Tomb Of *#@%& (8) END

As the feminine voice of the challenge died down inside his head, the cave started trembling again as parts of the wall faded away, revealing the rising gates behind it.

These gates also sheltered the darkness behind them like the first one the Undead Soldiers came from, instantly tensing up Jiang Feng.

After all the gates rose up, the ground halted its tremble with spooking silence filling the place afterwards. Jiang Feng didn't dare to approach the coffin, but he wasn't brave enough to move away from it either, fearing the unknown behind the gates.

Just as the situation was about to force Jiang Feng into making a decision, the feminine voice sounded in his head again.

"Survive"

"Huh?"

Before Jiang Feng could figure out the meaning of those words, heavy steps rung in his ears, causing him to shift his focus back to reality. However, his eyes immediately widened in response when he saw what was happening.

At the edge of each gate, stood a stone soldier holding different kinds of weapons. They remained the same as the ones used in the second challenge, with the addition of daggers and spears.

Similar to the second challenge, two users for each weapon stood before each gate, making it twelve for Jiang Feng to deal with.

"Phew~, I thought I had to deal with a whole legion to pass the challenge. However, I can manage if its only-"

Just as Jiang Feng was about to finish his sentence, he noticed more started appearing behind the first of each gate. The numbers coming out were small at first, but it soon increased to the point where it looked like the stone soldiers were gushing out from the gates.

'You got to be kidding me, right?'

As his pupils trembled at the sight, Jiang Feng could feel his limbs going weak whilst his grip on the sword loosened.

'It's going to be fine. All I need to do is hit once on the neck or other vital parts and one will be down. As simple as that.'

Shaking his anxiousness away with that thought, Jiang Feng regripped his sword and prepared for battle as he stood where he was.

Soon, the first batch of stone soldiers surrounded him as they raised their weapons against him. Dodging the sword above him and the scythe at his left by jumping back, Jiang Feng quickly countered with two swift attacks landing on their waist.

Unsurprisingly, the red glow in their eyes dimmed as the stone soldiers fell onto the ground like statues, taking down others in the process.

Seeing this, Jiang Feng was exhilarated with the result as his confidence boosted.

'Taking one down can bring a few others along with it. Then, the more I take down, the quicker I finish this challenge!'

Hacking down another stone soldier as it fell backwards, Jiang Feng stepped onto its body and started rushing towards the nearest gate to him. The stone soldiers quickly closed up his path as they minimized his area of movement, but Jiang Feng didn't bother to stop advancing.

As the stone soldiers fell under his sword, the number of monsters coming out from the gates also seemed to come to a halt.

Sitting on top of floor covered by the stone soldiers, Jiang Feng surveyed the room as he breathed raggedly. Despite the tiredness tempting him towards the realm of dreams, he resisted the urge to do so while his lips curled up.

"This means, I won, right?" He murmured to himself.

However, as he sat there waiting for the voice of the challenge to sound inside his head, nothing but silence greeted him. Feeling the strangeness amidst the situation, Jiang Feng quickly stood back up and held his sword before him.

It didn't take long for something to change as he heard the sound of steps coming all over the cave. His eyes instinctively turned towards the gates, spotting yet another stone soldier coming out from them.

"There's still more?!" Jiang Feng exclaimed in surprised.

Feeling a chill creeping up his back, Jiang Feng immediately jumped away from his spot as a broadsword landed at where he was earlier. Dust rose up from the ground as the stone soldier lifted its head up, staring into Jiang Feng's eyes with its ominous red glow shining brightly.

Before he could move to take down that stone soldier, another one holding a scythe approached him with its weapon held high up, ready to reap his life should the blade land on his head.

This time, Jiang Feng didn't dodge the incoming attack towards him as he lowered his body, sprinting forward with his sword ready strike before the scythe could reach him.

Clang~

'It didn't work?!'

Widening his eyes, Jiang Feng's thought process came to a halt as he stared at the stone soldier he struck. Despite putting quite an amount of force in his attacks, the stone soldiers didn't even budge from its spot, as if it really was a statue. Heck, even statues would have fallen down after that strike.

However, Jiang Feng quickly came back to his senses as he rolled away from where he was, barely dodging the scythe from piercing his back.

"Damn it, what now?"

Getting back up on his feet while maintaining vigilance towards the two, a sense of crisis crept up as he repeatedly stole glances from his back, noticing the tide of stone soldier approaching him with their slow yet heavy steps.

'They must have some sort of weakness. Is it that red glow in their eyes? The Undead Soldiers also have that weird fire in their eye sockets that kept them alive.'

Dodging yet another attack, Jiang Feng gritted his teeth as he swung his sword at the face of the stone soldier that attacked him, the eyes to be precise.

Successfully landing the hit, the stone soldier lost its balance as it fell backwards, knocking down the other one behind him. However, the red glow in its eyes was still shining, signifying the fact that the red glow wasn't its weakness.

