Stranger Danger

Countless rainbow-colored koi were swimming around the woman. They were keeping her afloat and preventing her from sinking into the sea.

“Skin like ice, a countenance like peach blossom, and a smile that could melt the bones and suck the soul. What a gorgeous beauty!”

Su Bancheng looked the woman up and down without any reservation after arriving by her side. A look of surprise flitted across his face as he commented, “No wonder she drew the attention of the Beauty Koi.”

The Beauty Koi was the rainbow-colored koi swimming around the woman. A Hatred-class Stranger, it adored beautiful things and especially beautiful women, the more beautiful the better.

“She is quite the beauty,” Chu Wangsun replied with a nod. He was nowhere even close to being as dissolute and aesthete as the Qing Emperor’s chief disciple, but even he had to admit that the mysterious woman was a gorgeous beauty.

Her skin was sparkling and translucent like jade, and her countenance was as beautiful as the peach blossoms of March. Her figure was slender but filled out in all the right places, and her faint scent was like a quiet dream. Despite being unconscious, her beauty wasn’t marred in the slightest. On the contrary, the weakness made her look sympathetic and delicate.

“Hmm? Wait, something’s not right!”

It was at this moment Chu Wangsun noticed that something was amiss. The woman’s aura was incredibly weak; a clear sign that she had suffered serious injuries. Usually, a sick or injured person was the opposite of beautiful. Even if that wasn’t the case, her beauty should be diminished by her injuries, not enhanced.

“Something is wrong, yeah.”

Su Bancheng might be dissolute and aesthete, but he was also exceedingly intelligent. It was only natural that he noticed what Chu Wangsun had.

As he spoke, Su Bancheng grabbed the woman’s wrist and felt her pulse for a few breaths. Then, he said seriously, “Her blood is white-colored like ice, and her muscles and bones are crystalline like jade. This is… the Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm!”

“The Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm?” Chu Wangsun’s expression turned grave in an instant.

The Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm was the North Duke Office’s exclusive technique. Anomalous beyond imagination, anyone who took the palm strike would slowly turn white like ice and crystalline like jade in flesh, blood, and bone. Their body would slowly lose its vitality, and their mind would gradually wane until death claimed them.

This wasn’t the most anomalous characteristic of the Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm, however. It was the fact that it could only be practiced by males, and it only worked against females. To make a comparison, it was unbelievably strong against females, but almost useless against males.

Any woman who suffered the Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm would become exceptionally beautiful. In fact, the worse their injuries and the closer to death they were, the more attractive they became. Even after they died, their corpse would remain untouched by rot and decay for several years.

Naturally, there was a tragic story behind the bizarre and anomalous martial art.

Three hundred years ago, legend has it that Bei Tangran, the twenty-third North Duke of the North Duke Office, once married an exceptionally beautiful woman. He loved her deeply and spoiled her rotten. Not only did he give her anything and everything she asked, he did many things one would consider unbefitting for a duke just to put a smile on her face.

Unfortunately, the woman had a secret affair with a young and handsome guest warrior serving in the North Duke Office. When Bei Tangran found out, he was so enraged that he tortured both the woman and the guest warrior to death. ŕ

Since then, Bei Tangran’s personality underwent a drastic transformation, and he came to loathe womenfolk to the bones. He believed that only dead people wouldn’t betray him, which was why he killed and preserved every woman he married since.

Unfortunately, his victims were beyond terrified during their final moments and so wore horrified expressions before they died. Not only did they look terrible, preserving the corpse long term proved to be a difficult problem as well.

Bei Tangran was a genius, however. After racking his brain for a solution, he eventually invented the martial art named the “Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm”. Any woman who was struck by the palm strike would become extraordinarily beautiful, and her body would remain untouched by rot and decay for a good number of years.

Although the “Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm” had limited usage as a matter of course—as mentioned earlier, it could only be practiced by males and was only effective against females—it was stupidly powerful when the conditions were met. Unless the victim was at a much higher cultivation level than the practitioner, she most likely would not be able to nullify the attack. And once the target had suffered the “Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm”, only an expert in the martial art or a Sage would be able to cure it. Otherwise, the victim could only wait for death to claim them.

This was why the “Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm” was an exclusive martial art taught within the North Duke Office only, and even then, it was only passed down to its core members.

“Yeah. What a shame.” Su Bancheng sighed. The “Ice Skin Jade Bone Palm” had already invaded her internal organs and mind. Not even gods or celestials would be able to save her at this point. She didn’t have much longer to live.

“Cough! Cough…”

It was at this moment the woman lying on top of the Beauty Koi suddenly coughed twice. Then, she slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Su Bancheng and Chu Wangsun, she opened her mouth and begged weakly, “Save me… please save me…”

“Miss, your injuries are too severe. Forgive us, but there is nothing we can do.”

Su Bancheng met the woman’s hopeful, pleading eyes and let out a helpless sigh.

Chu Wangsun said nothing at all. He simply watched with cold indifference.

The light of hope that just appeared in the woman’s eyes extinguished immediately.

“Miss, all living beings die eventually. For—”

Su Bancheng was just about to comfort the woman during her final moments when she suddenly let out a hoarse scream, “North Duke Office! Ding Buren! Ahhhhh! I’ll never forget this even if I’m dead!”

“I’ll tell you a secret. In exchange, take revenge for me and kill Ding Buren!”

Before Su Bancheng or Chu Wangsun could speak, the woman soldiered on, “The Kṣitigarbha Stupa … The Kṣitigarbha Stupa is the ultimate treasure left behind by the ancient Kṣitigarbha… in it lies his inheritance… the North Duke Office plans to claim it during the eight of August…”

“Take revenge for me… please… take revenge…”

The woman squeezed out even as her voice grew weaker, and her words grew increasingly incoherent. In the end, all she could do was repeat her final obsession again and again.

“Sigh… Okay. If it is within our capability to do so, then yes, we’ll take revenge for you,” Su Bancheng promised. “Now, rest in peace, miss.”

As if she really heard Su Bancheng’s promise, the woman stopped murmuring, and the light in her eyes slowly faded away. She was gone just like that.

After confirming that the woman was dead, Su Bancheng closed her eyes and sighed. “Since ancient times, few beauties have had a good ending. How lamentable and pitiful.”

As he spoke, Su Bancheng released a hint of energy and chased away the Beauty Koi. Without the Strangers to prop the woman up, her body slowly sank into the sea and disappeared completely.

A few breaths later, Su Bancheng asked, “Who do you think she is, Wangsun?”

“I do not know.” Chu Wangsun shook his head.

“Do you think she’s telling the truth?” Su Bancheng asked another question.

“It’s hard to say.” Chu Wangsun shook his head again. “But we won’t know until we check, right?”

“In other words, you do believe her final words.” Su Bancheng chuckled. “The inheritance of Kṣitigarbha must be quite tempting to you.”

“To spurn the heavens’ gift is to incur their wrath,” Chu Wangsun replied indifferently.

“Hahaha… well said.” Su Bancheng laughed loudly. “I have a concern, however. What if this is a trap?”

Chu Wangsun rejected the possibility. “I don’t think so. There is no one in the area, and I could find no anomalous energy entrenched in her headspace whatsoever. Her words are heartfelt as well. Therefore, it is probably just a coincidence.”