Everyone present was shocked and dumbfounded by Zhao Hongming's appearance.
Chen Xuerong in particular went rigid.
She looked at Zhang Biao's headless corpse on the ground, then at the mountain forest that had been reduced to a stretch of desolate, open wasteland.
Her mind became a buzzing mess.
She had seen that Chu Leader clearly. He was unmistakably a Martial Warrior of the Innate Realm.
The dead Zhang Biao had been no weaker than him—at the very least, he too had been Innate.
Yet Zhao Hongming had exchanged blows with two Innate Martial Warriors in succession without falling into the slightest disadvantage, and had ultimately even slain them both.
Just how high was his cultivation?
Innate Fourth Grade? Fifth Grade?
The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed.
He clearly possessed Imperial Family blood. How could he have broken through to become an Innate Martial Artist?
For centuries, no such anomaly had ever appeared beneath the heavens.
Even if there had been one, it would have dated back to the era of the Shang King, when the Immortal Path still existed and the Imperial Family was not suppressed.
Even then, she had only seen scattered fragments of it in historical records.
So she had guessed correctly. Zhao Hongming had been concealing himself all along, enduring in silence all along.
Those usual Martial Arts sparring matches had merely been for show.
Chen Xuerong felt somewhat fortunate, but then another thought struck her: did an Innate Realm Martial Warrior even need someone at Aperture Opening Seventh Grade like her to escort him?
Thinking back to her ideas that day, she was overcome with shame, and tangled emotions immediately welled up within her.
Zhao Hongming's expression remained calm as he slowly exhaled a long breath of scorching air.
As he