"So how did you come to discover that the Dark Hall Master was not a member of the Chu Family?" Chu Feng asked.
"The Chu Heavenly Clan all have black hair, but Ying Chong had blue hair. That put my subordinates on guard. After making inquiries, we learned his true identity."
"But rest assured, Master. Although things went awry, Ying Chong has no idea of our true purpose here. He has always believed that we submitted to his Heaven-level bloodline and chose to serve him as our master," the blind old man explained.
"But he still discovered you. Why not kill him? Were you not afraid he would leak your secret?" Chu Feng asked.
"Anyone from the Martial God Continent, no matter who, we would not have let go. But he comes from the Outer World after all."
"We know very little about the Outer World, only that there are many powerful beings there."
"It is not that we fear death — we simply did not wish to cause trouble for our masters. The Chu Heavenly Clan is also in the Outer World, after all."
"So we let the mistake slide and allowed Ying Chong to leave. But rest assured, Master, we have never done anything on Ying Chong's behalf," the blind old man said.
"The Dark Hall Master has committed countless evil deeds. He absolutely cannot be left alive," Chu Feng said.
"If Master wishes him dead, then he shall certainly not live. But you have traveled a long way, Master. Since you have returned home, you should rest well first."
"Tomorrow, I will cripple Ying Chong's cultivation for you. Then Master may take him away and execute him before the people of the Martial God Continent," the blind old man said.
"That works." Chu Feng agreed. After all, killing the Dark Hall Master here in private carried a vastly different meaning compared to killing him in public.
Most importantly, executing the Dark Hall Master in front of everyone would put every mind at ease and confirm beyond all doubt that he was truly dead.
After that, Chu Feng asked the blind old man a number of additional questions.
Among them was whether a formation existed here that could lead to the Outer World.
The answer was just as Chu Feng had guessed — within the Divine Domain, there was indeed a formation that could lead to the Outer World. That formation was called the Skyway Stairway.
"Did Qing Xuantian use the Skyway Stairway to leave the Martial God Continent back then?" Chu Feng asked.
In Chu Feng's view, Qing Xuantian could never have simply retired to the mountains. If that were the case, he would not have remained silent through so many upheavals.
After all, from what the Four Sacred Beasts had told him, when Qing Xuantian had ruled over the Martial God Continent, he had still been quite young — a true junior.
So Chu Feng reasoned that he could not be dead. Even if he truly had some illness, it would not have killed him. It was a gut feeling.
But if Qing Xuantian was still alive, he certainly was not in the Martial God Continent.
And if he was not in the Martial God Continent, he must have entered the Outer World.
Yet to enter the Outer World at that time… the Ascending Stairway within the Misty Immortal Peak had not yet been discovered.
So the only route should have been the Ascending Stairway here in the Divine Domain.
"Qing Xuantian did indeed come here ten thousand years ago, and he did indeed wish to borrow the Skyway Stairway."
"At that time, his cultivation… was that of a first-level Half Ancestor."
"Such cultivation was no match for us, of course, so we naturally refused," the blind old man said.
"Do you know where he went afterward?" Chu Feng asked.
"I do not," the blind old man replied, shaking his head.
"Then about a decade ago, did a woman come here to borrow the Skyway Stairway?" Chu Feng asked once more.
"Master, as it happens, when you were in the Elf Kingdom that day, this old servant was there as well."
"So I happened to hear your entire conversation with the Elf King."
"A decade ago, the Elf King did enter our Divine Domain — we were aware of that. But… Xian Miaomiao's mother, we knew nothing about," the blind old man said.
"So Xian Miaomiao's mother never came here to borrow the Skyway Stairway?" Chu Feng asked.