Chapter 850 - 483: The Real Boss?

Naturally, the disciples and Elders closest to her immediately rushed over. Although they caught her in time, Gu Zhaoyue looked as terrible as one could possibly be. Not only was she coughing up blood incessantly, but her originally unrivaled and powerful aura was now growing weaker by the second. And this was all happening while the Celestial Dao Cauldron was actively showering her with "auspicious clouds" to continuously nourish her. It turned out that resealing Lady Houtu hadn’t been as easy as it seemed. Given the circumstances, it would likely take Gu Zhaoyue, the Right Protector of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, at least several years of recuperation to fully recover.

Losing a powerful combatant like the Right Protector for the time being, coupled with the undoubtedly massive energy consumption of the Celestial Dao Cauldron, meant that the price paid to annihilate the Yama Underworld had been astronomical. Still, this outcome was already considered quite good. After all, if Zou Feng hadn’t secretly sabotaged Emperor Fengdu’s Golem, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect would have suffered even greater losses. Ultimately, Zou Feng had done everything within his power. The foundation of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect should run deeper than just this anyway.

Speaking of which, while the Right Protector was fighting to the death here, where had the Left Protector gone? Furthermore, there was the Sect Leader of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, Yan Canglan. Although Zou Feng had briefly communicated with a wisp of his intent before, something had always felt off. He couldn’t pinpoint it at first, but after his journey through the Underworld—especially after personally experiencing the descent into Reincarnation—he finally had a vague idea of what was wrong. The true body of Yan Canglan, the Sect Leader of the Immortal Sect, did not seem to exist in the Current World. It felt as though that wisp of his intent had passed through several cycles of Reincarnation just to connect with the Current World and briefly converse with Zou Feng.

A short while later.

The tolling of the Celestial Dao Cauldron continuously echoed throughout the Northern Domain. It served both as a death knell for the Yama Underworld and a celebration for the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, which had finally eradicated this tumor. As for the aftermath—how to treat Gu Zhaoyue and handle the remaining affairs of the Underworld—Zou Feng naturally didn’t need to worry about any of it. With the mission to assault the Underworld successfully completed, all participants undoubtedly needed a good rest. Thus, Zou Feng couldn’t be bothered to stick around. After bidding farewell to the Undying Master and Ma Qianqin, he took his leave and prepared to return to the Holy Lotus.

Seeing Zou Feng leaving first, the Undying Master naturally instructed him to rest well, but Ma Qianqin surprisingly showed intentions of tagging along. Zou Feng decisively rejected her without hesitation and immediately fled. It seemed she still hadn’t given up on the idea of having a child with him. Zou Feng knew very well that this Mad Lady hadn’t fallen for him romantically. She simply thought that having a child with a Body Cultivator like him would be highly fascinating, which was why she harbored such twisted thoughts. He had no doubt that given the chance, she would use any means necessary to extract what she wanted from him...

After escaping the scene, Zou Feng took out his Token and quickly contacted Su Qingyu, thereby locating the current coordinates of the Holy Lotus. It didn’t take him long to return to the ship. His trip hadn’t consumed much time, so nothing much had changed aboard the Holy Lotus. The only exception was his disciple, Yue Ya, who had already cultivated to the Spiritual Energy Realm. Even though she possessed peerless Talent and received personal guidance from Zou Feng, reaching the Spiritual Energy Realm this quickly was still absurd. As for Foundation Establishment, that probably wouldn’t take much longer either.

In addition, there was an unexpected guest currently on the Holy Lotus. Jiang Wanzhao had arrived two days prior and had been waiting for Zou Feng’s return.

Upon seeing him again, she parted her lips slightly, seemingly wanting to say something but not knowing where to begin. Such a lapse in composure meant she was naturally shocked speechless. Before coming here, she was already aware that Zou Feng had broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm and had been promoted to a Direct Disciple. But upon meeting him face-to-face, the highly perceptive Jiang Wanzhao immediately noticed that he had already bypassed the Nascent Soul Early Stage; he was clearly in the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

How long had it been since he first reached the Nascent Soul Realm? He had only gone through the battle against the Underworld, yet he emerged in the Nascent Soul Middle Stage... Before this, Jiang Wanzhao had been holding her breath, pushing herself to the absolute limit in a bid to catch up with his Cultivation progress. Little did she know that despite her risking life and limb in various life-or-death battles across the Northern Domain to cultivate madly, the gap between her and Zou Feng was only growing wider.

