Stranger Danger

Chapter 1071: Black Water

“Ugh...”

In his sleep, Ye Qing felt warm and cozy, but his face was the opposite. It felt like morning dew had condensed on his face, or perhaps snow was falling from the sky.

Ye Qing subconsciously touched his face and felt something wet and cool. It might actually be morning dew.

“Chirp chirp!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing heard a series of bird chirps. Then, he felt something touching his face and fingers. It felt warm.

Ye Qing forced open his tired eyes and raised his head slowly. His whole body felt sore like he had been tossed into a millstone and ground a couple dozen times. He was numb, sore, and completely out of energy.

“Birds?”

When Ye Qing finally managed to lift his head and turn his neck, he found himself looking at a couple of sparrow-sized birds. They were red from head to toe, and a sheen of fire seemed to be covering their feathers. The fire wasn’t hot, however. It was warm and soothing like sunlight.

The birds bounced on their feet and chirped softly when they saw that he had awakened. They looked very happy.

The birds might look no more dangerous than your common sparrow, and Ye Qing’s senses told him that they were Strangers. Phenomenon-class Strangers no less.

That said, Ye Qing could not sense the natural evil and brutality most Strangers exuded. In fact, they seemed perfectly friendly and kind.

It was at this moment Ye Qing felt a cool sensation on his forehead. A bird had picked up a morning dew from a nearby flower and gently placed it on his forehead.

He wondered if it was his imagination. When the dew landed on his forehead, he immediately felt a cool sensation spreading throughout his headspace. It then spread across his whole body and alleviated his soreness and discomfort considerably.

“Thank you...”

Ye Qing thanked the bird before forcing himself to sit up.

Seeing that Ye Qing had regained enough strength to sit up, the birds chirped a few times and flew around Ye Qing one time. Then, they took off toward the distant clouds and disappeared.

Ye Qing cracked a smile as he saw the birds off with his eyes. He was just about to look away when suddenly, his eyes widened, and his pupils contracted into pinheads.

He saw a river. A black river.

His surroundings looked peaceful and tranquil, and the Radiant Tree was just a few steps away from him. However, who could say that no danger lay behind this veneer of peace and tranquility?

According to “On Picking Lost Items Across Mountains and Seas”, one must first cross the Black Water and scale the Cyan Mountain before they could reach the Radiant Tree. Although the book did not state that the Black Water and Cyan Mountain were dangerous, that by no means meant that the landmarks were safe.

Besides, even after the birds’ ministrations, he was still completely exhausted in both body and mind. If his carelessness put himself in grave danger, or if his weakness caused him to miss his chance to enter the Kunlun Ruins at the last possible moment, that would be absolutely terrible, wouldn’t it?

The more critical the situation, the more one should remain calm and collected.

One’s mind should be like water especially when they were facing a grave situation!

He had reached the journeyman level of the Earthly Sovereign True Body. Therefore, he could endlessly absorb the power of the earth to restore his vigor and strength.

Besides that, this place was overflowing with spiritual qi, so it only took him a little over two hours to recover most of his strength.

Still, just in case this place proved to be more challenging than expected, Ye Qing meditated a while longer until his mind and spirit had recovered fully. Only then did he finally depart for the Radiant Tree.

There was a saying that went something like this, “The rider saw a mountain and spurred his horse toward it, but the horse died before it could reach its destination.” What did it mean? It meant that some things were easier said than done, and some distances were far longer than they appeared to be.

This was the case for the Black Water and the Cyan Mountain. When he first woke up, he thought that the landmarks weren’t too far away from him. In reality, it took him over an hour of walking before he finally reached the rivershore.

On the way, Ye Qing discovered a strange phenomenon. There did not seem to be a sun in this realm. There was only the peak of the Cyan Mountain and the fiery Radiant Tree that illuminated everything.

It almost felt as if the Radiant Tree had replaced the sun. It also looked like there was no such thing as day and night in this realm. There was only eternal crimson daytime.

“Is this the Black Water?”

Ye Qing knew at first glance that the Black Water was thick, vast, and powerful, but it wasn’t until he arrived at the rivershore that he realized that he had vastly underestimated it.

The black river looked infinitely wide and endlessly long. Its water was as black as ink, and its currents were flowing without the wind and destructively ferocious.

Ye Qing had no doubt that even a Trueman or a Grandmaster would balk before the current. They might be engulfed at the first exchange.

Even worse, Ye Qing could sense a strange energy permeating the black river. It was cold and dangerous.

This Black Water did not feel like a river that belonged to the human world at all. In his memory, the only river that might compare to it was the Yellow Spring of Fengdu.