Zhang Fei - The Abandoned Son

Chapter 596: Survival Challenge

In the soul challenge, Zhang Fei and all his close friends continued to use the pressure inside to cultivate their souls, and several hours passed since they started.

ʼKid, you must send them back as itʼs time for you to leave this place; the other participants have completed their challenges.ʼ

Zhang Fei stopped dual soul cultivating with his six wives, and he then asked the others to stop. Despite their disappointment, they had no choice but to rush into the training space as soon as he opened the portal.

Shortly after they disappeared, Zhang Fei was also sent out of the place, and he immediately appeared on the first floor. However, everyone had gathered there, but he could not find the previous few faces, including several members of his group, which meant that they had failed their challenge.

”Why did you take so long in there?” Zhang Fei turned to Feng Yao and told her the truth, surprising her. ”Youʼre really lucky, you know that? Even though the pressure adjusts to our strength, it remains powerful and beneficial to your soul.”

”I was lucky, and my soul power increased quite significantly, but itʼs still a long way from breaking through to the earthly soul level.” Zhang Fei then looked at the people from the other groups. ”Whatʼs our next challenge? I canʼt wait to finish everything and go back.”

”You donʼt have to wait to find out, Fei.” Xian Xianqin then pointed upwards. ”That is the portal to the survival challenge, but our group is down by two because Yu Chongming and Ru Yanyue failed their soul challenge.”

Zhang Fei nodded as he looked at the portal. ”We will definitely make it through the survival challenge.”

The portal immediately sucked all the participants in and sent them to a scorching hot place, causing sweat to drench their bodies quickly, except those with the fire and ice elements. In contrast to the other challenges, they arrived at the same place in one group, but Feng Yao was sent elsewhere.

”How much time do we have to get through this challenge?” Zhang Fei asked them.

Ximen Chuixue explained to him directly. ”There are a total of 5 tests in this challenge, and each challenge will last for two hours. After that, we will have a one-hour break to rest before the next test, which is always random, requiring us to prepare for all scenarios.”

”I see.” Zhang Fei then searched for the other groupsʼ locations on his map. ”This place is truly massive, and their location is quite far from ours. However, Zhou Tong seems impatient, and he has already led the rest of his group to look for us.”

”He guessed that we are related to Zhou Meilingʼs disappearance, so he targeted us.” Bai Tianʼer then pointed at Xian Changyue. ”Fortunately, we have Aunt Changyue by our side, so we donʼt need to worry about them.”

Xian Changyue said to them directly. ”Iʼll only handle Zhou Tong, so you guys will have to fight his group members.”

”Haha.” Yuan Luo laughed and clenched her fists. ”We will fight them if they really want to fight, and we will show them that we are not weak.”

*Bam... Bam... Bam...*

Xian Xianqin, Xian Xianwu, and Yun Xinyue unexpectedly fell to the ground, shocking them. Their bodies were shivering violently, and several purplish-black spots appeared on their skin. Even their vision quickly became blank, so Zhang Fei and Xian Changyue immediately checked their condition.

”What happened to them?” Yuan Luo asked in a panic.

Zhang Fei and Xian Changyue did not answer her, and they checked the bodies of the three people from their hands to their necks. They found purplish-black sting marks on their necks, which were from Ximen Yueliangʼs black wasp.

”Are these sting marks like I thought, Zhang Fei?”

”Yes.” Zhang Fei nodded to Xian Changyue. ”Something demon-related stung them, but they didnʼt realize it, and we would never have realized it if their conditions werenʼt like this.”

”Do you think they got stung when we were in the mini demon maze before?”

”Iʼm sure it happened after that.” Zhang Fei dismissed Ye Zhiqiuʼs guess, as he had not encountered any such demon during his time in the mini demon maze, and he was confident that another demon had used something on them. There were only two groups of demons among them, but Ma Kuangyu controlled Ximen Yan at that time, so he was not the culprit. ”The culprit is between Ximen Hongwu and Ximen Yueliang.”

”Eh?” For a moment, they were surprised to hear that, but they immediately agreed with Zhang Fei. Knowing Ximen Yanʼs situation, they believed that one of the two demons was the culprit. ”Should we look for Ximen Hongwu and Ximen Yueliang to save them?”

”No need.” Zhang Fei quickly transforms into his half-fox form, shocking his group members.

Yuan Luo wanted to ask Zhang Fei, but Ximen Chuixue stopped her with a shake of his head, especially since the condition of their three friends was critical.

A screen suddenly appeared above them and displayed a test, which required them to find five flags scattered around several areas.

”You guys must move now, and I will join the search after I save them.” Once they had spread out, Zhang Fei sat Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue on the ground. He then sat behind them, pressing his palms against the purplish-black sting marks on their necks. He then did the same to Xian Xianwu, using one of his tails.

