Chapter 140: Rain of Blood Across the Sky

"Boss, what kind of place is this?"

The foremost man, his waist girded with a red-crystal longsword, pushed aside the foliage blocking his path while hauling away a thick vine dangling from a tree branch.

Suddenly, as if seeing something terrifying, the man was struck by a profound shock. He froze in his tracks, his bow-like stance tightening as he slowly drew the red-crystal sword from his waist. His twitching lips distorted his facial features into a grotesque grimace. A large black birthmark marred the skin around his eye and brow, making him look exceptionally fierce, yet the sickly, sallow hue of his complexion betrayed a sense of lonely helplessness as he turned to signal the others not far behind on how to proceed.

A group of five advanced in formation, positioned front, back, left, and right, surrounding the central figure like stars clustered around the moon. The man in the center wore no smile, yet the corners of his mouth twitched upward from time to time, his eyes flashing with a sinister glint.

This central figure was none other than Xiao Ming, the team leader selected by Tianmu Academy to explore the new dimension. After clashing with Zixing Academy over the Fire Crystal Tiger core, they had ventured deep into the realm, with Liu Yun scouting ahead.

"You're asking me, but who do I ask? This is my first time in this dimension too; how would I know where we are?"

Xiao Ming could be considered a collateral descendant of the Tianmu royal lineage, though his bloodline was extremely thin. Back at Tianmu Academy, his abrasive personality had often made him unpopular among his peers, but because of his faint blood ties to the King of Tianmu, no one dared to voice their discontent. This stubborn and willful demeanor had been brought from Tianmu Academy straight into the new dimension, entirely unchanged.

Yet, to be fair, Xiao Ming truly possessed the capital to be willful. Upon his first appearance, he had crushed Long Mo, who had placed fifth in the entrance examinations, and had since firmly claimed the top spot on the freshman rankings while monopolizing the lion's share of resources. (At Tianmu Academy, resources were distributed by rank; the higher the rank, the greater the resources.) In less than three months, he had leaped from the initial Foundation stage to the advanced Foundation stage.

Xiao Ming's sole purpose in joining this dimensional exploration was to secure even more resources, hoping to break through to the Growth stage as quickly as possible to prepare for the upcoming family grand tournament a year later. Rumor had it that this tournament was not only tied to the Xiao family but was also closely linked to the selection process of a mysterious organization.

His mother had told him this. Although she had sounded extremely uncertain at the time, Xiao Ming knew that there was no smoke without fire. Thus, he had been constantly preparing for the family grand tournament. Whether for the sake of the family trial or the unknown selection, Xiao Ming was determined to risk everything.

Liu Yun was still some distance ahead of Xiao Ming, scouting the path. Seeing Liu Yun poised for battle, Xiao Ming felt a faint knot of unease in his stomach. Throughout their journey, aside from the Fire Crystal Tiger, they hadn't encountered a single living creature. Instead, the surrounding trees had grown increasingly hyper-realistic, and patches of weeds and underbrush had begun to sprout beneath their feet.

Xiao Ming was just about to ask Liu Yun what lay ahead—after all, anyone selected for his team couldn't be utterly lacking in competence—when Liu Yun's voice reached him once more.

"You'd better come see this for yourself. Something feels off."

Clutching the red-crystal longsword, Liu Yun's palms had broken out in a cold sweat in mere seconds. After shouting a warning back to Xiao Ming, Liu Yun began to retreat.

"Watch out!"

With his eyes fixed rigidly ahead, as if the scene before him might break its bounds at any second to devour everything in its path, Liu Yun failed to notice that the vine he had casually pushed aside while clearing the brush had undergone a drastic transformation.

The intense tension, compounded by Xiao Ming's sudden warning, caused his tightly wound nerves to snap as if overloaded. The hand gripping the massive red-crystal sword spasmed violently.

Driven perhaps by reflex or sheer survival instinct, Liu Yun threw himself sideways, using his core strength to roll down the slope.

Even so, something pierced clean through Liu Yun's arm, while a dark blur streaked past the top of his head at terrifying speed.

Seeing Liu Yun in mortal danger, Xiao Ming conjured a sphere of green light in his palm and hurled it forward, blasting the monster that had attacked Liu Yun's head away.

"Aah!"

Before one wave subsided, another crested. No sooner had Liu Yun escaped the monster's assault than the sole girl in the group, positioned to Xiao Ming's right, let out a piercing scream.

"How is this possible!"

Xiao Ming had only enough time to glance toward his right before a chill seized his heart. He barely managed to let out a gasp—he didn't even have time to cry for help—before she was already dead. The girl had been quite close to him, less than ten paces away, yet he hadn't sensed a single thing. What if that attack had targeted him instead?

"Quickly, gather together! Watch the skies!"

*No casualties. There must be no casualties.* This was what the mentors in charge of the new dimension project had repeatedly emphasized before their departure. It was the absolute baseline requirement, and the bare minimum expected of a team leader.

Seeing the girl's death, the sinister gleam in Xiao Ming's unsmiling eyes grew even more pronounced. "Watch the skies! Keep an eye on anything resembling vines or long branches. We cannot afford any more casualties—this is my absolute minimum requirement for you all."

Xiao Ming had no idea what kind of punishment awaited them upon their return, but there was no time to dwell on that now. All he could do was try his utmost to keep the remaining three alive.

"What was that just now?"

Rolling back down the slope, Liu Yun came to a stop right beside Xiao Ming, needing no further prompting.

