Chapter 5384: Like A Hero
“That is the last phase of the Hidden Land. He’ll be able to leave this place once he clears the final stretch. Your survival depends on whether he’s willing to come back and save you,” the frost woman said.
She flicked her finger, and a whiff of frost aura flowed into the projection and manifested into yet another her before Chu Feng. In other words, there were now two of her in two different places.
All of the slaughter formations stopped their aggression as soon as the frost woman appeared, and she began explaining the situation to Chu Feng. The crowd could clearly hear her words, but that only caused the Jie Clansmen’s faces to crumble in despair.
They thought that they were doomed.
The frost woman had told Chu Feng about their current plight and that he could save them if he turned back now. However, she also told him about how they had reacted after he left.
Cold sweat dripped down their back when they remembered the awful things they had said about Chu Feng earlier. They didn’t think that there was any reason for Chu Feng to turn back and save them now.
Between clearing the Hidden Land and strangers who kept insulting him, they would have surely chosen the former if they were in Chu Feng’s position.
Shoos.h.!.+
Yet, in the projection, they saw Chu Feng bow to the frost woman before turning around and heading back.
“He has made his decision,” the frost woman said.
The frozen environment reverted to normal, and the ferocious slaughter formations began a.s.saulting Chu Feng once more.
“Is Chu Feng really going to save us?”
The Jie Clansmen could hardly believe their eyes. Not only did Chu Feng have to withstand the a.s.sault of the slaughter formations on his way back, but the aggression exerted by the slaughter formations was also much stronger than before.
“Those who travel against the flow are bound to meet with greater obstruction. I’ll wait since he has expressed his desire to save you, but you shouldn’t celebrate too early either. Even if he manages to return here, it’s another question whether he’s willing to suffer in your place,” the frost woman said.
The crowd could sense how treacherous Chu Feng’s journey back was.
“Why is Chu Feng coming back?” Ling Sheng’er was perplexed.
The others were confused too. Even Eggy couldn’t comprehend Chu Feng’s decision.
“Chu Feng, why are you returning to save those buffoons? Don’t you think they deserve to die?” Eggy asked.
It hadn’t been easy for Chu Feng to get this far, and he was already close to clearing the trial. Yet, he suddenly decided to head back to save a bunch of people who insulted him earlier. To make things worse, the journey back was much more difficult.
She thought that he was taking on unnecessary risk.
“Eggy, I received a clue when I cleared the ice mountain formation: Universal Love. I suspect that I’ll have to bring everyone safely out with me, or else I won’t receive any benefits even if I clear this trial,” Chu Feng replied.
“Be careful,” Eggy said. She had always been confident in Chu Feng’s judgment, so she decided not to say anything else.
It didn’t take long for Chu Feng to overcome the obstacles in his path and return to the starting point, where he saw the Jie Clansmen trapped inside an ice cage. He almost burst out laughing. Such an awkward situation those people were in, getting trapped in a formation after blatantly ignoring his advice.
However, the crowd was oblivious to Chu Feng’s thoughts. What they saw was the arrival of their savior.
The trapped Jie Clansmen lowered their heads in guilt, whereas the Jie Clanswomen started tearing up. Having witnessed the difficulties Chu Feng had to surmount on his way back, they knew that this wasn’t an easy decision for him to make at all. It was beyond their understanding why Chu Feng would even choose to save them at all despite their hostile att.i.tudes.
“Elder, I’ve returned. Could you spare them?” Chu Feng asked the frost woman.
“You’ll have to take their position inside the ice cage if you wish to save them. Are you sure you want to go through with this?” the frost woman replied.
“Elder, I have already come all the way here. It’s too late for me to say no,” Chu Feng replied with a calm att.i.tude, which contrasted with the nervous atmosphere.
“There’s indeed something different about him.” Ling Mo’er nodded in awe.
The other juniors of the Seven Realms Sacred Mansion also felt earnest respect for Chu Feng as well.
“Since that’s the case, you should prepare yourself,” the frost woman said.
With a wave of her hand, the ice cage around the Jie Clansmen dissipated, freeing its prisoners. The dissipated energy of the ice cage flowed toward Chu Feng, but this time around, the energy didn’t stop near Chu Feng but instead charged straight at him. It was attempting to kill him!
Chu Feng quickly activated a formation to stop the ice cage from closing in on him. Then, he released another formation that shattered the ice cage with a loud explosion.
The slaughter formations had been breached! Chu Feng had easily overcome the ice cage that had trapped all of the Jie Clansmen!
The Jie Clansmen were dumbstruck. They couldn’t believe how easily Chu Feng had overcome the trap that had nearly taken their lives, but they could sense that Chu Feng’s formations were indeed much stronger than theirs.
