Stranger Danger

To be specific, the woman in front of him wasn’t a living, breathing human. She was a corpse.

Ye Qing knew this because he couldn’t sense a sliver of vitality or vigor from her whatsoever. Moreover, unlike most other people around him, the “fragrant” scent she was giving off smelled rotten and disgusting, dark and desolate to his senses.

Those who inhaled too much of the scent would most likely be possessed by death qi and transformed into a half-corpse.

Amorous Mother was no human. Naturally, her five children weren’t human either.

“Slurp…”

Seemingly afraid of all the attention they were receiving, the five children had hidden behind Amorous Mother. They were currently peeking out from her back and examining the crowd.

Ye Qing heard the sound of someone sucking in their saliva though. The kids weren’t afraid at all. No, they were hungry.

He knew this because he could see the bloodthirst and madness swirling in their eyes. Like ferocious tigers that had been starved for days, they were just barely holding themselves back from drinking the blood and devouring the flesh of the sweet, tender lambs before them.

The children weren’t the only ones who harbored such desires. Amorous Mother herself was licking her lips constantly. Her appearance might look gentle and inviting, but her heart harbored even greater madness, bloodthirst and desire than her children.

Amorous Mother scolded the crowd before her stomach slowly split open to reveal her womb. Not a moment too soon, the five children rushed to enter her belly or more accurately, her womb.

A few breaths later, all five children had crawled into Amorous Mother’s womb. It was a stunning, unbelievable moment to put it mildly. Her stomach slowly healed back to normal after the children were inside, though now she looked like she was ten months pregnant.

Amorous Mother rubbed her belly and shot the stunned crowd a seductive wink. “If you like me that much, why don’t you come visit me at my house after the Treasure Appreciation Auction is over? I promise you’ll be able to see everything.”

“Ahem…”

Everyone who knew about Amorous Mother coughed twice and looked away from the woman.

Sorry, but I don’t think I want to visit any woman at a grave.

That’s right. Amorous Mother lived at a grave. Legend had it that Amorous Mother was originally a dead woman buried at a grave. She was gorgeous beyond imagination when she was alive, and she was buried at a place of supreme yin, which prevented her corpse from rotting. Over time, she actually looked better and almost lifelike thanks to the nurturing effects of the yin qi.

Later, a cultist accidentally stumbled upon the female corpse and found her to be irresistible. So, he copulated with her.

Absolute yin gave birth to yang, and absolute yang gave birth to yin. The miraculous balance and co-existence between yin and yang was how all living things came to be. The female corpse was an object of absolute yin. After it received an injection of yang qi, it actually gained sentience and became aware for the first time. Not only that, it—no, she—even became pregnant.

Although the female corpse was now sentient, her body was still dead. Therefore, her infant was born dead as well.

At first, the female corpse was so weak that she could only tempt weak humans such as travelers and scholars to her grave before killing them to consume their blood and essence. Later, she grew strong enough to kill the cultist who raped her, dug out his heart and ate it raw. Since then, she called herself Amorous Mother and roamed Bei Mo as a vile monster whose very name could turn one’s blood into ice.

That was why no one who knew about Amorous Mother’s background wanted to catch her attention. They didn’t have a death wish after all.

“Ahem… they may be unwilling, but I am, beauty. I’ll pay you a visit at your house—or maybe you can pay me a visit at my house. I promise you that my bed is huge and comfortable.”

The dead silence was just starting to grow uncomfortable when a weak, ancient voice came from a corner of the hall. When Ye Qing turned to look, he saw that the speaker was a listless old man with a face full of wrinkles.

The old man looked like he had one, no, one and a half feet in the grave. He had barely spoken a few sentences, but that was enough to make him pant and send him into a coughing fit.

Bro, I think you should worry about your health more than your lower brother. Can you even get on top of your bed, much less use it for more vigorous activities? Ye Qing mentally ranted.

