Chapter 63: The True Identity Revealed

"You're making your move now? Surely you should think carefully: since I already know your identity, why would I come here entirely alone?"

Xu Feng's words flowed without pause. Hearing this, Zuo JinCheng was momentarily stunned, and he turned to glare at the subordinate who had brought him the intelligence earlier.

"My Lord, do not listen to his deceptive nonsense! I stake my very head on the line—he came here completely by himself, with zero ambushes laid along the way."

"Hmph, pure bluffs! Today, you shall not fly away."

Zuo JinCheng regained his confidence. Even if Xu Feng had recognized him, so what? Once Xu Feng was dead, everything he had done would remain buried forever. Today, he was determined to eliminate this thorn in his side.

"Then let our blades speak the final truth."

Xu Feng could not be bothered to argue any further. He had been stalling simply to summon the captive ghosts concealed within his Human Emperor Banner.

Dozens of resentful specters burst outward with Xu Feng at their center, launching a devastating surprise attack. Before many of the enemy could even react, they had already perished at the hands of the ghosts.

While some present—including Zuo JinCheng—were already aware of the infamous Ghost-Faced Man, others knew nothing at all, and panic rapidly swept through their ranks.

"What in the world are these monstrosities? Stay away from me!"

"Save me! I refuse to die meaninglessly in a place like this!"

...

Zuo JinCheng, who had been brimming with confidence just moments ago, stood frozen in place. How could he not realize by now that the man before him was none other than the Ghost-Faced Man?

Yet, try as he might, he could never have linked this persona to Xu Feng. In his eyes, Xu Feng was merely a frail scholar with no strength to truss a chicken; even if he possessed a modicum of martial prowess, he was entirely negligible and posed no real threat.

Who could have imagined that in the blink of an eye, the man would transform into a grand overlord of terror? He simply could not accept this reality.

"The Ghost-Faced Man... You are actually the Ghost-Faced Man?!"

Having lost all courage to fight, Zuo JinCheng backed away frantically, completely forgetting even to draw his sword. All he wanted now was to flee for his life. Having crossed paths with the Ghost-Faced Man before, he knew all too well how formidable and relentless this adversary was. The handful of men he had brought for the ambush were utterly inadequate against such a foe.

"You're allowed to conceal your identity, but I'm not allowed to wear a mask?"

Right before Zuo JinCheng's eyes, Xu Feng reached into his robe, retrieved a grotesque mask, and fastened it securely over his face.

Then, he cast a mocking, half-amused glance at his opponent, resembling a great feline toying cruelly with its prey during a hunt.

Terror gripped Zuo JinCheng's heart. Desperate only to escape, he cast aside any pretense of a grand plan. Whether he could even survive was in question; he had no capacity to worry about anything else.

"Wanting to leave? Did you ask my permission? I let you slip through my fingers last time, but there is no way I am letting you carve a path out today."

Xu Feng gestured with a wave of his hand, directing several ghosts to encircle Zuo JinCheng.

Flustered and caught completely off-guard, Zuo JinCheng was forced into a frantic defense. In the span of a few breaths, he suffered severe injuries, his flesh torn by multiple gruesome gashes.

As for the rest of the ambush party, their situation was equally dire. Virtually all of them were forced to fight while wounded. Xu Feng cared nothing for martial honor and had struck first without warning, throwing their ranks into total disarray. Combined with the overwhelming panic that ensued, they were no match for Xu Feng whatsoever.

After all, these specters were not living mortals; fighting them for the first time left their opponents guessing and hesitant. More importantly, these entities were not consumable resources. Even if the enemies managed to hack and slay them through sheer arduous effort, the shattered souls would merely retreat into the Human Emperor Banner to rest for a moment before reappearing shortly afterward.

An endless, unrelenting wave—the sheer attrition alone was enough to exhaust them to death.

"My Lord, we cannot go on like this! Nearly half our men are already dead. If there is truly no other choice, give the order to retreat! Otherwise, our entire force will be annihilated here today."

"Fall back!"

Zuo JinCheng felt a stabbing pain in his heart, a heavy shadow looming over his spirit. An ominous preordained dread whispered to him that he might not survive this day.

