Chu Feng gripped the dragon's horn, straddling its waist, and bolted through the underground palace at a speed akin to light. He was simply too fast—so fast that the moment a trap in the Infinite Underground Palace was triggered, Chu Feng had already vanished like a flash of light.
Yet this Infinite Underground Palace was simply too vast. Even with the Dragon Soaring Nine Heavens, a supremely profound movement martial art, Chu Feng could evade every trap, but the exit of the underground palace always seemed to be impossibly far away.
Without realizing it, Chu Feng had been inside the Infinite Underground Palace for nearly an entire hour, yet even at such breakneck speed, he still hadn't reached the end.
Chu Feng seriously wondered whether this underground palace was even bigger than the Supreme Villa on the surface. It truly lived up to the blood and sweat of generations of seniors—they had really dug deep enough.
And after rushing onward for yet another stretch, there were suddenly no more traps ahead of Chu Feng. But what lay before him was an endless, directionless subterranean world.
The most aggravating part was that here, Chu Feng's Spirit Realm Compass was completely useless. His Spirit World techniques were of no help. In this place where no sun could be seen, determining direction and finding the exit of the underground palace was incredibly difficult.
"Damn it, what is the Supreme Villa playing at? Making a single assessment this hard—are they even letting anyone pass?"
At this moment, Chu Feng was utterly frustrated, even somewhat irritable. If even he had trouble discerning direction here, wouldn't it be even harder for those he had left far behind to find the endpoint once they arrived?
So Chu Feng figured that even if many people could get past those brutal traps, escaping the underground palace within the time limit would still be extremely difficult. This assessment was destined to have the majority of participants fail.
But Chu Feng didn't care about others' success or failure. What worried him was being stuck here while someone else snatched away the first-place reward.
"Don't panic, Chu Feng. If even you're trapped here, that perverted old man probably can't find the exit either. Right now it's all about speed and luck."
"As long as you're fast enough, traversing this entire place isn't impossible. But to find the exit quickly, you'll need absolute luck," Egg reminded him.
"Right. There's no time to waste. For those ten thousand Mystic Stones, I have no choice but to push through." Chu Feng gritted his teeth and shot off into the depths of the vast underground world. In that moment, he felt acutely like a headless fly buzzing aimlessly through this world—but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" However, shortly after Chu Feng entered this underground world, rumbling sounds came from the distance. The rumbling was extremely piercing, and Chu Feng could tell—it was people fighting. Experts fighting.
"Someone must have gotten here before me after all. Why would they be fighting? Could it be they've already found the exit and are fighting over the first-place reward?" Hearing this sound, Chu Feng didn't panic. Instead, he was secretly delighted. He pivoted and shot toward the source.
At the same time, he set up a barrier around himself that completely concealed his presence. Unless one observed carefully, they wouldn't even be able to see Chu Feng. This was a concealing barrier that only a grey-robed Spirit World Master could deploy.
As Chu Feng drew closer, he was stunned to find that the rumbling had already ceased. Under these circumstances, he didn't dare extend his Mental Power to observe. He had to carefully conceal his aura, inch closer bit by bit, and use his own eyes to see what had happened.
"This is..." When Chu Feng got close, his pupils contracted sharply, and a look of extreme shock surfaced on his face.
In the distance stood a majestic, magnificent gate. That gate was without question the exit of this underground palace.
Not far away stood two people, and these two were clearly fighting for control over who would approach the gate first.
One of them was a thin, sinisterly grinning old man—none other than the famous perverted old man, Wang Qiang.
And the reason Chu Feng was so shocked was that standing opposite the perverted old man was a youth.
The youth wore luxurious brocade robes, his features handsome and fair. He looked even younger than Chu Feng, yet this youthful boy, facing the Heaven Martial Realm Wang Qiang, showed not a shred of fear. On the contrary, there was a hint of contempt in his eyes.
"Ha ha! I never expected the Nine Provinces Continent to produce a genius like you—one who can fight me to a draw. Boy, what's your name? Who's your master? Where do you come from?"
The perverted old man Wang Qiang suddenly burst into hearty laughter, but his eyes kept sizing up the brocade-clad youth, seemingly searching for an opening.
"You're not worthy of knowing my distinguished name. And you're definitely not fighting me to a draw—I was just testing you just now."
"But the result is disappointing. So the famous perverted old man Wang Qiang is nothing more than a mediocre figure after all. As expected, you can only bully those with average cultivation or those who haven't even begun martial cultivation." The youth's lips curled into a cold sneer, the disdain in his eyes deepening further.
"What an arrogant little brat! Today I'll teach you a proper lesson on behalf of your family, you ill-mannered wretch."
Being insulted by such a young boy sent the perverted old man Wang Qiang into a fury. His Heaven Martial Realm aura erupted, warping the very space around him. Cracks spread across the specially crafted stone tiles beneath his feet before they were crushed to powder by the pressure.
The perverted old man was truly enraged. The aura he radiated was far more formidable than Yan Yangtian's or Lin Moli's. It was clear that though all three were at the first level of the Heaven Martial Realm, the perverted old man's strength was vastly superior.
"Hmph. You've done nothing but evil and abandoned all conscience. Today I will carry out heaven's justice and eliminate you as a scourge."
Yet facing such a berserk perverted old man, the youth merely smiled faintly. Then, with a light wave of his sleeve, a wave of Mystic Force swept out from within his body.
"Ninth level of the Xuan Martial Realm!" Chu Feng was stunned. He hadn't expected this youth—who looked even younger than himself—to possess a cultivation at the ninth level of the Xuan Martial Realm.
But that wasn't even the most terrifying part. When that wave of Mystic Force surged forth, it actually intertwined with the Heavenly Force radiating from the perverted old man.
The two invisible forces had become tangible in the air, the compressed air itself detonating with bursts of thunder. Layer upon layer of ripples spread outward from the point where they clashed, sending the specially crafted rocks on the ground flying. This youth was actually matching Mystic Force against Heavenly Force on equal terms.
"Chu Feng, slip past now while you can! That first-place reward will be yours!"
And just as Chu Feng was deeply captivated by the youth's heaven-defying ability, Egg's voice suddenly rang in his ear.