Chapter 849 - 483: The Real Boss?

Feeling invaded by such malicious intent meant one thing: an incredibly powerful entity had just been added to the List of Gods. Zou Feng hurriedly opened the List of Gods. As expected, a brilliant flash of light nearly blinded him. On the List of Gods, a strange new name stood out: Houtu.

Zou Feng was stunned. Lady Houtu? Seeing the name Houtu, he immediately thought of the legendary Lady Houtu. Compared to Emperor Fengdu, she was the true master of the Underworld. At that moment, he finally understood why Gu Zhaoyue had hastily ordered them all to retreat.

The destruction of the Emperor Fengdu Golem was tantamount to undoing Lady Houtu’s seal. As for why the Yama Underworld would seal their own boss... Either Emperor Fengdu had wanted to usurp the throne, or Lady Houtu had completely lost her sanity and degraded into a chaotic monster. Once she broke free, she would likely attack friend and foe alike, turning the world upside down. But if the Underworld was doomed anyway—especially with the destruction of the Emperor Fengdu Golem—they naturally had nothing left to lose. They might as well drag everyone down with them!

The Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect clearly held an overwhelming advantage in overall strength, yet they hadn’t wiped out the Yama Underworld earlier. Their hesitation undoubtedly stemmed from these exact concerns. After all, destroying the Yama Underworld wasn’t the hard part; the real challenge was cleaning up the mess these Tribulation Cultivators left behind. Especially since, in their dying breath, they could unleash an apocalyptic-level weapon like Lady Houtu just to spite their enemies.

However, since the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect had now resolved to act, they must have prepared a countermeasure. The Talismans Gu Zhaoyue brought out, combined with the intensifying aura of the Celestial Dao Cauldron in the surroundings, all pointed to one likely conclusion: they intended to seal Lady Houtu away once more.

As for why Lady Houtu ended up on the List of Gods... it was highly probable that right before the Emperor Fengdu Golem perished, it had glared at Zou Feng, utterly convinced he was the mastermind behind its demise. It seemed the Golem’s unwilling final accusation hadn’t just been impotent rage. It had actually transferred its hatred for him directly to Lady Houtu.

Being targeted by yet another heavyweight on par with the Queen Mother initially made Zou Feng feel rather depressed. However, on second thought, he realized it might not be a bad thing. With his Cultivation Realm and strength significantly improved, ordinary heavyweights could no longer bear the karmic burden for him. He precisely needed entities of the Queen Mother and Houtu’s caliber so he could continue recklessly attempting various death-defying stunts.

For instance, Zou Feng had already decided to forge his very own Path of Reincarnation. To put it bluntly, even without the special environment of the Rebirth Hall, he had to find a way to unleash the Poison of Reincarnation at will. Therefore, as long as Lady Houtu couldn’t immediately cause trouble and was successfully sealed by Gu Zhaoyue, her sudden appearance on the List of Gods would be far more beneficial than detrimental.

By the time he finished this train of thought, Zou Feng had already retreated far away with his fellow disciples from the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect. Looking from a distance, it was impossible to see what Gu Zhaoyue was doing. Instead, a massive pillar of light suddenly crashed down from the sky, clearly the work of the Celestial Dao Cauldron.

Shortly after the pillar descended, an ear-piercing shriek echoed from deep underground. Even from this far away, Zou Feng felt as though his heart was about to leap out of his chest at the sound of that scream. His fellow disciples weren’t faring any better, hastily circulating their respective Skills to resist it.

Before long, the shrieking gradually weakened until it faded away completely. The oppressive sensation of some gargantuan monstrosity about to crawl out from beneath the earth vanished along with it.

He wondered if the sealing had been successful. Zou Feng hurriedly checked the List of Gods again. Sure enough, the name Houtu had grown significantly dimmer. Truthfully, this had been far easier than he had anticipated. Based on his previous estimates, Gu Zhaoyue would have had to go all out and pay an immense price just to have a fighting chance. Even the Celestial Dao Cauldron would have needed to operate at maximum capacity for a long time to barely seal Lady Houtu away again. Yet, it was over so quickly? He wondered whether Lady Houtu was just too weak, or if Gu Zhaoyue and the Celestial Dao Cauldron were simply too strong.

Before he could dwell on it any longer, the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s teleportation activated once again. This time, it was clearly intended to send them all out of the Yama Underworld. Since the Celestial Dao Cauldron could now transport people in and out at will, it meant the entire Yama Underworld had fallen completely under its control, and by extension, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect’s control. In other words, the Yama Underworld was truly destroyed.

During the teleportation, Zou Feng acutely felt that the power of his Soul-Seizing Blood Eyes had inexplicably diminished compared to before. Coupled with the Yama Underworld’s destruction, it was likely that the Underworld’s karmic luck had been exhausted, causing the overall power of Underworld Skills to drop by a whole tier. This wasn’t surprising. Once a Skill was cultivated to a sufficiently high Realm, it would receive feedback and enhancement directly from its origin. If something went wrong at the source, the profound enhancements supporting the Skill would vanish, naturally leading to a decrease in power.

However, this wasn’t a major issue; Zou Feng’s primary focus had never been on cultivating Underworld Skills. Furthermore, once he created his own unique Path of Reincarnation, he could easily restore the Skill’s power.

When the teleportation ended, Zou Feng found himself back at the previous volcanic crater. But there was no longer any boiling magma at the bottom. The area had instantly transformed from an active volcano into a dormant one.

"Guardian Gu!!" Several alarmed cries rang out simultaneously.

In midair, Gu Zhaoyue appeared to have fallen unconscious. Unable to even maintain her flight, she plummeted straight down.