Chapter 1326: Yin Carriage

The moment he ripped off the tri-colored pistil, the Three-Day Violet withered rapidly as if its life had been ripped out of it.

Ye Qing didn’t care about its condition though. He closed his eyes and tossed the tri-colored pistil into his mouth.

“Hmm? It’s surprisingly tasty!”

Just two chews later, Ye Qing discovered in surprise that the pistil of the Three-Day Violet was surprisingly tasty. He thought it would be as smelly and bitter and disgusting as its stench suggested, but in reality, it was sweet, crisp, and delicious. It was absolutely on par with some exotic delicacies.

Not only that, the sweetness in his mouth and the stench in his nose combined into an indescribable sensation. It made him want more.

While contending with the wonderful, indescribable sensation, various images began to take form inside Ye Qing’s mind. He saw the Three-Day Violet growing out its root and sprouting. He saw it breaking out of the earth and swaying to the wind.

It wasn’t just images that he was receiving. He could hear sounds as well. It was rather curious.

This wasn’t important though. What mattered was looking for clues regarding his colleagues’ whereabouts.

“There it is...”

It wasn’t long before he saw Fang Xiaoman, Gu Suitang, Chu Nianjiu and Lin Yuhuai.

He could easily tell from their faces that they were worried and troubled.

The Pacification Bureau group had searched White Horse for several hours and found nothing. So, they decided to stay the night.

The large majority of Strangers emerged and operated during nighttime after all.

The first half of the night was very peaceful. Nothing was happening.

As soon as the gong struck midnight though, a thick fog suddenly blew in and engulfed the entire county.

Not only that, the fog was not your common white or gray-colored fog. Instead, it was black. Pitch black, light-devouring fog.

Because of this, the images he received from the Three-Day Violet were pitch black. He could not see anything whatsoever. He could only hear Fang Xiaoman and Gu Suitang commanding the others to be on their toes.

Even though he was only receiving images and sounds, Ye Qing could still sense their pressure and anxiety. For a time, the entire White Horse was as silent as it was pitch black.

It was at this moment they heard a loud whinny. It sounded very far away at the beginning, but it was right next to the residence the Pacification Bureau group was staying just a moment later.

However, no sounds of activity could be heard from the residence. It was as if no one had noticed the danger.

It was also likely that they had succumbed for the horse’s spell.

When the whinny resounded for the third time, it sounded like it was very distant again.

After that, Ye Qing heard nothing. The black fog that shrouded White Horse had disappeared as well.

The images slowly regained their clarity, but they were also useless at this point. After all, the Pacification Bureau group had already disappeared.

“Black fog... whinny... mysterious and abrupt disappearance...”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose as he recalled all the Strangers he had encountered, read and heard about. Perhaps there was an entry that would match the characteristics of this Stranger.

There was no doubt about it. The Pacification Bureau group’s disappearance was directly tied to the black fog and the whinny.

“Black fog... whinny... Could it be the Yin Horse Carriage?!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing’s eyes lit up.

He recalled a Stranger that, at first think at least, fit the characteristics of this Stranger. It was the Yin Horse Carriage.

The Yin Horse Carriage was a Disaster-class Stranger. It only appeared during midnight, and its appearance was usually accompanied by a thick black fog and whinnies. All living creatures caught within its range would disappear into thin air.

More than three decades ago, Chu had an encounter with the Yin Horse Carriage. The thirty thousand people living in one commandery and two counties had all disappeared in the span of a couple days. There were neither people nor corpses to be found.

The Pacification Bureau dispatched countless elites to investigate this mass disappearance, but they themselves had gone missing.

Only one person had lived to tell the tale, and according to them, the Yin Horse Carriage was a strange horse carriage capable of traversing the Yin Yang Gap, and crossing through time and space.

The Yin Horse Carriage itself was harmless, but the passengers were randomly dropped in all sorts of dangerous places. They could be unusual, enigmatic, anomalous, fantastical, or all of the above.

Of course, the passengers could leave the carriage of their own accord.

The Yin Horse Carriage always returned to the places it dropped its passengers, but it was uncertain when it would return. It could return in as short as one to two months, or as long as three to five months. Assuming that the passengers survived long enough, they could ride the Yin Horse Carriage back to the human world.

Most of them didn’t.

One or two months sounded like a short time, but the places the Yin Horse Carriage dropped its passengers were beyond dangerous and anomalous. Naturally, few people had ever lasted long enough to hitch a ride back to the human world.

The Pacification Bureau elite who survived was a powerful Trueman with potent artifacts on his person. That was why he just barely managed to last until the Yin Horse Carriage showed up. In fact, he would not have made it if the Yin Horse Carriage was late by just a day or two.

If even a Trueman was just barely strong enough to survive the tribulations, the others could only fare worse. Getting kidnapped by the Yin Horse Carriage was basically a death sentence to anyone who was below the Trueman stage.

That said, it wasn’t all bad. Everyone who managed to return alive from those anomalous, dangerous places all received massive boons.

Yes, those places were dangerous beyond imagination, but they also contained priceless treasures, rare materials, and potent Magia and secret arts. Obtaining them would certainly increase one’s strength by leaps and bounds.

Besides that, just making it back alive would improve one’s fortune dramatically. Their lives would become smooth-sailing for the most part.

Take the Pacification Bureau elite who survived for example. After surviving the Yin Horse Carriage incident, he had climbed multiple cultivation levels and ranks in just a matter of years and eventually became one of the four champions of the Pacification Bureau. Today, he answered to the emperor and only the emperor.

His ascension had even spurred the

jianghu

to search for the Yin Horse Carriage for a time. They were hoping to improve their own strength and fortune through it.

Unfortunately, the Yin Horse Carriage was exceedingly mysterious. It could not be found via effort alone. Besides that, it never appeared again after that incident from thirty years ago, so the people naturally forgot about it over time.

Ye Qing had read about the Yin Horse Carriage incident while going through the files in the Pacification Bureau a long time ago. That was why he was able to recognize the signs.

Who would have thought that the Yin Horse Carriage would resurface after thirty years?

As expected of the age of chaos. All kinds of monsters and demons were crawling out of their hidey-holes.

“What a pain!”

Ye Qing let out a deep sigh and massaged his forehead to alleviate a building headache.

It was good that he discovered the truth, but that was also why he knew exactly what a massive pain in the ass this rescue was shaping up to be.

There were several problems. First, there was no telling if the Yin Horse Carriage would show up again. Second, he didn’t know where the Yin Horse Carriage had dropped the Pacification Bureau group.

And third, the record made it clear that the Pacification Bureau group didn’t have much time left. The longer he delayed, the higher the likelihood that they would perish in whatever strange place they were in. He needed to find the Yin Horse Carriage and rescue them as soon as possible.

Left with no choice, Ye Qing produced the Annon Sutra. When in doubt, ask the Annon Sutra.

Ye Qing asked his first question, “When will the Yin Horse Carriage appear again?”

Ye Qing cut open his finger and dripped his blood on the piece of vellum.