âWeird. Why didnât I receive any benefits for clearing the test?â Little Fishyâs delight began to fade as she realized that she didnât get anything good from the test.
Chu Feng and Little Fishy scanned the surroundings. They were in a vast world enveloped in an eerie fog that concealed their surroundings but not the sky and the ground. This meant that they could see everything above and beneath them, but not anything that was in the distance.
âWhere is this place?â Little Fishy asked as her eyes turned exceptionally bright. This was a detection method, but it was the means of a martial cultivator rather than a world spiritist.
Chu Feng activated his Heavenâs Eyes, which allowed him to peer through the fog. He noticed a palace far behind them, but its gates were tightly shut. They would have to find another way back if they wanted to return.
In the sky was an immense barrier that enveloped the entire world. This barrier was so resilient that Chu Feng wouldnât be able to breach it. Nevertheless, through his Heavenâs Eyes, he was able to slowly peer through the barrier.
âThat is?â Chu Fengâs heart clenched up upon seeing what was lying behind the barrier.
Inside the barrier was a sealing formation so humongous that he couldnât see the end of it. Beneath the sealing formation was a gigantic monster enveloped in flames similar to the ones Chu Feng had encountered in the world of flames, just many times stronger.
It was so massive that Chu Feng could only see a small portion of it, but he figured that the monster was likely lying on the ground. What he was seeing right now was its face, evident from the incomparably large eyes staring at Little Fishy.
Chu Feng could tell that those were the eyes that had gazed upon him in the test.
A humanoid figure boasting a height of over a hundred thousand meters appeared before the barrier. It was also enveloped in burning flames, just like the sealed monster. As soon as this humanoid figure appeared, the sealed monster shut its eyes.
Chu Feng sensed similar auras coming from both the sealed monster and the humanoid figure. The two of them were beings whose existence dated even before the Ancient Era. Most likely, they were already around since the Immemorial Era.
While the sealed monster had retracted its gaze, the humanoid figure continued staring intently at Little Fishy. Not only so, but it even began quickly making its way over. At the same time, its body began to shrink till it finally reached the size of an average human, and the flames burning around it receded as well.
Eventually, the humanoid figure turned into a fair-skinned woman dressed in a fiery-red dress. Her long legs and curvaceous figure made her look incredibly attractive, and her flowing red hair looked more like flames than hair.
She looked like a succubus, the evil kind that sucked the souls out of men.
Even though her appearance had undergone a massive change, her gaze remained the same. She continued staring at Little Fishy with malevolent eyes.
âWhatâs going on? Is that an avatar of the sealed monster? How did it get out?â Eggy could see what Chu Feng did due to their shared vision, and she could tell that things had gone awry.
âI donât know, but they do feel like the same entity. It could be that a sliver of the sealed monsterâs powers had managed to escape,â Chu Feng guessed.
Little Fishy was examining their surroundings too, but what she could see was limited compared to Chu Feng. Her eyes glowed with curiosity as she looked around. Even so, she quickly noticed the red-haired womanâs arrival and cast her gaze over.
Soon, the red-haired woman stepped out of the fog to appear within Little Fishyâs line of sight. Jie Tian snapped out of his daze to examine the red-haired woman.
âNot bad. Youâre the only one who cleared the test. You are indeed deserving of this fortuitous encounter,â the red-haired woman said as her body began to turn illusory.
âWait a moment!â Chu Feng suddenly stepped forward to shield Little Fishy. âI can clear the earlier test too.â
âOh?â The red-haired woman narrowed her eyes.
âHehâ¦â Jie Tian sneered. âWhatever relationship the two of you have looks paper thin when interests are at stake.â
Oblivious to the truth, he thought that Chu Feng was trying to take the test again in order to steal Little Fishyâs fortuitous encounter.
However, Little Fishy didnât lose her temper. Instead, she stepped forward to shield Chu Feng. She glared at the red-haired woman in hostility as she said, âCome at me instead!â
âLittle Fishy, youâ¦â Chu Feng murmured.
