"Lord Jie Tian has also passed the trial. Just like Xianhai Yu'er, he has earned the Chief Elder's recognition and now enjoys the highest level of treatment."
"However, I have heard..." That person hesitated, as though reluctant to speak further.
"Heard what? Just tell me."
"If it's something you've already heard, will I not eventually hear it too?" Chu Feng said.
"Fair enough. Then I'll speak frankly, sir. It's not as though we'll ever meet this Lord Jie Tian anyway."
"I've heard that Lady Xianhai Yu'er is kind and gracious to those around her, but Lord Jie Tian is extremely harsh to people. In fact... quite a few of our brothers have already died at his hands."
"Sir, we're on the same side here, so I'll just say it like it is."
"Even though we were created by the formation, we have emotions, we have lives. Even the Chief Elder himself said that, setting aside the way we were born, there is no difference between us and the human race."
"But this Lord Jie Tian truly sees us as nothing more than constructs born of a formation. He doesn't value our lives at all. That's going too far in looking down on us."
That person voiced considerable resentment toward Jie Tian, and the others nodded in agreement one after another. It was clear enough that none of them were fond of Jie Tian.
No wonder, then, that when Chu Feng had asked earlier, they hadn't mentioned Jie Tian right away and had only spoken of Little Yu'er.
"Even though we were born of a formation, we are real, living beings. If he slaughters innocents without sufficient reason, does the Chief Elder really do nothing about it?" Chu Feng asked.
"Ah, in the past, he certainly would have. But Jie Tian is genuinely capable, and right now they need him — so naturally they turn a blind eye." The person sighed with a bitter smile.
"They need him?"
"Is there something that specifically requires his involvement?" Chu Feng asked.
Through further conversation, Chu Feng came to understand the general situation.
It turned out that the Star Sea World was far from peaceful.
Since the ancient era, a sinister and evil power had emerged within the Primordial Star Sea.
No one knew what had given birth to this dark force, but either way, it filled everyone with deep unease.
So after this power appeared, the elders of the Star Sea had been trying to destroy it ever since.
The problem was that this force was extremely difficult to locate, and during the ancient era, it had vanished without a trace.
But roughly ten thousand years ago, this evil power suddenly reappeared — and this time, it possessed the ability to seize souls and devour minds.
It managed to corrupt quite a few elders, turning them against their own and bending them to its will.
And over the course of those ten thousand years, more and more people had defected.
By now, this evil power had grown into a force that could not be taken lightly — one fully capable of matching them on equal footing.
Most troubling of all, deep within the Primordial Star Sea lay a place called the Star Thought Domain.
That Star Thought Domain was somewhere they could not set foot in.
Yet for reasons unknown, the traitors who had pledged themselves to the evil power — people who were fundamentally the same as them — had somehow recently obtained the qualification to enter the Star Thought Domain.
And according to rumor, the Star Thought Domain was the main formation eye of the entire Primordial Star Sea, a place where unimaginably powerful forces were hidden.
But what exactly that power entailed, not even they knew.
Now this evil power, through some unknown method, had enabled those traitors to enter the Star Thought Domain.
This was an exceedingly dangerous situation for them.
After all, the Star Thought Domain was effectively the lifeline of their Star Sea World — how could it be allowed to fall into the hands of such a wicked existence?
The matter had been causing the Chief Elder and the others no end of anguish. However, the Star Thought Domain could only be entered by those who had passed the trial.
Unless someone passed the trial, there was absolutely nothing they could do.
But fortune had smiled upon them. Shortly after those traitors entered the Star Thought Domain, Xianhai Yu'er had passed the trial.
Naturally, she gained the qualification to enter as well.
And later, Jie Tian had also passed.
So the two of them had been repeatedly entering the Star Thought Domain, helping to drive the traitors out.