Chapter 5285: Still Looking Down
“The choice you made in the tower was also part of the trial,” the glowing woman said.
“I know.” Chu Feng didn’t realize that at the moment, but it did seem like a test now that he was looking at it retrospectively.
“Your sentimentality caught my eye, but it’s your talents that appealed to me. It didn’t matter whether you cleared the trial or not; I wouldn’t have allowed you to die,” the glowing woman said.
“I’m grateful for your favor, elder,” Chu Feng replied with a smile.
“Don’t bother acting all nice. I won’t offer you any other benefits. All I have is a few words of advice,” the glowing woman said.
“I’m willing to listen to your advice,” Chu Feng said.
“Your sentimentality is both a strength and a flaw. I chose you simply because you were worthy of the Dao of Specialization. I don’t bear any hopes for you to save the world or something like this. Even if I hadn’t imparted the Dao of Specialization to you, you would have still grasped it yourself in due time. That’s why… you should always prioritize yourself first. Don’t let your sentimentality be your downfall,” the glowing woman said.
To be honest, Chu Feng didn’t agree with the glowing woman’s viewpoint. He wouldn’t consider himself to be a selfless person, but he couldn’t leave someone whom he cared about to the lurch. He had his own set of principles, and he wouldn’t be swayed that easily.
However, he didn’t argue with the glowing woman. He could tell that the glowing woman had his welfare at heart. Thus, he clasped his fist and bowed, saying, “Thank you for your advice.”
“You may go now,” the glowing woman said.
“Elder, please give me a moment!”
“Is there anything else?” the glowing woman asked.
Chu Feng pulled out Xu Tianjian from his formation.
“P-please don’t kill me!” Xu Tianjian cried with a ghastly pale face. The first thing he did upon seeing Chu Feng was to beg for his life.
However, Chu Feng paid him no heed. He first took all of Xu Tianjian’s treasure before placing the latter into an illusory formation. Despite Xu Tianjian’s talents, his weak willpower and severe injuries made him vulnerable to the illusory formation.
“You rascal.” The glowing woman saw through Chu Feng’s intention.
Chu Feng knew that Xu Tianjian had strong backing, so he didn’t want to leave this threat hanging around. Thus, he decided to beguile Xu Tianjian with an illusory formation and make him divulge his identity as the demon monk’s disciple. Naturally, the Totem Dragon Clan wouldn’t allow him to live after what the demon monk had done.
He knew that he wouldn’t be able to use his spirit power once he was teleported back to the tower, so he had to do it now. On the bright side, this meant that no one would be able to see through him.
After dealing with Xu Tianjian, he turned to the glowing woman and asked, “Elder, are you really not going to tell me your name?”
“You’re persistent.” The glowing woman sighed softly. “Mu Youzhi.”
“Elder Mu, I hope that we’ll be able to meet again someday,” Chu Feng said.
Mo Youzhi smiled. She could tell that Chu Feng wasn’t just spouting pleasantries. He intended to return this favor to her in the future.
“Hurry up and go.” Mu Youzhi waved her hand.
“Elder, I’ll be taking my leave.”
Chu Feng hoisted Xu Tianjian up and entered the spirit formation gate, where he was teleported back to the tower. A surge of teleportation energy swiftly wrapped around him, and he was then brought to the top of the tower.
The Strongest Token at the top of the tower fell into his hand.
At the same time, he saw the tower gates open and Xu Tianjian was thrown out.
“Look, it’s Chu Feng! Chu Feng won! He’s the strongest in the late Martial Exalted level category!”
The crowd wasn’t too surprised by Chu Feng’s victory. After all, he had already proved his strength to them.
Just then, Xu Tianjian suddenly bellowed, “Chu Feng, you’re dead meat. You should have surrendered and given the strongest title to me! My master is the demon monk! You can be sure that he won’t let you off now!”
He was only saying those words because he was under the influence of Chu Feng’s illusory formation.
