Everlasting

 

Seeing the silhouette pouncing towards him, Chen Feng hurled Mo Lie forward while hastily flying backwards.

Kacha!

A cracking sound rang out as blood splattered about. Mo Lie did not even get the chance to scream before the black silhouette bit him to death.

A large ape appeared before Chen Feng. It was at least one zhang tall and grey-coloured fur covered its entire body. Every hair on its body was like a steel needle. Its four limbs were thick and bulky; its nails were as sharp as swords and its fangs were as sharp as blades. It puffed up its body, revealing the muscles on its body, giving off an explosive atmosphere of power.

Half of Mo Lie’s body was still within the large ape’s hands while the other half was already inside its stomach.

This was Chen Feng’s first time encountering such a ferocious ape. More importantly, the ape was a Great Yao. As such, after a brief moment of shock, Chen Feng unleashed a formidable sword energy to cover him. Both his feet kicked out, sending his figure soaring up as he charged high into the sky.

As Chen Feng already knew that the ape was a Great Yao, he had no desire to fight it. Given his current cultivation base, he was still no match for a Great Yao. Even the most average Great Yao was stronger than him. Not to mention, he was presently inside the immortal mountain. Earlier, Chen Feng had only given the ape a perfunctory glance. Yet, he could already determine that the violent ape was not to be underestimated. For safety’s sake, he decided that running away was the best option.

Chen Feng’s response was quick, so too was his movement speed. However, the violent ape was even faster. The moment Chen Feng leapt up into the sky, the ape followed suit. Moreover, it managed to rise above Chen Feng and followed up with a slap down at Chen Feng.

Pa!

Chen Feng’s figure shot back down, crashing through a thick foliage before smashing heavily into the ground.

In that exchange, the shield of sword light protecting Chen Feng’s body was easily broken apart. However, Chen Feng swiftly bounced up from the ground. Snickering, he then dashed away as swift as a leopard.

Bang!

The violent ape smashed down the ground as well. Surprisingly, cuts had appeared upon the surface of its palm. Although those cuts were very shallow, blood had begun trickling out from the cuts.

In fact, the sword energy that Chen Feng unleashed earlier had come from the Overwhelming Astral Sword. By slapping Chen Feng down from the sky, the violent ape ended up getting slightly injured.

Following that, however, Chen Feng quickly realized that it was harder to shake off the violent ape by running through the forest. The violent ape had been living within the forest since birth, after all. The ape’s large figure vaulted a few times through the forest and it caught up to Chen Feng.

I cannot escape. Chen Feng quickly turned around and Bloody Soul spun as it stabbed towards the Great Yao.

Seeing the attack unleashed by the demonic artefact coming its way, the Great Yao dared not act carelessly. It kicked with both feet to jump up, dodging Chen Feng’s attack. Next, a series of cracking sounds rang out as thick branches became like spears to shoot towards Chen Feng.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

Chen Feng furiously brandished the lance in his hand and the branches descending from the sky were all shattered.

Bang!

The violent ape swung a thick tree trunk down at Chen Feng. Using both hands to hold the bloody lance, Chen Feng blocked the incoming attack and felt a mountain-like pressure press down on him. Due to that pressure, Chen Feng was knocked away and he tumbled across the ground, creating deep craters each time his body smashed the ground. It was an extremely miserable sight.

Hu!

The violent ape swung the tree trunk again to brutally hammer Chen Feng. The intense power it was unleashing caused even the surrounding big trees to tremble.

Sou! Sou!

With a wave of his hand, Chen Feng rapidly sent two chains out from his body. One of the chains wrapped around the violent ape while the other one wrapped around a distant tree trunk.

Those were none other than the Longevity Chains. When Chen Feng last broke through, the longevity primary spirit had further increased the tangibility of these condensed weapons, greatly improving their grade. They were no longer the roughly-formed weapons that Chen Feng usually used.

Sou! Sou!

Like a viper, the Longevity Chain flying towards the violent ape quickly swirled around it and swiftly wrapped the violent ape up.

The other Longevity Chain quickly retracted, jerking Chen Feng towards it. As Chen Feng’s figure was soaring up from the momentum, he stretched his hand out again to send another Longevity Chain forward to wrap around another distant tree. Repeating the same move again and again, Chen Feng swung rapidly through the forest.

This move was originally the way apes moved through forests. At that moment, Chen Feng utilized that very move to escape the murderous pursuit of the violent ape.

“Roar!”

A roar reverberated outwards. Next, snapping sounds could be heard. Chen Feng knew that the Longevity Chain bounding the violent ape had been broken. However, Chen Feng had already covered a distance of over 1,000 metres by then. Naturally, there was no longer any need for him to fear the violent ape’s pursuit.

Sou!

Riding the Overwhelming Astral Sword, Chen Feng swiftly charged into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from sight, leaving only the violent ape who roared out continuously.

Chen Feng flew for thousands of li before landing. If it were not for the fact that Purplebolt was still in recovery, Chen Feng would have chosen to suppress the violent ape.

At that moment, however, Tower was unresponsive while Purplebolt was still not fully healed. Thus, Chen Feng could only depend on his own power to explore the interior of the immortal mountain.

Chen Feng hid atop a large tree and cultivated for two days before venturing forward once more. Venturing forward and stopping for a bit, Chen Feng repeated that as he explored. On the 10th day, Chen Feng encountered another group of cultivators.

“Fellow cultivator.”

As Chen Feng was wondering if he should talk to them, the other party took the lead and greeted him first.

