“I never would’ve thought Wuma Shengjie could be this formidable.”
“It seems his victory over Chu Xuanyuan’s son wasn’t a fluke. Wuma Shengjie is the true prophesied child, the one destined to rival Linghu Hongfei.”
Witnessing Wuma Shengjie’s performance, the crowd’s earlier disappointment vanished. Instead, they began to see him in a new light.
Many even felt Chu Feng’s defeat was justified.
At this moment, only Master Liangqiu’s gaze occasionally drifted toward the Rat Zodiac entrance.
He knew Chu Feng hadn’t been defeated by Wuma Shengjie—Chu Feng had likely taken the secret passage.
After all, the secrets on the fire prison walls were something Master Liangqiu had discovered first.
What Chu Feng knew, Master Liangqiu knew too.
At that very moment, Chu Feng was indeed within the secret passage.
This passage was fraught with challenges—it wasn’t a simple matter of breaking through checkpoints.
Each barrier he crossed brought a dual torment to both his body and soul.
It was an unavoidable force, brutal and direct, tearing into his soul and flooding his body.
The instant it invaded, Chu Feng felt his soul burn, his organs turn to ash, followed by a bone-chilling cold that seemed to shatter his entire being.
Then came the sensation of countless blades piercing his body, slicing every inch of his flesh.
The pain was unbearable—far crueler than the lingering death of a thousand cuts for an ordinary person.
Even Chu Feng couldn’t help but let out guttural, heart-wrenching roars.
If anyone else were in this passage and heard his screams, they’d shudder in terror, assuming some hellish specter was enduring such agony—how else could it sound so wretched?
“Damn it, the wall never mentioned this passage would be *this* hard.”
“Others break arrays and get rewards—why am I being punished?”
After another round of torment, Chu Feng’s clothes were in tatters, his body slowly recovering. Yet his face was pale, his breathing ragged, cold sweat pouring as his body trembled faintly.
That inescapable force had taken a heavy toll on him.
If he had a choice, Chu Feng would’ve turned back—no one would willingly endure this suffering.
But despite his complaints, after a brief moment to steady himself, he pressed on.
He had no way out.
…
Inside the grand formation, the twelve who’d entered were working tirelessly to dismantle arrays, striving to reach the peaks.
The fastest among them was, naturally, Wuma Shengjie. After considerable effort, she successfully reached the summit of her mountain.
*Buzz—*
As the array at the peak shattered, all eyes turned to see what Wuma Shengjie had gained.
Was it the legendary Boundary Sword, or some other treasure?
But the result left everyone stunned and bewildered.
After the array broke, there was… nothing.
People assumed that if they waited, the coveted supreme treasure might appear.
Yet suddenly, a force enveloped Wuma Shengjie. One moment she stood atop the peak; the next, she was back at its base.
And the mountain’s arrays, which she’d painstakingly broken, restored themselves.
“What’s going on?”
The scene only deepened the crowd’s confusion.
“The grand formation is unpredictable. Reaching the peak doesn’t guarantee you’ll get what you want.”
“It all comes down to luck,” Lady Fox Immortal’s voice echoed into the formation, dispelling their bewilderment.
“It’s down to luck? That’s absurdly unfair!”
“So even if we reach the top, we might end up with nothing?”
The array-breakers within frowned, their spirits dampened.
This luck-based outcome meant their efforts to climb could easily result in a reset—starting over from scratch.
It was a disheartening revelation.
But unlike the others, Wuma Shengjie, who’d already come up empty, seemed unfazed. She asked, “Does that mean even if a mountain yields nothing the first few times, the Boundary Sword could still appear later?”
“Exactly right,” Lady Fox Immortal’s voice resounded again.
*Whoosh—*
The moment her words landed, Wuma Shengjie sprang into action, charging back toward the same mountain she’d just conquered.
Thanks to her blistering array-breaking speed, she became the second person to reach a peak again.
But the result was the same as before.
Undeterred, she climbed once more.
Third time, fourth time, fifth time…
While everyone else was still struggling midway up their mountains, Wuma Shengjie had reached the summit nine times in a row.
Yet each time, the outcome remained unchanged.
