novelraw Chapter 623 - 608: The Truth of Those Years!
Chapter 623 - 608: The Truth of Those Years!
Fengming Mountain.
Ever since Jiang Yufeng got off the flying vehicle, her beautiful face behind the veil had remained cold, and her entire demeanor had turned into a forbidding, icy aura.
She flew directly to a particular mountaintop, landed at the pavilion at the peak, then turned around, glaring angrily at a middle-aged beautiful woman behind her, and shouted, "Old hag, what exactly do you mean? It was you all who made a name for me in the beginning, and now it’s also you who ruin my reputation. Do you really want to force my mother and me to death?"
The middle-aged beautiful woman, although not as pretty or young as her, was still a mature woman with lingering charm. Being called an "old hag" so bluntly, how could she put on a good face?
Her expression turned cold, her narrow phoenix eyes slightly narrowed, and she said in a sinister tone, "Little girl, it would be best if you speak politely with me, otherwise, though I might not dare to harm you, I would make your mother take your punishment!"
"How dare you!"
Jiang Yufeng’s almond eyes widened, her voice suddenly rising several times.
But upon seeing the cold sneer on the middle-aged woman’s face, her voice quickly stopped, and she said resentfully, "You won’t succeed; that Seven-Colored Peacock only recognizes me. When I go to the Dragon Taming Family, you won’t be able to keep it!"
Upon hearing this, the middle-aged woman sneered coldly and said, "No need to worry about that. You should just enjoy this last bit of freedom. Once you’re at the Dragon Taming Family, if you don’t change your ways, they won’t pamper you like I do!"
Hearing this, Jiang Yufeng’s anger intensified, and she remarked coldly, "Indeed, you don’t want to pamper me, but unfortunately, like that old witch Lou Feifeng, you’re counting on using me to procure spiritual objects to further your cultivation, so how dare you not pamper me?"
"I’m not in the mood to bicker with a little girl like you. You have one day, make the best of it!"
The middle-aged woman’s face darkened. With a swift motion, she disappeared from the pavilion, hiding somewhere unknown.
A day later, Jiang Yufeng, with a displeased look, rode the Seven-Colored Peacock back to the Divine Lady Palace. Upon returning, she locked herself in her cave dwelling, not stepping out for half a month.
The middle-aged woman responsible for overseeing her merely sneered coldly, not paying it any mind.
As long as Jiang Fengxian remains in the hands of the Divine Lady Palace, she’s not afraid this little girl would dare to pull any tricks, not even worried about any suicidal antics.
As for the Seven-Colored Peacock that Jiang Yufeng brought back to the cave, she had personally inspected it several times and confirmed it was indeed a rare variant that had awakened the Phoenix True Blood.
This rare precious bird being attracted by the True Phoenix Blood on Jiang Yufeng, defecting to her, wasn’t surprising. After all, the Golden Core Phenomenon caused by Jiang Yufeng when she formed her core was the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix.
The middle-aged woman now was more concerned about the Golden Core Stage Cultivator whom she had scared away. If he turned out to be a cultivator from a renowned major sect, there might be considerable trouble later.
So after returning to the sect, she instructed others to investigate the identity of that Golden Core Stage Cultivator.
As for Zhouyang, after being forced to retreat that day, he kept flying towards the eastern sea. Only after flying over two or three hundred thousand miles did he conceal his presence and return to the vicinity of the Divine Lady Palace’s mountain gate, restoring his identity as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator looking for information on the Phoenix Goddess.
Not long after, the Echoing Conch hanging by his waist began to tremble slightly, indicating that another conch had been refined by someone.
Hence, he quickly left the Immortal City he was in and entered a temporary cave dwelling he had established in the riverbed of a large river outside the city.
Upon entering the temporary cave dwelling and activating its guardian array, he held the conch shell in his hands, his voice trembling slightly as he called out, "Fengxian, is that you?"
"It is I!"
Inside the Divine Lady Palace, Jiang Yufeng also clutched the conch shell extracted from the Seven-Colored Peacock Jiang Cai’Er’s belly, her face full of excitement, but her voice was cold, laden with resentment.
