Chapter 733 - 425: Queen Mother of the Western Heaven

At the same time, a gentle and benevolent laugh reached deep into Zou Feng’s Divine Soul.

Along with this laughter, the towering woman slowly turned, about to meet Zou Feng’s gaze.

At that moment, Zou Feng’s curiosity was at its peak; he was dying to see what this woman looked like.

But the next moment, a golden light shone down, enveloping Zou Feng’s Divine Sense.

Zou Feng instantly sensed that something was amiss. He no longer dared to meet the woman’s gaze, immediately taking control of his Divine Sense and sending it into a rapid descent.

As his Divine Sense plummeted, the woman, though silent, clearly projected the thought for him not to leave.

Although the thought seemed to carry some unspeakable sorrow that made it hard to ignore, Zou Feng didn’t dare linger. He fled with absolute resolve.

He knew full well that the golden light was the List of Gods taking effect, a manifestation of the Divine Skill that transfers side effects.

That was why it took the form of a shining golden light, allowing his Divine Sense to escape the danger.

Besides, this whole incident occurred right after he’d just finished learning all Nine Immortal Ascension Skills...

Zou Feng didn’t need a brain to guess that the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven was responsible for this.

’This being is absurdly powerful. How could she lock onto me from the void like that?’

Of course, it was only with the support of the List of Gods that he dared to cultivate all Nine Immortal Ascension Skills.

For anyone without such a cheat-like ability, even a genius among geniuses, it would be impossible to cultivate all Nine Immortal Ascension Skills simultaneously.

Opening his eyes again, a smile unconsciously crept onto Zou Feng’s lips.

Despite being plotted against, the whole affair had turned out to be a scare with no real danger. Better yet, he was now on the verge of returning to the Immortal Sect and had even managed to rake in a huge profit.

First, he had taken out Gongyang Yuhuan. Although refining her yielded nothing of value, he had eliminated a major hidden threat ahead of time.

After all, that woman had somehow found a way to track him. She had to die.

Furthermore, she was clearly close to Gongyang Wuji. Killing her would absolutely impact Gongyang Wuji to some degree.

With this shift in power, his odds of winning the seemingly inevitable, fated battle against Gongyang Wuji had increased dramatically.

Then there was the gift from the Nascent Soul Old Monster, Ink Ash Abyss.

The power of his Divine Soul alone would take some time to "digest."

Not to mention the immeasurable benefits of devouring a wisp of a Nascent Soul Realm Divine Soul in advance, which would be crucial when he eventually condensed his own Nascent Soul.

With that thought, Zou Feng stopped lingering and quickly continued on his way.

’I can’t get any greedier. Even though Gongyang Wuji is probably nearby, there’s no need to take any more risks and invite trouble.’

After another period of frantic travel, Zou Feng, relying on his faint connection to the Celestial Dao Cauldron, finally found the right way.

He dashed forward, and as his feet touched the ground again, Zou Feng could clearly feel he had entered the range of the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s influence.

’Finally, I’m back...’

After walking forward a few steps, the clouds in the distant sky suddenly parted, and the silhouette of the Celestial Dao Cauldron gradually emerged.

Seeing the Celestial Dao Cauldron again, an overwhelming sense of warmth and familiarity washed over him.

’With this thing around, no one stands a chance.’

’No matter how powerful the Queen Mother of the Western Heaven is, she only dares to stir up trouble outside the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s range of influence.’

’Now that I have the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s protection, she won’t be able to pull my Divine Sense into that bizarre space again. I probably won’t even hear the "Queen Mother’s ravings" anymore.’

"CLANG—"

Zou Feng was dead tired. Now that he could finally relax, he planned to get some rest.

But unexpectedly, the Celestial Dao Cauldron, still just a hazy silhouette in the distance, suddenly emitted a long, resonant toll.

Zou Feng immediately realized the Celestial Dao Cauldron was tolling for him.

The reason was simple. Although it had been some time since he broke through to the Golden Core Realm, he had not returned to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect to be formally granted the title of True Disciple.

The addition of a new True Disciple was no small matter for the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.

True Disciples were the backbone of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect and had the potential to become candidates for the upper echelons.

After the Celestial Dao Cauldron’s toll, groups of Immortal Sect Disciples began to arrive from the distant sky.

"Welcome back to the sect, True Disciple Zou!"

