"A light punishment? If not for the Guardian Force of the Ancestral Martial Cultivation Realm, you would have died many times over. And you dare call that a light punishment?"
A flash of fury blazed through Chu Feng's eyes. In the next instant, he seized Chu Ping, hoisted him off the ground, and pointed at Chu Qing, Chu Haoyan, and Chu Huanyu.
"Open your eyes and look carefully — those three are your brothers. Your own brothers, tortured into this state, and all you can say is a light punishment?"
"Do you even deserve to call yourself their elder brother?"
With that, Chu Feng slammed Chu Ping violently into the ground.
"I…"
Chu Ping, sprawled on the floor, wore a vacant expression, utterly at a loss for words.
"Big Brother Chu Ping, when you knelt on the ground and begged them for mercy, did you ever stop to think whether that was something our clan's ancestors would have wanted to see?"
"By doing that, you didn't just lose your own face — you lost the face of our Chu Heavenly Clan, and the face of every ancestor who came before us." Chu Feng pointed at Chu Ping and shouted.
Chu Ping said nothing. His body trembled, and tears streamed continuously from his reddened eyes.
"Do you know why they look down on our Chu Heavenly Clan so much?"
"Do you think that if you knelt and begged, they would have spared our lives?"
"Let me tell you — they wouldn't have."
"Not before, not now, not ever, never."
"The world of martial cultivators has always been one where the strong devour the weak. Even if you wag your tail and grovel, no one will truly pity you." Chu Feng continued.
By now, Chu Ping's face was drenched in tears, and his sobs had become uncontrollable.
"What good does crying do? If crying were enough, there would be no need to cultivate at all."
Suddenly, Chu Feng reached out again, grabbed Chu Ping by the arm, and pulled him up from the ground.
"Big Brother Chu Ping, watch closely now. I, Chu Feng, will show you how to change the way others see us."
"A dignity that has been taken away can only be reborn when you seize it back with your own hands. Otherwise… it remains a stain on us for a lifetime."
With a sweep of his broad sleeve, a vast and overwhelming surge of power radiated from his body.
"AAAGH—"
In the next moment, every member of the Azure Feather Beast Clan present collapsed to the ground, writhing and screaming in agony.
Their physical bodies were being destroyed over and over. Their souls were being destroyed over and over.
They endured the pain and terror of death again and again, feeling the horror of dying in an endless cycle.
This was not merely physical torture, nor merely the destruction of the soul — it was torment of the heart and mind.
"Listen well, all of you. You have two choices. Either kneel on the ground and kowtow to my brothers to beg for forgiveness, or continue enduring the torment of my power."
"Indeed, inside the Ancestral Martial Cultivation Realm, the Guardian Force prevents me from killing you."
"But I guarantee you — if I so much as wish it, this power can drive every one of you to madness, strip away your consciousness, and leave nothing but hollow shells walking around like the living dead."