274: Chapter 273 The Wrath of Yaochi, the Queen Mother Descends! The Immortal Emperor's Imperial Mindset

The Jade Lake Holy Land was originally the most peaceful and desirable place in the Nine Heavens Palace. It featured the Peach Forest that never withered for billions of years, the Jade Lake waters flowing with the essence of stars, and the faint, ethereal Immortal music that lingered all day long.

However, at this moment, this Holy Land looked as if it had just undergone an apocalyptic catastrophe.

The originally ornate pavilions and towers had turned into a ground of ruins. Rare Immortal birds and exotic beasts trembled as they hid deep within the clouds, not daring to show their heads. As for those usually high-and-mighty, glamorously dressed 'Immortal Second Generations,' they were either hanging unconscious from trees or huddled in corners like quails, not even daring to breathe loudly.

In this deathly silence, only the youth in black remained, still stepping boldly on Zhou Tian's face—which had already swollen into a pig's head—with an expression of lingering dissatisfaction.

“Bold scoundrel! How dare you commit violence in the Jade Lake! What do you take the Heavenly Rules for?!”

Just then, an angry shout that seemed to come from the primordial era suddenly exploded between heaven and earth.

Immediately after, the clouds above the entire Jade Lake instantly boiled. The originally clear sky was covered in an instant by endless purple Qi. The purple Qi was as thick as a physical substance; as it billowed, one could vaguely see the harmony of luan and phoenixes and the circling of golden dragons.

An indescribable, terrifying pressure, like the heavens collapsing, crashed down!

“Crack—”

The surviving ground of the Jade Lake cracked again. Countless Immortals with weaker cultivation were directly pressed to their knees by this aura, the sound of shattering kneecaps ringing out continuously.

This was not a simple pressure of magical power; this was the 'Momentum' condensed by one who has long held a high position, the supreme authority of the head of all female Immortals!

Surrounded by ten thousand rays of divine light, a dignified and elegant figure, wearing a Nine-Phoenix Sun-Facing Crown and a Flowing Cloud Embroidered Robe, descended slowly on five-colored auspicious clouds.

The mistress of the Jade Lake, the Queen Mother of the West!

With every step she took, a golden lotus bloomed in the void to support her jade feet. Her face was shrouded in divine light and could not be seen clearly, but the coldness emanating from her phoenix eyes was enough to freeze ten thousand miles of the Void Realm.

“Queen Mother! Queen Mother, save me!”

The already desperate Zhou Tian saw this figure and, like a drowning man catching a final straw, howled shrilly with his mangled mouth: “Lin Feng... Lin Feng has gone mad! He wants to kill me! He even wants to tear down the Jade Lake! You must seek justice for us!”

The surrounding scions of great families, who were previously as quiet as cicadas in winter, now seemed to have found their pillar of support. They scrambled up from the ground one by one, pointing at Lin Feng and complaining tearfully, their eyes filled with malice and the pleasure of impending revenge.

In their view, with the Queen Mother of the West descending in person, even if Lin Feng had three heads and six arms, he would surely die today! She was a powerhouse who had stood at the Peak of the Immortal Realm for countless years, the true number one below the veteran Quasi-Saints!

The Queen Mother ignored the ants at her feet. Her gaze pierced through layers of the Void Realm and locked firmly onto Lin Feng.

“Lin Feng, although you were appointed as the Grand Marshal of Demon Suppression of the Nine Heavens by His Majesty and hold a high position, this Jade Lake is my Dao field and represents the face of the Heavenly Court!”

The Queen Mother's voice was bone-chillingly cold. Every word she uttered turned into a golden rune in the air, sealing off the four directions. “Injuring guests, destroying public property, and even failing to show restraint in my presence. In your eyes, is there still a Heavenly Court? Is there still me?!”

Following her questioning, the surrounding clouds began to undergo a bizarre transformation. The originally soft mist instantly turned into chains flickering with cold light, each chain engraved with complex Heavenly Rules and precepts.

This was the Queen Mother's famous technique—[Kunlun Immortal-Binding Rope]!

This rope was not a physical entity but was condensed from the Laws of 'Rules' and 'Order.' Once entangled, no matter how heaven-defying your cultivation, as long as there was a shred of reverence for the Heavenly Court in your heart, you would be infinitely suppressed until your magic power was completely lost and you were reduced to a Mortal!

Facing these overwhelming chains of Law, Lin Feng laughed.

He gently patted the bristling Huang Fugui on his shoulder, signaling it to stay calm, then slowly looked up to face the high-and-mighty Queen Mother.

