Chapter 5642: Winning Trust Through Strength
Chapter 5642: Winning Trust Through Strength
After dealing with that person, Chu Feng turned to those who had yet to enter the formation and said, “Enter the formation right now if you wish to come with me.”
Most of the remaining people hurriedly entered the formation, fearing that they would miss their opportunity to tag along with Chu Feng, though there were still some who chose not to do so. While the majority of the candidates simply wanted to survive the ordeal, there were still some who hoped to excel in the combat exam and join the Seven Realms Sacred mansion.
In the end, only two thousand people out of the tens of thousands who entered the formation cleared Chu Feng’s trial. These two thousand people were kind people, or at least that was the disposition they had displayed in the illusory formation.
Weng!
Chu Feng suddenly opened up his palm, revealing a formation comprising countless ropes.
“All of you should be aware of the dangers of the Nine Heavens Secret Domain. I don’t even know whether I can walk out of this place alive, let alone guarantee your safety. I am aiming for the top seat in the entrance examination, so I’ll be choosing the more dangerous route. It’s not too late for you to change your mind now,” Chu Feng told the crowd.
“Young master Chu Feng, I, Chu Shanshan, am willing to go with you. I’ll follow you wherever you go,” the fair-skinned woman said.
The others also expressed their intent to follow Chu Feng. No one backed out at all.
“Young hero Chu Feng, I’m willing to pledge my life to you. Please take me with you.”
“Me too, young hero Chu Feng. I know I have erred in the past, but I have nothing but respect for you!”
Even those who were eliminated also expressed their willingness to follow Chu Feng, but the latter paid no heed to them. Having met many people in his long journey, he knew that there were some people whose words couldn’t be trusted.
In the first place, his purpose for constructing the formation was to not be exploited by those with ulterior motives.
Seeing that Chu Feng had made his mind up, those who were eliminated in Chu Feng’s trial began forming their own teams to explore the junior’s route, though some continued to linger in the area, determined to follow Chu Feng.
With their lives on the line, they weren’t that bothered about their results anymore.
However, Chu Feng wasn’t planning to give them a chance to follow him. He activated the formation on his palm, and countless ropes shot out and wrapped themselves around the ones who had cleared his trial. Then, he flitted into the junior’s route, pulling those ropes with him.
He was traveling so fast that those who wanted to follow him couldn’t catch up at all.
On the other side of the junior’s route was a forest. Even the shortest tree here was a hundred meters tall, whereas the tallest one was at least several thousand meters in height. These trees had no leaves at all, and they resembled mountains in the sense that they appeared to be made out of black metal despite being shaped like trees.
Chu Feng couldn’t shake those trees at all despite his strength.
It felt as if they had entered the world of the giants.
“What’s going on? I thought that we would enter a mountain valley filled with ferocious beasts, and we would have to defeat them to advance. Why did we enter a metal forest instead?” one of the juniors said.
“Your sources aren’t accurate. The junior’s route doesn’t lead to a specific location. Some challengers might encounter ferocious beasts, whereas others might be caught in some kind of trap or formation,” another person said.
“What’s this place then? It looks like a trap. Young hero Chu Feng, you have to read carefully,” someone warned.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a labyrinth,” Chu Feng replied.
“A labyrinth?”
Some people doubted Chu Feng’s words even though they didn’t voice it aloud. They felt that this place was likely to be a trap instead. Thus, they began observing the surroundings with their own means.
However, this forest was indeed a pure labyrinth made solely out of material objects. Ironically, it was the lack of formations here that many didn’t think that it was a labyrinth. Most people would have thought that this forest was so astonishingly humongous that they couldn’t get to the other end no matter how far they traveled.
In truth, this forest wasn’t that huge at all. Those who couldn’t get to the other end were trapped.
However, from the moment Chu Feng entered the forest, he had already deduced from the shapes and positions of the trees that this place was a labyrinth. It didn’t take him too long to figure out the path out of the labyrinth.
Thus, he rushed ahead without any hesitation.
“I see it now! This is really a labyrinth!”
Soon, more and more people confirmed that this forest was indeed a labyrinth. All of a sudden, the scenery before them opened up to a field.
Chu Feng had already brought them out of the labyrinth.
“You’re amazing, young master Chu Feng. You saw through the labyrinth right from the start and figured out its solution.”
The juniors looked at Chu Feng in admiration. However, Chu Feng remained nonchalant to their compliments and instead focused on his surroundings.
They were standing in a field with 136 spirit formation gates. While the scroll stated that Jie Ranqing had taken the 44th spirit formation gate back then, Chu Feng still habitually examined all of the spirit formation gates, knowing that they might contain some kind of secret.
Chu Feng noticed that there were runes wriggling above the spirit formation gates. Through these runes, he learned that the spirit formation gates led to trials of different difficulty levels, and the spirit formation gate Jie Ranqing had chosen back then was the hardest.
“My mother must have intentionally chosen this route back then,” Chu Feng murmured.
There was no way a world spiritist of Jie Ranqing’s caliber could have been oblivious to the information on the spirit formation gate. That would also explain why Jie Ranqing didn’t attempt any of the other paths but instead focused on the one she had taken. She must have thought that the secrets concealed in the 44th spirit formation gate were the ones most worth exploring.
The other members of the group quietly waited while Chu Feng examined the spirit formation gates. They were overflowing with admiration for Chu Feng after how he had brought them out of the labyrinth while they were still determining whether the forest was a labyrinth or not. This showed that his senses and observation were far sharper than theirs.
They knew that they had made the right choice relying on Chu Feng.
“We’ll be entering the 44th spirit formation gate, but I should warn you that the place will be fraught with danger even though Lord Jie Ranqing has curbed the most dangerous ferocious beasts in there, for this is the most dangerous route of the 136 spirit formation gates.”
“What? Lord Jie Ranqing cleared the most dangerous route? Shouldn’t it be the safest?”
Chu Feng’s words baffled the crowd. They had thought that the 44th spirit formation gate would be the safest path, but it turned out to be the most dangerous one of all.
“Young master Chu Feng, how do you know that?” Chu Shanshan asked.
“Use this method to examine the spirit formation gates.”
Chu Feng casually constructed an observation formation that allowed one to decipher the content of the wriggling runes above the spirit formation gates.
The juniors gathered here were some of the more outstanding world spiritists in the world of cultivation, even if they paled in comparison to Chu Feng. It didn’t take them long to grasp the method Chu Feng had imparted to them.
Moments later, their eyes widened in wonderment.
“It’s true. The spirit formation gates contain some information.”
“You’re amazing, young master Chu Feng. How did you notice that?”
The crowd was impressed by Chu Feng. It was not as if they hadn’t tried examining the spirit formation gates, but they didn’t even notice the wriggling runes, let alone decipher its content. Yet, Chu Feng deciphered the content of the message and even came up with a simplified method on the spot so that they could view the message too.
This made them realize that Chu Feng was far more competent than them. It was no wonder the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion’s Mansion Master had such a high view of him.
“You have to make a decision now. The route we’ll be taking is the most dangerous one of all. While Lord Jie Ranqing has neutralized the bulk of the danger, we might face threats several times or even several hundred times greater than that of the other routes. I won’t stop you if you choose to enter a different spirit formation gate now,” Chu Feng said.
“Young master Chu Feng, you need not say such words. I, Chu Shanshan, will follow you wherever you go in the Nine Heavens Secret Domain!” Chu Shanshan said.
“Me too!”
“Me too!”
…
The crowd quickly expressed their stances.
From their attitudes, Chu Feng could tell that they weren’t just fawning on him but that they really trusted him.