The few in the lead were even Central Court Elders of the Golden Core Realm.

To say nothing of the admiration in the Central Court Elders’ eyes, nearly every single Core Disciple who had come to greet him had a look of worship on their face.

News of Zou Feng’s breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm had reached the Immortal Sect long ago.

That in itself wasn’t such a big deal. The main thing was that news of his exploits in the Northern Domain had also been sent back, and they were now a favorite topic of conversation among the Immortal Sect Disciples.

After all, Zou Feng’s combat record was absurdly impressive. His potential clearly wasn’t limited to becoming a True Disciple; he was on the sure path to becoming a direct disciple.

Faced with such a rising legend, most people couldn’t even feel jealous anymore.

Escorted by his fellow disciples, Zou Feng then returned to the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.

Of course, he didn’t forget to ask about the current situation of Ye Chenhua, Su Qingyu, and the others.

The answer was as he’d expected: Ink Ash Abyss had been so focused on capturing him that he had completely ignored everyone else.

As a result, both Ye Chenhua and Su Qingyu had returned safely to the Immortal Sect ahead of him.

As soon as he arrived at the mountain gate, he saw disciples gathered everywhere, having come on their own to welcome him back to the sect.

Some of the female disciples felt incredibly honored and became ecstatic if his gaze lingered on them for even a moment, looking as if they were ready to offer themselves to him right then and there.

This made Zou Feng feel as if he were in a different world.

When he had left the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect with Jiang Wanzhao for the Celestial Hearing Tower, Zou Feng, despite having some fame, was ultimately just a rising star whose potential had yet to be fulfilled.

In fact, because Jiang Wanzhao had been forced to take on a thankless task, Zou Feng, who had tagged along with her, had, strictly speaking, even had his progress delayed.

Yet, as a result of this turn of events, even with the fall of the Celestial Hearing Tower, Zou Feng had received a blessing in disguise. He had managed to fulfill his potential and get promoted to True Disciple under extremely adverse conditions.

It was perfectly normal for him to be adored and admired by so many disciples now.

"In three days, we will hold the official True Disciple promotion ceremony. True Disciple Zou, you may want to prepare," one of the Central Court Elders who had first come to greet him reminded with a smile.

Zou Feng gave a slight nod, then went back to searching the crowd for the people he really wanted to see.

Soon, Zou Feng spotted his five Dao Companions—Tian Yun, Bian Yixia, and Gongsun Jinghong among them—in the crowd.

Although he had been apart from the five women for a considerable time, in cultivation, years pass like days. For a Cultivator, a year or so was nothing more than the blink of an eye.

Therefore, there was no need for a dramatic, tearful reunion.

Zou Feng simply flashed over to them, nodding to each of the women in greeting.

Everything was understood without words. As for expressing how much he’d missed them, he would save that for later, when they were cultivating the Dragon and Tiger Kan and Li Skill. He’d express it then... with vigorous, practical action.

At the same time, Zou Feng also took a moment to sense their cultivation progress.

He concluded that none of them had been slacking; their cultivation progress was excellent.

Of course, this was an effect that could only be achieved because of the ample cultivation resources Zou Feng provided.

"Junior Brother Zou, you’re finally back! I was getting ready to lead a team to find you..." Amid hearty laughter, Ye Chenhua suddenly appeared and threw an arm around Zou Feng’s shoulder.

He was deliberately putting on a show for the crowd, letting everyone know that he and Zou Feng were now as close as brothers.

Su Qingyu, who had just arrived, also stepped forward boldly, which immediately made Tian Yun and the other women feel that something was off.

However, they already knew Su Qingyu and had long suspected this day would come, so they weren’t particularly surprised or upset.

’On the bright side, at least he didn’t come back from the Northern Domain with seven or eight new demonesses in tow.’

After greeting his old acquaintances within the Immortal Sect, Zou Feng was about to head back to the Hongxing Inn with Tian Yun and the others for a "good cultivation session."

Just as they were about to leave, however, he suddenly felt an unusual gaze upon him.

Zou Feng whipped his head around and, sure enough, saw a figure he had once been quite wary of, but who now barely registered as a concern.

It was none other than Liu Chenyu, the True Disciple who had once been constantly scheming to add him to her personal harem.

At this moment, the look in Liu Chenyu’s eyes was incredibly complex.

It was a mixture of immense surprise, helplessness, and disappointment...