Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

Chapter 563: Vengeful Souls

*Growl... Growl...*

As they were about to arrive at another area, Zhang Fei heard the growls of dozens of beasts through his sharp hearing, so he warned the two women straight away. ”There are dozens of beasts ahead.”

”Hmm?” Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue looked at him in surprise. ”Are you able to hear their voices from this distance, even though the formation suppresses our senses?”

Zhang Fei answered them by transforming into his half-fox form, surprising both women. Yun Xinyue, who saw his form for the first time, was immediately fascinated by it. ”Are you a demi-human?”

”Havenʼt you seen my human form?” Yun Xinyue nodded to Zhang Fei. ”We donʼt have much time to relax, but I can tell you that this is my second identity as a fox beast, and Princess Xianqin has seen it before.”

Xian Xianqin immediately nodded to the Princess Yun. ”I was also shocked when I first learned about his two identities, but Zhang Fei is indeed a human and a beast fox, and his current form is his half-fox form, so he is similar to a demi-human.”

”I see.” Yun Xinyue then followed them to the next room, but she repeatedly glanced at Zhang Feiʼs five white fox tails that kept dancing behind his hips, making her itch to hold and caress them. ʼUgh! His demi-human form is really cute, especially his ears and tails.ʼ

Upon entering the dark room, dozens of bloodshot eyes greeted them, and they could hear the beastsʼ heavy breathing.

”You donʼt need to waste your energy fighting them.” Zhang Fei stopped the two women as they were about to attack the beasts, confusing them. As he released his heavenly fox aura, he shot a light ball toward the roomʼs ceiling, leaving the two women stunned to see the beasts curled up on the ground, their bodies shaking strongly. ”The cultivation of these beasts has reached the earth realm, but they are only ordinary beasts, so they are not my opponents.”

”Does that mean your beast rank is much higher than theirs?” Yun Xinyue inquired.

”My beast rank is indeed far above them.” Zhang Fei then swung the moonlit whisper sword horizontally, and a thick sword qi immediately shot out before splitting all the beasts in front of them in half, causing Yun Xinyueʼs jaw to drop into a wide O shape.

”Hehe.” Xian Xianqin chuckled at her expression. ”Zhang Fei could even defeat Zhou Fang, who has cultivation at the 1-Moon Divine Transcend Realm, so you donʼt need to be shocked to see him kill these earth-rank beasts.”

Yun Xinyue nodded to her, but she then pointed to some items that had appeared on top of the beastsʼ corpses. ”What are those items? Since when did the beasts in this maze drop items?”

”I think this is the first time.” Xian Xianqin immediately ran toward those items, and her eyes lit up when she saw two elemental crystals among the other items. ”Hey! Zhang Fei! Xinyue! Two of them are elemental crystals!”

”Huh?” Yun Xinyue was momentarily stunned before moving to her side. ”A wind elemental crystal and a lightning elemental crystal.”

”You two can have both.” Zhang Fei spoke as he walked behind them, and Mei promptly informed him about the items. All of them are high-grade, such as useable items, weapons, armor, etc. ”Iʼll keep all these items for now, and weʼll share them later.”

”No need.” Both women immediately refused Zhang Fei. ”We are princesses, and we can get them easily, so you can keep them.”

Zhang Fei laughed bitterly upon hearing that, but he then turned to Xian Xianqin, who handed him the wind elemental crystal. ”My wind element reached peak rank a long time ago, so I donʼt need it anymore. Although this crystal canʼt help you upgrade your wind element to advanced rank directly, it can still increase its strength. If you donʼt need to use it, you can give it to one of your wives who has the wind element.”

”Thank you.” Xian Xianqin just smiled, and Zhang Fei immediately stored all the items in the system inventory. ”So which path are we going to choose next? Front? Left? Or right?”

Yun Xinyue immediately spoke to them. ”I have a bad feeling about the right path, so we shouldnʼt go that way.”

Instead, Zhang Fei and Xian Xianqin walked towards the path on their right, but did not enter it immediately. Yun Xinyue patted her chest in relief.

Zhang Fei immediately summoned a familiar, sent it inside, and shot a ball of light forward. Instantly, their eyes widened in shock as various types of weapons suddenly appeared and attacked his familiar, and all of those weapons were definitely not ordinary weapons.

Zhang Fei and Xian Xianqin immediately turned to Yun Xinyue, who placed her hands on her waist and wore a proud face. ”Told you, right? My instincts are never wrong, so you guys should listen to me and not enter that path.”

”Your instincts are sharper than a beast, Princess Yun.” Xian Xianqin nodded in agreement as she followed Zhang Fei to the center of the room, where they examined the two remaining paths. ”So which one?”

