A groan emanated from the eerily quiet temple. On the ground, Caleb Li woke up slowly from his slumber, holding his head with both hands.
Slowly, his fuzzy head regained clarity. His eyes wandered around before settling on the statue.
The ancient old man statue was still the same, but now he knew more. This was no ordinary statue.
"How long was I out?" he mumbled.
He thought about it for a moment, and when he couldn't find out, he threw it out of his mind and focused on the important one.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations. You've reached the Smaller Success Stage of the Nine Star Astral Breathing Technique.]
[Congratulations for breaking through to Rank-5 Mortal Warrior.]
"What!" He exclaimed, and his jaw dropped to the ground.
He only lost consciousness for a couple of hours, but he managed to break through the stage in quick succession.
However, when he realized he now had a Silver Grade Technique in his arsenal, he took a deep breath and regained his calmness.
Looking into his mind, checking the Silver Grade Technique, it was then he realized cultivating the Nine Star Astral Breathing Technique was ten times faster than any common-grade technique.
He grinned; with this, he knew it was only a matter of days before he caught up to his mates and left them behind if he worked hard.
After checking the broken temple for another couple of seconds to see if he could get lucky again, unfortunately, there was nothing.
Shaking his head, he knew it was time to leave the broken temple. He went to the exit to see if the three wailing ghosts were still there, and behold, they were glaring intently at the exit.
"What! Why are they still here?" He exclaimed, with his expression turning into despair.
He looked back and forth, trying to find another exit but found none. If he wanted to leave the broken temple and escape the dark forest, he needed to find a way to escape from the three wailing ghosts.
Holding his twin swords, he took a deep breath and looked at the three wailing ghosts with firm resolve.
"Since it has come to this...." He squinted his gaze and rushed out of the temple.
Screech!
The loud wails of the three ghosts echoed in the forest as they happily pounced on their prey.
Caleb Li didn't falter and deployed the Wind and Fire Sword Technique to the limit.
As the three wailing ghosts surrounded him from all sides, pouncing on him with sharp claws going for his neck.
Whoosh!
He sidestepped the attack, dodging the first wailing ghost's attack while he used his left sword to parry the deadly claw of another wailing ghost.
As for the last ghost, he easily deflected the ghost claw to the side.
Everything happened in a blink with no time to breathe. He didn't pause and changed his battling stance from defensive to attacking.
He swung his right sword, moving at a blinding speed, catching one of the ghosts off guard.
Bang!
His cold blade sliced into the ghost's chest, cutting it into two. He didn't stop his attack and rushed forward, appearing right in front of another, and his left sword came down like a raging fire.
Bang!
His sword connected to the wailing ghost's head, severing it in two.
As for the last ghost, it had attacked, waving its eerily ghost hand, trying to reap out his life.
Bang!
Caleb Li reacted quickly, crossing his swords to defend against the attack.
Hmm!
A slight groan came from his mouth as he was pushed back from the attack. His hand trembled continuously while his leg turned to jelly, almost giving way under his weight.
He gnashed his teeth and shook off the shockwaves from his body and glared furiously at the wailing ghost.
Whoosh!
He dashed toward the last wailing ghost at an extreme speed while the wailing ghost also jumped toward him, ready to deliver a killing blow.
Just as they were about to hit each other, Caleb Li sidestepped to the side, avoiding the head-on confrontation.
With that sleek maneuver, he appeared behind the wailing and delivered a deadly strike, severing its neck.
Huh!
He panted heavily with beads of sweat all over his face. The battle began quickly and ended swiftly.
This was the hardest battle he fought since he came to this new world, and the rushing adrenaline pulsating through his blood made him remember when he was still in the army.
Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, he saw the bodies of the three wailing ghosts dissolving into nothingness.
After a couple of seconds, he had recovered, but this time his body was brimming with confidence.
His battle with the three wailing ghosts let him know how strong he had gotten. With his current strength, he didn't fear anyone below Rank-9 Mortal Warrior.
Two hours later, a young man came out of the Dark Forest with his clothes torn in various places.
However, the deep grin on his face showed how elated he was.
Looking into the distance, he mumbled some indistinct words and walked slowly toward the village.
An hour later, Caleb Li sauntered into the village with a heavy backpack, and the villagers looked at him with various gazes.
As for the mercenaries that saw him, they were curious about what was in his backpack.
Creak!
He pushed open the door of the mercenary building with confidence.
"Old man, I'm back," he said with bright smiles as he got to the counter.
The old man raised his head from his work and fixed his gaze on the tattered boy in front.
"You've broken through!" he exclaimed, unable to hide his shock.
"Y-Yes... I'm just lucky," a sheepish grin plastered on his face.
'Lucky my ass!' The old man cursed in his heart.
Why didn't he get lucky?
He wanted to give this naive kid a nice beating but controlled his impulse. "Did you complete the mission?" he asked, as he couldn't wait to send this pretentious brat off from his presence.
Thud!
Caleb Li placed the heavy backpack on the counter. "I did."
The old man took the bag and looked inside, and his jaw dropped. He took a couple of seconds before he recovered from his shock.
"Hmm... Take this and go to the other room for your reward."
"Thank you...." He took a paper from the old man and left for the opposite room.
Meanwhile, inside a private courtyard, a servant rushed with his face full of urgency toward a kid practicing his archery in the distance.
Quickly, he whispered some words to the kid's ear.
"How's that possible?!" The kid shouted, with veins protruding from his forehead.
"Those fools took my money without completing the mission." He dropped the bow and left the training ground.
"Master, what should we do?" His servant asked.
"Tell some people to kill those bastards and find me more capable men for the work. This time around, we can't fail."