After a moment’s consideration, Chen Feng then flew towards them at a normal speed. As he flew, he quickly inspected the cultivators in the group.

Every one of the cultivators was hovering above a treetop. There was a total of six cultivators, five males and one female. All of them appeared young. Giving them a glance, Chen Feng determined that all six were disciples of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects.

These people’s cultivation bases are quite good. The highest amongst them has reached level 9 of the Concealed stage. Impressive. Even the weakest amongst them has condensed out his Soulflame. Looking at it that way, my cultivation base is the weakest here, no? Chen Feng thought.

“Greetings.” Chen Feng moved forward and bowed courteously with a smile.

As Chen Feng was regarding them, they too were staring at him. Chen Feng saw that there were surprise, contempt and doubt on their faces. Seeing that, Chen Feng knew that all six of them could see that his cultivation base was at level 4 of the Concealed stage.

One of the cultivators, dressed in white, looked at Chen Feng and said arrogantly, “Which sect are you from?”

A hint of disdain could be seen in his eyes. Clearly, he was looking down on Chen Feng.

“I am Chen Feng, an inner disciple from Extreme Celestial Sect,” Chen Feng said coolly with a smile on his face. He revealed no other emotions. The cultivator in white clothes was only at level 6 of the Concealed stage. His Soulflame was far inferior compared to Chen Feng’s.

“So, he is someone from Extreme Celestial Sect.” The six cultivators nodded before retracting their gazes.

“How long have you been inside? Did you meet any other cultivators?” The cultivator in white continued to question Chen Feng in an arrogant manner. It would appear that he truly considered Chen Feng as a minor character. 

Observing the expression on the cultivator’s face gave Chen Feng a feeling of loathing. He wanted nothing more than to knock him down and stamp him down a few times. However, Chen Feng maintained the smile on his face. 

In this regard, Chen Feng felt himself becoming a hollower person.

“I have been inside for quite some time, staying inside this forest. The cultivation conditions here are quite good,” Chen Feng replied with a smile.

“You are quite lucky,” the cultivator in white said unenthusiastically.

“He he. If I may, how should I address you fellows?” Still smiling, Chen Feng asked.

“Humph!” The cultivator in white responded with a harrumph and did not answer.

“I am Liu Tian, a disciple of Nine Firmaments Palace.” It was then that one of the six cultivators, clad in faint, gold-coloured magic robes, spoke up.

Seeing him speak, the others grew stunned. This Liu Tian was the strongest amongst them. Possessing a cultivation base of level 9 of the Concealed stage, one more step would allow him to reach the Sky Human stage. Unexpectedly, he would take the initiative to talk to Chen Feng. Additionally, he was the one to first call out to Chen Feng earlier.

Liu Tian, a member of Nine Firmaments Palace. An odd look flashed across Chen Feng’s eyes. He recalled the incident with Purplecloud Sky Grotto’s Magic crystal mine. There was a Nine Firmaments Palace disciple known as Liu Mu there.

Liu Tian, Liu Mu. Could these two fellows be related? Chen Feng wondered.

I already have an enmity with Nine Firmaments Palace. Not to mention, I also killed four disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace a few days ago. If this Liu Tian finds out, he will likely attack me on the spot, right? Chen Feng pondered.

“Tie Changkong, Sword Hall,” a cultivator carrying a sword behind his back said coolly.

“Ah! So, it is a Senior Brother from Sword Hall. This junior is an old friend of your sect’s Mo Xigui.” Chen Feng immediately revealed a pleased expression of surprise.

“So, you are a friend of Junior Brother Mo.” Tie Changkong nodded, a faint smile appearing on his glacial face.

“Why don’t I see Brother Mo this time?” Chen Feng moved forward to ingratiate himself with Tie Changkong.

“Junior Brother Mo is in cultivation retreat to cultivate out his domain power,” Tie Changkong said with a smile.

Hearing that stunned Chen Feng. Back when they were adventuring together in Demonsoul Valley, Mo Xigui had only reached the condensed Soulflame realm. Unexpectedly, after such a short time, he could already begin cultivating his domain power. This rate of cultivation was quite shocking.

“Flowing Cloud Hall’s Shangguan Yun,” said the only female in the group with a smile.

“She is actually from Flowing Cloud Hall?” Chen Feng had noticed the female cultivator right from the start. Wearing faint, cyan-coloured magic robes, she possessed a graceful-looking body, an elegant and decorous expression and a faint smile on her face. It was a sight that gave others a feeling of comfort.

“Xu Ziping, from the Central Plains,” said one of the cultivators, a smile on his face. It was a very infectious smile.

“Central Plains.” Chen Feng was shocked once more. He did not think that the people he encountered this time around would have such backgrounds.

“Liu Xihua, from Starfall Sect,” said another cultivator. There were star dots on the magic robes he wore.

Finally, only the cultivator in white remained. Seeing the others introducing themselves, his face turned stiff. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Ling Fei, from Transcendent Firmaments Palace.”

So, he is actually a disciple of Transcendent Firmaments Palace. No wonder he is so arrogant. However, he is the weakest amongst this group. If not for Liu Tian’s protection, killing him would be very easy. Chen Feng sneered to himself.

“Since Junior Brother Chen is a member of Extreme Celestial Sect, that makes us part of the same immortal dao path. Are you interested in joining us? With more people, our strength grows. This way, we’ll have a better chance of surviving through this unfamiliar place,” Liu Tian said.

Liu Xihua and Liu Tian’s surnames have the same spelling ‘liu’ but they are different. Liu Xihua’s surname is (刘) while Liu Tian’s surname is (柳).

 

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km