Hearing the voice that was both unfamiliar and familiar, Zhouyang’s face showed a clear look of disappointment.
He gazed at the conch in his hand, falling silent for a moment before finally speaking, "Do you hate me?"
"Shouldn’t I hate you?"
Jiang Yufeng bit her lip tightly, trying hard to make her voice sound full of resentment.
At this moment, she even replaced her father’s image in her mind with that of the old hag she despised the most. Only then could she truly feel the hatred.
When Zhouyang heard her words full of resentment, he felt a deep sorrow in his heart, and couldn’t help but say in a low voice, "Didn’t your mother tell you about what happened between me and her?"
He thought it shouldn’t be the case; Jiang Fengxian wasn’t the type to hide things. If it were Xiao Ying, she might feel ashamed to let her child know about such things, but Jiang Fengxian certainly wouldn’t care about these.
"Mother did say, you are a heartless and cold-hearted cad!"
Jiang Yufeng cursed fiercely, her words tinged with sobs, finally exposing her inner fragility.
Jiang Fengxian naturally didn’t say much; she only imparted the reason why she and Zhouyang couldn’t be together, without any personal bias, to her daughter, so she could understand who her father is and why he hasn’t been present in her life.
However, Jiang Yufeng evidently lacks such strength and can’t be as open-minded as her mother.
For this biological father, whom she hasn’t met in over two hundred years since her birth, she feels both love and hate, longing and resentment.
She yearns for her father’s affection and desperately wants to see him, but also hates that he never sought out her and her mother, and that he has another woman.
This complex emotion makes it impossible for her to have a normal father-daughter conversation with Zhouyang.
Zhouyang isn’t an idiot; he understands Jiang Fengxian well, so the outburst of Jiang Yufeng exposing her inner fragility instantly made everything clear to him.
"Ah! It’s truly been hard on you two all these years. I, as your father, have let you down; I haven’t fulfilled my responsibilities. If you want to vent, just go ahead! I admit it all!"
He sighed deeply, apologizing to his daughter across the void, without any excuses.
This left Jiang Yufeng at a loss for words, as she had prepared to retaliate against him with accusations.
She bit her lip and said resentfully, "If you really want to make amends, then save mother!"
Zhouyang replied immediately, "Rest assured; I’ve come to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm this time to bring you both home!"
"Don’t agree too hastily; you’re only at Seventh-Layer Golden Core cultivation. To succeed in this, you’ll have to follow my arrangements..."
Using the Echoing Conch in her hand, Jiang Yufeng communicated with Zhouyang across the void for several days. Zhouyang finally learned what had happened to Jiang Fengxian after they parted ways in the Kunxu Realm, including why they were detained by the Divine Lady Palace.
After they parted ways in the Kunxu Realm, Jiang Fengxian was directly teleported to the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm and started her adventures.
Soon after, she discovered she was pregnant with Zhouyang’s child and settled temporarily in a large Immortal City in the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, where she gave birth to Jiang Yufeng.
In the first ten-plus years of Jiang Yufeng’s life, Jiang Fengxian never left that Immortal City, staying in a cave residence to nurture and teach her.
When Jiang Yufeng matured and understood the world, Jiang Fengxian took her out of the city to formally embark on their cultivation journey.
During the initial decades, the mother and daughter traveled smoothly without major setbacks.
But during a later expedition to a perilous Secret Realm in the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, Jiang Fengxian sensed an incredibly rare Spiritual Object, True Phoenix Feather, due to her Phoenix True Blood.
At that time, the True Phoenix Feather emerged, stimulated by Jiang Fengxian’s Phoenix True Blood, causing a massive disturbance and drawing the attention and contention of many cultivators.
Eventually, although Jiang Fengxian, with her formidable strength, secured the Spiritual Object, many forces from the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm fixed their sights on her, leading to multiple major factions issuing bounties for her capture.
Realizing the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm was no longer safe, she immediately fled to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm with her daughter.
During their escape, they endured many hardships but fortunately never got caught.
Later, Jiang Fengxian grew increasingly adept at researching the True Phoenix Feather she held and discovered a method to extract True Phoenix Blood from it.