”Hmm?” Yun Xinyue thought for a moment before she pointed the path ahead. ”That path should be safe, so we should go that way.”

”Letʼs go, then.” Zhang Fei immediately led them through the path ahead, but they did not lower their guard in the slightest, and their hands tightly gripped the handles of their weapons.

Shortly after they left, a black shadow peeked out from the left path, but it immediately disappeared again.

”How much time did you two need to complete this maze challenge last time?” Zhang Fei asked the two women.

Xian Xianqin told him directly. ”Last time, it took us two weeks to complete it, but we have to wait for the last group to pass before the next challenge appears.”

”At that time, my group was the last to pass, and it took us a month to exit this challenge.” Yun Xinyue responded with a bitter smile.

”Two to four weeks, huh?” Zhang Fei muttered to himself before asking again. ”How do we find the key to open the exit? How many keys do we need?”

”Three.” Both women answered in unison. ”Actually, if we deliberately search for those keys, we will never find them; instead, they will appear on their own when we are near them. However, powerful beasts guard some keys, and in the past, we had to face a beast with cultivation at 1-Moon Divine Transcend. Some keys require us to solve tricky riddles, while deadly traps surround others.”

”Those beasts or traps are not the most difficult thing, especially since we can fight and get through them with many people.” Zhang Fei turned to Yun Xinyue directly. ”Back then, Big Brother Aotian was transported to a room where one of the keys was located, but he had to fight over it with five other participants, so a fight between them was inevitable. Furthermore, the narrow space made it difficult for them to avoid each other, and he ended up getting pretty badly injured in the process of getting the key.”

Zhang Fei nodded understandingly, but he suddenly frowned and used his tree control ability straight away, especially since many tree branches appeared from the two walls beside them. He immediately swung his sword at those three branches and cut them into pieces, leaving the two women dumbfounded by his instant reflex.

”Even these tree walls have traps, huh?” Zhang Fei then turned to the two women. ”Why are you two stunned?”

Yun Xinyue immediately put on a serious look. ”Tell me, Zhang Fei. How can you move so fast? I know your instincts are sharp because you are a beast, but your reflex speed is much faster than any beast I have ever met. Even my parents, whose cultivation has reached the 5-Moon Divine Expansion Realm, couldnʼt match you.”

”Haha.” Zhang Fei laughed and took out the hammer that Gang Zhishou had lent him. As soon as he dropped it, the ground dipped down, causing the two womenʼs eyes to widen. ”Why donʼt you two try lifting it?”

Yun Xinyue immediately grabbed the handle of the hammer and tried to lift it, but it didnʼt budge an inch, so she used all her strength. Even after her face became extremely red, she still couldnʼt move it, let alone lift it.

After Yun Xinyue failed, Xian Xianqin also tried to lift the hammer, but her results were also the same as Princess Yunʼs. ”How heavy is this hammer actually? Why is it so heavy?”

Zhang Fei smiled, raised the hammer, and threw it into the air a few times. The two were left completely speechless upon witnessing this, particularly as they were unable to move the hammer, yet he was able to throw it with such ease. ”Old Gang lent this hammer to me to train my body because I am a blacksmith, and its weight is two thousand pounds.”

”Two... two thousand pounds.” Both women stuttered after hearing that.

”Yeah.” Zhang Fei then put the hammer back into storage. ”Thatʼs why you two donʼt need to be surprised by my reflex. Most blacksmiths have quick reflexes; many of them have even faster reflexes than me. Actually, you two can also improve your speed and reflexes with the same training, but you must start with a much lighter weight and increase it gradually.”

Yun Xinyue shook her head in response. ”My physique isnʼt that strong, so I wonʼt be able to train with such a heavy load.”

Unlike her, Xian Xianqin was eager to train using such a rigorous method, especially since she had sparred with several of Zhang Feiʼs wives, all of whom were much faster than her. Despite the vast difference in their cultivation, she had difficulty defending against their attacks. ”After we return from the tower, you have to help me train that way, okay?”

”All right, Iʼll help you, but I hope you wonʼt give up too quickly.” Zhang Fei then led them on their way, and they arrived at another room sometime later. However, there was no path in the room, and they also found no riddles or anything inside. ”It seems this is a dead end, so we have no other choice but to return to the previous room before taking the left path.”

Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue nodded in agreement to him, but the floor beneath them suddenly disappeared before they turned to leave. Zhang Fei immediately hugged their waists and threw the hellfire chains toward one of the tree branches on the previous path, which brought them out of the hole beneath them and landed at the side of the hole.