“Oh, the little one got beaten, so the old one shows up? I'm very familiar with this routine.”

Lin Feng's body shook slightly. Above his head, those three twelve-petaled golden lotuses that had not yet fully faded once again burst with dazzling light. A violent aura belonging to a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, mixed with his unique Chaos Evil Qi, soared into the sky!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Those chains of order attempting to entangle him let out overburdened wails the moment they touched Lin Feng's protective golden light, and then snapped inch by inch!

“Queen Mother, those words of yours are incorrect.”

Lin Feng spread his hands and said with an innocent face, “I'm helping you clean up the atmosphere! Look at this group of so-called Immortal Second Generations; they usually bully others based on their influence and have made this peaceful Jade Lake foul and chaotic. They are simply the tumors of the Immortal Realm! As the Grand Marshal of Demon Suppression, it is my duty to help you educate them. Even if you don't thank me, why are you starting a fight?”

“Sophistry! Obstinate and unruly!”

The Queen Mother trembled with rage, the pearls and emeralds on her phoenix crown shaking. She had governed the Jade Lake for countless eons; when had she ever seen such a thick-skinned, yet so domineering and overbearing junior?

He actually shattered her chains of Law by force using only his newly broken-through Grand Unity Realm? Just how deep was this kid's foundation?

“If I don't give you a lesson today, where will my face as the mistress of the Jade Lake go?! Surrender!”

The Queen Mother was truly enraged and no longer held back. She reached into the void, and a crystal-clear jade hairpin flowing with the radiance of a galaxy appeared in her hand.

The top-tier Innate Spirit Treasure—[Sky-Cleaving Hairpin]!

Legend has it that back then, she used this very hairpin to forcibly slice through the void, creating the Milky Way that spanned the horizon and cutting off the path between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

“Sky-Cleaving—Boundary Severance!”

The Queen Mother raised her hand and made a stroke.

There was no world-shaking sound, but the space of the entire Jade Lake instantly shifted. An extremely brilliant phantom of the Milky Way appeared out of nowhere, carrying the terrifying Law of dividing Yin and Yang and severing life and death, as it pressed down toward Lin Feng's head!

This strike not only locked onto Lin Feng's Physical Body but also his Karma and Divine Soul!

There was no way to dodge!

Lin Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, and he put away his playful grin. He could feel the horror of this strike; it was the cultivation accumulated by a veteran powerhouse over countless years.

“Want to cut off my path? This hairpin isn't hard enough!”

“Clang—”

The chaos asura blade in Lin Feng's hand unsheathed by half an inch!

Just this half-inch of blade edge released a sky-high blood-colored killing intent, as if an Asura demon god was roaring behind him. He prepared to clash head-on with this top-tier Innate Spirit Treasure to test just how strong his Grand Unity Golden Body, modified by the System, actually was!

Just as the two sides were about to collide and an earth-shattering battle was on the verge of breaking out.

“Buzz—”

From above the Nine Heavens, a beam of golden light descended without any warning.

This golden light was not dazzling, yet it carried an irresistible and grand will. It ignored the distance of space and the obstruction of Laws, lightly inserting itself between the Milky Way phantom and Lin Feng's Saber Qi.

Then, the Milky Way phantom that was enough to tear heaven and earth apart melted away without a trace, like snow meeting a blazing sun. And Lin Feng's soaring Evil Qi was also forcibly pressed back into his body by this gentle force.

The entire world seemed to have been paused.

Everyone looked up in terror toward the highest point, the Lingxiao Palace.

There, a supreme golden ball of light slowly manifested. It was the Dominator of the Heavenly Court, the co-ruler of the Three Realms—the projection of the Immortal Emperor's will.

“Your Majesty?!”

The Queen Mother's heart jolted. She hastily put away her Magic Treasure, withdrew her Evil Qi, and bowed slightly to the ball of light. “This boy is lawless, causing a ruckus in the Jade Lake and injuring my disciples. I was just about to capture him and hold him accountable!”

Though she was angry, her heart shivered. The Immortal Emperor actually personally intervened? And at this specific juncture?

However, the voice coming from the ball of light carried a meaningful calm, showing no hint of joy or anger:

“The Jade Lake Grand Meeting is originally a place for all Immortals to exchange ideas. Young people have a lot of fire; when they spar with each other, some bumps and bruises are inevitable.”

The moment these words were spoken, the entire field fell into a dead silence.

Bumps and bruises?