Through this method, she successfully extracted a pure drop of True Phoenix Blood from the feather.
Though it was only a small drop, True Phoenix Blood is True Phoenix Blood, a Tier Seven Spiritual Object, the True Blood of a Tier Seven True Spirit Phoenix.
Then, Jiang Fengxian gave this tiny drop of True Phoenix Blood to her daughter Jiang Yufeng, allowing her to refine it into her body to awaken her innate Phoenix Bloodline and Phoenix True Blood.
With just this one drop of True Phoenix Blood, Jiang Yufeng, who was at Eighth-Layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, opened the Purple Mansion successfully in just three years and acquired a special physique, True Phoenix Body.
Originally possessing only Top-grade Spiritual Root Talent, Jiang Yufeng’s potential surpassed that of ordinary Spirit Body cultivators after obtaining the True Phoenix Body, enabling her to cultivate at an astonishing speed and reap numerous benefits.
In this regard, Jiang Fengxian leaving this opportunity for her daughter was certainly not a mistake.
After Jiang Yufeng successfully refined the True Phoenix Blood, Jiang Fengxian continued to flee with her to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm.
By then, several forces from the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm tracking them had discovered that Jiang Fengxian was not a native cultivator of the Celestial South and concluded that they were fleeing to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm. They stationed ample manpower in the border regions to intercept them.
Despite being cautious, Jiang Fengxian was eventually discovered by a Gu Insect refined by a major faction of the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm, the Gu God Cult, leading to an ambush by a Ninth-Layer Golden Core Cultivator of the Gu God Cult.
After a fierce battle, Jiang Fengxian used Nirvana Divine Techniques to heavily injure the enemy, forcing them to retreat. However, her daughter Jiang Yufeng was unfortunately infiltrated by the enemy’s Gu Insect and suffered severe injuries.
Fortunately, at the critical moment, the True Phoenix Blood within Jiang Yufeng’s body automatically protected its master, shielding her heart from being parasitized by the Gu insect.
During their escape to the cultivation realm of the Donghua Continent, the cultivators of the Gu God Cult repeatedly used special techniques to sense the Gu insect within Jiang Yufeng, relentlessly pursuing them.
It wasn’t until Jiang Fengxian and her daughter fled into the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm that the pursuit was finally alleviated.
After evading the chase, helping Jiang Yufeng remove the Gu insect from her body became Jiang Fengxian’s top priority.
However, the Gu insect had burrowed deep within Jiang Yufeng’s body, and with her own strength, she couldn’t expel it, only temporarily suppress it.
Later, she heard from her inquiries throughout the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm that Master Fei Feng of the Divine Lady Palace had removed Gu insects for her disciples, so she took her daughter to seek aid.
Lou Feifeng indeed met with Jiang Fengxian and examined her daughter Jiang Yufeng’s condition, assuring them she could be treated.
However, the condition for curing Jiang Yufeng was that both Jiang Fengxian and Jiang Yufeng had to join the Divine Lady Palace.
At that time, Jiang Yufeng was in quite a dangerous state, and Jiang Fengxian, being a loose cultivator, thought joining the Divine Lady Palace meant little as long as it saved her daughter, so she agreed.
Subsequently, Lou Feifeng removed the Gu insect from Jiang Yufeng’s body and took her as a disciple, leading Jiang Fengxian and her daughter to start cultivating in the Divine Lady Palace.
After several decades, as Jiang Fengxian’s cultivation grew stronger and having left the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm for over a hundred years, she wanted to take her daughter back to visit her father.
Remarkably, such a simple request was flatly refused by Lou Feifeng.
Jiang Fengxian, relying on her years of experience, sensed something amiss.
How proud and strong-willed she was!
Upon realizing something was wrong, she planned to secretly take her daughter away from the Divine Lady Palace and return to the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
But she never expected that every move she and her daughter made was under the surveillance of Lou Feifeng, and as soon as they stepped out of the mountain gate of the Divine Lady Palace, they were immediately brought back by Lou Feifeng.
Afterwards, Jiang Fengxian was directly imprisoned, while Jiang Yufeng was openly monitored by the Golden Core Stage cultivators of the Divine Lady Palace, making it extremely difficult even to see her mother.
