Free Web NovelChapter 549: Chapter 333: Poor Fortune (Part 2)
"Senior Sister Jiang, you can scold me, you can hit me, I’ll take it!"
"But could you please change back first before you... AHH—"
Jiang Wanzhao couldn’t be bothered to listen to his nonsense and slapped him again without even looking back.
However, it seemed she couldn’t maintain her mature form for long. The moment before she swung her palm, she rapidly shrank, returning to her original appearance.
And Zhao Feixiong, sent flying once again, finally had a satisfied smile on his face.
The birthday banquet continued amidst laughter and cheer.
But Zou Feng was already growing distracted.
After all, no matter how he tried to console himself, he had only received a single talisman. The more he thought about it, the more it bugged him.
’Forget it. I’ll just have to pick another Foundation Establishment Treasure myself.’
The moment the banquet ended, Zou Feng made his excuses and left.
On the way back, Zou Feng still stuck that talisman to his forehead.
The instant he applied it, the talisman merged into his body, and he immediately felt refreshed and clear-headed.
Although he wasn’t satisfied with it, Zou Feng wasn’t petty enough to refuse to use it out of spite.
Thankfully, probably due to the effect of this Clear Heart Soul Suppressing Talisman, his earlier frustration quickly vanished.
Moreover, Zou Feng could clearly feel that if he were to practice his Cultivation in this state, the effects would be significantly better.
’So, this is why the Celestial Dao Cauldron gave me the Clear Heart Soul Suppressing Talisman?’
’To let me focus more on my Cultivation, and the subsequent Foundation Establishment...’
After returning to the Hongxing Inn, Zou Feng had originally planned to cultivate the Dragon and Tiger Kan and Li Skill with the girls for a while longer.
But over the next few days, he was constantly visited by female cultivators.
Their purpose, of course, was that they had heard about what happened at Jiang Wanzhao’s birthday banquet and wanted to pay a high price for a bowl of Zou Feng’s hand-made oil-splashed noodles.
Some even wanted to partner with Zou Feng to open more than ten noodle shops all at once within the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.
Even more ridiculously, some male cultivators came to his door asking if the oil-splashed noodles could induce a "second round of development" in other body parts.
To all of them, Zou Feng politely refused, stating that he was powerless to help.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to make money; he was simply incapable of it.
Jiang Wanzhao, who had changed after eating the oil-splashed noodles, was a special case.
Boosted by past sentiments that deeply stirred her heart, she was able to undergo a second round of development.
Only a Golden Core Realm Cultivator could possibly undergo such a transformation when their state of mind was affected.
Besides, Zou Feng had already guessed that Jiang Wanzhao was probably supposed to look like that all along. Her circumstances at the time just hadn’t allowed for it, which had stunted her development.
In short, this couldn’t be replicated. At most, Zou Feng could only guarantee that his oil-splashed noodles were delicious, but he couldn’t guarantee that his customers would master the Thunder Escape Technique.
However, perhaps when his Cultivation reached a higher Realm and his Spirit Chef skills improved, he might truly be able to turn the mundane into the magical.
But that was definitely not something he could do right now.
Annoyed by the endless stream of such visits, Zou Feng had no choice but to pause his Cultivation of the Dragon and Tiger Kan and Li Skill and enter seclusion in the Demon Suppression Tower.
As for finding another Foundation Establishment Treasure, he had to put that aside for now. The priority was to raise the Realms of the Skills he had recently been practicing.
Ever since arriving at the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect and beginning his Cultivation of various Skills, none of them besides the Fiend-Inducing Art had yet reached the Realm of Perfection.
Zou Feng had an instinct that this would probably affect his ability to establish a Celestial Tier Dao Foundation.
So, his top priority was to quickly advance several of his Skills.
Thus, Zou Feng began a state of semi-seclusion in the Demon Suppression Tower.
It was "semi-seclusion" because every ten days or so, he would return to the Hongxing Inn to help his Dao Companions cultivate the Dragon and Tiger Kan and Li Skill.
He would also check on how his "Crazy Stir-fry" branch stores were doing.
As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. "Crazy Stir-fry" had already opened eight more branches throughout the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect in one go.
Once these branches were running smoothly, they brought Zou Feng a continuous and quite considerable income.
However, Zou Feng still hadn’t found a suitable Foundation Establishment Treasure, so he couldn’t spend the Immortal Fate he had accumulated for now.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year passed as he focused on his Cultivation day and night.
Cultivating in the Demon Suppression Tower, he lost all sense of time’s passage. Especially since no new troubles had popped up recently, Zou Feng’s Cultivation went incredibly smoothly.
No new troubles meant that the number of "big brothers and big sisters" on his list hadn’t really increased.
Thankfully, the highly durable Gongyang Marquis was still hanging on there. Otherwise, Zou Feng would have had to consider proactively going out to stir up trouble just to meet new "big brothers and big sisters."
