After Zi Ling stepped out of the sedan, she took two delicate, graceful steps forward before coming to a stop at the center of the magnificent stage.
Her lashes fluttered as she swept a casual glance over the crowd, and then she parted her red lips, her sweet, enchanting voice ringing out: "The one I love is named Chu Feng."
"What?!"
"Did I hear that right? It's Chu Feng?!"
The moment those words left Zi Ling's lips, they struck like a bolt of thunder from a clear sky. The crowd's expressions twisted in shock — jaws dropped, eyes went wide, and some even cried out in disbelief. Without question, every person present had been thoroughly stunned by Zi Ling's declaration.
They had considered many possibilities. Perhaps her beloved was Jie Qingming. Perhaps it was Xu Zhongyu. Perhaps it was some unknown but handsome and upstanding young man. Not once — not in their wildest imagination — had they thought it would be Chu Feng.
Chu Feng — who was he? He was the most wanted criminal, jointly hunted by all six great powers. He was someone the people of the Nine Provinces Continent should despise, someone every righteous person ought to put to death.
And yet Zi Ling — Zi Ling had just stepped forward at a time like this and declared that the man she loved was Chu Feng. Had she lost her mind? Or did she simply not know about Chu Feng's crimes, still lost in the illusion of his righteous façade?
There was no denying it — the name "Chu Feng," spoken from Zi Ling's own lips, had sent a thousand waves crashing through the crowd. Not a single person present could remain calm.
"Damn it, it's Chu Feng again. Always that bastard."
"Hell, what a curse. What does that brat have going for him? How is it that even Miss Zi Ling has fallen for him?"
But the most agitated of all were Tang Yixiu, Song Qingfeng, Bai Yunfei, and Liu Xiaoyao.
They had long harbored deep feelings for Zi Ling, and the idea that the one who had ultimately captured her heart was none other than the very brat they loathed most — Chu Feng — was something they simply could not wrap their minds around.
If Zi Ling's beloved had been Jie Qingming, or Xu Zhongyu — even if it wasn't them, they could have accepted it. But Chu Feng? That was something they absolutely could not swallow.
"That Chu Feng brat? What right does he have? How is he worthy of my Zi Ling?"
At the same time, Murong Yu let out an furious roar. Despite his usual enmity with Tang Yixiu and the others, when it came to the question of who had won Zi Ling's heart, he found himself standing firmly on the same side.
In truth, while many others hadn't displayed such explosive, unrestrained fury, their hearts burned with indignation all the same.
Take Jie Qingming, for example — this prodigy who had already successfully secured a marriage alliance with a young lady from the Supreme Villa — he too had come early and was standing at the edges of the crowd, silently awaiting Zi Ling's answer.
But this answer was equally impossible for him to accept. Beneath his sleeves, his fists had already clenched tight. The rage within him surged up and down, his murderous aura roiling with nowhere to go.
He refused to accept it. He refused to believe that he had lost to a brat he deemed beneath contempt — that the woman he loved had fallen for a man he despised.
In fact, it wasn't just the younger generation who were stunned. The elders were no different.
At that moment, the sect master-level figures of all six great powers were present. Their eyes narrowed, their gazes flickering, as they tried to read the young woman on the stage.
For when Zi Ling spoke that name, it was tantamount to declaring war on them. The consequences would be severe — she would not only be isolating herself but dragging the Supreme Villa into the eye of the storm.
Yet amid all the chaos atop the mountain peak, with everyone's thoughts in turmoil, Zi Ling appeared remarkably composed. She spoke again, her voice steady and clear: