"What are you panicking for? It's only been five short days. What's there to be anxious about?"
"Chu Feng is already extraordinary — it's only natural that he can endure a bit longer on the Heavenly Lightning Punishment Platform," said Chu Hanqing.
"Supreme Elder, you said it yourself — Chu Feng is extraordinary."
"Isn't that exactly what makes him so worrisome? Chu Feng is extraordinary. He once ascended to the legendary tenth level of the Heavenly Lightning Platform. He even caused the Bloodline Cultivation Array to open all eight formations permanently."
"I genuinely fear that even if he's bound up there for an entire lifetime, he still won't die."
"That's right, Supreme Elder — please think of something. He can afford to drag this out, but we can't," the crowd pleaded one after another.
"What can I do? Chu Hanpeng and Chu Xuan Zhengfa have been standing guard at the Heavenly Lightning Punishment Platform this whole time. Even if I wanted to act against Chu Feng directly, there's no opportunity," Chu Hanqing said, equally exasperated.
"Then what do we do? If we just keep waiting, the Clan Chief will wake up sooner or later, and when that happens, we're all finished."
At Chu Hanqing's words, the crowd grew even more frantic.
"What a bunch of spineless, incompetent fools."
"No wonder you were played like puppets by a mere junior." At that moment, a voice dripping with contempt rang out.
Simultaneously, a figure materialized out of thin air.
The moment they saw this person, everyone's hearts lurched — because he looked exactly like Chu Feng.
But they quickly realized this was absolutely not Chu Feng. The real Chu Feng was still suffering under the bombardment of heavenly lightning on the Punishment Platform.
This person, naturally, was the impostor who had been posing as Chu Feng — the one who had helped them poison the Clan Chief.
The group was already seething with frustration, and seeing this impostor humiliate them like that only made their anger flare. One of them, unable to contain his fury, stepped forward, jabbed a finger at the impostor's nose, and erupted: "How dare you! You're nothing but a puppet — what right do you have to criticize us?"
Swoosh—
The instant those words left his mouth, the fake Chu Feng's sharp brows drew together, and the Chu Heavenly Clan member went flying backward. By the time he hit the ground, his mouth was a mess of blood, his body riddled with severe injuries.
"This…"
Every face in the crowd drained of color. The injured man was a Martial Immortal at the peak of his realm.
Yet the fake Chu Feng had struck him down without so much as lifting a finger — with nothing more than a thought, he had left a peak Martial Immortal gravely wounded.
That meant he was a Venerable-level powerhouse.
This was completely beyond what anyone had expected. While this impostor's disguise was convincing enough to fool just about anyone, people had simply assumed he possessed some extraordinary concealment technique. No one had imagined he also possessed such overwhelming strength.
"What is this? Before we've even dealt with Chu Feng, we're already turning on each other?" Chu Hanyouyou spoke in a cold, cutting tone.
Yet though the Chu Heavenly Clan members flinched at Chu Hanyouyou's reprimand, the fake Chu Feng couldn't care less.
He raised his hand and made a grasping motion at the injured man from across the distance. The man's neck was seized by an invisible force, and he was hoisted bodily off the ground.
"He was disrespectful to me. Tell him to apologize — or I'll take his life," the fake Chu Feng said flatly.
Chu Hanqing and Chu Hanyouyou exchanged a glance, worry flickering in both their eyes. They knew precious little about this impostor. They had only agreed to cooperate with him out of desperation — they simply couldn't afford to wait any longer. If Chu Feng was allowed to keep growing, they were all dead anyway.
But now it was becoming clear that this fake Chu Feng was a colossal threat in his own right. More importantly, they didn't dare try to silence him, because they had no idea whether they could even handle him.
This impostor was not only shrouded in mystery — his strength was truly unfathomable.
In the beginning, the fake Chu Feng had been remarkably compliant. But now… he had laid hands on their people without hesitation. It was obvious he was slipping out of their control.
"Put him down first — otherwise, how is he supposed to apologize to you?" Chu Hanyouyou said. He felt utterly helpless, but he had no choice but to yield.
"Hmph." The fake Chu Feng flicked his sleeve, and the injured man was hurled back to the ground.
"I'm sorry — I spoke out of turn. Please, be magnanimous enough to spare me this once."