Chapter 402: The Three Who Parted Ways

Before long, two water columns gushed out violently from the lake. A voice shouted angrily, “Feng Song, are you playing tricks on us???”
Zha Wenqing and Zhou Jing stood in the air, glaring at Feng Song.
“Haven’t found him?” Seeing their furious expressions, Feng Song frowned in confusion and muttered, “That’s impossible. He clearly hid in the lake and hasn’t come out at all…”
“Are you sure he’s not in the lake?” Feng Song asked seriously. “Could it be you two already killed him and lied to me by saying you couldn’t find him?”
“The entire lake is under the control of the San Cai Formation—no creature can move. Do you think his skill in hiding can still work under such a formation?” Zha Wenqing grew even angrier. Not finding Dao Feng was already frustrating enough, and now this guy was blaming them for lying—he could take it no longer. “Use your mental power to probe and you’ll know!”
Feng Song suddenly remembered that under the San Cai Formation, no matter how advanced someone’s hiding technique was, they couldn’t hide at all. He immediately used his mental power to scan the lake. After scanning once, he found nothing. His expression darkened, but he said nothing and continued scanning a second time, then a third…
When the fourth scan also yielded nothing, he helplessly lowered his head and clenched his fists tightly. “How on earth did that kid escape?”
“If he wanted to escape, he didn’t necessarily have to go through the lake surface!” Zhou Jing, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke up. “I’ve also probed this lake several times with my mental power. There’s a large hole in the riverbed on the east side of the lake. At first, I thought some magical beast had dug it, but upon closer inspection, I realized the shape of the entrance is too regular—a perfect circle with no imperfections. Magical beasts wouldn’t do such a thing; they just dig an entrance to get through, without caring if it’s round or not.”
“Let’s go take a look!” Hearing this, Feng Song immediately dived underwater. The other two followed right after.
The three quickly reached the entrance they had detected earlier.
“See? The edges of this entrance are too neatly cut, and the shape is too perfect. It definitely wasn’t done by a magical beast!” Zhou Jing pointed at the edge of the entrance.
“The height of this entrance is about the same as Dao Feng’s height. It’s very likely he did it!” Feng Song shared his observation.

“The walls of the passage inside this entrance are just as smooth and orderly, as if cut by a sharp blade—there isn’t even the slightest trace of unevenness. This definitely can’t be the work of a magical beast,” Chao Wenqing said with a slight frown.

“Let’s first see where this passage leads!” Feng Song suggested.

Seeing that the other two weren’t moving, he knew they were being cautious around him, so he didn’t say much and was the first to head into the cave.

Chao Wenqing nodded at Zhou Jing, and the two of them entered the cave one after another.

In just a few breaths, the three of them passed through the cave and emerged in a forest.

“There are no traces of magical beasts or other signs near the exit. So this passage must not have been dug by some magical beast but was created artificially on short notice,” Zhou Jing said, crouching down and scanning the surroundings before reaching this conclusion. “If what Brother Feng said earlier is true, then it must be the work of Daofeng.”

“Can Brother Zhou track him down?” Chao Wenqing asked.

“There are few traces left, but I can give it a try!” Zhou Jing looked up at him briefly, then lowered his head again, grabbed a handful of soil, and slowly closed his eyes.

“He fled eastward,” he said after a while, opening his eyes. “Fortunately, he didn’t leave by flying; I was able to obtain information about him from the soil. And he hasn’t been gone for long. With good luck, we might be able to catch him.”

“Let’s chase!” Feng Song was again the first to dash out.

The other two immediately followed.

Ye Feng had already fled a long distance. After coming out of the tunnel he’d dug, he ran for five or six hundred kilometers, beyond the range of their mental detection, before creating nine clones that flew in different directions.

He knew very well that the tunnel he’d dug would eventually be discovered, and those people had a high chance of catching up. From the determined attitude of that main god-level powerhouse toward the treasure in his possession, he knew things wouldn’t end well.

He wasn’t a match even when the other party was alone, let alone now that they had brought two helpers—he had absolutely no chance of winning.

The movements of the three of them were entirely within the range of his detector. When they entered the cave he’d dug, Ye Feng had already been watching their movements. However, he didn’t see them sealing the entire lake with the Three Elements Formation, as he was too busy escaping at the time.

