After the wave of ripples hit the walls, the ground immediately trembled violently in response as a blue glow shone from the center of the room. Dust and dirt fell all over in the room from the ceiling, but nothing could distract the leader of the Undead Soldiers from moving its eyes away from the cause of all this.
Under its intense staring, Jiang Feng's body was lifted off the ground as the eerie blue flame enveloped his body starting from his fingertips until the rest were covered. His wounds were also miraculously recovering at a breakneck speed under the blue flame, closing up in just a few seconds.
The blood stains on his arm and the corners of his lips also burned into crisp as they faded into the air, returning the clear skin of his face back to Jiang Feng.
While Jiang Feng was going through his transformation, something else happened to the Undead Soldiers.
Each one of them were on their knees as they clutched their heads, their bones trembling for an unknown reason, as if they were in great pain. The Undead Horses also seemed to be experiencing the same thing as they fell to their sides, returning to their rest as the eerie blue flame in their eye sockets dissipated.
The leader of the Undead Soldiers, although still standing, wasn't faring off better than its subordinates. It was also experiencing the same torture they were going through, just that it resisted the pain and continued observing the change happening to Jiang Feng.
Out of nowhere, the leader of the Undead Soldiers also fell to its knees. However, instead of clutching its head, the leader placed its hands and forehead on the ground as it kowtowed in Jiang Feng's direction.
It stayed in the same position despite the pain tormenting its body intensified, not even willing to twitch in torture.
Soon, all of the movements of the Undead Soldiers, including the leader, came to an end as their skeletal structure broke down, piling up as stacks of bones onto the ground. Buds of the eerie blue flame then rose off from the ground as they all flew towards the center of the room, merging with the flame burning on Jiang Feng.
Another wave of ripples was then released from Jiang Feng's body as it struck the walls in an instant, forming cracks that spread towards the ground and the ceiling. The earthquake also became even more stronger, even showing signs of collapsing the cave.
Just then, the trembling earth came to an abrupt halt.
Time seemed to become non-existent as a terrifying silence filled the air, the ice on the ground also covered the whole floor as it slowly reached for the ceiling, freezing everything in its path.
Ba-dump
The sound of a beat resounded suddenly. It then died down soon afterwards.
Ba-dump, Ba-dump
The beat resounded again, but died down quick like earlier.
Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump
The beat continuously resounded in the cave, dying down not long afterwards. However, the beat increases every time and its interval also began shortening. The freezing cold in the air also seems to react to this beat as the speed of its spread slowed down each time.
Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump
The strength behind each beat became stronger as time passed, the ice also stopped spreading its reach as it retracted back towards the center at a visible speed. Right before the ice could fully retract itself to the center of the room, Jiang Feng's eyes opened.
A shockwave then exploded from his body as the ice beneath him cracked into pieces. The chilly air also warmed up as the shockwave passed through, turning the cave back to its original state, despite the cracks formed all over.
"The individual 'Jiang Feng' has passed the first part of the fourth challenge."
"The second part of the fourth challenge will commence shortly."
"I'm alive?"
Staring at his hand that was enveloped by the blue flame, a sense of warmth spread from his stomach as a special energy flowed in his veins, filling him with newfound strength.
His body slowly descended to the ground as the blue flame around him died down and dissipated. The moment his feet touched the ground, Jiang Feng immediately checked his wounds for confirmation. When he looked at his wrist and saw that there was not even a single pierce hole on it, joy quickly took over as confusion followed.
"I'm alive, but how?"
Just then, the memory of the blue flame that he touched before his death emerged in his mind. A look of realization then surfaced on Jiang Feng's face as he figured out the reason behind his survival.
Turning to the direction where the Undead Soldiers left, Jiang Feng was expecting to see them rushing towards his now that he revived. But when he saw the pile of bones on the ground, the confusion in him intensified as he quickly picked his sword up and looked around in defense.
'The Undead Soldiers died, that means the perpetrator must be near, right?'
However, after he looked around the cave, the only thing he could find was the sudden emergence of the cracks all over the place. Before he could ponder about it, the ground beneath him trembled slightly as the sound of mechanisms spinning sounded behind him.
Turning around immediately, Jiang Feng held the sword tightly as he expected another enemy, but when he saw what it was, a question mark arose in him.
"This is…a coffin?"
Staring at the black coffin made out of some sort of stone, Jiang Feng quickly noticed the intricate symbols carved on it as a sense of familiarity crept up to him.
"This coffin, looks the same to the one I saw yesterday…Wait, could this place be?!"
Shifting his gaze away from the coffin, Jiang Feng immediately started inspecting the cave he was in. The more he looked, the stronger the sense of familiarity was to him. In fact, except for the path that he came from and the gate that released the Undead Soldiers wasn't in the illusion he saw, he was sure this was the exact place that he had been brought to by the weird vision.
As if his realization was the key to the next part of the challenge, the feminine voice sounded in his head again.
"The second part of the fourth challenge will now commence."