Sharingan Hypnosis

Buzz!

Han Qing felt his mind spin wildly in an instant, as if endless black shadows were rushing toward him. The whole world seemed to recede in the blink of an eye. Everyone and every sound vanished from his mind, leaving only darkness.

It was as if he were about to drift into an eternal slumber. The drowsiness came without warning, unstoppable and impossible to resist. All his memories disappeared in that instant, leaving only two enormous eyes floating in a black world. They were blood-red, each with a single Tomoe spinning within it. Sometimes they spun fast, sometimes slow, and sometimes they seemed perfectly still. He felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

"Han Qing! What's going on? What happened to you?" Just a moment ago, he had been talking to the white-haired youth across from them. Now Han Qing was slowly going limp, as if he had lost his life. If the two people beside him hadn't reacted in time, he would have collapsed completely to the ground.

Boom!

All the drowsiness vanished in an instant. Awakened by his companions' calls, Han Qing clutched their shoulders and gasped for breath. Sweat covered his forehead, and his whole body was drenched, as if he had just been fished out of a river.

What was that just now... those eyes... What exactly happened... Why did it feel as if so much time had passed...

Han Qing's mind was utterly blank. He could barely even think coherently. He felt as if he had just walked through a terrifying abyss. If that had happened in the middle of a fight, he would already be dead beyond a doubt.

"Be careful. Don't look into that white-haired youth's blood-red eyes... or else..." Han Qing said in fits and starts.

"What blood-red eyes? What's wrong with you? What are you talking about?" The two still had no idea what had happened. Why had the strongest among them, Han Qing, suddenly passed out—and why had he looked so frightened?

"That white-haired youth... those blood-red eyes of his. Don't look!" Han Qing said, clutching his throbbing temples.

"What blood-red eyes? That youth's eyes are strange, sure, but they're white—white pupils and all!" His companion's words made Han Qing look up at Lin Chuan again in surprise. Sure enough, his eyes were white, pupils and all!

"Then what exactly happened just now?" Han Qing was utterly shocked.

"If you want the Spirit Cores, you can come take them yourselves. But you'd better think carefully, and don't forget those three corpses you saw when you entered the Trial Grounds. You wouldn't want to end up like them." Lin Chuan calmly watched the three across from him.

At the same time, he silently lamented that the Sharingan was still too weak. After all, it had only one Tomoe, so it could manage only the simplest hypnosis. He couldn't use any of the more powerful genjutsu. Still, it had achieved the effect of intimidating them, and that was enough.

At Lin Chuan's words, the three men's expressions changed instantly. They would never forget the terror they'd felt upon entering the Hunting Grounds and finding those three corpses. Not a single mark had marred their bodies, yet their internal organs and meridians had all been severely injured. Those had been three Qi Refining Stage cultivators at the third level—only a little weaker than them.

"It was you..." Han Qing and the other two said in shock.

"What? Surprised? You spent so long lingering around the people I killed, even stripping the clothes off their corpses. Did you think I wouldn't know?" Lin Chuan said slowly, his gaze cold as he watched the three men.

Lin Chuan's words made them realize at once that, when they had found those corpses, he must have been nearby, watching their every move. And they hadn't sensed a thing. The three of them felt their hair stand on end, cold sweat covering their backs.

"Sir, please forgive our earlier offense. These are all the Spirit Cores we've obtained. Consider them our apology. Please let us leave. And might I ask your name? I, Han Qing, will remember it well and would never dare offend your dignity again!" Han Qing immediately bowed respectfully, no longer daring to harbor any ulterior motives.

He knew the white-haired youth before them might be bluffing, putting on a show of strength to scare them off, but he still had no desire to gamble on it.

He knew that even if someone like this was badly depleted, the three of them still couldn't handle him. He simply didn't want to fight. Perhaps they had only escaped disaster because they hadn't come in with the intention of killing and robbing him.

Even more frightening, once he realized how powerful Lin Chuan was, he tried to recall who the dead man had been. He immediately saw that the man looked a lot like Yan Kang, who ranked fourth among this batch of newcomers.

From where he stood, he could clearly see the blood and fragments of internal organs Yan Kang had spat out. That only strengthened his conviction that Lin Chuan was the uncanny expert who could attack a person's organs and meridians. If a fight broke out, he had no confidence at all that he would survive Lin Chuan.

Yan Kang had been at the sixth level of Qi Refining, and he was dead. Han Qing was only at the fourth level. Even if Lin Chuan's spiritual power was running low, he still didn't have the courage to fight him. That would be suicide.

"Lin Chuan!" After a moment's thought, Lin Chuan gave his name. He was certain that once this trial ended, his name would spread among the others. There was no doubt about it.

"I'll remember that, sir!" Han Qing said with a nod. He then pulled the two companions beside him backward, step by cautious step. Only when Lin Chuan was out of sight did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. He poured all his spiritual power into fleeing at full speed, eager to get as far away as possible from the white-haired youth named Lin Chuan.

After the three left, Lin Chuan turned his attention back to Yan Kang and the others. Qin Lang, having cleaned the blood and bits of organs from his body, began rummaging through Yan Kang's corpse with a thoroughly put-upon look. He took everything useful and stowed it on himself. There were quite a few Spirit Cores among the spoils, including some from fifth-level Qi Refining Spirit Beasts. Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi were delighted, thinking they'd no longer have to worry about running short of Spirit Beast cores.

Lin Chuan shook his head helplessly and looked at the two surviving companions of Yan Kang. Both were injured, but not seriously—clearly because Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang had gone easy on them.

That was only natural. The outcome of this battle had little to do with them; it depended entirely on whether Lin Chuan or Yan Kang won. And, feeling some sympathy for the two after seeing how they'd been oppressed, Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang hadn't hurt them too badly.

"Faye, was it?" Lin Chuan asked with interest, looking at the tall foreigner.

"Kill me or spare me as you please!" Faye furrowed his brow and replied coldly.

"If you make it out of here alive, you can come find me. What Yan Kang couldn't give you, I can." After saying this, Lin Chuan turned and left with Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang.

"Why should I believe you? And what can you give me?" Faye shouted.

"A chance to stand at the peak of the cultivation world. A chance to follow me. If you still dream of becoming a strong man! And why should you believe me? Because believing in me can bring you eternal life!" Lin Chuan said languidly.