Chapter 6: The Chu Clan

"Mu Qingyao!"

Chu Feng's heart leapt as he looked at the young woman blocking his path!

He had completely changed his appearance — how could Mu Qingyao still recognize him?

Chu Feng was inwardly alarmed, yet his expression remained perfectly calm.

"Miss, is there something you need?"

Chu Feng altered his voice and looked at Mu Qingyao with a mild smile.

"Who are you?" Mu Qingyao asked, her brow furrowing slightly as she studied him.

Chu Feng looked nothing like the beggar from before, yet Mu Qingyao couldn't shake the feeling that something about him was strangely familiar.

Unable to suppress the feeling, she had stepped forward to question him directly.

The beggar who had humiliated her had to die — otherwise, she would spend the rest of her life haunted by that nightmare.

Over the past several days, driven by the conviction that it was better to kill the wrong person than to let the right one escape, she had already slain many.

If Chu Feng showed even the slightest sign of anything unusual, she would cut him down on the spot.

"My name is Chu Feng."

"Might I have the honor of knowing your name, miss?"

Chu Feng smiled at Mu Qingyao, his gaze feigning a hint of admiration.

"Where were you ten days ago, and what were you doing?"

Rather than answering his question, Mu Qingyao pressed on with her interrogation.

"Ten days ago... I was probably sparring with a friend, I think..."

"I don't remember it very clearly. May I ask why you're asking, miss?"

Chu Feng looked at her with an ambiguous smile.

Thinking back to the fierce encounter with Mu Qingyao ten days ago, a surge of heat rose within him.

He fantasized about the day he could truly conquer Mu Qingyao and engage in another earth-shattering battle!

"Answer when I ask. Say another unnecessary word and I'll kill you."

Chu Feng's gaze made Mu Qingyao deeply uncomfortable. Her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword as she debated whether to simply cut him down where he stood.

Suddenly, several people came hurrying over from a distance.

"Young Master!"

"We've finally found you — are you alright?"

An elderly servant at the front spotted Chu Feng and rushed over with undisguised relief.

"...Uncle Chen, what are you doing here?"

"I'm perfectly fine. What could possibly have happened to me?"

Chu Feng's memories were still a little hazy; he had to think for a moment before the old servant's name came to him.

Uncle Chen was an old retainer of the Chu Clan, Chu Feng's family.

Chu Feng's family was based in Qingfeng Town, roughly two hundred kilometers from Dusk City.

Chu Feng had no idea why Uncle Chen had turned up here, but his arrival was perfectly timed to help him out of this awkward situation.

At that moment, Mu Qingyao watched as Uncle Chen and the others respectfully addressed Chu Feng as "Young Master." Her hand slowly released the hilt of her sword.

The person who had humiliated her had been nothing but a filthy beggar — surely he couldn't be someone's Young Master.

With that thought, Mu Qingyao slowly turned and walked away.

Catching a glimpse of her departure, Chu Feng quietly let out a breath of relief.

"Young Master, I heard you were expelled from the Qinglan Sect?" Uncle Chen asked with concern.

"So it seems."

Chu Feng's memories of that period were somewhat blurry.

Whether or not he had actually spied on the Qinglan Sect's Holy Maiden bathing, he had no recollection of it whatsoever.

But whether he had or hadn't no longer mattered.

He likely wouldn't return to the Qinglan Sect, and he would have no further entanglement with them.

The past was the past.

This body now belonged to him — Chu Feng — not to its former owner.

"Ah..." Uncle Chen sighed softly upon hearing this, and asked no further questions. "Young Master, shall we head back to Qingfeng Town?"

"Very well."

Chu Feng nodded in agreement.

With Mu Qingyao hunting for him everywhere, returning to Qingfeng Town to lay low for a while was exactly what he needed.

Chu Feng glanced around, hoping to catch one last look at Mu Qingyao.

But she had already vanished.

"Until we meet again," Chu Feng murmured softly.

With this departure, who knew when the two of them would cross paths again.

But Chu Feng was certain — he would see Mu Qingyao again one day.

And when that day came, he would make her willingly become his woman.

