The ancestral patriarch of the prestigious Bai Family, Bai Qi, was crippled.
The ancestral patriarchs of the Golden Crow Liu Family and the Golden Crow Li Family, Liu Ziyu, Li Shengyang, and several other Five-Luminance Unity Great Nature Golden Immortals were also crippled.
The twenty to thirty Great Nature Golden Immortals from the Lotus Secret Realm were similarly crippled.
As for those Five-Luminance Great Perfection Zhenxing Golden Immortals who had come along, they were already scared out of their wits, some fleeing, others collapsing on the spot.
Looking across the scene, only one person still stood there obediently.
It was an old man.
None other than Elder Danshou of the Lotus Secret Realm.
Everyone knew that the reason Danshou could still stand was not because his cultivation was particularly strong, nor because his background was powerful, but simply because he had not made a move. That was all.
Though he stood,
it was merely standing.
His aged face was ashen, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
He knew Gu Qingfeng's existence was unfathomable.
Precisely because he knew, he had never acted rashly. No matter how furious he felt in his heart, he dared not recklessly attack.
Yes.
He knew.
He had always known.
But he never could have imagined that Gu Qingfeng's existence was unfathomable to such a terrifying degree. With just the power of a single word—and without any visible or audible force—the immortal spirits of over thirty Five-Luminance Unity Great Nature Golden Immortals had all been shattered.
He did not know who Gu Qingfeng truly was.
Nor did he know how powerful Gu Qingfeng's strength was.
But one thing was clear to him: this Mortal Lord before him was not someone he could afford to provoke. Perhaps even the Lotus Secret Realm could not afford to provoke him.
"Esteemed Sir, we...
We were ignorant and overstepped our bounds, offending you unintentionally. We beg you...
We beg you to be magnanimous and spare us!"
Finally.
Danshou could no longer hold on. With a thud, he knelt down.
His kneeling was no small matter; it shattered the last sliver of hope in the hearts of everyone from the prestigious Bai Family, the Golden Crow Liu Family, the Li Family, and the Lotus Secret Realm.
In their minds, though this Mortal Lord was mysterious, terrifying, and possessed bizarre, supreme strength, surely he couldn't possibly hold absolute power? Moreover, this was still the Fengyue Small World.
As long as the experts from the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court arrived, they would surely be able to seek justice for them.
Soon.
They spotted the people from the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court—and there were quite a few, over a hundred. The leaders were several elders, highly respected seniors in the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain, each with unfathomable cultivation.
Seeing the seniors from the Guardian Court, those from the prestigious Bai Family and the Golden Crow Liu Family who were kneeling on the ground cried out with all their might, hoping the Guardian Court's seniors would seek justice for them.
Everyone was shouting, everyone was pleading. Huang He was, Liu Ziyu was, Li Shengyang was, Li Xiao was—anyone who could still speak was shouting.
However.
Xuan Yun, Liu Feng, Bai Yufei, and including Dan Lei and others did not join the shouts.
It wasn't that they didn't want to shout, but with only their heads and upper torsos remaining, their breath was as faint as a thread; they simply couldn't shout anymore, only managing painful moans.
Besides them, there was one other person who did not shout.
That was Danshou.
He was the only uninjured person present. He did not shout not because he couldn't, but because he didn't dare. Most importantly, he knew shouting would be useless.
He knew the people from the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court had not just arrived now; they had come earlier, before Huang He and the others had made their move. If the Guardian Court intended to seek justice for them today, they wouldn't have waited until now without stepping forward.
The reason they hadn't stepped forward was simple: the Guardian Court people were likely also wary of that Mortal Lord's strength and dared not act rashly.
The facts were indeed so.
Just as Danshou had guessed, the people from the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court had arrived earlier and had personally witnessed Gu Qingfeng crippling over thirty Five-Luminance Unity Great Nature Golden Immortals with the power of a single word. Precisely because they had witnessed this terrifying scene, they dared not step forward to seek justice for these people.
Although these Guardian Court members were all highly respected seniors in the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain, with the leaders among them being Six-Luminance Moonlight Golden Immortals, they still dared not step forward.
A Six-Luminance Moonlight Golden Immortal might be powerful, powerful enough to look down on a Five-Luminance Unity Great Nature Golden Immortal, but that was merely looking down on them. They might be able to defeat a Five-Luminance Great Nature Golden Immortal, but to obliterate one would be somewhat difficult. As for shattering a Five-Luminance Unity Great Nature Golden Immortal's immortal spirit with the power of a single word—no Six-Luminance Moonlight Golden Immortal could accomplish that.
And that was just one Great Nature Golden Immortal. Against over thirty Great Nature Golden Immortals, even if they unleashed their most powerful sonic or aura-based attacks, at best they could only slightly shake the minds of the thirty-plus Great Nature Golden Immortals. As for their immortal spirits? Even if a Six-Luminance Moonlight Golden Immortal exhausted themselves to the point of collapse, they couldn't shake the immortal spirits of over thirty Great Nature Golden Immortals.
Under such circumstances,
the people from the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court naturally dared not step forward to seek justice for them.
What if they failed to get justice for others and ended up losing their own lives here? That would be a losing proposition.
Although the Guardian Court had even more profound experts in residence, and the Fengyue Small World had major powerhouses backing it, the problem was, those great experts weren't here right now. Why should they stick their necks out?
After careful consideration, the over one hundred highly respected senior experts of the Guardian Court, in the eyes of the crowd, decided none of them would step forward.
That was the original plan. But now, facing the heart-rending cries from the prestigious Bai Family, the Golden Crow Liu Family, the Li Family, and the Lotus Secret Realm, they couldn't pretend not to see.
In the end,
one of the leaders, an old man with white hair and beard and a kind, benevolent expression, stepped forward.
Everyone recognized this elder. He was known as Elder Qing, held in high esteem and respect throughout the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain. Even the experts from the various secret realms present, including Liu Ziyu and Li Shengyang, had to address him as 'Senior'. Elder Qing had already been a Six-Luminance Moonlight Golden Immortal back in the ancient era. To this day, no one knew exactly what level his cultivation had reached, because throughout the ten thousand years of the current era, no one had ever seen him make a move.
Firstly, everyone knew he was a senior expert of profound cultivation; no one dared to fight him.
Secondly, Elder Qing truly lived up to the phrase 'highly respected'. For the past ten thousand years of the current era, whenever conflicts arose between major secret realms or families, he was the one who stepped in to mediate, and his mediations always left people convinced and satisfied.
"This old one is a member of the Fengyue Small World's Guardian Court. My Dao title is Qinglu."
The senior with the Dao title Qinglu stepped forward, cupping his hands as he spoke. "Might I ask for your esteemed name, sir?"
Gu Qingfeng glanced at him and asked indifferently, "What's this? Are you here to seek justice for them?"
"This old one wouldn't dare. It's just..." Qinglu's words were cut off halfway as Gu Qingfeng interrupted him without the slightest courtesy, replying, "If you don't dare, then get lost."