After all, as he grew closer to Foundation Establishment, he wouldn’t dare make a rash attempt without a durable "big brother" on his list.
One had to understand that Zou Feng’s preparations for establishing his Dao Foundation, along with his jumbled-together Cultivation of various Cultivation Skills and Skills, was basically just reckless abandon.
Without a "big brother" to back him up, what he was doing couldn’t really be called Foundation Establishment. It was more like trying to detonate a bomb inside his own body.
Zou Feng had often heard the term "Leaping the Celestial Gate" associated with Foundation Establishment.
He had originally thought it was just a symbolic phrase.
After all, once a cultivator established their foundation, they would gain a lifespan of a thousand years, a clear indication of a completely different level of existence.
In some Outer Realms lacking sufficient Spiritual Qi and Cultivation resources, Dao Foundation Realm cultivators could already be called Earth Immortals.
Even in the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, ordinary Spiritual Energy Realm Inner Sect Disciples were basically just high-level cannon fodder when conquering Outer Realms.
Only after Foundation Establishment, when one became a Core Disciple, were they considered part of the main, regular forces.
The insectoid nest-cavern that Zou Feng had previously tagged along to conquer was on the lower end of the difficulty scale, so it hadn’t truly shown the brutality of conquering an Outer Realm.
In any case, Zou Feng had recently started to faintly sense a very blurry "great gate" appearing in his sea of consciousness.
He couldn’t see this gate clearly yet, nor could he truly approach it within his sea of consciousness.
But Zou Feng figured this was probably the "Celestial Gate" manifesting to some degree.
Establishing a Dao Foundation was, in essence, building the stairs to this Celestial Gate in order to leap through it in one go.
And since he could now faintly see it, it clearly meant he was not far from establishing his Dao Foundation...
「Afternoon, at the Hongxing Inn.」
Amidst a high-pitched cry that the neighbors had long grown accustomed to, Tian Yun successfully broke through to the Spiritual Energy Realm, qualifying her for promotion to the Inner Sect.
To achieve this only half a year after arriving at the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect was naturally thanks to the major role played by the Dragon and Tiger Kan and Li Skill.
Although Bian Yixia had not yet broken through, it wouldn’t be long for her either.
"Zou Lang, you’ve been... recently..."
Tian Yun slowly exhaled. While filled with joy and surprise, her gaze towards Zou Feng held a hint of confusion.
Zou Feng knew what she meant and couldn’t help but chuckle. "Sister Yun, are you trying to say that I’ve been very vigorous lately?"
Tian Yun nodded without the slightest bit of embarrassment.
"I’m about to establish my foundation, so it’s normal to get more powerful!" Zou Feng said truthfully.
In the past half-year, he had enjoyed a rare period of peace, allowing for an all-around improvement.
"Fiend-Inducing Art (Perfection), Progress: 32%"
"Silent Extinction Poison Flame (Perfection), Progress: 6%"
"Quantitative Tribulation Killing Needle (Perfection), Progress: 14%"
"Sun-Flint Scripture (Perfection), Progress: 21%"
"Abyssal Vortex Prison-Suppressing Force (Great Success), Progress: 73%"
Of all the Skills he had cultivated since arriving at the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect, all of them except for the Abyssal Vortex Prison-Suppressing Force had reached the Realm of Perfection.
The reason the Abyssal Vortex Prison-Suppressing Force hadn’t yet reached Perfection was that Zou Feng had only recently started cultivating it. Furthermore, it had integrated the Extraordinary to Saint level Black Tortoise Sea-Suppressing Force, which had significantly increased its cultivation difficulty.
As for the Sun-Flint Scripture, it had managed to come from behind, its progress in the Realm of Perfection surpassing that of the Quantitative Tribulation Killing Needle and Silent Extinction Poison Flame, which he had started cultivating earlier. This was naturally because Zou Feng had spent most of the past half-year cultivating in the Demon Suppression Tower.
The environment of the Demon Suppression Tower had always provided a significant boost to the Cultivation of the Sun-Flint Scripture.
With such a comprehensive improvement in his Skills, it would be difficult for Zou Feng not to be vigorous now.
Hearing Zou Feng admit he was close to Foundation Establishment, Tian Yun was first overjoyed, but then couldn’t help but worry. "I’ve heard that Foundation Establishment often comes with great risks. Zou Lang, are you truly confident?"
Her words reminded Zou Feng that the most severe consequence of failing to leap the Celestial Gate was utter annihilation, body and soul.
But Zou Feng didn’t think he would have any problems.
The next moment, just as he was about to reassure Tian Yun, for some reason, the memory of Zhao Feixiong’s prediction surfaced in his mind—that according to his Face Reading Skill, a disaster would soon befall him...
