Chapter 619 - 368: Dragon Maiden or Gold Digger?
"I wasn’t interested before, that’s for sure. But now... I have no idea what she’s thinking." Zou Feng shook his head, exasperated.
Su Qingyu lowered her voice. "Actually, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, you have another chance to get some Dragon Poison!"
"I’d only heard about it before, but now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes... The Dragon Race of Yu Long Lake really is a clan of poison dragons. Their toxins look so delicious..."
The look on Su Qingyu’s face showed just how badly she craved the Dragon Poison. Besides, if Zou Feng obtained it, as his intimate Fellow Daoist, she would essentially obtain it as well.
Zou Feng’s expression immediately turned serious. "Brother Zhao and the Ninth Princess will be getting married soon. Don’t bring this up again!"
"Hmph. From what I can see, that Ninth Princess is no good. Helping Brother Zhao see her true colors early on would be a truly virtuous deed!"
Zou Feng didn’t want to continue this conversation, so he simply fell silent.
As expected, as the banquet neared its end, Luo Gang personally announced that Luo Zhenzhen would be marrying Zhao Feixiong.
The wedding date was even set; it would be held at the Celestial Hearing Tower in one month.
Although Zhao Feixiong had long expected this, hearing Luo Gang announce it publicly in person still left him overjoyed, as happy as a baboon that had just won mating rights.
Luo Zhenzhen’s smile, however, wasn’t nearly as pure.
In fact, the moment Luo Gang finished his announcement, she shot Zou Feng another plaintive look.
’What a psycho. Why does she keep looking at me like that?’
Zou Feng was getting very irritated. The problem was, he couldn’t bring this up with the hopelessly love-drunk Zhao Feixiong, who was already in too deep. Otherwise, the two of them would likely become enemies on the spot.
"That woman... she’s big trouble..." Su Qingyu sighed under her breath again, but her eyes held a teasing smile.
With that, the banquet concluded, and it was time for the cultivators participating in the Tribulation Cultivator hunt to depart.
However, just as everyone was about to set off, Luo Gang made another public announcement: Luo Zhenzhen would also be participating in this hunt for Tribulation Cultivators.
In theory, there was no issue with her participating. As a Dao Foundation Realm cultivator of the Demon Race—and a high-class member of the Dragon Race, no less—she was more than qualified for the hunt.
Especially with Zhao Feixiong acting as her dedicated protector, her safety wouldn’t be a major concern.
Everyone believed that hunting Tribulation Cultivators was secondary. The main reason was that Luo Gang wanted her to spend time with Zhao Feixiong, fighting side-by-side, to strengthen their bond.
Zou Feng, however, felt this was becoming more and more of a hassle. He quickly grabbed Su Qingyu and was the first to leave the hall.
Su Qingyu knew he wanted to avoid Luo Zhenzhen as much as possible and couldn’t help but laugh. "Just hiding isn’t a solution, you know. You can’t run from trouble!"
"It’s not that bad. There’s another saying: running away is shameful, but it works!"
"Palace Master, just forget about the Dragon Poison. Wouldn’t it be more fun to slay a few poison-using Impermanences? Especially that White Impermanence who injured Brother Zhao. That one’s poison is something else!"
Su Qingyu’s interest was immediately piqued. "Oh? In what way is it special?"
"Let’s get going first. We can... ’communicate’ on the way!"
Hearing this, Su Qingyu immediately waved her hand, releasing a dense, five-colored poisonous mist that enveloped the two of them.
After all, the Poison Cultivator "exchange" she and Zou Feng engaged in involved extremely indecent postures and movements, and it was best for both parties to be in a state of... frank and open exposure.
And so, shrouded by the poisonous mist, the two of them sped away into the distance.
Zou Feng had never tried this kind of ’exchange’ while flying through the air before. And with many of their fellow sect members also flying away nearby, it was quite thrilling.
But just as he was preparing to have a good ’exchange’ with Su Qingyu, he saw the woman before him suddenly start bleeding from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Her veins bulged, and she quickly transformed into a hideous monster.
To be at the height of his excitement and about to engage in a deep ’exchange,’ only to suddenly see this... any normal man would be scared out of his wits, if not worse.
But Zou Feng was prepared for this. After all, the resentful soul poison would take any opportunity to act up, inflicting insidious mental torture on its victim.
Fortunately, because he cultivated the Great Universal Hand and frequently used Visualization to picture all sorts of grotesque scenes, Zou Feng’s immunity to such sights was maxed out.
The mental torture, in particular, could be transferred away the moment he started Cultivating.
