The Wuli Underground Palace was designed with extraordinary ingenuity. Its mechanisms were infinite — meaning that the first person to pass through had to overcome each trap, but once they did, the mechanism would not be destroyed. It would remain intact.
This established a clear rule: anyone who wanted to get past a checkpoint had to rely on their own ability. Forget about tailing an expert, waiting for them to break through the barrier, and then sneaking through on their coattails. That simply wasn't going to happen.
Moreover, the Wuli Underground Palace was vast. The earlier checkpoints were manageable — anyone at the Xuan Wu Realm could handle them without much trouble. But once the trials reached the mid-stage, most cultivators at Xuan Wu's fifth level and below were weeded out. The ones beyond that were even harder.
Given such grueling trials, there was virtually no chance that Chu Feng could make it through the Underground Palace relying solely on his Yuan Wu ninth-level cultivation.
So Chu Feng had no choice but to borrow Eggy's power to race through the Underground Palace. One could call what Chu Feng was doing cheating, but in truth, it wasn't. Eggy was Chu Feng's Spirit World Guardian — she was part of his abilities.
It was the same as someone who possessed a rare magical weapon. Compared to a person of equal strength, they would have an absolute advantage. If two people fought, would you tell the one with the magical weapon not to use it? Of course not. So Chu Feng borrowing Eggy's power to gain an edge was perfectly justified.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
At that moment, Chu Feng pushed his Void Flight Technique to its absolute limit. Relying on the heightened perception of a Spirit World Master and Eggy's Xuan Wu third-level cultivation, no mechanism could stand in his way.
Under these conditions, he began overtaking countless people. When they saw that the one who had just blown past them was a mere youth, every single one of them was stunned. They memorized his face carefully, convinced that this young man was very likely a genius who would one day become famous across the continent.
"No, this isn't going to work. Too many experts are participating in the Alliance Marriage Assembly this time. I wasted time dealing with Jie Bufan and the others earlier. With what I have now, there's no way I can catch up."
But even so, Chu Feng's brow was tightly furrowed. He could still sense that many martial cultivators were ahead of him — people who wielded special techniques, and whose movement arts were no weaker than his Void Flight Technique. Forget about claiming first place for the reward; he couldn't even crack the top ten.
"Looks like I have no choice but to go all out. Otherwise, this whole trip will have been for nothing."
At that moment, Chu Feng gritted his teeth and abruptly halted his breakneck advance. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes.
"Why'd that kid stop?"
"Isn't that the kid who just flew past me? What's he doing?"
"He's only at Xuan Wu's third level. That terrifying speed he had before must have come from some kind of forbidden technique. He's probably suffering from backlash now."
Chu Feng's sudden stop allowed many of the cultivators he had just overtaken to catch up. Seeing him standing still, they whispered among themselves, some even mocking him. But not a single person lingered to observe — they all pressed forward with renewed urgency.
In truth, anyone who had reached this stage was an outstanding cultivator within the Xuan Wu Realm. Every one of them possessed the confidence to make it through the Underground Palace and earn their qualification for the Alliance Marriage Assembly.
The reason they were still pushing themselves so desperately was, of course, the lure of those ten thousand Mystic Pearls. Ten thousand Mystic Pearls — on the Nine Provinces Continent, there was surely no one who could remain unmoved by that. So they gave it everything they had, charging toward that massive prize.
But how could they know that while Chu Feng stood there looking perfectly calm on the outside, something earth-shattering was happening inside his body?
The Mystic Force surging through Chu Feng's body was rapidly condensing, undergoing an unprecedented qualitative transformation. And this newly transformed Mystic Force was gathering toward his feet.
Hummm!
Suddenly, a vast expanse of azure mist erupted from beneath Chu Feng's feet. The mist roiled and churned like cyan-colored clouds, but this azure vapor was far more than mere fog. As it billowed, it was taking shape — condensing into the form of an Azure Dragon.
The Azure Dragon was five meters long, with hollow eyes and a blurred outline, but it was unmistakably the shape of a dragon. Though by appearance it was far less imposing and vivid than the Azure Dragon that the Dragon Daoist had conjured that day, it nonetheless contained spiritual energy within, as though it were a living, breathing true dragon.
"Haha — it worked!"
Gazing down at the Azure Dragon beneath his feet, Chu Feng was wild with joy. He straddled it with one leg on each side, because the dragon was too small to stand on — riding was far more comfortable. And not just comfortable — riding this Azure Dragon was far more pleasant than riding a horse.
But being able to ride it wasn't the real point. The real point was that when Chu Feng willed it, the Azure Dragon transformed into a streak of cyan light and shot forward, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
ROAR! The Azure Dragon between Chu Feng's legs was like a newborn dragon — its presence was modest, but its speed was terrifyingly fast. At the same time, it could emit low, commanding roars that carried a hint of dominance.
Under these conditions, the cultivators who had just caught up to Chu Feng were overtaken by him once again — and this time, he was moving even faster than before. They had no chance to make out Chu Feng's features. All they saw was a streak of cyan light flash past them before vanishing completely.
"What was that? Could it be a Heaven Martial Realm expert?" From that point on, nearly everyone Chu Feng surpassed was left dumbstruck by his astonishing speed.
Most assumed he had to be a Heaven Martial Realm powerhouse — no one else could possibly move that fast. But a few wondered if it had been nothing more than a hallucination, because that azure blur had flashed by so quickly that they couldn't tell if it had really happened or if their eyes were playing tricks on them.
"Haha, I can't believe Dragon Soaring Nine Heavens is this extraordinary. I haven't even reached major completion yet, and I've already achieved this kind of speed. Once I do reach major completion, even a Heaven Martial Realm expert won't be able to do anything to me!"
Chu Feng was ecstatic. In terms of speed, Dragon Soaring Nine Heavens had completely surpassed the Void Flight Technique. Eventually, he couldn't sense a single living soul ahead of him — meaning he had very likely become the first person to enter the Underground Palace on this run.
But Chu Feng didn't dare let his guard down. He remembered clearly that the Heaven Martial Realm expert — that old lecher, Wang Qiang — had been the very first to step into the Underground Palace.
And so far, Chu Feng hadn't caught even a trace of the old man's whereabouts. That meant Wang Qiang was still ahead of Chu Feng, having left him far behind.
So rather than slowing down, Chu Feng went all out, fully prepared to race against that Heaven Martial Realm old lecher and compete with him head to head — at the very least, he had to beat him in speed.