Chapter 38: Chapter Thirty-Eight: Peril in the Blood Mist

"How come, Senior Jiang, you're from the school admissions office?"

Lu Jing remarked somewhat speechlessly.

"How is it that every martial arts university student who sees me wants me to apply to their school?"

Jiang Fanxin patted Lu Jing's shoulder and said with a smile: "The competition between martial arts universities is quite fierce; I just want to recruit some fresh talent for my school—isn't that normal?"

"There's competition between martial arts universities too?"

"Of course! Not only are students in competition with each other, but the martial arts universities are too; the resources allocated by the state are limited, and these must be fought for—survival of the fittest, the weak only get the leftovers."

Jiang Fanxin continued explaining: "For example, every martial arts university has a senior ranking and a freshman ranking, and the school's resources are distributed according to those rankings."

"Like our top-ranked martial arts university, we have a building inside called the Ultimate Tower."

"The Ultimate Tower's interior is designed with many stages; those who climb it receive generous rewards, but the slots are limited. Many who can't get a spot at our school go to other schools to storm the tower, and if they succeed, the attacking side gains the right to use this Ultimate Tower for one month."

"This leads to students who, although fiercely competitive internally, still unite outwardly at critical moments."

Lu Jing listened with great interest, never expecting life at a martial arts university to be so rich and colorful.

He had a reason to must get into a prestigious martial arts university.

First, it would bring honor to his family and fulfill his parents' long-held wish.

Second, at a martial arts university he could access higher-grade items, which would not only broaden his horizons but also be used to synthesize better things.

After chatting for a while, they unknowingly arrived outside a forest glowing with a red light.

The forest ahead was shrouded in deep-red blood mist, looking extremely eerie.

"What kind of creepy place is this? I've never seen such red mist before!"

Jiang Fanxin sucked in a breath of cool air, cautiously probing the edge of the red mist.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be the source of the demon beast rampage."

Lu Jing casually snapped off a branch and threw it into the red mist.

After a while, the branch showed nothing unusual.

"You think that'll work? Watch me!"

Jiang Fanxin nocked an arrow from her quiver and drew the bow.

"Whoosh!"

Not far away, a sparrow watching the commotion was pinned to a tree.

"Bingo!"

Jiang Fanxin ran over and retrieved the arrow.

This arrow hadn't harmed the sparrow's life; it had passed precisely through the gap in its wings.

Jiang Fanxin took out the arrow, released the sparrow into the red mist, and said, "Wait a moment, let's see if the sparrow is affected by the red mist."

The sparrow, having escaped death, looked somewhat dazed, flapped its wings a few times on the ground, then flew up into the sky and vanished in an instant.

Jiang Fanxin's eyes lit up; she turned to Lu Jing and said, "It seems brief contact with the red mist shouldn't be a problem—let's go in and have a look."

"Okay."

Lu Jing and Jiang Fanxin cautiously merged into the red mist; after just a few steps, their figures disappeared.

"Cough cough, what a foul smell!"

The bloody wind ruthlessly rushed into their nostrils, and Jiang Fanxin couldn't help but cough dryly a few times.

Upon entering, they could clearly sense the change in environment.

The air was very viscous, with an added bloody odor, making each breath feel irritating.

Everywhere could be seen withered vines and thorns, along with numerous charred demon beast carcasses.

These carcasses were posed abnormally ferocious, as if turned into an aura of despair, trying to infect their resolute minds.

Besides that, they saw no other living creatures; even the sparrow they had just released was nowhere to be found, and the whole red mist was eerily silent.

Suddenly, Lu Jing heard a gentle trickling of water.

"Is there a small stream here?"

Lu Jing frowned slightly; the sound of flowing water, amplified in the silent setting, made one feel uneasy.

"A bit strange, be careful."

Lu Jing gave Jiang Fanxin a word of caution.

The two kept their footsteps light, making no sound.

They also tried to slow their breathing, since no one knew whether inhaling too much red mist had any ill effects.

As they went deeper, the sound of water grew clearer.

Only after passing through a pile of demon beast bones did they see the source of the water sound.

The sound was indeed from a small stream flowing, but this stream was made of gathered blood!

Vivid red blood kept flowing, forming not far from Lu Jing and Jiang Fanxin a vast lake covering a huge area.

Besides the small stream before them, there were also many man-made ditches in other directions.

More blood flowed through the ditches into the lake.

Even more bizarrely, under the constant influx of blood, the lake's water level kept dropping.

It was as if something beneath the lake was absorbing the blood.

"Shall we go take a look?"

Jiang Fanxin swallowed, asking Lu Jing for his opinion.

Lu Jing likewise wore a solemn expression, nodded, and took the lead forward.

Jiang Fanxin covered her nose and followed closely behind.

"This is definitely man-made," Jiang Fanxin said, pointing at the uneven edge of the ditch, "It's clearly dug out with tools; it hasn't been long—who would do something like this?"

Lu Jing furrowed his brows, preparing to move closer for a look.

Suddenly, several blood-red tentacles shot out from the lake, lunging at the two of them.

"Get out of the way!"

Lu Jing reacted quickly, drawing the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword from his waist and slicing off the tentacles approaching him one by one.

Jiang Fanxin beside him wasn't as fast; a tentacle as thick as an elephant's trunk coiled around her waist and kept dragging her toward the blood lake.

Jiang Fanxin tossed aside her bow, drew a dagger from her leg, and hacked at the tentacle around her waist.

But before she could cut it off, countless more tentacles burst out, lunging at the two of them.

Seeing this, Lu Jing sidestepped to dodge and pushed back the nearby tentacles.

Jiang Fanxin fared worse this time—several more tentacles wrapped her in an instant, leaving only her mouth exposed.

"Whimper~ Lu Jing, quick... save me!"

At the critical moment, seeing Jiang Fanxin about to be dragged into the lake, Lu Jing lunged forward.

In his hand, the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword instantly disintegrated, leaving only a hilt fragment.

The next moment, countless blades appeared in the air, forming a dense net of blades.

"Swish swish swish!"

Under Lu Jing's precise control, the blades skimmed past Jiang Fanxin's skin, slicing off the tentacles entangled on her one by one.

Jiang Fanxin, lifted halfway into the air by the tentacles, felt only a chill on her body as the binding sensation vanished.

Then she fell toward the ground.

Lu Jing controlled the blades to swirl around the two of them, blocking the incoming tentacles, and in a flash appeared beside Jiang Fanxin.

A princess carry reached out and caught the midair Jiang Fanxin.

"Are you alright?"

After catching Jiang Fanxin, Lu Jing hurriedly retreated to a distance.

"Cough cough!"

Jiang Fanxin kept coughing in Lu Jing's embrace, the tentacles having just choked her so she could barely breathe.

"I'm fine... thanks to you, otherwise I'd have died here today!"