"What about Zi Ling? Did she actually use it?" Chu Feng hurriedly pressed.
"She did," the blind elder said.
"And the result?" Chu Feng pressed further.
"Miss Zi Ling did manage to make it out alive, but..."
"But what?" Chu Feng's heart sank further. From the blind elder's reaction, he could sense that something was terribly wrong.
Yet Chu Feng did not let that anxiety show. He was afraid the blind elder would blame himself.
"Though she came out alive, she suffered an immense backlash—a kind of... backlash that even I was unable to suppress." At those words, the blind elder's face was filled with self-reproach.
Suddenly, the blind elder dropped to both knees with a thud, prostrating himself before Chu Feng and knocking his head against the floor.
"Master, it was my fault. I should never have acted on impulse and allowed Zi Ling to use a forbidden technique that we could not control. I brought this upon her."
"Master, I know how much you love Miss Zi Ling, and this was entirely this old servant's doing. Please punish me, Master. Please punish me severely!!!" With those words, the blind elder slammed his forehead against the ground with tremendous force, the impact sending tremors through the entire hall.
"Uncle Blind, please get up." Chu Feng hurried forward to help him up, but he could not budge the blind elder in the slightest.
"Uncle Blind, please get up. I only want to know—is Zi Ling still alive? I am not blaming you." Chu Feng's voice had already grown hoarse. In truth, he was terrified. He was terrified that Zi Ling was already dead.
But he could not show it. Even though he had been so careful with his words, the blind elder still reacted this way. If Chu Feng were to show how worried he truly was, the blind elder would only blame himself even more.
"This old servant does not know," Uncle Blind said, shaking his head.
"You don't know?" Chu Feng's anxiety intensified. After all, Zi Ling meant far too much to him.
Yet even though his heart was already burning with worry, he kept his tone gentle out of consideration for the blind elder. "Uncle Blind, tell me—what exactly happened?"
"That day, Miss Zi Ling's condition was beyond this old servant's ability to handle."
"With no other choice, I reached out to Lord Xuan Yuan. When he arrived, he took Miss Zi Ling away."
"Right now, Miss Zi Ling should be with Lord Xuan Yuan, both of them within the Heavenly Path."
"So this old servant truly has no way of knowing how Miss Zi Ling is at this moment," the blind elder explained.
"I never expected Father to intervene on Zi Ling's behalf." Chu Feng was somewhat surprised, but the heavy weight on his heart lifted considerably.
Though he did not know his father well, in Chu Feng's mind his father held a hazy yet towering image. He had always felt that if his father was willing to act, nothing could go wrong.
"Lord Xuan Yuan may be cold, but he is by no means a heartless man. Otherwise, he would not have left a communication talisman for me to reach him when necessary," the blind elder explained.
"Since Father has stepped in, I'm sure Zi Ling will be fine. Uncle Blind, please get up." Chu Feng once again tried to help the blind elder to his feet.
"This old servant acted on his own authority and deserves to be punished severely." But the blind elder was stubborn, remaining on his knees.
"Uncle Blind, you have already helped me so much. Besides, the only reason you agreed to let Zi Ling do it was to help her, wasn't it?"
"To be honest, if it were me in your place, I would have made the same choice. The path of martial cultivation is a journey against the current. Without taking risks, it is hard to achieve anything of true greatness," Chu Feng said.
"Master, you truly do not blame this old servant?" the blind elder asked.
"Towards you, I feel nothing but gratitude." Chu Feng again tried to lift the blind elder up.
But the blind elder refused to rise. Instead he said, "Hearing Master say that only makes this old servant feel more ashamed."
"Uncle Blind, must you be this way? Can you not stop treating me as your master and instead treat me like you did before—as a junior?" Chu Feng asked.