Along his journey, Zhou Chen encountered quite a few sea beasts. Judging him by his Earth Immortal Realm and seeing him swaggering and flying recklessly through the sky, they either took a dislike to him or wanted to snap him up as a light snack to boost their magic power. In short, they all attacked Zhou Chen. Of course, there was no exchange of harsh words; most of them simply lunged straight out of the sea, snapping at Zhou Chen with jaws wide open, only to be slapped to pieces by a single swipe of his hand—he did not even need to resort to spells.
Among these sea monsters, the strongest were at the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm, while the rest were at the Golden Immortal Realm. Yet, without exception, they all met a tragic end at Zhou Chen's hands without him having to unleash a single divine ability or spell.
At this moment, Zhou Chen still could not gauge the true extent of his own strength. Sea monsters at the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm were batted to death with a single slap of his palm, and the Demon Clan at the Golden Immortal Realm fared no differently.
He silently guessed to himself that he ought to possess strength comparable to that of a Daluo Golden Immortal in the Primordial World. For no other reason than that anyone capable of swatting a Taiyi Golden Immortal to death with one palm must possess at least the strength of a Daluo Golden Immortal, and since he could do it, he naturally possessed strength on par with a Daluo Golden Immortal.
At that moment, he even began to ponder how to continue his cultivation. After all, when he created the Mythical Daluo Technique, he had only perfected the Earth Immortal Realm; the Heavenly Immortal Realm and above remained incomplete.
Just as Zhou Chen was flying and pondering at the same time, he suddenly sensed the fluctuations of a fight ahead, accompanied by ripples of Shangqing immortal magic.
"Fellow disciples? Who could it be?"
Zhou Chen muttered to himself, his figure instantly streaking toward the direction of the commotion.
When Zhou Chen arrived at the scene of the battle, he saw an exceptionally graceful fairy holding an immortal sword in one hand and wielding Shangqing immortal magic with the other, single-handedly fighting two sea monsters at the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm.
"It is Our Lady of Jinling!"
At a single glance, Zhou Chen recognized that the one fighting the two Taiyi Golden Immortal sea monsters alone was none other than Our Lady of Jinling, one of the four direct disciples of Jiejiao and the eldest senior sister of the sect, whose status was second only to the eldest senior brother, Duobao.
No wonder Our Lady of Jinling could fight the three masters of the Chanxi Jiao to a standstill during the Investiture of the Gods without losing. Even now, being merely at the early Taiyi Golden Immortal stage, she was capable of holding her own against two mid-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal sea monsters, which alone spoke volumes of her extraordinary nature.
Although she had perished in the Investiture of the Gods, that was entirely because the Chanxi Jiao was simply too utterly shameless—not only did they gang up on Jinling, but Randeng Daoist, the vice-master of Chanxi Jiao, even launched a sneak attack. In a way, Our Lady of Jinling could be considered defeated yet still retaining her honor. It was merely a pity that a lifetime of Dao cultivation had been washed down the drain, leaving her cultivation unable to advance by even an inch, forcing her to switch to the incense-fire divine path.
Sighing inwardly, Zhou Chen immediately cast the Control of the Five Thunders.
In an instant, the heavens and the earth seemed as though a heavenly tribulation were gathering.
Billowing thunderclouds came rolling across the sky!
Amidst the dense, dark clouds high above the nine heavens, vast flashes of lightning loomed faintly, and their terrifying aura instantly forced the three combatants to halt their fight and be on guard against the sudden change in the heavens.
Zhou Chen did not hesitate at all. The great divine ability of the Control of the Five Thunders locked directly onto the two sea beasts. Suddenly, the dark clouds churned violently, and vast bolts of lightning—resembling dozens of thunderous azure dragons—combined in a flash into five divine thunders: the Gui Water Divine Thunder, the Bing Fire Divine Thunder, the Yi Wood Divine Thunder, the Wu Earth Divine Thunder, and the Geng Metal Divine Thunder. Almost every single one of them possessed a peerlessly tyrannical might, falling not the least bit short of a full-strength strike from any cultivator at the Daluo Golden Immortal Realm!
It all happened in the blink of an eye.
The thunder crashed down like a divine punishment descending.
And in a split second, it struck the bodies of the two sea beasts!
