After putting away Zi Ling's letter, Chu Feng had already made up his mind. Once he confirmed whether the challenge at the Sinister Gorge was real or fake, he would head to the Zi Family — no matter what, he had to see Zi Ling at least once.
After that, although the two beauties Su Rou and Su Mei stayed by Chu Feng's side the whole time, he still called Zhang Tianyi and Jiang Wushuang inside. First of all, Chu Feng was not the type to favor beauty over friendship. Besides, today was supposed to be their reunion — he couldn't just let the two of them keep standing outside in the cold wind.
The five of them who had come to the Eastern Ocean together were now reunited once more, and the excitement was beyond words. Every single one of them was genuinely happy from the bottom of their hearts.
"Big Brother Chu Feng, have you heard? Recently, a powerful figure has appeared in the Eastern Ocean, and his reputation has already surpassed Murong Xun's." Jiang Wushuang, getting tipsy from drinking, suddenly asked.
"A figure whose reputation surpasses Murong Xun? Who is it?" Chu Feng shook his head in confusion. Murong Xun was currently recognized as the number one genius of the Eastern Ocean. The only ones who could overshadow him would be powerful figures from the older generation — but those kinds of people shouldn't really be compared to Murong Xun at all.
"Haha, I knew you wouldn't know! I just got the news myself, but I believe it'll spread across the entire Eastern Ocean very soon. And Murong Xun — oh, he's going to lose face big time."
Jiang Wushuang said smugly. He knew about Chu Feng and Zi Ling's situation, so he understood that Murong Xun was Chu Feng's great enemy. Seeing Murong Xun humiliated would drive him wild with joy.
"Little Brother Wushuang, what exactly is it? Stop keeping us in suspense and just tell us." Mentioning Murong Xun, Zhang Tianyi had grown interested too.
"Yeah, hurry up and tell us." The curious Su Mei chimed in as well.
"Heh, you all know about the Martial Marking Realm, right? It's a grand event that only the most elite geniuses of the Eastern Ocean can participate in," Jiang Wushuang said.
"Pfft, and here I thought it was something big. Of course we know about the Martial Marking Realm. They say it's located on the Ethereal Immortal Peak and only opens once every few years."
"Each time it opens, it invites the top geniuses of the Eastern Ocean to participate. This year happens to be the year the Martial Marking Realm opens. I heard all three of our Four Seas Academy's great geniuses received invitations."
"I've also heard that inside the Martial Marking Realm, you can collect Martial Markings and exchange them for martial skills. The more Martial Markings you collect, the better the martial skills you can exchange for. And Murong Xun holds the all-time best record — he once obtained a Human Taboo Martial Skill from the Martial Marking Realm." Su Mei said, clearly well-informed.
Hearing all this, Chu Feng was rendered speechless. He had already figured it out — the person Jiang Wushuang was talking about, the one who had surpassed Murong Xun's reputation, was actually himself.
Sure, his harvest from the Martial Marking Realm had indeed exceeded Murong Xun's, but to say that alone meant he had overshadowed Murong Xun was stretching it way too far.
Because Chu Feng knew full well that he and Murong Xun still had an enormous gap between them. At his current level of strength, he might not even be able to defeat Murong Xun's fiancée, Ya Fei. Chu Feng would need to break through at least one more level, or he'd most likely lose to Ya Fei. As for Murong Xun himself — that gap was simply too vast to even mention.
Though he knew Jiang Wushuang was about to bring himself up, Chu Feng didn't volunteer that "Wuqing" was his identity. Because admitting it right now would essentially be slapping gold onto his own face.
Anyway, they would find out about this secret sooner or later. It didn't matter if he didn't mention it now, so Chu Feng simply chose to keep listening.
"Heh heh, Murong Xun is already history. This time in the Martial Marking Realm, someone called Wuqing appeared. Rumor has it he obtained six thousand Martial Markings — and remember, the record Murong Xun set was a measly two hundred."
Sure enough, Jiang Wushuang began enthusiastically broadcasting Chu Feng's exploits on the Ethereal Immortal Peak, and his excitement was such that it seemed he treated Wuqing as his personal idol.
"Six thousand Martial Markings? The gap is that huge?" After hearing Jiang Wushuang's words, Zhang Tianyi, Su Rou, and Su Mei all showed looks of astonishment.
"Heh, that's not even the impressive part. They say Wuqing's combat strength is extraordinary — he once defeated a third-stage Martial Lord using only the power of a first-stage Martial Lord. You should know, in the Martial Lord realm, the gap between each stage is enormous. Even we, at the Heaven Martial Realm, can fight above our level, but once you reach the Martial Lord realm, that's probably impossible. Yet Wuqing could do it."