Stranger Danger

Chapter 1247: He Is Here

Nether Mountain was a place of death. The living was barred from entry, and only the dead could enter.

This was how they described the Nether Mountain dozens of kilometers away from Cloud Hue Pass.

Nether Mountain was neither particularly tall nor big. It was barely three hundred meters tall and a kilometer or two wide. Despite this, it was a place that terrified all populace near Cloud Hue Pass.

A black fog shrouded the Nether Mountain all year long, making it impossible to see even the sun in the sky. Shadowy silhouettes and ghastly wails filled the foot of the mountain as well. Any living person who entered the area would lose a portion of their soul, perish, and turn into bones without fail. On the other hand, delivering the dead into the mountain would see them come back to life—not true life, of course. Instead, they would turn into senseless zombies.

The good news was that the zombies could not leave the Nether Mountain. If they tried, they would instantly disintegrate into ash.

This was why the Nether Mountain wasn’t particularly threatening to the ordinary populace even though it was highly dangerous. So long as the people did not foolishly enter the mountain of their own accord, no harm would come to them.

Right now though, six people were standing at the top of the mountain. They were all living and breathing people.

“Why have you summoned us here, Taoist of Sleep?”

An old man wearing a white robe asked the sleepy, swaying Taoist sitting opposite him the question. He had white hair, white beard, and even a pair of perfectly white eyes.

The old man possessed a benevolent countenance and a celestial-like bearing, but his voice was shrill beyond imagination. It sounded like the screeches of countless insects, horrifying and hair-raising.

Everyone else subtly rubbed their arms. It was because they felt like a million worms or insects were crawling across their skin.

The old man was called the Old Man of Zhi. He was one of the three Elders of Taisui Mountain.

“Why aren’t you talking, Taoist of Sleep?”

After waiting for a moment and receiving no answer from the sleepy Taoist, a young girl spoke up. “This old woman hasn’t yet finished the task Taisui entrusted her with. I have no time to waste on you.”

The young girl looked to be seven or eight years old at most. Her hair was tied up into a pair of pigtails, and she looked extremely cute. However, her voice was ancient, and her expression was weary.

The young girl was currently wrapped inside the arms of a tall, muscular man. The man was wearing a black-and-red burial shirt, and his face was ashen green. He looked completely and utterly dead.

When the young girl spoke up though, the man slowly turned his head and stared at the Taoist of Sleep with murky, lightless eyes. It was a look that gave off a suffocating, terrifying pressure effortlessly.

The two people standing next to the Taoist of Sleep subconsciously bowed their heads as if afraid to meet the man’s gaze. More accurately, they did not dare to meet the gaze of the young girl he was holding.

After all, the cute young girl was none other than Sunlao Taijun, another Elder of the Three Elders of Taisui Mountain.

Sunlao Taijun might look like a young girl, but her age was anything but. She was the oldest person in Taisui Mountain besides Ghost Taisui himself. She had been serving Ghost Taisui long before Old Man of Zhi or the Taoist of Sleep had joined Taisui Mountain. _{𝚗ov𝚙𝚞𝚋.c𝚘m}

Sunlao Taijun did not always look like this. In fact, several decades ago, Sunlao Taijun looked like a beautiful, sixteen-year-old young woman in her prime. As time passed, she grew younger and younger until she looked like this. For whatever reason, it was as if the passage of time flowed the opposite way for her and only her.

No one knew how long Sunlao Taijun had lived. No one knew how powerful she was either. The only thing they knew was that Sunlao Taijun was Ghost Taisui’s most trusted aide, and that she was possibly the strongest warrior in Taisui Mountain except Ghost Taisui himself.

Naturally, they instinctively felt fear and alarm even though Sunlao Taijun wasn’t looking at them.

The man at the center of her attention, the Taoist of Sleep, could not seem to feel the pressure though. He let out a long yawn before replying in a casual tone, “Calm, Sunlao Taijun. I invited everyone today to discuss how we should deal with the Mad Lord.”

“Oh? Do you have a plan?” Sunlao Taijun’s interest was piqued.

