Chapter 581 - 349: Hair Gel Hand Reappears
In fact, it wasn’t just the others—even Jiang Wanzhao was stunned.
’Uh, what’s going on? Can a new hairstyle really make him this badass!?’
’He dismissed Liu Chenyu—a woman with skin thicker than a fortress wall—in just a few sentences?’
Seeing Liu Chenyu leave, Zou Feng zipped over to Jiang Wanzhao. "Senior Sister Jiang," he said, "why don’t we talk at my humble place?"
Jiang Wanzhao stared blankly at Zou Feng’s new hairstyle from up close for a moment.
’I have to admit, it looks pretty badass. Very few male disciples in the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect style themselves like this.’
Nodding, Jiang Wanzhao led the way toward the Hongxing Inn.
Next, Zou Feng cupped his fist to the surrounding crowd. "Thank you, fellow disciples, for witnessing my Foundation Establishment. Today, every disciple present can go to my restaurant, ’Crazy Stir-fry,’ and eat as much fried rice as you like, on the house!"
To put it bluntly, all of the fried rice restaurants Zou Feng currently owned would be free for three days. Anyone who went could eat for free.
It was basically a running feast.
After all, he had just formed a Top Grade Celestial Tribulation Dao Foundation, attracting many disciples to offer congratulations. Plus, after showing off so brazenly in public, he couldn’t afford to be stingy.
Besides, as his Realm grew higher—and with his promotion to a True Inheritor being only a matter of time—he needed to start paying attention to his identity and status within the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
"Thank you, Brother Zou!"
"Brother Zou is mighty..."
Whether they cared about the free fried rice or not, the vast majority of disciples present accepted the gesture.
In the crowd, Leng Jing had naturally come as well.
However, because his ancestor, Jiang Wanzhao, was there, Leng Jing didn’t dare go forward and act chummy with Zou Feng. He had simply been watching from a distance the entire time.
Now, seeing his ancestor in her adult form enter the building with Zou Feng, Leng Jing felt rather awkward.
’It feels like I treat Zou Feng as a brother, but he wants to... get with my ancestor...’
’I never would have thought something so absurd could actually come true...’
’Of course, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. In the future, they would just address each other as they saw fit. I’ll still call him Younger Brother Zou, and he’ll call me... great-great-great-great-grandson...’
Meanwhile, Song Yuanze, who had been wallowing in seclusion and preparing for closed-door cultivation, inexplicably discovered that he was number one on the Ascension Board again.
He was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized: Zou Feng had achieved Foundation Establishment.
This made Song Yuanze feel much, much better...
Inside the Hongxing Inn, Zou Feng personally poured a cup of tea for Jiang Wanzhao.
"You handled that well just now."
"Since you already rejected Liu Chenyu before, confronting her won’t make things worse, so there’s no need to worry..."
"Besides, she’s about to lead a team to a new Outer Realm, so she won’t have time to be idle for a while!"
At this moment, Jiang Wanzhao’s imposing aura had deflated after her confrontation with Liu Chenyu, making it impossible for her to maintain her cool, mature persona.
Zou Feng deeply agreed with her words.
Liu Chenyu had previously tried to recruit Zou Feng for the expedition to the Outer Realm, so of course he knew she would soon be incredibly busy.
And it wasn’t just Liu Chenyu; her sycophantic Dao Companions, especially the top dog, Du Rentian, would definitely be going with her.
Therefore, after his promotion to the Dao Foundation Realm, he would have a fairly long period of time to develop at the start.
Not to mention, Du Rentian had recently been tormented by the side effects he’d transferred over, and establishing his Dao Foundation just now had surely dealt a Critical Strike to the man...
Zou Feng’s guess was correct. Du Rentian’s life was indeed not going well.
As a Golden Core Realm expert, he wasn’t yet at risk of any major problems from the side effects, but certain minor issues were still causing him immense frustration.
In the few days when Zou Feng was going all-out to achieve Foundation Establishment, Du Rentian made a horrifying discovery: he could no longer get it up!
No matter how he tried to awaken his "second life," even hastily learning several Secret Skills, it remained unresponsive, driving Du Rentian to the brink of madness.
’If Liu Chenyu finds out about this, I’m afraid I’ll be kicked out of her roster of Dao Companions...’
The mere thought of this possibility felt like a knife twisting in Du Rentian’s heart.
Fortunately, he had recently learned of a Secret Skill that could be used to transplant incredibly potent treasures from Alien Races onto his own body.
