Changsheng: My qualifications improve a little every day

Fang Yue pulled the sword out of the statue's neck with great force. With a loud bang, the statue's head rolled off, and its body collapsed, turning into countless pieces of rubble that scattered on the ground.

After Fang Yue landed, he was breathing slightly, but there was a hint of excitement in his eyes.

Every time he overcomes difficulties and obstacles, he is one step closer to his goal.

After a short rest, he continued to move towards the unknown area ahead.

The passage gradually became narrower and filled with a foul smell. Fang Yue frowned slightly, but went deeper into it without hesitation.

Suddenly, a sinister laughter echoed around. The sound seemed to come from all directions, making it difficult to determine its source.

"Who is it? How dare you trespass into my territory!" a sharp voice rang out.

Fang Yue gripped his sword vigilantly and shouted, "Yue below, come to explore the source of darkness, who are you?"

"You ignorant youngster, the source of darkness is beyond your reach. I am the guardian of this place, and you will stay here forever!"

Before he finished his words, several dark shadows jumped out from the wall and pounced towards Fang Yue like ghosts.

Fang Yue calmed down quickly. He knew very well that these black shadows had ill intentions, so he stepped lightly and dodged the attack of the first black shadow that pounced on him. At the same time, he swung the sword in his hand and a stream of sword energy slashed towards the black shadow.

The black shadow flashed and easily avoided the sword energy, then attacked from the side.

Fang Yue displayed a set of flexible sword techniques, the sword shadows flashed in the narrow passage, dealing with the dark shadows.

While fighting, he carefully observed the movements of the black shadows and found that these black shadows seemed to be attacking according to a certain formation and they cooperated with each other tacitly. Once he attacked one of the black shadows, the others would quickly fill in from different directions, making it difficult for him to find any flaws.

"This won't work. We have to disrupt their formation." Fang Yue thought to himself.

He chose the right opportunity and deliberately exposed a flaw, luring a black shadow to pounce on him with all its strength.

Just when the black shadows thought they had succeeded, Fang Yue suddenly displayed a powerful body technique. His body spun at high speed like a gyroscope, and the sword in his hand turned into a wheel of light, instantly forcing the surrounding black shadows back several steps, successfully disrupting their formation.

Taking this opportunity, Fang Yue concentrated his energy and locked onto one of the black shadows. He continuously injected the vital energy in his body into the sword, and the sword glowed brightly.

Then he shouted loudly, rushed towards the black shadow like an arrow, and stabbed straight out with his sword.

The black shadow was unable to dodge and was stabbed by the sword. He let out a sharp scream and then turned into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated.

However, the other black shadows did not retreat when they saw this, but instead attacked Fang Yue even more frantically.

Fang Yue was not afraid at all. He knew very well that if he retreated at this moment, he would be doomed.

He continued to fight fiercely with the shadow, constantly looking for new breakthroughs in the battle.

Suddenly, Fang Yue discovered that there were several faint flashes of light on the wall of the passage. The rhythm of these flashes of light seemed to be somehow related to the rhythm of the shadow's attack.
His mind moved, and he guessed that these might be the key to controlling the shadow.

So, while fending off the attack of the black shadow, Fang Yue seized the opportunity and threw the sword in his hand towards one of the flashing lights.

The long sword flashed a cold light in the air and hit the flashing spot accurately.

In an instant, a black shadow seemed to have lost control and its movements became slow.

Upon seeing this, Fang Yue flashed and quickly took back the sword, then launched a fierce attack on the slow-moving black shadow, destroying it in a few strokes.

As this black shadow dissipated, the attacks of other black shadows became chaotic.

Fang Yue seized the opportunity, pursued the victory, and defeated the remaining black shadows one by one.

After Fang Yue solved the crisis of the black shadow, he continued to move forward along the passage. At this time, the stench in the passage became stronger and stronger, and he had to use his energy to form a layer of protection around his mouth and nose to reduce the pungent smell.

When we turned a corner, the view ahead suddenly opened up and a huge circular hall appeared.

The walls around the hall were engraved with all kinds of strange runes. The runes were shining with a faint green light, as if telling ancient secrets.

Fang Yue's heart trembled, but he quickly calmed down. Since he was trapped here, he could only continue to explore for a way out and clues about the source of darkness.

He began to walk slowly along the edge of the hall, carefully observing the runes on the wall.

