Chapter 424: Chapter 270: Skill Realm (Part 2)

’And who knows why he suddenly earned the favor of an Outer Sect Elder and became the new Head Chef of the Dining Hall. He might not be interested in the Purple Cloud Association’s recruitment...’

However, seeing Fu Jiaming in such high spirits, Wang Rui opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, ultimately deciding not to say anything for fear of spoiling his mood.

’Forget it. We’ll just try recruiting him first. I just hope that Martial Artist hasn’t gotten so full of himself that he’s lost all sense of direction...’

「Three hours later, in the Earthly Fiend Gully.」

"Evil Qi Absorption Skill (Entry Level), Progress: 10%"

Huh?

The Evil Qi Absorption Skill was recorded as expected, and it had already made decent progress shortly after appearing on the panel.

But the question was, what was this "Entry Level"?

He knew that for his previous Cultivation Skills, the very first Realm had always been "Initial Glimpse."

But now, the Realm system for Skills on his panel had clearly changed.

Although the subsequent Realm names weren’t displayed, Zou Feng had a feeling, an almost certain intuition that the following Realms were: Minor Success, Great Success, Perfection, and Limit Break.

This change had most likely occurred because the List of Gods had evolved after he arrived in the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm...

But a few name changes were irrelevant, and Zou Feng quickly stopped caring.

Seeing the sky gradually brightening, he got up to leave.

Today was his first official day after becoming the Head Chef.

Thankfully, as Head Chef, he didn’t have to go in too early.

As long as there was nothing important, no one would say a thing even if he was late.

As he quickly walked out of the Earthly Fiend Gully, he ran right into several disciples who were bristling with killing intent.

"Zou Feng!?"

The one in the lead was the very same guard from the Earthly Fiend Gully that Zou Feng had seen before.

At this moment, however, the guard looked like he was facing a great enemy, completely on high alert, and he was staring at Zou Feng with a face full of confusion.

Zou Feng immediately replied, "That’s me. Brothers, what’s going on?"

"You’re... actually okay?"

The disciple guarding this place was named Gao Yue.

Even though the facts were right in front of him—Zou Feng was clearly fine—Gao Yue still found it hard to believe.

After all, when Zou Feng first arrived and registered on the stone stele with his Token, Gao Yue had already seen his information.

A Martial Artist who had only joined the sect a few days ago and hadn’t even formed a Spirit Body had spent three hours in the Earthly Fiend Gully and hadn’t Fallen into Demon?

In truth, this was a dereliction of duty on Gao Yue’s part.

He had assumed that a newbie like Zou Feng would be doing well to last even half an hour in the outer edges of the gully.

Normally, newcomers practicing Cultivation in the Earthly Fiend Gully wouldn’t be so reckless.

So Gao Yue hadn’t paid much attention and had focused on his own Cultivation.

But when he finished his Cultivation and the sky was about to brighten, he discovered that Zou Feng was somehow still in the Earthly Fiend Gully.

Gao Yue paled in terror, assuming Zou Feng must have been thoroughly corrupted by the Evil Qi and turned into a Human Demon driven only by the desire to kill.

Human Demons were not easy to deal with, so Gao Yue had quickly called over a few senior and junior brothers he knew, planning to have them help him clean up his mess.

But who would have thought—Zou Feng was completely fine?

"I’ve troubled you, Brothers. I am indeed perfectly fine." From their expressions, Zou Feng had already pieced together most of what had happened.

’It seems that at my current Realm, staying in this Earthly Fiend Gully for too long will attract unnecessary attention...’

"Brothers, back when I was still in my Outer Realm, I cultivated a corresponding Evil Qi Cultivation Skill by drawing Evil Qi into my body."

"That’s why I can barely manage to stay a bit longer in the peripheral areas of the Earthly Fiend Gully," Zou Feng bluffed.

Although Gao Yue and the others were skeptical of his explanation, the facts were right before their eyes, leaving them no choice but to believe him.

To be on the safe side, Gao Yue cautiously approached Zou Feng and performed a detailed inspection.

After confirming that Zou Feng hadn’t transformed into a Human Demon, he finally let out a small sigh of relief. "If that’s the case, then everything’s fine... But even if you have cultivated some Evil Qi Cultivation Skill, don’t stay here too long in the future!"

"You have to understand, how can the Evil Qi from your Outer Realms possibly compare to the Evil Qi in the Eastern Earth Immortal Realm?"

Zou Feng replied sincerely, "Thank you for the reminder, Brother!"

After dealing with them, Zou Feng quickly hurried away.

Previously, when cultivating the Evil Qi Absorption Skill, the top name on his list—the one taking the brunt of it—was Gongyang Marquis, the name that had suddenly appeared after he became the King of Human Gu in the Glazed Immortal Palace.

