Chu Feng led the crowd through the 44th spirit formation gate, where they found themselves standing in the middle of a forest once more. This time around, the forest looked much more normal with a green canopy, and the tallest tree was only around a hundred meters in height.
Even so, there was still some kind of force inside the forest that limited how far they could fly.
A few juniors tried climbing the trees, and they did manage to get to the top. However, all they saw was a boundless forest.
âWhatâs the point of stopping us from flying? We can just leap from treetop to treetop; it wouldnât slow our pace at all.â
Those who had climbed to the treetop thought that it was meaningless how their ability to fly had been limited in this forest.
All of a sudden, dark clouds settled over the forest.
âCome down!â
Chu Feng quickly tugged on his formation ropes, pulling down those who had climbed up the trees, before hurriedly dragging the crowd deeper into the first.
Boom!
Streaks of lightning bolted down from the dark clouds and struck the trees the juniors had climbed earlier, reducing everything within a tens of thousands of meters of radius into cinders.
âThisâ¦â
].
The juniors were horrified.
While the area of the lightning wasnât particularly large, its speed and destructive might were terrifying. They would have died if Chu Feng didnât step in and drag them away.
Thus, the juniors bowed to Chu Feng and asked, âYoung hero Chu Feng, thank you for saving our lives.â
âThis is the most dangerous route in the Nine Heavens Secret Domain. Letting your guard down here is no different from courting death,â Chu Feng reminded.
âYoung hero Chu Feng, weâll strictly follow you from this point onward. We wonât act on our own whims anymore,â the crowd promised.
Chu Feng turned his attention toward the massive pit created by the earlier lightning bombardment. The crowd followed him to examine the massive pit as well.
âHm? There is spirit power lingering in the massive pit. Does it contain some kind of clue?â
The crowd quickly realized that the pit contained an inconspicuous hint of spirit power, just that they couldnât tell what was its use.
Boom boom boom!
The earth started quaking. The trees in the distance began collapsing, and the collapse seemed to be heading in their direction. The crowd quickly used their respective observation methods to see what was going on.
Their eyes shook in shock, for countless blood-red eyes were heading in their direction. It was a colony of ants!
Each of these ants stood at a height of a meter tall, and their bodies were covered in sharp spikes. What was frightening was that there were at least a hundred million of them. Their march was like a catastrophe, tearing down everything in their path.
And they were headed where Chu Feng and the others were.
âYoung master Chu Feng, where should we escape to?â
The crowd turned to Chu Feng for help, not daring to move recklessly in this situation.
âWe wonât be able to get away. We can only hide,â Chu Feng said as he began constructing a formation that sprouted out trees reminiscent of the forest around them.
The crowd was perplexed as to what he was up to.
Chu Feng dragged the juniors into the pit that was created by the earlier lightning bolt before throwing out the formation in his palm with a wave of his wrist. The formation camouflaged the pit to the rest of the forest.
It was only then that the crowd understood what he was up to.
The ants soon arrived before the pit, but they lingered on top of the pit as if they had noticed something. The crowd could see what was going on as the formation was transparent, so they couldnât help but worry as to what was going on.
Each of the ants possessed strength superior to them, and they flooded the area above them. Should the formation collapse, the ants would swiftly swarm the pit, spelling their doom.
âCalm down. Itâll be over soon,â Chu Feng said.
âAh?â
The crowd was initially baffled by those words, but much to their surprise, the ants suddenly began dissipating as spirit power. Shortly after, the ground they were standing on began rising upward.
Chu Feng quickly dispelled his formation.
The pit swiftly reverted to its original state, and trees sprouted out from the soil. At the same time, the trees devoured by the ant colony regrew as well. In a matter of moments, everything reverted to normal as if nothing had happened.
âWas it all a formation?â
The crowd was baffled. They were all outstanding junior world spiritists, but none of them could tell that the earlier ant colony was manifested from a formation. This showed how formidable the formation here was.
âYoung master Chu Feng, was hiding in the pit the only way we could have survived the earlier crisis?â Chu Shanshan asked.
âIâm not sure, but that was the only solution I found. Itâs a sequential wave of attacks. The lightning bolt was the first wave, whereas the ant stampede was the second,â Chu Feng said.
âAhâ¦â
The crowd finally realized why there was spirit power inside the pit. It turned out that the spirit power wasnât a clue but a means for them to avoid the ant stampede.
âMost of the ants are at early Half-God level, but some of them have reached rank seven Half-God level. If the manifested ants are calibrated to our strength, doesnât that mean that one of us has reached Royal Dragon God-cloak?â someone asked.
The crowd turned to look at Chu Feng.
âCould it be that young master Chu Feng is still hiding his strength?â
âOr does this mean that young master Chu Fengâs martial cultivation is at rank six Half-God level?â
Instead of answering the question, Chu Feng continued advancing. However, he soon halted his footsteps, as the location he was at was where the ant colony had first appeared.
The crowd looked at Chu Feng with deepening respect, especially when they discovered clues by observing the area. If Chu Feng hadnât led them here, they would have headed into the depths of the forest right away. They wouldnât have thought of heading here to look for clues.