Rumble~~~
Following a series of deafening explosions, the two Taiyi Golden Immortal sea monsters were blasted into powder in a fraction of a second. The residual momentum of the thunder did not abate as it slammed into the surface of the Eastern Sea, directly gouging out an abyss spanning ten thousand miles and lacking any fathomable bottom. All the seawater instantly vanished, not leaving behind even a trace of water mist.
Zhou Chen smacked his lips, feeling that he might have used a bit too much force. He glanced at Our Lady of Jinling, whose eyes were tightly shut, and felt a twinge of puzzlement—what had happened to her? Suddenly, he caught sight of crystal-clear tears slipping from the corners of Our Lady of Jinling's eyes.
Zhou Chen's mouth twitched. No way! Surely he hadn't scared Our Lady of Jinling to tears, had he? What happened to the legendary Valkyrie of Jiejiao, the foremost female immortal, the eldest senior sister of Jiejiao? So much for that!
In truth, Our Lady of Jinling could hardly be blamed. She had just broken through to the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm and was feeling high-spirited, having come out for a stroll and run into two Taiyi Golden Immortal sea monsters. She merely wanted to use them to hone her cultivation techniques and get accustomed to the realm of a Taiyi Golden Immortal, only to be struck by what she thought was a heavenly tribulation—and a Daluo Golden Immortal-level thunder at that! How could she possibly withstand such a thing?
Reduced to utter despair, she could only close her eyes and await death. Thinking that after practicing cultivation for so many years, she was going to perish under a heavenly tribulation without ever properly savoring the Primordial World, she felt more than a little unreconciled. She wondered whether her master would grieve after her death. At this thought, tears of bitter regret welled up in Jinling's eyes.
Indeed, Jinling had mistaken the thunder magic cast by Zhou Chen for a heavenly tribulation.
Curious, Zhou Chen walked over to Our Lady of Jinling's side. Seeing her lips moving incessantly, he wondered what she was saying and leaned in to listen carefully.
"Master, forgive this disciple for her unfilial ways; henceforth, I shall no longer be able to serve by your side, and Jiejiao will simply have to be passed down to that unreliable fatty, Duobao. Master, you have no idea..."
Zhou Chen's mouth twitched. He had not expected Our Lady of Jinling to have such a side to her. After a moment of thought, Zhou Chen decided to interrupt her wild fantasies. If she kept going, all the deep secrets of Jiejiao's direct disciples would be exposed by Our Lady of Jinling. With such a massive commotion here, nearby immortals and sea beasts would likely come to investigate soon, and how awkward would that be then?
"Ahem! Well, Eldest Senior Sister, what are you doing here?"
Zhou Chen feigned innocence, acting as though he had just arrived and knew nothing.
Our Lady of Jinling was jolted awake by Zhou Chen's voice. Opening her eyes and looking around, she saw that the surroundings had returned to tranquility, with only a lingering aura of thunder pervading the air to testify to what had just happened. Aside from that, there was nothing else—oh, wait, there was also a handsome young human in the Earth Immortal Realm.
"I am not dead?"
Our Lady of Jinling murmured in disbelief.
"Eldest Senior Sister, what did you say?"
Zhou Chen continued to play deaf. It was not even deliberate play-acting on his part; he knew all too well how troublesome women could be when angry, so he simply decided to pretend he knew nothing to avoid bringing trouble upon himself.
"Ah? Oh! It's nothing. You called me Eldest Senior Sister—are you also a member of Jiejiao?"
Hearing Zhou Chen's question, Jinling immediately recovered her calm and dignified demeanor.
"Indeed! Eldest Senior Sister, I am Zhou Chen, an inner sect disciple of Jiejiao. I just arrived at the Eastern Sea from Mount Kunlun, on my way to Biyou Palace to listen to Master's lecture on the Dao, when I happened to run into Senior Sister here."
Before Zhou Chen could finish speaking and before Our Lady of Jinling could reply, a figure materialized right between the two of them. The newcomer was none other than the Master of Jiejiao, Shangqing Tongtian.
"Your disciple Zhou Chen pays respects to Master."
Zhou Chen immediately bowed respectfully in his direction.
The moment she saw Master Tongtian appear, Our Lady of Jinling's eyes turned red, clearly having jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"Thank you, Master, for saving my life!"
As soon as those words left her mouth, Zhou Chen's mouth twitched slightly—would this ever end?
Master Tongtian shot Zhou Chen a fierce glare.