âElder, what did Chu Xuanyan do to you?â Chu Feng asked.
âWhat did he do to me? He stole my treasure, tortured me, and tried to take my life. Above all, he evenâ¦â
âEven what?â Chu Feng asked.
âYou need not care about that. Anyway, I was lucky to have survived the ordeal. Isnât he a bad person?â Xia Xingchen asked.
âHe really is,â Chu Feng replied.
Deep down, he didnât think that his father was the type to bully the weak. He reckoned that Xia Xingchen was either a bad person, or that she was slandering his father.
âElder, how did you meet him?â Chu Feng asked.
He wasnât that concerned about Xia Xingchen. He simply wanted to know more about his father.
âWhy are you that curious? Do you really not know Chu Xuanyan?â Xia Xingchen looked at Chu Feng with eyes narrowed in doubt.
âI really donât. Itâs just that what you said piqued my curiosity, especially since you said that heâs your enemy. Iâll exact vengeance for you if I meet him in the future,â Chu Feng said.
âYou say that youâll exact vengeance for me? Hahaha! Forget it!â Xia Xingchen clutched her belly and burst into laughter.
âElder, is Chu Xuanyan that strong? What cultivation level is he at?â Chu Feng asked.
He wanted to know more about his father, even when he knew that his fatherâs cultivation couldnât possibly be at the same level as it was back then. Perhaps it was the kinship they shared that was fueling his curiosity about everything related to his father.
âDonât bother. Youâre too young. Cultivate for a few more centuries, then there might just be a teeny tiny bit of chance you might be able to match him.â
Her words affirmed Chu Fengâs talent, but more than that, it showed that she acknowledged Chu Xuanyuanâs strength, regardless of whether she saw him as a friend or a foe.
âYou said you wanted to enter the stone hall, right? Are you looking to learn the Immemorial Meditation Method?â Xia Xingchen asked.
âImmemorial Meditation Method? Is that the name of the world spiritist technique hidden in the stone hall?â Chu Feng asked.
âYes, itâs called the Immemorial Meditation Method. Itâll be extremely beneficial to any world spiritist who manages to grasp it. I can open the stone door for you if you wish to enter, but youâll have to do me a favor too.â
âElder, please state your request.â
âYouâre a junior, right?â
âYes, I am.â
âThatâs good. Letâs negotiate then. To tell you the truth, Iâm looking to enter the stone hall too. Thereâs a formation in there that can dispel my poison and allow me to regain my strength, but Iâll need your help. The formationâs prowess will be enhanced if itâs activated with the help of a junior, just that youâll have to bear a bit of pain in the process. Surely a man like you can take a bit of pain, right?â Xia Xingchen asked.
âIâm quite good at taking pain,â Chu Feng replied confidently.
âActivating the formation shouldnât be a problem for you then. However, thereâs an underlying risk youâll be shouldering by helping me.â
âUnderlying risk?â
âIâll attain the power of the stone hall and fuse with it as soon as the formation is activated, but the formation will imprison you inside the stone hall until it deactivates. To put it in other words, Iâll disappear when the formation is activated, but youâll remain trapped in there.
âThe one who attacked me earlier is my maid. She doesnât have the right or knowledge to enter the stone hall, so you should be safe even when trapped inside there. However, things might be different if the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sect sends reinforcement down. If one of them enters the stone hall and sees you alone in there, you should know the outcome of an outsider barging into the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sectâs forbidden land, right? Even if you survive the ordeal, you would have made an enemy out of the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sect,â Xia Xingchen said.
âI understand,â Chu Feng replied with a nod. âHow long will it take?â
âI require two hours to activate the formation, though itâll be faster with your cooperation. However, Iâm not sure how long itâll take for me to recover after the formation is activated. It can range from two hours to twenty hours,â Xia Xingchen said.
âWill the formation come to a halt if I die?â Chu Feng asked.
âNo, the formation will not stop with your death. If youâre wondering if there are any loopholes, there are none. Youâll be trapped in the stone hall until the formation comes to an end. Iâm not too sure about the reason behind that either. I donât think the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sectâs reinforcement will arrive that quickly, and the chances of that happening are slim. However, itâs only right for me to inform you about the risks since weâre going to work together,â Xia Xingchen said.
âYes, youâre right. I have one more question. The person who is after you knows about the existence of the stone hall though she canât enter it, right? If so, she might have guessed that you would try to escape to the stone hall. If I was her, I would camp at the entrance of the stone hall. How can we get into the stone hall then?â Chu Feng asked.
âDonât worry. You have been inside the stone hall before, so you should know that itâs accessed through a teleportation formation. There are more than one teleportation formation leading to the stone hall in this bamboo forest. I can safely bring you into the stone hall as long as youâre willing to cooperate with me,â Xia Xingchen said.
âLetâs go,â Chu Feng said as he stowed away his recovery formation.
âYou came to a decision awfully fast. Arenât you afraid of the Heavenly Dome Immortal Sect?â Xia Xingchen was surprised by how bold Chu Feng was.
âI am, but that doesnât stop me. There are things in the world that I fear, but thereâs nothing that I dare not do,â Chu Feng said.
âInteresting! Are you sure you donât know Chu Xuanyan? I definitely wonât strike a partnership with Chu Xuanyanâs descendant, so you better not lie to me.â
âElder, I really donât know him.â Chu Feng sighed helplessly.
âLetâs do a test then,â Xia Xingchen proposed.
âWhat test?â
âGive me your hand.â
Chu Feng was perplexed, but he still passed his hand over to her. Xia Xingchen cut Chu Fengâs finger with her nail and squeezed a droplet of blood on her wrist. To his shock, his blood droplet was devoured in an instant.
Chu Fengâs heart clenched up. He couldnât tell what was wrong with Xia Xingchenâs wrist, but the fact that his blood was devoured meant that something was amiss. She might really have a way to check if he was Chu Xuanyuanâs son.
Just then, Xia Xingchen looked at Chu Feng with utterly frigid eyes as she said, âBrat, you dare lie to me?â