Once the Master of Hell Palace and the Elf King spoke their words, they struck the crowd like bolts of thunder, detonating in every heart.
After all, they had already noticed that the stone armies guarding the various spatial warships were all Martial Emperors — and in staggering numbers.
They had originally assumed that those terrifying stone armies were the hidden power of the Ancient Elves, but they never could have imagined that the commander of those stone armies would be Chu Feng.
"Really? Those stone armies were actually commanded by Chu Feng?"
"In the battle between the Ancient Elves and the Dark Hall, Chu Feng's contributions actually surpassed everyone else's?"
"Oh my heavens — Chu Feng has grown to this level now?"
"A sovereign — Chu Feng is absolutely the sovereign of this era! I truly didn't misjudge him."
"That's right. How many people used to doubt Chu Feng, but I always believed he would be the sovereign of this era. See? I wasn't wrong."
Sure enough, once they learned this, the crowd erupted into an uproar, with words of praise for Chu Feng filling the air everywhere.
At that moment, no one was stingy with their compliments for Chu Feng — they only wished they had more words with which to extol him.
Although there were many people here, at the end of the day, the truly powerful figures were limited in number. The majority were nobodies — obscure nobodies at that.
These nobodies all hoped they might get lucky enough that their praise would catch Chu Feng's attention. If that happened, their rise would be swift.
But while hundreds of millions in the crowd were praising Chu Feng and flattering him, there were quite a few whose hearts were tangled with complicated feelings.
For instance, Grandpa Luo's eldest granddaughter, Luo Lian. She could arguably be considered the person in the Martial Sacred Land who had known Chu Feng the earliest and should have been the closest to him.
However, the first time she had laid eyes on Chu Feng, her attitude toward him was not only dripping with contempt — she had even hurled insults at him, looking down on him with utter disdain.
But now, she was still a nobody, while Chu Feng had become the most sought-after figure in the entire Martial Sacred Land — the husband countless women dreamed of.
Regret. She was consumed by it.
Even though Chu Feng had set aside old grudges and arranged for her, her grandfather, and Xiao Ru to be placed in the Southern Green Wood Forest, and they had later entered the Green Wood Mountain along with the Southern Green Wood Forest — and because of Chu Feng, they enjoyed the respect of countless people within the Green Wood Mountain — she felt that she and Chu Feng could never truly become friends. Not because Chu Feng looked down on her, but because she had once looked down on Chu Feng from the bottom of her heart.
In truth, there were quite a few people in the crowd just like Luo Lian.
They all harbored a bitter hatred — not toward others, but toward themselves, for having looked down on people when they were nothing themselves, for using their marginally superior status at the time to look down on Chu Feng when they were nobodies all along.
But in the end, Chu Feng had grown into one of the most exalted figures in the Martial Sacred Land, while they remained nobodies. Even the bit of fame they enjoyed was merely borrowed from Chu Feng's radiance.
What they didn't realize was that the one who couldn't let go was themselves. As long as they were willing, they could still become good friends with Chu Feng.
"Everyone, there is something I must tell you."
"First is the Dark Hall Master. This man has cultivated a demonic art, and that demonic art requires him to refine the lives of living beings to advance his cultivation. Every person present here is now a target he intends to kill."
"In other words, we are resources for his cultivation advancement." After everyone had stepped out of the spatial warships, the Elf King began to speak solemnly.
"He actually refines us to advance his cultivation?! The Dark Hall Master is truly irredeemably evil — isn't this far too vicious? Is he even human?!" Upon learning this, the crowd was both shocked and terrified, but the prevailing reaction was cursing the Dark Hall Master.
"Most importantly, the Dark Hall Master possesses the cultivation of a Half-Ancestor. None of us here are his match. If he finds us here, we will all surely perish." The Elf King added.
"What? A Half-Ancestor?"
Upon hearing this, the crowd could no longer maintain their composure. Before, they had merely been cursing the Dark Hall Master, but with the Elf King, the Master of Hell Palace, and so many other experts present, they had still felt a sense of security.
But once they learned that the Dark Hall Master actually possessed Half-Ancestor cultivation, they truly could not stay calm. In an instant, the vast sea of people began to descend into chaos.