When Chu Feng passed through the invisible barrier, the true appearance of the palace came into view.
The interior of the palace was not ornate. The space before him was a grand hall, but deep within the hall stretched a long corridor.
The corridor extended endlessly into the distance, suggesting that the true trial lay deeper within.
Both the grand hall before him and the corridor not far away were constructed entirely from plain stone slabs.
Though what he saw was indeed imposing, it was far from lavish.
Little Fishy was waiting for him at the entrance.
But to Chu Feng's surprise, Jie Tian was also standing there, his posture suggesting that he, too, had been waiting for Chu Feng.
"Big brother, are you alright?"
Little Fishy noticed that Chu Feng looked somewhat weakened and hurried over to ask.
"I'm fine. I didn't take the trial on the way in, so I ran into a bit of trouble getting here," Chu Feng explained. Then he looked at Little Fishy and said, "The barrier armor has stopped working?"
Chu Feng noticed that although Little Fishy was still wearing the barrier armor, it no longer carried the power it had before. Right now, Little Fishy was relying entirely on her own aura.
"The moment I came inside, the barrier armor's power vanished," Little Fishy said.
Hearing that, Chu Feng quickly checked his Universe Bag. The eighteen barrier armors had been stored inside it. After inspecting them, he found that they, too, had become useless — the formation's power had been drained completely.
It had to be the work of that barrier just now.
"Oh? Lost your nerve without the barrier armor?"
The mocking voice came from Jie Tian.
But before Chu Feng could respond, Little Fishy spoke coldly: "Without the barrier armor, the one who should be nervous is you."
As she said this, absolute confidence shone on her stunningly beautiful face.
Here, there were no more restrictions. Without the barrier armor, they could only rely on their own strength.
But precisely because everyone was now on equal footing, relying on nothing but their own abilities, Little Fishy's confidence was entirely warranted.
"I have no intention of fighting you."
"Let's set aside our grudges for now and work together."
"Otherwise, if we fail the mission, we all die," Jie Tian said.
Chu Feng hadn't expected him to have that kind of awareness.
Of course, the reason he had this realization was simply that he truly did not want to die.
"Not necessarily," Chu Feng said.
"Not necessarily? What do you mean, not necessarily?" Jie Tian asked.
"Even if we fail the mission, that doesn't necessarily mean we'll die," Chu Feng replied.
"Heh…" Jie Tian laughed at this, a laugh dripping with contempt.
"What makes you so sure? Is it because that Scholar of Chaos entered this place through you?"
"Or is it because he appeared just now and stopped me from killing you?"
"You're incredibly naive. You have no idea what kind of person he really is."
As Jie Tian spoke, his attitude was supremely condescending, and the way he looked at Chu Feng was like a country bumpkin gazing at a clueless villager.
Even though Chu Feng had already defeated Jie Tian using the barrier armor, he had still failed to earn Jie Tian's respect.
"And you do?" Chu Feng asked.
"I don't fully understand him either, but I know this — his ruthlessness far exceeds anything you can imagine."
"He was one of the most infamous figures of the ancient era."
"He was the most powerful Spirit World Master of ancient times, and do you really think someone who reached that position could be soft-hearted?" Jie Tian asked.
"Whether he's soft-hearted or not can wait."
"The moment you said he was the strongest Spirit World Master, I knew your understanding of ancient history is rather incomplete," Chu Feng said.
"What do you mean?" Jie Tian's sharp brows shot upward. "I'm telling you he's ruthless and cruel, and you're going on about whether my understanding is complete? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Oh, so your understanding is incomplete, but you want to pretend you know everything, and I'm not allowed to point that out?"
"What's the matter? People from the Seven Realms Sacred Palace really are thin-skinned, aren't they? You get to show off, but I'm not allowed to call you out?" Chu Feng said sarcastically.
"You little—" Jie Tian's eyes blazed with fury as he glared viciously at Chu Feng.
"Gyaaah!!!"
But the next instant, he was crouching on the ground, clutching his head, his face twisted in agony.
Seeing him like this, neither Chu Feng nor Little Fishy showed the slightest surprise. That had to be the binding formation left by the Scholar of Chaos to prevent them from killing each other.
Jie Tian, however, recovered quickly.
He stood up again, but he didn't even dare look at Chu Feng — he feared that seeing Chu Fan would ignite his rage and murderous intent all over again, triggering the formation's punishment once more.
"I'm not going to waste breath arguing with you."
"I already said it — if you want to survive, we need to work together. And our movements have to be coordinated; we need to cooperate."
"And when it comes to a place like this, I have the most experience. You two had better—"
But before he could finish, Little Fishy cut in: "Had better listen to you? Keep dreaming."
"Xianhai Yu'er," Jie Tian turned to Little Fishy. "A person needs to know when to let go. This is no time to throw a spoiled princess tantrum."
At that, Chu Feng also spoke: "I don't agree with listening to you, either."