Finally, Chu Feng withdrew his gaze from the stone tablet.
However, the way Chu Feng pulled his eyes away was nothing like the others.
The rest had torn their gazes away in panic, as though looking at it a moment longer would cost them their lives.
Chu Feng, on the contrary, was perfectly composed — as if it were the most mundane gesture in the world, effortless and entirely natural.
The difference was clear: the others had been forced to look away because they couldn't withstand it, while Chu Feng had simply chosen to stop of his own accord.
This made everyone realize that Chu Feng had most likely seen through the secret hidden within the stone tablet.
"Chu Feng, did you figure something out?" the Liangqiu sisters stepped forward and asked.
The others also looked at Chu Feng with eager anticipation, hoping he would share some good news.
"This stone tablet is the main formation that Senior Liangqiu Chengfeng spoke of. It's just been sealed, and we need to unseal it. Fortunately, enough people showed up today, or else… this really would have been trouble," Chu Feng said.
"How do we unseal it?" Liangqiu Hongyue asked.
"Simple." With that, Chu Feng released the power of his barrier onto both palms, stepped up to the stone tablet, and began sweeping his hands across its surface like a brush across parchment.
As Chu Feng's palms moved, the stone tablet emitted a faint glow — the trail of light tracing the exact path of his hands.
Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from the stone tablet and took the form of a barrier gate.
Chu Feng did not stop. He continued sweeping his palms across the tablet, creating more and more trails of light until they formed a painting — a painting no one could decipher, yet one possessed of an unmistakable, otherworldly beauty.
Before long, a second beam of light emerged from the stone tablet, forming a second barrier gate.
Immediately after, a third barrier gate burst forth.
Once the third gate had fully formed, Chu Feng stepped back from the tablet. When he withdrew his barrier power, the glow on the stone tablet faded, and it returned to its original appearance.
But those three barrier gates remained standing behind the stone tablet.
"There are three barrier gates, each containing a barrier formation. If we break all three formations simultaneously, the tablet will be unsealed. However… the formations inside the three gates differ in difficulty. The leftmost one is the strongest, and the rightmost one is the weakest."
"That means we need to split up. You two ladies take the middle gate. Everyone else takes the right one. Wuma Shengjie and I will take the left."
"Does anyone object?" Chu Feng asked the group.
"No objections. We'll follow your lead," everyone said in unison.
Having watched Chu Feng handle the stone tablet with such effortless ease, people believed even more firmly that he had truly seen through its secrets. Otherwise, he could never have done what he just did.
Their trust in Chu Feng deepened further.
They were ready to follow his every instruction, believing it was the only way they could succeed in breaking the formations.
"I have an objection." It was Liangqiu Hongyue who suddenly spoke up. "Why should Wuma Shengjie go with you instead of us sisters?"
Her tone carried a hard edge. Clearly, Chu Feng choosing Wuma Shengjie over the two of them had put her in a foul mood.
"Although the middle formation is slightly weaker than the left one, it's only slightly weaker. Apart from the two of you, I'm afraid no one else is up to that task."
"As for the left gate, it requires at least two people working together. All three of you could help me, really, but considering the difficulty of the middle gate, this is the best arrangement," Chu Feng said.
"Oh, so that's how it is. Then very well." Since Chu Feng's words had, after all, praised the Liangqiu sisters' abilities, the displeasure on Liangqiu Hongyue's face not only vanished but was replaced by a playful smile on her delicate cheeks.
"Chu Feng, this barrier gate… it appears to be in a closed state," Liangqiu Lanyue said.