Just as he desired nothing more than to take Xu Feng's life, Xu Feng felt the exact same way toward him. The enmity between them had long since passed the point of reconciliation.

With Zuo JinCheng's order to retreat, whatever discipline remained in their formation instantly collapsed. Panic-stricken, they scattered in all directions, throwing aside all tactical positioning. Seizing this golden opportunity, Xu Feng ruthlessly cut down numerous fleeing enemies in cold blood.

Those left isolated and fighting desperately on their own could not escape their doom.

From the moment the fight began until now, only half an hour had passed, yet a vast multitude of broken souls had once more been gathered within the Human Emperor Banner. As for Zuo JinCheng, he currently presented a picture of utter wretchedness.

"Feng Yumian! Do you still wish to save her or not? If you do, let me leave this place alive! Otherwise, even if I have to expend this very life, I will drag her down to hell with me!"

Driven to his wits' end, Zuo JinCheng played his final trump card, hoping to use it as leverage to threaten Xu Feng.

Yet Xu Feng remained completely deaf to his threats. With a flick of his wrist, he commanded several ghosts to brutally subdue Zuo JinCheng, forcing him to his knees before him. Only then did the captive villain resort to pathetic begging.

"Spare my life! No matter what, I am still a core disciple of the Sword Wind Mountain! Killing me will bring you zero benefits, and the sect will surely dispatch elite experts to investigate!"

"As long as you let me go, all past grievances can be wiped clean. Let us pretend we never crossed paths tonight."

Zuo JinCheng never imagined that a day would come when he would be kneeling in the dirt before Xu Feng, kowtowing frantically and begging for mercy.

The wheel of fortune turns; look up to the heavens and see whom fate has ever spared.

"Sparing you would be simple, but who will repay the suffering inflicted upon me within the Feng family?"

Without punishing his tormentor, his inner state would remain obstructed and clouded.

*Crack!*

"Aah—! You beast! Kill me! Just kill me! Why must you torture me in such a manner?!"

Xu Feng had no intention of granting him a swift and painless death. To deal with a petty villain of this caliber, one had to utterly demolish his pride.

Thus, Xu Feng ruthlessly shattered his cultivation base and broke his tendons, ensuring he could never practice martial arts ever again for the rest of his days.

"Did you not love calling others useless trash? Very well, why don't you try being the useless trash for a change, and see how it feels!"

Looking down from on high at Zuo JinCheng, who now lay collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud, Xu Feng knew the man had reaped precisely what he had sown.

Unable to stomach this catastrophic blow to his existence, Zuo JinCheng burst into wild, howling laughter toward the heavens. His laughter swiftly turned into wretched sobbing, and in a state of utter madness, he began crawling toward the exit. Having practiced martial arts for so many years, his fragile mindset proved entirely inadequate for true adversity; this single stroke of ruin had completely shattered his sanity, driving him thoroughly insane.

Seeing this pathetic display, Xu Feng ignored him entirely, knowing he needed to rescue the captive first.

As he pushed open the door and stepped inside, he found that Feng Yumian had already freed herself from her bonds, though she had yet to emerge from the room.

This meant she had witnessed every single detail of the commotion outside.

Xu Feng suddenly felt a ripple of awkwardness. He had certainly not forgotten that, back when he was maintaining his secret identity, he had carved a marking onto Feng Yumian's back.

"You are actually the Ghost-Faced Man? You hid it so deeply, deceiving me so thoroughly, when I was actually foolish enough to worry about you!"

Feng Yumian felt a sharp pang of grievance, as though the entire world had conspired to deceive her.

Lacking any natural talent for comforting others, Xu Feng could only step forward, reach out with a large hand, and gently stroke the top of her head.

"I did not mean to deceive you intentionally. My identity cannot see the light of day; if outsiders were to discover it, they would hunt me down relentlessly. It is not that I failed to value you—if I truly did not care, why would I have risked my life to break in here today?"

Hearing these words, Feng Yumian's sobbing instantly subsided. Upon reflection, it was true; regardless of everything else, the fact that Xu Feng had disregarded all danger to rescue her was an undeniable reality.