After dealing with that person, Chu Feng turned to the others who had yet to enter the formation, his expression stern.
"Those who wish to follow me, enter the formation now. I won't wait."
The moment these words left Chu Feng's lips, the remaining people dared not hesitate. They rushed into the formation, terrified of missing the chance to cling to Chu Feng's coattails.
Still, a portion of them chose not to enter, instead opting to give up entirely.
After all, everyone had their own priorities. Though most people simply wanted to survive, there were still some who wanted to chase fortune through danger and claim a ranking in the entrance trial.
In the end, tens of thousands entered the formation, but only a little over two thousand passed the test.
These two thousand-odd individuals were all people of kind hearts. Chu Feng felt that, at the very least, within the trial formation he had set up, they had shown their innate goodness.
Hum—
Suddenly, Chu Feng opened his palm, and a small formation hovered above it.
Within the formation were countless ropes.
"Everyone, the dangers of the Nine Heavens secret realm need not be explained by me. You've all heard the rumors."
"I, Chu Feng, cannot even be certain whether I can make it out alive, so naturally I can make you no guarantees."
"I came here to claim first place in this entrance trial, so the path I choose may be the more perilous one."
"Following me doesn't necessarily mean safety. If you'd like to change your minds, there's still time," Chu Feng addressed the group.
"Young Master Chu Feng, I, Chu Shanshan, am willing to follow you. Wherever you go, I go." It was the long-legged woman who spoke first, pledging her loyalty.
One by one, the others voiced their support as well. Almost no one chose to withdraw.
"Hero Chu Feng, I'm willing too. I'll follow you to the death — take me along."
"Take me as well, Hero Chu Feng. I may have done wrong in the past, but I truly admire you."
Even those who had been eliminated voiced their willingness.
But Chu Feng paid them no mind whatsoever.
He had walked the vast world of martial cultivation for so long — what kind of person hadn't he encountered?
These people's words were the least trustworthy of all.
That was precisely why Chu Feng had set up the formation — to distinguish which people were worth protecting.
He refused to be used by those with ill intentions.
Seeing Chu Feng's resolve was so firm, among those who had been eliminated, the more sensible ones stepped through the Junior Gate on their own, forming teams to explore independently.
But even more refused to leave, still hoping to follow Chu Feng.
When lives were on the line, rankings no longer mattered as much.
Yet Chu Feng did not give them the chance. The formation activated, and in an instant, those ropes shot outward, binding every peer who had passed the test.
With that, Chu Feng turned and led the two thousand-odd individuals through the Junior Gate.
Chu Feng moved swiftly. Those who wanted to follow him had no hope of keeping up.
Once inside, Chu Feng and the others found themselves in a dense forest.
The trees in this forest were at minimum a hundred meters tall, with the largest reaching several thousand meters.
These trees bore a resemblance to mountains — though shaped like trees, they were entirely black, their material resembling steel. Even with Chu Feng's cultivation, he could not so much as shake them.
The trees bore no leaves, only trunks, but because they were so enormous, flying through them felt like stumbling into a world of giants.
"What's going on? I heard that entering here would lead to a valley with Fierce Beasts inside — you'd have to defeat them to advance. How did we end up in a forest of steel?" someone asked in confusion.
"Your information isn't accurate. What you encounter after stepping through the Junior Gate varies wildly. You might run into Fierce Beasts, or you might find yourself trapped in mechanisms or formations," another person explained.
"So what is this place? It looks more like some kind of mechanism. Hero Chu Feng, you should be careful," the group warned, sensing that this place was no ordinary location.
"Don't worry. It's just a maze," Chu Feng said.
"A maze?"
Though no one said it outright, some began to doubt Chu Feng's assessment. They were more inclined to believe it was a mechanism.
And so, they each employed their own methods of observation, studying the area intently.
But the forest was indeed a maze — one with no formations at all, constructed purely from physical objects.
Because of that, it was extremely difficult to detect that it was a maze in the first place.
If one simply walked through it, they would find that the forest seemed impossibly vast, with no end no matter how far they traveled.
In truth, the forest was not nearly that large. The reason one couldn't leave was that they were trapped.
But Chu Feng had recognized it as a maze the very moment he set foot in the forest, deducing it from the shapes and arrangement of the trees.
And he had quickly found the route to escape.
So Chu Feng had barely paused, moving forward with clear purpose and remarkable speed.
"Wow, I see it now — it really is a maze!"
As time passed and people observed more closely, more and more of them confirmed that it was indeed a maze.
But in the very next moment, the path opened up to reveal a broad plaza.
Chu Feng had already led them out of the maze forest.