Han Ruoruo, Wu Ming the Matchmaker, the Mysterious Blood God, and the Red-Level Mission

Originally, her attention had been drawn to the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King's sneak attack, so she had not paid much attention to the anomaly on the distant horizon.

But Qiangu Yunche's reminder immediately made her realize something was wrong.

The crimson clouds stretching for several kilometers across the distant sky were no natural spectacle. They were clearly tens of millions of Blood Bats!

They gathered in enormous swarms, their blood-colored bodies emitting a dim red glow. Countless blood-red eyes stared at Qiangu Yunche and Han Ruoruo from over a thousand meters away, sending chills down their spines.

"Screech—!"

A piercing shriek came from the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King, whose body had been blasted into a bloody mess by heavenly lightning. The terrifying sound waves made the surrounding trees tremble violently.

Its blood-red eyes gave Qiangu Yunche and Han Ruoruo one venomous yet fearful look before it spread its wings and staggered deeper into the Blood-Colored Forest.

The boundless sea of blood-red clouds retreated with it, and the suffocating pressure of being watched by countless eyes slowly faded away.

Once the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King and the swarm of Blood Bats had left, the world suddenly seemed wide and clear again. Han Ruoruo finally let out a breath, then muttered,

"What kind of hellish place is this? How can there be so many Blood Bats?"

Even if she and Qiangu Yunche together had no reason to fear an ordinary Title Douluo, they would still be worn to death against such a massive number of Blood Bats.

What was more, behind that overwhelming blood-red cloud, her spiritual power had vaguely sensed several powerful auras, each at least comparable to a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast.

Hearing Han Ruoruo's words, Qiangu Yunche could not help asking,

"Didn't you investigate the specific circumstances of the mission site before carrying out your inspection mission?"

Han Ruoruo removed her mask, revealing a young face that was slightly thin but as beautiful as spring mountains. Her lovely brows furrowed slightly as she explained,

"That band of thieves had been roaming the Heaven Dou Empire for several years. I pursued them all the way here from the western part of the Heaven Dou Empire. I was just about to wipe them out completely, but who would have thought that in only a few days, they would turn into half-human, half-Soul Beast monsters capable of commanding Blood Bats and other Soul Beasts?"

"As for why this forest is so strange and why so many Blood Bats have gathered here, I truly do not know much."

"Then that makes sense." Qiangu Yunche nodded and looked toward the distant sky behind Han Ruoruo. A tiny golden-red point had appeared there. As it drew nearer, a scorching aura of flames rushed toward them, accompanied faintly by a high, resonant cry.

"What an overwhelming presence."

Qiangu Yunche narrowed his eyes. His astonishing vision allowed him to clearly see the surging white sea through the golden-red streak of light.

Han Ruoruo turned around, and a flash of delight passed through her eyes.

The golden-red streak soon landed in front of them, transforming into a flustered, beautiful figure.

The moment she landed, the figure rushed to Han Ruoruo's side. Her small hands anxiously groped her up and down as she asked in alarm,

"Ruoruo, what happened? The moment I sensed your distress signal, I rushed over. You weren't hurt, were you?"

With a top-tier beast Martial Soul, the Golden Crow, flames nearly approaching Ultimate Fire, and such an impatient temperament, there was no doubt that this woman was Wu Ming, one of the two living volcanoes of Shrek Academy's Inner Court.

Qiangu Yunche knew that Wu Ming and Han Ruoruo had an excellent relationship, but watching Wu Ming's strange movements, he instinctively leaned back. He somehow felt that Wu Ming was taking advantage of Han Ruoruo.

As she watched Qiangu Yunche's increasingly strange expression, Han Ruoruo's pretty face reddened slightly. She hurriedly stopped Wu Ming's wandering hands.

"Ming'er, I'm fine. Stop messing around. There are other people here."

Wu Ming slowly stopped moving at those words, only then noticing Qiangu Yunche, who had been enjoying the show from the side.

When she saw Qiangu Yunche's face, even the straightforward Wu Ming could not help a flash of amazement in her eyes. Just as she was about to say something, Han Ruoruo grabbed her wrist. Han Ruoruo's lips moved a few times, seemingly transmitting her voice to Wu Ming.

After finishing the voice transmission, Han Ruoruo stepped forward and said gently,

"Thank you for helping me earlier, friend. My name is Han Ruoruo, a student of Shrek Academy's Inner Court. This is my friend, Wu—"

Before she could finish, Wu Ming, who had grasped the general situation through Han Ruoruo's voice transmission, stepped forward and patted her chest.

"Wu Ming. My name is Wu Ming, and I'm Ruoruo's best friend. Thank you for helping Ruoruo out of trouble. By the way, do you have a girlfriend? If not, perhaps you could consider our Ruoruo..."

Wu Ming's words were shocking, but Qiangu Yunche's attention was not on what she had said.

He could not be certain about anything else right now, but one thing was certain: Wu Ming would definitely never leave her future children hungry.

Calling her a D-cup might even have been understating it.

Han Ruoruo was instantly mortified when she heard Wu Ming's words. She then snapped in embarrassment and anger,

"Ming'er! What nonsense are you talking about? Do you want to die!?"

"Hey, hey, Ruoruo, didn't you tell me before that you'd spent all your time cultivating and delayed finding a partner? You even said you had to find a man who was handsome and dignified, someone who neither revered nor feared you. Hasn't heaven handed you a perfect match now? Why aren't you hurrying up and seizing the chance..."

As Wu Ming dodged the utterly embarrassed and enraged Han Ruoruo, she grinned at Qiangu Yunche.

