Stranger Danger

Chapter 853: If You Slap Someone, Make Sure It Hurts

If a man’s legacy was their fame, then a goose’s legacy was their honks. The “Lingering Honks of a Goose” could be activated without a trace and record a scene for a very long time.

Of course, the Magia had its own weaknesses. First, it only worked if the person that was being recorded was very close. Second, it must continuously receive spiritual power and energy for the duration of the recording. Otherwise, the recording would cut off immediately.

If Chen Cang wasn’t such a show-off, then Ye Qing’s plan might not have worked. At the very least, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective as it had been.

Villain monologues were among the top three reasons a villain died no matter the genre. Some would even argue that it was the first!

After that, Ye Qing spent a few Flower Moon Reflection Talismans to capture copies of the recording. He made sure to wipe any traces of his person and voice from the recordings, of course. The rest was history.

“You’re…”

For the first time in a very long time, Feng Qingyou was speechless. Even she couldn’t help but be incredulous at Ye Qing’s actions. After all, what kind of jianghu warrior would think of recording in the middle of a battle?

Life truly was a never-ending gift of surprises.

A few seconds later, Feng Qingyou finally mustered herself and shook her head wryly. “You did well. With this recording, there is no chance Chen Cang would be able to persuade anyone to believe his version of the truth. I am very impressed by your machinations as well.”

When Ye Qing told her that he was going to give Chen Cang a treat of his own medicine, she thought that he was planning to verbally spread the fact that Chen Cang was the one who tricked Xiang Weilong and set things up so that the Dragonmount Duke would act as his butcher’s knife.

Although this would definitely throw the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance off a little, there were two huge flaws with this plan. One, there was no evidence proving that Chen Cang was the one behind everything, and two, Chen Cang was nowhere to be found. The Seventy Two Water Land Alliance would be distracted for a bit, but they would quickly turn their attention back to Ye Qing.

It was a completely different story if there was proof, however. Yes, Ye Qing was still the murderer of Xiang Weilong, but Chen Cang was the one who plotted everything. He was the sonuvabitch who had tried to play them all like a fiddle. Combine this with the havoc he just caused in order to escape from Dragonmount City, and the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance would surely hunt him to the ends of the earth.

In other words, capturing Chen Cang was now their primary objective. Ye Qing was still a key target, but he wasn’t nearly as high value as he was before.

“There was no way Myriad Horse Hall and Ding Shengshui could have apprehended Chen Cang.” Feng Qingyou continued, “That is why you chose them, didn’t you?”

“I did. Chen Cang can’t die yet, not while he was still useful to us.”

Ye Qing had definitely informed Ding Shengshui and only Ding Shengshui the truth on purpose. It was to magnify the amount of destruction Chen Cang could cause and ensure his escape from Dragonmount City.

It wasn’t just a matter of picking the weakest link, however. In fact, it had taken him a long consideration before he finally settled on Ding Shengshui. One, Ding Shengshui was not strong enough to kill Chen Cang, but just strong enough to force him to go all out. Two, Ding Shengshui was infamously greedy. Ye Qing knew from his research that the hallmaster would want to hoard all the merit to himself and so would not try to inform his superiors or ask for backup. He would come to apprehend Chen Cang with him and his men alone, and he was right.

Thanks to his careful selection, things went exactly as he had predicted: Chen Cang was forced to go all out and cause an incredible amount of damage to Dragonmount City. However, his pursuers weren’t strong enough to apprehend him, and so he was ultimately able to escape.

He wanted Chen Cang dead as a matter of course. It just wasn’t the right time yet.

If Chen Cang was caught by the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance, then they would immediately turn their attention to him and Feng Qingyou. Their plan to use Chen Cang to buy themselves time would have gone up in flames.

Chen Cang must stay alive so that he could distract the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance to the maximum degree. He must keep them so busy that they had no choice but to overlook him temporarily.

The reason he needed Chen Cang to wreak havoc in Dragonmount City was to slap the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s face and drag their reputation through the mud, of course.

