Chapter 721 - 419: Path of Emotion Severance

Jiang Wanzhao had little reaction upon seeing Lu Wu, but Ye Chenhua’s face lit up with realization.

"Of course! It’s so convenient to carry her around. Why didn’t I think of that before...?" Ye Chenhua looked at Zou Feng with genuine admiration, not a hint of teasing in his eyes.

But Zou Feng knew this guy had misunderstood yet again.

These True Disciples, each one knew how to enjoy life more than the last. After all, with their long lifespans, how could they endure the tedious years of Cultivation without some novel amusements?

’Judging by Ye Chenhua’s thoughtful expression, the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect is probably about to be swept up in a trend for something like "Demon Race figurines"...’

After a short rest, the group continued their journey north.

According to Zou Feng’s plan, just fighting their way back to the ruins of the Original Celestial Listening Tower wasn’t the end of it.

If possible, he even wanted to coordinate with the main forces of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect and charge directly into the territories of the Ninefold Celestial Court and the Yama Underworld. He wouldn’t return to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect until he’d had his fill.

Jiang Wanzhao and Ye Chenhua had no objections to this.

The three True Disciples, through their previous battle with the cultivators from the Dubhe Divine Domain, had come to understand each other’s combat styles. They all felt they complemented one another perfectly, forming a flawless three-person team.

Jiang Wanzhao excelled at close-quarters combat and had extremely high defense, making her perfectly suited to take the lead and absorb damage.

Ye Chenhua controlled various Magical Treasures for long-range attacks. If he were allowed to unleash his full power, the consequences for the enemy would be unimaginable.

As for Zou Feng...

When it wasn’t necessary, he could just play a supporting role, poisoning enemies to apply negative buffs and using Skills to enhance his allies.

But if they encountered a powerful foe, the support could instantly become the main powerhouse by directly deploying his Poison Domain.

However, as the group continued north, although they encountered many Tribulation Cultivators, they didn’t run into any particularly formidable ones.

To put it bluntly, they didn’t encounter any Tribulation Cultivators on the level of the "Grand Sedan Chair" or the "Elder General."

Fortunately, while the quality of the Tribulation Cultivators was lacking, as long as there were enough of them, they still brought Zou Feng considerable benefits.

As Luck would have it, Zou Feng came across another Immortal Official who practiced one of the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills—one he hadn’t yet learned: the Path of Emotion Severance.

This path demanded the abandonment of all emotions a normal person should have.

To cultivate this path, the most crucial first step was to kill one’s closest and most beloved person.

After killing a loved one to prove one’s Dao, future Cultivation required constantly "entering the mortal world," continuing to pretend to be a normal person and forming all sorts of emotional bonds.

For example, they would become sworn brothers with other cultivators, establishing a deep sense of camaraderie with their Fellow Daoists.

They might also pursue and even marry suitable Dao Companions—and not with false intentions, but by truly falling in love with them.

They could even perform good deeds, rescuing someone lonely and helpless, and raise them with all their heart as an older brother, only to ultimately kill their "sister" or "brother" to prove their Dao...

After learning the specific cultivation method for this Ascension Skill, even though he already knew all of the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills were heinous arts that defied nature and reason, Zou Feng couldn’t help but sigh. The Path of Emotion Severance was simply too monstrous.

At the same time, his desire to destroy the Ninefold Celestial Court grew even stronger.

’I’m already on the Queen Mother’s radar anyway. Sooner or later, I’ll have to face the Leader of the Ninefold Celestial Court head-on.’

’But according to what the Undying Master said, the Nine Great True Immortals under the Queen Mother, who correspond to the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills, also seem to be taking advantage of her?’

’I probably won’t be dealing with them for now.’ Zou Feng quickly refocused his attention on cultivating the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills themselves.

He, of course, didn’t have to become a monster to cultivate the Path of Emotion Severance.

He only needed to use Refinement on the Tribulation Cultivators from the Ninefold Celestial Court who practiced this path. That way, he could eliminate these monsters while simultaneously advancing his own Path of Emotion Severance.

So far, of the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills, Zou Feng had mastered five: the Outer Alchemy Dao, the Tribulation Crossing Dao, the Dual Cultivation Dao, the Divine Soul Dao, and the Path of Emotion Severance.

He had no intention of letting the remaining four go, either. Since he didn’t need to worry about side effects, he planned to master them all and see if there would be any surprises when the Nine Skills eventually merged into one.

