Chapter 1330: Yin Coachman, Yin Carriage Token

“You swear?”

Ye Qing scoffed, “Why on earth would I believe the oath of a Stranger?”

“Let’s do it this way. I’ll leave behind a restriction in the Yin Horse Carriage. You’ll wait for us outside the Void Stomach City. As soon as you hear my summons, you’ll come over to fetch us. I will remove the restriction after the deed is done.”

“If you dare to betray me or abandon us, then I will activate the restriction and destroy you. It’s just fair, right?”

“Of course, you can try to neutralize my restriction yourself or gamble on the chance that my restriction cannot destroy you. If you succeed, then what can I say? You’ve earned it.”

The black fog within the carriage churned violently. Its rejection and anger were as clear as day.

“Haha, you don’t want to?” Ye Qing sneered, “This all began because of you, you piece of shit. I haven’t even asked you to pay for what you’ve done, and you dare to waste my time and energy on your bullshit? Face is something you earn, not given!”

The Earthly Sovereign Bell shook a little, and a terrifying aura washed out into the surroundings.

The Yin Horse Carriage did not back down this time though. The old horses neighed, and the black fog transformed into black flames once more. A silhouette could be vaguely seen within the black flames.

The silhouette’s face was blurry, but Ye Qing could tell that he was wearing a woven rush raincoat and carrying a horse whip. His aura was dark, terrifying, and not inferior to Ye Qing’s in the slightest.

The Yin Coachman...

Ye Qing thought in recognition. As the name implied, the Yin Coachman was the coachman of the Yin Horse Carriage. It was also the strongest existence in the Yin Horse Carriage. One might say that it was thanks to the Yin Coachman that the Yin Horse Carriage was able to roam the endless realms and the Yin Yang Gap to its heart’s content.

“Alright, you have balls. I don’t want to turn this into a lose-lose situation either.”

After standing off against the Yin Coachman for a bit, Ye Qing withdrew his aura first and asked, “How about this: I want you to give me a Yin Carriage Token.”

Inside the black flames, the Yin Coachman stayed silent for a bit before waving his horse whip. Black fog surged in from multiple directions and formed a token.

The token was pitch black in color. One side of the token illustrated a horse carriage running through a black fog, and the other side had the word “Token” engraved on it.

The token flew over to Ye Qing after it was fully formed.

Ye Qing did not suspect foul play. After catching the token, he said disgruntledly, “So be it. Now, take us to the Void Stomach City.”

The Yin Coachman turned around and took his leave after hearing the command. The black flame and black fog also receded with his retreat. The interior of the Yin Horse Carriage was returning to normal once more.

The next moment, the old horses whinnied, and the scenery outside the window changed. Once again, the Yin Horse Carriage was soaring through the worlds.

“Phew... it is done.”

Inside the horse carriage, Ye Qing took a seat and stared at the passing scenery outside the window. At the same time, a hidden smile flickered across his disgruntled expression.

Why? Because he had perfectly resolved the two greatest conundrums of this adventure: One, how could he reach the Pacification Bureau group without trouble, and two, how could they escape afterward. Now, those problems had all been resolved.

To reach the Pacification Bureau group, he must chart a path to Void Stomach City. Of course, he did not possess such capabilities. The Yin Horse Carriage was the only one who could do that.

So, how could he convince the Yin Horse Carriage to take him to Void Stomach City? Why, the answer was: “Submission via brute force”, of course! The Annon Sutra itself said that!

That’s right. It was that simple. He had asked the Annon Sutra about this on the way to Pine Tree Town.

It sounded very basic, but then again, it wasn’t that unexpected of an answer. In this world, there was nothing a bigger fist could not resolve. If one punch couldn’t do it, then two would do. If two punches couldn’t do it, then punch them ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times. Punch them until they were dead; punch them until they wished they were dead.

Everyone was afraid to die, and Strangers were no exception. This was especially true for intelligent Strangers.

The Yin Horse Carriage was undoubtedly an intelligent Stranger. It had its own mind and thoughts. Naturally, it was profit-seeking, risk-averse, and greedy for life just like all other living beings.

