Stranger Danger

Chapter 589: Striking The Hand

Chu Wangsun was clearly stronger than him. Not only was he at the threshold of Grandmaster, Xie Taohua could tell that the scholar could cross over to the next cultivation level if he really wanted to. On the other hand, he still had a ways to go before he could enter the Grandmaster stage.

If Chu Wangsun, the fourth ranked warrior on the Human Champions Ranking, was already this powerful, what about the third-ranked warrior, the “Little Senior Monk of Lanke Temple”[1], the second-ranked warrior, “Sacred Son of Demonic Mountain”, and the first-ranked warrior, the “Little Heavenly Master” of Heavenly Master Mansion.

Ever since he mastered his martial arts and entered the Human Champions Ranking, he had never encountered any true obstacles and kept advancing triumphantly. He was even planning on challenging the top ten warriors of the Human Champions Ranking, defeating all of them, and entering the Grandmaster stage as the indisputable champion of the Human Champions Ranking.

But now that he had gotten a reality check, he realized that he still had a long, long way to go.

“Your mastery of the ‘Peach Blossom Celestial Scripture’ is lacking.”

Chu Wangsun remained unmoved despite Xie Taohua’s compliment. He said directly, “You are no match for me.”

Xie Taohua’s main cultivation art was the “Peach Blossom Celestial Scripture” invented by Xie Qingxi himself. He had created it after experiencing an epiphany while observing the life cycle of peach blossoms. A martial art that embodied the power of life and death, growth and decline, its practitioner could grow a thousand flowers in an instant, or wilt them just as quickly. It was quite powerful to say the least.

However, it was clear that Xie Taohua’s mastery of the “Peach Blossom Celestial Scripture” was lacking. To be specific, his understanding of the power of life and death, growth and decline wasn’t good enough to unleash the martial art’s full potential, which was why it had performed rather poorly against Chu Wangsun.

Xie Taohua did not get angry despite Chu Wangsun’s blunt words, however. He even gave him a carefree smile and said, “Thank you for your guidance, Brother Chu. I promise I won’t disappoint you the next time we fight.”

“Good. I’ll be waiting.” Chu Wangsun turned around and got ready to go upstairs after that.

Pei Qiansui grew anxious when he realized that Chu Wangsun was going to let Xie Taohua go. “Are you just going to forgive him, young master?”

Chu Wangsun stopped in his tracks and looked at Pei Qiansui with clear, pure eyes. His gaze was such that Pei Qiansui was suddenly struck by a bad feeling.

“Give me your hand!” Chu Wangsun said suddenly.

Pei Qiansui’s face immediately turned ugly. “Young master, I—”

“I won’t repeat myself.” Chu Wangsun’s voice was indifferent, but it would not take no as an answer. “Give me your hand.”

It looked like a black storm was brewing behind Pei Qiansui’s face, but he ultimately gritted his teeth and extended his hand. His palm was facing upward.

Everyone wondered what Chu Wangsun was planning to do when the scholar summoned a ruler to his hand and struck Pei Qiansui on his palm.

Slap!

Long story short, the Old Man of A Hundred Virtues’ so-called “good” deeds were one hundred percent evil from a normal person’s point of view. It was also why he was lambasted as a heretic and a monster; one that everyone would sooner see dead than alive.

Pei Qiansui was the old man’s disciple, and while he did not inherit his master’s insane view of good and evil, he was even more vicious than the old man was. He slaughtered innocents in the name of honing his martial arts, and he would commit any and all crimes to further his self-interests. It was why he was notorious throughout the jianghu.

Back in the present, the guests oohed and aahed in realization. Now they realized why Pei Qiansui had become Chu Wangsun’s follower. He was “volunteered” into this position so to speak.

A few seconds later, Pei Qiansui’s killing intent abruptly disappeared like it was never there. At the same time, he replied with a simple smile, “Yes, I’ve recognized my mistake, young master. I swear I will obey your teaching and become a good person from now on.”

On the surface, he looked like the honest farmer boy he pretended to be. But on the inside, he was barely keeping a sea of humiliation, bloodthirst and fury at bay.

If possible, he would carve up Chu Wangsun and everyone in this restaurant and burn their souls on a candle. Only then could he be absolved of his hatred.

But he couldn’t, because he was no match for Chu Wangsun.

Running into Chu Wangsun was a stroke of bad luck, plain and simple. His main cultivation art was called the “Soul Refining Hand”. His hands acted as a furnace that could refine souls. At the adept level, he could extract, refine, and annihilate one’s soul the instant he touched a person’s body. It was extremely scary to say the least.

The way to advance the “Soul Refining Hand” was just as evil. To put it simply, the practitioner must use a living person’s soul and spirit to nurture and temper their hands.

Most people would have second thoughts about using such an evil and inhumane martial art, but Pei Qiansui was raised to adulthood by the Old Man of A Hundred Virtues. He was a man who witnessed all sorts of deaths before he even knew how to walk. As a result, killing was as natural as breathing to him.

When he was happy, he would kill to celebrate his joy. When he was unhappy, he would kill to vent his sorrow. When he was cultivating, well, his martial art couldn’t progress without killing now, could it? When he was idle, he still killed because why not?

Long story short, his daily life consisted of eating, sleeping, and killing. Lots and lots of killing.

One day, he ran into a couple of wandering scholars and noted that their souls and spirits were fairly pure. So, he wanted to kill them and practice his martial art.

Unfortunately for him, Chu Wangsun happened to be passing through the area, and after that... well, there was no after that. Since then, he became Chu Wangsun’s “faithful” follower.

In Chu Wangsun’s words, a sage accepts students from all walks of life. That was why he planned to emulate their ancient wisdom and bring him back to the straight and narrow as well.

What could Pei Qiansui do? He could only accept, of course.

1. Lanke Temple was briefly mentioned way back when Ye Qing was still at Luo Shui. ☜