Dark Blood Path

“Xiao Yu, he…” Jiang Xiaowen put down the roasted rabbit leg from her hands as she seemed to be quite interested in this topic, blinking her pair of beautiful eyes repeatedly: “He and I used to be classmates in high school, and we even learned painting in the same studio. Xiao Yu used to be a quiet guy with an introverted personality, and he acted nervous often while interacting with girls. However, he is known in class for his cool head and will not take the initiative to disturb others. He has never been angry, in my opinion, and he sometimes does not become angry even when he is harassed, and he wouldn’t complain to the teachers if he is exploited or suffers some injustice. He is very enthusiastic, willing to help others, and works hard; plus, he is always the first to perform the assignments given in class. All in all, he was someone who accepted life as it goes.”

Han Kexin’s eyes sparkled slightly, “It’s hard to believe that Xiao Yu was ever such a person. Compared to what you’ve described, he now looks like an entirely different person.”

“Yeah, you’re right!” Jiang Xiaowen nodded her head and continued with interest in her tone: “Although he now speaks less and feels a little distant, he is still very good to us and doesn’t regard us as a burden. He will also not mistreat anyone, and when incidents occur, the current Xiao Yu remains cool-headed, while his ability to fight is the best, allowing him to provide people with a sense of security. I believe he is far better than the previous lackluster Xiao Yu….”

“You actually gave him such a high evaluation, hehe. Could it be that class monitor Xiaowen finally fell in love? Why didn’t you choose to accept his confession from the start?”

Han Kexin covered her mouth and smiled softly, causing Jiang Xiaowen to blush and feel a little frustrated at the same time.

Jiang Xiaowen sighed quietly and held her lovely petite face with her two small hands, as her crystal-clear purple eyes seemed somewhat troubled, “My family is very strict, so how can there be a chance for me to fall in love? Also…. I was still too young, I just wanted to focus on my studies, so I wanted to consider this kind of thing later on in life, and that’s why I didn’t think much about it. He was also immature at the time and had no idea how to impress girls at all. Yet now… He has changed a lot, and he never looks at me like he used to. He surely doesn’t like me anymore.”

As she continued talking, her eyes started to grow dim.

“You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, Xiaowen, and even a rock would be tempted by you. So don’t say that. Instead, you should have more faith in yourself.”

The girl blushed and said, “I… how can I be that good…. actually, if we’re talking about enticement, Teacher Han, on the other hand, is not only exceedingly attractive, but also has a nice body, very mature, calm and capable, and also very feminine. Everyone believes that if there is a lady in the world who can entice Xiao Yu, it must be you.”

When Han Kexin heard her say this, she felt a minor tremor in her heart and peered at her with a half-smile, “You silly girl, when did you get so good at talking? I’m not as good as you say.”

Jiang Xiaowen pursed her lips and hesitated to speak, looking quite adorable. When Han Kexin saw this, she broke out laughing and whispered something to her in a hushed voice. Jiang Xiaowen’s expression froze, and her cheeks became red again; then, she meekly looked down with a delicate and bashful look on her face.

The two women sat side by side in front of the cave, eating delicious roasted rabbit meat and chatting for several hours straight, with the conversation being almost entirely centered on Xiao Yu. The noises of two ladies covering their mouths and smiling coquettishly echoed from time to time in the dim environment as they talked about various past events.

Han Kexin lazily stretched her waist, and her graceful, alluring figure slowly reclined; then she stood up and dusted out her round buttocks before saying: “I had a lot of fun chatting today, but it’s getting late, and I can’t just sit around and do nothing. I will go first to see if Du Tao has anything that needs my help. I’ll leave Xiao Yu’s guarding duty up to you then.”

Jiang Xiaowen nodded, “Okay. Just go.”

Han Kexin smiled slightly, turned around, and walked away. She hadn’t gone far before she heard a loud sound from the direction of the entrance, accompanied by people’s screams. She was taken aback, and she immediately took out her weapon and rushed over, fearing that something may have happened over there.

The space in the underground cave was a bit chaotic, everyone came and went in a hurry with weapons in their hands, and everybody had a solemn and nervous expression on their faces as if they were facing a great enemy. In the middle of it all, Du Tao was shouting loudly to maintain order, trying to organize the panicking people.

Though his own expression was a bit anxious.

Looking around, he yelled, “Where did teacher Han and Jiang Xiaowen go? Did nobody see them? You guys, go and find them for me!”

He barely finished his words when almost immediately he heard someone shouting back at him: “Here, Teacher Han is here!”

Han Kexin heard the commotion, then ran over to his side and asked with a serious look, “What happened?”

“Teacher Han, you’re finally here, something bad! Something bad has happened!” Du Tao answered her quickly, “one of our scouts found a group of goblin warriors wandering nearby. I’m not sure if they’ve found this location yet. Still, our circumstances are dire. So I am now gathering people to go eliminate this group.”

“Goblins? How did they appear here?” Han Kexin’s expression suddenly became solemn, and she immediately asked, “How many are there? And what type of goblins?”

Du Tao replied: “According to the people who came back to report, there are about a dozen goblin warriors and hundreds of goblin slaves. Most of them came from the school. We’re not sure if there are other types of goblins in the vicinity. But what I’m most worried about is whether the goblin leader has also been dispatched… What about Xiao Yu and Jiang Xiaowen? If the goblin leader appears now, I’m afraid only you lot can fight against it.”