“Nope!” The Taoist of Sleep shook his head. “That is precisely why I want to discuss it with you all.”

“Taisui’s business must not be delayed!” Sunlao Taijun said.

“No, I agree with the Taoist of Sleep. This is hardly an easy matter.”

Old Man of Zhi shook his head. “The Mad Lord is hiding in Cloud Hue Pass right now. So long as Taba Xuanwu is present, it is basically impossible for us to capture him alive.”

“That, you don’t have to worry about. The Mad Lord cannot hide in Cloud Hue Pass forever, just like Taba Xuanwu cannot offer the Mad Lord his protection indefinitely.”

Sunlao Taijun said, “That said, the longer we drag this out, the more our number of competitors will grow, and the harder it will become to execute our plan.”

“I agree.” Old Man of Zhi nodded. “The number of unknown variables will only increase as time passes.”

“Taisui demands that we complete our mission in the shortest amount of time possible. Therefore, we must come up with a perfect solution,” Sunlao Taisui said slowly.

“Perhaps we can hire Abyss Suppressor King to do our bidding?”

Old Man of Zhi suggested, “Taisui and Abyss Suppressor King are old acquaintances, and Abyss Suppressor King is both Taba Xuanwu’s benefactor and direct supervisor. We can ask him to order Taba Xuanwu to release Ye Qing.”

“I don’t think it would work.” Sunlao Taijun shook his head. “Abyss Suppressor King is an ambitious man. I am also certain he is quite interested in the Earthly Sovereign Bell himself, so he probably would not lend us his aid.”

“Besides, even if Abyss Suppressor King is willing to help us, Taba Xuanwu is a bullheaded man who would rather die than submit to brute force. I don’t think he would listen to Abyss Suppressor King.”

“What if we dispatch the men to kill innocents, start trouble, and generally cause havoc in Cloud Hue Pass? Taba Xuanwu might not submit to brute force, but he will surely cave to public resentment and pressure.”

“That is a passable idea.” Sunlao Taijun nodded in agreement. “But it will take some time to execute it properly. Possibly too much.”

“In that case, we take the Mad Lord’s friends and family hostage and threaten him with it. Didn’t we discover the Taoist who was journeying together with the Mad Lord two days ago?” Old Man of Zhi asked.

In fact, Ghost Taisui had ordered the men to capture the Taoist long before any of this had happened, just in case.

Sunlao Taijun let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I received word yesterday that the Taoist somehow vanished into thin air. Our men could not locate him no matter what they tried.”

“I guess this idea won’t work either.”

“This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work. What should we do then?!”

Old Man of Zhi raised his voice impatiently, and it sounded like a million insects were chirping at the same time. Even the black fog that shrouded Nether Mountain seemed to be shaking violently as a result.

“What do you guys think?” Old Man of Zhi turned to look at the other three people on the mountaintop for their opinion, but for some reason, they weren’t responding to him.

“Why are you keeping silent? Did you suddenly go deaf or something?” Old kedMan of Zhi asked angrily.

The trio were a Great Trueman and two Great Grandmasters, and they were all renowned elites of Taisui Mountain. However, they were still inferior to the Three Elders in both status and strength.

The three warriors might not tremble like leaves after hearing Old Man of Zhi’s rebuke, but they certainly wouldn’t ignore him like he didn’t exist either. And yet, they were. As Old Man of Zhi said, it was as if they had suddenly gone deaf or something.

“Warflight, Ironface, Cloudfacing? What’s wrong?” Sunlao Taijun was beginning to feel puzzled as well.

Still, the trio did not react to her at all.

“Ahem...”

It was at this moment the Taoist of Sleep coughed twice and said lazily, “They aren’t speaking because I didn’t allow them to speak.”

“What do you mean by that, Taoist of Sleep?” For some reason, Old Man of Zhi suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

“I don’t mean anything. I just want to tell you that, since none of you could come up with anything worthwhile despite all that discussion, there is no need to continue any longer.”

The Taoist of Sleep let out a devious chuckle. “After all, he’s already here.”