The Sacred Ruins

Within a tavern at the base of Mount Tai.

Chu Feng’s body was completely charred black as if he had suffered from burn injuries. He wasn’t in a rush to dress his wounds because, with his current strength and breathing technique, there wouldn’t be any residual scars.

He had already experienced it earlier on when he was still in the awakened realm. Wounds would heal rapidly and leave no scars on his body.

He was already at the foot of Mount Tai, waiting for all parties to arrive.

Marching into the Pilgrimage Grounds was a major event, and as such, no one would act recklessly. All participating parties had gone back to prepare for the endeavor.

"Will it be too risky for you to work with them? This is no different from asking a tiger for his skin." The Wudang Grandmaster frowned. He was still worried about Chu Feng.

That was because, up till now, he found Chu Feng kept on stepping up his game. It was already astonishing enough that he had caused such a commotion on Mount Zhijin, but now he wanted to go to the Pilgrimage Grounds?

"There’s one thing I haven’t told senior." Chu Feng smiled as he revealed a strand of his energy fluctuation. It was very obscure but the old grandmaster was able to sense it due to the close distance.

"You..." His whole body jumped up. He had clearly detected that Chu Feng had recovered. The blood energy concealed within him was extremely terrifying and was even at the level of a peerless expert.

The old grandmaster was truly stunned. Chu Feng had emerged from obscurity to find a path in the mortal world, hoping to borrow the power of the corporations to recover his strength. Back then, the old grandmaster was still quite worried about this plan.

And the worry was spot on—just how many people wanted to kill him? If not for the incineration of the eight trigrams flames, who would be able to stop them?

But Chu Feng had actually succeeded! His strength was completely recovered!

At this point, it was indeed like a true dragon returning to the ocean or a tiger to the forest. Chu Feng’s combat strength was already well recognized. He was able to sweep through a host of top-grade kings.

Now that his strength had been restored, he had nothing to fear even if he was surrounded by corporations with evil motives.

The old grandmaster was dumbfounded. He knew Chu Feng was about to trick people again!

Chu Feng practiced the Taiji Fist in his room. Everything was different now—one of his hands was as fair as jade and the other as dark as ink. He drew circles and arcs in the air with ease, grace, and agility.

Following which, the area began to glow but he was able to control the flow of energy strictly.

"As expected, your attainments in the fist arts are shocking." The old grandmaster was full of praise. Chu Feng started practicing the Taiji Fist Arts while he had no energy in his body. Now he was completely incomparable after his recovery.

The grandmaster saw that Chu Feng had developed a divine ability. Black and white radiance flourished in a terrifying strike that could sweep through all opponents.

That was because he had long since developed a divine ability which he knew would be extremely powerful once he reached this stage.

The old grandmaster was relieved.

After Chu Feng finished his fist art demonstration, he began to observe his internal state. He wanted to study the Fiery Eyes and see how he could hide it when not needed. Otherwise, it would distress him greatly if he saw through everything.

There were beautiful "sceneries" in the world that were delightful to behold, but there were many others that were not so pleasing to look at. Some were even defiling to the eyes.

"Ah, I only need to reduce the energy supply. It was that simple?!" Chu Feng’s expression turned odd.

He discovered that the energy supply around his eyes was ridiculously exuberant. As long as he suppressed it, his Fiery Eyes would disappear.

After the incident at Mount Zhijin, they had set out immediately atop a bird king and rushed to the base of Mount Tai. Hence, only now did he have time to comprehend this.

A special ability like the Fiery Eyes was rare even in those powerful legendary realms. The activation of such abilities was extremely mysterious and difficult to explain.

Afterwards, Chu Feng began to study domains.

With the Dragoness’ consent, he had already destroyed the stone carvings and memorized everything in his mind. His main fear was that the records about the Revered Eight Trigrams Furnace would be exposed.

He sat there pensively, recalling the records on the carved stones.

There were numerous yellowed books beside him. All of them were fragmented volumes—the smallest ones containing only a few pages, while the longest 20-odd pages. All of them were sent over by the major powers for Chu Feng to study.

Chu Feng’s harvests were significant after experiencing the Revered Eight Trigrams Furnace on Mount Zhijin. He was now able to comprehend these fragment volumes quite thoroughly.