Now, Zou Feng checked and found that the brightness of this guy’s name on the list hadn’t changed at all.

It seemed that three hours of torment from the Evil Qi had barely any effect on him.

But Zou Feng had anticipated this. After all, a being capable of orchestrating the events in the Glazed Immortal Palace and raising a King of Human Gu must have a terrifyingly high Realm.

He quickly returned to Courtyard Nine and, with Teng County’s help, bathed and changed at top speed.

Once he was ready, Zou Feng hurried to the Dining Hall’s back kitchen to officially take up his post.

The position of Dining Hall Head Chef was vastly different from that of an ordinary kitchen hand.

There were plenty of opportunities to skim a little off the top.

Therefore, Zou Feng had no intention of just going through the motions. He planned to be diligent and responsible while also earning more Immortal Fate within the reasonable bounds of the rules.

Although he had made a small fortune from killing Yang Haoyu, he had spent it on the Evil Qi Absorption Skill, given a generous gift to He Wenxuan, and then had more Immortal Fate automatically deducted by the stone stele in the Earthly Fiend Gully...

Now, he was flat broke again.

Although the Head Chef position came with a Monthly Allowance of twenty points of Immortal Fate, for him, it was still just a drop in the bucket.

There were far too many things he wanted to buy.

And he couldn’t stand the slow pace of waiting for things to happen...

Walking into the Dining Hall, in just one short day, Zou Feng experienced what it meant for things to have completely changed.

The cold shoulders and disdainful looks he had received as a mere kitchen hand had all vanished without a trace.

Everywhere he went, he was met with greetings that were either fawning or respectful.

One kitchen hand even rushed out and bowed deeply to Zou Feng, saying, "Thank you, Brother Zou, for getting rid of that Dining Hall tyrant, Yang Haoyu!"

"We have suffered under Yang Haoyu for so long! Now that this great wrong has been avenged, if Brother Zou would not disdain it, I am willing to recognize you as my adoptive father..."

As he spoke, he actually started to kowtow. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Zou Feng quickly dodged aside and told the man to scram.

’Shameless.’ If Zou Feng remembered correctly, this was one of the people who had loudly mocked and ridiculed him before.

"Zou... Head Chef..."

Just as he was about to enter the kitchen, Zou Feng saw a familiar face.

It was, of course, the former vanguard of his bullies, Wu Cong, Steward Wu.

An Outer Sect Steward—a nice-sounding title, but in reality, he was just a minor foreman who could boss around the lowest-level disciples.

It was in no way comparable to Zou Feng’s current position as Head Chef.

Right now, Wu Cong was kicking himself so hard he was turning blue.

But as a Dining Hall Steward, there was nowhere for him to hide.

Resign and run?

That would be even stupider. If he really resigned from his Steward position, it would mean he was no longer a member of the Pinnacle Celestial Immortal Sect.

At that point, if Zou Feng was vengeful and decided to investigate his whereabouts...

Zou Feng wouldn’t even have to investigate personally. There were plenty of people in the Dining Hall who would keep an eye on him, just to curry favor with the new Head Chef and get a chance to become his "apprentice."

"Steward Wu?" Zou Feng gave him an amiable smile.

Wu Cong’s voice immediately turned mournful. "Chef Zou... I... I was forced into it!"

"Yang Haoyu had the Purple Cloud Association behind him, and he threatened me in all sorts of ways. I’m just a lowly Outer Sect Steward; I really didn’t dare to defy him..."

Zou Feng’s smile didn’t waver. "Then do you recall what I said before? That you were afraid of offending Yang Haoyu, but not afraid of offending me?"

Wu Cong’s face immediately turned ashen. He had no idea how to respond.

"Steward Wu, don’t you think this apology is a little... insincere?" Zou Feng said, spelling it out for him.

Hearing this, Wu Cong immediately got the hint. "Yes, yes, yes! Insincere! It’s very insincere!"

"Last time, due to my negligence, I had Chef Zou handle too many poisonous ingredients when he was still unfamiliar with them. Without buying some Elixirs, it would be hard to recover."

"It was all my fault. I must compensate you. I hope Chef Zou will accept!" With that, Wu Cong took out his Token.

Saying so much in public was also a way to show that he was compensating Zou Feng willingly.

It was all to allow Zou Feng to accept the Immortal Fate reasonably and without anyone being able to find fault.

Zou Feng wasn’t so ruthless that he felt he had to kill Wu Cong.

But squeezing this guy for his Immortal Fate was a must.

Otherwise, if he were so magnanimous as to just laugh it off, others might think he was a pushover.