Little Fishy must have figured out that the red-haired woman had come with malicious intent, and Chu Feng was trying to protect her from danger, so she refused to let him take her place.
âBrat, this empress can grant you another chance, but youâll die if you fail,â the red-haired woman said.
âAll right,â Chu Feng replied.
âThat wonât do. I was the one who cleared the test!â Little Fishy objected.
The red-haired woman ignored Little Fishyâs protest. With a wave of her hand, she enveloped Chu Feng in a surge of teleportation energy, sending him back into the dark world with the two copper doors. This time around, it was the âSoulâ copper door that opened.
Chu Feng was sucked into the copper door, and the eerie voice echoed once more.
This time around, he did everything he could to adapt to the cacophony of sounds so as to save Little Fishy from this ordeal. It didnât take him long to accomplish the feat.
Shortly after, his surroundings abruptly changed as he was transported back to the world where Little Fishy and Jie Tian were at. He didnât go through the âBodyâ copper gate once more, but he knew that he must have cleared the test.
As soon as Chu Feng landed on the ground, the red-haired woman looked at Chu Feng and said, âNot bad, you did better than her. Youâre the one who is the most suited for this empress.â
Little Fishy panicked at that sight. She hurriedly said, âI can do better. Let me try once more.â
However, the red-haired woman shook her slender finger and said, âNo, you canât possibly do better than him. You put your all into the test on your very first attempt, but he didnât do that.â
Chu Fengâs heart squeezed in shock.
The red-haired woman turned her eyes back onto him and said, âYouâre very smart. You sensed my intention and tried to feign weakness by failing the test, but Iâm no fool either.â
The red-haired womanâs eyes narrowed into charming but dangerous crescents.
Chu Feng tried to see through the surrounding fog with his Heavenâs Eyes once more, only to find that he couldnât do so anymore. Realization finally dawned on him. The red-haired woman knew from the start that he had intentionally failed on the first attempt. He had fallen for her ploy.
In fact, the only reason he could see the sealing formation in the distance despite the fog was due to the other party intentionally allowing him to see it. She wanted him to know that she was dangerous so that he would retake the test.
âDonât worry, this is a blessing for you,â the woman said with a sinister smile.
She transformed into a stream of red aura and rushed at Chu Feng.
Little Fishy tried to stop her, but she was held in place by a powerful pressure that had appeared out of nowhere. She could only watch helplessly as the red aura flowed into Chu Fengâs body.
The stream of red aura flowed into Chu Fengâs dantian before reverting to its original form as a hundred thousand meters tall fire behemoth.
âGahahaha! I have chosen the right person! This ladâs body is incredible! This body shall be mine from this day onward! Ahahahaha!â
The red-haired woman laughed as she released waves of flames to tackle Chu Fengâs dantian. It didnât take long before her flames devoured everything in sight.
Wu!
Chu Feng felt his consciousness and life force flowing away from him as if he was losing control of his body. It felt like the being known as Chu Feng would suddenly blink out of existence, replaced by someone completely different.
All of a sudden, Chu Fengâs feeling of weakness vanished, and everything reverted to normal. The flames that had been rampaging in his dantian had disappeared.
âHm?â
The red-haired womanâs laughter stalled to a halt, as her ravenous joy was replaced with horror. She turned around, only to see nine lightning beasts standing behind her. Despite her imposing stature as a hundred thousand meters tall fire behemoth, she looked insignificant compared to the nine lightning beasts, as if a mortal standing before nine towering mountain peaks.
âMy apologies, I was just cracking a joke. Iâll leave right now,â the red-haired woman said in fright as she transformed back into a stream of red aura in an attempt to flee from Chu Fengâs dantian.
Whoosh!
Nine deafening roars echoed. Nine-colored lightning morphed into a lightning prison that trapped the red-haired woman in place. The red-haired woman found herself unable to break free from the prison despite her strength.
Knowing that a forceful approach wouldnât work, she reverted to her human form and dropped her previous domineering attitude. With tearful eyes, she cried in indignance, âI already said that I was joking. Iâll apologize, all right, so let me go!â