"Senior Sister Jiang?" Zou Feng took two steps forward and called out again when he saw that she still couldn’t form a complete sentence.

Jiang Wanzhao snapped out of her daze and smiled bitterly. "You should probably just call me Junior Sister..."

"Without your past financial support, Senior Sister Jiang, there’s no way I could have been promoted to a Direct Disciple this quickly. This form of address cannot be changed."

Jiang Wanzhao didn’t dwell on the matter and instead asked about the events in the Yama Underworld. It was obvious that she had really wanted to participate in the assault on the Underworld, but unfortunately, her Realm wasn’t high enough to be selected for the expedition group.

"Did you come here to discuss something, Senior Sister Jiang?" Zou Feng asked. Knowing her personality, she definitely hadn’t made a special trip here just to catch up.

Jiang Wanzhao nodded. "If my estimation is correct, my Nascent Soul Formation should happen very soon..."

Hearing this, Zou Feng immediately cupped his hands in congratulations. "Congratulations, Senior Sister Jiang!" He also guessed why she had come.

"However..." Jiang Wanzhao clearly looked hesitant at this point.

Zou Feng interjected right away. "Don’t worry, Senior Sister Jiang. When the time comes, I will act as your Guardian!"

With her Nascent Soul Formation fast approaching, Jiang Wanzhao hadn’t chosen to return to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect to break through in the safest environment. She clearly had other considerations. Most likely, she intended to use certain special locations in the Northern Domain to facilitate an easier breakthrough. However, this made her safety a major concern. Even though the Yama Underworld had been destroyed, the Northern Domain still had Celestial Tribulation Cultivators, Cultivators from the Dubhe Divine Domain, and various monsters that would occasionally crawl out of spatial rifts. Moreover, Jiang Wanzhao’s popularity within the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect was notoriously poor. Even if she could hire some True Disciples or Elders to be her Guardian, she wouldn’t be able to fully trust them. The only person currently strong enough and entirely trustworthy to her seemed to be Zou Feng.

"Then I thank you. However, the breakthrough location I’ve chosen lies outside the signal coverage area of the Celestial Dao Cauldron..." Jiang Wanzhao continued.

The Northern Domain stretched on endlessly. Even if the Celestial Dao Cauldron were physically present, its signal couldn’t possibly blanket the entire region. Therefore, Zou Feng wasn’t surprised to hear that her chosen location lacked its signal. This was the main reason she desperately needed a strong expert she could completely trust to act as her Guardian.

"No matter. We’ll just pilot the Holy Lotus directly over there," Zou Feng agreed readily without any hesitation.

Jiang Wanzhao couldn’t help but shoot him a deep look. Although she had anticipated that he wouldn’t refuse, with his current Realm and status, he could clearly be doing much more important things that aligned with his interests. He could have even just sent his Poisonous Demon Maidens to act as her Guardians.

"Thank you..."

Seeing that she was about to say something overly sentimental, Zou Feng immediately cut her off. "Senior Sister Jiang, there’s no need to be so polite with me. For this period of time, don’t worry about a thing. Just focus on your Nascent Soul Formation in peace!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jiang Wanzhao slowly nodded and then informed Zou Feng of her chosen breakthrough site. Once he knew the general direction, Zou Feng piloted the Holy Lotus toward the destination without a second word.

He was no longer worried about being targeted by some Tribulation Cultivator. With the List of Gods providing early warnings, he was actually hoping for more Tribulation Cultivators to deliver themselves to him as extra materials. This was especially true since he recently planned to research how to concoct Meng Po Soup and was currently short on ingredients. Ultimately, Zou Feng could walk unhindered throughout the Northern Domain now.

After seeing Jiang Wanzhao off, Zou Feng didn’t sit idle. He immediately began researching Meng Po Soup. Although Meng Po Soup didn’t count as a poison, as a titan of the Poison Dao, Zou Feng still had considerable confidence in concocting such bizarre things.

Unexpectedly, right after he took out the previously collected Meng Po Soup from his Storage Pouch to tinker with it, a familiar call echoed in his sea of consciousness.

The Queen Mother was requesting a connection again...