Chapter Ninety-Eight: Blood Mist

At this critical juncture, Fang Jie could no longer spare a thought for the murderous intent looming over him and struck with full force.

At the same moment, Xu Chen smiled, lifted the Azure-Sky Bow beside him, and waited for the best moment to unleash a lethal shot.

"I'll hold them off. Quickly exchange the treasures you've collected for points."

Fang Jie fought with all his strength, and with every punch, one disciple of the Four Great Sects fell.

Just then, behind a disciple of the Great Stream Sect, the phantom image of a carp leaping through the Dragon Gate appeared.

His blood and qi surged explosively, but at the same time, blood began pouring from all seven apertures of his face.

"Come on then. Feel life bloom!"

That disciple, whose strength had originally been less than four dragons, forcibly activated the Fish-Dragon Transformation Dance secret art, raising his power by nearly eight tigers, all at the cost of his life.

Bang!

Though his strength had surged, the Great Stream Sect disciple still could not withstand Fang Jie's punch.

But it was precisely at the instant Fang Jie threw that punch that Xu Chen suddenly seized the Wind-Breaking Arrow beside him, drew the bow to a full moon, and loosed it.

The Wind-Breaking Arrow left a trailing shadow in the void, as though it had crossed space itself, shooting straight toward Fang Jie.

And Fang Jie, having already gone all out, had no way to change his move. He could only finish off the Great Stream Sect disciple with that punch first.

"How good you are at seizing the moment."

Fang Jie pushed his blood-qi power to the limit, then drove a punch toward the incoming Wind-Breaking Arrow.

A tremendous force exploded from his fist like a burst of air cannon.

Xu Chen's mouth curved at the sight.

The overwhelming force smashed into the Wind-Breaking Arrow, but to his surprise, the arrow, now shrouded in that force, only accelerated further.

It tore straight through Fang Jie's protective power and struck him in the head with a single blow.

In an instant, the whole arena turned to stare at the direction from which the arrow had come.

"Let's go. The rest should be nothing to worry about."

Xu Chen slung the Azure-Sky Bow back over his shoulder and rose to walk toward the Treasure Exchange Platform.

Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou hurried after him.

Everyone present made way for the three of them.

When Xu Chen reached Fang Jie's corpse, it dissolved into spiritual light, leaving behind two treasures that shimmered with radiance.

Xu Chen picked them up casually and carried them to the Treasure Exchange Platform. Together with the one in his hand, he placed all three treasures onto the platform.

"Seven-Colored Jade, Three-Light Stone, Earth-Spirit Tree Heart, and Sun-Sage Mirror. Altogether, they can be exchanged for 103 points. Would you like to proceed?"

At the number, Xu Chen's eyes flashed.

Zong Changshou had told him that one point was equivalent to one thousand spirit coins.

"Not bad. That wasn't wasted effort."

After choosing to exchange the points, Xu Chen turned and left. The remaining people in the arena surged forward to exchange their own points.

In an utterly black world where one could not see even an outstretched hand, Xu Chen led the other two forward at a measured pace.

"We've been in here for three days already. Gale winds, low temperatures, high temperatures, freezing rain, hail, polar night, earthquakes, no-air zones, and more."

"We've almost seen every kind of natural disaster there is. Sometimes two or three would hit at once."

"Looks like what we prepared before still isn't complete enough. We'll have to improve it when we get back."

Li Chengfu's voice drifted through the darkness.

"We need to bring more blood-qi pills."

Just after Zong Changshou said that, the temperature in the pitch-black surroundings began to fall, and freezing rain started to descend from the sky.

But for the three of them, this was already nothing unusual.

"There’s a cave ahead. Let's go in and take shelter from the rain first."

Xu Chen's calm voice came from the darkness. Though he was in complete darkness, his senses were unaffected in the slightest; the power of Earth-Hearing Thousand-Phantoms covered a radius of thirty zhang.

For Xu Chen, sight was irrelevant.

Inside the cave, Xu Chen found some dry branches by touch and lit a fire, brightening the whole cavern.

"At least there's a bit of light."

Just as the three were discussing what to do next, the earth suddenly trembled.

A blood moon appeared in the sky once again, and far away on the horizon, a mass of blood mist spread across the entire firmament.

At first it covered only a radius of several li, but then it gradually expanded, growing faster and faster.

When the three of them finally made out what it was by the blood moon's light, a chill shot straight to the top of their heads.

The blood mist was made up of countless tiny scarlet insects, devouring everything in their path.

"Run!"

"Follow me!"

Xu Chen led the two of them fleeing rapidly into the distance.

But the blood mist moved even faster than they did, and before long it was less than a hundred zhang behind them.

Feeling the terrifying aura closing in behind him, Xu Chen looked at Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou, both of whom were already nearing their limits. He instantly changed stance and hooked an arm around each of them.

Xu Chen's speed suddenly increased, barely matching the rate at which the poisonous mist was spreading.

Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou were tucked under Xu Chen's arms, facing one another, both with rather awkward expressions.

"I told you to train your movement techniques more, but you wouldn't listen. Now you're dragging us down," Zong Changshou said first.

"Who’s dragging whom down? Aren't you the same?" Li Chengfu glanced at Zong Changshou and turned his head away.

"I'm out of blood-qi too. I'm no different from you."

As the two spoke, Xu Chen accelerated once more.

A subtle surge of power erupted beneath Xu Chen's feet.

At this perilous moment, a mountain range hundreds of zhang high blocked Xu Chen's path. If he tried to climb it directly, he would surely be swallowed by the blood mist.

"It's over. Still, we got our money's worth. The treasures we've collected over these past few days are probably worth about a thousand points," Zong Changshou estimated.

"That's not how you should count it. Right now we've got four treasures on us. If the blood mist covers and devours us, those four won't count for points at all," Li Chengfu said solemnly.

The blood mist sped up, and Xu Chen also pushed his own speed higher.

Looking at the mountain range blocking his way, Xu Chen drove the Wind-Treading Step to its utmost limit. With the aid of that wondrous force, he stepped through the air.

His control was not yet perfect, and every step burst with a crackling air explosion.

But as he became more familiar with the technique of treading through empty space, Xu Chen grew increasingly skillful, and increasingly swift.

He leapt over the mountain range and continued running into the distance.

The moment he crossed it, he discovered that an identical blood mist had also appeared behind the range, closing in from both front and rear to trap him between them.

"Damn it, a double poison zone."

Still in midair, Xu Chen instantly changed direction and fled toward the area not yet covered by blood mist.

He ran through the air for several hundred li, only to encounter a third mass of blood mist.

The three blood mists had him surrounded perfectly in the middle.

"Fine. No need to struggle."

Xu Chen landed on a mountain peak, his expression twisted with utter frustration.

Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou also showed helpless looks.

At last, the nearest blood mist directly engulfed the three of them.

In an instant, countless tiny red insects swallowed them whole.

Outside the Ancient Battlefield portal, thousands upon thousands of disciples from the Five Great Sects emerged from the back side of the gateway.

At first, more and more disciples came out, but later the number dwindled.

By the time Xu Chen and the other two emerged from behind the portal, hardly anyone remained to come out after them.

"Bloodworm Disaster Mist, lasting one and a half hours, 300 points."

A light screen appeared before the three of them at the same time, displaying their performance in the Ancient Battlefield.

"About 730 points each. That works out to 730,000 spirit coins. Not bad. If we're short on money, we should come here more often," Xu Chen said, stroking his chin.

"Junior Brother, if you're short on spirit coins, just say so. We're people who are meant to do big things."