Chapter 116: Hunting Time

[System Log Updated]

“Congratulations, you have opened the thirteenth Aperture Point and refined the seventh Aperture.”

As the pleasant System notification sounded, Jiang Yan gradually withdrew from his cultivation state.

Looking up, he saw a vast expanse of Red Mist billowing ahead, obscuring the sky. A faint, eerie Qi permeated the air, creating a sinister and terrifying atmosphere. For thousands of miles around, not a single bird or beast could be seen. The surroundings were eerily silent, an abnormal quietness.

Without hesitation, he rose and flew toward the Red Mist.

The Red Mist had the effect of blocking sensory perception. As soon as Jiang Yan entered, he felt his vision obscured. Only by activating [Eagle Eye] could he barely see within a five-meter radius.

Footsteps were swallowed by the air, each step on the ground feeling light and weightless, as if he were walking on cotton or floating clouds, creating an extremely unreal sensation.

Heartbeat, breathing, footsteps… everything vanished.

Behind him, the wind howled like cranes. Jiang Yan faintly caught a trace of noise but did not dodge.

Soon, a silver horn slammed into Jiang Yan but failed to penetrate his defense.

Jiang Yan grabbed the silver horn with his backhand, forcefully pulling it out of the flesh. Then, a sharp blade descended from above, piercing straight through the monster’s body.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a Fierce Beast commonly seen outside, but its eyes were blood-red, appearing extremely bizarre.

“Has it gone mad? Is there something wrong with this Red Mist?”

He killed several monsters that dared to ambush him and found no difference from the Fierce Beasts outside.

If there was any distinction, it was that they were more frenzied, more ferocious, and even more fearless.

They charged headlong without caring whether they could win, refusing to flee even when injured, simply fighting relentlessly.

Moreover, their target was solely Jiang Yan, who was within the Red Mist.

Jiang Yan had no interest in these Fierce Beasts, so he activated his protective Qi shield and flew low, exploring deeper into the Red Mist.

The passing Fierce Beasts were unable to break through his defense. With the support of his thirteen Aperture Points, Jiang Yan’s protective Qi shield had a continuous supply of energy.

The Chaotic Void Ancestral Spirit was terrifyingly tough.

That guy’s appetite had grown even larger since gaining multiple Aperture Points.

“Save me~”

“Save me~”

…

Within the Red Mist, faint, feeble voices drifted into Jiang Yan’s ears.

The voices were intermittent and extremely weak, as if breathless or like the whispers of wandering ghosts.

But Jiang Yan knew that the Red Mist had a strong filtering effect. The fact that he could hear these fragmented cries meant the source was very close to him.

And the cries were heart-wrenching.

Jiang Yan approached the source of the sound. In his limited field of vision, he saw two blurry figures entangled on the ground, tearing at each other. The cries for help had come from there.

Suddenly, the Chaotic Void Ancestral Spirit, which had been dormant within him for a while, erupted violently. It formed a dark Domain within a hundred-meter radius, fierce and overbearing, immediately dispersing the nearby Red Mist.

Jiang Yan’s vision was completely restored to clarity, and his hearing returned to normal.

Ahead, a massive Fierce Beast was tearing at a woman. She wore the uniform of the Golden Radiance Academy, now tattered and ruined. Her hair was disheveled from the struggle, and she looked as if she had just been pulled out of filthy water.

Jiang Yan beheaded the Fierce Beast with a single strike and approached the woman.

“Th… thank you.”

The woman could not see him clearly. Within the boundless Domain, she could only make out Jiang Yan’s blurry silhouette. The light devoured by the Red Mist was replaced by darkness, and she could only offer her gratitude to the air, trembling with fear.

“Thank you for saving me. In my next life, I’ll repay you even as an ox or horse.”

The woman curled up slightly, her consciousness already somewhat scattered from the earlier struggle.

She swallowed, her voice dry and raspy: “Um… that… can you take me out of the Red Mist? I’ll compensate you once we’re out.”

Jiang Yan didn’t respond. Instead, he crouched down and reached for her hand.

“Don’t!” The woman stepped back, only to find his strength unusually formidable.

“Stay still. This is what you owe me!” Jiang Yan snapped sharply.

The woman: ?

Jiang Yan’s hand landed on the Spatial Ring on the woman’s ring finger. He said calmly:

“I just saved your life. As a fair trade, I think you should at least give me something useful from inside.”

“Huh?”

Soon after, Jiang Yan walked away satisfied, holding a green fruit.

The woman sat on the ground, stunned.

“So he wasn’t here to be a hero saving a beauty, but… to rob?”

There was no time to dwell on it. She staggered to her feet and hurried back the way she had come.

Life or death would depend on fate now.

Along the way, Jiang Yan encountered many people and acquired numerous rare treasures.

How did he obtain them?

Just some methods, that’s all.

Jiang Yan grinned the entire journey.

“This Red Mist is fantastic!”

The Red Mist couldn’t penetrate his Chaotic Void Domain at all. As long as he remained within his Domain, the mist couldn’t blur his perception, allowing him to move through this realm with ease.

The group that had initially entered the Red Mist now numbered fewer than two hundred. The rest had scattered—some killed by Fierce Beasts, others devoured by Pei Qin, or simply lost in the Red Mist.

The once high-spirited team had now sunk to its lowest point.

They could only communicate face-to-face using their communicators; any distance would cause the signal to vanish.

“Wah… can we leave this place? Several of my companions are no longer with me.”

“This place is eerie. Let’s turn back quickly!”

“Senior Chen Xi, please lead us out of here! We don’t want any treasures anymore—we just want to leave now.”

Chen Xi: “It’s too late. Haven’t you noticed? We lost our direction the moment we entered. Now, we have no choice but to press forward. Perhaps there’s still a sliver of hope.”

Huang Fu: “Everyone, stay close! Don’t get separated. The Fierce Beasts here have mutated, and fighting in the Red Mist puts us at a severe disadvantage!”

The group resembled a sand pile gathered before a storm—seemingly united but merely comforting one another, destined to scatter like dust once the storm hit.

The team’s numbers continued to dwindle!

Among the crowd, Cheng Wu and Sun He walked together.

Cheng Wu repeatedly tried to contact Jiang Yan using his communicator, but the signal remained disrupted.

Frustrated, he threw the communicator to the ground.

“It’s over. Could Bro Jiang have entered too?”

“All along the way, where are the Opportunities? We’ve been deceived!”

Sun He stomped the ground angrily. The unreal sensation made him realize how pervasive the Red Mist was, deepening his despair.

Cries rose from the group, filtered and fragmented by the Red Mist, faint and intermittent, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

“Damn it, can you stop crying? Has anyone told you how awful your crying sounds?”

Unfortunately, no one heard his scolding.

More and more people began to weep.

As members of the group continued to vanish, a profound sense of despair settled over everyone’s hearts.

At that moment, Huang Fu, who was walking at the front of the group, suddenly let out a muffled groan.

He collapsed weakly to the ground, facing the sky, as footsteps continued to trample over his body.

Under the perceptual distortion of the Red Mist, people thought they had merely encountered an extra stone beneath their feet.

Some stepped, some stomped, some leaped over it, occasionally tripping and cursing before kicking it aside in anger. Satisfied, they then continued on their way.