An Unexpected Turn

With a roll, Lin Sheng's elbow struck a wooden board on the ground outside, emitting a sharp snap.

The board shattered into pieces. His elbow was also scraped by a splinter, leaving a bloody gash.

Under normal circumstances, he might have cried out in pain, but he had absolutely no time to catch his breath now.

BOOM!!

Behind him, inside the house, a massive swarm of black threads, resembling metallic wires, frantically smashed through the window frame and surged toward him in a dense mass.

As they flew, the threads swirled and danced; everything they touched was instantly dyed black, disintegrated, and transformed into countless specks of black dust that merged into the swarm.

Lin Sheng sprinted wildly, heading not for anywhere else, but for the nearest gate of Black Feather City!

Behind him, the gravel on the street was being pulverized by the pursuing mass of black threads, emitting dull, muffled thuds.

Wherever the black threads passed, whether it was stone or pavement, everything was instantly ground into black dust and absorbed.

After running for a distance, Lin Sheng had just dashed into the gatehouse when he glanced back. His scalp went numb, and he threw himself forward into a roll.

BOOM!!

A massive wave of black threads slammed into the ground right in front of the gatehouse where he had just been.

These threads, resembling strands of black hair, were each incredibly hard, piercing deep into the ground—there was no telling how far down they went.

Had he not rolled forward just then, he surely would have been turned into a honeycomb.

Lin Sheng scrambled up and, without a word, bolted again, charging out of Black Feather City.

Behind him, the vast swarm of black threads hovered and danced in mid-air like a living creature, yet they did not enter the gatehouse by even a single step.

Realizing their prey had escaped, the black threads slowly retracted, darting back into the house they had emerged from.

In an instant, everything returned to silence.

Lin Sheng collapsed onto his backside in the middle of the carriage road outside the city, drenched in sweat and panting like an ox.

He could already feel his vision blurring; the dream was about to end.

This expedition into Black Feather City had been a failure after all.

The level of danger hidden within the seemingly dead and silent Black Feather City was simply indescribable.

"Next time, I need to find a proper opportunity. I refuse to believe this." Lin Sheng gritted his teeth as he sat on the ground.

The massive Black Feather City was riddled with holes and gaps, with the city walls leaking everywhere; he didn't believe he couldn't find a safer opening to slip through.

At worst, he would risk dying once, but he had to find the Valen Temple and obtain the Limit Breaking Method from within.

His vision gradually blurred, and everything before Lin Sheng's eyes quickly turned black and dim.

Beep, beep, beep. Beep, beep, beep.

The alarm clock on the nightstand emitted a harsh, grating sound.

Lin Sheng opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He let out a soft breath and reached out to pull back the quilt.

It was already broad daylight outside, and the alarm clock showed exactly nine o'clock.

"Failed, but this is only the beginning. Take it slow, no rush."

He rolled out of bed, stripped off his pajamas, and changed into his clothes and jacket.

Then, standing before the mirror in the wardrobe, he tidied his messy hair a bit to make it look more presentable.

Finally, he took the long sword he had borrowed from the club out of the wardrobe, strapped it to his back, and walked out of the bedroom.

The long sword was kept in a black sword case, kindly sponsored by Xiayin; it looked pitch black on the outside, much like an ordinary instrument case.

Just as Lin Sheng stepped out of his room, he heard voices coming from the living room. It sounded like a girl reciting a foreign language.

He paused, then walked into the living room to take a look.

A girl of about fifteen or sixteen with short hair, wearing a white shirt and a red plaid knee-length skirt, sat on their sofa memorizing vocabulary. She was quite pretty and delicate.

The morning light was bright, reflecting off the girl's snow-white skin and making her look fresh and lovely.

"Brother Chenchen, you're up?" Seeing Lin Sheng enter the living room, the girl stood up quickly and flashed a sweet smile.

"Xiaoxi? When did you get here? Have you eaten breakfast?"

Lin Sheng was somewhat surprised.

The girl's name was An Xi, though everyone in the family called her Xiaoxi. She was his cousin, his aunt's daughter. Since they lived nearby, she occasionally came over to visit.

An Xi was the relative he was most familiar with, though perhaps due to clashing personalities, their relationship was only average.

"I ate. My mom just made some chili sauce and asked me to bring some to Aunt and Uncle. But when I left the house, I forgot my keys," An Xi said with an embarrassed smile.

"You're in your third year of middle school now, aren't you? So diligent," Lin Sheng remarked, glancing at the textbook in her hands.

The thick, magazine-sized textbook had a worn cover, clearly having been flipped through until it was falling apart.

"Where are you going, Brother Chenchen? Aunt and Uncle went to work, and they told me to eat with you later."

Seeing the long black box strapped to Lin Sheng's back, which looked like an instrument case, An Xi quickly asked.

"I have something to take care of outside, I'll be back in a while. You just stay here and study." Lin Sheng found it difficult to explain that he was going to the club to practice swordsmanship.

His progress at the club was too rapid; he had jumped straight into the role of an instructor. Such a level of swordsmanship simply couldn't be explained without long-term, dedicated training.

Yet, his family knew better than anyone that it was impossible for him to have spent any significant time practicing swordsmanship in the past.

Therefore, Lin Sheng chose to keep it hidden for now.

"Are you going out to play, brother?" An Xi's eyes flickered. "Or are you heading to an internet cafe?"

"..." Lin Sheng was speechless. "Alright, enough nonsense. I'm leaving; you look after the house."

"Fine." An Xi nodded.

Lin Sheng strapped the sword case to his back, changed his shoes, grabbed his thermos and towel, and strolled out the door.

An Xi watched quietly as Lin Sheng closed the door, listening to his footsteps echoing in the stairwell as he headed down.

Sitting on the sofa, she intended to go back to memorizing her vocabulary.

Suddenly, she noticed the breakfast money their aunt had left on the living room table.

"Brother left without eating breakfast, and he didn't take the money either." Without a second thought, she grabbed the cash and ran to the balcony, hoping to look out the window and call him back.

She paused abruptly, her gaze landing on Lin Sheng down at the entrance of the residential complex.

At the gate, unexpectedly, Lin Sheng was walking slowly when a young woman wearing sunglasses approached him, and the two began to talk.

The woman was dressed fashionably with a great figure, and she was followed by two tall, burly men.

After exchanging a few words, the two of them boarded a bus together and quickly departed.

An Xi pulled back, a flicker of curiosity crossing her eyes.

According to her understanding of her cousin, he was mediocre, unremarkable, and had no advantages in looks or height.

Her only impression of him was that his skin was a bit pale. His grades were just so-so, neither high nor low, and he lacked any real presence.

She had always viewed him as an ordinary person, but now, it seemed he had some social circles she knew nothing about.

That woman from just now had a hot figure, and even though she wore sunglasses, she was clearly not ugly based on what was visible.

The clothes she wore were of high quality, resembling hunting gear that accentuated her exquisite, curvaceous frame.

Usually, girls like that hung out in circles of similarly trendy, attractive people. How could she be walking with her cousin?

An Xi had classmates like that, so the impression was deep; she knew that people with such a large gap in appearance rarely hung out together.

Brother Chenchen doesn't seem as honest as he usually acts. An Xi felt a faint spark of curiosity toward Lin Sheng.