Chapter Twelve: The Peak of Desperation

Accompanied by Ying Meier and her entourage, the journey to Lone Summit was remarkably smooth. Few demon clans within the Giant Elephant Mountains dared to challenge Ying Meier, and the human clans there seemed to recognize Li Jianfeng. Even seeing Li Jianfeng traveling alongside Ying Meier, no one dared to question them.

It was clear that Li Jianfeng’s origins were extraordinary.

Soon, they arrived at the foot of Lone Summit, a peak rising thousands of meters, shrouded in mist and clouds when looked up at.

Upon entering the Lone Summit region, Wu Shu immediately sensed its uniqueness. The grand formation atop the summit, if he wasn’t mistaken, was a Flowing Light Array. This array could manipulate space and time within a certain area, considered one of the foundational time-space formations.

Encountering a Flowing Light Array in the Giant Elephant Mountains was quite unexpected for Wu Shu. After all, on the Earthland Continent, physical cultivation was more highly valued; array formations were not the mainstream pursuit.

After reaching the mountain base, Wu Shu did not rush toward the peak. It seemed they had to resolve some minor issues first, as both humans and demons had powerful figures waiting there.

Currently, humans and demons in the Giant Elephant Mountains were at odds, yet Wu Shu, Li Jianfeng, and Ying Meier’s group traveled together—an unusual alliance.

Upon seeing them, a dozen or so demons led by a burly demon man looked arrogantly at Ying Meier and her group. The demon leader, a fierce and bloodthirsty man named Dahen, strode forward and angrily demanded, “Ying Meier, as the young mistress of the Shadow Clan and a prodigy of the Shadow Demons, why are you consorting with humans now?”

Ying Meier responded coldly and arrogantly, “Dahen, don’t forget who you are. If Feiyu hasn’t taught you how to be a servant, I don’t mind giving you a lesson.”

Dahen was a trusted subordinate of Feiyu. Upon learning Ying Meier was traveling with humans, Feiyu was puzzled and had instructed Dahen to wait at the mountain’s base, unwilling to believe Ying Meier had been subdued by humans.

Though Ying Meier showed no sign of being controlled by humans, Dahen continued to reprimand her, “Mistress Meier, don’t forget your own status.”

Ying Meier, clearly annoyed by Dahen’s disrespect, snapped, “How dare you! You’re not worthy to call me ‘Meier’!”

Her fierce tone caused all her followers to take threatening stances, ready to tear Dahen apart at any moment.

The hard stance Ying Meier took was enough to make Dahen back down. Yet she understood why he was here, acting so high and mighty. She spoke earnestly, “Dahen, go back and tell Feiyu I’m on my way. Also, tell him that although the weapons on Lone Summit are important, our mission today is even more crucial.”

“Get lost!” Dahen wanted to argue but saw the threatening postures behind Ying Meier and wisely chose to retreat.

“Let’s move!” With Dahen’s command, his group swiftly ascended toward the peak.

After Dahen left, Wu Shu cast a sly glance at Ying Meier, teasing, “Mistress Meier, you sure have a few tricks up your sleeve.”

Ying Meier’s earlier words, if heard by Feiyu, would have undoubtedly put him on full alert. “Tell Feiyu I’m coming soon” and “the weapons aren’t the priority; our main goal is” — such words, normally, would make Feiyu wonder how close they really were.

Among prodigies, who had no pride? Who could order whom around?

But now, those words sounded more like a comrade signaling readiness to face battle, bringing the enemy along.

Ying Meier didn’t deny it, just pouted, “Mind your own business.”

Wu Shu, not wanting to argue further, turned to Li Jianfeng, who looked at another group and said, “They are my elder brother Zhao Zhenlu’s people. Pay them no mind.”

After Wu Shu understood, Li Jianfeng nodded at those people, who respectfully bowed and stepped back.

The reason for such reverence toward Li Jianfeng was obvious.

Thinking of Zhao Zhenlu as Li Jianfeng’s elder brother, Wu Shu recalled that in Kun Kingdom, besides the Zhao family among the Eight Great Clans, the royal family above them also bore the Zhao surname.

Could it be that Li Jianfeng was royalty?

If so, his real name might be Zhao Zhenfeng, and his marriage alliance with the Li family could be the one among Kun Kingdom’s Eight Great Clans.

With these thoughts, Wu Shu sighed inwardly—Li Jianfeng was quite the actor.

Unlike Dahen’s group, those led by Liu Kuai followed closely behind Wu Shu and company.

After traveling a few hundred meters along the mountain path, they encountered several demon youths blocking the way, acting as if this path was theirs to guard, demanding tolls from anyone who wished to pass.

The leader, Ying Nu, sternly declared, “Lord Feiyu has ordered that no unauthorized persons may proceed.”

