Blood-Red Eyes

"Are you stupid?! Did you run over here just to get yourself killed?" Lin Chuan's furious roar shattered the silence of the woods. His fists clenched tightly, trembling slightly.

He had never imagined Qin Lang would use his own body to shield him from an attack. The feeling of someone caring about him was so unfamiliar that it made his heart tremble uncontrollably.

Lin Chuan lowered his head. His Byakugan flickered faintly. At that moment, he didn't dare look Qin Lang in the eyes. Even though he had been an orphan in his previous life, longing for someone to care about him, he was still an orphan after crossing over. He had grown accustomed to the loneliness. He thought he was no longer a child and didn't need anyone to do anything for him.

And yet, when Qin Lang had rushed out just now, Lin Chuan had still been stunned. He didn't know why Qin Lang had made that choice. The boy was much younger than him by any measure. Lin Chuan's mind had gone blank for an instant, and he had even felt a strange, inexplicable fear.

"Hey, I only did it because you were standing there like an idiot, not moving! If you died, I'd be the next one to die! Of course I had to save you! You're our only hope as long as you're alive!" Qin Lang said with a look of disgust, wiping blood from his face and picking bits of guts off himself. It was beyond revolting.

"Don't rush out like that next time. I can stay calm because I have a fallback plan!" Lin Chuan said, putting his thoughts aside.

"Got it! If I'd known rushing over would get me covered in this disgusting stuff, I wouldn't have come even if you beat me to death! Ugh, what the hell is this... It looks like something that came out of someone's stomach... Damn, that's disgusting..." Qin Lang shrieked as he flung the mess off himself.

Lin Chuan gave a wry smile and turned to look at Yan Kang on the ground. The man was still alive, but he no longer had the strength to get up and kill anyone.

"You... who are you...? You're clearly only at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage... how... how..." Yan Kang lay on the ground, still unable to believe he had lost—and so utterly.

With every breath, blood surged from his throat, ran down his cheek, and spread across the ground in a pool of crimson.

"Someone like you will never understand how important companions are!" Lin Chuan couldn't be bothered to waste more words on Yan Kang. He struck him in the chest with his palm, crushing his heart completely.

Then Lin Chuan looked toward one side of the forest. Three people were rushing over. They were already thirty meters away, but had yet to reveal themselves, seemingly planning to hide and wait for a chance to act.

Lin Chuan finally recognized them. They were the three people who had discovered the corpse he'd left behind after killing someone just after entering the Hunting Grounds. One was a nine-year-old boy at the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, while the other two, a little younger, were at the third layer. They made a fairly formidable team, likely among the top twenty groups to enter the Hunting Grounds this time.

"It looks like their fight is over. There's someone lying on the ground—probably dead—and two others are badly injured. Should we go over? Even if that group won, they must be exhausted. If we strike now, we have a good chance of taking them down!" one of the boys at the third layer said.

"This is an opportunity, but we should wait a little longer. I have a bad feeling," said the boy at the fourth layer.

Lin Chuan glanced to the side. The two boys who had followed Yan Kang had already been defeated by Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi. To their surprise, the foreigner, though only at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage, had relied on his powerful body to hold out against Qin Lang for a long time. Even after Qin Lang injured him, he hadn't been completely beaten.

Bu Lianshi's fight had been much easier. She had dealt with her opponent, who was at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage, long ago and was now helping Qin Lang remove the disgusting mess from his body.

Neither of them had expended much energy, but they had fought a Spirit Beast at the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, then faced a team of three on their own and defeated them. After that string of battles with hardly any rest, they were both already extremely exhausted.

Qi Refining cultivators didn't have much spiritual energy to begin with. After so many battles, both Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi were overtaxed.

As for Lin Chuan, the combined drain on his chakra and stamina made his already frail body poorly suited to another intense battle. With danger lurking everywhere, he especially couldn't let his spiritual energy or chakra run dry.

Another reason Lin Chuan didn't intend to kill them was that he sensed no killing intent from the three.

After a brief silence, Lin Chuan turned toward their hiding place and said calmly, "Come out. I've already spotted you!"

Lin Chuan's voice made everyone tense up again. Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang were especially on edge. They knew what the Byakugan could do, so the moment they heard Lin Chuan, they realized someone had come and nervously scanned their surroundings.

"Have we been exposed? Or is he bluffing?" one of them asked in confusion.

"Wait and see," the boy at the fourth layer said gravely.

"One at the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, two at the third. Fifth tree to the left of due north. How long are you planning to stay hidden?" Lin Chuan immediately revealed their cultivation levels and hiding place.

"He... how did he find us...?" The three were stunned. No one had ever been able to identify their cultivation levels and hiding place so precisely. Even when others had discovered them before, they had only sensed that someone was nearby; they had never been able to pinpoint their exact location.

The nine-year-old boy knew there was no point in hiding any longer, so he led the other two out. He was curious about how Lin Chuan had found them, but he was also on his guard now. This group was clearly not as simple as they looked.

When they had come within a dozen meters, the three stopped and watched the group from a distance, especially Lin Chuan with his white hair and Yan Kang's dead body on the ground.

"I think I've seen that dead guy somewhere, but I can't remember who he was," one of them said with a frown.

He wasn't the only one. The other two also found the man familiar, but they had little time to study a corpse.

After a moment's thought, the nine-year-old boy said, "I'm Han Qing. We're all here to pass the trial, so there's no need for us to fight each other. I know your group is strong, but you've just finished a battle and run into us. Your odds aren't great either. Give me half the Spirit Cores, and we'll leave right away. How about it?"

"Half the Spirit Cores? You sure are asking for a lot," Lin Chuan said softly. His eyes, which had closed at some point, suddenly snapped open. In his blood-red irises, a single black tomoe spun rapidly, and his gaze met Han Qing's.