"The Ghost Sect Hall?"
Hearing the name of this faction, Chu Feng's heart stirred.
It was a place he had heard of back in the Hundred Refinements Mortal World.
Chu Borno had told him personally — he had found that mysterious person inside the Ghost Sect Hall.
It was from a mysterious person's hands that he had purchased the scroll capable of locating the Evil Ginseng King.
Though ripples of emotion had already risen within him, Chu Feng did not let it show. Instead, he asked in a perfectly calm tone:
"Song Xi, of these four factions you mentioned, what are their characteristics? Which one is the strongest?"
"The strongest among these four factions would be the Starfall Sacred Ground."
"The Starfall Sacred Ground has a long and ancient lineage. Legend has it that the Starfall Sacred Ground was forged from a colossal meteorite that fell from the heavens."
"That massive meteorite contained extraordinary power that was tremendously beneficial to martial cultivation. That is what made the Starfall Sacred Ground so formidable."
"Of course, no matter how powerful the Starfall Sacred Ground may be, they cannot compare to the Chu Heavenly Clan."
Song Xi made a point to add this, and it was clear that he held an extraordinary amount of reverence for the Chu Heavenly Clan.
"As for the Dao Imperial Palace and the Bliss Valley, which one is stronger between the two is hard to say. They should be roughly equal."
"As for the Ghost Sect Hall, it is quite secretive. All that is known is that their forces are vast and their strength is formidable."
"But in my opinion, they may be slightly weaker than the Dao Imperial Palace and the Bliss Valley — at the very least, the Ghost Sect Hall doesn't have as many members as those two," Song Xi said.
"You said the Ghost Sect Hall is quite secretive. Is there a particular reason?" Chu Feng asked.
"The other factions publicly recruit disciples every year. Although the requirements for admission are extremely strict — only those with exceptional talent are permitted to enter —"
"At least it is done openly."
"But the Ghost Sect Hall? No one has ever seen them recruit disciples. They select their own."
"Furthermore, the Ghost Sect Hall has no subordinate factions under its banner, yet their financial power is astonishingly strong."
"It is even rumored that while the Ghost Sect Hall's wealth falls below that of the Starfall Sacred Ground, it surpasses both the Bliss Valley and the Dao Imperial Palace," Song Xi said.
"If they have no subordinate factions, then no faction pays them tribute. How could they possibly possess such tremendous financial power?" Chu Feng asked.
Generally speaking, powerful factions like these would have subordinate forces beneath them. In exchange for protection, those subordinate factions were required to pay tribute of valuable treasures every year — it was essentially a transaction in disguise.
But the Ghost Sect Hall had no subordinate factions, which meant it received no tribute. Its financial power should have been comparatively weak.
"The rumors say they're involved in commerce, but what exactly they trade, someone of our stature could never know."
"Only the upper echelon of society has dealings with the Ghost Sect Hall."
"That is why, compared to other factions, the Ghost Sect Hall remains relatively secretive," Song Xi said.
"I see."
Chu Feng now had a rough understanding of the Ghost Sect Hall. Whatever business they conducted, it certainly wasn't anything legitimate.
However, just from the fact that the Ghost Sect Hall had been able to provide Chu Borno with that scroll recording the Evil Ginseng King, Chu Feng knew their strength must be extraordinary.
At the very least... of these four factions Song Xi had described, the one Chu Feng was most interested in was this Ghost Sect Hall.
…………
After that, Chu Feng made his way to the Ascending Sky Staircase that connected to the Hundred Refinements Mortal World.
This Ascending Sky Staircase was under the control of the Chu Heavenly Clan, so gathering intelligence on it had required quite a bit of effort on Chu Feng's part.
But in the end, Chu Feng managed to obtain the information he wanted — though the results were far from optimistic.
"How can this be? None of them arrived here through the Ascending Sky Staircase."
"Even the Chu Heavenly Clan doesn't know what happened?"
"This is definitely not a simple malfunction of the Ascending Sky Staircase. It seems more like something done deliberately."
Chu Feng now knew that Wang Qiang and the others had not passed through the Ascending Sky Staircase to reach the Upper Realm of the Great Thousand.
This forced Chu Feng to confront what they had encountered earlier inside the staircase.
Because it was all too bizarre. Chu Feng had entered the luminous vortex, yet appeared on that mysterious wasteland.
It was as though someone had deliberately led him there.
Unable to determine the cause, Chu Feng sought out Song Xi once more.
"Song Xi, do you know the origin of that mountain where we first met?" Chu Feng asked.
"You mean the Divine Mountain? The Divine Mountain has a rather impressive background," Song Xi said.
Hearing the words "Divine Mountain" and seeing Song Xi's reaction, Chu Feng grew even more certain that his suspicions were correct. Everything... was absolutely no coincidence.
"Could you tell me about the origin of that Divine Mountain?" Chu Feng asked.
"Of course."
Song Xi naturally had no intention of keeping anything from Chu Feng, and he told him everything he knew about the Divine Mountain.
The Divine Mountain did indeed have an extraordinary history, and it had appeared very early on.
The Chu Heavenly Clan had ruled the Upper Realm of the Great Thousand for quite some time now.
But long before the Chu Heavenly Clan had even appeared in the Upper Realm of the Great Thousand, that Divine Mountain had already come into being.
Before the Divine Mountain appeared, that area had been nothing but a vast ocean.
One day, without warning, great waves surged and crashed in every direction.
And these were no ordinary waves — they could shatter mountains and crush rocks, obliterate everything in their path with devastating destructive force.
Not even martial cultivators could withstand them.