These runes sometimes flash brighter and sometimes dim, as if they have their own life and rules.

On one side of the hall, Fang Yue found a stone platform similar to a console. There were several grooves on the platform, and the shape was quite similar to some small stones he had seen in the passage before.

He had an idea and guessed that perhaps he needed to find those stones and place them in the grooves in order to trigger some mechanism or obtain more information.

So Fang Yue began to look for those stones around the hall.

In a corner, he found a stone emitting a faint glow. When he picked up the stone, the surrounding runes suddenly flashed faster, as if responding to his actions.

Fang Yue took the stone back to the console and placed it into one of the grooves.

In an instant, a ray of light shot out from the groove and connected to a part of the runes on the opposite wall. Those runes began to combine into a new pattern. The pattern seemed to depict a mysterious ritual, and the center of the ritual was the source of darkness.

Fang Yue stared at the pattern intently, trying to decipher its meaning.

At this moment, the ground in the hall began to tremble slightly, and several huge puppets slowly rose from the ground.

These puppets were made of metal and exuded a cold aura. Their eyes flashed red light. As soon as they appeared, they slowly walked towards Fang Yue.

Fang Yue clenched his sword, ready for a new battle. He rushed towards one of the puppets first, slashing the puppet's legs with his sword, trying to restrict its movement.

However, the long sword only left a shallow mark on the puppet. The puppet waved its arm and a powerful force attacked Fang Yue.

Fang Yue dodged the attack with a flash, then used a set of powerful sword techniques to continuously attack the puppet's joints.

Under his continuous attacks, the puppet's movements finally became a little slower.

Fang Yue seized the opportunity, concentrated the energy in his body on the tip of the sword, and then stabbed it fiercely into a joint gap of the puppet.

With a sound of metallic cracking, the puppet's leg joints were broken and it knelt on one knee.

Fang Yue took advantage of the victory and continued to attack other puppets. In the fierce battle, Fang Yue gradually mastered the puppets' attack patterns and weaknesses. He cleverly used his body movements and swordsmanship to defeat these puppets one by one.

When the last puppet fell, peace returned to the hall.

Just as Fang Yue was about to continue searching, runes on the wall flashed and transformed into lines of text.

These words were ancient and mysterious, emitting a faint blue light. Fang Yue had never seen such strange characters before, but he still tried hard to decipher them.

He stared at the rune characters with a gleam in his eyes. Through his study of many ancient books and his own understanding, he gradually understood some of the meanings.

"It's actually a technique?"

Fang Yue couldn't help but mutter to himself, his eyes full of surprise and joy.

This technique seemed to hide a great mystery. Judging from the flashing text description, once successfully practiced, it might allow one's own strength to achieve a qualitative leap, and also provide more protection on the road to exploring the source of darkness.

Fang Yue read the text carefully, not missing any details.

This technique is called "Shadow Illusion Yuan Jue", which focuses on integrating one's own Yuan Qi with the surrounding shadow power, so as to achieve the effect of concealing the body, enhancing attack and improving defense.

But it is not easy to practice. One needs to first find a place with strong shadow power as the starting point for practice. One must also have extremely precise control over one's own vitality. Any slight mistake may lead to obsession.

Fang Yue was well aware of the risks, but at this moment he did not have much room for retreat.

In order to continue to explore the source of darkness, he decided to take a risk. Following the instructions of the runes, he began to look for places with strong shadow power in the hall.

In a corner of the hall, he found an area on the ground where all the light seemed to be swallowed up by darkness, emitting a faint cold breath.

The closer Fang got, the more he could clearly feel that the shadow power here was much stronger than other places. This must be the perfect place to practice the "Phantom Shadow Art".

He sat cross-legged in the center of the shadow area and followed the steps described in the technique, first slowly circulating the vital energy in his body, trying to make the vital energy resonate with the surrounding shadow force.

At first, the two were in conflict with each other. Fang Yue only felt the breath in his body become disordered and a surge of blood and energy rushed up, but he gritted his teeth and persisted, constantly adjusting the rhythm of the circulation of his vital energy.

After some difficult attempts, Fang Yue finally felt that there was a subtle fit between the vital energy in his body and the shadow power in the outside world.

He did not dare to slack off at all and continued to practice in depth, guiding the traces of shadow power along the meridians and slowly merge into the vital energy.

