After setting the terms with Chu Feng, Jie Yan and the others began using special methods to relay information to their respective forces, dispatching people at the fastest possible speed to transport Mystic Pearls to the Supreme Villa.
As a precaution, they also drew up several backup plans to ensure that within ten days, they would gather one million and fifty thousand Mystic Pearls for Chu Feng.
While Jie Yan and the others were busy beyond belief, Chu Feng, on the other hand, was enjoying himself with carefree leisure. He spent his days drinking and playing chess with Xu Zhongyu, Gu Bo, and the fellow juniors from the Spirit World Guild — when he wasn't doing that, he was chatting and socializing.
He even joined the female disciples of the Supreme Villa who were unaware of the situation, drinking and having fun with them until he was thoroughly enjoying himself. He was the picture of carefree ease.
This drove the people who had been lurking in the shadows watching Chu Feng day after day — enduring wind and sleeping rough — to endlessly curse him under their breath. But all they could do was curse silently in their hearts.
After several days of this, the moment arrived for the most important part of the Marriage Assembly. All the original participants gathered once more atop that mountain peak.
Even the sect-master-level figures who had been hiding in the shadows all along made their grand appearances at this time, drawing waves of astonished gasps and cheers from the crowd.
Those who didn't know the true situation genuinely believed that the Supreme Villa was so prestigious it had invited all these overlord-level figures from various powers to attend and lend their support.
According to the rules established before the Marriage Assembly, the beautiful women who had participated began publicly declaring their preferred partners. As long as the person in question agreed, a marriage union would be formed.
It had to be said that Chu Feng truly had a way with women. He had become, after only Jie Qingming and Xu Zhongyu, the most popular person among them. Out of a hundred women, seven stood up and publicly confessed their feelings for Chu Feng, saying they wished to become his wives and hoping he would take them away.
This situation left Chu Feng stunned, made others envious, and drove the self-important men like Tang Yixiu, Bai Yunfei, Song Qingfeng, and Liu Xiaoyao to grit their teeth in fury.
Because no matter how they looked at it, they could never have imagined that in a contest of charm, they would lose to Chu Feng — that brat they all looked down upon.
But what no one expected was that faced with the confessions of seven beautiful women, Chu Feng rejected every single one, refusing to be with any of them. This outcome sent shockwaves through the crowd, causing one cry of surprise after another.
However, compared to Chu Feng, there was someone even more extreme — and that was the little beauty who had drawn the most attention at this entire Marriage Assembly, Zi Ling.
Zi Ling, whom countless people regarded as a saintess, whom everyone had been eagerly anticipating, simply never showed up at all. She refused to attend the Marriage Assembly, citing her seclusion in cultivation.
Furthermore, she had someone deliver a message on her behalf: she already had a man in her heart. As for who that man was, she would reveal it personally after emerging from seclusion.
The Supreme Villa could do little about this situation. After all, Zi Ling's identity was special, and it was difficult for them to demand or command her to do anything.
Still, to show their sincerity, the Supreme Villa earnestly invited all the participants of the Marriage Assembly to extend their stay until Zi Ling emerged from seclusion and announced who her beloved was.
And it had to be said, Zi Ling's popularity was truly remarkable. Nearly ninety percent of the men chose to remain, hoping to hear Zi Ling's declaration with their own ears and to catch one more glimpse of this peerless beauty.
Of course, many of them were still harboring grandiose dreams, hoping that they might be the man in Zi Ling's heart — that she would choose to become their wife.
Several more days passed after that. Only one day remained until the agreed-upon deadline. It was said that Jie Yan and the others had gathered almost everything they needed, and the one million Mystic Pearls were nearly all accounted for.
And on that very day, Vice President Gao Qizhi of the Spirit World Guild — who had previously agreed to some of Chu Feng's requests — arrived at Chu Feng's quarters.
"Young friend Chu Feng, this is what you need. I personally refined it for you during these days of seclusion." Gao Qizhi handed a Universe Bag to Chu Feng.
After inspecting its contents, Chu Feng found two pills inside, along with twenty-three special attack talismans.
One was a forbidden drug of extraordinary potency — the most terrifying forbidden drug Chu Feng had ever seen. If he consumed it, his cultivation should be able to leap four full stages, reaching the seventh stage of the Xuan Martial Realm.
With that, combined with the lightning power in his blood, Chu Feng's cultivation would reach the ninth stage of the Xuan Martial Realm. At the ninth stage of Xuan Martial, wielding such a formidable weapon — even just thinking about it, Chu Feng himself knew how terrifying he would become.
Besides this incredibly powerful forbidden drug, there was also a healing pill. This pill had clearly been prepared by Vice President Gao specifically for Chu Feng.
He knew what Chu Feng intended to do, so he had deliberately prepared this healing pill to serve as some measure of relief when the backlash from the forbidden drug came surging in, to ease the pain of the backlash.
As for the twenty-three attack talismans, they were even more remarkable. The power contained within was truly terrifying — they could effortlessly tear through blue barriers, and if a Heaven Martial Realm expert was struck head-on by one of these talismans, they would likely face grim prospects, perhaps even be annihilated entirely.
Such attack talismans couldn't be produced by ordinary Blue-robed Spirit World Masters. It required a top-tier expert with extremely rich experience, profound strength, and masterful command of barrier power to accomplish such a feat.
"Vice President Gao, I truly appreciate your hard work. I will engrave this kindness in my heart, and I will repay you in the future."
Chu Feng looked carefully at Vice President Gao and found that in these few short days, the old man had aged considerably. His eyes had sunken and lost their luster, and his face was pale and bloodless — as though he were gravely ill.
Chu Feng didn't need to guess why Vice President Gao had become so haggard. It must have been because of the tremendous effort he had expended refining these items for Chu Feng — exhausting not just his energy but likely even consuming part of his own lifespan. The sacrifice was enormous.
"Young friend Chu Feng, please don't say such things. As the Vice President of the Spirit World Guild, yet unable to protect you — I feel shame in my heart." Vice President Gao sighed helplessly, his face full of remorse.
"Vice President, the Spirit World Guild is truly a wonderful organization. Though my time there has been brief, many people in the Guild have given me, Chu Feng, the feeling of family."
"Take you, for instance. We have no relation by blood, yet simply because I am a member of the Spirit World Guild, you have gone to such lengths for me. Chu Feng is truly grateful from the bottom of his heart. So please, don't feel ashamed."
"Because the one who should feel ashamed is me. I know exactly what kind of person I am — someone who acts without considering the consequences, who is extremely impulsive and loves to stir up trouble. No one can clean up after me, because it's an impossible job."
"But I, Chu Feng, have both the ability to cause trouble and the ability to resolve it. I can live perfectly well relying on myself."
"So please rest easy. Tomorrow, I will leave this place safe and sound. They won't be able to hold me — they'll only pay the price for their own greed." Chu Feng spoke with absolute conviction, his face brimming with confidence.
Looking at Chu Feng like this, Vice President Gao let out a relieved smile. "I must say, you are the craziest young man I've ever met. But at the same time, you are also the young man I admire the most."