"Take a look. See if the payment is all in order?"
Tiger Master spoke between puffs of smoke as he tossed a Universe Bag toward City Lord Liang.
"It's all correct, Tiger Master."
City Lord Liang inspected the Universe Bag and nodded.
"Good."
Tiger Master extended another hand to accept the map — that hand was likewise a cat's paw.
After receiving the map, Tiger Master opened it for a brief glance, then asked again.
"City Lord Liang, have you sold this information to anyone else?"
"Tiger Master, I, Liang, conduct business on the basis of good faith. I won't deceive you. Originally, I had planned to sell this information only to you."
"After all, this matter concerns the Situ Spirit Gate. If word got out, I'd lose my head."
"But it so happened that a benefactor who visited today also inquired about this matter, so I did share the information with the benefactor as well."
City Lord Liang explained.
"Then doesn't that make me have one more competitor?"
"Who is this benefactor of yours?"
Tiger Master asked.
"I'm sorry, Tiger Master, but I can't reveal that."
City Lord Liang said.
"Then did your benefactor learn that I had been here?"
Tiger Master asked again.
"You can rest easy on that count, Tiger Master. You are my honored guest, so naturally I would not reveal your information to anyone. I did not tell even the benefactor."
City Lord Liang said.
"Now that's more like it."
"Alright, I'm off. We'll meet again next time."
"If this expedition yields a profit, I'll give you an extra share."
Tiger Master waved his hand, rose to his feet, and departed.
"Then I thank you, Tiger Master."
City Lord Liang also stood to see his guest off.
From City Lord Liang's manner, it was clear that their relationship was rather amiable — at the very least, there was some rapport between them.
…
Chu Feng followed the map onward.
To avoid drawing attention, he employed a fairly powerful concealment formation and even tapped into the concealing power of the Nine Dragon Sacred Robe.
Although Chu Feng's mastery of formation arts was constantly advancing, the concealing power of the Nine Dragon Sacred Robe had not diminished in the slightest — it had risen right along with his strength.
So even now, the Nine Dragon Sacred Robe's concealing power remained exceptional.
As long as Chu Feng had no desire to reveal himself, under the dual concealment of the formation and the Nine Dragon Sacred Robe, even a God-Robe Spirit World Master might not be able to detect him.
At last, Chu Feng and Song Yuwei arrived at the location marked on the map.
But when they looked around, there was nothing here but a desolate stretch of mountains.
Not just here — even along the entire journey, they had not spotted a single martial cultivator.
This place was extremely desolate.
No one would ever think that a place like this had anything to do with an ancient ruin.
Even after arriving, a normal glance would reveal nothing out of the ordinary.
Fortunately, Chu Feng still had his Celestial Eye.
Under the Celestial Eye, a layer of disguise formation was revealed — but only because Chu Feng already knew something was off here and had carefully observed before he could pick up on it.
Otherwise, even with the Celestial Eye, it would have been very difficult for him to detect anything amiss.
But even with the Celestial Eye, Chu Feng could only discover the disguise formation itself. He could not see what lay within.
This disguise formation had clearly been in place for many years. It was obviously not the work of the Situ Spirit Gate — it had likely been laid by that legendary Spirit World Master.
In truth, if Chu Feng wanted to break through this concealment formation, with his current mastery of formation arts, he could do it given enough time.
But Chu Feng reasoned that the people of the Situ Spirit Gate were inside. If he started setting up formations right out here, he would inevitably alert them.
Although he already knew that the Situ Spirit Gate's Supreme Elder's strength was beneath the Shura King's, and if it were merely a matter of revenge, Chu Feng could have simply charged in and slaughtered them all.
But on the way here, Chu Feng had conversed with Song Yuwei and learned just how formidable that legendary Spirit World Master truly was.
This legendary Spirit World Master had not only been invited by the Totem Dragon Clan to serve as a guest elder — he had even been extended an offer by the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion, who wanted to recruit him under their banner.
The Seven Realms Sacred Mansion — the holy land of Spirit World Masters. Joining their ranks was extraordinarily difficult enough as it, let alone being personally invited by them.
Those who received their invitation were all exceedingly powerful Spirit World Masters.
That alone spoke volumes about the kind of existence this legendary Spirit World Master was.
And most astonishingly, when faced with the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion's offer, this legendary Spirit World Master had actually refused back then, choosing instead to devote himself to assisting the Totem Dragon Clan.
When it came to exploring ruins like these, martial cultivators could only do so much. The real heavy lifting fell to Spirit World Masters.
And the Totem Dragon Clan, for all their might and vast numbers of powerful cultivators, were far inferior to the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion when it came to formation arts.
Many powerful ruins required them to join forces with the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion — even when the Totem Dragon Clan discovered a ruin on their own, they still had to invite the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion in for a share.
If they possessed a formidable Spirit World Master of their own, there would be no need for any of that.
So back in the day, that legendary Spirit World Master had truly rendered immense service to the Totem Dragon Clan.
He was genuinely very powerful.
However, Song Yuwei did not know the specifics of his strength, only that he was a True Dragon Spirit World Master. His exact cultivation level was known only to members of the Totem Dragon Clan.
But being a True Dragon Spirit World Master was already powerful enough — that was a level on par with True God realm cultivators.
So Chu Feng was eager to claim whatever benefits this ruin had to offer.
And based on his analysis, this ruin would not have appeared without reason. The Situ Spirit Gate must have discovered something.
After all, the Situ Spirit Gate practiced both formation arts and martial cultivation. Some among them were even stronger in formation than in martial combat.
For now, Chu Feng needed to avoid alerting them, keep himself hidden in the shadows, and strike at the opportune moment.
"I really can't see anything special about this place."