Chapter Fifteen: Breaking Through Once More!

Chapter Fifteen: Another Breakthrough!

After stepping over his defeated foes, Jiang Feng dusted himself off and turned to leave. He wandered the streets a while longer, picking up several more elixirs that could replenish spiritual energy in battle, before deciding to return home for further cultivation.

Before long, Jiang Feng arrived home. He didn’t even bother to return to his room, heading straight for the kitchen instead.

“You’re back, young master!” Lan Xin, busy at her work, quickly stood up as soon as she saw him.

“Yes. Hurry and fix me something to eat. As soon as I finish, I need to get back to my training.” Jiang Feng frowned slightly, sitting down to wait for his meal.

Lan Xin’s culinary skills were truly impressive; in no time at all, she had prepared a lavish dinner.

Sated and content, Jiang Feng went first to the bathhouse for a soak, then quickly returned to his own room to begin his daily cultivation.

The moment he closed his eyes, a chilling, bone-deep murderous intent swept toward him from all directions, and Jiang Feng found himself once again in a blood-red world. But this time, he knew it wasn’t a dream—this was an illusion, and now he had methods to deal with it.

Moments later, the blood-colored figure appeared as expected. When it was about thirty meters away, a crimson blade of light slashed forth.

At the same time, two steps of a footwork technique flashed through Jiang Feng’s mind. His body shifted three feet to the right with an uncanny movement.

Crack—

His right arm was severed, but he survived.

Compared to the agony of having his body torn apart, this was nothing. Gritting his teeth, Jiang Feng sat cross-legged and pressed on with his cultivation.

But before he could begin to meditate, the world around him suddenly changed. Countless crystalline lights appeared from thin air in every direction, converging on the place where his arm had been cut off.

To Jiang Feng’s astonishment, his severed right arm began to regrow before his very eyes, and in moments was fully restored.

Last time, it had been his left arm; this time, it was the right—truly, what goes around comes around. Yet Jiang Feng closed his eyes and began to practice the first three forms of the Shadow Dance Soul-Shattering Step. Upon reaching the fourth, his progress slowed, and the flow of his spiritual energy grew sluggish. Still, he strove to maintain his composure, pondering the essence of the fourth form.

The fourth step was a sequence of four continuous, fluid movements, each requiring mastery, dexterity, and seamless transition.

Now, Jiang Feng’s expression was twisted with pain—his body was already at its limit, his brows knotted in anguish.

He had reached the fourth step, just a hair’s breadth from a breakthrough.

This was the critical moment—he had to hold on!

In his heart, Jiang Feng silently repeated the word “persevere,” refusing to give in. He clenched his teeth and would not let go.

At that crucial instant, a strange energy emanated from his chest, setting the stagnant spiritual power within him surging once more. His spiritual nodes responded in unison. In the blood prison illusion, his previously halted, mysterious footwork resumed—afterimages flickered, his steps moving like a serpent or dragon.

The world within the blood prison began to change. Winds rose, clouds swirled, and the crimson sky deepened to a dark, sinister red, as if dyed by demonic blood.

A low, mournful howl arose. The earth trembled, foul winds swept from every side, and the congealed clouds began to rain blood. The environment grew ever more hostile, and the air was filled with the trumpets of slaughter.

In the distance, dark shapes took to the air, swooping down in the blink of an eye—ancient war eagles, circling overhead before diving toward Jiang Feng. Their feathers were a dripping, unnatural red, their forms eerily menacing.

Those blood-red shadows were like blades, stabbing straight at him.

Jiang Feng had not expected that practicing the fourth form of the Shadow Dance Soul-Shattering Step would trigger such dramatic changes in this world. Was there some deep connection between the two? These thoughts flashed through his mind in a split second.

The blood-red blades closed in. Faced with such peril, he could only rely on his footwork to dodge these lethal attacks. It was the perfect opportunity to test the effectiveness of the fourth form.

First Form!

He stepped forward, dodging three blood shadows attacking in a V formation.

Second Form!

He followed immediately with the second step, slipping past five blood eagles encircling him. His arms did not remain idle—crack, crack, crack, crack! Four crisp, tearing sounds as the shadows were shredded to pieces.

Third Form!

He evaded a ring of ten blood shadows, just starting to breathe a sigh of relief, when he heard a wind rushing past his ear—danger! Jiang Feng pressed on with his technique.

Fourth Form!

In that instant, he dodged wave after wave of attacks, escaping death more than once from the clutches of the fiends.

Suddenly—bang!—a searing pain tore through his chest, as if his very soul were being ripped apart.

He looked down to see a gaping hole bored straight through his chest.

The wound was ghastly.

Jiang Feng was jolted awake by the agony, emerging from the nightmare.

He had broken through to the fourth form of the Shadow Dance Soul-Shattering Step, yet was still defeated by the illusion, with no chance for recovery.

He could only hope to last longer next time. With a sigh, Jiang Feng lay on his bed, reflecting on his recent training.

The blood prison illusion had changed once again. Clearly, this Nether Prison was no simple place. But that was not something he could concern himself with now—he would have to wait until he reached the level of a Nether King to unravel its mysteries.

For now, his most important task was to keep training, to prevent the wheel of fate from returning to its former track.

At this thought, his heart clenched, and a sinister whisper seemed to echo in his mind—

“Prepare for ten years… Begin… Hunt… Gather more of these souls…”

The chilling phrase repeated itself endlessly in his mind, sending shivers down his spine.

He had only just discovered a way to cultivate, only to be seized by a mysterious figure and have his soul extracted. Jiang Feng had lost everything without even understanding how he died, forced to watch as his body was devoured by a beast as dumb as a pig.

Fortunately, fate had granted him another chance at life.

Now, only three days remained until the family’s final assessment—the day he would be expelled from the clan.

Six months until his father’s untimely death.

A little more than nine years until that mysterious figure set his sights on him again.

Everything was now in his hands. The future would be his!

Having resolved himself, Jiang Feng sat up and checked his cultivation—he had already reached the fifth level of Nether Martial Arts. Among his peers in the clan, even the most talented, Jiang Qing, had only reached the ninth level. Jiang Qing, the eldest son of Jiang Feng’s uncle, was the family’s pride—a prodigy who awakened at two, began formal training at four, and was groomed by the clan from childhood.

It was said that Jiang Qing had recently left to train outside, aiming to break through to the next stage and become a true Nether Warrior.

If he succeeded, Jiang Qing would be the foremost youth of his generation—few could reach the rank of Nether Warrior by sixteen. For this reason, Jiang Qing would not participate in the upcoming assessment. However, for the Four Great Clans’ Martial Debate in Jiuyan Town, he would surely make an appearance.

In three days, at the final assessment, Jiang Feng would make the world recognize him once more—and give his father a chance to hold his head high at last!