"You look so well-mannered, but who knew you could flatter people too?" Chu Feng laughed.
"I... I... I'm not flattering you."
"I really, truly have to express one sentiment."
"What sentiment?" Chu Feng asked.
"Truly, hearing about someone doesn't compare to meeting them in person."
"Even though I'd long heard about you and fully believed every word, I never imagined that those exaggerated rumors still failed to truly describe your strength."
Tongling Yueyue's astonished expression and trembling voice revealed the shock in her heart.
"Come on, I'm not that legendary."
"Some of the more difficult formations ahead will have to be broken by me personally."
"I'm not confident about them either — I'll very likely fail." Chu Feng said.
"Young Hero Chu Feng, for the difficult formations, you can ask my clansmen to help." Tongling Yueyue said.
"Doesn't your Tongling Sacred Clan's records about these ruins state that while breaking the Chess Gate can be done cooperatively, there must be one main formation breaker?"
"Out of a hundred formations, at least seventy must be broken by the main formation breaker personally."
"Otherwise, even if the formation-breaking sequence is correct, it will still be nearly impossible to break through the Chess Gate." Chu Feng said.
"There's no such record in our Tongling Sacred Clan, Young Hero Chu Feng. How did you come to this conclusion?"
Tongling Yueyue looked at Chu Feng curiously.
Chu Feng was clearly entering this place for the first time, yet he knew far more than she did.
"There are hints in many places."
"Don't dwell on this. It's natural that you couldn't tell. If you'd managed to gather all the clues, you wouldn't have been unable to break through this Chess Gate."
"Tell your clansmen to break these two formations in sequence."
As he spoke, Chu Feng outlined the locations of the two formations. Instead of heading deeper along the path he'd opened, he turned back outward.
"Young Hero Chu Feng, this is a new path you've opened up. Aren't you going to go deeper and take a look?" Tongling Yueyue asked.
"What's there to see? Only ten out of a hundred formations have been broken. This path can't go any deeper — even if you could get in, you'd be blocked."
"Let's keep breaking formations."
"Only when enough formations have been broken can we truly venture deep into this Chess Gate."
Next, Chu Feng broke formations on his own while assigning the Tongling Sacred Clan members to help break others.
He had the Tongling Sacred Clan handle the high-difficulty formations as much as possible, since this greatly accelerated the overall pace.
However, a small number of high-difficulty formations still needed to be broken by Chu Feng himself.
What Chu Feng had told Tongling Yueyue was the truth.
As the main formation breaker, Chu Feng had to personally break at least seventy formations.
Even if the most difficult ones were handed over to the Tongling Sacred Clan, he would inevitably still have to tackle some equally high-difficulty formations himself.
And high-difficulty formations often came with risks.
Every time he broke such a formation, Chu Feng would have Tongling Yueyue stand at a safe distance.
He would break it alone.
But the difficulty was so great that even for Chu Feng, accidents were unavoidable.
Fortunately, Chu Feng had his Death-Exemption Gold Medallion on him.
However, after Chu Feng broke dozens of formations in succession, the medallion's uses were consumed one after another.
At this point, Chu Feng had only one death-exemption chance left.
But fortunately, as the formations were broken one after another in the correct sequence, Chu Feng and Tongling Yueyue could continuously advance deeper into the ruins.
He had now reached the deepest reaches of the ruins through the path he'd opened.
However, a massive gate had appeared before them, blocking the way forward.
This gate was not only majestic and imposing, but was also covered in barrier runes.
Those barrier runes shimmered with radiance, clearly housing powerful formations.
"Once we open this gate, we'll enter the deepest part of the ruins."
"I believe the remains of your clansmen are inside."
"And after breaking through this gate, the remaining ten formations will all be behind it." Chu Feng said.
"Young Hero Chu Feng, thank you."
"Without you, I never could have reached this point."
"Whether or not we find my clansmen's remains, I will forever remember your great kindness."
Tongling Yueyue gazed at Chu Feng, her face full of gratitude.
"Don't say that. You don't owe me anything. We're partners in this."
"Without your clansmen helping me break formations, I couldn't have gotten this far so quickly."
As he spoke, Chu Feng began setting up the formation.
Seeing this, Tongling Yueyue began to retreat.
She knew Chu Feng still had eleven formations left to break.
The reason he'd said there were ten formations left behind the gate was that the gate itself was a formation.
And it was one of extreme difficulty.
Breaking this formation took Chu Feng a full three days just for the setup.
After three days, the formation-breaking array was finally complete.
But the moment the power of the formation collided with the gate, the gate trembled slightly. Immediately after, a terrifying killing intent surged out from within the gate along with a pillar of barrier light, hurtling straight toward Chu Feng.
But at the same time, a barrier shield materialized around Chu Feng's body, blocking the fearsome pillar of barrier light.
"Young Hero Chu Feng."