"Senior."
Upon seeing this, Chu Feng quickly moved to support Gu Mingyuan.
At the same time, he released the power of his barrier and began healing Gu Mingyuan's injuries.
But upon making contact, Chu Feng discovered that Gu Mingyuan was extremely weak. Her soul was not only scorching hot but also incredibly chaotic, as though it were on the verge of dissipating.
A powerhouse of Gu Mingyuan's caliber had actually reached a state where her life was at stake.
Hummm—
Shortly after, another barrier formation emerged, enveloping Gu Mingyuan.
It was Master Liangqiu who had acted.
"Master Liangqiu, Chu Feng—how did Mingyuan end up like this?" Just then, Chu Xuanzhengfa walked over.
Chu Xuanzhengfa's face was covered in blood, clearly the result of being pushed away by Gu Mingyuan earlier.
But he bore no grudge at all. Instead, he was deeply concerned about Gu Mingyuan's condition.
"She burned her soul," Chu Feng said.
"Burned her soul?!" Upon hearing this, Chu Xuanzhengfa's expression changed drastically.
As a martial cultivator, how could he not know how dangerous soul-burning was? It was practically suicide.
So he hurriedly asked, "Why would she do such a thing?"
"It must have been some kind of special technique that uses soul-burning to enhance her speed."
"Otherwise, having departed after us, she couldn't possibly have caught up so quickly."
"She must have returned to the Chu Heavenly Clan, learned about your daughter, and in her worry for her, resorted to this measure to chase after us."
Master Liangqiu explained.
Hearing this, Chu Xuanzhengfa was stricken with grief. He dropped to his knees with a thud, tears and blood mingling on his contorted face.
Chu Feng had known Chu Xuanzhengfa long enough to know that he was a hard, iron-willed man.
Even when an army of cultivators had laid siege to their gates, even when the Blood Devouring Hall had threatened to wipe out the Chu Heavenly Clan, Chu Feng had never seen Chu Xuanzhengfa retreat a single step or shed a single tear.
Yet over the past few days, Chu Feng had lost count of how many times Chu Xuanzhengfa had cried.
But there were only two people who could move him to tears.
One was his daughter, Chu Lingxi.
And the other was his wife, Gu Mingyuan.
Regardless of whether Gu Mingyuan acknowledged Chu Xuanzhengfa, Chu Feng could see that in his heart, he loved her deeply.
"Mingyuan, why are you so foolish?"
Chu Xuanzhengfa once again came to Gu Mingyuan's side, his tear-filled eyes brimming with anguish.
Yet the hand he reached out dared only hover near her, not daring to make contact.
Watching Chu Xuanzhengfa like this, Chu Feng sighed inwardly: "Senior, aren't you just as foolish?"
Chu Feng still remembered how, when Master Liangqiu had said that Chu Lingxi needed eyes, Chu Xuanzhengfa had uttered those words without a moment's hesitation.
For his daughter, he had been willing to lose his own eyes.
Recalling Chu Xuanzhengfa at that time, and now seeing Gu Mingyuan, who had burned her own soul out of worry for Chu Lingxi, just to chase after them—
Chu Feng's heart was filled with countless emotions…
If there was love in this world, then the greatest love of all was surely a father's love, and a mother's love.
…
Given the urgency of the situation, once Master Liangqiu had stabilized Gu Mingyuan's soul, he entrusted the task of healing her to Chu Feng.
Master Liangqiu, meanwhile, led Chu Feng and the others to find his old friend.
Though the surface of the Mingjing Sea was as calm as a mirror, above the void, torrential rain fell year-round without a single day's break.
Amid these harsh conditions, a small thatched hut stood here.
Not only was the hut small, it appeared fragile as well. Under normal circumstances, given the volume of rain in the Mingjing Sea, it would surely be destroyed in an instant.
Yet this thatched hut, standing upon the sea beneath dark clouds amid the storm, had not lost a single blade of grass. Its tenacity was nothing short of miraculous.
And this was where Master Liangqiu's old friend resided.
Master Liangqiu's old friend was a mysterious figure.
Despite knowing him for many years, Master Liangqiu didn't even know his name—only that his surname was Zhu.
In the world of martial cultivators, there were many reclusive experts—people unknown to the public yet possessing extraordinary strength.
And in Master Liangqiu's mind, this friend who had secluded himself in the Mingjing Sea for years was the most powerful among all the reclusive experts he knew of in the Ancestral Martial Starfield.
This person surnamed Zhu not only possessed cultivation at the Supreme Realm, but his mastery of barrier arts had already reached the Dragon Mark Saint level by the time Master Liangqiu first met him.