“How could they discover it so quickly? Was that dragon turtle eliminated so easily?” Ye Feng had thought he could escape farther before being noticed, but it turned out they had already taken action. Shaking off the thought of that seemingly powerful dragon turtle, Ye Feng started fleeing again. The fact that those three had effortlessly killed that fierce dragon turtle and chased after him clearly meant they had some special methods. Earlier, when Ye Feng had observed them hunting in the territory of imperial god-level magical beasts, he had already sensed that these guys from the divine realm had certain skills. “Three… this is really troublesome…” Ye Feng frowned tightly, scanning the terrain ahead while keeping an eye on the movements of the three. “If it were just one person, I could try to fight. With three of them having the ability to kill imperial god-level magical beasts, it wouldn’t be hard for them to get me killed.” After a while, Ye Feng finally chose a direction and rushed off. By then, the three had stopped at the spot where Ye Feng had created nine clones. “What’s wrong?” Feng Song asked anxiously. “The traces on the ground are gone,” Zhou Jing said slowly, frowning slightly. “So we can’t figure out which direction he went?” Feng Song was reluctant to give up. “Under normal circumstances, I could make guesses based on other details. But this Dao Feng is not ordinary—he created nine clones here, making ten people in total. He must have fled in ten different directions. Even if I find traces, they might not be left by his true self.” Zhou Jing shook his head. “Let’s give up for now. This pursuit has completely failed. We can only wait until someone sees Dao Feng again and then chase after him…” “That’s true. There’s still plenty of time—ten years. It’s been less than a year so far; there will be plenty of opportunities in the future!” Cha Wenqing nodded as well. He seemed unwilling to continue chasing after the elusive Dao Feng. “Brother Feng, do you want to go back to the imperial god magical beast territory with us?” Feng Song’s expression shifted repeatedly. After a long pause, he managed to say, “You guys go first. I’ll keep looking!” Zhou Jing didn’t say much, only frowning slightly. Without Feng Song, the Three Talents Formation couldn’t function, and their plan to hunt magical beasts would have to be put on hold. Without the help of the formation, it would already be impressive if the two of them could work together to kill an early-stage imperial god-level magical beast.

“Bro Feng, don’t forget we have an agreement—our main task is to earn as many points as possible to exchange for high-quality resources.” Cha Wenqing also looked troubled. “Although that guy, Dao Feng, is quite famous, he may not have accumulated a large number of points. Moreover, even if he does exchange points, he doesn’t necessarily have to get items. If I don’t have enough points to buy something I want, I’ll keep accumulating them. If he’s focused on accumulating points, he likely doesn’t have any valuable items with him.”

“Even if he hasn’t exchanged anything in this secret realm, the resources he possesses must be immense. He’s managed to gain such fame in the Heavenly Realm—there’s definitely something unusual about him.” Feng Song clenched his fist and stared into the distance. “I must get those treasures from him!!!”

“If you insist on pursuing him like this and he deliberately hides, it will take at least ten years before we can find him.” Cha Wenqing frowned deeply. “If you act like this, the two of us won’t be able to go to the territory of imperial-level magical beasts to hunt.”

“Give me a deadline!” Seeing that Feng Song was determined, Zhou Jing knew it was useless to persuade him any further and gave up.

“Give me three days. If I still can’t find him by then, I’ll go back to you!” Feng Song only offered this condition after the other party agreed.

“Alright, three days then!” Zhou Jing nodded after seeing that Cha Wenqing, though frowning, didn’t object.

“If you don’t show up after three days, you know what will happen…” Zhou Jing’s gaze toward Feng Song turned icy.

“I’ll meet up with you in three days!” Feng Song nodded.

Meanwhile, Ye Feng, who had stopped in his tracks, looked at the display on the detector with a strange expression. “Did the other two give up?”

He saw two dots moving together deep into the forest on the detector, indicating they had given up. The detector also showed that Feng Song was still standing in place, not moving far, seemingly searching for something.

“Is this guy still not willing to give up?” Ye Feng narrowed his eyes slightly. “If that’s the case, why not play along with him? Maybe he has some valuable items on him!”

After wandering around for a long time with no clues, Feng Song simply closed his eyes and rushed in a chosen direction.

“Good heavens, he really knows how to choose—something even my true self and my doppelgänger didn’t pick as a direction… He clearly doesn’t understand tracking, yet he pretends to know everything!” Ye Feng shook his head helplessly. “Since you’ve chosen the wrong direction, I’ll have to take the initiative to find you…”