Stranger Danger

Ye Qing did not believe that was the case though.

It was because he found some spirit jades, natural resources, Strange Artifacts, medicine and other valuables in some buildings. There were quite a lot of them as well.

In ancient times, the ambient spiritual qi was so rich that a portion of them had condensed into jades known as spirit jades. Specifically used for cultivation purposes, spirit jades were invaluable even back in the day, much less everything else.

Of course, spiritual qi was much sparser these days. As a result, these valuables had all turned into garbage.

What he was trying to say was that the citizens would not have left behind these valuables if they really had evacuated the city.

Even if he assumed that it was an emergency evacuation, there was no way every single building had valuables in them. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.

From his perspective, it almost felt as if the people in the city had suddenly just vanished into thin air.

Of course, people did not just disappear into thin air.

Whatever had happened to Kunlun City must be absolutely terrifying—so terrifying, that almost no one was able to put up a struggle at all.

The Kunlun Ruins was a blessed land of the celestials, and the Kunlun City was, if not the heart of the celestials, at least the living quarters of the servants and their kinsmen.

It should not need to be said, but no one in this place—not even the servants and slaves—were ordinary.

After all, one must not forget that the ancestors of the Jiang Clan and the Ji Clan had singlehandedly founded the world famous East Kunlun and West Kunlun.

Naturally, this city could not be lacking in elite warriors or champions.

And yet, these powerful warriors of the past had, without any resistance whatsoever, vanished into thin air.

Just how scary was that?

But of course, it was all just his speculation. The calamity had happened over thousands of years ago, and anything could have happened during this time. It was impossible to say what the truth really was until he collected more evidence.

Besides, he had the Earthly Sovereign Bell. No matter what the threat might be, he wasn’t too afraid.

So, Ye Qing continued his search.

“It’s not just corpses. There’s not even a single animal carcass in the city!”

After searching for a while longer, Ye Qing noted with shock that he couldn’t find a single animal bone in the city either.

More accurately, nothing made of flesh and blood was left behind in the city.

Surely the citizens of Kunlun City weren’t all vegans? Even if they were, surely someone had raised a pet or two?

It wasn’t possible. This could only mean that the humans, animals, and all flesh-and-blood beings had, for some unknown reason, disappeared from the city.

At this point, Ye Qing couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated.

“Screw it, Yi Pin probably wasn’t here anyway. I’m leaving!”

This wasn’t cowardice, this was wisdom!

“Huh? The city lord’s residence?”

Suddenly, Ye Qing caught sight of a massive residence.

Of course, he didn’t think it was the city lord’s residence just because it was big. It was because the words “City Lord Residence” were engraved on the signboard above the entrance.

“I’m already here. It would be a shame not to investigate this place as well.”

Ye Qing told himself while rubbing his nose. This was the city lord’s residence, man! The heart of the Kunlun City! It might have some good stuff—woops, he meant clues regarding Yi Pin—and shed some light as to why the living beings of Kunlun City had suddenly disappeared.

Of course, whatever the outcome of his search might be, he was going to leave the city right after that.

Ye Qing froze as soon as he set foot inside the city lord’s residence.

It was because the walls, ground, windows and other empty places of the residence were covered in words.

Blood red words.

The words were written in a poor and haphazard fashion. It was clear that whoever wrote them was either panicking to the extreme, or on the brink of losing their minds.

As for why the text were blood red in color, it was because some of them were written using cinnabar… and some with human blood.

In any case, the entire residence was covered in blood red words. It looked strange, bone-chilling, and full of madness.

“What’s going on? More people have disappeared from Kunlun City. Just like before, they did not leave a single trace behind…”

“The celestials are not responding, and the city is completely sealed. Everyone who tried to leave had disappeared without a trace just like those who went missing inside the city… and I am powerless to change anything…”

“I cannot see or find anything, so why are people going missing one after another? Just why… Celestials, please save us, please save your people…”

Ye Qing could almost imagine this person wallowing in utter panic and helplessness as he was forced to face an inexplicable anomaly.

So far, the incident described by the words fit his theory of what happened. People were going missing inside the city. Those who tried to leave the city would disappear without a trace as well.

Ye Qing frowned deeply and continued reading.

“Today, over a thousand people had gone missing in the blink of an eye. As a result, everyone in the city had gone insane. Insane! They ripped into each other like animals until the blood ran like rivers…”

“Gone. All gone. The corpses are all gone. They just went missing right before everyone’s eyes.”

“It’s not just humans. The livestocks, the rare animals, everything is disappearing into thin air…”

“My wife has gone missing. She was sleeping right next to me, but when I woke up the next morning, she was gone…”

“Young Hua is missing. Young Lu is missing. My sons and daughters are missing as well. They’re missing. They’re all missing…”

“Celestials… why didn’t you save us… why… why… why…”

If the words before were someone crooked, but still well-structured and very readable, now they were borderline incomprehensible and overflowing with madness. It was clear that whoever read these passages were on the brink of total collapse.

Ye Qing remained patient and kept reading.

“They’re gone. They’re all gone. I am the only one left. I know it’s watching me. I know it’s coming for me very soon…”

“There it is! Hahaha… it’s finally here…”

“I see it! I see it! It’s right above our heads! So many tentacles, so many people! They’re in the sky! They’re all in the sky!”

“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

……

That was more or less the end of the person’s message. There were more words, but the rest of the words were all incoherent rambles that made no sense whatsoever.

As soon as Ye Qing read the final line, he looked up. How could he not?

He found… nothing. The sky looked completely empty. Still, Ye Qing felt uneasy.

The person’s last message was just too frightening.

“Tentacles… they’re all in the sky…”

Ye Qing mulled over the final message while making a break for the city gate.

The meaning of the final message was clear. It was saying that some sort of tentacled entity had kidnapped all the living beings in the city into the sky.

But what on earth was this entity? How could it kidnap everyone and everything without being seen or perceived.

Just thinking about it sent chills up his spine. That was why he wanted to get out as soon as possible.

Back at the city gate, Ye Qing was just about to pass through the threshold when suddenly, something transparent and intangible wrapped around his torso and pulled him toward the sky.