Stranger Danger-Chapter 1795: Treasure Call Great King

A blurry face slowly appeared from the center of the lake. Its expression was contorted, and its gaze was hateful. It then let out a shrill, horrifying scream that pierced the ears and attacked the mind.

Brimming with thick hatred and malice, the human face said, “Kekeke... how dare you enter this king’s Spirit Spring Treasure Call Heaven without permission, mortals. Are you courting death?”

“This king? Are you the Treasure Call Great King?” Ye Qing asked. Not only was he fearless, he was looking the face up and down with a casual smile on his face.

“Mortal ant! How dare you address me by my name!” The face in the lake erupted.

“Tch. Stop plastering your face with gold foils! You’re just an evil spirit,” Ye Qing scoffed.

The human face was probably the spring spirit of the Treasure Call Spirit Spring. One could also say that it was a wisp of the Treasure Call Great King’s consciousness. However, it was obviously corrupted. Naturally, the Treasure Call Spirit Spring it controlled was corrupted as well.

It would appear that his dream to improve the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s sentience with the Treasure Call Spirit Spring was dead before it could begin.

In fact, he had not detected anything unusual with the Spirit Spring Treasure Call Heaven earlier. Despite this, he still sounded the Earthly Sovereign Bell. It was purely a precautionary measure. One must remember that the Divine Court was destroyed for over ten thousand years, and every Heaven they visited so far was either dead, destroyed, or corrupted. It made no sense that the Spirit Spring Treasure Call Heaven alone could survive, and in such pristine condition no less.

That was why he decided to test it just in case, and what did you know, it was an illusion and a pretense.

“The audacity! I will consume you all and turn you into spring water!” The Treasure Call Great King roared as the tainted lake waters churned. Mighty waves over hundreds of meters tall towered over the group, and rotten corpses could be seen standing within the waves.

“Consume us? Let’s see if your bite is as deadly as your bark!”

Ye Qing’s eyes turned as sharp as a blade as he clenched his fists and channeled his fist intent. Right before the waves would hit him, he threw out a punch that was as deep and vast as the sea.

“Deep Sea Impetus”

Rumble!

The tremendous waves were shattered in one punch. At the same time, Ye Qing’s fist intent swelled like a blazing sun and evaporated all of the water.

“Argh!”

The Treasure Call Great King let out a cry of pain. His sharp, shrill voice distorted the surrounding space and caused more lake water mixed with smelly, dark auras to rise into the sky and merge into a three-hundred-meter tall giant.

The giant boasted no head and six arms. Evil light was circulating throughout his whole body. It raised its six hands and slapped down on Ye Qing.

While this was happening, the streams floating in the air stabbed into the six hands and injected black, murky water into them like blood vessels.

As a result, the six hands grew even bigger than they already were and formed evil-looking runes and patterns on its palms. They also looked like many weeping faces.

The six hands formed what looked like a giant lotus in the sky, mysterious and evil.

When they descended, it looked as if they would crush the heavens, split the earth, and shatter even the void.

“Well met!”

Ye Qing was brimming with fighting spirit as he faced the descending hands head on. His fist rose a meter, but his intent ascended higher than the heavens themselves.

I have a punch that can shatter the firmaments and annihilate everything!

Vast and overwhelming, his fist intent shot into the sky with destructive energies and light.

Wherever his energies passed, space shattered without a sound.

Whatever the light touched all disintegrated into powder.

The six hands were pierced and disintegrated like dust.

The giant itself was cut in two by the endless fist intent.

Poof!

The giant abruptly crumbled into black fog and scattered in every direction.

However, Feng Qingyou stepped forward and unleashed her cloud. Looking like an ephemeral fog and an invisible river at the same time, the pure and vast Supreme Primal Origin Celebratory Cloud—which was markedly different from the tainted, evil air around her—spread out like water and melted away the skyful of evil and tainted air like the sun.

The corrupted air instantly disappeared into nothing like snow under a blazing hot sun; powder in the middle of a fire. Even the twisted and blood-vessel-like streams were no exception.

This corner of the Heaven turned bright and clear in just the blink of an eye.

“Argh!”

Inside the lake, the Treasure Call Great King let out a bloodcurdling scream. The water level of the lake had decreased by more than half at this point.

Finally feeling afraid, the Treasure Call Great King scattered its lake water and attempted to escape.

But of course, Ye Qing wasn’t going to allow this to happen. Waving the Earthly Sovereign Bell into existence once more, the Strange Artifact sealed off the eight directions with its chime and illuminated heaven and earth with its profound light.

The streams froze in the air, and the corruption evaporated into nothingness.

“Mercy...”

The Treasure Call Great King let out one defiant and bloodcurling scream before finally dissolving into nothing.

After the battle was over, and the tainted air was gone, the Heaven finally regained its true appearance. It was as bad as they expected it to be.

The streams were completely dry; the river beds covered in gnarly, crisscrossing cracks that resembled the gaping maws of thirsty beasts. The green lotuses were completely withered and barely even looked like lotuses, branches charred and leaves dead. They let out a raspy, pitiful whine as a gust of wind brushed past them.

The Treasure Call Spirit Spring had also lost its vitality. Its once brimming spirit fog was completely gone, and the walls surrounding the source of the spring looked dim and lifeless. In fact, the entire space felt gloomy and dead.

Not everything was lost, however. There was a puddle of clear spring water left at the center of the source. Like a dying candle in the middle of a storm, it glowed faintly as if bespeaking its former glory.

“That’s...”

Ye Qing raised his eyebrows and walked up to the puddle. Then, he bent down and carefully cupped a bit of spring water between his hands.

The spring water was clear and pure. It felt cool to touch. When he took a sip from it, it tasted sweet and delicious.

Alas, the spiritual energies in the spring water were incredibly weak. It had the form, but its substance was long gone.

“What a shame.” Ye Qing lowered his hand and let out a quiet, regretful sigh. Although they had successfully eliminated the evil infesting the spring, the air of spirituality in the spring was already gone. For all intents and purposes, it was just a mundane spring now.

“Are there any other treasures worth seeking out in the Spirit Spring Treasure Call Heaven, Elder Furnace?”

He was hoping to make up for the loss somehow. He didn’t want this trip to be a complete waste of time and effort.

“There were some, but none of them are as valuable as the Treasure Call Spirit Spring.”

Elder Furnace also let out a regretful sigh. “Besides...”

Ye Qing prodded, “Yes?”

Elder Furnace continued listlessly, “If even the Treasure Call Spirit Spring is corrupted, I highly doubt that those treasures could remain intact. After all, all those treasures depended on the Treasure Call Spirit Spring to exist, so... sigh...”

Elder Furnace did not finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.

“We should check them out regardless. What if?” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Ye Qing said before asking for directions and going after the treasures.

Alas, there was no what if. As Elder Furnace claimed, everyone and everything in the Spirit Spring Treasure Call Heaven only existed thanks to the Treasure Call Spirit Spring. Since the spring was contaminated, the rest of the spirit creatures and objects could not possibly survive.

In the end, Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou returned to the Treasure Call Spirit Spring with nothing to speak of.

During the time they went searching for treasures, the puddle of spring water had already filled up the lake.