Chapter 238 Layered Traps

The moment Su Hewan’s words fell, the thick fog around them seemed to come alive, violently churning and rolling.

A chilling rustling sound rose from the marshes on all sides.

“Protect yourselves!”

Lu Yan shouted sharply, shoving Yu Qing aside and yanking the embroidered spring knife from his waist.

Shen Jue snorted coldly, his long fingers brushing his waist.

The bone folding fan instantly unfolded in his palm.

“Ah—”

Yu Qing screamed in fright, crouching down and covering her head—a practiced motion that made one almost ache for her.

【Heaven is against me! God, I haven’t even graduated yet! I don’t want to die in this WiFi-less hellhole!】

Lu Yan twitched at the corner of his mouth, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings as he growled.

“Shut up! Hide behind the trees!”

At that moment, countless mud pits suddenly erupted from the marsh!

Dozens of sharpened black wooden spears shot up from the ground like a torrential rain, aimed straight at the four of them!

The spears were coated in a green, deadly poison—enough to kill with a single scratch!

“Clang clang clang—”

Lu Yan swung his spring knife, slicing through the incoming spears with brute force.

But the effort strained his wounded back, letting out a low grunt.

Shen Jue, meanwhile, moved like a phantom through the gaps between the spears.

With the bone fan swirling, he parried every deadly trap with precision.

He even had enough strength to grab Su Hewan’s slender waist, spinning her in midair to narrowly avoid a poisoned spear that grazed her cheek.

Su Hewan’s heart skipped an uncontrollable beat.

Shen Jue glanced down at her, a glint of danger flashing in his eyes.

“Where to?”

He had a free moment.

Su Hewan immediately wriggled out of his arms, her eyes scanning the surrounding trees and constellations.

“This is derived from Zhuge Wuhou’s Eight Trigrams Formation!”

“Rest, Birth, Harm, Stop, View, Death, Fright, Open!”

Her voice was unusually calm in the silent swamp.

“Those wooden spears are just a distraction—the real deadly moves are underground!”

“Don’t step on the stones covered with red moss!”

As she spoke, she relied on her vast historical knowledge, quickly deducing the position of the Gate of Life.

“Lord Lu, the withered tree to the left front—cut it down!”

Su Hewan shouted toward the depths of the fog.

Lu Yan didn’t hesitate.

Suppressing the searing pain, he took a deep breath and leapt forward.

The spring knife, carrying unstoppable force, struck the withered tree with a thunderous impact!

The tree crashed into the marsh, sending dark mud spraying everywhere.

Miraculously, as the tree fell, the churning poisonous mist around them suddenly froze.

The mechanisms that kept launching poisoned spears let out a dull clunk, completely silenced.

“The Gate of Life is open!”

Su Hewan exhaled deeply, sweat beading across her forehead.

【That scared me to death… Thank goodness I took ancient history as an elective in college, or today I’d really be done for.】

Shen Jue looked at her deeply.

“Let’s go.”

He folded his fan and led the way toward the Gate of Life.

They crossed the perilous poisoned swamp, and ahead the terrain suddenly opened up.

Suddenly, there was a muffled bang.

Lu Yan, who had been holding on with all his strength, suddenly wavered and fell heavily to one knee on the moss-covered rock.

The Embroidered Spring Knife in his hand sank deep into the soil, barely keeping him from collapsing completely.

“Lu Yan!”

Yu Qing screamed in terror, tears instantly breaking free like beads falling from a snapped string.

She dropped to her knees beside him, frantically trying to support his shoulders.

“Don’t scare me like this, Lu Yan!”

“Waaah… the wound… it’s completely torn open… so much blood… if this happened in the modern world, he’d be in the ICU fighting for his life!”

“What should we do?”

Lu Yan gritted his teeth, veins bulging at his temples, cold sweat soaking the stray hairs at his temples.

Hearing the panicked sobbing beside him, he looked at her gently.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to die.”

He weakly tugged at the corners of his cracked lips, trying to lift his hand to pat her head, but didn’t even have the strength to raise his arm.

Su Hewan quickly stepped forward and ripped open the back of Lu Yan’s flying-fish tunic.

A deep knife wound ran across his solid back, flesh flayed outward, blood already soaking his inner clothing a shocking dark red.

“No, we need to stop the bleeding and clean the wound immediately. This environment is far too prone to infection.”

Su Hewan’s expression was grave.

Shen Jue watched coldly from the side, his long fingers pulling a delicate white porcelain medicine bottle from his sleeve and tossing it over casually.

“Secret Golden Wound Medicine from the Eastern Depot. As long as he has even a single breath left, it can keep him alive.”

Su Hewan caught the bottle steadily.

“Thank you,” Lu Yan said through gritted teeth, enduring the intense pain.

“Less chatter. I don’t want to have to drag a dead body if trouble comes up later,” Shen Jue said with a cold snort, turning to a nearby vantage point and scanning the surroundings vigilantly.

Yu Qing trembled as she tore a strip of cloth from her clean dress.

Through tears, she carefully wiped the blood around Lu Yan’s wound.

“Bear with it, it might hurt a lot.”

Lu Yan groaned, then turned his hand to grasp Yu Qing’s small, trembling, blood-stained hand.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not in pain.”

His voice was hoarse, but his grip was firm and resolute.

Su Hewan worked skillfully to treat his wound.

Once the wound was tended to, the four of them didn’t dare linger. They supported each other and pressed deeper into the canyon.

Yet deep within these ten-thousand-mountain ranges, every step was fraught with deadly peril.

Not only were there poisonous insects and toxic miasma, but layers of traps lay everywhere.

After an unknown amount of time, a faint rustling of leaves came from above.

“Oh no! Something’s in the tree! A huge net! And barbed!”

Yu Qing screamed in her mind, scalp tingling.

Lu Yan, walking ahead, suddenly sharpened his gaze.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he spun around and used his uninjured arm to pull Yu Qing tightly into his broad embrace!

At the same time, he kicked a piece of deadwood on the ground with all his might, sending it flying.

A giant net, woven from tempered steel and vines, fell from above, ensnaring the wood and instantly crushing it!

Had he hesitated even a moment earlier, it would have been them caught and crushed instead!

Yu Qing was pressed tightly against the man’s solid chest, stunned as she listened to his rapid heartbeat.

Before they could catch their breath, Su Hewan, walking on the other side, suddenly shouted sharply.

“Hold your breath! Step back!”

Up ahead, a cluster of strange blue flowers, resembling exotic beauties, silently exhaled a pink mist from their stamens.

“That’s the Confusion Powder recorded in ancient Western texts. One breath and it paralyzes the body, leaving you defenseless!”

Su Hewan, relying on her extensive knowledge of historical records, immediately identified the source of the toxic hazard.

Shen Jue reacted swiftly. His white-bone folding fan flipped in his palm, and he swung it out, unleashing a fierce gust of palm wind!

The raging wind swept through, forcefully dispersing the pink poisonous miasma.