Stranger Danger

Chapter 810: Can I Not Go?

“My illness is cured, my illness is cured! Thank you, Goddess Green Lotus! Thank you!”

Yao Jingce burst out as an unprecedented amount of comfort and vitality coursed through his body. Even with his dignified personality, he was unable to stop himself from bursting into tears. His illness had tortured him since he was a young boy, and it made his life so miserable that it would not be an exaggeration to say that death was preferable. But now, the chronic disease that had plagued him for so long was gone. How could he not be excited and happy about this?

Goddess Green Lotus nodded wordlessly, and a green lotus appeared beneath Yao Jingce’s feet. After it carried him to her side, the young scholar assumed a meditative position and focused on digesting the medicinal energy still flowing inside his body.

With this, Goddess Moonview was the only one left who still hadn’t chosen their candidate. Everyone stared at her praying from the bottom of their hearts that the third and final opportunity would go to them.

Goddess Moonview extended her hand and grasped as if she was caressing the moonlight. The intangible threads immediately sprung to life and joined together to form a handsome horse. Silvery white from head to toe, it had sharp horns on its head and four hooves that were wreathed in flames. It looked quite impressive.

The white horse let out a thunderous neigh before galloping down the skies. It moved incredibly fast and cut through the air like a meteor.

Naturally, its momentum gave everyone a small fright. Before they could even react, the white horse had already come to a stop before one man.

Everyone subconsciously turned to look at the man. Their gazes and expressions were complicated to say the least.

Ye Qing stared at the white horse in front of him. He was truly surprised that the final goddess’ blessing... would go to him.

For a good few seconds, Ye Qing and the white horse simply stared at each other. Then, the white horse snorted as if to tell Ye Qing to get on top of it already.

Ye Qing blinked and asked a question, “Can I not go with you?”

The white horse blinked. The crowd blinked. Even the three goddesses in the sky seemed to blank out for a second.

Did he just say what I think he said?

What kind of maniac would reject a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that fell into his lap??

Noticing that he had become the center of attention before he knew it, Ye Qing rubbed his nose awkwardly and tried again, “Ahem... you see, I’m the guy who’s lacking in everything except opportunity, so er, I don’t mind if you give your blessing to someone else!”

The three goddesses: “...”

Everyone: “...”

It was such a ridiculous statement that neither the divine nor the mundane could not say anything for a time!

As soon as the people came back to their senses, they immediately glared at Ye Qing. They were already infuriated that the last opportunity had gone to Ye Qing, and now the sonuvabitch was boasting that he had so much opportunity he did not need another one! How could they not be angry at the asshole?

The locals, the inner city disciples, and the worshipers especially were practically spitting fire out of their eyes. The young man would be dead a million times over if it was up to them to mete out his punishment. It was Ye Qing’s current actions were no different from blasphemy in their eyes.

Ye Qing was still thinking of a way to squirm out of his situation when Feng Qingyou urged him with a smile on her face, “Go on. You shouldn’t keep the goddesses waiting.”

“... Fine.”

Ye Qing was extremely reluctant to say the least, but Feng Qingyou’s words and the hostile gazes that were skewering him from every direction ultimately pushed him forward.

Did he really think of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities as garbage? Of course not. He just knew that this particular opportunity was most likely booby-trapped. What kind of sane person would willingly accept a trapped opportunity unless they had no other choice?

Unfortunately, that was the exact situation he was facing right now. He was going to accept this “blessing” whether he liked it or not!

“Let’s go.”

Ye Qing sighed and climbed on top of the white horse. The white horse itself snorted with deep displeasure as it carried Ye Qing all the way to the auspicious clouds.

After the white horse reached Goddess Moonview, it disappeared all of a sudden without warning. It seemed to be plotting to trip up Ye Qing and embarrass him in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing was ready for this. He landed safely without any trouble whatsoever.

After he landed on both feet, Ye Qing stared at Goddess Moonview and waited for her to grant him his blessing. What he did not know was that Goddess Moonview was also waiting for him to pay her respects to her.

For a good few seconds, the one man and one goddess simply stared at each other. They were both waiting for the other person to act.

“Ahem... goddess? What are you waiting for? Grant me your blessing already!”

A long time later, when Ye Qing could not hold back his impatience any longer, he urged, “I’m going to leave if you won’t grant me your blessing.”

