Chapter 14 The Dancer in the Mist, Su Qingyue's Fall
After school.
Jiang Chen dragged his "exhausted" body out of the school gates.
He had been lying in Mu Qingxue's office for two hours. Although his Qi and Blood had increased quite a bit, his waist was still a little sore from maintaining a single posture the whole time (to allow the teacher to absorb it more thoroughly).
At the school gate, Su Qingyue had already changed into casual clothes.
She wore a tight white T-shirt on top and a pair of faded jeans on the bottom, which outlined her breathtaking waist-to-hip curve.
She was wearing a baseball cap, seemingly afraid of being recognized, and was kicking pebbles under a streetlight.
"Have you been waiting long?" Jiang Chen walked over.
"No... just arrived." Su Qingyue pulled at the brim of her hat somewhat uneasily.
In all her years growing up, this was the first time she was going home with a boy at night.
"Let's go, to the Old Town," Jiang Chen waved. "It just so happens I haven't eaten yet. Knowing you were coming, my sister specifically went to buy half a roast duck."
Hearing that his sister was there, Su Qingyue clearly breathed a sigh of relief, and the tension in her heart dissipated significantly.
So it wasn't just the two of them...
The two walked side by side on the road back to the Old Town.
By now, it was dark. The streetlights in the Old Town had long been in disrepair, flickering with a dim yellow light that stretched their shadows long and occasionally made them overlap.
"Jiang Chen, about this Martial Arts Exam, I heard the rules have changed..." Su Qingyue tried to find a topic to break the silence.
"Shh."
Jiang Chen suddenly stopped, placing a finger to his lips. His originally lazy gaze instantly became sharp, like a sleeping lion suddenly waking.
At this moment, they were walking through a demolition zone that was under construction.
The surroundings were enclosed by blue iron fences, with only a few dim construction site lights swaying in the wind, making a sizzling sound.
"Wha... what's wrong?" Su Qingyue instinctively gripped the hilt of the soft sword hidden at her waist.
"Someone doesn't want us to go home and eat roast duck."
Jiang Chen had just finished speaking.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
Three extremely subtle vibrations of bowstrings suddenly rang out, hidden in the sound of the wind and almost impossible to detect.
Three pitch-black steel crossbow bolts shot out from the darkness, sealing off all of Jiang Chen's paths of retreat in a triangular formation.
The tips of the bolts glowed with a green light, clearly coated in a lethal poison that kills upon contact with blood.
"Watch out!" Su Qingyue cried out. Her Qi and Blood erupted as she prepared to draw her sword to block.
But Jiang Chen was faster than her.
Or rather, more "lazy."
He didn't dodge or block; instead, he simply leaned into Su Qingyue, his hands naturally wrapping around her slender waist. Using this "hooligan" posture, he brought them both rolling toward a sandpile by the roadside.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The three crossbow bolts were driven deep into the concrete where they had just been standing, burying themselves several inches deep while the fletching vibrated violently.
"Ah!"
Being pinned under Jiang Chen and feeling the youth's hot chest and powerful heartbeat, Su Qingyue's brain instantly short-circuited. Was... was he dodging arrows or taking advantage of her?
"Don't move," Jiang Chen's voice sounded in her ear, his breath brushing against her earlobe. "Four at the eighth level of the Qi and Blood Realm, and they're professional mercenaries. The Zhao Family really spent a fortune this time."
[Ding! Moderate danger detected.]
[Su Qingyue in arms (contact area > 60%).]
[phoenix blood resonance MAX!]
[All attributes temporarily increased by 50%!]
[Activating "Dream Domain: Fog of War Version."]
[Mental Energy consumed: 50 points (Note: Excessive consumption will force the host into sleep).]
As the System prompt faded, an invisible wave of Mental Energy instantly spread out with Jiang Chen as the center.
The surrounding construction site lights suddenly flickered a few times before all going out with a pop.
The entire site fell into absolute darkness.
In the darkness, four burly men wearing black tactical vests revealed themselves.
Wearing night-vision goggles and holding combat knives, they closed in from a fan-shaped formation.
Their movements were efficient and ruthless; they clearly weren't the Zhao Family's domestic servants, but true desperadoes who had seen blood—the Black Snake Mercenary Group.
"Target is down, make it quick! Leave no survivors!" the bald leader whispered.
However, the moment they stepped within thirty meters of the sandpile, the scene before them changed.
In the previously clear night-vision display, a thick white mist suddenly surged.
The mist seemed alive; it wasn't ordinary water vapor, but a thick, grey fog that smelled of blood.
"Why is there fog? The night vision is failing!"
"Boss, I... why do I feel so sleepy..."
"Something's wrong! There's a hallucinogen in this mist! Hold your breath!"
