Whoosh—
Suddenly, a tremendous wave of martial force transformed into a violent gale that swept in all directions, scattering the surging and berserk power of the barrier.
At the same time, Daoist Golden Star's figure once again emerged.
The current Daoist Golden Star was not injured, but the smile he had worn earlier was long gone from his face.
At this moment, his aged face was filled with extreme unwillingness, and his eyes brimmed with confusion.
The reason he had been able to block the barrier sphere's attack was that at the critical moment, he had mobilized his martial force, releasing the full power of his sixth-rank Martial Ancestor cultivation.
However, this contest had been agreed upon with the strict condition that no martial force could be used—only barrier techniques.
And since he had used it, that meant he had lost.
"Daoist Golden Star, using martial force means you've lost," said the Valley Master of Luoxia Valley with a beaming smile, his words laced with a hint of mockery.
He was truly delighted—delighted on Chu Feng's behalf. He didn't know why Daoist Golden Star's barrier formation had turned on its own master, but the result was clear: Chu Feng had won.
"Brother Golden Star, your formation may be formidable, but it seems you can't quite control it, can you?"
"As a Celestial Robe Spirit World Master, to be attacked by your own formation—if word of this got out, who knows how many people would have a good laugh over it," the Three Stars Hall Master added with derision as well.
Though Daoist Golden Star had been his guest, his conduct had been far too despicable. Now that they had already fallen out, the Three Stars Hall Master saw no reason to hold back. He seized this opportunity to humiliate Daoist Golden Star and vent all the frustration he had been harboring.
Yet Daoist Golden Star paid no heed to the mockery from the Valley Master of Luoxia Valley or the Three Stars Hall Master. Instead, he stared fixedly at Chu Feng and demanded:
"Boy, what exactly did you do? Why did my formation turn around and attack me?"
"It's simple. I saw through your formation, so I set up a counter-formation designed to break it."
"My earlier formation wasn't meant to attack you—I merely used it to lure your formation into targeting you instead," Chu Feng explained.
The moment these words left Chu Feng's mouth, everyone suddenly understood.
They finally realized why Daoist Golden Star's formation had attacked its own master—it had all been Chu Feng's doing.
Yet even as they grasped the truth, they found it hard to believe.
After all, Daoist Golden Star's formation was extraordinarily powerful—it had been inherited from Grandmaster Kaihong. That Chu Feng could find a way to counter it was already impressive enough, but how had he managed to set up the counter-formation without anyone noticing?
Hadn't Chu Feng been fleeing the entire time?
"Nonsense—I never saw you set up any formation."
"Are you going to tell me you set up that formation from inside your stomach?" Daoist Golden Star asked.
"That's right. You've got it exactly," Chu Feng replied with a grin.
"What? He really set it up from inside his stomach?"
"No wonder Chu Feng's formation was spat out from his mouth—it turns out the formation had been constructed inside his body!"
Hearing this, the crowd was even more stunned. Some powerful Spirit World Masters could indeed use their will rather than their hands or techniques to manipulate barrier power, silently constructing formations without any visible effort.
But those who could accomplish such a feat were few and far between.
Even among those who could, they could only set up simple formations. The formation Chu Feng had just deployed, however, had broken through Grandmaster Kaihong's formation—which meant it was far from simple.