In the days that followed, his attainments in the field of domains showed an evident improvement.

Within only a few days, the various major powers had mostly finished their preparations and many of them had arrived at the base of Mount Tai.

The Hollow Jade Temple Master and the Eight Visions Temple Master weren’t happy. That was because this place was the ritual grounds they had selected privately. They wanted to take down this place with all their might but, in the end, it seemed as if they would have to share it with the group of kings?

Now that several days had passed, it was quite reasonable that Chu Feng’s burns were mostly recovered.

At this time, he was eating a certain red fruit. The fragrance assaulted his nostrils as the fruit melted within his mouth. His palates were filled with sweetness and a refreshing fragrance. It was simply too alluring.

"So this is a mutant fruit?" As a glutton, Chu Feng felt quite regretful that this was the first time he was eating such a fruit.

A whole trunk of mutant fruits was delivered by the corporations as a token of their appreciation. In order to further cooperate with him, these people had delivered no small number of precious gifts.

Before this, he had to depend on pollen to evolve and dared not eat mutant fruits because Yellow Ox told him there would be side effects that could affect his future accomplishments.

But now, everything was different. There would no longer be such a problem from now on because the black and white grinding stone had formed. Eating mutant fruits would no longer hinder his path to evolution.

The only fly in the ointment was that the small grinding stone was still undergoing a transformation. In order to maintain a calm state within his body, Chu Feng didn’t dare sever the next shackle recklessly. He wanted to pass through this phase safely.

"There should be an abundance of mutant fruits in the inaccessible areas of Mount Tai. When the time comes, I’ll pick them all clean and refine them in the Revered Eight Trigrams Furnace".

Chu Feng was feeling quite restless after a long period of inactivity. He had been studying all those domain related books, but now he wanted to try them out in person.

The Pilgrimage Grounds—the name signified a sacrifice to the heaven and earth. [1]

Apparently, sacrifices to the heaven were performed at the summit of Mount Tai, while sacrifices to the earth were done at the base.

Chu Feng instructed people to ship the magnetic stones and jade to the earth-dedicated sacrificial site at the base of the mountain. He was planning to study there.

The sacrificial sites changed quite a bit after the upheavals and had become vast spaces.

Very soon, the place became his experiment area. He repeatedly deployed domains here before actually climbing the mountain. Ordinary people were not allowed to approach.

Many corporations and a fair number of major powers had arrived to fulfill Chu Feng’s requirements. They did their best to accommodate him, allowing him to study in peace and raise his attainments.

Within two days, this land had become enshrouded in mist which outsiders couldn’t see through. Chu Feng had laid down a domain which enveloped the area while he carved his symbols in peace.

"Ha, not bad. Your skills are indeed extraordinary." It was at this time that a sound was heard within the domain. Someone had broken in and was praising his attainments in the study of domains.

Originally, this place was enshrouded in mist and completely isolated from the outside world. But now a top-grade king had entered and he didn’t seem to come in peace.

"Who are you? How did you get in?" asked Chu Feng.

"Aren’t you too overconfident about your abilities? This isn’t a complex domain at all. Do you think everyone will be lost and unable to enter just by carving a few cloudy mist symbols?"

This man obviously knew a thing or two about domains. Although he couldn’t be considered proficient, the cloudy mist was unable to deter his advance.

"What do you want to do?" asked Chu Feng.

This was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was a powerful king who knew domains.

"I came here to see, for myself, the strength of your domains and also to ask you if the calamity at Mount Zhijin was your doing," said the middle-aged man.

Apparently, he was rather suspicious. He believed the incineration of those experts had something to do with Chu Feng.

"What do you think?" asked Chu Feng.

"From what I see here, you don’t seem to have such an ability. With your attainments, such a feat is far from possible," the middle-aged man replied with confidence.

He then added, "But your skill in domains can be considered quite good. Most importantly, you have talent. I came here especially to bring you away."

Chu Feng was flabbergasted. Was this person here to investigate and then capture him?

"Although I’m already crippled, I still have some skill regarding domains. You’re also a domain researcher yourself. Are you going to fight me?" Chu Feng asked.

