The great doors swung open, and a crushing pressure descended from above.
The plaza beneath his feet and the gateway ahead dissolved into scattered threads of barrier power.
At the same time, the seawater below grew increasingly turbulent. Under the weight of the oppressive force, Chu Feng lost his ability to stay airborne and plummeted into the ocean.
The seawater harbored a terrifying suction force, and within that suction lurked a powerful barrier energy.
Chu Feng could do nothing but let the currents carry him, all while enduring the agonizing pain of the sea's barrier energy ravaging his body.
Even his sensory abilities, along with many of his other powers, were severely restricted.
"Have I failed?"
"Impossible."
The thought of failure had barely formed before Chu Feng crushed it.
The reason he had opened those doors without hesitation was that he was certain his order of breaking the formations had been correct.
So he steadied his emotions and allowed himself to drift with the currents.
Since the situation before him could not be changed, the answer would reveal itself in time.
Finally, everything came to a stop. Chu Feng had settled at the bottom of the deep sea.
Although the undercurrents had ceased, the oppressive force had not vanished, and the various restrictions still bound him.
Moving was incredibly difficult, and returning to the surface was nearly impossible.
At the same time, the pain that continued seeping into his body had not subsided either.
If this went on, things would become very dire.
This made Chu Feng realize that matters were not so simple.
So-called betting one's life to open the great doors — it did not mean the answer would be revealed the moment the doors were opened.
In truth, there was still a trial.
With that in mind, Chu Feng endured the pain and looked around.
Since Mental Power was almost entirely unusable, he could only rely on his naked eyes.
"What's that?"
The moment he looked, his eyes widened in shock.
He saw a figure floating not far away.
And it was a figure he recognized.
"Daoist Long Jiu?"
That person was Daoist Long Jiu of the Nine Totem Dao.
However, Daoist Long Jiu had fallen into a deep coma, his aura extremely weak — he could perish at any moment.
"Is this an illusion?"
At first, Chu Feng thought he had stumbled into an illusion formation.
It couldn't possibly be this coincidental — running into Daoist Long Jiu here. Moreover, this was not a place Daoist Long Jiu should be able to reach.
But after pushing through the pain to observe more carefully, Chu Feng quickly confirmed that this was no illusion formation.
He hurried over to Daoist Long Jiu.
The distance was not particularly great.
Under normal circumstances, it was a distance Chu Feng could cross in an instant.
But due to the oppressive force, it took him considerably longer to reach Daoist Long Jiu's side.
Likewise because of the restrictions, he could only assess his condition once he was close.
Just as Chu Feng had suspected, it was the torment of this place's power that had left him in such a weakened state.
Chu Feng quickly produced medicinal pills, placed them in his mouth, and fused barrier energy to help stabilize his condition.
At the same time, he cast his gaze not far away.
Two more familiar figures were floating there — Daoist Long Ba and Daoist Long Qi.
"Could it be that after parting ways that day, they came here?"
Chu Feng recalled the scene of his farewell with Daoists Long Liu, Long Qi, Long Ba, and Long Jiu.
They had originally intended to travel together, but the four Daoists had suddenly encountered something and hurried away.
And that parting had carried the flavor of a farewell between life and death.
As though they were heading off to do something exceedingly dangerous.
Chu Feng formed a guess, and after stabilizing Daoist Long Jiu's injuries, he went on to stabilize the conditions of Daoist Long Ba and Daoist Long Qi as well.
Although these two were in considerably better shape than Daoist Long Jiu, they would not be able to wake from their comas anytime soon.
() But with all three of them here, Chu Feng felt it was highly likely that Daoist Long Liu was also in this place.
So he began searching.