"Good thing I'm a cautious man. I set up a teleportation formation in advance, or I'd be dead for sure."
"I've survived all the way from the ancient era to the present. People of this age don't even know my name yet. Dying like that would be far too pathetic."
Lord Bai clutched his chest, his face still pale with lingering fear.
But once the fear subsided and his mind settled, he began to replay the encounter in his thoughts.
After mulling it over, his eyes suddenly shot wide open, filled with shock.
"Wait — that was a martial force formation, not a barrier formation."
"To arrange a martial force formation to that level of sophistication would be exceedingly rare even in the ancient era. Has someone with that kind of talent appeared in the current age?"
"Moreover, the natural energy of the Ancestral Martial World was clearly being drawn into that forbidden zone. But unless one ventures deep into the Heavenly Road, there's no way to detect it at all."
"Had I not followed Chu Feng to the outskirts of that forbidden zone, I never would have discovered that all the natural energy of the Ancestral Martial World was being siphoned into it."
"A mysterious forbidden zone, guarded by such a powerful formation — one constructed purely from martial force."
"What kind of extraordinary figure has the Chu Family produced?"
At that thought, Lord Bai shifted his gaze in the direction Chu Feng had gone.
"Following Young Friend Chu Feng around like this really isn't the most proper thing to do… but I'm simply too curious. Fine, I'll just take one more look."
With that, Lord Bai soared through the air toward Chu Feng's current location.
At that moment, Chu Feng had arrived at the Heavenly Peak of the Profound Firmament.
However, once he entered the peak, he discovered that every person close to him within the Heavenly Peak of the Profound Firmament had vanished.
To be precise — they had disappeared.
But it was only those close to Chu Feng who were gone. Everyone else was still there, and all were safe and sound.
According to the people remaining on the Heavenly Peak of the Profound Firmament, those individuals had all disappeared simultaneously in a single night.
However, after their disappearance, a scroll had appeared inside the palace chamber of the Profound Firmament Fairy.
The problem was that no one could even get close to the scroll, let alone open it.
Hearing this, Chu Feng hurried to the Profound Firmament Fairy's palace chamber, and sure enough, found a scroll hovering in mid-air within the great hall.
Chu Feng could see that the scroll was protected by a formation — which was precisely why no one had been able to approach it.
But the moment Chu Feng appeared, the formation dissolved on its own, and then the scroll drifted toward him of its own accord.
Chu Feng caught the scroll and unfurled it, only to discover that once opened, it was actually a painting.
The painting depicted a scene.
It was a volcanic crater, perched among a cluster of mountains, its height piercing through the clouds, situated above a sea of clouds.
Every surrounding mountain range was blanketed in green, yet the summit of the volcano was nothing but white snow.
"It's him?"
The moment he saw the painting, Chu Feng's heart sank.
That mysterious figure who had abducted the members of the Chu Heavenly Clan had once given Chu Feng a painting as well.
And its contents were identical to this one in every detail.
Clearly, the Profound Firmament Fairy and the others had been taken — and the person responsible was the same one who had taken the Chu Heavenly Clan.
Afterward, Chu Feng questioned the people remaining on the Heavenly Peak of the Profound Firmament, asking whether there were any other clues.
They told him that they had investigated on their own and tried various approaches. Some had even left the peak to seek outside help.
But what they found was that throughout the entire Ancestral Martial Lower Realm, every person who had a close relationship with Chu Feng had disappeared, and this same scroll had appeared in multiple locations.
The Azure Dragon Sect, the Azurewood Mountain — the scroll had shown up at both.
Upon hearing this, Chu Feng immediately traveled to the Azure Dragon Sect and the Azurewood Mountain, and sure enough, found the same scroll at each location.