Chapter 723: Return in One Piece!
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
When the Nine Dragon Palace and Penglai Island vanished from the sea, the Demon Sea which had been filled with booming heavenly lightning bolts instantly became quiet.
Looking at the calm ocean, no one would think that it was a dangerous place full of demon beasts.
Since the tragedy was avoided, the remote celestial mountains emerged from the sea one by one and floated in the mist above the Demon Sea.
After a glance at Hao Ren, Duan Yao was about to enter the ocean when Lady Zhen came out of the water wearing a wide-sleeved long dress which was embroidered with floral and animal patterns.
Her pale face showed that the heavenly lightning bolts injured her.
Although she was a Phoenix, she was still severely wounded, let alone the Kirin who had blocked the heavenly lightning bolts for her after being resurrected.
“Gongzi Hao, you are now the brother of Zhen Yuan Immortal, and I can’t treat you as a junior anymore.” Lady Zhen looked at Hao Ren and smiled.
Despite her severe injuries and pale face, she was in a good mood and looked charming.
“I can’t call you, Older Sister, right?” Hao Ren said with a grin.
“Sly boy. You can call me anything except Little Sister.” Lady Zhen turned her gaze from Hao Ren to Su Han and said, “I’m lucky to be alive today. Ms. Su, if you want, you can stay in the Demon Sea for a few days to solidify your realm.”
“Thank you.” Su Han nodded without hesitation.
She knew that Lady Zhen had used her, but she realized that she had gained a lot in the process after some consideration. The Nuwa Stone alone would make many cultivators jealousy.
Of course, the Nuwa Stone wouldn’t be much use to her cultivation unless she could merge it into her body completely with the help of the abundant nature essence in the Demon Sea. It would give her a significant boost during the Heavenly Tribulation.
“How about you? Will you return or stay here with your lover?” Lady Zhen asked Hao Ren.
Su Han turned to look at Hao Ren as well.
“I’ll go back,” Hao Ren answered without hesitation when he thought back to Zhao Yanzi, Xie Yujia, and his family who were still waiting for his return.
Hearing his words, a trace of loneliness flashed in Su Han’s eyes, but her expression remained the same, knowing that Hao Ren had his family and other attachments while she was only an orphan who was in pursuit of the highest realm.
Seeing Hao Ren choosing to return, Duan Yao’s heart lurched. She didn’t know when it began, but Hao Ren had become the person who pushed her forward. She always thought of him when she cultivated.
She had thought that Hao Ren would stay here so that she could have the opportunity to have practice battles with him.
“Yao, you can bring Gongzi Hao out of the sea,” Lady Zhen said suddenly when Duan Yao turned to look at Hao Ren.
“Ugh…” Duan Yao froze for a few seconds, not knowing how to respond.
Lady Zhen lifted her hand, and a small three-footed bird flew to Duan Yao. Then, she picked up Su Han’s hand lightly and entered the Demon Sea together.
Looking at Su Han’s expression, Lady Zhen felt like she resembled herself thousands of years ago, so she felt a little empathy toward her.
“What are you looking at? Annoying!!”
Seeing Hao Ren gazing at her, Duan Yao glared at him before jumping onto the back of the three-footed bird.
The fiery-red three-footed bird was the legendary G.o.dly bird of the Kunlun Mountain. Now that Lady Zhen had eliminated almost all the demon kings in the Demon Sea, it wasn’t dangerous for the three-footed bird to roam around with Duan Yao.
Standing on a five-elemental sword energy, Hao Ren followed Duan Yao.
Su Han would be safe in the Demon Sea. Also, since she needed to concentrate on her cultivation, Hao Ren didn’t want to disturb her.
However, from Duan Yao’s point of view, Hao Ren was a cold-hearted man who deserted his lover.
“Duan Yao, where did you master, Lady Zhen, cultivate in the past?” Hao Ren asked suddenly after flying on the sea surface for a while.
Duan Yao had planned to ignore him, but she blurted out her answer at his sudden question. “I’m not sure…”
When her words came out, she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to speak to this pervert.
“I… I will kill you!” She tossed the words to Hao Ren abruptly.
She hated these bad men who looked decent but were ditched their lovers!
However, she didn’t understand what those girls saw in him, and why they wanted to stay with him.
Sometimes, she would flip through the comic book on her bedside table at midnight in the small palace that Lady Zhen designated to her and remember Hao Ren’s room.
She didn’t quite understand the contents in the comic book, but it was the only ‘gift’ that she got from the mortal world.
“Maybe I can live a life like Zhao Yanzi someday…” After thinking of Zhao Yanzi, Duan Yao was filled with envy and jealousy.
“Ahead of us is the border of the Demon Sea,” Duan Yao looked up and said while pointing forward.
“Ok.” Hao Ren nodded slightly when he saw a small black dot in the distance.
Duan Yao claimed that she would kill him but couldn’t make her move in the Demon Sea under the restriction of Lady Zhen.
“It must be hard for her,” Hao Ren thought as he looked at her.
“My master… cultivated under the guidance of the Queen Mother of the West in the Kunlun Mountain. For some reason, she later stayed in the Demon Sea,” Duan Yao suddenly said while she flew toward.
“Ok…” Hao Ren nodded.
He had guessed that Lady Zhen wasn’t a demon king who was born in the Demon Sea since she was more powerful than those big demon kings. Duan Yao’s words explained Lady Zhen’s familiarity with the Kunlun Mountain from where she had taken the Kunlun G.o.dly Lamp by force and her friends.h.i.+p with Zhen Yuan Zi.