What would people think if they learned that a nobody had played the famous Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance like a fiddle? Not only that, that same nobody had caused an untold amount of death and destruction in their central headquarters, and he was able to escape after the fact?

Calling it a faceslapping would be an understatement. It was more akin to mopping the floor with their face.

For now, the incident was still contained within Dragonmount City, but what if the news was spread to the rest of the jianghu? Who could treat the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance seriously after that?

With this, Chen Cang would become the thorn in their side; the nail in their eyes they must remove no matter what. They would go after him like he had massacred their whole family.

Ye Qing? Ye Qing who?

This was why he went through all the trouble to set up Chen Cang.

Suddenly, Feng Qingyou interrupted, “Your plan is good, but you didn’t go far enough, Joyless.”

“What do you mean?” Ye Qing exclaimed in surprise.

“You didn’t slap the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance hard enough,” Feng Qingyou clarified.

“I don’t understand,” Ye Qing voiced his puzzlement. He was already wiping the floor with the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s face. How much further must he go for it to be “enough”?

“Chen Cang has surely earned the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance’s eternal ire considering everything he did, but this incident is still contained within Dragonmount City. They still have the leeway to cover up their shame by locking down the city and preventing the truth from spreading. Not only that, the Dragonmount Duke would surely put two and two together and figure out that you’re the one behind this incident.”

Feng Qingyou explained, “What I’m trying to say is that the Dragonmount Duke might intensify his search for you in order to silence you and cover up their shame permanently. If you leave things be, there is a good chance your plan might actually backfire against us.”

“That… is a definite possibility.”

Ye Qing admitted after listening to Feng Qingyou until the end. He had overlooked the fact that there was nothing a person of the jianghu valued more than their face; their dignity. They would do anything and everything to defend it. “What should I do then?”

“If you’re going to slap someone, make sure it hurts. If you’re going to do something, make sure that it’s done perfectly.”

Feng Qingyou let out a small cough before continuing, “While the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance still hasn’t locked down the city, we must spread Chen Cang’s conspiracy and what he did today to the entire jianghu. We must rip off their loincloth and bare their shame to the entire realm.”

“This way, the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance would loathe you to the bones, but they would have no choice but to devote all their time and effort into hunting down Chen Cang as soon as possible. Otherwise, they would be known as the weaklings who couldn’t even execute the mastermind who played them like a fiddle and made a mess of their central headquarters in a swift and timely manner. They would become the laughingstock of the entire jianghu.”

“Oh yeah! That makes sense!” Ye Qing’s eyes lit up. “That’s not all we can do either. We can inform the Dragonmount Duke about Chen Cang’s whereabouts every few days so that their attention would always be on Chen Cang. This would prevent them from getting frustrated and choosing to vent their ire on us instead.”

“Yes, that would be wise.” Feng Qingyou nodded in agreement.

Chen Cang was a Trueman and a disciple of Swordsgrave. With his skill and knowledge, it was uncertain if the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance could find him even if they devote all their time and manpower into the effort, at least for the short term. If it took longer than expected to find Chen Cang, it was possible that the Dragonmount Duke and the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance would lose their cool and go after them instead.

On the other hand, if the Seventy Two Water Land Alliance could consistently discover Chen Cang’s whereabouts, then they would not be tempted to split their focus. Until Chen Cang was captured, he and Feng Qingyou would be safe and secure.

As for how Ye Qing was going to locate Chen Cang, Feng Qingyou didn’t ask. He was the one who made the suggestion, so he must have a way to pull off the feat.

“Fight hard, Chen Cang. Don’t give up until you’ve drawn your last breath.”

Ye Qing rubbed his nose and let out a devious chuckle. The longer Chen Cang held on, the more time he and Feng Qingyou would gain.

“There’s no time to waste, so I’ll get to it right away.”

After bidding Feng Qingyou goodbye, Ye Qing left the room and disappeared into the crowd.