"So it seems you've admitted it — what happened back then was exactly as Young Friend Chu Feng said?"
"Repaying kindness with enmity. Truly, you repaid kindness with enmity."
"Young Friend Chu Feng saved your lives, and yet you repaid his kindness with enmity. Are you… are you even human?"
Zhan Yuanmo's face had gone deathly pale with fury, his body trembling uncontrollably. Suddenly, he froze, and then his mouth opened wide.
Pfft—
A massive spray of fresh blood burst from his mouth. In the next moment, he could no longer steady himself and began to collapse toward the ground.
It was only because Chu Feng was quick and agile. He moved in a flash, appearing behind Zhan Yuanmo and catching him before he hit the floor.
"Father…"
"My lord!!!"
"We know we were wrong, we beg you to punish us severely, but please don't anger yourself into harming your own body."
Watching Zhan Yuanmo cough up blood from sheer rage, the members of the Ancient War Clan were truly terrified.
"Punish you? You certainly deserve severe punishment — repaying kindness with enmity, forgetting grace and betraying your benefactors. You deserve to die!!!" Zhan Yuanmo roared in fury.
"Die?" Hearing that word, every member of the Ancient War Clan went ashen-faced, stunned rigid as if turned to stone.
Some went further — their legs gave out entirely, and they crumpled to the ground, staring blankly like plucked chickens.
They had all anticipated that Zhan Yuanmo would punish them severely once he learned the truth, but they had never imagined he would utter the word "die."
And they all knew Zhan Yuanmo's temperament well enough — he never joked. If he said he wanted them dead, then he truly meant to kill them.
"My lord, we know we were wrong! Please show mercy and spare our lives!"
In an instant, pleas for mercy rang out one after another. Not only those who had made things difficult for Chu Feng that day, but even Zhan Lingtong and Zhan Lingling — the brother and sister — were begging for mercy.
They were pleading on behalf of their father, their siblings, and their elders.
They had all expected their grandfather to punish them, but they never expected it to be this ruthless.
"You still have the nerve to beg for mercy? If not for Young Hero Chu Feng intervening twice, you would already be dead twice over."
"Your lives were saved twice by Young Hero Chu Feng. Your lives haven't belonged to you for a long time — they belong to Young Hero Chu Feng."
"And yet you… you imprisoned him. Are you even human?"
"How did I teach you? Did the lessons of benevolence and righteousness I raised you with all go straight to the dogs?"
Zhan Yuanmo pointed a trembling finger at the Ancient War Clan's patriarch and the others, questioning and roaring at them in fury.
He was genuinely, overwhelmingly angry. But there was also disappointment — the frustration of seeing people he had failed to mold properly — and shame. After all, these were his own clansmen, people he had raised and nurtured.
Faced with Zhan Yuanmo's tirade, the members of the Ancient War Clan fell silent. They stopped begging for mercy.
Some gritted their teeth. Some clenched their fists. Some slapped their own faces. Some wept bitterly.
But no matter what expression they wore, they all conveyed the same emotion — regret!
Regret. They truly regretted it.
Regretted what they had done.
Especially now, having witnessed with their own eyes that Chu Feng possessed such overwhelming power, yet had not laid a single hand on anyone in their clan — and had instead driven the Demon Clan away, saving the Ancient War Clan. After seeing that, their regret was bottomless.
Compared to Chu Feng, they saw just how petty and small-minded they had been — how contemptible their self-satisfied arrogance now appeared.
"Forget it, Senior. What's done is done, and I'm fine. Just give them a warning — there's no need for actual punishment."
But just then, Chu Feng spoke up with a smile.
At that moment, not only was Zhan Yuanmo stunned into silence — every member of the Ancient War Clan wore the same blank expression.
In their eyes, Chu Feng had brought this whole matter to light precisely because he wanted them punished.
So now that they were about to face punishment, why was Chu Feng the one stepping forward to plead on their behalf?