Chapter 5380: The One Who Unlocked this Place Can Clear It Too
“I told you! There’s no way we would be teleported here for no reason. I have long guessed that it was young master Jie Zhou’s doing, and I was right!”
Praise for Jie Zhou filled the air. They were not just coming from the Jie Clansmen but the Ling Clansmen too. They earnestly thought that it was Jie Zhou who had unlocked this Hidden Land.
“Hey, how can you be this shameless to steal the credit of others?” a cold sneer shattered the festive atmosphere.
It was from Bai Yunqing. He couldn’t bear to see Jie Zhou stealing Chu Feng’s credit.
“You’re courting death!”
A Blue Dragon God-cloak World Spiritist from the Jie Clan gathered his spirit power into his palm to form a powerful offensive formation before thrusting it at Bai Yunqing.
Chu Feng narrowed his eyes coldly. He sensed the killing intent in the other party’s formation. The Jie Clansman was planning to kill Bai Yunqing just because he had said something against Jie Zhou! This showed just how domineering the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion was.
There was no way Chu Feng could turn a blind eye to this.
Boom!
The attack was stopped by a protective barrier before Chu Feng could do anything. Ling Mo’er had intervened in the situation.
“Audacious! How dare you attack my guest?” Ling Mo’er furiously glared at the Jie Clansman who had attacked Bai Yunqing.
Despite having plotted against Chu Feng earlier, she had unhesitatingly chosen to side with Bai Yunqing this time around.
“Young miss Mo’er, didn’t you hear him insult young master Jie Zhou earlier?”
The Jie Clansman was flustered to see Ling Mo’er losing her temper. He had made a move to fawn over Jie Zhou, but it wouldn’t be worth it if he offended Ling Mo’er as a result.
“Insult? I don’t hear any insult. He’s just casting his suspicion,” Ling Mo’er replied.
“Even if that’s the case, he should have watched his words. Besides… who does that outsider think he is to question young master Jie Zhou?” the Jie Clansmen said.
“That’s right! He isn’t qualified at all!”
More people from the Jie Clan stepped forward and supported the Jie Clansman.
On the other hand, the Ling Clansmen, who were complimenting Jie Zhou earlier for having brought them into this Hidden Land, had fallen completely silent after Ling Mo’er stepped in.
“Heh…” a sneer echoed.
It was Ling Sheng’er.
She looked at Jie Zhou and scoffed in disdain, “Jie Zhou, you are truly amazing.”
“Little sister Sheng’er, what do you mean by that?” Jie Zhou asked.
“Bai Yunqing was right. How can you be so shameless to steal the credit of others?” Ling Sheng’er said.
“Little sister Sheng’er, are you casting doubt on my story?” Jie Zhou asked.
“Of course. You can’t possibly be the one to unlock this Hidden Land because it was Chu Feng who did so,” Ling Sheng’er said.
Jie Zhou chuckled under his breath. He turned to Chu Feng and asked, “Brother Chu Feng, were you the one who unlocked this Hidden Land?”
Despite his amicable smile, his eyes were filled with threat.
Chu Feng honestly didn’t care whether Jie Zhou stole his credit or not, but he didn’t like to be threatened by others. Thus, he directly looked into Jie Zhou’s threatening eyes and replied, “Yes, I was the one who unlocked this Hidden Land.”
Jie Zhou narrowed his eyes. He knew that Chu Feng had already felt his threat, but the latter still chose to defy his will. Thus, he asked, “How can you prove that?”
“I have my own way of proving it, but I don’t want to show it to you. I honestly don’t care whether you believe me or not,” Chu Feng replied.
“Brother Chu Feng sure is humorous,” Jie Zhou sneered.
“I can prove it! Chu Feng overcame the illusory formation left behind by Lord Jie Ranqing and reached the final floor. There, he discovered a hidden formation that even Lord Jie Ranqing has overlooked. It was through that formation that we were all transported here,” Ling Sheng’er said.
Those words sparked a commotion amidst the crowd.
Ling Sheng’er was not the type to lie. Her words held credibility amongst the juniors. Furthermore, her story made much more sense than Jie Zhou’s.
The only doubt that the juniors harbored was whether Chu Feng had the capability to achieve something that even Jie Ranqing had failed at. After all, Jie Ranqing was a legend to them, a mountain that they would never be able to surmount.
Jie Zhou was aware of this lingering doubt in everyone’s mind. He first shook his head before he turned to Ling Sheng’er and said, “Little sister Sheng’er, Brother Chu Feng is your friend. I fully understand your desire to back him, but you can’t lie just for that.”
“I am not lying,” Ling Sheng’er replied.
