"Seriously."
"Elder... what is he doing?"
After her initial shock, Chu Yue erupted in fury.
She was about to walk out from beneath the umbrella, intending to reveal herself.
She wanted to confront Chu Banruo face to face and demand to know why he would do such a thing.
Why would he defy the rules of the Chu Heavenly Clan?
Why would he slaughter the inhabitants of the Hundred Refinements Mortal World?
After all, the Hundred Refinements Mortal World was the territory of the Chu Heavenly Clan, and its people were effectively the clan's subjects.
"Chu Yue, have you lost your mind?" But just then, Chu Huai seized her arm and prevented her from stepping out from the umbrella that concealed them both.
"Let go of me! I'm going to ask him why he would do this!" Chu Yue shouted.
Her voice was truly thunderous, more piercing than a clap of thunder. Without the umbrella, everyone present would have been able to hear her.
But fortunately, thanks to the umbrella, only Chu Huai heard her furious outburst.
"You want to go out there now? Do you want to die?" Chu Huai scolded.
Upon hearing his words, Chu Yue's expression froze. Her previously fierce demeanor instantly deflated, and she asked cautiously: "That's the elder... surely he wouldn't... kill me?"
"Does the Chu Banruo you see right now look anything like the Chu Banruo we knew? Is he still the elder we were familiar with?" Chu Huai asked.
Chu Yue studied Chu Banruo once more and only then noticed that his face was currently twisted with malice and coldness — utterly different from the kind and approachable Chu Banruo they had always known.
"Appearances can be deceiving. He dares to show himself at this moment precisely because he intends to slaughter everyone here. Once every last person is dead, no one will ever know what he's done."
"If the two of us reveal ourselves now, do you think he'll let us live?" Chu Huai asked.
"But why would he do this? Could there be something more important than our lives? He'd kill even us just to achieve his goal?" Chu Yue asked.
"There is." Chu Huai looked toward Chu Banruo and then said: "His own life is worth more than ours."
Hearing this, Chu Yue's gaze shifted. She could find no words to refute Chu Huai's reasoning.
Then, the foot she had been about to step forward with quietly retreated.
She no longer dared to take the risk. She was afraid — afraid that if Chu Banruo knew they were here, he truly would kill them.
To silence the witnesses!
"I never expected that the one behind all of this would be a member of the Chu Heavenly Clan."
Chu Feng examined Chu Banruo for a moment and then spoke.
After all, the token of the Chu Heavenly Clan still hung at Chu Banruo's waist.
Even Chu Feng was surprised at this moment. He truly hadn't anticipated that the person responsible for these atrocities would be from the Chu Heavenly Clan.
"The Chu Heavenly Clan?"
When Chu Feng spoke those words, Ying Mingzhao and the others also noticed the token at Chu Banruo's waist.
And once they confirmed his identity, the crowd grew even more panicked. What was the Chu Heavenly Clan? It was not merely the ruler of the Hundred Refinements Mortal World — it was the sovereign of the Greater Realm.
The younger generation who came here for training, they could afford to disregard, for those were disciples on a trial and were not under the Chu Heavenly Clan's protection.
But a true expert of the Chu Heavenly Clan was an existence that could annihilate them with a mere wave of the hand. They dared not show the slightest disrespect.
And the one before them was clearly the latter.
An existence like that could not even be described as a martial cultivation expert in their presence.
This person had the power to dominate the entire Hundred Refinements Mortal World. In their eyes, he was like a divine being, possessing absolute authority over everything.
How could they possibly win against a god?
"Chu Feng, who exactly are you? To have cultivated the God Punishment Mystic Art?" Chu Banruo asked.
"That is none of your concern," Chu Feng replied coldly.
"Heh..." Chu Banruo smiled faintly, a trace of cold malice curling at the corner of his lips. "Actually, whether you tell me or not makes no difference. Either way, you cannot escape death today, and no one will ever know that I was the one who killed you."
"Even if you have a powerful backer behind you, what difference does it make?"
Though Chu Banruo's words came out calmly, it was evident that he was indeed worried about the consequences of killing Chu Feng — that it might offend some colossal power lurking behind him.
After all, the Chu Heavenly Clan behind Chu Banruo was already a true colossus.
But Chu Feng had cultivated the God Punishment Mystic Art. He couldn't shake the feeling that the forces behind Chu Feng might not be weaker than the Chu Heavenly Clan.
And given the methods and talent that Chu Feng possessed, he was surely a chosen son within whatever faction he belonged to.
A chosen son like that was precisely the kind of person Chu Banruo dared not offend. For if Chu Feng's faction learned that he had killed their prodigy, given his own status, the Chu Heavenly Clan would likely not shield him. To appease their fury, they would simply hand him over for judgment.