He would definitely be able to restore his former glory then!
Coincidentally, according to intelligence from the scouting team, the secret realm they were about to conquer was home to a half-humanoid Alien Race resembling donkeys or horses, with an extremely strong reproductive capacity...
At this thought, Du Rentian wished he could march into that Outer Realm right this instant. How could he possibly be bothered with plotting against Zou Feng?
"Senior Sister Jiang, what about you...?" Back in the Hongxing Inn, Zou Feng’s conversation with Jiang Wanzhao was still ongoing.
The question Zou Feng left unfinished was, naturally, when Jiang Wanzhao would be participating in an Outer Realm expedition.
Speaking of which, it seemed Jiang Wanzhao had been idle for quite a long time.
He suspected she might really be suffering from exclusion by some of the higher-ups in the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, preventing her from being assigned to any suitable new Outer Realms.
Hearing this, Jiang Wanzhao shook her head slightly. "The recently discovered Outer Realms, the ones that are obviously profitable, won’t be assigned to me."
This left Zou Feng unsure of how to respond.
Jiang Wanzhao being targeted and having no profitable ventures to pursue wasn’t good news for him, either.
Previously, Zou Feng had a legitimate reason to refuse Liu Chenyu’s recruitment—his imminent Foundation Establishment—so the matter was temporarily closed.
But now that he had successfully broken through to the Dao Foundation Realm, he could at most lie low for another month or two under the excuse of consolidating his Realm. After that, he would still have to contribute to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
Originally, continuing to follow Jiang Wanzhao on Outer Realm expeditions was his best option.
But with Jiang Wanzhao herself out of the game, Zou Feng was left in a rather awkward position.
Just then, Zou Feng suddenly felt a deep sense of malice and subconsciously opened the List of Gods again...
Nangong Chu!?
’Why is True Monarch Tianyan on the list?’
’I haven’t had any recent conflicts with the Purple Cloud Association. And Nangong Chu was never on the list before, not even when I killed Li Dingjie and simultaneously made a fool out of Nangong Chu’s prediction.’
’But just as I succeed in my Foundation Establishment, this guy develops killing intent toward me...’
’Could it be that he sensed my Dao Foundation is too powerful and that I might threaten him in the future?’
’It’s just the classic "this child’s talent is terrifying, he must be eliminated" trope...’
Although they were both True Disciples, True Monarch Tianyan, Nangong Chu, was clearly far stronger than Du Rentian.
If this person used his astrological arts to set a trap for him, it would be impossible to guard against.
But things had already come to this, and there was no use overthinking it. The most pressing matter now was to figure out how to handle his duties for the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
"While the profitable Outer Realms are temporarily out of my reach, there was an... unpleasant task that I recently volunteered for." Jiang Wanzhao put down her teacup, clearly about to get to the main point.
It seemed she had decided on the spur of the moment to discuss this with Zou Feng.
Before this, Zou Feng would have had no right to sit at the same table and discuss serious matters with a Golden Core Realm cultivator.
But now, having formed a Top Grade Celestial Tier Dao Foundation, he had at least earned the qualification to chime in.
"And what task is that, Senior Sister Jiang?"
"Guarding the Spiritual Vein in the Northern Domain!"
Having been in the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect for over two years, Zou Feng was no longer the naive rookie he once was. He understood the implications immediately.
The task of guarding the Spiritual Vein in the Northern Domain wasn’t just unpleasant; it was actually far more dangerous than conquering completely unknown Outer Realms.
It was impossible for Jiang Wanzhao not to know this, but it seemed she had no other choice.
If she didn’t do something significant soon, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect higher-ups targeting her would only push her further to the fringes.
From there, it would be a vicious cycle of falling one step behind, then falling behind at every step.
Therefore, Jiang Wanzhao was clearly ready to risk it all, proactively requesting to guard the Northern Domain’s Spiritual Vein for a period to earn new merits and break her current predicament.
Of course, that was all contingent on her surviving the process of guarding the Northern Domain’s Spiritual Vein.
As for why guarding the Northern Domain’s Spiritual Vein was so dangerous...
The Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect dominated the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm, conquering the Ten Thousand Realms with a fearsome reputation, running rampant as they pleased.
But that didn’t mean the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect was completely invincible.
While the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect was always looking to conquer other Outer Realms, some particularly powerful forces from other Outer Realms were also looking for a chance to conquer the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm.