After Chu Feng passed through that door, his vision blurred for a moment.
When his sight cleared, he found himself in an entirely different space.
This place formed its own self-contained world, and it was vast — far larger than Chu Feng had anticipated.
However, at the moment, this enormous space was packed with dense vines that blocked his path.
Moreover, runes were carved all over those vines, and they were currently flickering with faint light.
Those runes made the vines extraordinary, incredibly tough.
Most importantly, the moment Chu Feng stepped in here, he felt an immense pressure.
That pressure bore down not only on his physical body, but even on his Dantian and soul. Under this pressure, it was difficult for Chu Feng to even breathe. Standing here, his strength was greatly restrained — he had not only lost his ability to fly, but even walking was a struggle.
"Could this be a sealing formation? Is something sealed in here?"
"That dragon scale said to sever all the vines binding him. Could it be that he's the one sealed here?"
After all, Chu Feng was a Dragon Lineage Spirit World Master, and he immediately recognized that this place was no ordinary location. It was indeed a sealing formation.
"So that dragon scale was trying to use me to break the seal."
"But why was he sealed here? Isn't this an ancient ruin? How long has he been here?"
"Could it be that he wasn't transformed from that great tree — he was merely sealed within it?"
"What exactly happened here?" At this moment, Chu Feng sank into deep thought, feeling that he had been used by that dragon scale.
"Forget it. To save Yao'er, I have no choice but to take the risk."
Even though Chu Feng had seen through the dragon scale's intentions, and even though his mind was still full of questions, he had no choice but to do as the dragon scale had instructed. Even knowing full well that he was being used to break the seal, Chu Feng could only allow himself to be used.
Swish, swish, swish, swish—
Chu Feng began swinging the sword in his hand, using it to sever every vine in his path.
However, those vines were formidable. Sword energy was useless against them — only the blade itself could cut through.
And with this space being so vast, combined with how difficult it was to even walk, cutting through all the vines here was truly an exhausting task.
But Chu Feng could only press forward. He could tell that although there were countless vines, they all converged in a single direction.
He figured that by following that direction, he would find who the dragon scale had spoken of.
…
However, what left Chu Feng helpless was that his chopping went on for a full year.
A year — for the Chu Feng of today, that was far too long. With the Dark Hall as a formidable enemy looming before him, countless changes could occur within a single year.
Yet Chu Feng had no choice. He had to succeed. If he failed, he feared he would never be able to save Yao'er. So he could only keep going.
Finally, after a full year and two months, Chu Feng at last laid eyes on the dragon scale.
The dragon scale was inside a massive cage, and beyond the cage's bars lay the endpoint where all the vines converged.
"I've finally found you."
After a full year and two months of ceaseless chopping, Chu Feng had not drunk a single drop of water, eaten a single grain of rice, or slept for even a moment. The sword in his hand had never stopped its relentless swings.
He was utterly exhausted, on the verge of collapse.
But the moment he saw the dragon scale within the cage, his motivation surged back instantly, and the sword in his hand simply could not stop.
Swish, swish, swish, swish—
The sword in Chu Feng's hand grew faster than when he had first entered this place. Under his rapid slashing, he quickly severed every remaining vine.
With a tremendous boom, the colossal cage that had been suspended in midair crashed to the ground.
However, inside the cage, the dragon scale remained cross-legged on the floor, eyes tightly shut, without the slightest reaction — like a dead man.
"It seems I still need to break through this cage itself." Chu Feng swung his sword and thrust it toward the cage, intending to fully free the dragon scale.