Inside the plaza.
Liu Guang Qinghong and the other Immortal Dynasty nobles stared at Su Hua a thousand meters away. They didn't know what had happened, nor did they know who had taken Fairy Su Hua away. At this moment, they had no mind to ponder these questions; they were all staring dead at Gu Qingfeng inside the pavilion.
Previously, none of them had taken Gu Qingfeng seriously, considering him nothing more than an upstart who had stumbled upon some fortune and possessed a robust physique.
But now, none of them dared to underestimate Gu Qingfeng's presence, especially after learning he had fused with a wisp of Lord Chixiao's spiritual will. Their hearts were filled with apprehension.
Add to that Fairy Su Hua's humiliating apology to him and Huode's terrifying words, and those who were already wary of Gu Qingfeng grew even more uneasy.
Although they all believed Huode's talk of preparing for the afterlife was just scare tactics, and suspected Su Hua's apology was somewhat exaggerated...
However, they had all witnessed with their own eyes earlier how Gu Qingfeng hadn't even moved, merely issuing a mighty shout that scattered the Nine-Star Immortal Protections on the seven Golden Cranes into nothingness. That alone was enough to make every Immortal Official present dare not act rashly.
At the very least, Lord Xun had a very bad premonition.
He had initially thought Fairy Su Hua might be shielding Gu Qingfeng because he had fused with a wisp of Lord Chixiao's spiritual will. But the more he watched, the more something felt off. If it were truly shielding, the Fairy wouldn't need to both apologize and make amends. Moreover, he could tell that the Fairy's anger earlier was genuine, and beyond that anger, she seemed utterly helpless against Gu Qingfeng.
This couldn't help but make Lord Xun wonder in shock: Could Gu Qingfeng's strength truly be unfathomable, to the point even Fairy Su Hua was especially wary of him?
He didn't know. He couldn't even imagine what kind of unfathomable strength would make Fairy Su Hua wary.
Perhaps it truly was unfathomable.
Lord Xun had been staring at Gu Qingfeng the whole time. He found this young man not only calm and composed but utterly fearless, as if he didn't regard anyone here in the slightest.
Putting on an act?
No! He didn't seem like he was putting on an act. That kind of carefree, follow-your-heart demeanor couldn't be faked.
Powerful confidence?
No! It wasn't a kind of confidence. It was more like casualness, a kind of indifferent nonchalance.
What kind of person would be like this?
He... just what kind of person was he?
Just as Lord Xun was lost in shock and doubt, he suddenly noticed Gu Qingfeng, sitting in the pavilion, raise his head and inexplicably look toward him. When his gaze met Gu Qingfeng's deep, silent eyes, for some reason, he instantly felt as if he had plummeted into an abyss. His face turned deathly pale, the world seemed to spin, and an intense sense of terror assaulted his heart, causing his heart-mind to collapse on the spot. Then, fear spread throughout his entire body, making him dare not breathe, dare not speak, dare not move, dare not do anything.
It felt as if his soul had been locked onto by the god of death.
"I hear your surname is Xun."
Gu Qingfeng's voice came. Lord Xun could no longer stand steady. With a *thump*, he collapsed onto the ground.
His collapse frightened the faces of all the Immortal Officials present, turning pale. Even Liu Guang Qinghong and the other Immortal Dynasty nobles were scared into a state of panic, because everyone could see that Lord Xun was afraid—so afraid his face was ghostly white, his entire body trembling, his head drenched in cold sweat, and he had collapsed to the ground, unable to even stand up.
How could this be?
Why was this happening?
He had merely asked if his surname was Xun. Why was Lord Xun scared to such a state?
One must know Lord Xun was a half-immortal cultivator, an expert with one foot already in the immortal gate. How could he be scared into collapsing on the ground by a single sentence?
"Lord Xun! You are a Starcloud Immortal Official conferred by the Immortal Dynasty, the chief overseer of this Northwest expedition! How can you sit collapsed on the ground? What kind of appearance is this? Get up!"
Liu Guang Qinghong was also scared, his face ashen, somewhat flustered. Liu Guang Jiaoying, Xing Yao, Ying Nian, Ruo Lan, and the other Immortal Dynasty nobles were all like frightened fledglings, terrified and panicked.
"Lord Xun, what's wrong with you?"
Beside him, Steward Bai walked over and hurriedly helped Lord Xun up.
What was wrong?
Lord Xun didn't know what was wrong with him either. He just felt terrified, an unprecedented fear. In his thousand years of cultivation, he had never experienced such an intense sense of dread. In that moment, he had even felt he was about to die. Even now, supported by Steward Bai, his body still trembled uncontrollably. He hung his head, breathing heavily, not daring to glance toward the pavilion again.
Outside the pavilion.
The three Black Banner leaders, Old Man Hong and the others, exchanged glances, all astonished.
The others also found the matter utterly baffling and eerily strange.
A thousand meters away.
Su Hua, Qian Shan, Little Jin'er, and that ethereal, indistinct Nalan Qianqiu stood together. When they saw Lord Xun collapse to the ground, scared by Gu Qingfeng's single sentence, not only was Qian Shan shocked, even Su Hua was dumbfounded. Because she had no idea why Lord Xun had suddenly been scared into such a state.
Sonic might?
No! Gu Qingfeng hadn't used any sonic might.
Fortune's aura?
No! Gu Qingfeng was just sitting there, not moving at all. Where would fortune's aura come from?
Could it be a spiritual technique?
No! That wasn't it either.
Then why on earth was Lord Xun scared like that?
"Sister Nalan, what exactly did he do?"
"He did nothing."
"Then why did Lord Xun..." "That can only mean this Lord Xun's heart-mind is still relatively pure, his spirit still relatively clean."
Heart-mind pure? Spirit clean?
What kind of reason was that? Could it be that just because Lord Xun's heart-mind was pure and his spirit clean, he was scared into collapsing on the ground by Gu Qingfeng's single question?
"Correct. The purer one's heart-mind, the cleaner one's spirit, the more afraid and fearful they become upon seeing him..." "Why?"
Su Hua asked, puzzled. "Why don't I have that feeling?"
"That can only mean your heart-mind is not pure, and your spirit is not clean."
Nalan Qianqiu gazed at Gu Qingfeng in the pavilion, murmuring to herself, "The purer the heart-mind, the cleaner the spirit, the more sensitive one is to evil and terrifying existences. The world seen by a newborn infant is completely different from the world we see. Such a simple principle, don't you understand it?"
Nalan Qianqiu's words left Su Hua speechless.
Although she was honored as a Nine Heavens Emissary, due to her myriad fortunes and edicts, and as she experienced more and more, her heart-mind had long ceased to be pure, and her spirit could hardly be called clean. Most importantly, she was a reincarnated soul, tainted by turbid breaths. No matter how pure her cultivation, her heart-mind, spirit, and even soul could not be clean.
It wasn't that she didn't understand the principle Nalan Qianqiu spoke of.
She just didn't know, couldn't imagine, what terrifying thing Lord Xun had sensed on Gu Qingfeng to be scared into collapsing on the ground. She asked, "Sister Nalan, can you tell?"
"With how filthy I am, what do you think?"
"..." Su Hua smiled bitterly, feeling like an idiot for asking. Sister Nalan's body carried far more turbid breaths than her own.