"Why can't I?"
"This is Brother Chu Feng's residence. You don't get to call the shots here, little sis," Xianhai Shaoyu said with a grin.
Long Chengyu didn't dare speak, but he nodded in agreement.
"I call the shots here," Little Fish put her hands on her hips. She looked arrogant on the surface, yet rather than coming off as annoying, she was genuinely playful and cute.
Then she smiled sweetly, her crescent-moon eyes narrowing as she looked at Chu Feng. "Big brother, does what I say count or not?"
"It counts, of course."
Chu Feng turned to the group with exaggerated authority. "Around here, Little Fish calls the shots."
"Yay, I support Little Fish too!" Immortal Meow Meow chimed in with a smile. She then looked toward Long Muxi. "Miss Muxi, why don't you stay as well?"
"Um…" Long Muxi hesitated, but she gave a slight nod.
"That's great! Sister Muxi is coming too — it'll be so much more lively now!" Little Fish jumped up in genuine delight.
*I want in on the fun too — this is unfair,* Long Chengyu thought to himself. But he only dared think it; for some reason, he was a little afraid of Little Fish.
*Sigh, Brother Chu Feng, this humble monk truly envies you.* *If not for having matters to attend to, I would love to stay as well.* He even glanced at Little Fish as he said it. "In truth, this humble monk is well-versed in transformation techniques, so this humble monk could also become a woman."
"…"
Everyone was speechless. This monk was truly shameless.
Then, Liu Kuo spoke again, his tone carrying weight.
"Oh, right, benefactors — every night, the cultivation ground within your residence will open. But each residence is limited to one person; no groups."
"Ahem… of course, this humble monk is referring to cultivation."
"So, you're welcome to stay here during the day, but at night, I'd recommend going back to your own residences to cultivate."
"The effects of the cultivation ground vary from person to person. You all have exceptional talent — it would be a real shame to waste it."
"After all, the Nine Heavens' Summit isn't a place you can visit just anytime."
After finishing his instructions, Liu Kuo prepared to leave.
"When will the competition at the Nine Heavens' Summit begin?" Feng Ling asked.
"Honestly, this humble monk doesn't know either. Everything is decided by the Nine Heavens' Summit."
"Logically, now that everyone has arrived and the assessment is over, it should have started already."
"It should be soon."
With that, Liu Kuo departed.
After he left, Chu Feng and the others resumed chatting. But everyone had picked up on the unspoken meaning in Liu Kuo's words and began to take the cultivation ground more seriously.
So when night fell, they each returned to their own residences.
"Hey Qilin, did you see that? Everyone's cultivation is so strong — I really don't measure up. When are you going to finish refining? Can you help boost my cultivation too?"
Chu Feng asked the Heaven-Devouring Qilin, but who would have thought — it didn't answer.
In truth, over the past two days, this wasn't the first time Chu Feng had pressed the Heaven-Devouring Qilin about this.
But the Qilin hadn't responded once. It was normally quite talkative, yet lately it had been as silent as if it were dead.
"My friends have all left, and you're still playing dead?" Chu Feng asked.
Still, there was no response.
"Could it really be that it's focused on refining and can't speak?"
Having considered this possibility, Chu Feng stopped pressing the Heaven-Devouring Qilin.
Instead, he arrived at the cultivation ground.
The cultivation ground was actually quite small — located right within each person's residence. It was essentially a pool, roughly the size of a bathtub, except there was no water inside. Instead, it was covered in rune patterns.
The formation within the pool was already active.
Countless rune patterns of various colors drifted through the pool like fireflies granted life.
Chu Feng stepped straight in.
"This feeling?"
He quickly grasped the nuance.
The cultivation ground was divided into three layers.
The first layer made use of the formation's power for cultivation. Its effects were quite good, but breaking through in a short period was very unrealistic.
The second layer involved deep comprehension. If one understood enough, they could rearrange the rune patterns, and reordering them would yield even greater power.
As for the third layer — that was a kind of barrier. Breaking through it was extremely difficult; even with Chu Feng's comprehension, it would probably still take some time.
But it didn't take long for Chu Feng to break through the first layer and comprehend the second.
Now, Chu Feng could rearrange the patterns — there were multiple possible configurations.
Martial cultivation had its variations, formation cultivation had its variations, and this could even help World Spirits cultivate.
Based on Chu Feng's estimation, if he rearranged the rune patterns within this formation to the optimal configuration, the best result would be for World Spirit cultivation.
"Senior Kuiting, I will now channel the formation's power into the World Spirit space. You can enjoy this power on your own — let's see if it can help you break through to the True God realm."
By using the cultivation ground, Chu Feng could cultivate himself as well and might even be able to break through.
But right now his cultivation was far too weak. Even if he could improve, it would still be hard to hold his ground at the Nine Heavens' Summit, where geniuses were a dime a dozen.
However, if he first helped the Asura King raise his cultivation and guided him into the True God realm…
Then this trump card would be more than enough to stand above all competitors.