Everlasting

 

“Could there be a passageway leading to the Demon Plane here? That shouldn’t be the case. How could a passageway exist here?” The same puzzled tone could be heard within Tower’s voice. It appeared he could not understand what was going on.

“He he he, didn’t you claim to be an existence superior to Immortal artefacts? Could there be things that you are not aware of?” Chen Feng laughed.

“Humph! This is because I lost most of my memories. If not for that, there are not many matters pertaining to orbital worlds that I do not know of,” Tower replied arrogantly.

“Brag harder, won’t you?” Chen Feng could not stop himself from smiling.

“Humph! Once my powers are fully restored, you will know.” Tower became somewhat furious due to the humiliation.

Following the tracks left by the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters, Chen Feng carefully advanced. Finally, he saw a Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunter, the first one today. The Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunter was lying still on the ground. It appeared to be asleep.

Chen Feng did not wake up the demonic beast. Instead, he silently circled around it. Soon enough, Chen Feng saw a second, third and fourth Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunter. Chen Feng slowly crept forward and the number of Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters he saw rose beyond a hundred. Additionally, it would appear that the number was gradually increasing.

A Phantom Beast. Chen Feng saw a Phantom Beast. Seeing the demonic creature that favoured sneak attacks lying openly on the ground together with the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters gave Chen Feng a peculiar feeling.

Could I have come to the Demon Plane? Chen Feng could not stop himself from wondering.

“He he, this is definitely not the Demon Plane. There is no demonic energy here. No wonder those demonic beasts have to venture out to suck human blood,” Tower said with an amused tone.

“It is good that this is not the Demon Plane. If it is, I would probably be unable to get out,” Chen Feng said with a smile. 

“Humph! What is so great about the Demon Plane? In the past, be it the Immortal Plane, Yao Plane or Nether Plane, all were places that I can visit whenever I wish. No one could stop me.” Tower raised his voice slightly.

“Fine, fine. I get that you are very powerful. However, that is in the past. Before you recover your powers, you should not say these things.” Chen Feng shook his head. It appeared he found Tower’s tone somewhat insufferable. 

Seeing the ever-increasing number of Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters and Phantom Beasts, Chen Feng said to Tower with a concerned tone, “I think I should retreat. This place is too dangerous. If something happens and I end up getting besieged by these demonic beasts, I have no confidence in escaping.”

“What is there to be afraid of?” Tower said with a tone of disdain.

“Even though I have just entered this place, I have already seen more than 300 demonic beasts. Additionally, who knows how many more of them there are up ahead? The way I see it, even the Demon Plane would not have so many demonic beasts gathered together all the time, right?” Chen Feng said.

“Once my power has gone up or if I could get my hands on a high-grade Invisibility Talisman, I can return.” Chen Feng nodded.

“Heh heh, if you back out now, I can confidently say that you will regret it,” Tower said with a mysterious chortle.

“Regret? Why? Could there be something good here?” Chen Feng hastily asked.

“Naturally. If I am not mistaken, there should be a secret technique here. Moreover, it is a very powerful secret technique,” Tower said with an amused tone.

“Secret technique? A very powerful secret technique?” Chen Feng was shocked. For Tower to call something powerful, that technique must certainly be extraordinary. If so, even if the place was bursting with danger, Chen Feng would have to check it out. 

“He he! I cannot be completely certain about it. However, I believe it is not too far off. Don’t worry. If any danger pops up this time around, I will help out.” Tower snickered.

“If that is the case, I will have to go check and see what lies before me.” With Tower’s assurance, Chen Feng was able to settle his mind.

Next up, Chen Feng noticed a pattern. The demonic beasts were fanning out. In other words, the further in he went, the more of them he would find. At the same time, however, it meant that he was close to reaching the central point.

“There are so many demonic beasts here. If all of them rush out, how many humans will suffer?” Chen Feng was in a slight daze.

“If all these demonic beasts rush out, it would be just a matter of time before human cultivators utterly killed them all off,” Tower said coolly.

When a huge and magnificent palace suddenly appeared within the desolate and lifeless world, Chen Feng knew that he had found the central point.

There was only one palace there, tens of zhang tall and white in colour. Looking at it from afar, it appeared like a fortress that had been embedded into the ground, fusing with the land as one. Appearance wise, it seemed as though the palace was built using ordinary stones and materials. However, Chen Feng could sense an extremely ostentatious and overbearing aura pummelling outwards. It was as though there was a peerless, savage beast lying within the fortress, devouring the vitality of the surrounding world. Sensing the unparalleled tyranny of the aura, the longevity-type primary energy within Chen Feng’s body shook slightly (1 zhang = 3.333 m).

Death. The place was even more deathly than the other areas. Not a single trace of life could be seen.

“Can you sense it?” Tower suddenly asked.

“A devouring power that is somewhat similar to the Longevity Scripture’s technique,” said Chen Feng after a moment’s consideration.

“He he, that is right. It is none other than devouring power. Moreover, it is the most powerful type of devouring power amongst the orbital worlds.” Tower laughed.

“The most powerful type of devouring power? Even more powerful compared to the Longevity Scripture’s Heavengulping Absorption Technique?” Chen Feng was in disbelief.

