"So everyone here entered through the Darknight Divine River and can't leave?" Chu Feng asked.
"Stop playing dumb. I'll smack you if you keep pretending," the elder said.
"I already told you I'm not lying. I just got here."
"If you don't believe me, go ask them — see if anyone here knows me."
Chu Feng pointed at the people scattered throughout the city.
"You think you need to teach me that? I'll go ask right now."
"I'm going to find out today who exactly this Chu Xuanyuan is."
As he spoke, the elder led Chu Feng quickly into the city.
Judging from his words, Chu Feng gathered that the elder didn't know who Chu Xuanyuan was either — but he had clearly heard the name before. That was why he was so curious about him.
The elder was no fool. Rather than shouting about it the moment they entered the city, he went straight to the place responsible for recording the city's population. That was where the records of every resident were kept.
But there, the elder found no information about Chu Feng.
"You… you really did just get here, didn't you?"
"That can't be right, though. The Darknight Divine River only opened less than half an hour ago — how could you possibly have made it here that fast?"
The elder stared at Chu Feng, finding it hard to believe.
He had been convinced the whole time that Chu Feng was a local who was lying to him. But now that assumption had been shattered, and he had no choice but to accept Chu Feng's claimed identity.
Still, it defied all logic, and he couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Why don't you think about this — why was I inside the hall?" Chu Feng asked.
"Yeah… why were you inside the hall?" the elder echoed, because he distinctly remembered the guards had said they never saw Chu Feng enter. It was as if Chu Feng had materialized out of thin air.
"When the Darknight Divine River opened, I entered it. Inside the barrier tunnel, I discovered a hidden barrier gate."
"So I activated that gate, passed through it, and it led me directly into that hall."
Chu Feng explained.
"That's actually possible?"
"I've never heard of such a thing in my life."
The elder scratched his head and ears, clearly still unwilling to believe Chu Feng's story — yet if he didn't believe it, he had no better explanation himself.
"Forget it. I'll just take you to see Lord Yuwei and get to the bottom of this."
With that, the elder headed toward the depths of the city.
"Say, Elder — you don't seem to know who Chu Xuanyuan is, but you've definitely heard of him. Where did you hear the name? Was it from this Lord Yuwei?" Chu Feng asked.
"Don't ask about that for now."
"Boy, let me ask you — is Chu Xuanyuan really your father? You didn't lie about that, did you?" the elder pressed.
"Why would I lie about something like that?" Chu Feng said.
"Good."
With that, the elder led Chu Feng onward.
Before long, he brought Chu Feng to a grand hall.
With his Heavenly Eyes, Chu Feng could see through the structure. Inside the hall, there was an ancient formation, and before it sat an old woman in meditation.
Her eyes were shut tight as she sat cross-legged before the ancient formation, apparently cultivating.
As for what the formation actually did, Chu Feng couldn't determine that at a glance.
But compared to the formation, Chu Feng's attention was focused far more on the old woman herself.
Because all the answers to the mysteries surrounding this place likely resided in her.
She had to be the Lord Yuwei the elder had spoken of.
It was worth noting, however, that Chu Feng couldn't see through the old woman's cultivation level at all — he couldn't even sense her aura.
If the elder, called Lord Bai, hadn't led him here, Chu Feng wouldn't have even realized that this palace harbored such an unfathomably deep old woman.
There were guards stationed outside the hall — Martial Venerable Realm cultivators, the same ones Chu Feng had sensed before even entering the city. He had initially assumed they were important figures here, but it turned out they were merely gatekeepers.
That, in itself, spoke volumes about the status of this Lord Yuwei.
"Lord Bai, Lord Yuwei is in closed-door cultivation. She has forbidden any outsiders from disturbing her."
When the two approached, the guards stationed there addressed the elder.
"I have urgent business to discuss with Lord Yuwei. Let me in."
Even as he spoke, Lord Bai had already grabbed Chu Feng and pushed through the door. The guards looked troubled, but none of them tried to stop them.
It was clear that though Lord Bai's cultivation was nothing remarkable, his standing here was far from insignificant.
Lord Bai led Chu Feng straight to the old woman's seclusion chamber with practiced ease.