Chapter 240: Courage!
Feeling that he was now safe, Jiang Che let out a small sigh of relief.
He wasn’t afraid of dying, but he didn’t want to let Ding Ning down.
He wanted even more to finish the trial that Ding Ning had given him in the best state possible.
He surveyed the corridor; the walls were extremely old, and the floor was scattered with broken glass.
The dust was thick—even a single step would stir tiny clouds of it into the air.
Jiang Che looked into the distance; at the end was a shattered glass window, and then a left turn at the corner.
When he’d walked out of that bright passage earlier, the howling and slobbering noises behind him had vanished, fading off to somewhere further away.
Now, he felt like he was following behind some evil ghost.
It didn’t seem to have gone far—the sound of its breathing was always at the end, so indistinct he couldn’t tell if it came from beyond the broken window or from the corner ahead.
Jiang Che lightened his steps, walking forward one cautious pace at a time.
The closer he got, the deeper his brow furrowed.
Because he was thinking about what to do next.
Up to this point, he had never seen the monster’s shadow—he had only heard it, never seen its form.
"Does he dare keep moving forward?" Hua watched Jiang Che’s cautious progress, unable to hold back her question.
Their job was to help Jiang Che overcome the deep-seated fears in his heart.
Jiang Che hadn’t feared Blood Slaughter and the others before because he considered Blood Slaughter his family.
Who’s ever afraid of their own family?
But if he went onto another lord’s turf—if he had to face other terrifying things—how would Jiang Che overcome them?
What they were doing now was making Jiang Che approach fear, face it directly.
Jiang Che did move cautiously; he kept pondering how to proceed next—should he leave through the window or try the corner?
He guessed the clue was definitely hidden in the dungeon; Ding Ning had told him every dungeon had a solution, that there was no such thing as a guaranteed death dungeon.
If one existed, the solution must be deeply hidden.
If it was a puzzle, he needed to find the answer; if it was an escape-type dungeon, he would have to evade the attacks of evil spirits along the way.
There was another kind: conquest dungeons, where you had to kill every evil spirit blocking your path and then escape through the passage’s exit—only then was it a successful survival.
Jiang Che looked around, even touching the oddly protruding wall, confirming that there were no hidden passages or other exits. Then he continued forward.
Ahead was a turn; the monster’s howls seemed to be coming from there. He looked at the window—if the monster was on his left, was his only way out to rush the window and jump?
He started calculating his distance from the window, using his hands to gauge how to make the jump.
This sight made Ding Ning chuckle uncontrollably, and Hua pressed her lips together.
"He’s pretty gutsy, thinking through everything—even looks like he’s about to jump out the window," Hua teased with a laugh.
When Jiang Che goes to jump, he’ll discover the window can’t be escaped through at all.
Or if he rushes all the way to the corner, he’ll find there’s no monster waiting there like he’d imagined.
What they were doing was giving Jiang Che the courage to break through it all—and teaching him that every fear is born of imagination.
"Because he’s not alone."
"If he wants to protect his family, he has to face all this." Ding Ning watched Jiang Che charging forward without hesitation. His steps held not a trace of uncertainty—he hadn’t considered what he might encounter. One glimpse into his gaze showed he was ready for death.
She had already told Jiang Che that the pain of spiritual power death would leave a mark on his bones—he wouldn’t want to die a second time.
If Jiang Che was ready to use his life to pass this stage, that was one way. As long as he could endure the pain.
But...
Ding Ning sighed—the thing was, Jiang Che’s spiritual power could die within the dungeon she created for him and its trials, but not outside.
Everything she was doing was to prevent him from getting hurt outside.
Jiang Che hurried forward. His thinking was simple: if this was a sure-death scenario, then he’d have to face that death.
If there was an evil spirit he absolutely had to defeat ahead, then he’d fight!
His strength had been mentally projected in as well, so he had to have the courage to battle.
Ding Ning had said there were many kinds of dungeons. Jiang Che still didn’t know what kind his was, but if the evil spirit ahead had to be killed, he would take the chance to hone his combat skills.
Jiang Che sped up, fully prepared to crash through the window or fight.
But as soon as he reached the corner, he stopped in his tracks.
He sensed the howls by his ear recede toward the end of the corridor around the corner.
Jiang Che frowned. What did that mean?
The monster wasn’t going to fight him?
"First checkpoint: Courage. He’s passed." Hua kept time beside him. In their plan, they knew Jiang Che would go forward—but how long would it take him, how soon would he reach the corridor corner, all of that had to be counted.
Those were the standards for facing fear head-on.
Jiang Che had gone from hesitation, to observation, to finally reaching the corner—all within their camera time limit.
"He really didn’t hesitate at all." Hua couldn’t help but praise Jiang Che.
If not fearing evil spirits before was unexpected, Jiang Che’s fearlessness now seemed more like responsibility—a sense of family duty.
"Mm!" Ding Ning curved her eyes, watching Jiang Che quietly.
The next trial wasn’t courage—now it was composure.
Combat skills and such, those were easy enough to learn.
The most fundamental disposition was impossible to teach.
What they were doing now was a pre-battle test.
As soon as Jiang Che rounded the corner, he felt the monster’s howls receding into the distance, and he frowned, about to chase after it—when suddenly, a sound came from behind him, right by his ear.
Just now, he’d realized these evil spirits were nothing—face them directly and they might even flee.
His heart jumped. He hadn’t noticed the thing behind him at all, nor did he know when it had arrived.
The howls in his ear were loud, but hadn’t harmed him; he could even feel thick drool falling onto his shoulder.
Jiang Che didn’t turn around; he looked toward the end of the corner.
There were sounds from that way, but there were also sounds behind him.
Jiang Che lowered his head to think: Why was there still noise behind him? Why was slobber splattering over his shoulder? He tilted his face and could see a large wet patch on his shoulder, soaking slowly toward his chest.
The upper half of his body had already been drenched by that bizarre drool.
Even turning his head, he still couldn’t see what was behind him.
He’d have to turn around!