The juniors of the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion turned their attention over when they saw Jie Yu arriving together with Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing. Some of them were surprised, but most of them expressed their hostility.
âMiss Shengâer, Iâve brought the person whom you have requested here,â Jie Yu said.
The juniors of the Ling Clan and the Jie Clan were standing separately. After Jie Yu escorted Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing to Ling Shengâerâs side, he went to stand together with the other juniors of the Jie Clan.
âThis young master over here is Chu Feng?â
Ling Moâer cast her gaze on Chu Feng. Clearly, she had already heard about Chu Feng.
âChu Feng, this is my older sister, Ling Moâer. Weâll be entering the Ancient Palace together,â Ling Shengâer said.
âChu Feng pays respect to Miss Ling Moâer,â Chu Feng politely greeted her.
âItâs my pleasure to meet young master Chu Feng,â Ling Moâer replied with a courteous smile.
The other juniors of the Ling Clan were perplexed. They couldnât understand why their two lofty young misses were being so courteous to an outsider, but they dared not to question them.
âJie Yu, who are they?â someone from the Jie Clan asked.
âThey are the guests of our Seven Realms Sacred Mansion. Miss Shengâer invited Chu Feng to participate in the Ancient Palace in view of his outstanding talents,â Jie Yu said.
âWhat? How can an outsider be worthy of entering the Ancient Palace together with us?â
The Jie Clan was shocked when they heard those words, but they only voiced their dissatisfaction amongst themselves. None of them dared to step forward to confront Ling Shengâer.
âYoung misses, I have an unreasonable request to make,â Chu Feng said.
âFeel free to speak, young master Chu Feng,â Ling Moâer replied with a smile.
She seemed a lot more amicable than Ling Shengâer.
âThis is my brother, Bai Yunqing. Heâs the disciple of the Totem Dragon Clanâs First Guest Elder. Weâre on extremely close terms, so Iâm thinking ofâ¦â
Before Chu Feng could finish his words, Ling Moâer had already interjected, âYoung master Chu Feng wishes to bring young master Bai together with us?â
âYes. May I know if itâs possible?â Chu Feng asked.
âOf course it is.â Ling Moâer nodded.
Bai Yunqing and Chu Feng were delighted to hear that. Jie Yu was also surprised, not expecting Ling Moâer to accede to such a request.
âThat wonât do!â a man from the Jie Clan suddenly spoke up. It was a junior who possessed the strength of a Blue Dragon God-cloak World Spiritist.
âDo I need your permission to invite a friend in?â Ling Shengâer asked with cold eyes.
The other party was intimidated by Ling Shengâer, which prompted him to turn his gaze toward Ling Moâer instead. âMiss Moâer, you should know that itâs against the rules to allow an outsider into the Ancient Palace.â
The man spoke in a calm tone that suggested that it was a negotiation rather than a criticism.
âI have already spoken to Lord Shuang Yu about this matter. She says that itâs fine as long as the others are fine with it. Do you have any problems with this?â Ling Moâer replied with equal politeness as if she was willing to negotiate this matter.
Her politeness only emboldened the opposition.
âI have a problem with that! We canât allow an outsider to enter the forbidden land of our Seven Realms Sacred Mansion!â The man turned to the other juniors of the Jie Clan and asked, âWhat do the rest of you think?â
âThatâs right! We donât agree too!â
Some juniors agreed with the man. There was only a small number of them, but it brought a frown to Ling Moâerâs face.
âWhat are you arguing about here?â
It was then that a few more people descended from the sky. The leader of the group was at Purple Dragon God-cloak whereas the others were at Blue Dragon God-cloak.
Jie Yu sent a voice transmission to Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing, saying, âHeâs Jie Zhou.â
âYoung master Jie Zhou, you arrived just on time! Miss Moâer and Miss Shengâer have invited an outsider into the Ancient Palace.â
A couple of juniors from the Jie Clan immediately stepped forward to explain the situation to Jie Zhou.
Surprisingly, Jie Zhou didnât react vehemently upon learning about the situation. Instead, he stepped forward with a smile and said, âI am Jie Zhou. Itâs a pleasure to meet Brother Chu and Brother Bai.â
Jie Zhou was actually taking the initiative to greet Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing!
Chu Feng returned the greeting too.
Following that, Jie Zhou turned to Ling Moâer and Ling Shengâer and said, âSince they are your guests, our Jie Clan have no qualms about this matter.â
The faces of those who had opposed Chu Feng and Bai Yunqingâs entry to the Ancient Palace turned awful, but none of them dared to say a word about it. This showed how much influence Jie Zhou had here.
