Shadow Step!

Lu Chen stared at the information on the panel, feeling a surge of immense joy explode in his mind like a thunderclap!

The basic martial arts passed down in the Demon Suppression Division, such as the Body Evasion Steps, couldn't even be ranked—they were merely ungraded Yellow-tier techniques.

Yet the iron slab contained a Mystery Rank Movement Technique far above that!

Though severely incomplete, its value was still far beyond what the three packets of Blood Activating Powder he had paid could compare to!

Lu Chen clutched the rusty iron slab tightly in his hand like a treasure, beginning to ponder how to use this unexpected windfall to make up for his greatest weakness.

After the excitement faded, Lu Chen quickly calmed down.

He immersed his mind into the rusty iron slab, carefully sensing the information within it.

As the system had said, the incompleteness of Shadow Step far exceeded any technique he had obtained before.

It had no complete energy circulation route, no detailed move explanations—only a few scattered, fragmented posture diagrams and several vague fragments about how to circulate and conceal one's breath within shadows.

It felt like holding a Heavenly Scripture with ninety-nine percent of its content torn out—utterly impossible to start from.

Lu Chen tried to imitate one of the postures, an extremely awkward half-squat that required the body's center of gravity to sink in a way that defied common sense.

He barely held it for a few breaths before his legs went numb and sore, his blood and energy churning, nearly causing him to misdirect his breath.

Too hard!

Without external assistance, relying solely on his own groping, he might spend his entire life and still fail to glimpse even the threshold.

Lu Chen glanced at his empty Demon Devil Lifespan and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

It seemed he could only wait.

Over the next few days, Lu Chen handled the endless "dirty work" assigned by Foreman Wang while silently 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 transported from the city outskirts' marsh, he had scraped together barely a year's worth of Demon Devil Lifespan.

He couldn't wait to return to the Corpse Handling Room and once again sink his mind into the system.

"System, invest one year of Demon Devil Lifespan to deduce Shadow Step!"

[Command confirmed. Demon Devil Lifespan insufficient for complete deduction. The system will attempt to use the available lifespan to maximally supplement and optimize the fragment.]

[Deducing...]

[...Deduction complete.]

[Consumed 1 year of Demon Devil Lifespan. Based on the host's existing Body Evasion Steps foundation, the system has barely supplemented the initial steps' force application techniques and energy circulation methods of Shadow Step.]

A flood of new insights instantly surged into Lu Chen's mind.

Those originally scattered, fragmented postures seemed linked by an invisible thread.

How to start, how to turn, how to borrow force, how to merge breath with shadow... Though still crude, it had formed a cultivable prototype.

Overjoyed, Lu Chen immediately began practicing in the cramped Corpse Handling Room.

He combined the nimbleness of his minor-achievement Body Evasion Steps with the eerie force techniques of Shadow Step.

At first, his movements were still clumsy, nearly tripping himself several times.

But he tirelessly repeated the motions over and over.

Gradually, his figure grew more and more elusive.

His footsteps landed soundlessly, and the rise and fall of his body became barely perceptible. Especially when passing through the shadowed areas cast by the tall tool racks, his silhouette seemed to merge with the darkness, blurring into an uncanny indistinctness.

It worked!

[Shadow Step—Beginner!]

The moment the system notification rang out, Lu Chen stopped, feeling a marked improvement in both his speed and agility.

This was a qualitative leap!

If Body Evasion Steps was like willow catkins in the wind—drifting and unpredictable—then beginner-level Shadow Step was a ghost in the dead of night—silent, invisible, and far more lethal!

Just then, a commotion arose outside the door.

Two Warriors hurriedly carried in a massive corpse wrapped in black cloth and tossed it into the Corpse Handling Room.

"Lu Chen, quick! Handle this! The patrol team just hunted this Wind Cutter Falcon from North Mountain. There's still residual Wind Blade Killing Intent in the corpse—it erupts now and then. It already injured one of our brothers!"

The Warrior left a brief order and rushed off.

Lu Chen pulled back the black cloth to reveal a huge Demon Bird with a wingspan of over three meters, lying still on the ground. Its feathers were like steel, and even in death, it exuded a sharp, fierce Killing Intent.

He picked up his tools, ready to begin.

Suddenly, the demon bird's corpse shuddered violently. From a wound on its abdomen, a pale green, almost solid Wind Blade burst out without warning, tearing through the air with a sharp whistle, shooting straight at Lu Chen's face!

It all happened too fast to react!

Yet, just as the Wind Blade was about to strike, his newly acquired Shadow Step—its muscle memory etched deep into his bones—was instantly triggered!

His body moved without any conscious thought from his brain—his feet merely shifted with the barest, most subtle misstep, while his upper body swayed gently backward and to the side in an impossible, almost boneless posture.

That lethal Wind Blade grazed past, a hair's breadth from the tip of his nose, dangerously close, carving a smooth, inch-deep gash into a blue stone on the stone wall behind him.

The entire dodge was light, deft, filled with a strange, eerie beauty—not even the hem of his robe stirred a whisper of wind.

After completing it all, Lu Chen himself was momentarily stunned.

The hem of my robe is a little dirty?

He looked down at his own feet, recalling that lightning-fast, ghostlike sideways sway his body had just performed.

It had not come from his deliberate control, but from a deeper layer—an instinct long since fused into his very marrow.

This was the marvel brought by the Mystery Rank Movement Technique, Shadow Step, merely at its entry level!

Just the entry level, and it was already this incredible. If he could cultivate it to minor mastery, or even great mastery, what kind of spectacle would that be?

A surge of uncontrollable ecstasy, like molten lava, churned deep within Lu Chen's heart.

But he quickly forced that emotion down, and his eyes returned to their former calm, as still as the surface of an ancient well.