Chapter 588 - 353: Pretty as Jade, Sweetly Scented
The appearance of Xiaolv, with its beautiful woman’s head and strange insect’s body, immediately drew Su Qingyu’s attention.
She had long known Zou Feng possessed a Lifebound Gu Insect, but she never expected it to show signs of transformation so soon.
Furthermore, from her perspective, Xiaolv wasn’t the least bit strange. On the contrary, it was so adorably cute that she couldn’t help but want to reach out and pet it.
After hearing Zou Feng’s request, Xiaolv’s mung bean-sized eyes immediately darted about.
It soon locked its gaze onto Su Qingyu.
"Aba... Aba..."
After all, with its beautiful woman’s head, Xiaolv had long been trying to speak.
But because its transformation was incomplete, learning human speech was an incredibly arduous process. For now, it could basically only open its mouth to make sounds like "aba aba."
However, even though she could only say "aba aba," Zou Feng could still roughly understand what she was trying to express, as she was his Lifebound Gu Insect.
Right now, Xiaolv was pointing at Su Qingyu, signaling to him: ’This one looks delicious! Hurry up and eat her!’
Zou Feng snapped irritably, "I just ate that one. Pick something else!"
"And another thing—you can’t eat Fellow Daoists from our sect!"
Su Qingyu, standing right beside him, heard every word of this lecture to Xiaolv. Her slender eyebrows shot up, and she looked ready to erupt.
Seeing this, Zou Feng hastily tried to salvage the situation. "It was mutual! We ate each other! The Palace Master ate me too..."
Su Qingyu huffed, glaring at Xiaolv. "This Gu Insect of yours would be best deep-fried!"
With Zou Feng there to back her up, Xiaolv wasn’t the slightest bit scared by Su Qingyu’s threat. Instead, she bared her fangs and put on a vicious expression.
But on her adorably cute, beautiful head, any attempt to look fierce just came off as comical.
"Alright, stop messing around. Time for business."
Zou Feng gently patted Xiaolv’s head.
Xiaolv finally stopped trying to act tough and flew down below the Celestial Hearing Tower.
Meanwhile, the Celestial Hearing Tower’s defense systems were already operating in an orderly fashion. Disciples were at their posts, swiftly moving to their designated positions.
But this also meant that the newcomers, like Zou Feng, were temporarily left unattended and stranded in place.
However, the mission was simply to slay the invading enemies. For Core Disciples at the Dao Foundation Realm, as long as they didn’t cause any trouble, they were completely free to act as they saw fit.
The enemy’s assault was ferocious this time. That strange black cloud was merely a probe meant to tie up Jiang Wanzhao, while other positions along the Yu Long Lake defensive line were all suffering attacks of varying intensity.
’The enemy’s assault is definitely focused on probing Jiang Wanzhao,’ Zou Feng thought. ’They won’t be committing their full strength.’
’So I don’t need to be too concerned. I’ll just stick to the plan and see if I can find any Poison Cultivators to devour for Refinement.’
’With Xiaolv, my poison-detecting Gu Insect, it should be fine.’
Seeing Zou Feng move, Su Qingyu immediately followed, holding on to the idea that ’there’s always a good meal to be had when you stick with Zou Feng’.
"From the looks of it, most of the invading Cultivators this time are from the Yama Underworld!" Su Qingyu called out from behind him. "Judging by the way those guys usually operate, there should be plenty of ’edible’ ones..."
On the way here, Jiang Wanzhao had arranged for the disciples unfamiliar with the Northern Domain to get a crash course on the region.
Though the various powers in the Northern Domain were a chaotic mess, for the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, there were only two factions substantial enough to cause them regular trouble.
The Yama Underworld and the Ninefold Celestial Court.
Thousands of years ago, these two powers had been part of a three-way power balance with the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect in the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm.
But clearly, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect had the last laugh, nearly wiping out both of them. As a result, these two "brothers in misfortune" could now only eke out a miserable existence in the Northern Domain.
The only reason they survived was that the space deep within the Northern Domain is extremely unstable. Spatial rifts from the Outer Realm frequently appear, making it easy to get lost. These rifts are also used for hiding and lying in wait. This instability made it incredibly difficult for the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect to completely eradicate these hostile forces, even with their periodic northern expeditions.
From their brief lesson, they learned that the Yama Underworld was indeed known for producing Poison Cultivators, which was why Su Qingyu had judged that there would likely be a feast to be had.
Led by Xiaolv, Zou Feng soon arrived at an area thick with vegetation.
In the dense forest in the distance, Black Fog churned as a tide of various ranged attacks relentlessly pounded against the defensive Array’s barrier.
It was worth noting that while the defensive Array supported by the Celestial Hearing Tower was incredibly powerful, it had to cover an immense area. Consequently, it was impossible to keep the defenses at full strength everywhere.
This was especially true when the enemy was attacking multiple locations simultaneously.
If the Array’s barrier became unstable in any one spot, enemy Cultivators could slip through in small groups, taking advantage of the opening to infiltrate the territory governed by the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect and wreak havoc.
The so-called "Tribulation Cultivators" of the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm were, for the most part, intruders who had snuck in from the Northern Domain.
The area Zou Feng had arrived at was under a fierce-looking assault, but he could tell the Array’s barrier would hold for some time yet.
And the defensive forces of the Celestial Hearing Tower certainly weren’t just taking the abuse; they were retaliating with ranged attacks of their own.
To be honest, this exchange of attacks was like trying to scratch an itch through a boot—completely ineffectual.
It was more like both sides were just going through the motions.
Yet the location with all the tasty treats, according to Xiaolv’s directions, was right inside that dense forest.
Zou Feng’s original plan was to wait for the Celestial Hearing Tower’s defending Cultivators to attack the forest. Then, he and Su Qingyu would charge in to fish in troubled waters.
But unexpectedly, the defenders from the Celestial Hearing Tower were all acting like they were just clocking in. Their ranged retaliation remained purely symbolic.