So, Zou Feng only needed to start Cultivating for a moment, and the Su Qingyu before his eyes immediately returned to normal.
"What’s wrong?" Su Qingyu asked, puzzled, noticing the strange look on Zou Feng’s face.
Apparently, Su Qingyu had no idea that she had just "turned into" a monster.
"The resentful soul poison acted up. It’s nothing serious. Let’s continue..."
After being busy with Su Qingyu for a while, the resentful soul poison continued to flare up.
This poison was truly unusual, almost as if it possessed a sliver of Spiritual Wisdom, knowing when the victim was most vulnerable and when an attack would be most devastating.
However, although the mental torture had been transferred away, Zou Feng discovered that the resentful soul poison within his body had grown stronger.
It was actually strengthening itself inside the victim’s body, as if it could multiply on its own.
’Or... could that White Impermanence be strengthening the poison remotely?’
The more Zou Feng thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. It was just like some Gu Poisons, where the one who cast the Gu Technique could control the Gu Poison remotely.
As if to confirm Zou Feng’s suspicion, a profound wave of malice washed over him, and a new entry appeared on the List of Gods...
The name Kong Xia had appeared on the list.
Kong Xia appeared at the exact moment the resentful soul poison intensified. This had to be the White Impermanence who injured Brother Zhao.
’This Kong Xia must have used her special connection to the poison to realize it had been transferred to me.’
’So she immediately developed killing intent toward me and used a remote technique to intensify the poison.’
’In that case, Kong Xia probably isn’t too far from me right now. The chances of baiting her out are quite high...’
「Five days later, at the Jade Dragon Marketplace.」
The invading Tribulation Cultivators weren’t just going to hide in their shells and lie dormant; their goal was to constantly stir up trouble.
The Ninefold Celestial Court, in particular, was eager to convert all the Loose Cultivators coming and going from the Jade Dragon Marketplace into believers of the Celestial Court.
Once they had a sizable number of believers, they could coordinate an attack from both inside and out to completely topple the Celestial Hearing Tower, dealing a heavy blow to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
After all, a defensive structure like the Celestial Hearing Tower was not something that could be built easily, not even with the vast resources of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
Furthermore, if the Celestial Hearing Tower were to fall, the already unstable spatial rifts in the Northern Domain would become even more dangerous, giving powerful beings from the Outer Domains a perfect opportunity to invade the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm.
In short, if the Celestial Hearing Tower fell, this entire region would descend into absolute chaos, and all its resources would be plundered in a short amount of time.
Even if the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect sent reinforcements and successfully regained control, it would take at least several decades to re-establish a stable order.
And Jiang Wanzhao, as the True Disciple stationed at the Celestial Hearing Tower, would inevitably be punished.
A punishment of facing a wall for a hundred years was a real possibility.
A century of facing the wall meant being unable to go out and plunder resources. Her future in the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect would be finished as she became marginalized. Ultimately, she would meet an end similar to Lu Guanghua’s, wasting away her years, her lifespan exhausted with no hope left for her Dao path.
As Jiang Wanzhao’s subordinate, Zou Feng certainly wouldn’t bear the primary responsibility, but he would inevitably be implicated, and he figured the consequences would be severe enough.
He wouldn’t even have to worry about the future. If the Celestial Hearing Tower fell and the Tribulation Cultivators swarmed in, it would be a question of whether he could even escape back to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect alive.
Therefore, Zou Feng’s current mission in hunting Tribulation Cultivators was to first sweep through the Jade Dragon Marketplace.
The Jade Dragon Marketplace was definitely a key location for the Ninefold Celestial Court’s Tribulation Cultivators to stir up trouble.
Over these five days, relying on his Dao of Refining Immortals into External Pills’ perception of "delicacies," Zou Feng had already found and eliminated over a dozen Celestial Soldiers and one Celestial General.
After refining that Celestial General into an External Pill, his Dao of Refining Immortals into External Pills finally reached the Great Success Realm.
At this Realm, he could now completely Refine Celestial Soldiers and the like in an instant.
The time it took to Refine a Celestial General would also be drastically reduced.
In a small courtyard reeking of blood, a Female Celestial Soldier was bound to a tree trunk, her face a mask of defiance.
Zou Feng had clearly just captured this woman and was preparing to interrogate her about the whereabouts of her accomplices.
"Fiend! No matter how you torture me, I won’t say a thing!" As a heavily brainwashed Female Celestial Soldier, her loyalty to the Ninefold Celestial Court was beyond question.