Chu Feng, if you want to save Zhao Hong, come find us here.
Remember, you must come alone. Otherwise… Zhao Hong's life will be forfeit.
—Kong Shunlian and Kong Yuehua of the Kong Heavenly Clan.
So this letter was written to Chu Feng by Kong Shunlian and Kong Yuehua. They had actually abducted Zhao Hong.
Furthermore, hanging from the bottom-right corner of the letter was a ring. Chu Feng recognized it — it was indeed the ring Zhao Hong always carried with her.
"Zhao Hong has fallen into their hands?"
Chu Feng's brow furrowed deeply. The Kong Heavenly Clan had been destroyed, and Kong Shunlian and Kong Yuehua — those two Supreme Elders — could be counted among the Kong Heavenly Clan's few remaining survivors. And they were the strongest among them.
Now they were summoning Chu Feng to meet them. The purpose was obvious: they wanted revenge.
"If I had known they were this ungrateful, I should have killed them two years ago," the Queen said indignantly.
Back then, when the Evil God Sword had gone berserk and was about to slaughter everyone, Kong Shunlian and Kong Yuehua had both been on the verge of death beneath its blade.
It was Chu Feng who hadn't wanted to harm them. He had forcibly restrained the Evil God Sword and let them go.
But who could have imagined that they would now seize Zhao Hong and use her as leverage against Chu Feng?
Even if calling them ungrateful was too strong, the word "despicable" certainly applied to them.
"Go find Ying Mingchao. With his strength, dealing with them would be effortless."
"With Ying Mingchao there, they wouldn't even get a chance to act, and you wouldn't need to worry about Zhao Hong getting hurt," the Queen said.
"Eggie, are you telling me to disregard my friend's safety?" But Chu Feng looked distinctly unhappy with the Queen's suggestion.
"I…" Faced with Chu Feng's displeasure, even that strikingly beautiful little face of the Queen's showed a guilty expression.
The Queen was extraordinarily clever. How could she not understand that if Kong Shunlian and the others dared to seek out Chu Feng, they must have prepared thoroughly?
That meant even if Chu Feng brought along someone overwhelmingly powerful who could easily obliterate Kong Shunlian and his ally, Zhao Hong's life might still not be saveable.
For instance, if they had locked Zhao Hong away in some hidden location rigged with a mechanism — one that would activate when time ran out, killing Zhao Hong in the process.
In short, if they wanted Zhao Hong dead, there were countless ways to accomplish it. They didn't even need to keep her by their side.
"I just don't want to put your safety at risk," the Queen said after a moment of silence.
Seeing the Queen like this, Chu Feng felt a pang of guilt. How could he not understand Eggie's thoughts?
For Eggie, everyone else's life had always been inconsequential. She only cared about Chu Feng's safety.
"It seems there's no persuading you," the Queen said again.
"If I don't go, I won't be able to face Wang Qiang, and I won't be able to face my own conscience," Chu Feng said.
"Fine. Since you're going, there's no time to waste. Let's head out now." In the end, the Queen relented.
Chu Feng then made up some excuse and left Hero City, heading toward the location Kong Shunlian had designated for their meeting.
It was a vast desert. Howling winds swept across it, sending yellow sand billowing in every direction.
Yet scattered across this desert were numerous oases — all man-made, built for habitation and daily life.
Kong Shunlian hadn't told Chu Feng the exact meeting point, so Chu Feng had no choice but to search through oasis after oasis.
Moreover, he had to remain visible, for fear that Kong Shunlian and the others wouldn't be able to find him.
"That city — something's off."
Suddenly, Chu Feng's gaze sharpened.
Among the oases ahead, there was a city.
On the surface, it appeared perfectly normal. But with the keen perception of a Spirit World Master, Chu Feng sensed something amiss about that city.
Hum —
Light flickered in his eyes as he activated his Heavenly Eyes.
The moment his Heavenly Eyes activated, he immediately discovered that a concealed barrier shrouded the entire city.
That hidden barrier masked the city's true appearance. To anyone looking from the outside, the city would seem unremarkable and peaceful.
But in reality, something horrific was taking place within its walls.
A massacre — a massacre was underway. The city had become a river of blood, with countless corpses lying sprawled across pools of crimson.
Although he could only see the images and couldn't hear the sounds, Chu Feng felt as though he could hear those heartbreaking cries.
In that city, wailing, pleas for mercy, and screams of agony rose and fell in waves.
It was the Soul Infant Sect. The ones carrying out the slaughter were two members of the Soul Infant Sect.
"Him?"
What shocked Chu was that he actually recognized one of those two members.
It was Soul Refinement — the prodigy who had once been mentioned in the same breath as Li Yue'er, and who had been defeated by Li Yue'er within the Eight Desolate Graveyard.