Chapter 491: The Turtle of Sleep

Chapter 491: The Turtle of Sleep

Ye Qing thought for a moment before raising his hand and slapping Yi Pin across the face, leaving behind a bright red palm print. When Yi Pin didn’t wake up, he slapped his other cheek with the same amount of strength as before. Now this was what he called symmetry.

“Brother! Wake up!”

Slap!

“Wake up! Brother!”

Slap!

Every time Ye Qing called out to Yi Pin, he would slap him in the face. It was easily the most fun he had in a while.

“Ugh... whas goinon, rada...?”

A few breaths later, Yi Pin slowly opened his eyes. He flinched when he saw Ye Qing raising his hand as if he was going to slap him at any moment.

Ye Qing stopped hitting Yi Pin and tilted his head to one side. It took him a second to recognize that Yi Pin was saying, “What’s going on, brother?” because his face was swollen.

While he was talking, Yi Pin’s head and eyelids began drooping again.

Slap!

This time, Ye Qing didn’t hesitate to slap him to full wakefulness. By now, he could do this all day with eyes closed.

“What are you hitting me for?!” Yi Pin yelled angrily at Ye Qing.

“Get up, brother.” Ye Qing pulled Yi Pin to a sitting position before asking, “Don’t you realize yet? Something is off.”

Even as he said this, Ye Qing was forced to bite the tip of his tongue to chase away his drowsiness.

Yi Pin was a veteran of the jianghu. He too noticed that something was amiss and immediately produced a giant bell from his sleeves. There was a melodious ringing, and Ye Qing felt the drowsiness pressing down on his mind lifting a little.

“Do you know what this is, brother?” Ye Qing asked.

Yi Pin wore a severe expression as he looked left and right and sniffed the air. Then, the blood drained away from his face, “A creature that inflicts drowsiness and smells of flowers... Is it the Turtle of Sleep? Yes, it has to be!”

“The Turtle of Sleep?” Ye Qing was shocked to hear this. “But I thought this Stranger could only be found in the deep sea?”

He knew of the Turtle of Sleep, of course. The Turtle of Sleep was a Phenomenon-class Stranger that lived tens of thousands of meters underneath the sea. Shaped like a giant turtle, it had a shell that was covered in colorful, fragrant flowers.

Yi Pin was speechless for a moment. “Just how much do you want to slap me, you asshole?”

“What do you mean, brother? Do I look like that kind of person to you? I was saving your life!” Ye Qing said seriously, “You’re the one who said I should wake you at first notice if you fall asleep, right?”

“...” I can’t refute that, but there has to be a more civilized way to wake someone up!

Yi Pin ranted in his head before saying just as seriously, “In that case, you better not blame me for returning the favor if you fall asleep, alright?”

“Of course not!” Ye Qing nodded. You will never get the chance.

At first, the two men were able to stave away their sleepiness using the Hill Mover Bell. However, its effects kept diminishing until it eventually became completely useless. So, the duo began mutilating themselves.

Ye Qing bit his tongue to keep himself awake with pain, and at first, Yi Pin copied his tactic and also bit his tongue to stay awake. The problem was that Yi Pin couldn’t recover as quickly as Ye Qing even though the young man was injured, so it wasn’t long before he was forced to stop. If he kept going, he was going to bite off his own tongue for real.

That wasn’t the worst part of it. The drowsiness kept growing stronger—or maybe his body had adapted to the pain—but he discovered that the method’s effectiveness was diminishing over time anyway.

At some point, Yi Pin said while he was smacking his own head, “There has to be a better way to stay awake, brother.”

Ye Qing replied, “Is that so? Tell me.”

“We can use a Strange Artifact or an item that specifically clears the mind,” Yi Pin suggested meaningfully.

“Oh, that’s what you mean. But I’m a simple and honest man, you see. I’d rather stick to the lousier way,” Ye Qing replied indifferently.

The second Yi Pin opened his mouth, Ye Qing knew that he was coveting his limited supply of Qi of Ultimate Purity. The item gave its user absolute clarity of the mind, and it was definitely the perfect answer to their situation. Since Yi Pin was the one who gave him the Qi of Ultimate Purity in the first place, of course he was aware of its effects.

Simple and honest?! Have some shame, you shameless liar! Yi Pin cursed mentally.

In the old Taoist’s script, Ye Qing would ask him what item or Strange Artifact could possibly shield their mind from the Turtle of Sleep’s power, and he would reveal the answer. When that happened, Ye Qing would have no choice but to produce the Qi of Ultimate Purity. After all, the young man had promised to keep him alive for as long as they were stuck in this hellhole, and refusing to give him the Qi of Ultimate Purity would go against that promise.

Unfortunately, Ye Qing saw through his ploy and ended the conversation before it even began. He really was as cunning as a fox.

Luckily for himself, he was a worldly man. He still had plenty more tricks up his sleeves.

Yi Pin let out a cough and sighed deeply. “Oh, how I regret this life. If only I knew that I would be whisked away into the Earthly Sovereign’s Coffin and encounter the Turtle of Sleep, then I would have carried all my Qi of Ultimate Purity with me. I think I still have a couple dozen in my secret place?”

“A shame, man, a shame. If I die here, all that Qi of Ultimate Purity would go to waste. I was going to give them to you if I managed to survive this place, brother, but now, I guess they’ll just have to rot in my secret place for eternity.”

Ye Qing’s eyes lit up at that. Now we’re talking!