Before even stepping out of the teleportation formation, Chu Feng and Zi Ling had already concealed themselves.
Aside from each other, unless they wished to be seen, no one could perceive their presence.
So even though they had arrived relatively early and had been among the first to meet that elderly man, no one had any idea they had been there.
The crowd had scattered in fear…
And everyone assumed that this city had long since become a lifeless, abandoned husk.
"Chu Feng, could the key fragment be inside that formation?" Zi Ling asked.
"Very likely," Chu Feng said.
"I never imagined the Seven Realms Holy Land could be this monstrous."
"They only needed to take the formation — why exterminate the entire Tan Family?"
Zi Ling was increasingly certain that the Seven Realms Holy Land was behind what had happened here.
According to the people here, this formation was something ordinary individuals could neither move nor remove.
Yet it had been taken.
Aside from the Seven Realms Holy Land, what other power possessed such means?
More importantly, the Seven Realms Holy Land had come here specifically for this formation.
"I don't understand," Zi Ling said again.
Chu Feng had been surveying their surroundings. Upon hearing her words, he couldn't help but ask, "What don't you understand?"
"The Seven Realms Holy Land could have simply taken what they wanted without a sound."
"Why did they have to slaughter everyone?" Zi Ling voiced her confusion.
"Because they are powerful enough," Chu Feng said.
"Powerful enough?" Zi Ling was even more puzzled — the reasoning seemed absurd.
How could being powerful enough serve as justification for wiping out tens of millions of living beings?
"In their eyes, these people aren't even human. They're just ants."
"And this matter had to be executed flawlessly, because it concerns the treasure within the Ancestral Martial Realm's Sect Master City."
"They couldn't afford any mishaps."
"The Tan Family didn't have to die — they weren't actually an obstacle to the Seven Realms Holy Land."
"But the Seven Realms Holy Land likely felt that with the Tan Family dead, they could rest easier."
"Tell me — how many people would refuse to crush a swarm of ants if it bought them peace of mind?" Chu Feng countered.
"But they aren't ants. They're living, breathing people," Zi Ling said.
"Exactly. That's what I mean — they're too powerful, and they've been powerful for far, far too long."
"That has nurtured their arrogance and their cruelty. They may have truly come to see themselves as gods, and truly see all other living beings as ants beneath their feet," Chu Feng said.
"But even if I grow immeasurably strong, I would never do something like this," Zi Ling said.
"Because my Zi Ling is a good person. But in this world of the strong devouring the weak, how many good people are there?"
"Still, this world does need to be governed by good people — at the very least, good people won't slaughter the innocent indiscriminately, and they'll be willing to stand up for the weak."
"If every ruler across the Heavenly Rivers were a good person, the vast world of martial cultivation would never be in the state it's in today."
These words from Chu Feng were spoken almost offhandedly, yet Zi Ling found herself utterly captivated.
She had been training hard so she could help Chu Feng and not hold him back — so she could fight alongside him, just as when they had first met.
But now she had found a new reason.
This world should not be this way.
The powerful should benefit the world, not strip everything away, see themselves as gods, and exploit those they rule.
If she one day held authority over a region, she would reestablish order and protect the weak.
"Chu Feng, what are you looking for?" Zi Ling asked shortly after.
Though they had been conversing, Chu Feng had been carefully scanning their surroundings the entire time.
He had also produced the Celestial Master's Horsetail Whisk.
The whisk was providing guidance.
But Zi Ling couldn't perceive anything.
"Looking for clues," Chu Feng said.