Zhang Fei channeled his light element into their bodies, searching for the source of their strange conditions. However, it had already spread deep within their bodies, prompting him to act quickly by sealing them all with his light element. He then channeled his fire elements into their bodies to evaporate the source, causing them to grimace and sweat profusely.

The purplish-black spots swiftly disappeared from their skin, and their complexion eventually returned to its original white color. After that, Zhang Fel retracted the two elements and tried to wake them up.

Xian Xianwu was the first to open his eyes, but he felt as though something had jumbled his mind, leaving him perplexed about his circumstances. ”What happened to us?”

”Do you recall experiencing a sting?” Xian Xianwu took some time to recollect the incident before telling Zhang Fei that it happened during their battle with the mazeʼs final boss. ”If I recall, Ximen Hongwu was helping us at that time, so Iʼm sure the culprit was Ximen Yueliang. I donʼt know how she did it, but she probably disguised her actions by taking advantage of the darkness so none of us noticed it. You should rest first, then help others find flags elsewhere.”

”I canʼt rest.” Ximen Xianwu stood up, enduring the dizziness. ”We only have one hour to find them, and we will fail if we fail the test, so I have to move now.”

”Be careful, then.” A few moments after Xian Xianwuʼs departure, the two women opened their eyes, only to find their minds completely disorganized. Zhang Fei immediately helped them up and hugged their waists. ”I know you two are still dizzy, but we donʼt have much time right now, so Iʼll take you to look for the flags.”

As he took them away, Zhang Fei explained to them about their previous situation, causing Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue to become gloomy. Ever since they entered the maze challenge, they have been giving him trouble, and he had to save them time and time again.

”All right, you two donʼt need to take that to heart, especially since Ximen Yueliang used the darkness to do it.” Zhang Fei then looked at his map to locate the flags, found one not far from their location, and hurriedly used his nine cloud steps to bring them there.

After arriving at the location, Zhang Fei immediately released Xian Xianqin and Yun Xinyue from his embrace. However, they were hesitant to approach the flag, especially since the area was quite suspicious. ”Are there usually traps around the flags?”

”Yes.” Both women nodded to Zhang Fei. ”Sometimes theyʼre surrounded by traps, but sometimes theyʼre not, and sometimes theyʼre guarded by beasts.”

Zhang Fei immediately picked up a stone and threw it towards the flag, causing a powerful wall of fire to appear and surround it. Given his possession of the fire element, he swiftly moved to retrieve the flag before making his way back to the two womenʼs side. ”Four left.”

”How did you find the location so quickly, Fei?” Yun Xinyue curiously asked.

”Secret.” Zhang Fei replied with a wink, causing Yun Xinyue to pout her lips. ”Princess Yun, if I look closely, you are really cute when you act like a child.”

”Humph.” Yun Xinyue snorted softly and looked away.

Xian Xianq shook her head at Zhang Feiʼs behavior. ”Can you find the location of the other four flags? If we can find them faster, then we can rest faster, especially since my head still feels heavy.”

”Senior Changyue just found one, so we just need to look for the other three.” Zhang Fei then hugged them again and took the two women away from the area.

Using the map and his nine cloud steps, Zhang Fei swiftly guided the two women to the second flagʼs location, only to find it guarded by a quasi-divine-level beast. Even so, it wasnʼt difficult for them, and they only needed a few seconds to kill it.

Zhang Fei then took them to the location of the third flag, which was hidden in a pit full of lava. Once again, the trap was not an obstacle for them, especially since he had already mastered the law of the fire element.

A few minutes later, they had gotten the fourth flag, so Zhang Fei immediately contacted all his group members to gather at their previous location.

Sometime later, they all gathered at the same place again, but Bai Tianʼer and the others continued to stare at Zhang Fei with suspicion; even Xian Changyue was suspicious of him.

”Why are you guys looking at me like that? Arenʼt you all supposed to be happy that we were able to find this flag quickly?” Zhang Fei then pointed to Xian Xianqin, Yun Xinyue, and Xian Xianwu. ”This way, we can rest longer, and they can rest to recover their condition.”

Yuan Luo pouted her lips before complaining. ”If you could find them that quickly, you should have told us earlier, and we didnʼt have to waste our energy looking for them.”

”Hehe.” Zhang Fei chuckled in response. ”I found them by luck, so how could I have told you guys beforehand?”

”Liar!” Yuan Luo exclaimed in annoyance. ”You have a lot of strange things that we donʼt have, so Iʼm sure you already knew their location from the start.”

”Stop it, Luoʼer.” Ximen Chuixue immediately reprimanded his lower body. ”Everyone has their secrets, so you donʼt have to force Zhang Fei to tell us. The important thing is that we have successfully passed the first test, and we can rest while waiting for the second test.”

