Chapter 4718: Chief Protector

“Are you still going to watch the commotion? Do you not want to cultivate anymore?”

The elder shot a cold glance at the disciples of the four halls around. Seeing this, all of the disciples hurriedly rushed toward the opened spirit formation gate.

“Chu Feng, I’ll let you off for now, but remember that this isn’t over yet!” 

Xia Ran shot a vile glare at Chu Feng before heading into the spirit formation gate.

Meanwhile, Chu Feng also made his way toward the Snowy Heavenly Peak too. While he had offended Xia Ran, he wasn’t one to shy away from trouble. He would still do whatever that had to be done.

Someone like Xia Ran couldn’t hope to derail him from his goal.

“Waa, that protector is so cool. Chu Feng, it seems like he has a high opinion of you, or else he wouldn’t have helped you,” a voice suddenly sounded beside Chu Feng.

It was Tu Yuanyuan.

She was still standing amongst the disciples of the East Dragon Hall despite her voice transmission, but Chu Feng didn’t blame her. Given her cultivation, it would indeed be unwise for her to walk too closely to Chu Feng.

Even the disciples of the North Tortoise Hall dared not to speak up for Chu Feng, so how could he blame Tu Yuanyuan from the East Dragon Hall?

“You seem to be acquainted with that elder from earlier on. Who is he?” Chu Feng asked curiously.

Whether it was intentional or not, it was a fact that the elder had helped him out when he was in a spot. Otherwise, Chu Feng would be put in a difficult position against Xia Ran, especially with his locked cultivation.

As such, he felt grateful toward the elder.

“Say, Chu Feng, what in the world are you up to every day? Since you’re coming to the Snowy Heavenly Peak, shouldn’t you at least look into it a little? Oh well, you’re lucky that I’m around. Let me fill you in on the details then.

“The cultivation places in the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect don't belong to any of the four halls; they’re neutral grounds. For more important cultivation places such as the Heavenly Snowy Peak, the sect would assign powerful elders to look after them. These elders are known as ‘protectors’, and they only heed the orders of the sectmaster. There are 64 protectors in the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect in total, and the person you met earlier is Protector Zhao Yushu.

“However, you should know that Zhao Yushu is no ordinary protector. He’s the head of the 64 protectors, rumored to possess strength on par with the Hidden Dragon Elders. You should at least know about the Hidden Dragon Elders, right? They are the ten most powerful elders in the sect, second only to the sectmaster and the vice sectmaster. With that, you should get a rough idea of just how powerful Protector Zhao is,” Tu Yuanyuan explained the matter to Chu Feng in detail.

“Hidden Dragon Elder? Yes, I do know about them,” Chu Feng replied.

He had met Li Mu and his grandfather prior to entering the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect. They were the ones who took Yu Ting away back then. He heard from Yu Ting that Li Mu was one of the Ten Hidden Dragon Disciples whereas Li Mu’s grandfather was one of the Ten Hidden Dragon Elders.

Even till now, he could still remember the pressure he had felt from Li Mu’s grandfather.

Without a doubt, the Hidden Dragon Elders were truly formidable existences. 

With this, Chu Feng could understand why Xia Ran and the other disciples were so humble before Protector Zhao Yushu. It turned out that the latter was really a formidable figure.

“Also, I heard that Protector Zhao is not the type to intervene in the disciples’ affairs, which is why Xia Ran dared to provoke you here. It’s completely out of his expectations for Protector Zhao to suddenly step in here. My guess is that he has high expectations of you, that’s why he chose to help you.

“Chu Feng, you should try to build up a good relationship with Protector Zhao. There’s currently a lot of people who don't have a good opinion of you at the moment, but if Protector Zhao is willing to back you up, no one will dare to make things difficult for you,” Tu Yuanyuan said.

“Got it. Thanks for your reminder,” Chu Feng replied via voice transmission too.

He finally understood why those disciples were so surprised when Protector Zhao intervened earlier. It turned out that the latter didn’t usually interfere in the disciples’ affairs.

“There’s no need to get so courteous with me. Make sure to cultivate well later on. I heard that the record here is maintained by Lord Dugu Lingtian too. If you can break his record here, you’ll really be able to make your name known throughout the entire sect. Those disciples of the South Vermilion Hall might be able to temper with the evaluation rock, but they won’t be able to tamper with the Snowy Heavenly Peak,” Tu Yuanyuan advised.

“You don’t think that my god aptitude is an act?” Chu Feng asked.

“How could it be an act? You’re the most talented junior in our Holy Light Galaxy, and the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect belongs to the Holy Light Galaxy. I believe that you’ll be able to become the strongest Hidden Dragon Disciple and perhaps… surpass Dugu Lingtian even,” Tu Yuanyuan said.

“Thanks.”

Chu Feng was a little moved to see how Tu Yuanyuan was willing to believe in him despite the current circumstances.

While the two of them were chatting, they passed through the spirit formation gate and arrived into the Snowy Heavenly Peak. However, they realized that they couldn’t enter too deep.

As soon as they entered the vicinity of the Snowy Heavenly Peak, Chu Feng felt a powerful force crushing down on him. This force was so great that it prevented them from even flying into the air, restraining everyone’s movements.

Weng!

After all of the disciples had entered the spirit formation gate, the earth began to tremor as light surfaced from the ground, forming a formation.

It was a teleportation formation, an extremely powerful and mysterious one at that.

Chu Feng was, once again, impressed by the formidable might shown by the sect founder.

Be it the protective formation outside, the pressure crushing down on them at the moment, or the powerful teleportation formation right beneath their feet, all of these might seem simple at first glance, but they were, in fact, powerful means far beyond Chu Feng’s current ability to emulate.

Chu Feng was once again intrigued by the sect founder. 

It seemed like the previous Ancestral Martial Galaxy was indeed rather formidable. How could it not be with figures as powerful as the founder of the Hidden Dragon Martial Sect around?

“This Snowy Heavenly Peak is a cultivation formation personally set up by the sect founder. I won’t bother delving into the details. All you have to know is that the higher you climb, the more you’ll benefit out of this. However, what you need to climb high here isn’t your martial power but your willpower. 

“Those lacking in willpower, if you force yourself to reach where you don’t belong, you might implode and die. For that reason, the sect founder set up this teleportation formation to assess your willpower. It’ll send you to the location you belong to based on your respective willpower.

“With this, the trial commences. Remember, you have a total of ten hours in here. All of you better return here before ten hours is up, or else you’ll bear with the consequences yourself,” Protector Zhao stood in front of the teleportation formation as he explained the details to the crowd.

As soon as Protector Zhao finished his words, the disciples quickly entered into the teleportation formation. Even Chu Feng was no exception either.

However, as soon as Chu Feng entered the teleportation formation, he quickly crossed his leg and sat down before swiftly vanishing.

“He’s trash indeed.”

Watching as Chu Feng’s silhouette vanished, Xia Ran, Hua Xu, Fang Yunshi, and many of the other disciples revealed disdainful expressions.

Those who had known about this teleportation formation beforehand knew that this was a trial of willpower. In a test of willpower, the duration one was able to last in the test would determine the results. The fact that Chu Feng was teleported so quickly showed that he was severely lacking in willpower.

Little did they know that Chu Feng was transported to the very tip of the Snowy Heavenly Peak, a place where they could never hope to reach in their lifetime.