Chapter 49 You Must Be the Legendary Dean Feng

Fu Qian moved through the ruins without a single pause.

Having walked this route twice already, he was intimately familiar with it, knowing even the exact spots where the monsters would launch their sneak attacks.

Encountering virtually no obstacles along the way, he quickly arrived at the blood pool in the center.

From afar, he could already see Feng Yunhong striking a pose.

Warming up his facial muscles, Fu Qian hurried forward, his pupils suddenly dilating the next moment.

"Dean... Feng Yunhong?"

After waiting for a full ten seconds, the wax-like Feng Yunhong finally showed some movement.

Taking a long, deep breath as if waking from a dream, Feng Yunhong slowly opened his eyes and looked at Fu Qian.

"Who are you? It's dangerous here."

"You must be Dean Feng, right?"

Without answering the question, Fu Qian maintained a look of pleasant surprise.

"I knew you were all right! I've finally found you!"

"You know me?"

Feng Yunhong frowned.

"Of course!"

Fu Qian nodded vigorously.

"I saw your portrait at the Academy. You haven't changed at all after all these years, so I recognized you immediately."

"The Academy..."

As if hearing of something from the distant past, Feng Yunhong was stunned for a moment before snapping back to reality and shaking his head.

"That was many years ago."

"Yes, I often heard the teachers at the Academy mention how the fourth Dean mysteriously disappeared. It's been at least a few decades now.

It is said that the subsequent Dean Li has always been searching for your whereabouts."

"Dean Li? Li He? He became the Dean, did he?"

Feng Yunhong let out a long, heavy sigh, his weathered face tinged with a trace of gratification.

*Not a bad performance,* Fu Qian praised him inwardly.

"Yes, though Dean Li has been retired for many years now and travels around. He has always held your strength in the highest regard."

Feng Yunhong waved his hand, gazing up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle with the demeanor of someone who had seen through the ways of the world.

"All illusory fame is merely fleeting smoke."

"Speaking of which, you are truly a hero among the youth."

He looked Fu Qian up and down approvingly.

"So young and already at the sixth rank. In our era, you would definitely be considered a genius of a generation."

"Dean Feng flatters me. I am merely standing on the shoulders of giants. Without the years of exploration by our predecessors, the path of cultivation wouldn't have been so smooth."

Fu Qian maintained his modest facade while frowning as he looked at the miserable state of Feng Yunhong's lower body.

"Your condition... Who could have done this to you?"

"It's hard to explain in a few words. I can only blame myself for being too careless back then. This place is extremely bizarre; you must be careful."

Feng Yunhong warned Fu Qian with the air of an elder.

"I understand!"

Fu Qian nodded solemnly, continuing to gaze at Feng Yunhong's lower body with a look of grief and indignation.

"I'll go call the others right away and find a way to rescue you."

Others?

Hearing Fu Qian say this, Feng Yunhong's eyes lit up. Then, with a magnanimous smile, he shook his head.

"It's enough that you have the heart. At my age, I've long since taken life and death lightly. The only reason I've survived until now is purely by relying on a lingering breath to hold on."

"Every step here is fraught with danger; there's no need for you all to risk your lives for me."

"Please don't say that."

Fu Qian shook his head forcefully.

"I'll go fetch them right this instant. Vice Dean Li Weixuan, who is traveling with us, is already at the peak of the fourth rank. His sword-heart is translucent and specifically counters evil and defilement. He will definitely find a way to get you out. Just wait right here..."

While comforting Feng Yunhong, Fu Qian made a move to leave, only to suddenly stop in his tracks the next moment, his brows knitted tightly.

"What is it?"

Feng Yunhong narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Fu Qian.

"Did you..."

Fu Qian kept looking around in all directions, seemingly searching for something.

"Hear someone talking?"

"Someone talking? How could that be? There's no one else here besides the two of us!"

Feng Yunhong wore a puzzled expression.

"Did you hear wrong?"

"But there really is someone!"

Fu Qian wore a bewildered expression.

"It's a woman's voice, constantly begging to be let out. Her name seems to be Shui Jing... Wait, there's another man's voice too... Chi Hesheng. How can this be?"

Fu Qian casually reeled off two names, noticing Feng Yunhong's expression change abruptly.

"The blood pool is full of curses everywhere, which can sometimes cause hallucinations. You might have been affected."

"You'd better leave this place quickly to avoid further harm."

Feng Yunhong urged Fu Qian to hurry away.

"Understood, I'm leaving right now!"

Fu Qian nodded and bowed to Feng Yunhong.

"Take care, I'll be right back."

"No need to rush. This old man has been here for so many years, I'm not in a rush for just a moment."

Feng Yunhong laughed heartily, watching Fu Qian leave all the way until he completely vanished into the thin mist.

After walking a certain distance, Fu Qian spun around, first using a stone tower to block the line of sight, and then quietly crept back.

Of course, there was no way he was actually going to drag Li Weixuan and the others over here.

The reason he said that earlier was, on one hand, to let Feng Yunhong know that more prey would be delivered to his doorstep, preventing him from resorting to self-detonation right then and there.

On the other hand, it was to apply sufficient pressure to the old man.

By deliberately emphasizing that Li Weixuan was at the peak of the fourth rank with exceptionally acute perception, and then telling him that he had heard cries for help,

even Fu Qian himself could hear anomalies, so Feng Yunhong would naturally worry about revealing flaws in front of Li Weixuan. If he truly had a way to suppress these swallowed transcendents, he would definitely take action.

Swiftly returning to the edge of the blood pool, Fu Qian found that Feng Yunhong was already gone.

In the exact spot where he had been standing, there was now an opening leading further downward.

This place... Fu Qian remembered the curved dome revealed when Li Weixuan and Feng Yunhong had clashed earlier.

There really was something underneath!

Leaping across the blood pool once more to the edge of the opening, Fu Qian discovered that the space below consisted of crisscrossing stone beams.

Without the slightest hesitation, Fu Qian jumped straight down.

Speed is the essence of war; Feng Yunhong's movements wouldn't be too slow.

Landing lightly on a massive arched stone beam, Fu Qian carefully observed the interior of the structure.

The space wasn't particularly large, but the height was quite substantial, and he was currently standing right on its rafters.

It was hard to imagine how a building like this had sunk deep underground.

Judging by its general shape, this place should have originally been something like a church, but now it was completely unrecognizable.

The entire interior of the building presented an extremely bizarre sight, with most areas completely empty.

Tables, chairs, roof tiles, lamp stands, and glazed tiles—all the interior decorations were piled up right in the center of the structure.

Not only that, these objects seemed to be pulled by some force, forming a massive four-pronged spiral shape in a distorted posture.

The exact symbol found on the blood-faced entity's head.

A thought stirred in Fu Qian's mind, confirming that he had indeed found the right place.

Right in the center of the counterclockwise spiral was a crude stone chair.

At this very moment, the vanished Feng Yunhong was sitting upon it, a chorus of wails emanating from all around his body.

That was fast!

Then again, did this fellow just stand up there all this time, and then run straight down to digest his prey after swallowing someone?

He really is cautious!