“Demon monk? He’s the demon monk’s disciple?”
The crowd was bewildered. The events that had just transpired were still vivid in their minds.
Xu Tianjian suddenly snapped out of his rage and stiffened in shock. He looked at the hostile gazes from the crowd, and his body began to shiver.
Chu Feng had intentionally dispelled the illusory formation to create an impression that Xu Tianjian had been threatening him inside the tower, only to forget his surroundings and continue running his mouth even after being ejected out of the tower.
Xu Tianjian was horrified. He knew that the words he had said earlier were more than enough to get him killed a million times over.
Weng!
A spirit formation gate suddenly appeared, and several elders of the Totem Dragon Clan entered the remnant.
The glowing woman had removed her restrictions on the Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant, thus allowing the Totem Dragon Clan to control the remnant via their formation. That allowed them to see everything inside the remnant and control it.
As a matter of fact, they had entered the remnant to apprehend Xu Tianjian after hearing his words.
“I have been set up! Chu Feng is trying to do me in!” Xu Tianjian cried frantically.
“Shut up.”
One of the elders slapped Xu Tianjian so forcefully that it warped the latter’s face, and that was him exerting self-control. If not to investigate the matter, he would have killed Xu Tianjian there and then.
His blood boiled whenever he thought about what the demon monk had done to his brethren.
Meanwhile, the leader of the elders turned to Chu Feng and said, “Young friend, you should come with us too.”
Without waiting for a response, another one of the elders grabbed Chu Feng and took him away with them.
The Totem Dragon Clan proceeded to ask Chu Feng questions about Xu Tianjian to verify the latter’s identity. This was a matter that Chu Feng didn’t even need to lie about. It was a fact that Xu Tianjian had threatened him using the demon monk’s name, so all he had to do was to share the story.
Once the questioning was over, the leader of the elders brought Chu Feng to a private room and asked, “Young friend, you aren’t from our Totem Galaxy, right?”
“I’m indeed not from the Totem Galaxy,” Chu Feng replied.
“Which galaxy are you from?”
Chu Feng took a moment to weigh the pros and cons. He was hesitant to reveal his background as he feared that his deeds might implicate the Holy Light Galaxy, but it would be too shameful of him if he couldn’t even tell others where he was from.
In the end, he decided to answer the question. “I’m from the Holy Light Galaxy.”
“The Holy Light Galaxy? You’re referring to the Ancestral Martial Galaxy?” the elder asked.
“That’s right,” Chu Feng replied with a nod.
He had previously chosen to identify himself as a member of the Ancestral Martial Galaxy because he thought that the Holy Light Clan wasn’t worthy to be the galaxy’s overlord. However, his relationship with the Holy Light Clan later improved due to the Holy Valley, which made him change his mind.
“Young friend Chu Feng, it’s fine if you are reluctant to tell me where you’re from,” the elder said with a sigh. He didn’t believe that Chu Feng was from the Holy Light Galaxy.
The earlier battle had given Chu Feng a favorable impression of the Totem Dragon Clan, but he could sense that the Totem Dragon Clan still looked down on the Holy Light Galaxy.
Chu Feng didn’t bother to explain himself. He had already told the truth, and he was not obliged to convince the other party of that.
“Young friend Chu Feng, don’t you think that it’s sneaky of you to snatch the strongest title of our Totem Galaxy when you’re from another galaxy?” the elder asked with a smile.
“What nonsense is that old man spewing? In the first place, their so-called tournament is nothing but a sham to lure in prodigies to help them open their damned Saint Dragon Ancient Remnant! They sure are thick-skinned to dare turn around and blame you now,” Eggy roared.
Chu Feng chose to maintain his silence. He didn’t want to argue with the Totem Dragon Clan over such things.
“Regardless, you did win the strongest title fair and square. Our Totem Dragon Clan will recognize it. I’ll explain the functions of the Strongest Token to you. There are two formations embedded in the Strongest Token: a protection formation and a summoning formation.