* * *

Two days later, Chu Feng and the others returned to Qingfeng Town.

Qingfeng Town was a modest-sized settlement with a population of several tens of thousands.

The Chu Clan, to which Chu Feng belonged, was one of the two great families of Qingfeng Town.

The other great family was the Han Clan, which was stronger than the Chu Clan.

The Chu Clan's compound sat at the heart of Qingfeng Town, occupying a vast area of land.

Including guards and servants, the entire Chu Clan numbered over a thousand people.

At the gates of the Chu Clan.

Chu Feng paused for a moment, gazing at the gates — familiar yet strange — as his thoughts drifted.

The parents of this body had been direct-line members of the Chu Clan, but they had passed away when Chu Feng was very young.

After that, Chu Feng had been raised within the Chu Clan. Fortunately, he had proven himself — three years ago, he had broken through to the Spirit Entry Stage and been taken in as a disciple by the Qinglan Sect.

Upon joining the Qinglan Sect, the entire Chu Clan had believed Chu Feng's future was limitless, and so they had named him the Chu Clan's Young Master.

"Young Master, let's go in," Uncle Chen said, noticing that Chu Feng had been lingering at the entrance.

"Mm."

Chu Feng gave a slight nod and stepped through the gates of the Chu Clan.

Beyond the main gate lay a vast training ground.

At this moment, over a hundred Chu Clan disciples were sparring and training there.

"The Young Master has returned — everyone, come pay your respects!"

Uncle Chen called out loudly toward the training ground.

The Chu Clan disciples on the training ground heard his voice and stopped what they were doing, turning to look at Chu Feng.

"Young Master!"

Some of them greeted Chu Feng with a bow from a distance.

However, a large number of them merely glanced at him briefly and paid him no further attention.

Word had already reached the Chu Clan that Chu Feng had spied on the Holy Maiden bathing, had his cultivation crippled, and been expelled from the sect.

These people all knew Chu Feng was now a cripple, and had no intention of showing him any respect.

"Young Master..." Uncle Chen looked on helplessly as so many people ignored Chu Feng.

"It's nothing."

Chu Feng smiled faintly. These were all small fry — he didn't even bother putting them in his eyes.

"Chu Feng!"

Suddenly, a white-robed young man with a sinister air strolled over toward Chu Feng, a few followers in tow.

Chu Feng looked over and recognized the young man's identity.

The white-robed youth was named Chu Jian — also a direct-line member of the Chu Clan.

"Mm." Chu Feng gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

"Chu Feng, I heard you were caught peeping on the Qinglan Sect's Holy Maiden while she bathed, and had your cultivation stripped and got expelled from the Qinglan Sect?" Chu Jian said with a contemptuous sneer.

"More or less," Chu Feng replied flatly, without denying it.

"Chu Feng, I never would have thought you were such a pervert — ha ha ha!"

Chu Jian burst into loud laughter, his voice echoing across the entire training ground, as if he wanted everyone to know that Chu Feng was a pervert.

"Chu Feng, what a waste you are — throwing away your entire future just to peep at a woman bathing!"

Chu Jian stepped closer to Chu Feng and continued his relentless mockery.

Chu Jian had always resented the fact that Chu Feng — an orphan with neither father nor mother — had been made the Chu Clan's Young Master.

But before, Chu Feng had been a disciple of the Qinglan Sect, one of the top sects in the Cangfeng Empire, so Chu Jian had been forced to keep his resentment buried.

Now that Chu Feng had been expelled from the Qinglan Sect with his cultivation crippled, Chu Jian felt no more restraint and mocked him freely.

The surrounding Chu Clan disciples watched Chu Jian's relentless taunting with expressions of amusement, none of them making any move to intervene.

Most of them were collateral-line disciples who had no desire to get involved in a dispute between direct-line members — and couldn't even if they wanted to. All they could do was watch the spectacle in silence.

Just as Chu Jian was reveling in his mockery of Chu Feng —

Smack!

Suddenly, a resounding slap came down and sent him reeling, his head spinning and his legs nearly buckling beneath him.

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Edited by Fat Goose