In fact, Zou Feng had a faint premonition that if he truly wanted to challenge the Queen Mother in the future, his best bet was to first cultivate all Nine Immortal Ascension Skills to a sufficient level.

「Eight days later.」

Zou Feng stood at the ship’s bow, the ruins of the Celestial Hearing Tower now visible in the distance.

Wiping out Tribulation Cultivators along the way, he had fought his way back before he knew it.

Even though some time had passed, the area around the Celestial Hearing Tower was still a scene of utter devastation. The stench of blood, still not dispersed, hung heavy in the air.

The entire environment was like Purgatory, filled with Poison Miasma, Evil Qi, and even spatial rifts.

It couldn’t be helped. After all, a great battle between Golden Core Realm experts had taken place here, and the main forces of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect had already fought their way through, clearly engaging in even more brutal combat.

As for the Jade Dragon Marketplace, not far from the Celestial Hearing Tower, it too had been razed to the ground.

The marketplace’s residents, Loose Cultivators, and others who could flee had long since escaped. Those who couldn’t get away in time were tortured by the Tribulation Cultivators, each dying a horrific death.

From a distance, Zou Feng saw numerous "Living Dead" wandering among the ruins of the marketplace.

These people had clearly been turned into Corpse Puppets through Refinement.

Seeing this, Zou Feng formed a Dharma Seal with his hand and flicked out a massive Golden Lotus.

The Golden Lotus grew as it flew through the air, and by the time it reached the sky above the Jade Dragon Marketplace, it had already swollen to the size of a small mountain.

Zou Feng’s Dharma Seal changed. The Golden Lotus descended, bursting with waves of golden light that covered nearly half of the Jade Dragon Marketplace.

The Corpse Puppets were all frozen in place under the golden light’s radiance.

Wisps of black smoke then rose from their bodies before they collapsed to the ground, finally finding release.

Although Zou Feng cultivated Poison Technique, after breaking through to the Golden Core Realm, he had naturally become more adept at using poison to counteract poison, and it had even formed a principle in his techniques.

So while it looked like he was casting a grand, high-level Skill with a Purification effect, he was actually using poison to fight poison to bring release to the Corpse Puppets.

After he purified the Corpse Puppets, several screams suddenly erupted from the Jade Dragon Marketplace, which should have been devoid of living people.

A few Impermanences from the Yama Underworld, who had been hiding here to use the environment for their Cultivation, were forced out by the Golden Lotus’s light. They screamed as they tried to flee in panic.

The next moment, however, a streak of green light shot out like a flying sword, piercing through the Impermanences one by one at a speed they couldn’t react to.

After all the Impermanences had fallen, the green light flew back to Zou Feng’s side. It was none other than Lu Wu, who had successfully taken human form.

Zou Feng chose not to use Refinement on the Impermanences, instead using them to feed Lu Wu.

After all, Lu Wu had only recently taken form and was in dire need of more nourishment.

Zou Feng was pleasantly surprised by Lu Wu’s current strength.

’Even though those Impermanences were weakened by my Golden Lotus, they were still in the Dao Foundation Realm.’

However, Lu Wu’s main strengths were her speed and poison. If her first strike missed and the battle fell into a stalemate, it would be difficult for her to hold her own.

To put it simply, she was still best suited for the role of an assassin.

Just as Zou Feng was about to praise Lu Wu, a few small black dots suddenly appeared in the distant sky.

Focusing his vision, he saw several cultivators flying in their direction.

"They must be Fellow Daoists from our sect!"

Ye Chenhua and Jiang Wanzhao were also on deck at this time and had naturally seen the cultivators as well.

When they drew a bit closer, Ye Chenhua smiled and saluted the figures in the air. "So it’s Brother Wang!"

Jiang Wanzhao recognized him too and whispered an introduction to Zou Feng, "That’s Wang Tianhu. He became a True Inheritor earlier than Ye Chenhua and me..."

Speaking of which, in all their days of fighting their way here, they hadn’t seen a single True Disciple turn back.

Of course, among this group, only Wang Tianhu was a True Disciple; the others were likely his subordinates.

Despite Ye Chenhua calling out a greeting from so far away, Wang Tianhu didn’t respond.

This immediately made Ye Chenhua feel that something was wrong.

As they drew even closer, Zou Feng and the others could all see that Wang Tianhu’s expression was clearly one of great pain, as if he were struggling to endure some kind of torture.