Before the stone soldiers could get back up on their feet, Jiang Feng turned away from them as he approached the tide of stone soldiers.

'Although their eyes are not the weakness of these stone soldiers, I can buy myself time to find out more if I make them fall.'

Facing the brunt of Jiang Feng's sword, the stone soldiers at the front immediately fall backwards. Creating a chain reaction, the tide was countered with each and everyone one of the stone soldiers being pushed back like dominos.

Ignoring the loud thud ringing in his ears, Jiang Feng quickly looked at the stone soldier before him and examined every single detail on it.

'Just where the heck is the weakness of you guys?!'

Unable to achieve any result despite having been looking at the stone soldier for more than a minute, Jiang Feng could only shout inwardly to vent his frustration. Just as he was about to continue, his time was quickly proved to be used up as the stone soldiers started behind him got back up on their feet already.

"Che, this is getting annoying." Jiang Feng muttered to himself.

Repeating what he did to the tide of stone soldiers, Jiang Feng approached them and knocked them back down, extending his time for rest.

'Even with rest, I can only repeat this loop for 3 times at most. Before then, I must find their weakness!'

Burning with determination and his will to triumph over the challenge, Jiang Feng got down his knees and examined the stone soldier at a closer distance. He wasn't worried that they would attack him while he was deep in thought, since their movements were comparable to a turtle.

'2 times left.'

Noticing the movements within the tide of stone soldiers behind him, Jiang Feng got back up to his feet as he repeated his actions towards them.

Not willing to waste his precious gained time, Jiang Feng started hitting the stone soldier all over with his sword, knowing that there was no more he could find on its surface. Of course, he reserved some strength when doing so.

During his trials, the two stone soldiers that first approached him got back up again, but Jiang Feng was too bothered to waste his strength on them, so he could only pull his distance and resumed his trials on another stone soldier.

"JUST WHERE IS THE WEAKNESS?!"

Down to his final chance of finding the weakness of the stone soldiers, Jiang Feng could feel the pressure on him intensifies as his life took another step closer towards demise.

By now, his sword had hit all over the stone soldier, yet not even a single clue of the weakness was gained.

On the other end, his body was now on the verge of collapsing. In fact, if another human were to replace Jiang Feng in his current situation right now, they wouldn't even able to persist as long as he did.

Hearing the sounds of stones grinding against the rough floor, a sense of despair escaped the cage of Jiang Feng's tightened heart.

Letting out a sigh in defeat, Jiang Feng's body stood up and walked towards the ancient coffin positioned at the center of the cave. Knowing that death was going to approach him in a few moments, his fear towards it miraculously dissipated.

Sitting down next to it as he back leaned against the coffin, his eyes stared at the tide of stone soldiers that were slowly getting back up on their feet.

His brain was spinning quicker than it ever did in Jiang Feng's 18 years of life, but it was all proven to be useless as it couldn't even stop the current situation from unfolding.

As if submitting towards the pressure on him, Jiang feng started laughing like a crazed man who lost his sanity.

'What kind of bullshit is this?! It's supposed to be a challenge, so why can't I win it!! F**k the challenge, f**k this freaking tomb!!'

Sliding out his phone from his pocket, Jiang Feng clicked on the power switch as the screen lit up.

'It's almost an hour after we last texted, I wonder if they arrived yet.'

Turning it off immediately afterwards, his hands lay on the ground powerlessly while his eyes stared at the ceiling.

'Ah, why did I even agree on coming to this place…'

Closing his eyes as darkness enveloped his vision, a spear thrown out from the tide of stone soldiers struck his chest as it pierced through his heart, ending his life in an instant.

Blood splattered from the wound, staining the ancient coffin and the surrounding ground.

More continued to flow out as they formed a puddle around Jiang Feng's lifeless body, but the result didn't seem to please the tide of stone soldiers, as they continued on their advancement towards him.

'In the end…I failed…the challenge…'

…

"Hmm…where am I…?"

"In my tomb, of course."

"Your…tomb?"

"Yes, however, it seems the current you hadn't started cultivation yet, hence your current appearance at this place."

"That's right…I was challenging that whatever tomb, and just as everything was proceeding well enough and I reached the last challenge, I-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he broke it off as he came to realize what had happened in the end. As if knowing what Jiang Feng was going through, the feminine voice conversing with him let out a light chuckle as she continued it.

"You died, right?"

"…"

Receiving no response from Jiang Feng as he maintained his silence, the feminine voice couldn't help but chuckle more.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die. No, I can't let you die."

"Come and meet me once you wake up, I'll be waiting for you."

Not giving Jiang Feng to comprehend the meaning behind her words, a bright light instantly pierced through the dark world as it blinded his 'eyes', turning him 'unconscious' again.