Until twelve years ago, when Jiang Yufeng successfully formed her core, then designated by Lou Feifeng as the bride of Dragon Taming Golden Radiance of the Dragon Taming Clan, did Jiang Fengxian and she realize Lou Feifeng’s true intentions.
And twelve years ago, the strong sense of foreboding Zhouyang experienced was precisely because, during Jiang Yufeng’s core formation, the True Phoenix Blood in her body unexpectedly transformed, triggering the Celestial Thunder Tribulation usually induced when a demon beast advances to Tier Five.
Such an unforeseen event shocked even Lou Feifeng, who thought Jiang Yufeng would surely die in the thunder tribulation.
Yet Jiang Yufeng survived and even leveraged the thunder tribulation’s transformative power to condense a Phoenix Demon Pill outside of her Golden Core!
To have both a Golden Core and Demon Pill in a human body, Jiang Yufeng’s situation seemed extremely peculiar even to Zhouyang as a father.
If anyone other than his daughter had told him this, he would have dismissed it as absurd and believed it was an affront to his daughter, refusing to let it go lightly.
But hearing it from his daughter’s own mouth, though still difficult to believe, he had no choice but to accept it for now.
As for what happened after Jiang Yufeng’s core formation, it was not much different from what Zhouyang had heard, except for some differences in the details.
After recounting her and her mother Jiang Fengxian’s experiences over the years, Jiang Yufeng paused for a moment, allowing him to digest this information, then continued:
"The Dragon Taming Clan is powerful, and in a few years, they’ll definitely send a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator to fetch the bride, and every Nascent Soul Stage cultivator of the Dragon Taming Clan almost always has a Tier Six Flood Dragon as their spirit pet. Lou Feifeng, the old hag from the Divine Lady Palace, will certainly personally escort me to the Dragon Taming Clan for the marriage."
"At that time, only the old woman you saw that day will remain in the Divine Lady Palace. Her name is Shen Luoyan, with a third-layer Nascent Soul cultivation, and is the Supreme Elder of the Divine Lady Palace."
"I’ve found out that this old woman has an enemy named Green Robe Ancestor, who has established a faction called the Ten Thousand Poison Sect in the Black Wood Forest near the Celestial South Continent Cultivation Realm. You can go to the Ten Thousand Poison Sect to seek out the Green Robe Ancestor and persuade him to join you in attacking the Divine Lady Palace to rescue my mother."
"If the Green Robe Ancestor is unreliable, you can also try meeting the Young Palace Master Ling Chao of the Donghua Immortal Palace. He once courted me and has a favorable impression of me, and he knows about my mother’s imprisonment, maybe, maybe he will help you!"
From Jiang Yufeng’s words, it wasn’t difficult to discern that over the years, she and her mother Jiang Fengxian had done much research to save themselves, not willing to sit back and await their fates.
However, as Zhouyang listened to her, he realized she only discussed how to rescue the imprisoned Jiang Fengxian and said nothing about herself.
This suddenly filled him with a sense of heartache.
Evidently, facing the overwhelming power of the Dragon Taming Clan, Jiang Yufeng had completely despaired and abandoned the effort to save herself, not wanting her father Zhouyang to be harmed because of her.
Even though she had yet to call him "father," Zhouyang already felt her sense of care for him.
Looking at the conch shell in his hand with a gentle expression, he said with determination, "Feng’Er, don’t worry. I will definitely rescue you and your mother!"
Without waiting for Jiang Yufeng’s response, he continued, "Help me pass a message to your mother. Tell her that our love as a couple was deep, and I’ve never forgotten her. The reason I came so late is that I’ve been tied up with matters. Once I rescue you both, I’ll explain everything."
Then, he took the initiative to cut off the communication.
Zhouyang understood the concerns of his daughter Jiang Yufeng, but he had his own convictions.
If he couldn’t even rescue the ones he loves, what kind of man would he be?
He would heed Jiang Yufeng’s advice, and he himself would try everything possible to seek more assistance.
The first person Zhouyang thought of wasn’t any Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, but the "Vermilion Bird Demon King," Zhu Zizhen.