"Handsome little guy, do you like mature, motherly big sisters? If you do, hurry up and get to know Ruoruo. Let me tell you, Ruoruo is the second strongest in our Inner Court. Tons of people admire her every day."

The more Wu Ming spoke, the more embarrassed and anxious Han Ruoruo became.

She truly had not expected Wu Ming to tell a stranger the heartfelt words they had exchanged privately as close friends, especially when she did not even know his name yet.

With her perceptive nature, it was not hard for her to see that Wu Ming wanted to create an opportunity for her and the young man before them to grow closer. But Wu Ming had also been single for over twenty years, and with her impatient, straightforward personality, taking the initiative in this matter would only make things worse.

After finally catching Wu Ming by the ear, Han Ruoruo hurriedly apologized to Qiangu Yunche with a flushed face.

"I'm sorry. Ming'er acts on every whim, and she has no filter. Please don't take it to heart. She doesn't mean any harm..."

"It's fine. I actually find your friend's personality rather interesting."

Qiangu Yunche smiled. Wu Ming and Ma Xiaotao were known as the Inner Court's two living volcanoes. They were impatient, direct, domineering, and extreme. Their flaws could not be ignored, but there was also a unique honesty and passion in their personalities.

However, personalities like theirs meant that an ordinary person would suffer greatly as their partner.

After all, with Wu Ming and Ma Xiaotao's talent and strength, not to mention within the Inner Court, there were only a handful of men across the entire continent who could suppress them at the same age.

And on Douluo Continent, being inferior in strength and talent meant that one could never hold the upper hand in a relationship.

Take Chu Qingtian from the original work, for example. With his talent and strength, he would have been pursued by countless women anywhere else. But after getting together with Wu Ming, he was constantly suppressed until he became timid and hesitant, even though Wu Ming had already tried her best to become gentler.

The fear in their hearts and the belief that they were inferior doomed male Soul Masters like Chu Qingtian to never conquer living volcanoes like Wu Ming.

But if Qiangu Yunche had taken the male lead's place, the outcome would have been entirely different.

Hearing Qiangu Yunche evaluate her like that, Wu Ming was quite surprised. At the same time, her favorable impression of him rose a little.

"By the way, handsome little guy, what's your name? I was so busy dealing with Ruoruo that I forgot the most important question."

Wu Ming asked, giving Han Ruoruo a look that said, With me here, nothing can go wrong.

Han Ruoruo returned a look that meant, Just don't make me die of embarrassment again.

"My name is Qiangu Yunche. Come to think of it, I do seem to have quite a bit of fate with Shrek Academy."

Qiangu Yunche smiled lightly.

"Qiangu Yunche? Why does your name sound so familiar..." Wu Ming frowned. After muttering it twice, she exchanged a glance with the equally thoughtful Han Ruoruo. Then the two spoke in unison.

"Senior Sister!"

After realizing it, Wu Ming asked excitedly,

"Right! Senior Sister! Handsome little guy, did you save our Senior Sister Zhang Lexuan?"

"So Sister Ming figured it out after all."

Qiangu Yunche's address made Wu Ming beam with delight. She immediately chuckled.

"Then you weren't wrong. You really do have fate with Shrek Academy. Also, for calling me Sister Ming, make sure you look me up next time you come to Shrek City. I'll definitely treat you properly."

Han Ruoruo could not help sighing. "This fate truly is strange. Ming'er and I had heard Senior Sister mention you more than once. Who would have thought that merely coming out to carry out an inspection mission would lead us straight to meeting the real person?"

After a pause, Han Ruoruo asked curiously,

"Senior Sister said you were from the Star Luo Empire. Why are you in the northern part of the Heaven Dou Empire now?"

Qiangu Yunche pointed at the Blood-Colored Forest before them. "There may be a treasure inside this Blood-Colored Forest that I urgently need, so I planned to investigate it. I just happened to encounter you firing your signal flare."

When they heard that Qiangu Yunche intended to enter the Blood-Colored Forest, both Han Ruoruo and Wu Ming frowned. Han Ruoruo then said,

"Although I do not know this Blood-Colored Forest's origins, judging from what happened just now, it is certainly no safe place. Especially that Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King—it is an exceptional existence among bat-type Soul Beasts. Even the Star Dou Great Forest rarely has one."

Wu Ming hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, Ruoruo is right. The place where I was carrying out my inspection mission wasn't far from this damned place either. You two have no idea—those people in that little village were willing to risk their lives for some Blood Treasure. They even claimed that as long as they worshipped Lord Blood God, the Soul Beasts in this forest would not attack them. I think greed has driven them completely insane..."

Blood God?

Qiangu Yunche sharply caught the key point.

But before he could think further, Han Ruoruo suddenly slapped her palm and said to Wu Ming,

"Ming'er, I kept feeling as if I had forgotten something, but what you just said reminded me. Do you remember that among the academy's inspection missions, there are three known as Pavilion-Entry Level missions? The second one seemed to take place in a Blood-Colored Forest in the northern Heaven Dou Empire."

Shrek Academy's Inner Court inspection missions were divided by difficulty according to the colors of the academy uniforms.

Among the five major ranks of white, yellow, purple, black, and red, white was the lowest and red was the highest. Inner Court students like Han Ruoruo had to complete at least thirty inspection missions before taking their graduation assessment, and at least five of those thirty had to be black-level missions.

Red-Level Missions were not mandatory for students. Instead, they were issued as bounties.

Those who voluntarily accepted and completed a Red-Level inspection mission would not only receive extremely generous rewards, but also gain direct qualification to enter the Sea God Pavilion.

That was the fundamental reason Red-Level Missions were called Pavilion-Entry Level missions.