Stuffing a medicinal pill into his mouth, Liu Yun watched the puncture wound on his arm rapidly stanch its bleeding. Glancing at the girl who had traveled with them, Liu Yun realized they might have stumbled into an unknown forbidden zone.

After all, everyone participating in the dimensional exploration was among the elite of their generation. While they couldn't compare to a freak like Xiao Ming, every single one of them possessed their own trump cards and life-saving measures. Yet the girl now looked as though every drop of blood had been drained from her body, resembling a mummified corpse dead for thousands of years.

"I didn't get a clear look, but it must be some kind of mutated serpentine beast."

Among the four survivors, only Xiao Ming had direct contact with the unknown monster. The other three either hadn't seen it clearly or had simply assumed it was just a tree vine thrashing about.

Once the four of them clustered together, the mutated beast stopped its assaults, but the grim expressions on the remaining three said everything that needed to be said.

"What do we do now?" Liu Yun asked, looking at Xiao Ming as his wounds already began to scab over.

"What did you see up ahead?" Instead of answering, Xiao Ming turned the question back on him.

The other two kept darting anxious glances toward the canopy overhead, clearly sensing that the threat above was far more pressing than anything else.

"To be honest... you'd better go up and look for yourself." Deep down, Liu Yun felt that the situation above was infinitely more terrifying than the horrors below.

"B-behind us!" Suddenly, the rear guard bolted forward, eyes wide with sheer terror.

"What?" Xiao Ming was still debating whether they should retreat or push forward and hadn't caught what the rear guard had shouted. The next instant, his scalp tingled. "Dodge! Coming from above again!"

Following the girl's death, the remaining four had entered a state of extreme vigilance. The group, having only just managed to cluster together, instantly scattered once more.

"These snake scales?"

Liu Yun finally laid eyes on the true appearance of the creature that had attacked him. It was slender, no thicker than a human arm, but its tail ended in an alarmingly sharp point, with grey-green scales clearly visible across its surface.

Having missed its first strike, the mutated beast instantly altered its trajectory mid-air, curving sharply to lunge directly at Liu Yun's face.

Unwilling to share the same fate as the female teammate, Liu Yun channeled fierce sword qi into his red-crystal longsword, slashing toward the incoming serpent tail. Yet as the razor-sharp tail closed in, Liu Yun felt an escalating pressure. Suddenly, the tip of the tail split open, transforming into a maw filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth as it snapped at him.

"Is this a tail or a mouth?!"

It was Liu Yun's first time encountering such a bizarre creature. He brought his red-crystal sword down hard, the sword qi driving straight into the gaping serpentine maw.

Liu Yun stumbled mid-swing, utterly astounded that a monster no thicker than an arm could possess such immense strength. He had braced himself for a ferocious follow-up attack, but unexpectedly, the creature simply withdrew after a single strike.

Liu Yun looked up, trying to gauge just how long the monstrous snake actually was, but its body wasn't coiled around any tree branch at all—it seemed to have plunged straight down from the sky itself.

A chill gripped Liu Yun's heart. Can an arm-thick snake really be this long? Before he could process the thought, Xiao Ming's voice cut through the air.

"Move! Push forward! Liu Yun, take the lead!"

It was only then that Liu Yun saw countless monsters hurtling down from the forest canopy behind them, as if attempting to scour the entire area clean. A wave of bone-chilling dread washed over him; with so many strange snakes, they would undoubtedly be skewered like roasted meat on a spit. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself forward.

Passing a high ridge felt like stepping between two entirely different worlds. The sky overhead remained blue, yet cast an eerie red hue; the surroundings were devoid of a single plant, utterly devoid of life. In the furthest distance, the sky appeared as if a giant bite had been taken out of it, revealing a yawning black abyss.

Stepping across the ridge and into this alternate realm, Liu Yun felt the moment his boots touched the ground that he wasn't standing on soil at all—the earth itself seemed to be swallowing his feet.

"What kind of ghost place is this? This isn't the original dimension anymore!" Xiao Ming's exasperated voice rang out from behind.

The four of them walked step by step across the desolate terrain, their hearts heavy with unease. By now, it no longer felt like they were exploring a dimension; rather, they felt as though they were walking a path to their own graves.

"It feels like it's raining." Liu Yun felt a dampness on his cheek and looked up at the sky.

"How can this be?" A single droplet of rain fell into his eye. Without blinking, his gaze reflected the crimson sky above.

"The elemental energy inside my body is fading."

"Mine too."

A blank look washed over Xiao Ming's face as he began to doubt whether he would ever make it out alive. He too could feel the elemental energy draining from his body. Moreover, the rain was growing heavier. The blood-red sky and the torrential crimson rain—the heavier the downpour, the faster their powers dissipated.

"What do we do now?" Liu Yun turned back to ask Xiao Ming.

"Over there." Xiao Ming pointed toward the black abyss, his tone devoid of any certainty. For the first time, he lacked all confidence; all he could do now was gamble with his life.

He glanced back one last time. High above the forest where they had first encountered the monsters, a massive bank of dark clouds loomed. He knew those weren't clouds at all, but some kind of unknown lifeform—the strange snakes had poured down from that very mass.

Though technically within the same dimension, it felt as though they were trapped across three separate worlds. Moving forward meant certain death, and retreating was equally fatal. Xiao Ming realized by now that they might no longer be in the original new dimension, but in order to survive, he had no choice left except to push forward.