The three-footed bird was the legendary G.o.dly bird from the Kunlun Mountain, and the fact that it was staying with Lady Zhen also showed her connection with the Kunlun Mountain.
Maybe she wasn’t an official disciple of the Queen Mother of the West, but due to Qiu Niu, she probably had cultivated under the guidance of the Queen Mother of the West. All in all, Lady Zhen’s status wasn’t low.
Due to her status, it was a shame for Lady Zhen to act like a demon queen in the Demons Sea from Qiu Niu’s perspective.
From Duan Yao’s one sentence, Hao Ren had reasoned out the whole story.
The Demon Sea was like a prison for the Heavenly Realm, and all kinds of demon beasts were locked in there. Hao Ren wouldn’t have liked it if his daughter had chosen to stay in such a place.
Qiu Niu probably had his reasons for taking Zhen Congming out of the Demon Sea. However, Lady Zhen would rather stay in the Demon Sea with her husband, Qin.
It seemed like no one was at fault.
While he was thinking, Hao Ren flew out of the Demon Sea.
Seeing Hao Ren flying out without saying goodbye to her, Duan Yao stomped her foot on the back of the three-footed bird with fury.
Flapping its wings, the three-footed bird quickly returned to the center of the Demon Sea.
Without the Purple gold hairpin at his disposal, Hao Ren felt like it was a bit inconvenient.
The purple gold hairpin didn’t possess its own intelligence except for a thread of Lady Zhen’s spirit senses. It responded to the situations around it according to Lady Zhen’s personality, acting as a split soul of hers.
The explosion of the purple gold hairpin was an attack from Lady Zhen since this dharma treasure was different from supreme spiritual treasures like the golden s.h.i.+eld.
Hao Ren remembered how the golden s.h.i.+eld had first challenged the purple gold hairpin which was a representative of Lady Zhen. Of course, the golden s.h.i.+eld was no match for Lady Zhen whose original form was a Phoenix.
After being beaten many times, the golden s.h.i.+eld was now free without restraints.
Hao Ren sped up his sword energy and traveled at the speed of mid-tier Nascent Soul Realm across East Ocean, returning to East Ocean City in the blink of an eye.
The students in East Ocean University were in cla.s.s when Hao Ren landed on the campus in the energy sphere.
“Brother Hao! Brother Hao is back!”
The dragon cultivators in East Ocean University all sensed his appearance.
Hao Ren had been absent for over ten days, and all the dragon cultivators in the Calligraphy Club including Lu Qi couldn’t find him.
They had asked Xie Yujia, and she told them that Hao Ren had gone out on a trip and would come back soon, but they saw the worry in her eyes.
When they began to fear that something had happened to him, Hao Ren came back abruptly.
During the last few days, many crown princes had transferred to East Ocean University. When they came out to greet Hao Ren, they realized that Hao Ren emitted the aura of mid-tier Xun-level!
In about a dozen days, Hao Ren had elevated to Xun-level from Dui-level!
“He had been cultivating in seclusion!” they thought.
The members of the Calligraphy Club looked at each other in amazement, thinking that it was a miracle.
“Hao Ren is indeed a genius among geniuses!” they thought to themselves.
The most astonished was Lu Qi who had observed Hao Ren since the latter was at Zhen-level. Each time he saw Hao Ren, the latter had improved drastically!
“Where’s Yujia?” Hao Ren asked Lu Qi.
“I’ve sent her the notice about your return,” Lu Qi said, still looking at Hao Ren in astonishment.
“Hao Ren!”
The moment Hao Ren asked about her, Xie Yujia rush toward him from the direction of the library on her bicycle.
When the bicycle came before Hao Ren, Xie Yujia almost flew from it and threw herself into his arms. Seeing Hao Ren was in good shape, she couldn’t control her tears anymore.
She had no appet.i.te and poor sleep while he was absent. When she returned to Hao Ren’s home, she had to act cheerful and lie to Grandma, saying that Hao Ren had gone to a school research program in the mountains and didn’t have signal.
She was afraid that Hao Ren couldn’t make it back and wondered what she should do if he didn’t return.
When she was in the library, she couldn’t read a word. After receiving the news about Hao Ren’s return, she almost flew out of the library on the Ruyi Cloth!
Seeing the gentle and strong Xie Yujia crying her heart out, Hao Ren felt guilty.
He had just thought of challenging himself and didn’t really think about the possibility of not coming back.
Xie Yujia’s white s.h.i.+rt beneath her black jacket was soon dampened by her tears. In the past days, she had cried in secret many times; the longer Hao Ren was absent, the more anxious she had got.
Now that Hao Ren has come back, all the emotions inside her erupted.
The crown princes around Hao Ren and Xie Yujia thought that Xie Yujia indeed loved Hao Ren deeply since she cried like this while Hao Ren was only absent for about a dozen days. They didn’t know that Hao Ren had been to the Nine Dragon Palace and the Demon Sea!
The ordinary cultivators would have died 100 times or even 1,000 times if they entered these two places!
“What day is today? Where’s Zi?” Seeing more and more students looking their way on tiptoes, Hao Ren dried the tears on Xie Yujia’s face and asked.
He had hurried back for two reasons. The first was that he must return and give the Immortal Fruits to Xie Yujia and Zhao Yanzi before the nature essence on them was lost. The second was to check if Third Uncle Zhao Kuo, who had ventured into the Nine Dragon Palace as well, had come back safely!