Chu Feng was extremely anxious because he couldn't understand why this powerful woman named Dantai Xue would disregard the most precious Medicine King and instead pick the most common herbs on the mountain.
Chu Feng was worried — worried that Dantai Xue was some kind of eccentric who didn't need rare herbs at all, but rather those that weren't particularly precious. If that were truly the case, then Dantai Xue would leave that Medicine King untouched, which meant she wouldn't help Chu Feng break through the guardian formation.
That guardian formation was formidable. Though its most terrifying offensive capabilities had already been eliminated, leaving it like a fangless tiger, a tiger was still a tiger. Even without its teeth, Chu Feng couldn't guarantee that with his current strength he'd be able to subdue it.
However, Chu Feng's worries seemed to be unnecessary, because after some time, he began to notice clues from Dantai Xue's increasingly cheerful demeanor.
It turned out that Dantai Xue didn't just favor relatively ordinary herbs — collecting items from low to high, from inferior to superior, was simply her habit.
She would start by picking the least valuable herbs, then gradually move on to more precious ones. For her, this was a deeply enjoyable process, and right now, she was savoring every moment of it.
But this was driving Chu Feng mad with anxiety, because at her pace of picking them one by one, even though she was incredibly fast, with this entire mountain covered in herbs, it would take at least several days for her to finish collecting them all. Chu Feng had no intention of hiding here for days on end without food, water, or any relief.
"Swish!"
"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" But heaven itself seemed to be helping Chu Feng, because just as he was frantic and at his wit's end, that Medicine King hiding within the guardian formation suddenly burst out from underground.
The Medicine King's commotion naturally caught Dantai Xue's attention, and so she involuntarily turned her gaze toward that herb.
However, upon seeing Dantai Xue's gaze fall upon it, that herb had the audacity to wave its leaves at Dantai Xue in a provocative gesture, then immediately burrowed back underground, hiding once more within the guardian formation.
"Truly courting death." The herb's actions successfully ignited Dantai Xue's fury. With a slight tremor of her body, she vanished from the mountaintop in an instant.
"Boom!" And the very moment Dantai Xue disappeared, a rumbling sound came from underground. It was Dantai Xue's doing — she had silently passed through the earth and was now breaking through the guardian formation.
Shortly after that rumbling was heard, Dantai Xue's figure reappeared on the mountaintop, and in her hand she now held a herb — none other than the Medicine King of this place.
Dantai Xue's wall-passing technique was truly extraordinary, even surpassing the Third Immortal's, capable of penetrating through soil without making a sound.
But at this moment, Chu Feng had no mood to pay attention to any of that, because his gaze had been completely captured by the faint, almost imperceptible changes on the mountaintop — changes so subtle that ordinary people would never detect them.
He was staring at one particular spot: a rock wall at the base of the mountain. This rock appeared perfectly ordinary, but it was in fact an entrance, and at this very moment, the entrance had opened.
"It's finally done. After waiting so long, with so many unexpected twists along the way, the guardian formation has finally been broken."
In that moment, Chu Feng was overwhelmed with excitement. Not only had the guardian formation been broken by Dantai Xue, but the entrance Chu Feng had predicted had also fully opened. All he had to do was enter it, and he could find the Heaven and Earth treasure hidden within.
With matters having reached this point, Chu Feng no longer remained in his hiding spot. Instead, he carefully began to move toward the entrance.
Although his concealment measures had taken considerable time to carefully prepare, facing an expert of Dantai Xue's unfathomable depth, he dared not be the least bit careless. He made his way with extreme caution from high above down toward the base of the mountain.
This alone took fully more than half a day...
By the time Chu Feng had moved down to the mountain's base, it was already deep into the night.
At the mountaintop, golden light continued to shimmer and pulse. Dantai Xue was not resting but was instead continuing to pick herbs, savoring this wonderful process.
As for Chu Feng, he was now even more excited than before, because he had already passed through that wall and entered a stone cave.
The moment he set foot inside the cave, Chu Feng's heart was pounding wildly. He could feel an indescribable aura filling the entire cavern, and the source of this aura was drawing him deeper and deeper inside.