âYou know me?â Chu Feng asked.
The group of hundred was dumbstruck by that question. âMilord, what do you mean?â
Chu Feng noticed something amiss in their answers and asked, âThis is the first time weâre meeting, right?â
âYes, milord.â
âWhy are you addressing me as milord then?â
âMilord, your position is above us. Itâs only right for us to address you as such.â
âPosition? Is that based on how strong our spirit power is?â
âYes, milord. You can think of it as such.â
âDo you know why this layer of spirit power is wrapped around us? Is this a condition of this trial?â Chu Feng asked.
âTrial?â The group of hundred was confused by that question. They looked at each other, seemingly communicating via voice transmission to make sense of the situation. In the end, one of them stepped forward and asked, âMilord, what are you doing here?â
Chu Feng could tell that they were trying to sound him out so as to ascertain his identity, so he chose not to answer them directly and instead asked, âWhat are you doing here then?â
âWe are here to reincarnate our defective brethren.â
âDefective brethren? Reincarnate?â Those words only further confused Chu Feng.
âMilord, I have a question to ask.â
âGo ahead,â Chu Feng said.
âMay I know your name?â
âName?â Chu Feng didnât answer that question, sensing that it was a trap.
âIâm referring to your identification number,â the person said as he gestured to the number on his robe.
âIdentification number? I donât have an identification number yet,â Chu Feng replied.
At this point, the group of hundred finally stopped communicating via voice transmission and instead said, âIt looks like this lord has become defective.â
âI think so too.â
âWhat should we do? Do we send him to reincarnation, or should we bring him back to the elder to be repaired?â
âWhat nonsense are you spouting? This lord might have malfunctioned, but his cultivation is still above ours. Weâll be doomed if he refuses to follow us. Letâs bring him to the elder instead.â
Those words were spoken right in front of Chu Feng; they werenât bothered that he was eavesdropping on their conversation at all.
âMilord, you must have malfunctioned, but you need not worry. Please follow us back so that the elder can repair you,â one of them said.
âAll right,â Chu Feng replied.
âMilord, please give us a moment.â
The group of hundred advanced ahead, and Chu Feng followed them. They eventually arrived at the area where Chu Feng was previously, and the leader of the group took out a token.
As soon as the token opened, the formation that Chu Feng was unable to see through earlier churned into action. It was an incineration formation!
The group of hundred took out Cosmos Sacks and flipped them over the incineration formation. Countless human bodies fell from the Cosmos Sacks into the formation. Most of them were old individuals and shared identical appearances. Only a small portion of them had unique looks.
However, all of them were dead.
There were hundreds of Cosmos Sacks, and each Cosmos Sack contained over ten thousand such bodies, thus totaling millions of corpses. As soon as these corpses fell into the incineration formation, they were burned into cinders.
These corpses were reduced not to ashes but spirit power that fused into the incineration formation, but this spirit power was not like usual spirit power, in the sense that they seemed more like formations themselves.
âThose people are manifested out of that formation?â Chu Feng was stunned.
His eyes were discerning enough to tell the difference between a living being and an entity manifested out of a formation, but these people felt like real living beings to him. Even the corpses felt like real entities too rather than beings manifested out of a formation.
It was only when those corpses were dropped into the incineration formation and reduced to spirit power that he realized that they were made out of spirit power.
He couldnât imagine what kind of formation had the prowess to create such perfect life forms. These manifested beings looked no different from real people, at least to Chu Fengâs eyes.
The group of hundred stowed away their Cosmos Sacks and respectfully turned to Chu Feng to say, âMilord, weâre done. Please return with us.â
âAll right,â Chu Feng replied with a nod.
He finally understood why all of these people looked identical, as well as the rationale behind the inexplicable words they had spoken earlier. They must have thought that he was the same as themâa formation entity, just a stronger one than them.
Thinking about it, a small portion of the corpses thrown into the incineration formation earlier had unique appearances. They must have been higher-tier formation entities.
Along the way, Chu Feng asked the group of hundred questions about this world, wanting to gather as much information as he could. To his relief, those people honestly answered all of his questions as they were convinced that he was one of their own, albeit defective.
Chu Fengâs guess was on the mark.
All of them were indeed manifested out of formations, but there was a limit to how long they could live. Once they reached the end of their lives, they would be tossed into the incineration formation, which would reclaim their spirit power and manifest new entities.
It was just that these new entities would lose their previous memories, making them no different from newborn babies.
Each of these created entities was assigned an identification number, which served as their name. They were assigned to different jobs, and they were expected to devote their entire lives to accomplishing them.
âHave you met any outsiders?â Chu Feng asked.
âOutsiders? Are you referring to the challengers who entered our Star Sea Realm?â the leader of the group asked.
âThatâs right,â Chu Feng replied.
âThose people are brought straight to the trial ground, and those who clear the trial are received by our chief elder. We donât get a chance to meet them at all,â the leader of the group replied.
âAre there any outsiders taking on the trial at the moment?â Chu Feng asked.
âThe trial ground is closed. No one is taking the trial right now,â the leader of the group replied.
âClosed? There are no outsiders in this realm right now?â Chu Feng panicked.
âThere is. Lord Xianhai Yuâer, who cleared our trial, is still in our Star Sea Realm,â the leader of the group replied.
Chu Feng was overjoyed to hear that. He was here to look for Xianhai Yuâer, after all.
âIs Lord Xianhai Yuâer doing well?â Chu Feng asked.
âLord Xianhai Yuâer has cleared the trial and received the chief elderâs acknowledgment. She has been accorded the highest privileges, so it goes without saying that sheâs doing well,â the leader of the group replied.
Chu Feng was relieved to hear that Little Fishy was doing well.
âIs Lord Xianhai Yuâer the only outsider in our realm?â Chu Feng asked.
He wanted to gather some information about the other name that had appeared on the entrance stone monument.
âNo, thereâs also Lord Jie Tian,â the leader of the group replied.
âJie Tian?â
Chu Feng knew right away that was the culprit who was in the midst of overwriting Xianhai Yuâerâs name on the stone monument.