The portal closed behind him, and Feng Jian stepped into a land of emerald light. The hill beneath his feet was slick with morning dew, its grass bending under the weight of mist that curled through towering trees. Somewhere below, guttural snarls rolled upward like stormwinds.
He crouched, letting his breath steady. Blue ripples spread from his chest—Qi Sense unfurling to map the forest. Twenty signatures flickered back, restless and circling. One pulsed heavier, sharper, commanding.
So there's a queen, Feng thought, narrowing his eyes.
A shadow moved before the thought was finished. A Grey-Back Kobold hurled itself into the air, claws gleaming. Three arcs of compressed wind ripped forward, slicing a tree trunk into perfect thirds.
Feng moved with the precision of instinct, his body twisting aside. His daggers, as if eager to taste blood, slipped into his hands.
A sharp pulse filled his vision.
[Skill Auto-Generated: Duye Serpent Fang]Venom-laced stab. Damage lingers for twelve seconds.
Feng's lips curved. "Perfect."
He dropped low beneath the creature's leap, his left blade thrusting upward in a narrow strike. The dagger bit into the Kobold's nape, flooding the wound with green-black Qi. The beast stiffened, ichor gushing, its body collapsing before the claws touched earth. A second followed in the same breath, neck pierced clean.
Another came at him head-on. Feng's right hand flicked, and the dagger left his grip. It spun once, hilt over tip, before burying itself through the Kobold's skull with a sickening crunch.
He moved again, already anticipating the next. Four shadows rushed him, snarls tearing the air. Feng's form dissolved.
"Shadow Step."
The world folded. His silhouette collapsed, only to reform behind the charging beasts. His blades moved in silence, two quick cuts each, and four bodies fell before the growls left their throats.
From a branch above, Feng paused, surveying the carnage. Seven lay dead. Thirteen remained. And one—larger, darker—still waited.
His gaze found the mound below, a fortress of dirt and stone crowned by a queen. She crouched there like a monarch upon her throne, amber eyes fixed on him.
Then the pack surged. Twenty bodies leapt as one, jaws wide, claws flashing.
Feng dropped lightly to the ground. The moment his feet touched soil, he breathed once and let the shadows answer.
"Shi Ying—Shadow Bind."
The darkness beneath him writhed, threads snapping outward to seize the shapes of his enemies. Ten froze mid-pounce, suspended as though caught in an invisible web, teeth bared, limbs locked.
"One heartbeat," Feng murmured, his daggers low. "Two… three—"
A roar shattered the silence. The queen tore free, her aura a storm of raw force. The binds snapped like twigs. With impossible speed, she came, claws blazing with compressed wind Qi.
Feng's eyes sharpened. Good. Faster than the lizard chief. Stronger too.
The circle closed around him, the remaining Kobolds lunging. Feng smirked, his stance lowering. "Let's dance."
Shadows bled from his steps as he darted into their midst. His body blurred from one side of the clearing to the other, each strike laced with venom, each motion sharper than the last. Ichor misted the air as his daggers whispered through necks and spines.
The queen roared again, swinging with both claws. Feng vanished, his body splitting into streaks of shadow and wind. He reappeared at her flank, both blades carving deep lines across her ribs. She staggered, blood gushing crimson in the mist.
But she did not fall. Her aura flared brighter, wind and bone shielding her body. She lunged, jaws wide.
Feng moved with the inevitability of water. He stepped into her shadow, disappeared, and rose upward from the darkness at her core. Both daggers struck in unison, piercing her chest in a motion as clean as fangs striking prey.
The queen convulsed, eyes rolling back as venom surged through her veins. She collapsed, shadows coiling around her in silence.
The battlefield stilled.
Time: 17 minutes. Another record broken.
Each floor pushes me harder, Feng thought, pulling his blades free. And the daggers keep giving me exactly what I need. As if they're watching me. Testing me.
He wiped the blood from the edges and turned toward the portal, which glimmered ahead.
The swamp stench hit him the moment he stepped through. Floor 22 opened into a clearing heavy with fog, where two massive mounds rose like twin fortresses. Each teemed with Kobolds—fifty in total. Two queens waited, their eyes gleaming in unison.
Feng exhaled slowly. Twice the numbers. Twice the ground to claim.
Shadows spread from his feet as he cut the air with both daggers. They responded instantly.
[Skill Auto-Generated: Shadow Divide]Immobilizes two groups of enemies across split zones.
Both mounds faltered as shadows lashed forward, freezing two clusters where they stood. Feng advanced into the gap, wind swirling at his back.
"Wind Dance—Gale Style."
The world howled. Wind wrapped around his arms, accelerating every motion until his blades carved circles of steel and storm. Enemies dropped like wheat before the scythe, their bodies torn apart in sweeping arcs of poisoned Qi.
From the other side, volleys of arrows and spears hissed through the fog. Feng's figure blurred again.
"Shadow Step."
He reappeared behind the archers, blades already moving. Screams cut short as venom spread.
The two queens roared together, conjuring bone shields laced with wind Qi. Their defenses bristled, fangs bared.
Feng crossed his daggers. Shadows and wind spiraled into one vortex, pulsing outward.
"Gale-Shadow Crescendo."
The blast consumed the field. Wind shrieked like a hurricane, shadows piercing through defenses, shattering them in shards. Both queens staggered. Feng was already there, both blades striking true, sliding into their cores with deadly precision.
The mounds fell silent, mist settling over the swamp like a funeral shroud.
Time: 27 minutes. Another record broken.
Feng straightened, breath steady, his daggers dripping only silence now. The portal shimmered ahead.
Keep moving. The blades are shaping me. And I'll shape them in return.
Without looking back, he walked into the light.
End of Chapter 17