"Do you really believe that this Soul Infant Grand Formation will help you improve your cultivation?"
At that moment, Chu Feng rose to his feet and turned his mocking gaze upon the crowd.
"We've all seen the power of the Soul Infant Grand Formation. Why wouldn't we believe it?" someone retorted.
And once that first voice of rebuttal rang out, more and more followed.
It would be one thing if it were outsiders, but many of the voices pushing back against Chu Feng came from those very righteous sects—members who had originally been part of the allied army.
What an irony this was. People who had come to destroy the Soul Infant Sect were now siding with it the moment they stood to gain in cultivation.
The human heart truly was fathomable.
"You've blinded yourselves with desire. Nothing I say will make a difference, but don't blame me for not warning you."
"This Soul Infant Grand Formation will absolutely not help you improve your cultivation. If you put your trust in the Soul Infant Sect, there is only one outcome—death," Chu Feng said.
"Young friend Chu Feng, my Soul Infant Sect did indeed have some grievances with you in the past, but that was only due to a misunderstanding on your part."
"Now, I have explained everything clearly. Even the sacrifice of those innocent infants was nothing more than a choice forced upon us by circumstance."
"Must you really be so confrontational?" The Soul Infant Sect Master said, his face full of helplessness.
"That's right, Young friend Chu Feng. Show mercy where you can. Besides, the Soul Infant Sect is doing this for all of us."
In an instant, a surprising number of people were speaking on behalf of the Soul Infant Sect.
"For all of you? Just because something benefits you gives you the right to butcher those infants?" Zi Xunyi asked furiously.
"If those infants were your own children, would you still be standing there talking so casually?"
"For the sake of a better future, what's a few lives sacrificed? If it means the Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm will prosper, I would be willing to sacrifice even my own child."
"That's right. I would be willing too."
"The world of martial cultivators has always been rife with conflict—people die every day. But what contributions did those dead people ever make to the Hundred Refinements Ordinary Realm? No matter how you look at it, at least those infants didn't die in vain. Their sacrifice wasn't for nothing."
"Exactly. Their sacrifice is worthy, and it is something we should accept."
The crowd spoke one after another. These were the same people who had been denouncing the Soul Infant Sect for the deaths of those poor infants, and yet in the blink of an eye, they had completely reversed their tune, claiming that those babies had died a meaningful death.
"You people..." Hearing this, Zi Xunyi's face went white with rage, and then she spat out a mouthful of blood.
She had literally been angered into coughing up blood.
But one couldn't blame her. The scene before her was truly infuriating and utterly powerless to change.
"Xunyi!!"
Seeing this, Ying Mingchao—whose injuries had begun to improve—erupted in fury. He surged to his feet and cast his killing intent-laced gaze upon everyone present.
"You're the ones who deserve to die."
BOOM—
But the instant those words left Ying Mingchao's mouth, the black qi shrouding the void surged with a dense killing intent of its own—yet that overwhelming murderous aura was directed entirely at Ying Mingchao.
It was the Soul Infant Sect Master.
"Ying Mingchao, if you attack me, I won't hold it against you. But if you try to harm them, I, Hun Poyuan, will not allow it," the Soul Infant Sect Master declared.
At this scene, Ying Mingchao trembled with rage, while those who had been speaking on behalf of the Soul Infant Sect were ecstatic, as though they had found a powerful backer. Every one of them grew even more smug and brazen.
"Hahahaha..."
Just then, Chu Feng suddenly burst into laughter—laughing so hard he doubled over, his entire body shaking with mirth.
"Your stupidity has truly opened my eyes. Seniors, let's go. There's no point in caring about these people. Let them fend for themselves."
Chu Feng said to Ying Mingchao and Zi Xunyi.
"Let's go."
Ying Mingchao no longer hesitated. He led the group and chose to depart.