He had witnessed Zhu Zizhen’s strength, having been able to confront the "Heaven-Sundering True Demon" who had possessed Master Golden Sun’s body head-on. His power might surpass some Late-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivators.
If Zhu Zizhen were willing to help, he alone could equal multiple people.
However, since Zhu Zizhen came to the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm, they had parted ways, and Zhouyang had no clue where he went. Relying on himself alone to find Zhu Zizhen wouldn’t work.
"It seems I need to first meet the Young Palace Master of the Donghua Immortal Palace. From what Feng’Er said, she seems to have a good impression of this person. If this person is willing to help, utilizing the Donghua Immortal Palace’s intelligence network to find Zhu Zizhen would be far more effective than me searching aimlessly by myself."
Zhouyang murmured to himself, and soon left his temporary underwater cave residence to return to Donghua Immortal City.
Meanwhile, in the Divine Lady Palace, after Jiang Yufeng had her communication cut off by Zhouyang, she first furiously cursed Zhouyang, then calmed down and went to see her imprisoned mother, Jiang Fengxian.
As her marriage into the Dragon Taming Clan approached, Lou Feifeng wasn’t as strict about her and her mother Jiang Fengxian meeting. Perhaps she feared that in the final years, Jiang Yufeng might cause trouble, delaying their plans.
When mother and daughter met, Jiang Fengxian, after hearing the message Zhouyang had her daughter convey, was overwhelmed with emotions and couldn’t calm herself for a long time.
If it weren’t for the fear of being detected by the cultivators monitoring them, she might have already broken down in tears with her daughter.
No matter how proud and strong she was, having been imprisoned for so many years, upon hearing news of her lover, especially about him coming to rescue her, she couldn’t remain indifferent.
"Mother, he, he..."
In the room, Jiang Yufeng watched her mother’s trembling body, who was holding back tears, and wanted to say something through voice transmission, but in the end, she said nothing.
She wanted to mention Zhouyang’s reckless actions that might endanger him, but since she had not shared her plans with her mother Jiang Fengxian, she hesitated to speak.
Jiang Fengxian heard her words, narrowed her phoenix eyes, and admonished her, "What ’he’? He is your father! Whatever you think of him, I don’t care, but in front of me, you must show respect!"
"Mother, you just keep defending him. If he really can rescue you, I won’t mind calling him dad!"
Jiang Yufeng pouted and muttered a couple of sentences in discontent but suppressed the urge to reveal the truth to her mother, deciding to wait and see.
After a few more exchanges between mother and daughter, Jiang Yufeng left.
Meanwhile, having learned the truth from his daughter Jiang Yufeng, Zhouyang hurriedly rushed back to Donghua Immortal City.
The mountain gate of the Donghua Immortal Palace was located in the central area of Donghua Immortal City, unlike most sects in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.
It was an independent area, strictly forbidding non-Donghua Immortal Palace cultivators from entering. Outsiders must be accompanied by a Donghua Immortal Palace’s cultivator.
Moreover, usually, Donghua Immortal Palace disciples with Foundation Establishment Cultivation didn’t have the qualification to bring outsiders into the sect; only cultivators of the Purple Mansion Stage and above could do so.
Zhouyang wanted to meet the Donghua Immortal Palace’s Young Palace Master, Ling Chao, who was the son of two Late-Stage Nascent Soul Cultivators of the Donghua Immortal Palace, making him hard to meet.
He had to first register his name, background, cultivation, and the reason for seeking an audience with the Young Palace Master with the receptionist cultivator at the Donghua Immortal Palace’s mountain gate; these details could of course be fabricated.
After the receptionist cultivator registered all the information, it would be forwarded to the Young Palace Master, but there was no guarantee that the Young Palace Master would see or respond timely.
"Fellow Daoist, when you pass on the message, could you kindly also give this Jade Scroll to your sect’s Young Palace Master? Thank you very much."
Outside the Donghua Immortal Palace, Zhouyang, after observing the receptionist cultivator finish recording his details, extended his hand and passed a Jade Scroll along with a Top-grade Spirit Stone.