Therefore, what he needed to do was simple. He just needed to show off his power and make the Yin Horse Carriage wary and afraid. This would make them open to negotiations and be of use to him.

Obviously, the best, most direct, and most risk-free solution would be to tame and control the Yin Horse Carriage outright, but it was easier said than done. The Yin Horse Carriage was very powerful and no ordinary Disaster-class Stranger. Even he wasn’t fully confident that he would be able to subjugate the Yin Horse Carriage perfectly. It was far likelier that too much brute force would result in a pyrrhic victory instead.

His goal wasn’t to subjugate the Yin Horse Carriage, but to rescue his former colleagues. Everything came after that. That was why he went with the safer route instead of the risker one.

In other words, he simply needed to scare the Yin Horse Carriage into taking him into Void Stomach City.

But of course, you couldn’t negotiate without some tactics. That was why he struck first and seized the initiative.

It was also why he put on a barbaric front and kept pushing the Yin Horse Carriage’s buttons again and again. It was all to maintain control of the initiative and pave the way to his true objective: hitching a ride to Void Stomach City.

Things went exactly as he predicted. The Yin Horse Carriage itself had offered to take him to Void Stomach City, and that was fine by him.

Second, how could they leave Void Stomach City after he found Fang Xiaoman and the others? More accurately, how could he leave this so-called “place that is real but isn’t real, an illusion but not an illusion” stated by the Annon Sutra?

The competent was always saddled with more work than the incompetent. Naturally, it fell on the Yin Horse Carriage to see this through.

But how could they guarantee that the Yin Horse Carriage would wait for them near Void Stomach City and take them home afterward? It was also unrealistic to expect the Yin Horse Carriage to return on its own a month or two later.

Of course, the Yin Horse Carriage’s offer to swear an oath was even more unreliable. You had a better chance expecting a sow to learn to climb a tree than expecting a Stranger to keep their promises.

Besides, he had threatened the Yin Horse Carriage and beat it up a little. Obviously, the Stranger would be hostile toward him. Forget keeping a promise, it would be a miracle if the Yin Horse Carriage wasn’t plotting to take revenge against him.

That was why he needed the Yin Carriage Token. The Yin Carriage Token was a token that allowed the wielder to command the Yin Horse Carriage. The Yin Horse Carriage must provide its service to a wielder of the Yin Carriage Token without fail.

This was one of Yin Horse Carriage’s rules of existence. Therefore, it couldn’t disobey it.

Some people might mistake that the Yin Carriage Token made them the master of the Yin Horse Carriage, but that wasn’t true. It was just an employment relationship. Yes, the wielder would become the temporary employer of the Yin Horse Carriage, but it did not change the fact that they were also the customer. They could command the Yin Horse Carriage to service them and escort them somewhere, but a customer was ultimately a customer. They could not take control of the Yin Horse Carriage, much less command it to do something that would threaten its own life.

Moreover, each Yin Carriage Token could only be used once to make one request. It could not be used repeatedly.

Still, with the Yin Carriage Token in hand, Ye Qing could now summon the Yin Horse Carriage to his side and leave the Void Stomach City whenever he wanted to.

Of course, the Annon Sutra was the one who told him about the Yin Carriage Token.

From the start, his goal was the Yin Carriage Token.

However, there was no way the Yin Horse Carriage would comply if he had just asked for it directly. At the very least, the Stranger would make it difficult for him to get it.

After all, to hand over the Yin Carriage Token was like handing its own life to another person. For the duration of its service, it would have to obey almost their employer’s every whim like a slave. Of course it wouldn’t hand it over so easily.

That was why Ye Qing asked for the moon first before offering a compromise, and that compromise was none other than the Yin Carriage Token.

The Yin Horse Carriage was wary of Ye Qing. It wouldn’t want to fight him to the death unless it had no other choice. Between allowing Ye Qing to leave a restriction on it and giving him a Yin Carriage Token, it was clear that the latter was far more preferable.

In the end, Ye Qing was able to obtain the Yin Carriage Token exactly as planned.

With this, Ye Qing had both secured the path to Void Stomach City and the retreat. Now, it was simply a matter of locating his former colleagues and saving them.