Is she dumb or what? Ye Qing thought annoyedly to himself as he added, “Seriously! I’m going to leave in five seconds if you’re not going to do anything!”

When Goddess Moonview heard this, she finally realized that the rude young man had no intentions of paying his respects to her. She furrowed her brow slightly as if displeased with his rudeness, but she ultimately chose not to say anything about it. She waved her hand, and the moon in the sky abruptly started plummeting toward Ye Qing.

As the moon plummeted, it shrank in size but grew brighter as a result. By the time it landed in front of Goddess Moonview, it had shrunk to the size of a pendant but shone as bright as the sun itself.

“Not bad,” Ye Qing exclaimed in pleasant surprise as he grabbed the pendant. He thought that it would be a scam or something, but the Strange Artifact turned out to be better than he thought. “Thank you, goddess.”

With that done, the Goddess Festival had finally come to an end. The three goddesses waved their hands, and Ye Qing, Yao Jingce and the young woman all floated to the ground.

After that, the three goddesses turned around and stepped toward the heavenly door once more.

“Goodbye, goddess!”

“Goodbye, goddess!”

“Goodbye, goddess!”

As soon as the locals saw this, they immediately dropped to their knees once more and bade the goddesses goodbye in unison. Their expressions were respectful and full of zeal.

The door slowly swung shut after the three goddesses had vanished behind it. The auspicious clouds and colorful lights too disappeared together with the door.

By the time Ye Qing, Yao Jingce and the woman finally landed on the ground, every extraordinary phenomenon in the sky disappeared at once. All that was left behind was the three goddess wall paintings in the sky. They glittered like gold under the sheen of moonlight.

Since the goddesses were gone, Ye Qing, Yao Jingce and the young woman instantly entered the spotlight. Everyone was staring at them with envy, jealousy, anger, hatred, and more.

Ye Qing and Yao Jingce were fine, but the young woman had clearly never been in the spotlight before, at least not one on this level. Judging from her sweaty brow, pale complexion and clenched teeth, she was seconds away from suffering a panic attack.

It was at this moment a terrible pressure descended from above. The crowd abruptly opened up a path as if an invisible blade had split them in half, and an old man accompanied by a group of Goddess City disciples—all of them dressed in black robes—slowly walked toward them.

The old man’s sleeves were empty. It was clear that he did not have arms. The aura and pressure of a Trueman he gave off was unmistakable, however.

The armless Trueman paid the crowd no attention whatsoever. Once he reached the trio, he began, “Chosen ones, our city lord would like to invite you to a meeting. Will you please come with us?”

Once again, envy and jealousy bloomed on many faces. It was because the three chosen ones had obtained not just the blessing of the goddess, but also the favor of Goddess City itself. All they needed to do was nod their heads, and they would become a part of Goddess City and soar to greater heights than ever before.

“Senior, if you don’t mind me asking... are you saying that the city lord wishes to meet us in person?”

Both Yao Jingce and the woman seemed stunned by the invitation.

The armless Trueman took their response as yes and motioned for them to follow, “That is correct. This way, please!”

Ye Qing was the only one who lifted his eyebrows in annoyance. He wanted to open his mouth and turn down the invitation, but a voice rang in his heart before he could do so, “Follow them.”

Ye Qing subconsciously glanced in Feng Qingyou’s direction only to discover that the woman was nowhere to be found.

Ah, screw it. I guess I don’t have a better choice.

Although Ye Qing did not know why Feng Qingyou was making him do this, he did not question her orders. He immediately fell behind Yao Jingce and the young woman and followed the old man.

The trio would pass through various buildings and even more guards. Finally, they entered Goddess Palace and saw the enigmatic city lord of Goddess City with their own eyes.

The city lord of Goddess City was called Duanmu Longhua. Ye Qing knew this long before the Goddess Festival began.

The name sounded masculine, so he thought that the city lord of Goddess City was surely a man. But not only was he wrong, the city lord turned out to be a cute young girl.

No, this was not a misinterpretation. The city lord was literally a cute young girl. She looked to be thirteen or fourteen years old at most, and she was wearing a white dress. With her cute face and spirited eyes, she was the perfect picture of an innocent young girl.

Such was their surprise that the three of them could not help but stare at the young girl in disbelief for a time.