Zhang Fei released both women from his embrace and crouched down, trying to gauge the depth of the hole, but the formation restricted his senses. ”What do you two think? Should we go back, or should we enter this hole?”

”I thought the previous road wasnʼt good, but Iʼm also worried about this hole because we canʼt see inside it, so we donʼt know whether there is danger in it or not.” Yun Xinyue was the first to answer.

On the other hand, Xian Xianqin was more curious about the hole than the previous path. ”There are no other paths in this room, and this hole is the only one available. Moreover, the previous path is not necessarily a dead end, so I think we should enter it rather than waste our time turning around.”

”Yeah.” Zhang Fei immediately stood up and hugged them once again. ”Moreover, we are cultivators, and danger is a part of our lives. If we continue to avoid the dangers that come our way, then we will never be able to develop ourselves.”

”Wait a minute, I-Ahhh!”

Zhang Fei didnʼt give Yin Xinyue a chance to finish her words and carried the two women into the hole, so she immediately hugged him while closing her eyes.

Zhang Fei immediately pulled the hellfire chain back before storing it, and he used his body modification ability to transform his five tails into something like a parachute, so they wouldnʼt fall too hard.

Xian Xianqin looked up at Zhang Feiʼs five fox tails in a daze, especially since she had never seen such a thing before. ʼHow many secrets does he actually have? How could he transform his tails into such a strange shape?ʼ

After landing at the bottom of the hole, Zhang Fei released the two women and reverted his tails back to their original form. They then looked around and found a path to the west, but Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue immediately hugged him again when they saw so many skeletons below them.

”Ugh! Told you! This place is too scary! Letʼs go! We have to get out of this place quickly, or weʼll die like them.” Yun Xinyue complained as her body trembled violently.

Xian Xianqin, who was typically fearless, experienced fear upon seeing those skeletons. Moreover, she could smell the thick smell of blood, causing her to think that those skeletons were new. ”Thereʼs something wrong here, so we have to leave this place quickly.”

”Have you two never encountered a place like this before?” Zhang Fei posed this question as he led them toward the door to the west.

Yun Xinyue shakes her head vigorously. ”No! My group and I have never encountered a place like this before, and itʼs too scary.”

”Iʼve never encountered one either.”

*Boom*

Zhang Fei immediately stopped when a huge rock blocked their way out, causing Yun Xinyue to become even more frightened to the point she didnʼt dare open her eyes.

[Master, the system has detected the presence of a creature in this room, but it is unable to scan it due to its invisible form.]

Zhang Fei nodded in understanding and moved the two women behind him, but Yun Xinyue continued to hug his arm and bury her face in his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Xian Xianqin held her green sword without uttering a word, perceiving Zhang Feiʼs grave expression, which confirmed her suspicion that there was something sinister within.

Zhang Feiʼs fox ears kept twitching as he tried to listen to the creatureʼs movements, but it didnʼt make any sound at all, so he immediately brought the two women into an invisible state.

ʼWhat should we do now? Have you detected anything?ʼ Zhang Fei nodded slightly in response to Xian Xianqinʼs questions, and his eyes continued to move to search for the creatureʼs whereabouts.

ʼI detected the presence of a creature, but I canʼt see its form or hear its voice. We shouldnʼt move, or weʼll be in danger if itʼs stronger than us.ʼ Both women nodded in understanding, but Zhang Fei could feel the trembling from Yun Xinyueʼs body intensifying, so he used his light qi to calm her down. ʼHey, we are with you now, so you donʼt need to be scared like this.ʼ

Mei suddenly informed Zhang Fei of something else. [Master, their numbers are increasing, and I think they are the souls of these skeletons. However, they are not ordinary souls but vengeful souls, and they seem to be much stronger than the three of you.]

Meiʼs information raised many questions in Zhang Feiʼs mind. ʼWhy are they in this place? Does this towerʼs founder kill them and imprison their souls?ʼ

[Unfortunately, I donʼt have the answer to that, Master. Anyway, you can use your devouring art or demon absorbing ability to absorb their souls, and you can use them for your soul power to break through to the perfection stage of the soul core level.]

*Shriek... Shriek...*

Along with the sound of those high-pitched shriek sounds, the temperature in the room dropped at a rapid pace, causing the room to become completely cold. Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue immediately used their qi to envelop their bodies, preventing the cold from affecting them.

Zhang Fei did nothing and kept looking forward as he began to see the appearance of those souls, but their appearance was much more frightening than the human souls he had encountered in the Sky Jade Realm a few months ago. ʼThey really are vengeful souls, huh?ʼ

- To Be Continued -