Stranger Danger

Chapter 967: Saj

“Meh. It doesn’t really taste good.”

Ye Qing shook his head. However, he could clearly sense the light gray steam rising from his body diminishing slightly after he drank the molten copper.

I see. This light gray steam is my karmic hindrance! Ye Qing thought to himself.

It was at this moment the ghost pawn scooped another spoonful of molten copper. Ye Qing drank it again and confirmed that it lessened the gray steam even more.

Looks like I’ll need to drink three hundred spoonfuls of molten copper before I can cleanse my karmic hindrance completely, but...

Ye Qing drank another spoonful of molten copper before resuming his thoughts.

... it’s going to take way too long. I’ll do this myself.

Ye Qing inhaled and exhaled, causing his vigor to erupt, and his muscles to ripple like mini dragons. The chains trapping him instantly broke into many pieces.

“Brazen criminal!”

Enraged, the ghost pawn behind him immediately burst into ghastly flames. The other ghost pawns were wearing unfriendly expressions as well.

“Relax, I don’t mean to escape. I just think that the procedure can be sped up a little, if you get what I mean.”

Ye Qing did not wait to see if the ghost pawns got what he meant or not. He opened his mouth and inhaled the entire river of molten copper into his mouth in one gulp.

The light gray steam rising from his body immediately started diminishing at a visible rate. The next moment, it was gone.

“See? This is way faster, and I don’t need to waste your time.” Ye Qing wiped his mouth and gave the ghost pawn behind him a smile.

The ghost pawn didn’t reply. To be more accurate, he seemed to be stupefied by what he just saw. He had been toiling away in this hell for many years, but he had never seen such a brazen criminal in his life, much less one who cleansed his sin like this.

The next moment, a crack appeared underneath Ye Qing’s feet, and he plummeted into darkness.

When Ye Qing came to again, he found himself in a completely new place.

Everything was dark cyan in color. A cold, biting wind was blowing in the air, countless ghosts were fighting against each other, but not quite. To be exact, they were ripping into each other or themselves with an iron gleam in their eyes and iron claws growing out of their hands.

This was an awkward situation to be in thought. Ye Qing could tell that his karmic hindrance hadn’t decreased one bit, meaning that the strike needed to draw blood as well.

“Screw it, I’m just gonna cheat.”

Ye Qing shrugged. He did not have any masochistic tendencies, nor did he feel like torturing himself for thirty years. So, he summoned his Profound Yellow Mother Qi.

As soon as the dark yellow qi appeared, his hands immediately returned to normal, and the red light that represented his sin gradually grew fainter.

The Profound Yellow Mother Qi was a karmic qi of the world, and karmic qi and karmic hindrance were like fire and water. The bane of each other’s existence, of course the Profound Yellow Mother Qi could be used to wash away his sins and karmic hindrance.

In fact, he already noticed this possibility when he was at the Hell of Molten Copper. It was just that the molten copper couldn’t hurt him one bit, and three hundred spoonfuls really wasn’t that much molten copper. So, he decided to save the Profound Yellow Mother Qi for another occasion.

The Profound Yellow Mother Qi was very precious, okay? It didn’t fall from trees, okay?

But now, he had to use it. Striking himself hard enough to draw blood for thirty years? Seriously? By the time he was done, everything would be over already.

That wasn’t the only thing he did, however. Using his hand like a saber, he cut himself while red lotuses fell all around him. It did not work nearly as well as the Profound Yellow Mother Qi, but it was definitely effective.

It was the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art”, a saber technique he hadn’t needed to use for a very long time. It could sever an enemy’s karmic hindrance, so it made sense that it would work on himself as well. And it did, to a certain extent.

Thanks to the Profound Yellow Mother Qi and the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art”, the bloody light surrounding his person began diminishing at a visible rate. A teatime later, it was completely gone, and Ye Qing much lighter because of it.

Once again a cold wind blew against him, but this time, he felt warm and comfortable instead of cold. He found himself growing increasingly transparent until he was completely gone.

The next moment, Ye Qing found himself at another dark red place, though it was definitely not the Hell of Molten Copper. He saw countless red hot copper pillars and even more ghosts being bound to the copper pillars by black ropes. Their flesh and blood sizzled against the hot metal, and hot steam rose from everywhere. Their screams seemed like it would never end.

“Kālasūtra... the Hell of Black Rope...”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows again. Kālasūtra or the Hell of Black Rope was the third hell in the eight major hells. It punished those who spoke flowery words, aggressive people, and thieves. Those who fell into this hell would be bound to the piping hot copper pillars by iron ropes and burned until their sins were cleansed.

“Your sin of thievery and banditry is grave. You will be bound by black rope and burned for sixty years.”

Before the voice even finished, a burning black rope shot out of the copper pillar, wrapped him tight, and pulled him toward the copper pillar.