"Have mercy, Senior Bai! Have mercy, Senior Bai!"
"We were blind and failed to recognize a great man. We humbly ask Senior Bai to be magnanimous and spare us lowly folk — grant us a chance to make amends!" Sensing the old man's overwhelming Heaven Martial realm cultivation, the crowd panicked and scrambled to beg for forgiveness.
"A bunch of juniors — hardly worth my killing intent." The old man smirked smugly, flicked his sleeve once more, and drew the Heaven Force he had released back into his body. He picked up the chopsticks from the table and resumed eating.
Only then could the people on the ground finally climb to their feet. They exchanged uneasy glances, faces flickering between panic and dread, yet not a single person chose to leave. They remained rooted in place, watching the white-robed elder with trembling apprehension — because their curiosity was simply too great. They had to know what Bai Xianqi had actually witnessed in the Azure Dragon Mountain Range.
What exactly had happened to the Azure Dragon Sect — the very sect that had already shaken the world to its core? And just how shocking would that secret prove to be?
"S-S-Senior Bai, might I ask what you saw in Qingzhou? Could you... tell us?" At last, one burly man could no longer contain his curiosity. His face was pale with fear and his voice stammered, but he pressed on anyway.
Seeing that someone had dared to ask, the white-robed elder did not grow angry. Instead, he set down his chopsticks and swept his gaze across the crowd. When he saw the hunger for knowledge in their eyes, the smugness on his face deepened a few more shades. Then he spoke.
"Very well. This matter will spread far and wide sooner or later. Since you're so eager to hear it, I suppose there's no harm in telling you."
"The truth is, the Azure Dragon Mountain Range is no longer just the Qilin Palace Manor, the Spirit World Alliance, and the Jiang Dynasty's forces helping Chu Feng rebuild the Azure Dragon Sect."
"Among that vast workforce raising structures across the mountains, I saw not only skilled civilian craftsmen, powerful martial cultivators, and Spirit World Masters commanding barrier forces — but also countless enormous creatures."
"They roared with earth-shaking might and possessed strength beyond measure. Even the smallest stood several meters tall, and the largest towered over ten meters. And these formidable beasts were performing manual labor on the Azure Dragon Mountain Range — carrying materials, hauling stone, toiling away without complaint and seemingly joyful in their work."
"Creatures over ten meters tall? Could they be... demon beasts? What demon beasts could possibly be that powerful — that massive?" The crowd's faces drained of color.
"That's right — they were indeed demon beasts. And not just a few. By my count, there were tens of thousands of them at the very least," the white-robed elder said with undisguised pride.
"Tens of thousands of demon beasts? Where in the world could that many demon beasts come from?" The revelation sent the crowd into even greater shock.
"I know — it must be the Demon Monkey King! The mysterious expert who defeated Gu Tianchen and Jie Shi a hundred years ago — the Demon Monkey King is the true king of the Myriad Demon Mountain!"
"It has to be him. He must have rallied the demon beasts of the Myriad Demon Mountain to help Chu Feng build the Azure Dragon Sect. After all, there are rumors that the Demon Monkey King is Chu Feng's sworn brother!" At last, someone put the pieces together and guessed the origin of those demon beasts.
Seeing that someone had indeed figured it out, the white-robed elder smiled faintly. He stroked his few strands of snow-white beard and said:
"Correct. He's right. Those demon beasts are formidable — at that scale, with that level of power, only the beasts of the Myriad Demon Mountain could possess such characteristics."
"But that's not even the most significant part. I also heard news that I'm certain will astonish you. The Demon Monkey King has announced that he will serve as an Honorary Elder of the Azure Dragon Sect."
"Furthermore, every single demon beast of the Myriad Demon Mountain will relocate to the Azure Dragon Mountain Range to serve the Azure Dragon Sect. These powerful, untamed creatures will become the sect's guardians — standing with the Azure Dragon Sect, sharing its fate to the very end."
