"Brother Chu Feng, wait for me!" Chu Feng had just stepped out of the dining hall, intending to head back to his quarters and rest, when Li Lei chased after him, looking unusually excited.
"Brother Li Lei, what's up?" Seeing Li Lei run up to him, Chu Feng asked with a puzzled look.
"Heh, I'm bored out of my mind all on my own — mind if I crash at your place for the night?" Li Lei scratched his head with one hand, looking a bit sheepish.
"Two grown men, what's there to worry about? Let's go. As it happens, I wanted to ask you some things about this Azure Wood Southern Forest."
As Chu Feng spoke, he headed toward his quarters, and Li Lei followed along with an excited look on his face. It was clear he was eager to deepen his relationship with Chu Feng and become proper brothers.
After that, Chu Feng asked Li Lei a few more questions about the Azure Wood Southern Forest. However, since Li Lei's status was quite low and he hadn't been here long, he didn't know all that much.
The only mildly interesting piece of news was that, a few days prior, Li Lei had accidentally spotted a large group of elders rushing out of the Azure Wood Southern Forest in a hurry.
None of those elders were ordinary figures. Even their robes were different from those of the other elders — they wore deep blue elder robes, a symbol of status and strength within the Azure Wood Southern Forest. Within the forest, they held extremely high positions.
After those elders had left in such a rush, a few had returned from time to time, but the majority had yet to come back. As for what they had gone to do, no one knew. In any case, quite a few disciples had heard about it and sensed that something major must have happened, though none could guess what it was.
And so, Chu Feng spent the night in the Azure Wood Southern Forest. The next morning, led by Li Lei, he arrived at a square. Quite a few disciples were gathered there — apparently, every morning they assembled in this spot. A dedicated elder would share some cultivation tips and explain the Southern Forest's rules before leading them through a series of training exercises. This was the daily routine of the Azure Wood Southern Forest.
Chu Feng looked around and noticed that besides the people from the Southern Sea, there was another group of young people on the square. They weren't very old either, but their cultivation wasn't particularly strong — about on par with the Southern Sea bunch, more or less.
Seeing their listless demeanor, and the fact that the elder still hadn't shown up, Chu Feng seemed to understand: they had likely been sorted into the ranks of low-grade disciples and were receiving a correspondingly inferior level of cultivation guidance.
This left Chu Feng somewhat speechless. Had he known, he might have told a little white lie yesterday and claimed he wasn't from the Southern Sea. But after thinking it over, he calmed down. After all, this was a place where strength spoke loudest, and his own strength was nothing to scoff at. Gold would always shine eventually. Besides, the Azure Wood Southern Forest's selection of outstanding disciples for promotion to Azure Wood Mountain was still some time away, so there was no need to rush.
"You're the one who humiliated my brother in front of everyone last night?" Just then, a sharp female voice rang out.
Chu Feng turned toward the voice and saw five young women standing about three meters away. None of them were bad-looking, and their cultivation was decent enough. The one leading the group stood out in particular — she had fair, smooth skin and was genuinely pretty. Moreover, among the five, her cultivation was the strongest: she had reached the second rank of Martial King.
However, at this moment, her delicate brows were furrowed with fury, and her face was flushed with anger. She pointed a slender finger at Chu Feng as though he were her mortal enemy.
"Who are you? Do I know you?" Chu Feng gave the woman another once-over, confirming this was the first time he'd ever laid eyes on her. He had definitely never met her before, and there was no reason for any grudge.
"Brother Chu Feng, that's Shen Lang's sister. Her name is Shen Hong — she's a notorious firecracker from the Southern Sea, even harder to deal with than Shen Lang." Li Lei's whisper reached Chu Feng's ear. Glancing sideways, Chu Feng saw Li Lei hiding behind his back; he looked terrified of Shen Hong too.
"So you're Shen Lang's sister. How amusing. The brother wasn't up to the task, so now his sister has to step in?"
"I did give your brother a hard time last night, but you should know what kind of things he's done. I only gave him the lesson he deserved. If he's not happy about it, tell him to come find me himself."
Now that he knew who she was, Chu Feng didn't bother being polite. He left those words behind, turned around, and had no intention of giving Shen Hong any more attention.
"You, stop right there!" Seeing Chu Feng ignore her completely, Shen Hong flew into a rage. As she spoke, she reached out with her delicate hand and grabbed toward Chu Feng. This was no simple grab — she had channeled the power of a second-rank Martial King into it, intending to test Chu Feng.