"ROAR—"
Seeing that Chu Feng still hadn't reacted, the qilin's gaze finally relaxed, and it let out a distinctive roar, as though declaring its victory.
CLANG—
But at that very moment, a flash of cold light shot out from within the sea of fire.
Upon seeing this, the qilin was greatly alarmed, opening its mouth to once again unleash a fireball.
However, the cold light was far too fast. In the blink of an eye, it landed on the qilin's throat, sealing the creature's movements and giving it no chance to breathe fire again.
It was Chu Feng. Chu Feng, wielding the Heavenly Immortal Sword, had broken through the wall of fire and pressed the blade against the qilin's throat.
At this moment, Chu Feng was completely unscathed, but that was only because he had relied on the combined power of the Xuan Martial Escape Technique and the Vermilion Bird Resurrection Technique — two supreme secret arts — to withstand the explosive fireball the qilin had unleashed.
It turned out that his earlier scream had been deliberately uttered. He had wanted to make the qilin let its guard down.
"You little one — all is fair in war. Next time, remember this lesson," Chu Feng said to the qilin with a smile. Though he had already subdued the creature, he had not harmed it.
For some reason, when faced with such a small creature, Chu Feng simply couldn't bring himself to strike it down. In truth, he had only come here to challenge this qilin — he had never intended to hurt it.
ROAR—
But just then, the qilin let out a low growl, and its body began to radiate light. In the blink of an eye, it started to shrink, and before Chu Feng's very eyes, it transformed into an arrow.
The arrow was covered in scale-like patterns and even carried the same aura as the qilin. This sentient creature had actually been an arrow all along.
"So you were an arrow too," Chu Feng exclaimed in surprise.
He had suspected that this qilin, much like the golden-armored soldier, might not be a true divine beast despite its sentience.
But he had never expected it to actually be an arrow as well. Simply put, the qilin was nothing more than a supreme treasure — not a living being. And yet, it had fooled even Chu Feng's Heavenly Eyes.
"What kind of person could forge a treasure like you?"
"It must have been the one who built this golden palace," Chu Feng murmured, filled with admiration.
Even though he could now command the winds and rains across the Martial Sacred Land, inside this golden palace, he truly felt insignificant. Every technique at his disposal seemed utterly useless.
RUMBLE—
And just as Chu Feng was lost in thought, the gates of the Fourth Hall, which had been sealed shut, began to slowly swing open amid a deep rumbling.
The moment the Fourth Hall started to open, Chu Feng furrowed his brow and cautiously stepped back, retreating away from its entrance.
He could sense an extremely dangerous aura emanating from within. The Fourth Hall was entirely different from the three that had come before it — it was suffused with a dense killing intent, a truly terrifying killing intent.
And once the gates of the Fourth Hall had fully opened, Chu Feng's slightly furrowed brow deepened into a hard frown.
Inside the Fourth Hall was nothing but thick, grayish fog — though calling it gray would have been generous. It was closer to a dark, ashen gray.
Most unsettling of all, even Chu Feng's Heavenly Eyes could not pierce through that dark fog. He had no way of knowing what lay hidden within the Fourth Hall.
WHOOSH—
WHOOSH—
WHOOSH—
WHOOSH—