As the power of shadow continued to merge, Fang Yue's figure gradually became somewhat illusory, as if merging into one with the surrounding shadows.

His aura became more and more restrained, and if you didn't sense it carefully, it would be almost impossible to detect his presence.

However, just as Fang Yue was immersed in his cultivation, there was a sudden movement from another part of the hall.

On the originally calm wall, some vague figures slowly emerged. These figures were like ghosts, exuding a gloomy aura, and were slowly floating towards the direction where Fang Yue was.

Although Fang Yue is in a critical stage of cultivation, his perception is still sharp.

He sensed the approach of danger, but if he rashly interrupted his practice at this moment, not only would all his previous efforts be wasted, he might also suffer the backlash of his skills and suffer serious injuries.

He could only continue to maintain his state of cultivation while paying part of his attention to be alert to the ghostly figures floating over.

When the ghostly figure approached to a certain distance, Fang Yue suddenly opened his eyes, with a faint light flashing in his eyes, and he used the concealment technique in the "Ghostly Shadow and Illusionary Essence Art" that he had just mastered a little, hiding his figure completely in the shadows, trying to avoid the detection of the ghostly figure.

However, these ghostly figures seemed to have special perception abilities and did not lose their targets because of Fang Yue's concealment.

They circled around the area where Fang Yue was hiding, occasionally stretching out their claws and scratching in the air, as if looking for Fang Yue's exact location.

Fang Yue's heart tightened. He knew that he had to find a way to get rid of these ghostly figures as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous when they discovered his hiding place.

He quietly adjusted his state in the shadows, ready to deal a fatal blow to these ghostly figures at the right time.

Just when the ghostly figure's vigilance was slightly relaxed, Fang Yue seized the opportunity, and his figure flashed out from the shadow like lightning. The long sword in his hand, wrapped in the powerful vitality integrated with the power of shadow, stabbed fiercely at the ghostly figure closest to him.

This sword contains powerful strength, and with the blessing of shadow power, a strange light flashes on the sword.

The ghostly figure was unable to dodge and was stabbed by the sword. He let out a shrill scream and his figure disappeared instantly.

Seeing this, the other ghostly figures suddenly became agitated and pounced towards Fang Yue.

Fang Yue showed no fear. Using the momentum of the previous attack, he continued to display a set of sharp sword skills and engaged in a fierce life-and-death battle with the ghostly figure.

During the battle, he constantly used the techniques of "Phantom Shadow", sometimes hiding his body to avoid attacks, and sometimes using the power of shadow to enhance the power of his sword moves.

His figure was as fast as lightning, moving freely among the ghostly figures. Every sword he swung was accompanied by a faint glow of shadow power, making it difficult for the ghostly figures to resist.

But these ghostly figures were numerous and very difficult to deal with. They kept changing their formations, trying to trap Fang Yue.

Fang Yue knew that if he continued to respond passively like this, he would sooner or later run out of energy. While fighting, he paid attention to the movement patterns of the ghostly figures and found that before launching a collective attack, they would pause for a moment to adjust their formation, which was his opportunity.

So, when the ghostly figure paused again, Fang Yue suddenly gathered all the energy in his body onto the sword. At the same time, he mobilized the surrounding shadow power to merge with it, and performed a powerful sword skill from the "Phantom Shadow" - "Shadow Sky Slash".

I saw a ray of sword energy with a faint glow slashing towards the group of ghostly figures like a rainbow piercing the sun. Wherever the sword energy passed, the space seemed to be torn into black cracks.

The ghostly figures were unable to dodge and were hit by the sword energy, and they immediately let out shrill screams. Many of the ghostly figures disappeared under this blow.

However, some ghostly figures still stubbornly continued to pounce on Fang Yue.

Fang Yue did not relax at all. He flashed and hid in the shadows again, making the ghostly figures lose their target for a while.

While the ghostly figures were frantically looking for his traces, Fang Yue flashed out from another direction like a ghost, and swung the sword in his hand again, killing several more ghostly figures.

After this fierce battle, Fang Yue finally eliminated all the remaining ghostly figures.

He was breathing heavily, and although his body was a little tired, there was determination in his eyes.

This battle with the ghostly figure made him more proficient in the use of "Phantom Shadow Yuan Jue", and he also felt more and more the power of this technique. (End of this chapter)