Chapter 121: Pitch Dark

The night was so dark, so cold.

Especially the night in Peach Blossom Town. It carried a hint of treachery, a touch of unease.

Chu Tianfeng walked slowly to the west side of town, passing the plaza and heading toward the great mountains behind Peach Blossom Town. Of course, he was not alone. In such a beautiful night, no one could bear to enjoy it in solitude.

Two tails followed him—one thin, one thick.

The thin one was Yu Zhigao of the Heavenly Master Sect. He had brought only eight men, and Mo Wannian remained missing. The thick one was, naturally, the luxury paparazzi squad led by Wang Caizhang of the Wang family, totaling eleven people, trailing far behind Yu Zhigao and his group.

Seeing that his opponents were numerous, Chu Tianfeng had no intention of engaging them in a head-on clash. His strength lay in agility, and his specialty was escape.

As soon as he stepped into the mountains, Chu Tianfeng cast a spell, successfully transforming himself into a faint wisp of white mist. He then took out a pistol loaded with special ammunition and hid behind a large rock, waiting for the fish to take the bait.

Yu Zhigao and his men were the first to bear the brunt.

*Whiz!* The young man walking at the front of the formation collapsed at the sound!

"Bad news, it's an ambush!" Yu Zhigao’s reaction was not slow; he was the first to hit the ground. The others, realizing the situation had turned dire, scrambled to find cover.

Chu Tianfeng had intended to target Yu Zhigao, but the fellow was too short and kept hiding behind others, so Chu Tianfeng had to change targets on the fly and find a scapegoat. His marksmanship was still terrible, but fortunately, his spiritual sense was powerful. By wrapping his true essence around the bullets, he finally managed to hit his mark.

*Whiz!*

One unfortunate fellow hid behind a large tree. However, he had misjudged Chu Tianfeng’s hiding spot and actually exposed his back to him. Chu Tianfeng did not hesitate to gift him a bullet. The man let out a cry of agony and collapsed to the ground.

"He’s to the front left!" Someone, judging by the positions of the two fallen men, pinpointed Chu Tianfeng’s general direction.

"Damn it, flank him!" Yu Zhigao pulled out his pistol and shouted. The rest followed suit, cautiously closing in on Chu Tianfeng.

Chu Tianfeng had foreseen this. After firing the second shot, he had already run far away. However, he did not head deeper into the mountains; instead, he circled around Yu Zhigao and lunged toward the luxury paparazzi squad led by Wang Caizhang.

Upon hearing the screams, Wang Caizhang knew the two parties had clashed. He quickly urged his men to speed up and rush toward Yu Zhigao’s group. He did not know what conflict existed between Yu Zhigao and Chu Tianfeng, but he desperately wanted to resolve it. Yes, he could not let Yu Zhigao kill Chu Tianfeng; he had to rescue him!

Unfortunately, Chu Tianfeng was completely unaware of Wang Caizhang’s well-intentioned efforts. He only saw a large group of people from the Wang family rushing toward him with guns drawn, the ones in the lead being none other than Wang Zaitian and Wang Lianchang!

Without time to lock on with his spiritual sense, Chu Tianfeng raised his hand and fired two shots at Wang Zaitian and Wang Lianchang! These two were the ones who missed him the most, and Chu Tianfeng was equally concerned with them.

*Whiz! Whiz!*

The bullets cut through the night sky, accurately hitting the pair—well, one in the shoulder and one in the thigh.

"Ah!"

One cry of agony, one muffled groan.

The scream came from Wang Lianchang, and the groan from Wang Zaitian.

"Watch out, they have guns!" Wang Caizhang growled, his figure flickering as he lunged toward where Chu Tianfeng was hiding. However, he did not know his opponent was Chu Tianfeng; he assumed the person firing the potshots was a disciple of the Heavenly Master Sect.

Yu Zhigao and his men had already disrupted his plans, and he was boiling with rage. Unexpectedly, before he could even vent, someone had sent him two bullets! This was intolerable!

"Charge!" Despite the bullet in his right shoulder, Wang Zaitian still rushed to the front of the line. He had no choice; his hatred for Chu Tianfeng was too deep. The integrity he had maintained for over fifty years had been ruined by Chu Tianfeng. He longed to smash Chu Tianfeng into ten thousand pieces and scatter his ashes.

Wang Lianchang’s hatred for Chu Tianfeng was no less intense; he wished he could capture him immediately and pulverize him with an iron rod to wash away his shame! But his luck today was abysmal. With a bullet in his thigh, he could not charge even if he wanted to. He could only retreat behind a rock, aided by a clan member, to bandage his wound.

The rest of the Wang family members followed Wang Zaitian, charging forward fiercely. Chu Tianfeng fought and retreated, slowly drawing the Wang family members toward the Heavenly Master Sect disciples.

Yu Zhigao and his men were miserable. Before they realized what was happening, they were surrounded by the enraged Wang family members! Suddenly, gunfire erupted, and bullets flew everywhere. In the pitch-black night, both sides traded fire, creating quite a spectacle.

The instigator, Chu Tianfeng, had long since jumped out of the fray, hiding in a large tree and quietly watching the two sides tear each other apart. Eventually, Yu Zhigao and his men began to falter and fled toward the town. Chu Tianfeng dared not pursue, so he jumped down from the tree and continued deeper into the mountains.

