Stranger Danger

"Sigh. A shame!"

Ye Qing climbed to his feet and placed the scripture he was holding back to its original position. He felt a bit disappointed as he traced his fingers across the scriptures, but he was feeling rather excited as well.

He was disappointed because he had already gone through all of the scriptures. It wasn't enough at all!

And he was excited because he had gained a lot from his reading.

His cultivation level and strength might not have increased in the slightest, but his horizons, his thinking, his knowledge, his understanding of the martial way, his grasp of the world, and his study of the Great Way were completely different from before.

In fact, he had this sense that he had glimpsed the threshold of Sage. Now, he just needed an opportunity to transcend his mortality and truly rise to the heavens.

Of course, there was no telling when this opportunity would arrive, but Ye Qing was neither in a hurry nor displeased with this fact. In life, forcing something to happen was the worst way to obtain said something. Something would happen if it was meant to happen. The human simply needed to open themselves to that possibility.

Thanks to this acceptance, the disappointment in Ye Qing's heart quickly disappeared, and his mind quickly regained its tranquility and clarity. He began digesting and studying his findings for the past couple days.

An indefinite amount of time later, Ye Qing suddenly opened his eyes and looked out of the window, gaze distant.

A short while later, the distant sky gradually turned dark red. It looked like the hue of the setting sun, but darker than that. It looked like the glow of a blazing fire, but it was gloomier than that. It looked like bright red blood, but it was fouler and darker than that. Just looking at it was enough to give people a sinister and ominous feeling.

The dark red light was spreading throughout the sky as well. What was a clear, sunny sky a moment ago was quickly consumed by the dark red light. Both the sun and moon were blotted out by it.

Rumble!

A few breaths later, a massive rumble deafened everyone's ears. At the same time, the sea was churning, and the island was shaking violently.

For a time, everyone on Gold Island was panicking. They had no clue what was happening.

"What is that?" Without warning, Feng Qingyou appeared beside Ye Qing and was gazing into the distance with him.

Ye Qing shook his head. "I don't know... it looks like fire!"

Another person might be ignorant as to the source of this unusual phenomenon, but he could clearly see that the dark red color was originating from the sea, not the sky.

And why did he say that? It was because the sea thousands and thousands of kilometers from Gold Island was burning with fire. The fire was dark red in color and gloomy-looking. Foul and dark, it looked both like fire and blood. Water could not extinguish it, and wind fueled it. It boiled and burned to its heart's content in the sea.

It was the reason why the sky looked dark red.

The dark red flame began from the bottom of the sea. It was because the fire burned stronger and stickier the deeper one looked into the sea. The earlier rumble had happened when the dark red flame burst out of the sea surface.

"It's the Sea Burning Demonic Fire! It's the Sea Burning Demonic Fire!"

Someone shouted, and the chaos on the island visibly worsened. Everyone was wearing anxious and fearful expressions on their faces.

"Settle down, everyone. Return to your homes and refrain from lingering outside."

It was at this moment Jin Manshan's voice erupted, and brilliant rays of golden light shot toward the sky from various corners of Gold Island. They combined into a mountain of gold in the sky of Gold Island. The dazzling mountain of gold then cast curtains of light that surrounded the entire Gold Island.

Clearly, Jin Manshan had activated Gold Island's great island-protecting array.

Jin Manshan's voice was just what the panicking people needed to hear. As if they had rediscovered their courage and wits, the people settled down and ran toward their homes as he commanded them to.

At the same time, the Golden Guards and other security forces mobilized to maintain law and order and prevent chaos from taking root.

Elite warriors such as Jin Manshan and Ming Yueying themselves had rushed out of the island to assist the ships and boats sailing nearby to come ashore as soon as possible.

"Sea Burning Demonic Fire?"

Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou exchanged glances with each other. They might not know what this "Sea Burning Demonic Fire" was, but clearly it was anything but good.

"Feel free to enter, Scion Jin."

It was at this moment Ye Qing called out to Jin Wanliang. The first young master was standing outside the door and was just about to knock.

Jin Wanliang withdrew his palm hand and pushed open the door. He then stepped inside and saluted them, saying, "Well met, seniors. I apologize for disturbing your cultivation."

"It's nothing." Ye Qing motioned for Jin Wanliang to get up before asking directly, "What's happening outside?"

Jin Wanliang answered, "It's the Sea Burning Demonic Fire, seniors."

When the first young master waited for a bit and received no response from the duo, he explained, "The Sea Burning Demonic Fire is an extremely scary Anomaly that plagues this region. Every fifty to sixty years or so, blood red demonic fire would pour out of the bottom of the sea and spread tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of kilometers across the sea."

"The demonic fire is foul and dark, evil and malevolent. It cannot be extinguished by water and is field by wind. Any living creature that makes contact with it be it fishes, prawns, humans or Strangers would turn into powerful, mindless, and bloodthirsty creatures. They kill anyone they find and destroy anything they see. We call them demonic monsters. Those injured or killed by demonic monsters will turn into one as well, and not even Truemen and Grandmasters are immune to the malady. It is most terrifying."

"That is why every occurrence of the Sea Burning Demonic Fire is accompanied by great loss and tragedy."

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows. He did not notice it before Jin Wanliang mentioned it, but it was true that the surrounding flora, fauna and Strangers did not perish to the demonic fire. On the contrary, they were livelier than ever before.

This was not a good thing, however. Their bodies were covered in dark red flames, and their auras were malevolent. They were viciously tearing and consuming each other with mindless fury.

Even worse, these corrupted creatures seemed exceedingly tenacious. They refused to die even after their bodies were cut in half. Only when a creature had been ripped to shreds or ground into paste did they pass away.

This was anomalous alright.

Jin Wanliang continued, "Over four hundred years ago, humanity had nearly ended because of the Sea Burning Demonic Fire. The fire had spread over a million kilometers and engulfed the large majority of our domain. Hundreds of thousands of humans had been corrupted by the demonic fire and killed as a result. The Profound Alliance had lost ninety percent of its elites including two Sages."

"It had taken us an entire century to recover from that catastrophe."

"Luckily for us, most of the Rakshasa Kingdom's domain was consumed by the demonic fire as well. Countless Strangers were corrupted and transformed into demonic creatures, and the Rakshasa Kingdom had suffered just as much as we had. Otherwise, there might not be a Profound Alliance today."

Ye Qing narrowed his eyes a little. He did not know that the Sea Burning Demonic Fire was such a serious threat. No wonder the people of Gold Island were scared shitless when they heard its name.

"Where did the Sea Burning Demonic Fire come from?"

Feng Qingyou asked, "Is there no way to resolve it once and for all?" Jin Wanliang shook his head and said bitterly, "No one knows where it comes from, just as no one has ever found a way to resolve it forever. The elites of the Profound Alliance once conducted an investigation into the origin and cause of the Sea Burning Demonic Fire in hopes of finding a solution. Alas, they found nothing."

"No one knew how the Sea Burning Demonic Fire came to be. No one knew why it appeared and when or where it would appear either. Worse, the Sea Burning Demonic Fire always appeared without any warning and spread extremely quickly. Despite all our measures, it is very difficult to predict and guard against effectively."