Lu Chen looked at the information on the panel, and an immense joy exploded through his mind like a clap of thunder!
Basic martial arts like the Body Evasion Steps passed around the Demon Suppression Division didn't even have a grade. They could only be considered low-grade Yellow Rank techniques.
But the technique recorded on this iron slab was a Mystery Rank movement technique, far surpassing those!
Though it was severely incomplete, its value was still nowhere near comparable to the three Blood Activating Powders he had paid for it!
Clutching the rusty iron slab tightly like a priceless treasure, Lu Chen began to consider how he could use this unexpected windfall to make up for his greatest weakness.
After his excitement passed, Lu Chen quickly regained his composure.
He immersed his mind in the rusty iron slab, carefully sensing the information it contained.
Just as the system had said, Shadow Step was far more incomplete than any technique he had obtained before.
It had no complete circulation route or detailed explanations of its moves. All it contained were a few scattered, fragmented illustrations of postures, along with several vague passages describing how to circulate and conceal one's breath in the shadows.
It felt like he'd gotten hold of a Heavenly Scripture with ninety-nine percent of its contents torn away. He had no idea where to begin.
Lu Chen tried to imitate one of the postures. It was an extremely awkward half-crouch that required him to lower his center of gravity in a way that defied common sense.
He barely held it for a few breaths before his legs went numb, his qi and blood surged, and he nearly lost control of his breathing.
It was too difficult!
Without outside help, he could spend his entire life figuring it out on his own and still fail to glimpse its secrets.
Lu Chen glanced at his completely empty Demon Devil Lifespan and couldn't help but smile wryly.
It seemed he could only wait.
Over the next few days, Lu Chen handled one endless "dirty job" after another assigned by Foreman Wang, while quietly accumulating Demon Devil Lifespan.
[Processed Carrion Crow, gained 21 days of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [Processed Cave Spider, gained 1 month and 5 days of Demon Devil Lifespan.] [...]
Finally, after processing a batch of Poison Swamp Frogs brought in from the marshes outside the city, he had managed to accumulate just under a year's worth of Demon Devil Lifespan.
He hurried back to the Corpse Handling Room and once again immersed his mind in the system.
"System, invest one year of Demon Devil Lifespan to deduce Shadow Step!"
[Command confirmed. Insufficient Demon Devil Lifespan to perform a complete deduction. The system will attempt to use the available lifespan to complete and optimize the fragment as much as possible.] [Deduction in progress...] [...Deduction complete.] [One year of Demon Devil Lifespan consumed. Based on the host's foundation in Body Evasion Steps, the system has managed to complete the initial steps of Shadow Step's force techniques and breath-circulation method.]
A completely new understanding flooded Lu Chen's mind.
The scattered, fragmented postures seemed to be strung together by an invisible thread.
How to begin, how to turn, how to borrow force, how to merge one's breath with the shadows... Though still crude, it had finally taken shape as a method he could practice.
Overjoyed, Lu Chen immediately began practicing in the cramped Corpse Handling Room.
He combined the nimbleness of his Body Evasion Steps, which had reached the minor mastery stage, with Shadow Step's eerie force techniques.
At first, his movements were still clumsy, and he nearly tripped over himself several times.
But he practiced tirelessly, repeating them again and again.
Gradually, his figure grew more and more elusive.
His steps made no sound as they touched the ground, and his body barely rose or fell. Especially when he passed through the shadows cast by the room's tall tool racks, his figure seemed to merge with them, growing indistinct and strangely uncanny.
He'd done it!
[Shadow Step—Initiated!]
When the system notification appeared, Lu Chen stopped. He could feel that both his speed and agility had improved significantly.
It was a qualitative leap!
If Body Evasion Steps was like willow fluff drifting unpredictably in the wind, then beginner-level Shadow Step was like a wraith in the dead of night—silent, and far more deadly!
Just then, a commotion rose outside the door.
Two burly guards hurried in, carrying a huge corpse wrapped in black cloth, and dumped it in the Corpse Handling Room.
"Lu Chen, quick! Take care of this! The patrol just hunted this Wind Cutter Falcon on North Mountain. There's still Killing Intent from its Wind Blade inside the corpse, and it keeps erupting. It's already injured one of our men!"
The guard dropped those words and hurried away.
Lu Chen pulled back the black cloth and saw a gigantic Demon Bird with a wingspan of over three meters lying motionless on the ground. Its feathers were like steel, and even in death, it still radiated fierce Killing Intent.
He picked up his tools and was about to get to work.
Suddenly, the Demon Bird's corpse convulsed. From a wound in its abdomen, a pale blue Wind Blade, nearly solid in appearance, burst out without warning. With a piercing whistle, it shot straight toward Lu Chen's face!
It all happened too quickly for him to react!
Yet just as the Wind Blade was about to hit him, the muscle memory of his newly initiated Shadow Step—etched deep in his bones—was instantly triggered!
His body moved without even waiting for his mind to catch up. His foot shifted by the tiniest fraction, and his upper body swayed lightly backward and to the side in an incredible, boneless posture.
The deadly Wind Blade grazed past the tip of his nose by the narrowest margin, slicing a smooth cut an inch deep into a block of bluestone in the wall behind him.
The entire dodge had been light and deft, filled with an uncanny grace. It hadn't even stirred a breeze against his clothes.
Afterward, even Lu Chen himself stood momentarily stunned.
A speck on his hem?
He looked down at his feet, recalling how his body had swayed sideways like a wraith in that split second.
It hadn't been a movement he consciously controlled. It was a deeper instinct, as if it had already been carved into his bones.
This was the wonder of mastering Shadow Step, a Mystery Rank movement technique, at the initial stage!
It was already so incredible after just reaching the initial stage. What would it be like once he cultivated it to minor or major mastery?
An uncontrollable joy surged through Lu Chen's heart like molten lava.
But he quickly forced the emotion back down, and his gaze once more became as placid as a deep well.