“Are you implying that Brother Chu Feng is even greater than Lord Jie Ranqing then? Little sister Sheng’er, you need to watch your words lest others misconstrue your intention. You can’t truly believe that an outsider is better than everyone else in the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion. It’s one thing for us to hear those words, but it’ll be disastrous if the elders were to hear about it,” Jie Zhou said.
“Jie Zhou, stop trying to twist my words. I am merely conveying the truth. I have never said that our Seven Realm Sacred Mansion is beneath an outsider,” Ling Sheng’er roared.
“Little sister Sheng’er, are you denying what you have just said? Don’t take us for fools. We can understand the underlying meaning behind your words,” Jie Zhou said.
Ling Sheng’er wanted to refute those words, but Chu Feng raised a hand to stop her.
He wasn’t interested in fighting for this credit, but he wouldn’t stand for his friend being bullied. Thus, he turned to Jie Zhou and said, “Jie Zhou, it is meaningless to resort to such trickery. As world spiritists, we should prove ourselves through our strength instead. The one who unlocked this place should be able to decipher it too. You said that I was lying. We’ll naturally know who is lying once someone grasps the secret here.”
The crowd thought that those words made sense, but there were still some who mocked Chu Feng’s confident demeanor.
“That fellow can’t possibly think that he can beat young master Jie Zhou, does he?”
“Does he not know that young master Jie Zhou is the prophesied child?”
“That’s why they say ignorance is courage.”
Bai Yunqing clenched his jaws at those jarring words, but Chu Feng paid them no mind.
Boom!
The stone monument suddenly began sinking into the ground. At the same time, blue flames harnessing immense destructive prowess appeared from their left, right, and behind. These blue flames were still some distance away from them, but they were swiftly advancing on them.
To avoid the blue flames, they could only advance forward.
“It has begun!”
The crowd murmured with a mix of excitement and nervousness. They should have been safe no matter where they went in the Ancient Palace, but this stage carried a certain level of danger.
“My brethren, follow me!” Jie Zhou shouted before heading forward.
A huge number of people followed him.
Jie Yu glanced at Chu Feng, but in the end, he decided to follow Jie Zhou. As a Jie Clansman, he dared not offend Jie Zhou.
Jie Zhou released his spirit power and constructed a protective formation around those who had followed him to protect them from the blue flames.
“Young miss Mo’er.”
“Young miss Sheng’er.”
The Ling Clansmen approached Ling Mo’er and Ling Sheng’er. It didn’t matter whether they believed Chu Feng or not; they chose to follow the two sisters in the face of adversity. This reflected the unity of the Ling Clan.
Even when they were more inclined to believe Jie Zhou, they still chose to stand with Ling Mo’er and Ling Sheng’er. This was the sense of camaraderie that a clan ought to have.
Chu Feng’s group advanced forward too. The blue flame coming from behind kept chasing after them, leaving them with no choice but to continue moving forward. They passed by a forest, a mountain range, and an ocean. There were plenty of trials along the way, but Chu Feng didn’t have to raise a finger because Jie Zhou’s group had already solved them.
Chu Feng had to admit that Jie Zhou was a world spiritist superior to Bai Yunqing and Ling Mo’er. He was only a Purple Dragon God-cloak World Spiritist right now because he was still a junior, but his potential was boundless.
“Big brother Chu Feng, should we catch up with them? It’s displeasing to see how Jie Zhou is getting all of the glory,” Bai Yunqing said.
As Ling Mo’er and Ling Sheng’er were following Chu Feng here, he was the de facto leader of the group. He seemed to be intentionally following the Jie Clan’s footsteps, which was why all of the formations they encountered along the way had been breached.
This fanned the glee of the Jie Clan. Their mockery of Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing could be heard even from afar.
“There’s no point fighting over these formations. We should be fighting over the formations that Jie Zhou can’t breach,” Chu Feng replied.
“But what if he is able to breach all of the formations?” Bai Yunqing asked worriedly.
Chu Feng knew what Bai Yunqing was worried about. If Jie Zhou managed to breach all of the formations, the crowd would naturally think that Jie Zhou was the one who unlocked this Hidden Land. That would be incredibly stifling for Chu Feng.
However, Chu Feng wasn’t worried at all. Jie Zhou would have long unlocked this Hidden Land if he was that capable, not to mention that this Hidden Land was unlikely to be that easy to overcome.
Chu Feng had chosen to advance at a steady speed so as to grant Jie Zhou ample time to breach the formations ahead, but eventually, there still came a point where they caught up with them.
They were currently on a snow-covered plain, and a massive ice mountain was blocking their path. The ice mountain was so cold that even the strongest flames faltered in its presence.
Jie Zhou was doing his best to breach the ice mountain, but it didn’t seem like he was making much progress.
“See, our opportunity has come,” Chu Feng said with a smile.