“Invoking the protection formation will protect you from all cultivators beneath True God level. Invoking the summoning formation will call upon the projections of our Totem Dragon Clansmen to stand up for you. Both formations can be invoked simultaneously, but they can only be used once.
“I’ll be binding the formation to you now, which will give you both the option to manually and passively activate it,” the elder said as he began infusing his spirit power into the token.
The Strongest Token cast a ray of light into Chu Feng’s body, acknowledging him as its master. This process would have usually taken much longer, but it only took a brief instant for Chu Feng. The elder looked at Chu Feng in a different light.
“Young friend, you’re truly talented,” the elder said with a lamenting smile, knowing that the acknowledgment of the token was linked to the talent of the individual.
He found it a great regret that such a talented prodigy wasn’t from their Totem Galaxy. He took a box and passed it to Chu Feng.
“This is your other reward.”
Chu Feng opened the box and found it filled with many martial power beads. These martial beads harnessed a huge amount of gentle martial power, which was extremely easy to absorb. Amongst these martial power beads was a golden pearl around the size of a fist. The energy contained within it was greater than all of the martial power beads combined.
This was the invaluable Dragon Inner Pill of the Totem Dragon Clan.
Chu Feng thought that it was admirable how the Totem Dragon Clan had kept to their promise to give him the Dragon Inner Pill despite having found out that he wasn’t from their Totem Galaxy.
“The Dragon Inner Pill is prepared specifically for our clansmen. While outsiders are able to assimilate it too, its effectiveness will be discounted. You’ll face difficulties trying to assimilate its energy, so make sure to go slow,” the elder reminded.
“Thank you for your reminder.” Chu Feng clasped his fist and voiced his gratitude.
Compared to the Holy Light Clan, the Totem Dragon Clan seemed to be much more honorable.
A surge of teleportation energy enveloped Chu Feng and brought him to the entrance of the Trial of the Strongest. He was probably the first one to leave the tournament grounds, as he couldn’t see Long Xiaoxiao or any of the other challengers.
The earlier clash with the demon monk had left the crowd much more focused on the injuries of the Totem Dragon Clansmen. Many cultivators still hadn’t recovered from their fear, and sobs could be heard here and there.
Chu Feng was hardly surprised at all.
Cultivators were ultimately mortal. They might feel like gods when they were in a position of superiority, but their inflated ego popped as soon as they encountered a situation beyond their control. They would revert to their most primitive nature, showing fear and cowardice.
There was hardly anyone who was focused on the Trial of the Strongest, so Chu Feng’s appearance didn’t cause a stir at all… but Chu Feng sensed a sharp gaze fixed on him.
Without bothering to turn around, Chu Feng expanded his senses and soon uncovered the source of the gaze. It was an old man who was trying his best to conceal his killing intent, but it was not enough to escape Chu Feng’s notice.
Standing beside the old man was a familiar face—Liang Feng’s junior.
In other words, the old man was likely to be Liang Feng’s master, and he had come here to avenge Liang Feng.
“Eggy, Liang Feng’s master is here to settle the scores with us. What should we do?” Chu Feng asked with a smile.
“Liang Feng? Are you talking about that fool who provoked you under the instigation of Long Xiaoxiao’s seniors and ended up getting killed?” Eggy asked.
“Yes, that’s him,” Chu Feng replied.
“What else should we do? Since his master has come knocking on our doors, we just have to slaughter him then.”
“Isn’t that letting him off easily?”
“What else do you propose?”
“Watch my performance,” Chu Feng said before heading into the crowd.
As expected, Liang Feng’s master followed him, though he had Liang Feng’s junior remain on the spot. It was probably a move to avoid Chu Feng’s attention.
Two people in the sky noticed these movements—Mo Yuhan’s grandfather and Long Xiaoxiao’s master.
“See. That is my chance to bring Chu Feng under my wing,” Mo Chengzhou said with a gleeful smile before quietly following them.