Of course, Gongsun Ye didn’t expect anyone else to understand the new, inexplicable fetish he had suddenly developed.

He coughed heavily, changing the subject. "Hong’er, I can turn a blind eye to you secretly practicing an Evil Skill, but are you really going to do something so sordid as to bring shame upon the Royal Family?"

"At that point, I’m afraid even His Majesty will no longer be able to feign ignorance..."

Hearing Gongsun Ye use the Emperor of Great Yan to pressure her, Gongsun Jinghong sneered endlessly. "His Majesty?"

"Let’s see if he can even get past Su Qingyu first!"

"Insolence!" Gongsun Ye rebuked. "You can’t possibly think His Majesty will lose to that madwoman, can you?"

Gongsun Jinghong shrugged. "Why would it be impossible? I’ve already placed a huge bet on Su Qingyu being the final victor!"

"And another thing, don’t give me that crap about shaming the Royal Family. You think what you’ve been doing with those Demon Bears doesn’t count as bringing shame to the Royal Family?"

"You... You’re outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"

Gongsun Ye was so enraged by his daughter that he trembled all over.

He had half a mind to charge over and teach her a lesson, but the problem was... he couldn’t win!

Even though Gongsun Jinghong seemed to be teetering on the brink of Falling into Demon at any moment, he, her own father, could no longer fathom her true strength.

"Alright, enough of this act. Has Father forgotten? Once he loses, the throne won’t be his to sit on anymore."

With that said, ignoring Gongsun Ye as he continued to fume and glare, Gongsun Jinghong descended from the Observatory by herself.

Staring after his daughter, Gongsun Ye was tempted several times to attack directly and suppress her by force.

After all, even though he couldn’t defeat her himself, there were plenty of elite Personal Guards around.

If they all swarmed her at once, they might stand a chance.

In the end, however, he didn’t dare to truly make up his mind. It had been a long time since he’d last seen her, and he felt that his daughter had become even more unfathomable than before.

He even started to wonder, ’Could this defiant daughter of mine have already broken through to the Second Grade?’

It wasn’t impossible.

After all, Gongsun Jinghong had always been acknowledged as one of the greatest geniuses the Royal Family had seen in decades.

This daughter of his wasn’t content to only practice the Royal Family’s exclusive Cultivation Skill; she had also secretly learned several Evil Skills, achieving considerable success in all of them.

The price was that Gongsun Jinghong’s temperament grew increasingly violent and perverse, and she was prone to flying into rages and doing absurd things at the slightest provocation.

Recently, she had begun showing signs that she could Fall into Demon and completely lose her mind at any moment.

Fortunately, Gongsun Jinghong was aware of this herself, which is why she had taken the initiative to lock herself away, trying every method possible to suppress the demonic nature within her body.

However, with Zou Feng actually breaking through to the True Qi Realm so quickly, who knew to what lengths Gongsun Jinghong’s recklessness would now go...

As he thought of this, Gongsun Ye, who ultimately still hadn’t dared to make a move, felt an unbearable agitation surge within him.

If this wicked flame was not released, he feared it would fester into an internal injury.

Fortunately, Gongsun Ye suddenly remembered that his subordinates had recently captured a few well-aged bears from the Southern Border.

They should have been washed clean by now, just waiting for him to pay them a visit.

At this thought, Gongsun Ye’s foul mood finally eased considerably.

The next moment, he couldn’t help but rub his hands together and stride quickly toward his "Golden House"...

「Elsewhere, in the wilderness outside Qingchuan City.」

Feeling a sense of weakness, Zou Feng temporarily stopped trying to utilize his True Qi and instead began to meditate to recover.

He meditated, and in the blink of an eye, it was the morning of the second day.

Only then did Zou Feng’s earlier feeling of weakness finally disappear.

However, he had merely recovered to his original state. It wasn’t like before, when after a full night of meditation and Cultivation, he would feel at least some growth in his cultivation progress.

In other words, after advancing to the True Qi Realm, a full night of meditative Cultivation barely restored his state, with no discernible progress in his Cultivation whatsoever.

No wonder Martial Artists of the True Qi Realm rarely showed their faces and took action personally.

They were either in Cultivation within their own sect gates, where Spiritual Qi was abundant, or they were like Su Qingyu, always finding some special place to cause a stir.

This also explained why, when the Celestial Essence Sword Sect had previously attacked Biyou Palace, the Sword Saint Jing Huaisong had been unwilling to use his full strength and settle the score with Su Qingyu on the spot.

And with Su Qingyu rushing back in time to exchange blows with Jing Huaisong, her upcoming battle with the Emperor of Great Yan would be filled with even more variables.

’Unless... she decides to play dirty and simply not show up for the battle?’

Opening his eyes, Zou Feng turned his head to look at the bushes to his left.

"Since you’ve come, why hide?" Zou Feng asked with a slight frown.

The moment his voice fell, a woman and two men shot out from deep within the bushes.

Zou Feng knew without even asking that all three were disciples of Biyou Palace.

The woman, who had the highest Realm, was at the Fourth Grade Realm. Judging from her attire and the fluctuations of her Gang Qi, she was undoubtedly from the Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes.

"Elder Zou, please forgive us. We arrived and saw you were meditating, so we dared not disturb your tranquil Cultivation..." the female disciple from the Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes said, performing a deep bow with fear and trepidation.

Ordinarily, a Fourth Grade personal disciple of the Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes would have a higher status in Biyou Palace than an Honored Guest Elder like Zou Feng.

In the past, if she had met him, she wouldn’t have needed to bow at all. A nod would have been more than enough for a greeting.

This was especially true given that these people should have already known that Yin Suhong, the Valley Master of the Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes, had died by his hand.

Therefore, as a personal disciple of the Valley of Ten Thousand Snakes, she should have at least put on a show of indignation toward Zou Feng.

But any of those "normal reactions" she might have had upon seeing Zou Feng had to be thrown out the window now that they discovered he had already advanced to the Third Grade. Instead, she had to obediently conduct herself as a junior.