Everyone from the Chu Heavenly Clan was utterly stunned.
This was especially true for those elders who had been clamoring for Chu Youyuan's severe punishment moments ago — they were now trembling from head to toe, cold sweat streaming down their faces.
If even they were this frightened, then the grandfathers of Chu Zhiyuan and Chu Haoyan were naturally even more panicked.
Because no one had ever expected that this person was not Chu Youyuan, but rather their very own Clan Chief.
"Earlier I said that what I witnessed was irrefutable evidence, and some found it laughable."
"Now, I shall say it once more — what I witnessed is irrefutable evidence. Does anyone still find it laughable?"
The Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan radiated authority as he spoke in a booming voice.
The moment those words left his lips, every single person lowered their heads in silence. He was the Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan — whatever he said was law. Who would dare voice a single objection?
Seeing that no one challenged him, the Clan Chief allowed himself a faint smile. Then he said, "All of you, rise."
As he spoke, he waved his sleeve, and a gentle force spread outward, lifting every person who had been kneeling back to their feet.
But immediately after, his sleeve waved once more. This time, using his overwhelming aura of suppression, he forced the grandfathers of Chu Zhiyuan and Chu Haoyan, along with Chu Ruoshi and Chu Zhiyuan, back down to their knees.
"You lot — you will remain kneeling."
"Clan Chief, what exactly is going on?"
At that moment, Chu Hanpeng's face was a mask of bewilderment.
However, the Clan Chief did not answer him immediately. Instead, he turned to Chu Feng and said with a smile: "Chu Feng, the truth is that I am not Chu Youyuan. The real Chu Youyuan is secluding himself in cultivation within the Chu Heavenly Sacred Realm on my behalf."
"So you were deliberately disguised as Lord Youyuan from the very beginning?"
"Starting from the Gate of Yin and Yang?"
Chu Feng suddenly understood, but he asked anyway, wanting to confirm the suspicion in his heart.
"That is correct. If I hadn't disguised myself as someone else, how would I have ever gotten them to reveal their true, filthy faces?"
As Chu Youyuan spoke those words, he looked one by one at the grandfathers of Chu Zhiyuan and Chu Haoyan, as well as Chu Ruoshi and Chu Zhiyuan.
Hearing this, Chu Ruoshi and Chu Zhiyuan turned deathly pale. Only now did they finally understand the root of everything.
It turned out that the Chu Youyuan they had encountered at the Gate of Yin and Yang that day had not been the real Chu Youyuan at all — he had been the Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan in disguise.
This Clan Chief had even gone so far as to deliberately allow himself to be injured, all to make his performance convincing, before leaping with Chu Feng into the lake of fire.
Now they were completely dumbfounded. Just as the Clan Chief had said — what he witnessed was irrefutable evidence.
Of course it was irrefutable. He was the Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan, the ruler of the Great Chiliocosm Upper Realm, the king of this entire world.
Chu Zhiyuan, Chu Ruoshi, and their cohorts had actually believed they had won.
Only now did they realize that they had lost — and that they had been losing from the very start.
"Clan Chief, I know my mistakes! I know my mistakes! Please, give me one more chance!"
Suddenly, Chu Haoyan's grandfather — this Supreme Elder of the Chu Heavenly Clan — was weeping bitter tears as he kowtowed and begged for mercy.
He had no choice but to beg. Since the Clan Chief had witnessed everything with his own eyes, there was absolutely no room for denial. The only remaining hope was to plead for mercy.
"Hmph, you know your mistakes?"
"You know your mistakes — but will those two young members of our Chu Heavenly Clan whom you poisoned ever come back to life?"
"If the person who had entered the Gate of Yin and Yang to rescue Chu Feng that day had not been me, but the real Youyuan..."
"Then the ones who would have died at your hands that day would not have been just those two juniors — Youyuan and Chu Feng would have fallen as well."
"Every talent in our Chu Heavenly Clan would have been buried by the two of you, and you have the audacity to tell me that you know your mistakes?"
The Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan roared in fury, his voice shaking heaven and earth. Every person present could feel the intensity of his rage.
"Clan Chief! One person bears their own responsibility — this was all my idea! Clan Chief, please, spare Zhiyuan! Spare Zhiyuan!"
At that moment, Chu Zhiyuan's grandfather began kowtowing and begging for mercy as well.
However, unlike Chu Haoyan's grandfather, Chu Zhiyuan's grandfather did not plead for himself — he pleaded on behalf of his grandson, Chu Zhiyuan.
"There is no need for further words. What you have done will be met with severe punishment."
"But this matter is not for me to decide — it will be decided by Chu Feng."
The Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan finished speaking and turned to Chu Feng. "Chu Feng, how they should be punished — that is for you to decide."
"What? This..."
The moment those words were spoken, every single person was stunned.
If the Clan Chief of the Chu Heavenly Clan had decreed that those two Supreme Elders be killed, no one would have objected.
After all, he was the ruler of the Chu Heavenly Clan. According to clan law, he held the authority to punish anyone and everyone.
But Chu Feng — he was merely a junior. What right or standing did he have to pass judgment on two Supreme Elders?