Everyone looked at Zhou Tian, who had been beaten beyond recognition, and then at the ruins all over the ground, screaming in their hearts: Your Majesty, you call this bumps and bruises? This is a freaking demolition team's enforcement site!

But the Immortal Emperor's voice continued, carrying the unquestionable majesty of an emperor:

“When juniors fight, elders should not interfere.”

These eight words were like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into the Queen Mother's heart and into the hopes of all the scions of the great families.

The Queen Mother snapped her head up, her eyes full of disbelief: “Your Majesty! He beat the Young Lord of the Zhou Family into a heavy injury! He even shook the Dao foundation of the Zhou Family's Old Ancestor! If such behavior is not severely punished...”

“The Zhou Family?”

The Immortal Emperor's voice remained flat, even carrying a hint of a cold smile. “The Zhou Family has overstepped a bit in recent years. Letting them learn a lesson might not be a bad thing.”

“As for Lin Feng... the Grand Marshal has just broken through to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal Realm, and his Realm is not yet stable; he needs a whetstone. The losses of the Jade Lake will be charged to my account. I will have the Heavenly Workshop provide double compensation later.”

After saying that, the golden ball of light slowly dissipated, leaving behind only a faint lingering sound:

“Disperse.”

The wind stopped.

Everyone understood the subtext behind the Immortal Emperor's words.

What 'juniors fighting'? Lin Feng was now a Grand Unity Golden Immortal; how could he be called a peer of these silk-pants who weren't even Golden Immortals?

This was clearly taking sides!

And it was taking sides to the extreme, even to the point of personally appearing to back Lin Feng up!

“The Immortal Emperor is... killing with a borrowed knife!”

Some old Immortals hiding in the shadows with quick wits realized this instantly, their spines tingling.

Over the years, the power of the great families led by the Seven Luminaries Immortal King had grown larger and larger, controlling the government and embezzling resources. Some orders from the Immortal Emperor couldn't even be executed. The Heavenly Court seemed like a solid block, but in reality, undercurrents had long been surging.

Although the Immortal Emperor was the co-ruler in name, he faced too many constraints. He needed someone to break the deadlock.

And Lin Feng—this 'hothead' with no background, powerful strength, reckless behavior, and even a bit of madness—was exactly the 'deadlock-breaking blade' the Immortal Emperor had been searching for!

The Immortal Emperor was telling everyone: I am protecting this blade named Lin Feng! Whoever among you is dissatisfied, feel free to try and touch it! If you get touched to death, you deserve it!

The Queen Mother's face shifted between cloudy and clear. As someone who had tumbled in the political whirlpool for many years, she instantly understood the crux of the matter and realized that the Immortal Emperor's move just now was not only to save Lin Feng but also to warn her.

She glanced at the mess of the Jade Lake, and then at Lin Feng, who had an 'I knew it would be like this' expression and a mocking smile on his face.

Ultimately, she took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart.

“Since His Majesty has issued a decree, I will no longer pursue this matter.”

The Queen Mother said coldly, her gaze piercing deeply into Lin Feng. “But Lin Feng, you'd better watch yourself. This blade, if one is not careful, can hurt oneself. When that time comes, no one will be able to save you.”

With that, she waved her large sleeve, stirring up a fragrant wind, and led the female Immortals away without looking back at the mess. Though her back was still noble, it showed a hint of helplessness and desolation.

With the Queen Mother's departure, this farce seemed to have come to an end.

But everyone knew that the real storm had only just begun.

Lin Feng watched the direction the Queen Mother had left, then looked up at the Lingxiao Palace, which had long since regained its calm. The smile on his lips gradually faded, and his gaze became deep and cold.

“Using me as a blade?”

He murmured in a low voice. No joy or anger could be heard in his voice, only a heart-palpitating calmness.

“Master, this old emperor guy isn't honest either.”

Huang Fugui, on his shoulder, took off his sunglasses, his small eyes darting around as he whispered, “This is putting us on the fire to roast! Now the entire Heavenly Court knows you're his personal thug. From now on, we'll be a thorn in the side of the great families. We'll have to watch out for being jumped whenever we go out.”

“What's there to fear?”

Lin Feng lightly flicked the blade of the chaos asura blade in his hand, letting out a crisp and pleasant dragon-like hum.

“What's wrong with being a blade? As long as the blade is fast enough and hard enough, who cares who it's cutting?”

“And...”

A flash of wild and untamable light passed through Lin Feng's eyes as he sneered in his heart.

“He thinks he's holding the hilt?”

“Heh, this blade of mine has thorns.”