"What?! Such a thing? The demon beasts of the Myriad Demon Mountain — those creatures are terrifying! They say the Five Demon Kings are all at the fifth level of Heaven Martial realm. Back then, even the Supreme Villa didn't dare provoke the Myriad Demon Mountain's beasts."
"And the Demon Monkey King who has now revealed himself is even more terrifying beyond imagination. He single-handedly turned the tide of war between the five great powers and the Spirit World Alliance."
"He killed even Jie Shi! I hear the Emperor of the Jiang Dynasty himself fears the Demon Monkey King. The Myriad Demon Mountain is essentially invincible — and now those horrifying beasts are joining the Azure Dragon Sect? This is... this is absolutely unbelievable."
"Incredible — truly incredible. The sect hasn't even been built yet, and it already commands this kind of lineup, this level of prestige. Once the Azure Dragon Sect is completed, won't it become the number one sect on the entire Nine Provinces Continent? On the Nine Provinces Continent, apart from the Jiang Dynasty, who could possibly stand against it?"
Upon hearing this, not a single person in the tavern maintained their composure. Every face was slack-jawed, eyes wide with shock. Some were so shaken by this news alone that their entire bodies trembled, utterly stupefied.
But the truth was, everything the white-robed elder had said was fact. This news was spreading outward from Qingzhou like wildfire, radiating to every corner of the Nine Provinces Continent, eventually reaching every province and once again rocking the entire land.
Although the Azure Dragon Sect had yet to be rebuilt, there was no denying it — the Azure Dragon Sect had already become what every power and every expert considered the foremost sect. With the Myriad Demon Mountain's demon beasts joining its ranks and the Jiang Dynasty's backing, what force could possibly challenge such an organization?
Forget the fallen Jie clan, the Yuan Gang Sect, the Fire God Gate, the Carefree Valley, and the Bai Zang Sect — even the Supreme Villa and the Spirit World Alliance at the height of their power could not compare to the Azure Dragon Sect as it now stood.
Qingzhou — a land that had languished in obscurity for centuries — had finally returned to the pinnacle of the Nine Provinces Continent's stage. The Azure Dragon Sect — a sect that had languished for centuries — had once again become the foremost sect on the Nine Provinces Continent.
And all of this had come to pass because of a single youth: Chu Feng.
There was no denying it — Chu Feng had once again become the talk of the world. People began to recall his deeds, to revisit the legendary feats he had accomplished, and to compare him with the great figures of every era across the Nine Provinces Continent.
In the end, they arrived at a conclusion: Chu Feng surpassed every great figure the Nine Provinces Continent had ever produced. Those figures, the Dragon Daoist among them, had mostly accomplished little before the age of twenty. Their renown came later, in their mature years.
But Chu Feng was different. At a mere seventeen years of age, he had already forged countless legends across the Nine Provinces Continent, standing at the very summit of glory and influence. The Jiang Dynasty showed him respect, and even the impossibly powerful Demon Monkey King was his sworn brother.
This was why people believed Chu Feng was the most terrifying existence the Nine Provinces Continent had ever seen. He possessed a potential that none of the great figures of old could match. His future achievements were beyond imagination, beyond measure.
And everyone was grateful — grateful that they had witnessed the birth of such a great figure with their own eyes. Though Chu Feng's path had been far from smooth, he had, without question, succeeded.
From a nameless, lowly Outer Disciple of the Azure Dragon Sect, he had grown step by step — first becoming the sect's foremost disciple, then shaking all of Qingzhou with his reputation, and finally becoming a legendary figure known to every man, woman, and child across the entire continent.
Chu Feng's rate of growth was truly astonishing. Though he could not yet be called the number one expert on the Nine Provinces Continent, and though he was still, technically, a junior — everyone knew that the potential he possessed would carry him to unprecedented heights. The great experts of the present day, and those of ages past, would all be surpassed by Chu Feng, one by one. None could stand on the same level as him.