Swish— The Sovereign of the Celestial Immortal Sect reached out and grabbed the formation that Chu Feng had hidden.
"Young friend Chu Feng's mastery of barrier arts is truly impressive."
"No wonder you were able to break through the Ancestral Martial Realm's Sect ruins — a place that even the Seven Realms Holy Temple couldn't crack."
As he spoke, the Sovereign closed his palm and crushed the formation to pieces.
"Where is Senior Long Xue?" Chu Feng asked.
The moment those words left his mouth, the Sovereign of the Celestial Immortal Sect laughed.
"Senior?"
"Young friend Chu Feng, you really do have a wide circle of friends."
"The children of the Totem Dragon Clan's Patriarch are your friends, and now it turns out the traitor of the Totem Dragon Clan, Long Lin, is your friend as well?"
The Sovereign narrowed his eyes and studied Chu Feng with genuine interest.
But that very reaction told Chu Feng something — the Sovereign of the Celestial Immortal Sect might not know everything after all.
He likely knew about this place, but when it came to Chu Feng and the Totem Dragon Clan's Patriarch, he might not be fully informed.
So those words had been a probe.
He was trying to figure out what exactly Chu Feng's relationship with Long Lin was.
"I only know Senior Long Xue," Chu Feng said.
"Oh? So you and that Long Lin aren't friends after all?" the Sovereign asked.
"What if we are, what if we aren't? Why exactly did you come here?" Chu Feng countered.
"I came here specifically to capture Long Xue."
"So don't worry — Long Xue has merely been detained by me. I haven't harmed her."
As he spoke, the Sovereign flipped his palm and a transparent formation sphere appeared. The person imprisoned inside was none other than Long Xue.
But he only let Chu Feng glimpse it for a moment before putting it away.
Then the Sovereign of the Celestial Immortal Sect landed in front of Chu Feng.
"Young friend Chu Feng, I've heard the news."
"In the Era of the Gods, you also triggered a Heavenly Phenomenon — one that surpassed Jie Tianran, surpassed Yuwen Yanri."
"Your talent has truly shattered everything I thought I knew."
"The truth is, I'm a person who appreciates talent."
"As for Jie Tianran, I had no choice but to cooperate with him, but his character is something I truly cannot stand."
"I even tried to reason with him — here stands a grandson of such extraordinary caliber, right before your eyes, so why insist on making him an enemy?"
"But he wouldn't listen. In my view, it's not your identity he rejects — it's your talent."
"Jie Tianran has always been an absolute egotist. He refuses to allow anyone in this vast Martial Cultivation World to exist above him."
"Even your mother — when she refused to be a compliant puppet, he struck her down with his own hands and stripped her of the Royal Bloodline."
When the Sovereign reached this point, Chu Feng asked: "You witnessed it yourself?"
The matter of Jie Tianran stripping Chu Feng's mother of her bloodline was something Jie Tianran himself had confessed atop the Nine Heavens Summit that day.
At first, Chu Feng had been consumed with fury — so much so that his own bloodline had gone berserk.
But the more Chu Feng thought about it, the more something felt off.
He believed Jie Tianran had said it specifically to enrage him.
It wasn't that he doubted Jie Tianran would harm his mother. He believed that part.
What Chu Feng believed was that his mother's talent would not have been something Jie Tianran could dispose of so casually.
Still, the thought gnawed at him. His mother's safety had always been a thorn in his heart.
Unless he truly saw her alive and well, that thorn would remain buried inside him — and every time it was touched, the pain would flare.
"No, I didn't witness it personally. But everything Jie Tianran described that day — he is absolutely capable of it."