"If I demonstrate my power, I can indeed prove myself. But what good would that do? My power ultimately belongs to me, not to them."
"And if I simply destroy this volcano, I'd be cutting off the shortcut they've been using to advance their cultivation. So they'll still hate me," Chu Feng said.
"Hate you? Then beat some sense into them," the Queen said.
Her words were brimming with resentment.
How could she not be angry?
Chu Feng had come back to visit them, and he'd been thinking of their well-being. Yet they had treated him like that.
The Queen didn't care whether they had lost their minds or not. As long as they treated Chu Feng badly, she would show no mercy.
"Beating them won't bring them around. It'll only make them hate me more. Besides, they're my brothers and family. I cultivate to protect them, not to harm them," Chu Feng said.
"Ugh, what a dilemma you're in. So what do you plan to do?" the Queen asked.
"Actually, it's quite simple. They want proof? Then I'll give them proof."
As Chu Feng spoke, he had already arrived at the deepest reaches of the volcano.
This place was filled with that eerie aura.
This was a place that even Zhang Tianyi and Jiang Wushuang could not reach.
And now, Chu Feng could see what others could not. Deep within the volcano, there was magma constantly surging upward — but this magma was not as simple as people imagined.
Because within the magma, there was a creature. It was something resembling a maggot.
But it was enormous — a full kilometer long — its entire body fiery red, squirming as it released an eerie force. That force was what had become the aura, the aura that had been causing Zhang Tianyi and the others' cultivation to strengthen.
"I see now, Your Majesty. You want to awaken this creature. Only once it wakes up and reveals its true form will Zhang Tianyi and the others believe what you've told them. At that point, they won't hate you anymore," the Queen said.
"This is the only way. After all, to untie the knot, you need the one who tied it."
"Except the one who can untie the knot in Brother Zhang and the others' hearts is this monster," Chu Feng said.
"Then get started. The sooner this is resolved, the sooner you can put this weight off your mind," the Queen said.
"Mm."
Chu Feng nodded, then looked down at the monster deep within the magma and said in his mind: "Little thing, let me get a good sense of what it is you truly need."
With that, Chu Feng closed his eyes and released his Mental Power, beginning to sense.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
"So that's what it needs. No wonder everyone grew less and less friendly the more they cultivated. Their hostility kept growing stronger and stronger."
Chu Feng finally understood the cause.
This monster was not adding to Zhang Tianyi and the others' hostility.
It was simply siphoning away their friendly emotions.
And once the friendliness was drained to a certain point, hostility naturally grew heavier and heavier.
Not only that, it caused them to grow increasingly distrustful of those they had once believed in with absolute certainty, becoming suspicious and arrogant.
No wonder Zhang Tianyi had become the way he was now. This monster was truly the root cause.
Chu Feng was currently a Ruler-realm Spirit World Master, so something like this was no obstacle at all.
Chu Feng secretly set up a formation. It was invisible, completely hidden from the monster below.
But this invisible formation could release a aura of friendliness that the monster below could feed upon.
Once the formation was complete, the aura began to emanate outward. And sure enough, the maggot-like monster below began to squirm faster.
It was as if a gluttonous worm had found its favorite food and started devouring it frantically.