Although Chen Feng had only grasped a minute portion of the Longevity Scripture’s Heavengulping Absorption Technique, he knew just how overbearing the technique was. It could practically allow him to absorb and utilize all the essence energies in his surroundings. If it were not for this technique, Chen Feng’s cultivation base could not have advanced so quickly. Even more so, he could not have condensed out his Soulflame so quickly.

Chen Feng had believed that the Heavengulping Absorption Technique was the most monstrous cultivation technique in the world. According to Tower, however, the surrounding devouring power was – unexpectedly – even more powerful compared to the Heavengulping Absorption Technique. Chen Feng found it hard to believe. 

“You will understand later.” Tower laughed.

I wonder what exactly awaits inside this palace. However, I believe it must be a demonic beast from the Demon Plane. Additionally, it must be a very powerful demonic beast. Chen Feng’s Soulflame flickered from within his eyes as his soul power rippled outwards in an attempt to inspect just what kind of existence was within the palace.

Tens of Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters were lying on the ground outside the palace. Although they appeared motionless, Chen Feng could sense the light tremors running across their bodies. It seemed they were deeply fearful.

Could the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters be fearful of the thing inside the palace? Chen Feng thought.

As Chen Feng was reconsidering whether or not to enter the palace to inspect, the strands of soul power he sent out shuddered. A chilling, bloodthirsty aura swiftly swept out from within the palace. 

Not good! Chen Feng was shocked. He wanted to retract his soul power but the chilling aura coming from within the palace was extremely fast. It succeeded in wrapping up Chen Feng’s strands of soul power. Immediately, a formidable devouring power engulfed Chen Feng’s soul.

Chen Feng acted decisively, giving up on those strands of soul power while retracting the rest back into his sea of wisdom.

As expected, the very next moment, the strands of divine sense that Chen Feng left outside were completely devoured by the chilling and bloodthirsty aura.

What a formidable devouring power! I believe it now. Chen Feng was endlessly shocked. Chen Feng could feel it. It was a pure form of devouring power. Although the grade of the technique did not appear above that of his own Heavengulping Absorption Technique, the force of the devouring power was many times higher.

Next, a more peculiar spectacle unfolded before Chen Feng’s eyes. A black clump of smoke rapidly flowed out from the palace to envelop the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters lying on the ground. The Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters began trembling at an even greater rate.

Zi! Zi! Zi!

Sizzling sounds could be heard coming from within the smoke as the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters enveloped by the black smoke began to shrivel up. Finally, they became dried-up corpses as all the essences within their bodies were utterly sucked away.

“Impressive. Every one of those Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters was the equivalent of a human cultivator with Soulflame. And yet, they could not fight back at all as they were sucked dry.” Chen Feng was once again shocked.

“Heh heh. How about it, kid? If you can cultivate out this devouring power and complement it with the Longevity Scripture’s Heavengulping Absorption Technique, just how powerful would it become?” Tower said with the same amused tone.

“Dominating, simply dominating. However, we should deal with the problem right before us.” After saying that, Chen Feng pulled out Bloody Soul.

After devouring the Demonic Bloodthirsty Hunters, the clump of black smoke did not flow back. Instead, it quickly shot towards Chen Feng to devour him as well. Clearly, the entity inside the palace had discovered Chen Feng.

Sou!

Chen Feng did not back away. Instead, he charged forward. Bloody Soul transformed into a bloody silhouette, which stabbed towards the black smoke up front.

“Let’s see which is stronger, your devouring power or my Bloody Soul,” Chen Feng sneered.

As Bloody Soul was just about to stab into the black smoke, the black smoke churned like the clouds. Strange-looking black tendrils wrapped around the bloody lance and Chen Feng felt a potent devouring power acting on Bloody Soul. Next, Chen Feng was shocked to find that the monstrous demonic artefact was beginning to lose its vitality at an alarming rate.

Weng! Weng! Weng! Weng!

Bloody Soul seemingly became infuriated. Finally, it unleashed a violent aura and the demonic artefact’s power kept rising.

However, it was to no avail as Bloody Soul’s power kept getting devoured.

“Hah!”

Chen Feng bellowed and abruptly stamped his feet against the ground. His entire body shuddered and he swung Bloody Soul, rotating it non-stop to knock away the entangling tendrils. Aware of just how strong the black smoke’s devouring power was, Chen Feng dared not utilize his soul power. Instead, with a thought, he sent his Overwhelming Astral Sword and Bloody Soul out to simultaneously attack the strange-looking black smoke.

Next up, Chen Feng grew even more shocked. During the subsequent clashes, the black smoke had managed to entangle both the Overwhelming Astral Sword and Bloody Soul a few times. Chen Feng noticed then that even the smallest contact with the black smoke would result in the black smoke devouring away a high amount of his magic treasures’ power. The peculiar scenario caused Chen Feng’s confidence to gradually fall.

“Longevity Blade!”

A ferocious astral blade hacked down heavily against the black smoke before Chen Feng. However, it was as though he had hurled a pillar of fire into the vast ocean. Although it managed to evaporate a bit of the ocean’s water, the vast ocean was able to quickly swallow up the pillar of fire, all of it. All that was left in its wake were pointless ripples.

“Just what the hell is this thing?” Chen Feng could not stop himself from cursing.