Chu Feng had passed through the luminous vortex.
But he had not returned to the Ascension Stairway that connected the Hundred Refinements Ordinary World to the Great Thousand Upper World.
Instead, Chu Feng had entered a massive mountain.
This mountain appeared to have nothing special about it—even the trees were quite ordinary. The tallest tree was only a dozen or so meters high.
The mountain could be described as utterly mundane.
So mundane that it was reminiscent of the back mountain of the Chu Family on the Nine Provinces Continent during Chu Feng's youth.
Though everything within this mountain—the flowers, grass, and trees—was perfectly ordinary, Chu Feng could sense a barrier's power sealing off this entire area.
The oppressive weight of that barrier told Chu Feng that martial cultivators had definitely set foot here.
"What's going on? Did I pass from one world into another?"
Chu Feng was quite surprised. As a Snake Mark-level Royal-cloak Spirit World Master, his perception was extremely sharp.
Generally, if a space had been created by a Spirit World Master, no matter how realistic it appeared, Chu Feng would be able to tell the difference.
Yet, whether it was the wasteland from before or this mountain, Chu Feng had found no flaws whatsoever. He felt that both places… were likely real worlds.
"This thing has changed again."
Turning to look behind him, Chu Feng's gaze shifted once more. The luminous vortex was still there, but it had already lost its suction force.
Chu Feng tested it and found that the luminous vortex could not take him back. He was stuck in this world.
But Chu Feng did not simply leave. Instead, he carefully set up a concealing barrier to hide the luminous vortex.
Though the vortex was currently in a closed state, he had no idea when it might switch to an open state.
To be cautious, it was best to hide this place.
Even if, when the vortex opened, Chu Feng could not stop the creatures from the wasteland from crossing over, he could at least prevent the people of this world from entering the wasteland.
After hiding the luminous vortex, Chu Feng prepared to leave this mountain and properly explore exactly where he was.
"Chu Feng, be careful." The Queen's voice rang out, her tone brimming with worry.
Though this mountain appeared ordinary, after what had happened back on the wasteland, the Queen could not rest easy.
"Let me get a lay of the land first."
This mountain was enormous. Even with Chu Feng's cultivation, he could not see through it at a glance, so he had no choice but to activate his Heavenly Eyes.
But even with his Heavenly Eyes, Chu Feng could not see the mountain's end—it was even larger than he had anticipated.
Swish—
Suddenly, Chu Feng leaped into the air, intending to fly.
But before he had even risen a hundred meters, he dropped back to the ground.
"Chu Feng, what's wrong?" The Queen was confused by his actions, but she also sensed something amiss.
"Dan Dan, this place is far more complicated than I thought." Chu Feng's brow was tightly furrowed.
"What happened? Did you discover something?" The Queen grew even more worried.
"There's a binding force here—I can't fly at all. Even my strength has been weakened."
"But this binding force—I hadn't detected it at all before. I only noticed it after attempting to use my martial power," Chu Feng said.
"So this place is like that wasteland?" the Queen asked.
"Hard to say. Something is definitely off here, but it's different from the wasteland."
"Whatever—let's explore and find out."
Chu Feng kept his grip firmly on the Divine Dragon Blood Ruler. He even drew out the Evil God Sword.
After what he had experienced in the wasteland, Chu Feng no longer dared to let his guard down in the slightest. He had no intention of carelessly losing his life.
It was just that this mountain range was vast, and with his ability to fly stripped away, Chu Feng found himself once again experiencing the sensation of trekking over mountains and ridges.
But this mountain range turned out to be even larger than Chu Feng had imagined. In the blink of an eye, thirteen days and nights had passed, and Chu Feng still had not made it out.
At this moment, inside the Punishment Hall of the Chu Heavenly Clan.
The Vice Hall Master of the Chu Heavenly Clan's Punishment Hall, Chu Xuan Zhengfa, sat upon the main seat of the great hall.