"Old Cat's?"
"Old Cat is an ancient existence?" Chu Feng asked.
"That's right," Lord True Dragon replied.
"But... how come I can't tell?"
Chu Feng looked toward Old Cat once more. Not only had he been completely unable to sense anything before, but he still couldn't sense anything now.
There wasn't the slightest trace of ancient aura on Old Cat's body.
"That's because what you and I see is not Old Cat's true form."
"This is merely an avatar that Old Cat has conjured. His true form is the treasure itself," Lord True Dragon said.
"Old Cat... is the treasure?" Chu Feng grew even more surprised.
"Yes."
The moment Lord True Dragon confirmed it, Old Cat underwent a change.
"Ugh—"
Old Cat suddenly ceased his assault, letting out a muffled groan. The killing intent began to recede, and a look of unwillingness appeared in his eyes before he collapsed to the ground.
Everything happened far too suddenly, and even the members of the Ancient Battle Clan were caught off guard.
But everyone could see that the reason Old Cat had suddenly fallen was that absorbing the treasure's energy to launch his attacks had placed an enormous burden on him.
He simply could not hold on any longer.
"Chu Feng, I've left a formation in place. You can get out from inside."
"Find your way out when you get the chance, then head in this direction to find me. I'll tell you the truth," Lord True Dragon transmitted through secret voice.
After that, he produced another treasure — a bronze sword.
He formed hand seals, and the formation merged into the bronze sword. Then the bronze sword shot through the copper coin formation.
The bronze sword shattered into pieces, transforming into pillars of bronze-colored light that once again struck toward the city wall.
In an instant, the black city wall trembled again.
But the Ancient Battle Clan's chief let out a cold snort.
"Hmph. A mere second-grade Heavenly Dragon dares to be this arrogant?"
"Do you really think that because our Ancient Battle Clan has declined, you can do as you please?"
He then activated the token once more, channeling his bloodline power into the city wall.
At that moment, before any of the other clansmen had even acted, the clan chief alone managed to stabilize the trembling city wall.
Rumbling cheers erupted from within the Ancient Battle Clan.
With Old Cat gone, even a second-grade Heavenly Dragon Spirit World Master posed no real threat to them. Naturally, they were elated.
"If you had this ability, why didn't you use it sooner?" Xianhai Shaoyu asked, puzzled.
What he couldn't understand was why the Ancient Battle Clan's chief, who clearly possessed such formidable formation power, hadn't acted earlier — waiting until the bronze wall had been shattered and Old Cat had fought his way to this very spot before making his move.
It didn't add up, since this was the last line of defense.
"Silly brother, it must have some kind of range limitation. The previous position was too far away, so he couldn't use it," Little Fish said, shooting Xianhai Shaoyu a disdainful look.
"Really?" Xianhai Shaoyu turned to Chu Feng, trusting his judgment more.
"Other than that, it's hard to come up with another explanation," Chu Feng replied through secret voice.
"Yeah, now that you mention it..."
"Ugh, my brain was just being slow."
Xianhai Shaoyu belatedly realized that what Little Fish said actually made perfect sense.
Soon, the cheers grew even louder.
Lord True Dragon had retreated with the unconscious Old Cat in tow.
But Chu Feng knew that Lord True Dragon's attack just now, though it appeared easy to suppress, had actually been incredibly powerful.
He hadn't been trying to continue Old Cat's assault at all — he had been working to dismantle the black city wall.
He had been leaving behind a flaw for Chu Feng. That flaw was useless from the outside, but from within, it was exploitable.
Chu Feng could use that breach to modify the formation and open a gap in the barrier of the black city wall — a gap through which he could escape.