Despite his thoughts, he knew that the old man was no ordinary person. It was because not a single person dared to sit or stand within twenty meters of him. When the crowd saw that he was the speaker, they even blanched and soundlessly shuffled further away from him. If he wasn’t mistaken, the crowd feared him more than they feared even Amorous Mother.

Before Amorous Mother could react, a somewhat frivolous, teasing voice came from the entrance. “Can you even get it up, Weak Old Man? You look like you might die any moment.”

The speaker was a man in his thirties. He was handsome and holding a white paper fan. He looked a little like a young noble, except his hands, feet and neck and other parts of his body were exposed. The exposed skin were verdant green in color, spotty, and cracked like the bark of an old tree. It was an odd appearance to say the least.

“Ancestor Greenwood? I didn’t think he would come.”

“This year’s Treasure Appreciation Auction must be really special. I can’t believe that powerhouses like Amorous Mother, Weak Old Man and Ancestor Greenwood have all shown up.”

“It’s not just them. I saw Red Calabash Celestial, Defeated and Actor at the scene as well.”

“Really? Heh! It looks like this Treasure Appreciation Auction is gonna be a real interesting one.”

Everywhere in the hall, the people were murmuring in small voices. Thanks to Ye Qing’s powerful demonic thought, he was able to keep up with all of them.

Out of everyone the crowd was discussing, Ye Qing had only heard of Ancestor Greenwood and Defeated.

Ancestor Greenwood was a Half-Step Grandmaster and the eighty-third warrior on the Black List. Despite his youthful appearance, he was actually over a hundred years old already. He just happened to cultivate a special martial art that allowed him to preserve his youthful appearance using plant energy. It was how he earned his moniker.

The reason Ancestor Greenwood was named on the Black List was because he was an exceptionally lecherous man. He especially adored another man’s wife[1] and would stoop to any low to obtain the women of his desires. Hence, he was loathed by all men righteous and orthodox.

Defeated was the one they called “the man who never wins” in the jianghu. He too was named on the Black List and ranked at ninety-fifth.

In fact, Defeated wasn’t weaker than Ancestor Greenwood. He was ranked behind the old man not because he was weak, but because he wasn’t as notorious.

Defeated was a neutral man who did whatever he felt like. He was obsessed with martial arts and especially fond of challenging others into a duel. Unfortunately for him, he lost most of his fights.

It wasn’t because he was weak, however. It was simply because he only challenged those who were stronger or more experienced than him. As he never challenged a warrior who was weaker than him, he naturally lost more fights than he won. That was how he gained his moniker, and why people called him “the man who never wins”.

Despite his moniker, few people dared to make an enemy out of Defeated. After all, he was a man who constantly challenged those who were stronger than him… and survived. That in itself was the proof of his strength. Even those who only believed in black-and-white qualifications could not underestimate him as he was ranked seventh on the Human Champions Ranking. Cultivation wise, he was a step away from entering the Grandmaster stage.

Ye Qing was stronger than most of the people at the scene. Naturally, he could sense that there were plenty of strong warriors—all of them on par with Ancestor Greenwood and Amorous Mother at least—in the hall as well. He too wanted to know the Treasure Appreciation Auction was offering that elites from both sides of the jianghu decided to show their faces.

“Cough! Cough. I may be frail, but I’m still younger than you. Therefore, I must be stronger than you in that department,” Weak Old Man answered slowly.

“So what if I’m old? I’m hale and hearty despite my ears, alright?” Ancestor Greenwood chuckled. “I’ll prove it to you another day if you don’t believe me.”

Weak Old Man did not say anything else after that. He simply looked away and coughed softly into his hand.

“Hahaha… come, my beautiful Amorous Mother. Allow me to bask in your company.” Ancestor Greenwood laughed loudly when he received no answer from Weak Old Man. He then grabbed Amorous Mother’s hand and led her to the side of the hall.

“Sure. I’ve been looking forward to witnessing your strength myself.”

Amorous Mother did not reject him. She put on a bit of false resistance before taking a seat beside Ancestor Greenwood.

1. NTR rangers… assemble. ☜

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