"The individual 'Jiang Feng' has initiated the challenge to the 'Tomb Of *#@%&'."
"What the-"
In a moment of shock, Jiang Feng took a few steps back as he tripped himself and fall onto his bottom.
"Due to the lack of spiritual energy in the individual 'Jiang Feng', the difficulty of all challenges in the 'Tomb of *#@%&' will be lowered to the rank of 'Qi Circulation'."
"The entrance to the 'Tomb of *#@%&' is fully opened. Good luck."
Staring at the room behind the stone gate with his mouth agape, Jiang Feng slowly stood back up to his feet as he patted of the dust on him with his brows furrowed. Holding the umbrella in front of him as a sword, Jiang Feng tried to comprehend what the voice had said.
'Just what in the world is all this?! That voice said I triggered the challenge to a tomb, but why is the part behind censored? And what does this 'Qi circulation' mean? Actually, the voice said there was going to be challenges, right? Is it like those kind from 'Tomb Raider'?'
Thinking about the possible challenges he might have to face in the room before him, Jiang Feng's body couldn't stop trembling as his instinct screamed at him to run away. But before he could run far, Jiang Feng felt his nose hit onto a hard surface as he bounced back to the floor.
"Warning. The challenger may not leave the area until the challenge is completed."
"No way…you're kidding me, right?"
As he scrambled to his feet, Jiang Feng extended his arm towards the one and only path that led him down here.
Just when it was about to go past the edge of the room he was in and into the path where the piles of bones laid at, Jiang Feng felt his hands touched onto the same hard surface his nose bumped into as ripples spread from his palms and transversed across the room, brightening it as the ripples illuminated soft blue light that calmed his anxiety.
"This…is a barrier?"
Seeing how things from fairy tales and fantasy stories is appearing before him, Jiang Feng couldn't help but become more confused and nervous. However, he managed to calm himself down as his eyes met upon the blue light illuminating from the ripples he caused.
"Calm down, Jiang Feng, there must be a way for you to escape this place." Jiang Feng murmured to himself.
Taking deep breaths, Jiang Feng turned back around and faced the room behind the stone gate. The grip he used on the umbrella tighten as he took a step forward.
'Since I can't leave this place until I finish the challenge of this tomb, then I'll just face it and win my way out.'
…
Stepping foot into the room behind the stone gate, the first thing that Jiang Feng saw was multiple circular holes arranged in rows. Moving onto the floor, he could barely see some thin strings hovering slightly above the smooth ground thanks to the torches being hanged on both sides of the gate. The same goes for the door on the opposite side.
The ends of the strings could not be seen as they reached inside of the wall, possibly connecting to a trigger for a trap.
Lifting his head to check the ceiling, Jiang Feng was relieved to find that there was nothing suspicious on it.
'Looking at these holes and strings, I guess the trap in this room would be that arrows would shot out from the holes if I trigger the mechanism in the room by touching these strings. If so, all I have to do is avoid them.'
Retrieving his phone out from his pocket, Jiang Feng once again turned on its flashlight and pointed onto the floor. The strings reflected the light as they became as clear as day in Jiang Feng's eyes.
Now being able to see all of the strings in the room, Jiang Feng took his first step carefully as he lifted his leg and crossed onto the other side, making sure that his shoes wouldn't touch the strings on accident. Repeating so while being tensed, Jiang Feng finally reach the other side as sweats dripped from his face.
'Phew~, although it wasn't that hard, it was quite tiring having to be so alerted for that long.' Jiang Feng thought to himself as he wiped off the sweat from his head.
After resting a short while to calm down his nervousness, Jiang Feng proceeded to the next room.
This time, the room was larger compared to the previous one. The walls no longer had organized holes in rows, but in replace, there were now intimidating stone sculptures standing on both sides of the path.
These stone sculptures had no face, nor do they have any clothing carved out for them. They were all just plain sculptures with different weapons in their hands, consisting of swords, broadswords, shields, and a scythe.
"The individual 'Jiang Feng' has passed the first challenge."
