"What's wrong?" The Queen's voice was laced with worry the moment she heard Chu Feng say something was off.
"I can't speak to this person."
Chu Feng had wanted to ask the woman a few questions, but he found himself unable to open his mouth. Now he could only communicate with the Queen.
"Huh? You literally can't talk?" Hearing that, the Queen's heart sank a good deal. She had originally feared that Chu Feng had run into some kind of danger, but since it turned out not to be that, she naturally felt relieved.
Still, she asked in confusion, "How is that possible? Did you figure out why?"
"Not yet," Chu Feng said.
Meanwhile, the woman was observing Chu Feng as well. Seeing that he hadn't said a word, she ventured:
"Are you a manifestation of the formation?"
"Are you here to help me?"
When she reached that conclusion, she nodded with satisfaction. "Finally, a little conscience."
Chu Feng was no fool. Even if he couldn't speak, there were other ways to communicate. So he used his finger as a pen, intending to write on the ground to exchange information with the woman.
But the moment his fingertip touched the ground, before he had even finished writing a single complete character, his body froze completely.
"It seems like something is deliberately preventing me from communicating with her," Chu Feng told the Queen.
He suspected that the power here had detected his intention to write and had seized control of his body. It even forced him to destroy the characters he had already scratched out — and the instant they were wiped away, Chu Feng regained his freedom.
"That's so unfair! Why is she allowed to talk but you're not?" The Queen was growing irritated.
After all, it was clear that the woman was in the same position as Chu Feng — both of them had come here to decipher this inheritance. But this kind of treatment was plainly discriminatory.
Hummmm —
Just then, golden light appeared in the sky above. Looking closely, it formed eight enormous characters.
Two shall compete — the victor breaks the formation!!!
"Compete? They set up a formation just so I'd have an opponent?"
"This place is already difficult enough, and now they give me a rival too. This is getting more and more ridiculous."
The woman grumbled under her breath, but after stealing a glance at Chu Feng, she bolted forward at full speed.
Chu Feng had no idea what was going on — he didn't even know what the competition was supposed to entail — so he simply followed the woman, watching what she did.
"Hey, stop following me! If you want to find something, go look on your own — don't compete with me!" Seeing Chu Feng trailing behind her, the woman seemed rather annoyed.
Fortunately, even though Chu Feng's cultivation had been sealed, his current physical speed appeared to be on par with hers. So even if she wanted to shake him off, there was no way — Chu Feng even ended up running shoulder to shoulder with her.
It was worth noting, however, just how powerful the formation that suppressed their cultivation truly was. As his cultivation had grown, Chu Feng had long since forgotten what exhaustion felt like. But now, with his power sealed away completely, he was no different from an ordinary person who had never cultivated a day in his life.
After just a short while of intense running, Chu Feng actually felt thoroughly exhausted. His legs grew heavier with every stride, his breathing became increasingly labored, and his lungs felt as though they were about to burst.
This feeling of weakness brought back memories of what it had been like before he ever started cultivating — when he was just an ordinary man.
As they ran on, a ball of golden light appeared ahead.
The moment the woman spotted it, she visibly redoubled her efforts. Chu Feng didn't dare slack off either, pushing himself into a full sprint. Although every observational technique was useless in his current state, his experience told him that there was something valuable inside that ball of light.
But just as they were about to reach it, the woman suddenly dropped low and whipped out a sweeping leg strike, trying to knock Chu Feng off his feet.
Chu Feng might have lost his cultivation, but that didn't make him helpless. His combat instincts were still very much intact. A mere sweep like that could never take him down. He executed a sideways aerial flip, dodged the strike cleanly, and used the momentum to overtake the woman, reaching the ball of light a split second before her.
Hummmm —
The instant he got close, the golden light surged into Chu Feng's body. He felt himself freeze once more — yet the power of the light was coursing through him, being bestowed upon him.
"This formation really is something."
Seeing what had happened, the woman immediately turned and sprinted madly in a different direction.