"Chu Feng, you— you— you—" Staring at the Flat Peach in Chu Feng's hand, Zhao Yu could hardly believe his eyes.
He had been trying to kill Chu Feng moments ago, and now Chu Feng was actually willing to give him a Flat Peach?
"Take it." Chu Feng said with a smile.
"Thank you, thank you! Chu Feng, don't worry — from now on, I'm with you, no questions asked. Whatever you say goes. That old beast Yue Ling didn't know what was good for him, but I'll help you kill him." Zhao Yu accepted the Flat Peach, so moved that the rims of his eyes grew moist. He was overflowing with gratitude toward Chu Feng and even began making all manner of promises.
However, deep inside his heart, a frigid, sinister laugh stirred. He sneered coldly to himself: "Chu Feng, in the end you're still too green. You actually fell for my act. Then what awaits you… is a dead end."
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Yet, in that very moment, Chu Feng's wide sleeves swept out in rapid succession. Waves of barrier power, like ropes, began enveloping Zhao Yu, binding him up and covering his entire body.
"Chu Feng, you— you— you… what are you doing?!" Zhao Yu, who had been wildly elated just moments before, was now struck with alarm.
Chu Feng's barrier power not only sealed his strength — it even restricted his movement. This sent a jolt of shock through him and filled him with an intense sense of unease.
Hadn't Chu Feng been about to let him go?
Hadn't Chu Feng been deceived by his act?
So what was going on now?
As Zhao Yu was beset by all manner of anxiety and confusion, Chu Feng's formations continued to be laid out. Before long, not only could Zhao Yu not move — he couldn't even speak.
Most critically, Chu Feng concealed his formations within Zhao Yu's body, so seamlessly that no one could tell he had been trapped by Chu Feng's arrays.
As for Chu Feng, he offered no explanation of what he was doing. He simply carried Zhao Yu beneath the Flat Peach tree and set him down sitting at its base.
Of course, Zhao Yu still clutched the Flat Peach Chu Feng had given him in his hands.
After that, Chu Feng paid Zhao Yu no further mind and went to set up the grand formations — the ones meant to counteract the killing formation.
Because Chu Feng had no idea just how powerful that killing formation truly was, he set up a dual-formation system. The first was a defensive array designed to withstand the killing formation, one that could save people's lives at the critical moment.
The second was an array designed to destroy the killing formation altogether. This one was far more difficult than the defensive array and required considerably more time and barrier power to construct.
Fortunately, Chu Feng had obtained from the Beast Emperor a mountain-sized hoard of Dragon-level Barrier Stones. With that many Dragon-level Barrier Stones at his disposal, he could use them freely without restraint.
Under the support of vast quantities of Dragon-level Barrier Stones and other rare treasures, the time Chu Feng needed was greatly reduced. After a sustained effort, he finally completed both formations.
Moreover, Chu Feng had constructed them flawlessly, hiding the arrays so thoroughly that unless a Dragon-veined Spirit World Master sensed them carefully, no one would be able to see them with the naked eye.
"Haa… it's finally done." After finishing, Chu Feng wiped the sweat from his brow. He was drenched in perspiration, his complexion pale and his lips parched. Setting up these two grand formations had truly consumed a tremendous amount of his energy.
Never mind the sheer number of Dragon-level Barrier Stones and rare materials he had spent — even Chu Feng's own barrier power had been drained to a staggering degree, leaving him nearly hollowed out.
After all, these formations concerned not just the lives of those who would enter this place, but in a broader sense, the lives of billions of living beings across the Martial Sacred Continent. Chu Feng could not afford a single moment of carelessness. He had to give it everything he had.