"Come, brother, let's... let's... have a proper chat."
By the time they landed, the two of them were far from the
The forest was bizarre. The trees, like the ground, were entirely black — an ink-dyed blackness.
Moreover, not a single leaf grew on any of the trees in this forest. They were all bare trunks.
The branches were as sharp as blades, razor-edged, as though countless swords had been pieced together.
But despite how eerie the forest was, there was a lake nestled within it.
The lake was not large, but the water was remarkably clear.
A lake like this was beautiful — so beautiful that it seemed entirely out of place amid the desolate, uncanny surroundings.
"Come, have a taste..."
"This is goo... good stuff." As Wang Qiang spoke, he plunged his hand straight into the lake and scooped up some water to drink.
Seeing this, Chu Feng walked over as well. Just like Wang Qiang, he reached down and scooped up the lake water with his bare hand, drinking it directly.
"This lake water actually contains heaven and earth energy." Surprise and delight welled up in Chu Feng's eyes.
The water was not only sweet and refreshing — it genuinely contained heaven and earth energy, and that energy was hidden extremely deep. Had he not actually drunk the water, even Chu Feng would never have guessed that this lake water was a cultivation treasure.
"There's plenty of goo... good stuff here."
"But it's a shame, brother, you pro... probably can't stay here long," Wang Qiang said.
"What exactly is going on here? Is that
"The one who encountered us inside the Void Divine Tree earlier — was that Qin Kunlun?"
"And your cultivation — did you gain it by cultivating here?" Chu Feng asked.
"Don't... don't bring it up. My cultivation isn't like yours — you earned yours through your own ability, fair and square. It's admirable."
"But mine... I didn't earn it through my own ability at all. It was forcibly poured into me by someone else," Wang Qiang said.
"Forcefully poured in??"
Hearing those words, Chu Feng's expression changed drastically. A sense of dread rose from the depths of his heart.
The path of martial cultivation was not without precedent for bolstering one's power through another person's strength.
Cases of forcibly infusing cultivation into someone had occurred before, and they were not rare.
However, when someone had cultivation forcibly infused into them, the recipient would endure excruciating pain — a torment worse than death itself.
And the stronger the cultivation being infused, the greater the agony.
Furthermore, it would have a massive impact on all future cultivation.
Simply put, if a person was gifted and cultivated on their own, they could potentially reach the Supreme Realm — it would simply take a longer time to get there.
But take that same person, with the same talent unchanged, and have them grow impatient, seeking quick results by accepting another's forcibly infused cultivation. In the short term, their cultivation would surge dramatically.
Yet they would inevitably pay a steep price for it. That price was the certainty that they would never set foot in the Supreme Realm for the rest of their lives — they might not even reach the Ninth Level Venerable Realm.
In short, the more cultivation that was forcibly infused, the greater the damage to one's potential.
Unless the person doing the infusing possessed truly overwhelming power, this kind of damage was unavoidable.
That was precisely why Chu Feng was so worried. Unconsciously, he activated his Heavenly Eyes to examine Wang Qiang's body.
And what he saw made his blood run cold.
Through his Heavenly Eyes, Chu Feng could see that Wang Qiang's body was covered in scars — horrifying scars that could only have been earned through countless rounds of tearing apart and reconstruction.
Judging from those scars, the pain Wang Qiang had endured was absolutely not limited to physical suffering alone. Even his soul had been subjected to torment.
"Who did this? Was it Qin Kunlun?"