They didn't know that this wasn't ordinary fog at all, but a collective interference with their cerebral cortexes produced by the manifestation of Jiang Chen's massive Mental Energy.
In their perception, the world around them was collapsing.
Behind the sandpile.
Jiang Chen still maintained his position pressing down on Su Qingyue (because the bonus was highest this way), but one of his hands had already quietly lifted.
"Classmate Su, close your eyes," Jiang Chen said in a low voice. "The following scenes are not suitable for minors."
"What... what do you want to do?" Su Qingyue's face was so red it was practically dripping blood, but she could also feel the eerie atmosphere around them.
"I'm a bit sleepy, I want to sleepwalk for a while."
Before his voice had even faded, a trace of strange purple light flashed deep within Jiang Chen's eyes.
[Dream Manipulation, activated!]
In the vision of the four mercenaries, the previously empty construction site suddenly turned into a Shura Hell.
Countless hideous demons crawled out from underground, grabbing their ankles. The moon above turned into a scarlet eyeball, staring fixedly at them.
"Ah!! Get away!!"
"Help! What the hell is this! Tentacles! It's all tentacles!"
The mercenary with the weakest psychological state suddenly broke down and screamed. He swung his combat knife wildly, actually slashing into his companion's shoulder.
"Old Third! Are you crazy?!"
"He's been hypnotized! Knock him out, fast!"
The leader was still somewhat conscious, but he discovered to his horror that his movements had become incredibly sluggish, as if he were walking in the deep sea; even lifting a hand required all his strength.
And at that moment, a figure passed through the mist like a ghost.
Su Qingyue didn't obediently close her eyes. Through the gaps in her fingers, she saw a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.
Jiang Chen had stood up at some point.
His eyes were closed and his expression was peaceful, as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.
His steps were swaying and seemingly disorganized, yet they carried a strange rhythm; every step landed precisely in the enemy's visual blind spot.
He was "sleepwalking."
Or rather, he was dancing.
A mercenary roared and swung his knife at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen's body tilted slightly, like a fallen leaf blown by the wind. The blade grazed past the tip of his nose.
Then, he gently raised his hand, fingers held like a blade, and nonchalantly drew them across the mercenary's throat.
Pfft!
Blood splattered.
Jiang Chen's figure didn't pause for a second, flickering in and out of the mist.
Every flicker took a life. His movements were as smooth as flowing water, without any unnecessary flair—concise, efficient, and elegant, yet filled with a lethal sense of artistry.
It was as if he had rehearsed this countless times in a dream.
Finally, only the leader of the eighth level remained.
He leaned against a concrete pillar, his whole body trembling, his combat knife rattling in his hand. In his eyes, the person walking toward him wasn't a high school student, but a nightmare demon god radiating black Qi.
"Are you... are you a man or a ghost?"
Jiang Chen's eyes were slightly closed, and a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth, as if he were still having a beautiful dream.
"Shh, keep your voice down."
Jiang Chen placed a finger to his lips. "Since you've come into my dream, you must follow my rules."
"What rules?" the leader asked in a trembling voice.
"When sleeping, you must remain quiet."
The next second, Jiang Chen's figure vanished.
By the time he reappeared, he was already standing behind the leader.
Crack.
With a crisp sound, the leader's head slumped powerlessly.
With that, the elite squad of the Black Snake Mercenary Group, hired by the Zhao Family for a high price, was completely wiped out.
The mist dissipated.
The streetlights turned back on, their dim yellow light illuminating the mess all over the ground.
Jiang Chen stood in the middle of the four corpses, his school uniform not having caught even a single drop of blood. He brushed his hands off in disgust, then his body swayed as he let out a huge yawn.
"So sleepy... this fight was more tiring than doing two sets of Huanggang Secret Papers."
His Mental Energy consumption was too great, and an intense drowsiness hit him like a tide.
Su Qingyue stared at him blankly, waves of shock crashing through her heart.
Was this Jiang Chen's true strength?
No hot-blooded shouting, no difficult struggle, only an artistic harvest. Cruel, calm, and powerful.
But for some reason, looking at this thin yet upright back, she didn't feel fear; instead, an unprecedented sense of security grew within her.
In this world full of crises, if she could be protected by such a man...
"Hey, what are you spacing out for? It's really going to get cold."
Jiang Chen turned around, his face having returned to that harmless smile as if he wasn't the one who had just killed those people. "Let's go, time to go home and eat. Any later and my sister will have eaten all the duck legs."
"Com... coming!"
Su Qingyue quickly caught up. This time, she took the initiative to reach out and gently grab Jiang Chen's sleeve.
Under the night sky, the two figures gradually walked further away.
And the four corpses on the ground told the world: no matter who you provoke, never provoke someone with Waking Up Anger.