“Little benefactor, let me accompany you. I promise to listen to you and not cause any trouble.”
Seeing that Chu Feng wanted her to go back alone, Long Xiaoxiao hurriedly made her promise.
“You promise to be obedient?”
Chu Feng asked.
“I promise.”
Long Xiaoxiao raised her small hand as if swearing an oath. That little appearance of hers was genuinely rather adorable.
“Since you say you’ll be obedient, then you must return at once. Go and wait outside with your father and the others. Do not follow me.”
“Otherwise, I will really get angry.”
Chu Feng’s attitude was very serious.
He rarely used this tone with Long Xiaoxiao.
Seeing how solemn Chu Feng looked, Long Xiaoxiao immediately backed down.
“Fine, fine, I’ll go back, alright? Please don’t be angry.”
“I only followed you in because I was worried about you.”
“I’m leaving now, so please don’t be angry.”
As she spoke, Long Xiaoxiao quickly turned around and headed towards the entrance.
Even so, she kept looking back as she left, her beautiful eyes filled with reluctance.
Seeing the longing in her gaze, Chu Feng felt a pang of heartache. How could he not know why Long Xiaoxiao had insisted on following him?
A clever girl like Long Xiaoxiao naturally understood how dangerous it was to enter this place.
She had come in because she was worried about him, because she could not feel at ease leaving him alone.
Yet Chu Feng was equally worried about her safety, so he had to make her leave.
When even experts like Long Xiaoxiao’s father, the Lord of the Monstrous Demon Sacred Palace, and the Patriarch of the Yu Heavenly Clan dared not rashly enter this area, Chu Feng was willing to take the risk alone, but he did not want Long Xiaoxiao involved.
“Go on then, wait for me outside like a good girl.”
Chu Feng waved at the reluctant Long Xiaoxiao, and the stern expression on his face softened into a smile.
At the sight of that smile, the aggrieved look on Long Xiaoxiao’s little face instantly brightened into a radiant grin once more.
“You must come back safely.”
After saying those words to Chu Feng, Long Xiaoxiao finally left with peace of mind, skipping away until she disappeared from his sight.
Once Long Xiaoxiao had gone, Chu Feng set off immediately towards the mountain range.
He did not go searching for the so-called spirit beast. Instead, he headed straight in one particular direction.
Ever since entering this mountain range, the blood within his body had begun to boil.
That sensation felt exactly like a call from his bloodline.
What was summoning him was very likely the hidden secret ground concealed here.
This made Chu Feng realise that the secret ground was probably connected to his grandfather.
The bloodline responding was not a heavenly bloodline, but the bloodline of kin.
If his grandfather had not already claimed that secret ground, why would it summon Chu Feng?
This filled Chu Feng with extraordinary excitement. He was not especially concerned about whatever benefits might lie within the secret ground.
What he cared about far more was whether he could find any clues about his grandfather inside.
Not wishing to attract unnecessary trouble, Chu Feng directly employed the combined power of the Nine Dragons Saint Cloak and the World Spiritist techniques to conceal himself completely.
That way, no one would be able to detect him.
The total area of this mountain range was actually not very large. As the boiling sensation in his blood grew ever stronger, Chu Feng finally halted his advance.
He had now reached the depths of the mountain range, yet this spot was one of the more desolate areas within it.
Everywhere else in the range was lush with vegetation, filled with immortal herbs and unusual beasts in abundance.
Here, however, there were only weeds. Even the natural energy of heaven and earth was relatively sparse, so sparse that animals were unwilling to settle here.
Because of that, almost no one from the Zhao family could be seen in this part of the mountain range. They all believed the spirit beast would not hide in such a place.
Even so, Chu Feng remained cautious. Only after confirming no one was nearby did he approach the foot of a mountain.
The area around the mountain foot was overgrown with tall weeds, dozens of metres high, resembling a forest.
Pushing through the weeds dozens of metres tall, Chu Feng discovered a cave at the base of the mountain.
From the outside, the cave appeared completely ordinary, with nothing remarkable about it at first glance.
Yet the moment he stepped inside, not only did his blood boil even more fiercely, even the hairs on his body stood on end beyond his control.
The summoning sensation within him had nearly reached its peak.
Chu Feng pressed forward and soon arrived at the deepest part of the cave.
At its deepest point, there was nothing but bare rock that originally seemed to hold no special features.
However, the instant Chu Feng drew near, strange light began to flicker across the rock surface, and lines of runes emerged one after another.
The runes arranged themselves in orderly patterns, forming something akin to a mural that covered the rock wall at the end of the cave.
Beautiful and mysterious.
Upon seeing those runes, excitement surged even greater within Chu Feng’s heart.
Some similar runes had appeared on the map previously given by the Patriarch of the Yu Heavenly Clan. The two sets were extremely alike.
Seeing these runes, Chu Feng was almost certain he had found the entrance to the secret ground.
He began carefully examining the runes, searching for a way to open the entrance.
Hum.
To his surprise, light flowed within the runes, and immediately afterwards, a boundary gate materialised on the wall.
The gate had opened by itself.
Overjoyed at this turn of events, Chu Feng wasted no time and stepped straight through.
Once he passed through the boundary gate, his vision suddenly cleared, and indescribable excitement welled up inside him.
Beyond the boundary gate lay an entirely different world.
Outside was an ordinary cave.
Inside was a sacred hall.
It was merely a corridor, yet it was extraordinarily vast.
The corridor stretched so deep that its end could not be seen. Its width reached tens of thousands of metres, easily accommodating ten thousand people standing shoulder to shoulder.
As for its height, it soared to one hundred thousand metres, comparable to the sky itself. If clouds were to appear, they would only drift below the ceiling of this hall.
The walls and floor of the corridor were built from bronze bricks, each one exquisitely crafted like a work of art, yet countless such bricks filled the space.
Most importantly, an aura of the ancient era emanated from this place.
So this secret ground was actually a relic from the ancient era?
Hum.
Just as Chu Feng was marvelling at the grandeur of the corridor, a sound suddenly came from the boundary gate behind him.
He turned to look, and two figures had already appeared in front of the gate.
Boom.
Before Chu Feng could get a clear look at them, an overwhelming force slammed into him, crushing him to the ground and rendering him completely immobile.
It was the pressure of a Martial Venerable, and far stronger than that of the Dragon Clan Chief and the others.
These were Martial Venerable experts whose strength far surpassed that of the Dragon Clan Chief and his peers.
Though his body was pinned, Chu Feng could finally examine the two newcomers carefully.
He did not recognise either of them.
They had identical faces, apparently twins, yet both possessed ferocious, villainous looks. Their faces were covered in knife scars, scars that told Chu Feng these men had survived many deadly encounters.
Despite their identical features, deep wrinkles lined their faces, marking them as elderly men.
Yet their eyes held none of the kindness one might expect from old men. They were even fiercer than those of wild beasts.
Most crucially, barely concealed killing intent blazed in their eyes, the kind of killing intent that could only be honed by slaughtering countless living beings.
With a single glance, Chu Feng knew these were two ruthless old monsters who would devour people whole without spitting out the bones.
They were anything but kind.
