"Hm?"
Suddenly, Chu Feng sensed a gaze.
That gaze came from within the crowd, sizing him up. But the moment Chu Feng noticed it, the gaze vanished without a trace.
"As I thought—there's a powerful one."
Chu Feng looked around, but he couldn't pin down the owner of that gaze from moments ago.
Yet he had a feeling that whoever it was likely knew him.
"Congratulations, Brother Chu Feng!"
"Young Master Chu Feng, you're incredible! So young and already wearing the Golden Dragon God Robe—and you took first place in the rankings!"
Just then, a crowd swarmed around Chu Feng, offering their congratulations.
These people were all from the same area as Chu Feng, and they had personally witnessed everything that had just happened.
They already knew Chu Feng's background was no ordinary matter, so once they saw the rankings change, they hurried over to congratulate him, hoping to build a good relationship in the process.
But Chu Feng simply swept his sleeve and vanished from the spot.
"He's gone?"
The crowd exchanged bewildered glances.
As for Chu Feng, he had activated a concealment formation.
These fence-sitters—Chu Feng had no interest in entertaining them, nor did he want to curry favor with any of them.
"Chen Hui—where did he go?"
Chu Feng looked around but couldn't sense Chen Hui's aura anywhere.
That made Chu Feng a bit worried. Though they had only met during the harvest, Chu Feng felt Chen Hui was a decent person.
More importantly, on that day, Chen Hui had had absolutely no need to offend Celestial Spirit Palace's young master, Zhao Tianjiao.
He had stood up for Chu Feng.
So naturally, Chu Feng couldn't just turn a blind eye to his disappearance.
And right at this moment, Chen Hui had vanished—something felt off.
But though he couldn't find Chen Hui, Chu Feng did locate Zhao Tianjiao and Song Yuping.
The two of them were slinking away from the crowd with their tails between their legs.
Chu Feng knew that he and Chen Hui had only two real enemies at this point—these two. So he began secretly tailing them.
He wanted to see whether Chen Hui's disappearance had anything to do with them.
This was clearly an unfamiliar place, yet the pair moved as though they had been here before, heading somewhere specific at full speed.
They didn't exchange a single word the entire way. It wasn't until they were far from the others that Song Yuping finally spoke.
"Senior Brother, what exactly is that Chu Feng's background? How does even a Sacred Elder back him up? Did we offend someone we really shouldn't have?" Song Yuping's voice was trembling with fear.
She had finally realized that Chu Feng's identity was anything but simple.
She was terrified of his revenge.
Smack— Without warning, Zhao Tianjiao's palm cracked across Song Yuping's face.
"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"
"It's all your fault—what kind of stupid idea was that, getting me to bribe the Presiding Elder? Now if word of this reaches my father, I'm finished too!"
Zhao Tianjiao was in a blind rage, and he took it all out on Song Yuping.
"Senior Brother, I couldn't have known it would turn out like this either." Song Yuping's face crumpled with grievance, and she burst into sobs again.
Watching the two of them like this, Chu Feng realized they probably didn't even dare to retaliate against him. Chen Hui's disappearance clearly had nothing to do with them.
So Chu Feng turned around and headed back toward the crowd.
As for Zhao Tianjiao and Song Yuping, they continued on their way.
After traveling a considerable distance, the two suddenly halted.
A figure had appeared right in front of them out of nowhere.
The sight of this person made both Zhao Tianjiao and Song Yuping freeze.
They looked around, and after confirming no one else was nearby, they turned to face the figure before them.
"Chen Hui—you've got the nerve to show your face in front of me?" Zhao Tianjiao asked coldly.
The person standing there was none other than the vanished Chen Hui.
"What's it to ya? Why can't I stand in front of you? You two washed-up losers got eliminated—like I'd be afraid of you?" Chen Hui's wide mouth split into a grin dripping with mockery.
"Chen Hui, you think because you've got Chu Feng backing you, I won't dare touch you?"
"I just don't want to stir up any more trouble here. So before I lose my temper, you'd better disappear right now, or don't blame me for what comes next," Zhao Tianjiao said to Chen Hui.
"Or what?"
"Then I'd really love to see what you're gonna do about it." Chen Hui was utterly unfazed by Zhao Tianjiao's anger.
Seeing this, Zhao Tianjiao's expression turned wary.
He swept a smiling glance around and said, "Seems you've got backup. You're dead set on making my life difficult, huh?"
Chen Hui said nothing. He simply stared at Zhao Tianjiao with that maddening, squinting smile—a look that made it abundantly clear he didn't consider Zhao Tianjiao worth a second thought.
It made Zhao Tianjiao seethe.