In truth, there were many people from the Ling Clan who opposed it too, but they didnât dare to say a word, especially now that the Jie Clan had given in too.
âIt looks like the prophesied child isnât a bad person,â Bai Yunqing told Chu Feng via voice transmission.
He was overjoyed. In truth, he didnât bear too much expectation about entering the Ancient Palace since he understood the implications here.
âIt does look like heâs a good person for the time being,â Chu Feng replied with a smile.
Ling Moâer and Jie Zhou took out a stone key each and slotted it into the sculpture in front of the Ancient Palace. They twisted their keys, and a brilliant light glowed from the sculpture. Slowly, a formation surfaced and enveloped Jie Zhou and Ling Moâer.
The sculpture opened its mouth and two containers resembling a teapot flew out and floated toward Jie Zhou and Ling Moâer. There was a slight difference in their containersâLing Moâerâs container was made out of silver, whereas Jie Zhouâs container was made out of gold.
Be it in terms of the material or the luster, Jie Zhouâs container was clearly of a higher quality.
The others stepped forward to do the same.
Ling Shengâer received a golden container too, but its luster paled in comparison to Jie Zhouâs. However, Chu Feng keenly noticed that there was a disruption in Ling Shengâerâs aura when she stepped into the formation, though the others didnât seem to have noticed it.
âThat girl intentionally sabotaged her own result, or else she would have received a better container,â Chu Feng said.
âOh? Why is she doing that?â Eggy asked.
âI donât know either.â
âShould I try to conceal my ability too?â
âFor what? Youâre here to teach the juniors of the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion their place. Not only must you not conceal your ability, but you must also actively flaunt it. Worse comes to worst, weâll just flee from here. You still have your Divine Deer to fall back on, right?â Eggy said.
âAll right, Iâll listen to you,â Chu Feng said.
He wanted to conceal his own strength so as to not draw unnecessary attention, but he thought that Eggyâs words made sense too. Thus, he decided to go with her.
Jie Yu entered the formation too and received a copper container. It was a decent result, considering that most people received a mere iron container. Some of them even got an ordinary ceramic container without the slightest luster.
Once the others had received their containers, it was finally Chu Fengâs and Bai Yunqingâs turn. They had the lowest priority here as outsiders, but it didnât dampen their excitement at all. They knew that the better the containers were, the better the cultivation resources they could store, and they were curious to know what kind of container they could receive.
Boom!
When they stepped into the formation, the sculpture trembled a little. This tremble surprised the crowd, especially Jie Zhou. A sliver of worry flashed across his eyes.
A few moments later, the sculpture opened its mouth and released a silver container, which floated toward Bai Yunqing.
âThereâs only one container? Does that mean that Chu Feng is unqualified to enter the Ancient Palace?â
The crowd discussed amongst themselves.
Even Ling Shengâer and Yao Luo were confused too. It was hard to believe that someone who was talented enough to awaken the Life Crystal as and when he wished would be unqualified to enter the Ancient Palace.
But again, there was no reason for the sculpture to release only one container now when it usually released two at once.
âHehâ¦â
No one said a word, but contemptuous laughter could be heard from both the Jie Clan and the Ling Clan. They didnât want Chu Feng to enter the Ancient Palace in the first place, and such an outcome was what they desired.
At the same time, Jie Zhou also breathed a sigh of relief.
Weng!
A blinding light suddenly poured out of the sculptureâs mouth, then a whiff of black aura gushed out. It was a black container.
Despite its unusual appearance, the container looked nigh indestructible. It was hard to tell what material it was made of, and it didnât have a luster either. However, the black aura shrouding the container hinted that it was a treasure.
Right after the container emerged, the sculpture turned to look at Chu Feng and asked, âWhatâs your name?â
This sight shocked the crowd. They couldnât believe what they were seeing.
âI am Chu Feng,â Chu Feng replied.
Two beams of golden light shot out from the sculptureâs eyes to inscribe something on the black container. Upon closer examination, the inscription formed the words âChu Fengâ. Only then did the black container float to Chu Fengâs side.
The crowd was dumbfounded, including Ling Moâer.
Only Ling Shengâer and Yao Luo were able to remain relatively calm, but they could hardly conceal their delight too. It was not unheard of for the sculpture to bestow a black container, speak, and inscribe a personâs name on the container, but it had only happened once before.
And that was when Lord Jie Ranqing challenged the Ancient Tower and reached the final floor.
âYoung miss, Chu Feng sure is formidable,â Yao Luo said.
âWhy else would I invite him?â Ling Shengâer replied in glee.
In contrast, Jie Zhou no longer looked as amicable as before. As much as he tried to conceal it, he couldnât hide his awful complexion. His body was also shaking ever so slightly.