That made them lower their heads in shame.
“You may leave now,” the frost woman said before her body of frost scattered away.
Her scattered body transformed into a surge of teleportation energy that enveloped everyone present. A moment later, the crowd was teleported to the entrance of the Ancient Palace.
“You have my deepest grat.i.tude, Brother Chu Feng,” Jie Yu walked up to Chu Feng and said.
It was out of fear of Jie Zhou that he was previously hesitant to talk to Chu Feng, but there was nothing to fear anymore now that he had already fallen out with Jie Zhou.
“We’re friends. There’s no need to stand on ceremony,” Chu Feng replied with a smile.
As much as he wasn’t interested in saving the Jie Clansmen, Jie Yu was an exception. Even without the clue about Universal Love, he would have likely returned anyway just to save Jie Yu.
“Young master Chu Feng, we are deeply apologetic for having wrongly blamed you.”
A Jie Clanswoman walked up to Chu Feng and apologized to him, though her reddened cheeks didn’t seem to be just out of embarra.s.sment.
“Hoh! Looks like you have won yourself another admirer.” Eggy burst into laughter.
This Jie Clanswoman had been proactive at criticizing Chu Feng earlier, which made her current change in att.i.tude even more interesting.
More and more people approached Chu Feng afterward. Even those who didn’t walk over chose to apologize or thank him via voice transmission.
Jie Zhou’s expression turned livid, but he knew that he wasn’t in a position to say anything. He knew that he had already lost all prestige amongst the juniors after what had happened earlier. He clenched his jaws in regret.
“Hmph!”
With a cold harrumph, Jie Zhou rose into the air and left the area.
As soon as Jie Zhou left, the Jie Clansmen heaved a sigh of relief and became even more open with their grat.i.tude and apologies. Some of them even offered him their personal treasures as compensation for their earlier disrespect.
What they didn’t know was that Chu Feng, with the exception of Jie Yu, didn’t harbor any goodwill for them. He had only saved them because of the clue. Due to that, he didn’t stand on ceremony with them and accepted whatever gifts they offered.
Soon, the Ling Clansmen also gathered around him.
“Young master Chu Feng, we were short-sighted. We humbly ask for your forgiveness for snubbing you.” As if they had agreed on it beforehand, the Ling Clansmen bowed in unison.
It was not an ordinary bow but a deep one reserved for apologies. It was rare for peers to display such formality toward each other.
However, Chu Feng knew why they were apologizing.
Even though they chose to listen to Ling Mo’er, the truth was that they had been looking down on him all this while. It was only after witnessing what he was capable of that it finally struck them that they had been acting sn.o.bbish.
“Don’t worry about it. Let bygones be bygones.” Chu Feng casually waved his hand.
“Chu Feng, you have really made a name for yourself in our Seven Realms Sacred Mansion today!” Ling Sheng’er rushed up to Chu Feng and sweetly smiled.
“Young master Chu Feng is incredible!” Yao Luo nodded in agreement.
Like Bai Yunqing, these two ladies were earnestly happy for Chu Feng.
Ling Mo’er also walked over and said, “Young master Chu Feng, did you receive any benefits for clearing the Hidden Land?”
The crowd immediately fell silent.
Indeed, Chu Feng should have received something good for breaching the Hidden Land, especially considering how tough the trial had been. They were curious to know what it was.
“I think I’d have received a benefit if I cleared the Hidden Land normally, but I returned at the very end and was teleported out of the trial together with the rest of you,” Chu Feng replied.
He was implying that he didn’t receive anything good, evident by how he was teleported out together with the rest of them.
“Does that mean that you have failed too?” Ling Mo’er asked.
“It’s fine.” Chu Feng waved his hand with a smile. He turned to Bai Yunqing and said, “Let’s go.”
The two of them rose in the sky and left the area.
The Jie Clansmen lowered their heads in shame, knowing that Chu Feng could have cleared the Hidden Land but failed because he chose to save them.
Meanwhile, Chu Feng and Bai Yunqing returned to their accommodations.
“Big brother Chu Feng, why did you come back? You could have cleared the Hidden Land! Didn’t you hear what they said about you? You didn’t have to save them at all. They aren’t worth it at all!” Bai Yunqing couldn’t understand why Chu Feng did what he did.
In fact, he had already repeated those words many times on their way back. He felt indignant. He didn’t think that Chu Feng should have saved the Jie Clansmen.
“All right, you should cool down a little and look at this.”
Chu Feng opened his palm up to Bai Yunqing, revealing an imprint on it.