Despite Chu Xuanyuan's youth in terms of age, before the Master of the Immortal Armament Villa and Elder Tuoba, he was still merely a junior.
However, the status Chu Xuanyuan held in the hearts of the Villa Master and Elder Tuoba was extraordinarily high.
It even surpassed the current strongest cultivator of the Great Thousand Upper Realm — the clan master of the Chu Heavenly Clan.
"Being too eager and proactive would only be counterproductive. Rest assured, I've already done what needed to be done."
"If this Chu Feng is the sort to repay kindness with gratitude, what I've done will be enough to leave a favorable impression on him."
"If he isn't, then no matter how much more I do, it would be a waste."
"Besides, this matter of Chu Feng being Chu Xuanyuan's son is nothing more than speculation — it hasn't been confirmed," the Master of the Immortal Armament Villa said.
"What the Villa Master says is quite right," Elder Tuoba nodded in agreement.
…
Chu Feng had already departed, but since he had left secretly, the people outside the Immortal Armament Villa were still unaware.
They were still waiting for Chu Feng, all hoping to seize the opportunity to make his acquaintance.
Although Chu Feng's cultivation, by the standards of the Great Thousand Upper Realm, could be considered extremely weak, a junior of such caliber possessed potential that was beyond estimation. Everyone understood Chu Feng's value.
And while they waited, they continued to discuss and speculate endlessly about Chu Feng's identity.
Among them, some had naturally theorized whether Chu Feng might be the son of Chu Xuanyuan.
After all, his name was identical to that of Chu Xuanyuan's son.
And the Divine Punishment Mystic Art was a signature of both Chu Xuanyuan and Chu Hanxian.
Of course, such speculation people only dared to keep in their own hearts — no one spoke of it openly.
But regardless, from this day forward, the great name of Chu Feng would spread throughout the entire Great Thousand Upper Realm.
…
News traveled quickly, and even within the Chu Heavenly Clan, there were those who had begun to learn of Chu Feng.
Inside an opulent palace chamber of the Chu Heavenly Clan, Chu Xianshuo knelt upon the ground, his body and face covered in fresh, bloody wounds.
The injuries were clearly new — the marks left by a whip.
And seated at the head of the chamber was a man.
He had originally been of modest height and was rather ugly.
The reason he was "originally" was that at this moment, he was far more wretched still.
He was blind — his eyeballs were gone, as though someone had gouged them out while he was still alive.
His body was also grievously incomplete. He had no legs, and even his hands were not whole — only a single finger remained.
This man was called Chu Kongtong.
He was the very same person who had entered the Ancestral Martial Lower Realm, walked the Heavenly Path, humiliated the old ape, and dug open Chu Feng's grave.
And it was precisely because of Chu Kongtong's actions that he had provoked Chu Xuanyuan, which was how he had come to his present state.
After being injured by Chu Xuanyuan, Chu Kongtong had returned to the Great Thousand Upper Realm and sought out countless physicians, yet not a single one had been able to cure him.
Now, not only was he reduced to a mangled remnant of a body, but his cultivation had also fallen far below what it once was. His cultivation could not only be strengthened but had been continuously regressing — no amount of training made any difference.
His cultivation simply kept declining. He was growing weaker by the day.
And Chu Kongtong, as it happened, was Chu Xianshuo's father.
"You useless thing — an outsider stole first place in the hunting competition from you?"
"And not only that — you, a Fourth Rank True Immortal, were defeated by a Second Rank True Immortal?"
"You still have the nerve to come back? If I were you, I'd have killed myself already."
Chu Kongtong roared in fury, and as he spoke, the whip in his hand cracked through the air again and again, lashing repeatedly across Chu Xianshuo's body.
Chu Xianshuo, meanwhile, endured the agony of the whipping in silence, kneeling on the ground without uttering a single word.
He was trembling — not from the pain, but from fear. It was plain to see that he was terrified of his own father.
"Oh my, what are you doing? Xianshuo is already suffering enough. You're his father — rather than comforting him, how could you possibly add even more pressure on him like this?"