Yuan Luo let out a soft sigh and nodded. ”Princess Xian and Princess Yun, you two should rest now so we can move together for the second test.”

*Thud*

Feng Yao suddenly landed in front of them and spoke to Zhang Fei. ”The Qi in your body is starting to churn, so you should prepare to break through now.”

Xian Changyue and the others quickly glanced at Zhang Fei, finally noticing the turbulence of Qi in his body. ”You should break through now, and we will protect you.”

”Yeah.” Zhang Fei immediately sat down cross-legged, but he didnʼt need to worry about them because his fourth clone was about to break through, and he only needed to endure the pain.

.

.

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===

[Ding]

[Daily Quest: Absorb 100,000 Qi.]

[Status: Done.]

[Reward: 1,000 bronze coins sent to the inventory.]

===

As soon as the notification appeared in Zhang Fei [4]ʼs mind, the sky in the Sky Jade Realm quickly turned dark, alerting all cultivators in the realm. All of them quickly flew towards the northern region at full speed because it used to be the home of the heretics, but they were sure that they had gotten rid of them all, yet the phenomenon of lightning flashes suddenly appeared there.

Upon witnessing this, Zilvora promptly guided Orith and Ilsath to Zhang Fei [4]ʼs location. However, he prohibited them from approaching too closely, as the sky was brewing lightning tribulations to test him. He sensed that these tribulations were slightly more powerful than when he first broke through to the Earth Realm. ”Those guys are on their way here, huh?”

[Arenʼt you going to stop them, Master?]

”No need.” Zhang Fei [4] then looked up into the sky. ”Those lightnings are stronger than the ones I experienced in the sin challenge, and they are getting stronger with every second that passes. How many lightning tribulations do I have to endure this time, Mei?”

[I canʼt guess it, but you will probably have to go through at least two lightning tribulations like your first breakthrough, Master.]

Minute after minute passed, and an hour passed quickly. Zhang Fei [4] let out a soft sigh as he looked toward the dark sky, especially since his lightning tribulations still had not descended, even though he had waited so long.

The cultivators from the central region finally arrived at his location, and they were shocked after sensing that his cultivation was at the 1-Star Earth Realm. Moreover, he was trying to break through to the 2-Star, but they were horrified once they sensed the powerful pressure from the sky.

”This kidʼs lightning tribulation is truly powerful.” Chang Wuhen mumbled under her breath as her body shook.

”Should we help him by setting up a formation around him, Patriarch?” Di Xingjie asked Di Xiong.

Di Xiong replied with a shake of his head. ”His lightning tribulation is far stronger than the one I have witnessed in the past, and our formations wonʼt be able to withstand it. Moreover, the lightning from our tribulation is beneficial for tempering our bodies, so he should face it.”

”Grandpa, look over there! Where did those three female demons come from?” A young man spoke to Di Xiong, gesturing toward Zilvora and the others.

Chang Wentian answered the young man first. ”Di Xiaoyao, you should have heard of Zhang Fei [4]ʼs ability to go to the demon realm, right? Iʼm sure those three female demons are his women from that realm, so you should ignore them.”

Di Xiaoyao nodded in understanding, but jealousy and envy appeared in his eyes. After all, he came from a prominent clan in their realm, and he was much more senior than Zhang Fei [4] in cultivation. Everyone had always believed that he was the best talent in their realm, but his sudden appearance changed everything. Everyone in their realm, including his grandparents and parents, began to speak highly of him, especially after his feat against those heretics.

Zhang Fei [4] was naturally aware of Di Xiaoyaoʼs attitude, particularly when the dot representing his name on the map abruptly turned red, indicating his hostility toward him.

Feng Jinqiu, who previously helped Zhang Yue improve her ice element, suddenly appeared there, shocking Chang Wuhen and the others. However, the phoenix carving on the back of her dress led them to speculate that she was a member of the Feng Clan despite their certainty that they had never met her before.

Feng Xiaogang informed them that Feng Jinqiu was Feng Yaoʼs confidant, and he asked them not to approach her because she was completely different from her matriarch.

Feng Jinqiu herself did not spare a glance at them, and her eyes only focused on the sky that continued to brew Zhang Fei [4]ʼs lightning tribulation. ʼNo wonder my princess thinks highly of this kid and wants to recruit him to our Phoenix clan. Heʼs only 20 years old, but his cultivation is already quite high. All the cultivators in his generation, including the younger ones of our race, simply cannot compare to him. Unfortunately, he accumulated so much bad karma, and the stench of blood on his body was too strong, making his lightning tribulation no less powerful than those old folks. Will he make it through? Should I help him get through it?ʼ

- To Be Continued -