"What do you mean, just someone with the same name!
He is none other than Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng!"
"Absolutely!
A few days ago at Little Fold Villa, I saw him kick the personal disciple of Yaoyue Palace, Bi Lan, until she bled from all seven orifices!"
"That's right, I was there too. He's not just someone with the same name—he's the real Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng!"
"Indeed!
This old man is from the Four Directions Great Domain. I saw him back at the Taixuan Platform years ago. He is absolutely the genuine Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng!"
Many people recognized Gu Qingfeng, stepping forward one after another to testify. Even Fei Ying, one of the Eighteen Elephant Guardians of the Changhong Branch, nodded and said, "Miss Qing Xi, I think it's you who is mistaken. He's not some random person with the same name. He is Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng—at least, the Gu Qingfeng who was staying at Little Fold Villa."
At this moment, Qing Xi's mind was in complete turmoil. She turned to stare at Gu Qingfeng, stunned. "You...
Didn't you say you were just someone with the same name?"
"Little sister, I never said that."
Gu Qingfeng sat in his chair, taking occasional sips of his wine.
Qing Xi thought carefully. The other party indeed had never said that. The one who kept insisting Gu Qingfeng was just someone with the same name was this fatty. She looked at Li Pangzi, whose inner shock was a hundred times greater than hers. He looked as if he had seen a ghost, his eyes bulging out as he stared at Gu Qingfeng in terror, stammering, "You...
you...
you really are...
really are Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng?"
Gu Qingfeng gave a faint smile, patted his shoulder, and said nothing more.
Li Pangzi didn't ask further.
What was there to ask?
What more needed asking?
With so many people on the scene recognizing Gu Qingfeng, even if his brain wasn't the sharpest, he could realize that this Old Gu before him wasn't some so-called namesake but the real Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng.
But realizing was one thing; accepting it was another.
Li Pangzi could never have imagined that the person who had been chatting nonsense with him for days was truly that Chiyan Young Master!
Heavens!
Li Pangzi felt his legs go weak, unsteady. Dizzy and lightheaded, he collapsed onto the stone stool.
He was like that.
And Qing Xi wasn't much better off. She had completely never imagined that the person she played chess with was Chiyan Young Master.
"You...
why didn't you...
why didn't you reveal your identity back then?"
"How did I not reveal it?"
Gu Qingfeng said with a smile, "I said I was Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng. You just didn't believe me."
"I..." Qing Xi remembered. That night, this fellow had indeed said such words and even asked if she believed him.
At first, Qing Xi had also been suspicious. Same Golden Core cultivation, both named Gu Qingfeng—how could it be such a coincidence? The facts proved it really was just that coincidental.
"You said you came to visit Elder Ku Mu, and that you were a descendant of an old friend of his?"
"That's right. I did come this time to visit Old Master Ku Mu. As for being a descendant of an old friend, my master is Gu Tianlang. Gu Tianlang and Old Master Ku Mu were close friends back in the day. Doesn't that make me a descendant of an old friend of the Old Master?"
Qing Xi was stunned into silence.
Thinking about it now, this fellow hadn't lied from the beginning. He said his surname was Gu, and it truly was Gu. And since Chiyan Young Master claimed to be the Monarch's successor, to Old Master Ku Mu, he would naturally be a descendant of an old friend. He had the surname Gu, and was named Gu Qingfeng...
Heavens!
Qing Xi felt she had been incredibly foolish. She should have realized long ago that this person was Chiyan Young Master.
"You are that Chiyan Young Master Gu Qingfeng?"
The one asking this was Liu Qingyan. She stood in the pavilion, scrutinizing Gu Qingfeng carefully. Her eyes held suspicion, caution, and mostly wariness.
"You could say so..."
"Is it yes or no? What do you mean, 'you could say so'?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head with a helpless smile. He said 'you could say so' only because he didn't want to deceive the goddess of his youth.
"I heard you also claim to be the successor of the Chi Xiao Monarch?"
"This...
you could also say that."
"Also 'you could say that'?"
As Liu Qingyan asked, her eyes fixed tightly on Gu Qingfeng as if trying to see through him. After a moment, she continued, "Why have you come to visit Old Master Ku Mu?"
"Old Master Ku Mu showed kindness to my master back in the day. As a junior, shouldn't I pay my respects to the Old Master?"
As if trying to discern the truth, Liu Qingyan asked again, "I heard from Xi'er that you also said I saved you?
That I showed you kindness?
Why don't I know anything about this?"
"Whether you know or not isn't important. I know it myself, and that's enough."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll know one day."
At that moment, someone in the crowd spoke up. "Daoist Qingyan, there are no less than eight or ten thousand frauds in this world impersonating the Monarch's successor—too many to count. This person claims to be the Monarch's successor; I'm afraid nine times out of ten he's a swindler."
"This person used some sinister, crooked method to win a few Mystic-grade superior treasures from Senior Jinzhong, and employed some underhanded scheme to defeat Miss Qing Xi. Now he says he's here to visit Old Master Ku Mu. Hah, this person's schemes run deep indeed! Visiting Old Master Ku Mu is likely just another ploy!"
"That's right!
Daoist Qingyan, don't forget what happened with Gu Tiansheng fifty years ago. That swindler Gu Tiansheng also used the pretext of visiting Old Master Ku Mu to fool everyone back then."
Hearing this, the disciples of Wuse Mountain all grew tense, their hostility toward Gu Qingfeng intensifying.
Not only the disciples of Wuse Mountain, but Qing Xi and Liu Qingyan also harbored strong hostility, especially Liu Qingyan. When Gu Tiansheng carried out his fraud fifty years ago, she was also at Wuse Mountain. She clearly remembered how Gu Tiansheng had step by step gained everyone's trust and how he had swindled away Wuse Mountain's treasures one by one. What angered her even more was that when the deception was discovered back then, Old Master Ku Mu had nearly taken his own life because of it.
She utterly despised those frauds who impersonated the Monarch's successor!
Over the years, her travels and training weren't just to avoid Hunyuan Sect's Lei Pili, but more to search for that swindler Gu Tiansheng!
Unfortunately, she still hadn't found him to this day.
But what she never expected was that while she hadn't found Gu Tiansheng, fifty years later, here came another fraud claiming to be the Monarch's successor!
Back then, that swindler Gu Tiansheng had used the pretext of visiting Old Master Ku Mu to carry out his fraud.
Now this fraud was doing the same.
Similarly, Gu Tiansheng had arrived during the Wuse Flower Festival.
And this fraud had also come during the festival.
Damn it!
Wuse Mountain had been deceived once; it absolutely could not be deceived a second time.
Wuse Mountain had been fooled once; it absolutely must not be fooled again.
Old Master Ku Mu could not withstand a second such ordeal!
"I'm sorry, but the Wuse Flower Festival is not welcome to you."
Clearly, it wasn't just Liu Qingyan who hated frauds; Qing Xi felt the same. Her gentle, moving face was now covered in frost. "Please leave."