Within the grounds.
Huo Wu Hengsheng was still kneeling on the ground, his entire body trembling violently. He dared not lift his head, dared not breathe, and dared not speak.
"Grandfather, get up quickly!"
Huo Wu Chen Yue's thoughts were in complete disarray. As she tried to help her grandfather up, she spoke frantically, "Grandfather, have you mistaken him for someone else? Why are you kneeling to Gu Qingfeng of all people…" Before she could finish, the old master who had been kneeling suddenly raised his head and glared at Huo Wu Chen Yue, roaring angrily, "How dare you! Kneel!"
"What!"
Huo Wu Chen Yue was stunned, rooted to the spot. Before she could react, she was forcibly pressed down to kneel by the Old Master Huo Wu.
"Why aren't the rest of you kneeling as well!"
Old Master Huo Wu's pallid face was filled with terror as he practically screamed the words.
The other members of the Huowu Family were completely bewildered by this scene. Huo Wu Chen Yue's father, suppressing the shock in his heart, asked tremblingly, "Old Master, you… why are you… why…"
"Ignorant fool who doesn't know life from death! Kneel!"
Old Master Huo Wu's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he roared with all his might. The other members of the Huowu Family were so frightened they dared ask no more. Over a hundred people knelt down one after another.
From midair, Gu Qingfeng's voice came: "I said I meant nothing by it, I was merely sighing in sentiment. There's no need for this. Get up."
"I… I dare not…" Whether from excessive fear or from the strain of his earlier roar, Old Master Huo Wu's voice was very hoarse.
"I'm telling you to get up."
"I dare not… I dare not…"
Gu Qingfeng's brows furrowed slightly. He said, "Sister Chen Yue, help your grandfather up."
Just as Huo Wu Chen Yue raised her head, before she could speak, Old Master Huo Wu beside her glared angrily and rebuked, "Stay kneeling."
Heavens! What on earth was going on!
Huo Wu Chen Yue knelt on the ground, her consciousness chaotic, her mind a complete blank.
"Since you're so keen on kneeling, then kneel."
This scene was far too horrifying.
It horrified everyone present, every single one of them feeling a tingling sensation on their scalps at this moment. No one knew what was happening. Everyone watched with eyes filled with disbelief and creeping dread.
Right then, a commotion suddenly arose within the grounds. Everyone looked over. It seemed something had happened over at Cloud-Heart Hall. Looking closely, four elders were now kneeling on the ground just like Old Master Huo Wu. These four elders were none other than the former Hall Master of Cloud-Heart Hall and his three Supreme Elders.
The four of them also had faces pale and ashen, expressions of terror. They knelt on the ground, bodies trembling violently. No matter how Xiao Danrou and the other Cloud-Heart Hall members questioned or tried to help them up, the four said not a word, remaining firmly kneeling on the ground.
Why?
Just why!
Old Master Huo Wu kneeling inexplicably was one thing, but now the former Hall Master of Cloud-Heart Hall and the others were also kneeling inexplicably!
What were they so afraid of?
What about Gu Qingfeng could possibly make them so afraid?
No one knew.
No one understood.
Just as everyone was feeling utterly baffled, an eerie situation occurred again. Another commotion arose. When everyone looked over, they were shocked to discover more people kneeling on the ground. Five people, also five elders, but this time five old women. Moreover, they were the Five Elders of Xiaoxian Valley, renowned in the ancient era for their medical benevolence.
Like Old Master Huo Wu and the four elders of Cloud-Heart Hall, the five old women of Xiaoxian Valley also had faces deathly pale, expressions of panic. They knelt on the ground, not daring to lift their heads, not daring to speak, not daring to breathe.
Xiao Danrou, the Hall Master of Cloud-Heart Hall, was so frightened by this scene she was struck dumb.
Qing Zhu, the Valley Master of Xiaoxian Valley, was also at a complete loss.
So was everyone else present.
It must be known that whether it was Huo Wu Hengsheng, the four elders of Cloud-Heart Hall, or the five elders of Xiaoxian Valley, they were all genuine, respected Daozun masters of the Four Great Regions. In the ancient era, they were Daozun whose fame spread far and wide across the Four Great Regions. Even though they had gone into seclusion since the Great Cataclysm, no one dared overlook their existence.
Now, it was precisely such a group of people. Old Master Huo Wu was scared into paralysis by a single question from Gu Qingfeng. Asked three times to rise, he dared not.
Old Master Huo Wu kneeling was one thing, but why were the four elders of Cloud-Heart Hall and the five elders of Xiaoxian Valley also like this…
Were they afraid too?
The key point was that Gu Qingfeng hadn't said anything to them, hadn't even glanced their way. Why were they also so afraid they knelt on the ground?
Eerie!
Too eerie!
Many people within the grounds were so frightened they retreated repeatedly. The sect leaders and elders of various major sects who were already extremely wary of Gu Qingfeng were also badly shaken by this scene. Even though they were all Daozun who had cultivated for many years, their hearts pounded wildly at the sight before them.
Inside the garden of the Wind-Cloud Branch Hall.
Lan Feier and Shui Yunruo had long been stunned speechless by the scene before them, rooted to the spot.
On Su Hua's face, peerlessly beautiful, her expression shifted uncertainly, her willow brows deeply furrowed. She could see that Old Master Huo Wu and the others were terrified, a fear that went straight to the bone. What she couldn't understand was, why Gu Qingfeng?
Did they mistake Gu Qingfeng for the true successor of Monarch Chixiao?
Even if that were the case, they shouldn't be this afraid, should they?
If they weren't mistaking Gu Qingfeng for the true successor…
Could it be they mistook Gu Qingfeng for Monarch Chixiao himself?
Thinking carefully, only Monarch Chixiao could make these people so afraid.
However, what Su Hua couldn't figure out no matter how hard she tried was that aside from sharing the same surname as Monarch Chixiao, Gu Qingfeng had no other connection to him. If Monarch Chixiao were still alive, he would either have reincarnated or seized a body. There was no third possibility. Even if Monarch Chixiao's abilities were vast, his skills heaven-defying, and he had somehow managed to be reborn through some miraculous means, as long as his soul remained, his body would inevitably carry the tainted breath of sin.
This was the law, the law of heaven and earth!
All living beings were bound by this law. No one could defy it.
Old Master Huo Wu and the others were old-timers who had cultivated for millennia. They couldn't possibly be unaware of this principle.
Since they knew, why would they still…
Actually.
Su Hua's speculation was correct.
Old Master Huo Wu and the others indeed regarded Gu Qingfeng as Monarch Chixiao himself.
And just as Su Hua had said, they were not unaware that if Monarch Chixiao were alive, he would have either reincarnated or seized a body. There were no other options.
They also couldn't fail to see that Gu Qingfeng possessed neither the aura of reincarnation nor the aura of body-seizing. He didn't even have spiritual breath.
Yet, they still regarded Gu Qingfeng as Monarch Chixiao.
The reason was simple: they dared not gamble.
They would rather believe Gu Qingfeng was Monarch Chixiao than risk offending a monarch whose authenticity was unknown.
If he was false, it was merely kneeling.
But what if he was true?
Offending Monarch Chixiao was an utterly terrifying prospect, especially since they themselves had once offended him.
Even if the chance were only one in a hundred million, they dared not take that gamble.