"Please select a weapon choice from this room."
Hearing the words of the familiar voice in his head, Jiang Feng was able to guess that the second challenge may need him to fight. As his eyes went through every weapon the stone sculptures were holding in their hands, Jiang Feng took his time to analyze what would be best for him to wield.
'If I need to fight to pass this challenge, then I suppose a shield and a broadsword would be unsuitable for me to use in this situation. That leaves me with the scythe and the sword…'
After coming to a decision, Jiang Feng took off his backpack and placed it in a corner. He then stretched his body for the incoming battle and swung the umbrella in his hands a few times before stopping still.
"A sword it'll be then." Jiang Feng murmured to himself.
"The individual 'Jiang Feng' has picked a sword to be used as a weapon."
"An iron sword is given to the individual 'Jiang Feng'."
"The second challenge will now commence."
Before Jiang Feng could react to the words of the voice, a ball of light suddenly appeared in front of him as it stretched into the shape of a sword before falling onto the ground.
Clang* Clang*
Staring at the item's reflective blade and handle that was made out of wood being covered in what seems to be animal skin, Jiang Feng instantly realized that it was a sword.
Throwing the umbrella in his hands away, Jiang Feng quickly bend down to pick the sword up, but before his hand managed to come in contact with the sword's handle, a chilly feeling appeared behind his back as a sense of crisis lit up in him.
Rolling forward in an instant, Jiang Feng narrowly escaped the attack from a scythe as he immediately got back up onto his feet, holding the sword in his hands tightly.
As his gaze went up from the scythe's tip, Jiang Feng was shock to find that the previous stone sculptures had now taken a step from where they stood earlier, with an ominous red glow shining from what seems to be their eyes.
Before he could think more about it, the same sense of crisis was felt once again by Jiang Feng from his right side. Quickly raising his sword up and bringing his other idle hand to the handle, Jiang Feng parried the sword attack from the stone sculpture in front of him as the blade of the sword slid to the ground.
Taking advantage of the stone sculpture's inability to move at the moment, Jiang Feng immediately brought his sword up into the air and slash it down onto its neck.
Clang*
A numb feeling spread onto the palms of Jiang Feng's hands as the sword vibrated intensely. Although the stone sculpture didn't break or anything, the red glow in its eyes turned dark as it stopped moving. A big crescent formed on Jiang Feng's face as he celebrated his success inwardly.
'Looks like all I need to do is to land a hit on the places like the neck and it will be deemed that I have defeated the sculpture.' Jiang Feng thought to himself.
With the way towards victory revealed before him, Jiang Feng's actions became more agile and tough as he continuously took down three sculptures in a short amount of time. In a few minutes, the original 12 sculptures were brought down to 5, two that held the shield, and three that used the scythe.
Holding the sword in front of him with his rough breathing, Jiang Feng tried to calm his trembling hands down. His strikes towards the sculptures had caused his arm to go numb with how much it was trembling. This made the grip on the sword to loosen as he almost dropped it onto the ground.
'Take it easy, all you have to do is strike them a few more times and you'll pass this challenge.' Jiang Feng thought to himself as he persuaded his arms to stop trembling.
Noticing a sculpture swinging down its scythe on him, Jiang Feng quickly raised his sword to block it, but although it was successfully blocked, it caused Jiang Feng's arms to experience tiredness as it went limb for a moment.
Quickly gathering his strength again, Jiang Feng pushed the scythe away and proceeded to strike back at the stone sculpture, aiming for its waist. However, before he his sword could get close to the sculpture, an intense force crash onto his body from the left side as it knocked him to the wall.
Dust rose up as it clouded the sight of the stone sculptures. The sounds of coughing were then heard as it dissipated, revealing the figure of Jiang Feng who was siting on the floor with his back against the wall.
"…ouch…"
Jiang Feng let out a groan of pain as he tried to stood back up, fighting against the pain from his shoulders and back that assaulted his senses. Picking up the sword, a cold glint lit up in the eyes of Jiang Feng as he stared at the sculptures before him.