“Xiao Yu and Xiaowen can’t join the battle for the time being; we’ll deal with the goblins first.” Han Kexin said: “Whatever the case may be, our top priority is to eliminate these goblins as soon as possible, whether it be for the sake of the cave’s protection or for the sake of our future. Then again, we will have to return to the school’s wreckage sooner or later, as there are a lot of supplies waiting for us over there, so we need to reduce the goblins’ numbers as much as we can.”

Du Tao agreed with her and said, “I think so too.”

Han Kexin: “You just organize a team for me, and I will go out immediately.”

He quickly organized a group of strong individuals before Han Kexin led them out of the cave. She noticed both Jin Shi and Wang Chao guarding the entrance with a dozen people each. When they learned that Xiao Yu and Jiang Xiaowen could not participate in the following battle, the three teams immediately headed toward the forest after meeting up. Within about ten minutes of traveling, they went up a low slope that was filled with overgrown thorns, and they finally came across the numerous goblins roaming around the forest, though the monsters were over 200 meters away from them.

Thankfully, Du Tao’s information was relatively accurate. There were exactly a dozen goblin warriors in total, with a hundred or so goblin slaves. After they discovered them, the other party also noticed their presence, as they were more sensitive than human beings could ever be. The goblins were taken aback for a moment, roaring a couple of times before raising their weapons, intending to slaughter everyone on the short hill.

Jin Shi exhaled a sigh of relief. He let go of the strain on his heart and smiled confidently: “Fortunately, the goblin leader isn’t among them.”

“The surroundings are too quiet; something feels weird about this forest; I think there are more goblins around us than we might think.” Han Kexin took in their surroundings and muttered: “Everyone, be careful.”

“Teacher Han, no need to be paranoid about it! It looks fine to me. Isn’t it just a bunch of gray-skinned dumb dwarves?” Wang Chao took out his wheel-sized green battle axe from his back and continued, “Let fatty be the vanguard; I’ll first start by crushing the skulls of a couple of those damn dwarfs!”

“Wang Chao, don’t be impulsive. Defense isn’t your forth.” Han Kexin immediately stopped him, turned toward Jin Shi, and said, “They’re on their way, Jin Shi; you go.”

Jin shi nodded, lifted the goblin shield, and his right arm got completely covered in a rocky layer before he roared and charged toward the monsters. Several goblin warriors attacked him, and their short spears caused various dull noises in the forest as they landed on top of the goblin shield on his hand. The sound of the spears and shield clashing together was harsh, but he ignored it before he attacked the monsters with his other hand, and the massive rock-strewn huge fist shattered the goblins’ formation. Jin shi stood alone against the charge of the majority of the goblin warriors, and he successfully repelled the first wave of their attack!

At this time, Wang Chao went berserk in an instant, leaping from the slope to the ground, his obese body turning into a fast and deadly leopard as he pounced on them. The green battle axe on both of his hands slammed against a goblin warrior’s wooden shield, but before the other party could react, that huge force cut through both its shield and torso as it was sent flying seven or eight meters away. Just then, several other short spears stabbed him from all sides. However, Wang Chao reacted quickly, and his massive axe swung around in a circle, parrying all attacks.

“kill–!”

Everyone rushed down from the low slope to fight with the goblins. Most of these people were the elite brought back by Xiao Yu. They had gone through several battles of their own, and their speed and strength were several times higher than ordinary people. In fact, their combined fighting power was enough to surpass each one of Han Kexin’s and the others. They could instantly kill regular goblin slaves in just one exchange and even battle against the stronger goblin warriors and stall them for a while. All in all, their fighting power was quite good.

Han Kexin joined the fight as well. The weapon enveloping her hands was the wolf’s claw, which had a fairly limited attacking range yet was extremely sharp. After a few blows were exchanged, one goblin warrior was fatally wounded by her weapon, and right afterward, Han Kexin instantly used her ability and inserted the claw directly into the bleeding wound. As a result, the goblin warrior’s body was sucked dry, and the blood absorbed was converted into a bloody mist through her blood sacrifice skill. Inside the red mist, her strength and speed increased greatly, and her fighting power immediately rose to a higher level.

Although there were lots of goblins, their intelligence was too low, and their combat tactics were limited and full of flaws. On the human side, Han Kexin and the others were the main force, while dozens of other individuals with good strength cooperated with each other to fight slowly as they reduced the number of monsters bit by bit.

Yunyun was among this crowd of people and had already stabbed four or five goblin slaves to death by herself. At this time, a goblin warrior nearby charged forward with a spear. The girl parried quickly and was almost stabbed by the opponent’s weapons. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fight it head-on, so she made a quick decision and turned around and fled. Jin shi, who saw this rushed from the side, roared, and blocked the goblin warrior’s path with his large goblin shield. His huge rocky arm suddenly stretched out and slapped the monster on the head. With a bang, the poor goblin was immediately shot down underneath the soil, with only half its body exposed to air as it struggled to get out.

“Great opportunity!” Yunyun’s eyes lit up as she seized the opportunity to kill the constricted goblin with her spear. Then after one fatal stab straight to the head, she received most of the essence and was now only a half-step away from advancing!

“Just one more, just one more, and I can evolve like the others!”

Meanwhile, a muffled horn sound resonated across the woods at this time. Everyone in the crowd had heard this sound before and were all astounded…. there’s no mistaking it; back when they came to this world, this was the exact sound they heard just before the goblin leader appeared before them.

Which meant….the goblin leader had finally emerged!

(TN: ‘fighting power’ is a term that is repeated throughout the novel; essentially, it means the overall strength of the individual while combining all factors: strength, speed, and skills…)