"I’m an evolved being who understands a little bit about domains. Why would I need any domain skills to capture you at such a close distance? You have no chance at all!" The middle-aged man laughed coldly.

"You won’t be able to bring me away," said Chu Feng.

"You want to wait for the Wudang Grandmaster to come and protect you? He’s been lured away," said the intruder.

"This isn’t fair at all," Chu Feng said, "if not for the fact that I’m crippled, I wouldn’t fear you at all."

It was at this time that another laughter rang out. "It seems I was overthinking things. Your body is indeed crippled and the incident at Mount Zhijin was an accident. However, this is also fine. I’ll bring you back to the mountain."

Chu Feng had seen this man before. He was from Deity Biomedicals and was in the company of that old woman. He was a rather handsome young man with a red mark between his brows.

"Are you from an outer-realm?" Chu Feng frowned.

"It seems you know quite a bit. Could it be that Naoi told you about this? Ah, but let me advise you not to be deluded. You’re not worthy of Naoi," the man with the red mark between his brows said with a smile.

Chu Feng said calmly, "You were too young 21 years ago. You can’t be a descended being yourself. You must be the second generation. Are you the old woman’s descendant?"

"She’s merely my father’s maid who was fortunate enough to descend together with him," the young man with the red mark between his brows said with a laugh.

"That old woman is already quite old. This means that your father is also an old monster. Were you born after he married someone from this world, child of the elderly?" mocked Chu Feng.

The man with the red mark between his brows revealed a strand of anger and replied, "We treat you as a genius and hope you don’t infuriate us."

"Is Lin Naoi regarded as important by your orthodoxy?" Chu Feng asked.

"You’re not qualified to know right now. Join us and you’ll gradually understand," the man with the red mark between his brows replied calmly.

At the same time, he brought up an old topic, claiming that they possessed many books related to the study of domains. The young man beside him, for instance, had picked up bits and pieces after learning from many authors.

"Go with me," said the man with the red mark between his brows.

"It seems your position isn’t too high and you understand very little. You’re probably a bastard son that your father left outside. Your unwillingness to speak is probably just to disguise your ignorance," said Chu Feng.

"You’re too unbridled!"

"I want to know if your father has already come into being. Does he know you’re here?" Chu Feng asked.

"It’s fine to tell you that it’s not yet time for him to come into being. Coming here to invite you over isn’t something we need to trouble him with."

Chu Feng laughed and said, "Then I’m relieved."

The next moment, he directly extended his hand and grasped the man who understood domains. He then broke the latter’s neck with a crack.

"You..." The man was still shocked while on the verge of his death. He was a king level expert with six severed shackles. How could he be killed in one blow by a cripple?

"You lot really think I’m easy to bully? Compared to playing with domains, I prefer taking action directly!" Chu Feng smiled.

The expression of the man with the red mark on his forehead rapidly changed. He knew he was in trouble. How was this person before him a cripple? He was obviously waiting for people to come knocking on his door. The young man rapidly retreated and wanted to escape.

However, everything was too late. Chu Feng’s demonic figure caught up to him and picked him up by the neck.

"How is this possible?!" The man with the red mark between his brows was both angry and humiliated. Was he so useless?

"Ah, let’s talk about things other than domains. Otherwise, I don’t mind pinching you to death!" Chu Feng coldly said.

At this moment, the young man’s hopes had all been dashed. He felt it was too laughable—a cripple had easily captured the scion of a descended being and it seemed as if the latter really could pinch him to death. What kind of evildoer was he? Chu Feng was too terrifying—a local who could really contend with beings from the outer-realm!

How could the man have expected Chu Feng to possess a black and white grinding stone. This object allowed his strength soar and the energy within his body to be greatly purified. All of this resulted in a rapid increase in his combat power.

Even in the outer realms, only those from supreme orthodoxies might have such an item. Even then, it was something left behind by a predecessor.

...

[1] Mike and I decided on the name Pilgrimage Grounds because emperors and feudal lords would make a pilgrimage to Mount Tai to offer sacrifices after their coronation/inauguration. The term for this sacrifice was Feng Shan, Feng representing a sacrifice to the heavens and Shan signifying a sacrifice to the earth.

Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tai