"Too late. She's long gone," the elder said.
"Hearing this, the young woman stomped her feet in fury, killing intent even surfacing in her eyes.
"Master, you knew she stole the world's energy all along — why didn't you stop her?"
"She didn't exactly wait for nothing. She waited ten full years," the young woman asked the elder with a pout, a hint of reproach in her tone.
"Haha, I already told you — I left this place in your hands, so you're the one managing it."
"You failed to manage it properly yourself, so who can you blame?" the elder said with a laugh.
"Hmph."
The young woman pursed her lips. The expression looked cute enough, but her gaze grew increasingly complex — impossible to read.
…
Not long after Chu Feng left that place, the uneasy feeling gradually faded.
However, Chu Feng still didn't dare go near the light vortex. He feared that powerful expert might be guarding the woman from the shadows, and feared that expert might be secretly tracking him.
And that light vortex connected to that mysterious wasteland — Chu Feng absolutely didn't want anyone else learning about it.
Yet he was unwilling to simply leave. So after descending the Divine Mountain, he didn't depart right away. Instead, he continued observing from outside.
Chu Feng's reasoning was this: the Divine Mountain was vast and wondrous. Since one person had used some kind of power on their body to set up that sort of formation, there was a good chance someone else had left something else behind on this mountain.
And what made Chu Feng feel fortunate was that before long, he spotted another unusual place.
This location wasn't as obvious as the great formation the young woman had controlled earlier, but Chu Feng was certain enough — there was definitely something off about it.
With that, Chu Feng entered the Divine Mountain once more and headed straight for that spot.
This place, much like the earlier formation that absorbed the world's energy, revealed nothing special once he arrived. No matter how he looked, there was nothing out of the ordinary to be found.
This only proved that whoever had hidden it had done an excellent job.
Under these circumstances, Chu Feng had no choice but to use the formation in conjunction with his Heavenly Eyes once more.
Fortunately, this time it succeeded again.
It was a ruin, buried deep underground.
However, Chu Feng couldn't enter, because the ruin's only entrance was a massive dark-purple gate.
The gate stood a hundred meters tall and fifty meters wide, rising before Chu Feng like a small hill, making him look utterly insignificant by comparison.
The gate appeared to be made of stone, yet it was incredibly tough — far beyond what Chu Feng's strength could break through.
Moreover, the entire gate was covered in dense, tightly packed carvings, and those carvings turned out to be all skulls — ferocious, terrifying ones. Not just human skulls, either, but those of numerous demon beasts as well, rendered with lifelike detail. The sight was deeply unsettling.
"Chu Feng, this ruin probably isn't something simple," the Queen said upon seeing the gate.
"Egg, when you say 'not something simple,' do you mean this ruin is dangerous, or that there might be treasure inside?" Chu Feng asked.
"Just this gate alone is overflowing with demonic energy. I'm afraid this ruin is extremely dangerous."
"You'd best not try to open this gate," the Queen said.
She rarely feared anything, but this gate gave her a profoundly unsettling feeling.
"Even if I wanted to open it, I couldn't. It requires a specific key." Chu Feng pointed toward the center of the gate.
There was a small recess there — roughly the size of two palms. Its shape was quite peculiar, but one could roughly tell that the key meant to fit it would be equally unusual.
"Since you can't open it, then let's leave."
The Queen urged him, her unease growing. She wanted Chu Feng to leave this place as quickly as possible.