how does that relate to world peace?”
The yin guard wasn’t the only one who was completely thrown off by Ye Qing’s insane logic. They were all wondering where the hell Ye Qing was going with this.