The moment those words left Chu Feng's mouth, a wave of terror washed over the crowd. Even their own Pavilion Master had been slaughtered — what chance did a bunch of insignificant underlings have?
Not a single person from Danqing Hall dared linger. They swung their arms and bolted, sprinting for their lives without daring to slow down for even a heartbeat.
In truth, many of the onlookers were equally terrified of being killed by Chu Feng, so they too scrambled to leave the area as fast as possible. In the blink of an eye, the bustling space in front of the Li Family residence had been emptied out, leaving behind only the members of the Li Family — and Chu Feng.
At that moment, the Li Family Patriarch and a number of Li Family experts hurriedly descended and arrived before the Combat Platform, performing a grand gesture of gratitude toward Chu Feng.
Furthermore, at the Patriarch's signal, the entire group spoke in unison, their voices thunderous: "We thank our benefactor for saving us! The great kindness you have shown the Li Family today will never be forgotten!"
When the Li Family Patriarch delivered those words, he was positively theatrical in his display of gratitude, nearly reduced to tears.
But Chu Feng couldn't have cared less about the Patriarch and those old fogeys. Instead, he turned directly to Li Chan — who was also in the midst of bowing to him — and helped her to her feet with a smile. "Please, rise, Miss."
"Benefactor… is your name really Wuqing?" After being helped up, Li Chan studied Chu Feng carefully for a moment before speaking.
"What about it?" Chu Feng asked with a smile.
"It's nothing, really. It's just that your name is the same as a friend of mine, and you give me a very similar feeling to that friend. It's only…" At this, Li Chan hesitated.
"Only what?" Chu Feng pressed.
"It's just that you're much younger than him, your cultivation is far stronger, and you surpass him in every way. To have reached the realm of Martial Lord at your age — that's truly remarkable!" Li Chan spoke with a mixture of admiration and envy, but as she talked, she couldn't help but think of that middle-aged man who had also gone by the name Wuqing.
Although in every measurable way, the young man called Wuqing standing before her was several times superior to that middle-aged giant of yore, in Li Chan's heart, the latter held greater weight — because that man had changed her destiny.
"Haha." Hearing this, Chu Feng laughed aloud. Then he deliberately raised his sleeve to shield his face. When the sleeve dropped, his features had transformed — becoming the disguise he had worn the first time he arrived at Langya Mountain. He looked at Li Chan and said, "Miss, now do you know who I am?"
"Heavens — Benefactor, you—"
Li Chan looked at Chu Feng once more and was rendered completely speechless. The person standing before her was no longer a young man but a middle-aged giant.
Yet his cultivation had not changed — he was still a first-grade Martial Lord. But that face was so familiar, so dear. It was none other than Wuqing, the man who had once saved her, saved the entire Li Family, and helped bring down the Ma Family!
"This…"
In fact, it wasn't only Li Chan who was shocked. Many of the Li Family members present — the Li Family Patriarch chief among them — were equally stunned.
Because they all recognized the middle-aged man Chu Feng had transformed into. He was someone who had once had dealings with the Li Family, someone who had helped them — but also someone the Li Family Patriarch had repaid with treachery, nearly killing him in the process.
"Wuqing — it's you? It's really you?!" Li Chan was so shocked she could barely compose herself, her voice betraying every ounce of the emotion churning inside her. She never could have imagined that these two Wuqings were one and the same person. It was simply too unbelievable.
After all, the Wuqing of back then had been only at the eighth stage of Heaven Martial. How had he, in the blink of an eye, become a first-grade Martial Lord — and one whose combat power was so terrifying that he had dispatched Lord Ouyang as easily as flipping a hand? It was almost impossible to believe.
But while Li Chan's shock was innocent and straightforward, the Li Family Patriarch and the others were gripped by a far more complicated blend of astonishment and dread. After all, although Chu Feng had genuinely helped the Li Family back then, the Patriarch had shown no gratitude. On the contrary, he had made an enemy of Chu Feng and nearly taken his life.
Now Chu Feng had grown so powerful that he had already surpassed the Li Family Patriarch. How could the Li Family not be consumed with worry? If Chu Feng harbored any resentment, they would all be doomed.
"Miss, of course it's me." Chu Feng nodded with certainty.
"But — your face, and your cultivation…" Li Chan pointed at Chu Feng's face, stunned.
"Oh, that was just a technique I use to conceal my true appearance." Chu Feng smiled faintly, then covered his face with his sleeve once more. When the sleeve fell away, his features had returned to those of the handsome young man. He grinned and said, "This is what I really look like. As for my cultivation — truthfully, I was already a first-grade Martial Lord when I first came to Langya Mountain."
Chu Feng did not tell the whole truth. First, the deliberate use of his sleeve to mask the transformation was meant to make Li Chan and the others assume he was changing his face through some technique — not a treasure, and certainly not an innate ability.
As for his cultivation, he couldn't be bothered to explain, so he simply claimed he had been a first-grade Martial Lord all along. Let them know he was a genius from the start, and that would be enough.
"Wuqing, you — I never imagined you were someone of such stature!!!"
Sure enough, after hearing Chu Feng's words, Li Chan was once more struck with shock. The age and power Chu Feng had just revealed told them something unmistakable: this man called Wuqing was an extraordinary genius. A person of such talent could only have come from a truly formidable background — almost certainly some massive power.
In that moment, the Li Family Patriarch felt as though a ten-thousand-jin hammer had smashed into the top of his head. A chill raced up his spine, and his legs trembled beyond his control.
The mere thought of Chu Feng's true identity — combined with what he himself had done to Chu Feng in the past — filled him with bottomless dread. Forget the colossal force that likely stood behind Chu Feng; even Chu Feng alone could have annihilated the Li Family without the slightest effort.
But just as every member of the Li Family was consumed with worry over whether Chu Feng would take his revenge, he turned his palm over and produced a glittering mushroom that pulsed with powerful martial energy.
The moment the Martial Immortal Mushroom appeared, virtually every Li Family member's eyes lit up, drawn to it against their will. They could sense that this radiant mushroom was nothing less than a supreme cultivation treasure.
The martial energy contained within it was even more dense than the Ice Crystal Phoenix Egg that Chu Feng had once taken from within Langya Mountain. It was practically the stuff of legends.
And while every Li Family member stared blankly at the Martial Immortal Mushroom, their faces full of longing, Chu Feng uttered a sentence that left them so shocked they could barely keep themselves together.
"Miss, when I — Wuqing — left back then, I told you that the Ice Crystal Phoenix Egg was only a temporary loan, and that one day I would return something of equal value. This superior-grade martial medicine, the Martial Immortal Mushroom, is the equal-value repayment I promised you."