It must be said that the map provided by the competition committee was very precise. Every mountain peak and every stream was clearly marked. An hour later, Chu Tianfeng arrived at the edge of a cliff. To be accurate, this was not a cliff, but a narrow gorge, or perhaps a crack! It was seven or eight meters wide, with stone walls as sharp as if cut by a blade, deep and bottomless. Both sides of the ridge were barren—not a single tree, not even a sapling could be found.

It seemed Du Jingjing’s words were true; this fissure was indeed extremely dangerous. A martial artist at the Transformation Realm could hardly fly to the other side on their own.

Chu Tianfeng was unfazed; such a challenge meant nothing to him. He retreated ten meters, began a running start, and cast a spell. As he reached the edge, he bent his right leg slightly and pushed off with his toes.

*Swish!* His figure leaped high like a falcon!

*Tap!*

He drifted across the fissure and landed gracefully on a rock wall less than two meters from the second ridge, plunging his hands into a crevice. He steadied himself, leaped once more, and landed firmly on the cliff top.

The night was very dark, but it did not hinder Chu Tianfeng’s movements. With Xiyazi as a guide, he did not even need to project his spiritual sense. After crossing the cliff, the mountain path wound downward. It was still treacherous and steep, with many places where he had to press his body against the rock wall to walk. About half an hour later, Chu Tianfeng finally descended the cliff and arrived before a valley.

The map had no further instructions, and there was no way to know where the entrance to the secret realm was.

"Interesting, there’s a formation here." As he reached the mouth of the valley, Xiyazi’s soft voice resonated in his sea of consciousness.

"Oh? Where?" Chu Tianfeng’s spirits lifted. If there was a formation, it meant the entrance to the secret realm was nearby.

"Front right, about sixty *zhang*." Although Chu Tianfeng had taught Xiyazi some international units of measurement, she was still unaccustomed to them and preferred using ancient Chinese units.

Sixty *zhang*—about two hundred meters—was a distance far exceeding Chu Tianfeng’s current spiritual sense. He had to run forward, and after a moment, he projected his spiritual sense. Sure enough, a spherical light barrier appeared in the air, inverted over the ground like a bowl, covering the entire valley entrance.

A defensive formation! And a low-grade one at that!

Chu Tianfeng braced himself, opening his spiritual sense fully, and slowly swept it over the light shield, looking for the base or the eye of the formation to exploit and break it.

Hard work pays off; about half an hour later, he finally located one of the foundation points. Upon closer inspection, he discovered something even more interesting. This was not a low-grade defensive formation at all, but a mid-grade one! Furthermore, outside the base of the mid-grade defensive formation lay the base of a mid-grade concealment formation!

Evidently, the concealment formation was meant to hide the defensive formation and the entrance to the secret realm. Unfortunately, because the spiritual source of the formation had been exhausted, the concealment formation had lost its effect, causing the defensive formation to be exposed.

All formations require a supply of spiritual energy, much like a car requires gasoline. There are generally three types of spiritual sources for formations.

One is to use spiritual stones or spiritual springs directly. However, this method has significant drawbacks; after all, these are treasures that are easily stolen. Therefore, this method is only suitable for one-time energy supplies—calculate the amount, use it up, and finish the job.

The second method is more advanced, requiring the construction of a spirit-gathering formation to utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as the source. This is more cumbersome, takes longer to set up, and consumes more materials, so it is generally used for large, permanent formations. Moreover, since it relies on heaven and earth energy, which is not always stable, the formation can enter a period of weakness when the supply is insufficient.

In addition, there is a third method: combining the two. Usually, it uses heaven and earth energy to maintain basic consumption, and when the formation is truly activated, small amounts of spiritual stones or springs are added. Such formations have no period of weakness and are not easily exploited. Ordinary teleportation formations usually use this method.

Taking the Peach Blossom Valley secret realm as an example, the formation there used the second method—relying on the energy of heaven and earth. This realm opens once every thirty years for a period of three months, indicating that its stable period for heaven and earth energy is thirty years, and its period of weakness is three months.

While the formation is in its weak state, the outermost concealment formation completely loses its effect, and the inner defensive formation drops a grade. But even as a low-grade defensive formation, Chu Tianfeng was helpless. His current cultivation was too low, and he lacked the necessary materials to break the formation.

"Hee hee! So there are times when you are at your wits' end." Seeing Chu Tianfeng staring blankly, Xiyazi could not help but tease him.

"Do you have a solution?" Chu Tianfeng asked with some resentment.

"Hee hee! It’s very simple." Xiyazi said smugly.

"Let’s hear it. If it doesn't work, I won't kill anyone for a year, and you’ll be bored to death!" Chu Tianfeng threatened bitterly.

"Fine, fine, I’ll tell you!" Xiyazi compromised. "Actually, it’s very simple—just one word: Wait!"

This tactic was quite effective against Xiyazi. Having left the Spirit-Nurturing Spring, if she went a year without soul cultivation, her power would inevitably regress.

"You call that a solution?" Chu Tianfeng’s face instantly twisted into a look of frustration.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Xiyazi laughed again. "Don't worry, I advise you to get a good night's sleep. By tomorrow morning, a large group of martial artists will surely help you open the formation for free."