"Chu Feng, come with me. If you want to grow stronger, you cannot grow in favorable conditions — you must grow in adversity. And the Emperor Domain, as things stand, is the most suitable place for you right now."
"Over there, the geniuses of the Four Clans and Three Houses gather together. There are countless peers who surpass us in strength. Only when we arrive there will we truly realize how weak we are, and only then can we progress faster."
"Besides, your friends are there too." As if afraid that Chu Feng might refuse, Dantai Xue added.
"Which friends of mine?" Chu Feng asked.
"Your friends from the Eastern Sea — no, strictly speaking, they aren't just friends. They are your lovers, named Zi Ling and Su Rou," Dantai Xue said.
"Zi Ling and Su Rou? They've been to the Cursed Soil Domain?"
"You've seen them? Are they well?" Upon hearing this, Chu Feng was overjoyed and hurriedly pressed for details.
"Good and bad both," Dantai Xue said.
"Good and bad? Miss Dantai, what do you mean? What happened to them?" Chu Feng asked anxiously.
"Both of them are very powerful now — Half-Emperor realm, both of them. And that Zi Ling in particular is like me — a second-grade Half-Emperor. That, of course, is good news."
"However, they both seem to be suffering from a serious illness. When it flares up, the pain is unbearable. If I'm not mistaken, it should be backlash pain."
"Moreover, their cultivation was so weak before, and suddenly becoming this strong doesn't follow any natural progression. So I've concluded that their power was obtained through improper means — which is why they suffer backlash."
"The path of martial cultivation is exactly like this. If you want to obtain power, you must pay a price. The faster and stronger the power comes, the greater and heavier the price. So that's why I say — good and bad both," Dantai Xue said.
Hearing this, Chu Feng understood. He just hadn't expected that Zi Ling and Su Rou's strength had risen to such a level — they had truly become Half-Emperors. And Zi Ling was already a second-grade Half-Emperor at that.
"Miss Dantai, you said they also went to the Emperor Domain. Do you know where in the Cursed Soil Domain they went?" Chu Feng asked.
He had already made up his mind — he was going to the Emperor Domain too. Setting aside the fact that he should venture out there regardless, he would go for Su Rou and Zi Ling alone.
He knew how painful and how dangerous the backlash that Su Rou and Zi Ling were currently enduring could be. And the formations he had mastered could actually alleviate that backlash. He had to find Su Rou and Zi Ling as soon as possible and teach them the formations he knew.
But the Emperor Domain was simply too vast. If he didn't know their exact location and just searched blindly, it would be like looking for a needle in the ocean.
"I do know. As for where they went, they didn't hide it from me — they told me their destination."
"The Immortal Island," Dantai Xue said.
"The Immortal Island? What kind of place is that?" Chu Feng asked curiously — he had never heard of this so-called Immortal Island.
"And you call yourself a nominal disciple of the Spirit World Alliance, yet you don't even know about the Immortal Island." Seeing that Chu Feng genuinely had no idea, even someone like Dantai Xue couldn't help but shoot him a look of disdain before continuing:
"Martial Emperors in the Martial Continent are already exceedingly rare. But Dragon-patterned Imperial-robed Spirit World Masters are even rarer."
"In the entire Martial Continent, the Dragon-patterned Imperial-robed Spirit World Masters can be counted on one hand — fewer than ten."
"And the master of the Immortal Island, Immortal Artifact Refiner, is one such Dragon-patterned Imperial-robed Spirit World Master. He is widely acknowledged as the most skilled Imperial-robed Spirit World Master in artifact refinement in the current Martial Continent."
"According to Zi Ling and Su Rou, the Immortal Artifact Refiner is holding a Weapon Bestowal Ceremony on the Immortal Island. Anyone who participates — regardless of gender, age, or cultivation level — as long as they can pass his trials and ascend to the Immortal Island, will be bestowed a weapon, one custom-forged for them," Dantai Xue said.