Since entering Lone Summit’s area, Wu Shu had noticed that humans and demons were in a standoff, likely with the approval of their leaders, which explained the absence of large-scale battles.

Now, the demons blocking their path seemed to be testing Wu Shu’s group’s strength, probably under Feiyu’s orders.

Liu Kuai stepped forward to confront Ying Nu, “Demons, this is the Giant Elephant Mountains, territory of Kun Kingdom. Its people are the rightful owners here.”

At the same time, Liu Kuai offered to Li Jianfeng, “Young Master Jianfeng, you go ahead. Leave this matter to us.”

Unexpectedly, before Liu Kuai could prepare, the other side struck first, a palm crashing toward him.

Without hesitation, Liu Kuai met the attack with full force, but to everyone’s surprise, he was pushed back several steps and appeared seriously injured.

“Kaixuan Realm?” Liu Kuai gasped.

Demons were known for their physical toughness and some possessed Kaixuan Realm strength. In contrast, Liu Kuai’s physical cultivation was at the tough ox body realm, with earth energy at the peak of Qi Condensation Realm—just one step shy of Kaixuan.

Though only one step below, the gap was vast.

To Ying Nu, strength was everything. After displaying his power, he coldly swept his gaze across the humans. “Listen well, all humans. If you want to pass, you must prove your strength. Lone Summit is no place for just any human rabble.”

The disdain in Ying Nu’s words was clear when he said “rabble,” aimed directly at Wu Shu. Among those present, Wu Shu’s physical cultivation at the third tier of physical training was far from the weakest but still not impressive.

Ying Nu truly wanted to see how such a third-tier cultivator had entered the grand formation and reached this deadly array.

Hearing this blatant contempt, Wu Shu was itching to slap Ying Nu down. But he knew his own true strength was indeed only third-tier physical cultivation, making it impossible to defeat Ying Nu outright with just a slap.

Still, Wu Shu met Ying Nu’s gaze without backing down, frowning slightly, “Demon, you’re quite arrogant, aren’t you?”

Ying Meier, very aware of Wu Shu’s true strength, did not want to cause a scene here. Bringing Wu Shu to Lone Summit was no small effort, and without Feiyu’s support, the trip would be wasted.

She abruptly cut off Ying Nu, her tone haughty and unyielding, “Ying Nu, stand down. You have no place to speak here.”

Being a favored scion of the Shadow Clan’s elders, Ying Meier was not to be offended. Though Ying Nu was reluctant, he respectfully said, “Lord Feiyu is determined to succeed. I hope Mistress Ying Meier will assist him.”

Ying Meier retorted coldly, “Noisy!”

“Let’s go.”

With Ying Meier’s command, the once ready-to-fight Ying Nu was left disorganized halfway up the mountain.

What Ying Nu could not guess was that when Ying Meier saw him looking down on Wu Shu, tens of thousands of divine beasts surged through her mind.

Though Lone Summit was only a few thousand meters high, the rugged mountain path took them a full hour to reach halfway up.

Surprisingly, halfway up the mountain was a vast open area, dotted with many buildings.

“Welcome to the Heart Forge Hall. It was built tens of thousands of years ago by Master Wu Duanxin, a legendary master craftsman,” a clear voice echoed in their minds. The source was unknown, but everyone who reached this spot heard it.

At the center of the entrance plaza stood a huge stone stele, on which three large characters were engraved: Heart Forge Hall.

Seeing the stele, Wu Shu felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Heart Forge Hall???

Puzzled, Wu Shu mentally asked his two companions, Wu Left and Wu Right, “Take a look at that stone. Doesn’t it feel familiar?”

Hearing this, Wu Left and Wu Right didn’t rush to the stele but swallowed it whole in their minds. They knew that if Wu Shu noticed this, it meant the stele was extraordinary—at least to his discerning eyes, it was a relic fragment from the Forgotten Continent.

While Wu Left and Wu Right hesitated, Wu Shu continued, “This stele looks special, like a treasure, but I don’t know what it’s for. Ah, whatever, even if it contains spiritual energy, it’s just a stone to me—doesn’t really matter.”

Hearing Wu Shu’s indifference, Wu Right immediately got anxious, “You brat, what do you know? Over the past ten years, you’ve ruled the Forgotten Continent as you pleased. Even though Wu Left and I are beyond the Star Spirit level, we’ve nearly been drained supporting your cultivation there all this time. But if we absorb the spiritual energy in this stone, we could restore not just ten years’ worth of exhaustion, but at least three years’ worth.”

Hearing Wu Right say he was nearly drained, Wu Left grumbled, “You shameless old fellow, you’re the one who was almost drained. I’m just fine.”