Everlasting

 

Observing the stone men emerging from the stone pillars, Chen Feng felt a sense of peculiarity. Were all the stone pillars alive?

Despite the peculiarity, Chen Feng was not afraid. At any rate, he had fought them before and had already figured out the combat strength of the stone men.

“They only have physical attacks and not magic. They will be easy to handle.” After saying that, Chen Feng strode forward and sent a heavy punch forward. The stone man had only just walked out from a stone pillar when the punch sent it flying tens of metres away. It then smashed into the ground and broke into pieces.

Given Chen Feng’s level of strength, even a cultivator at the domain power realm could be torn to pieces with one punch. As for Purplebolt, he was the human form of a Great Yao. When it came down to it, Purplebolt’s combat power was even stronger than Chen Feng’s combat power. Furthermore, the fleshly body of the yao race was naturally stronger compared to humans. Adding the fact that Purplebolt possessed some innate abilities, he became an incredibly powerful bodyguard and helper for Chen Feng.

Purplebolt was faster than Chen Feng in dealing with the stone men. Each of them took practically just one punch and all of them burst apart in quick succession. By the time Chen Feng finished off the three stone men before him, Purplebolt had already broken five stone men down.

“Senior brothers! Please help!” The besieged cultivators saw Chen Feng and Purplebolt. When they saw how easily they finished off the stone men, they seemingly saw hope.

Chen Feng sent another stone man flying and said solemnly, “Let’s carve a path forward.”

There were eight cultivators in the besieged group. Every one of them was injured, some sporting pale expressions on their faces. Clearly, they were about to run out of strength and magic power while there were at least 30 stone men around them. However, that number continued to rise.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Chen Feng and Purplebolt smashed their way forward and any stone man standing in their path would be sent flying. The two of them carved a path forward using the might of their fleshly bodies alone.

Finally, the two of them met up with the besieged cultivators.

“I thank you two for the assistance,” said one of the cultivators gratefully. He was dressed in white.

“Don’t talk about that first. For now, follow me and cut a path out,” shouted Chen Feng. With a punch, he sent yet another stone man flying. Chen Feng was utilizing a soft form of power and his punch did not break the stone man to pieces. After having confronted them earlier, Chen Feng noticed something. Although the stone men possessed an astonishing level of combat power, they were not as smart as humans. In the event that their strengths were equal, the stone men would be no match for human cultivators.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Compared to Chen Feng, Purplebolt’s attacks were more ferocious. Every attack from him would shatter a stone man. The might of his fleshly body caused even the adjacent Chen Feng to secretly praise him.

One hour later, Chen Feng finally led the group of cultivators out of the encirclement. Seeing the stone men stop pursuing them, they finally stopped.

“I am Wu Tian from Skypond Faction. My thanks to you two for saving our lives. May I know your names?” The leader of the group, the cultivator in white, stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

“Chen Feng, from Extreme Celestial Sect. It is just a matter of lifting a finger. You fellows should heal up your wounds first,” Chen Feng said with a smile.

“You are a disciple from Extreme Celestial Sect? Why don’t I recognize you?” interjected a young cultivator whose entire body was stained with blood.

“There are so many inner disciples, how can you know them all?” Chen Feng replied with a grin.

“What? You are an inner disciple? Impossible! Forget inner disciples, even amongst elite disciples, experts on your level are rare,” the young cultivator said suspiciously.

“He he, would I lie to you fellows?” The smile on Chen Feng’s face faded.

“That is not what I mean. You took action to save us just now. No matter who you are, you are our benefactors. My name is Luo Bo, an elite disciple from Extreme Celestial Sect,” said the young cultivator with respectful tone. 

“All right. That is not important. You fellows should focus on healing up your wounds first. I get the feeling that this place might not be safe,” Chen Feng said.

Amongst the eight cultivators, four hailed from the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects of the Northern Plains. The other four, however, were loose cultivators. Originally, there were 16 of them in total. However, half of them were killed in the earlier battle. Furthermore, some amongst the surviving eight were stricken with severe injuries. It would be difficult for them to recover quickly.

Observing the cultivators work on healing their wounds, Chen Feng could not stop knitting his brows. These cultivators’ cultivation bases were quite decent. Unexpectedly, they had suffered from such severe injuries. Chen Feng felt worried. He did not believe the stone men were the only threat within the stone forest.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Feng turned around and asked, “Luo Bo, are there any other Extreme Celestial Sect disciples here?” 

“There are a few. However, we split up not long after entering this stone forest,” Luo Bo replied.

“I wonder, why did Senior Brother Chen enter this stone forest?” Luo Bo asked curiously.

“I heard from Jade Talisman Sect’s Yu Jingyang that there are Extreme Celestial Sect disciples here. Thus, I came over,” Chen Feng replied smilingly.

“Yu Jingyang, he is not a good fellow,” Luo Bo quickly said.

“Brother Chen, I think Yu Jingyang must have been harbouring malicious intentions when he informed you about this matter.” Wu Tian walked over.

Chen Feng had a fairly good impression of Wu Tian. He possessed the highest cultivation base amongst the group, but he suffered the most wounds. It meant that Wu Tian had been fighting the hardest in the earlier battle.

“He he, now I know that he had been harbouring malicious intentions. I got lost right after entering this place. I wonder when I can go out,” Chen Feng said with a chuckle.

“When I see Yu Jingyang again, I must give him a good lesson. That kid, he dares deceive cultivators from Extreme Celestial Sect!” Luo Bo said with a displeased tone.

“You can no longer see him in the future. There is nothing left of him now,” Chen Feng said, grinning.

“What? Could he be dead already?” Wu Tian, who was beside Chen Feng, asked curiously.

“It isn’t just Yu Jingyang. Even Yu Luoping as well. They were both killed by a yao beast.” Then, Chen Feng gave them a rough account about the incident involving the Two-headed Icefire Wyrm.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! Excellent! A well-deserved death! Those fellows from Jade Talisman Sect do not possess great cultivation bases, but are always insufferably arrogant. Not to mention, they fancy themselves as superior figures. To think that they would end up dying in such a manner. How laughable!” Luo Bo could not stop himself from laughing out.

“It has been 10 days since we entered this stone forest. We haven’t found a single clue about this place and we cannot fly out. If this keeps up, I fear we will die here.” Wu Tian shook his head and sighed.

“Not necessarily. The magic array might have gaps in between. It is possible that we simply haven’t found it,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Even so, we don’t even know what other dangers are present inside this stone forest. The stone men alone were capable of killing so many of our companions. If there are other dangers, given how injured all of us are right now, we will surely be incapable of defending ourselves,” Wu Tian said.

“I have some medicinal pills here. Although the grade is not very high, it should still be useful for your wounds.” After saying that, Chen Feng brought out two bottles of medicinal pills and handed it to Wu Tian and Luo Bo.

“Top-grade Human-tier medicinal pills, Pure Essence Pills!” Wu Tian said in joy.

As disciples from the great sects, Wu Tian and the others also carried some decent medicinal pills with them. However, after entering the immortal mountain, they had encountered a series of dangers. Thus, they had consumed almost all the medicinal pills on them. When they saw medicinal pills of such grade, their rate of breathing immediately turned ragged.

“There are 100 pills in each bottle. You fellows can share them. I will stand guard for you fellows,” said Chen Feng with a smile.

Fortunately, the day passed without any incident. With the exception of the few cultivators who suffered the most grievous wounds, everyone else had more or less recovered.

“Let’s go somewhere else. We shouldn’t stay in the same place for long in order to avoid luring those stone men over,” Chen Feng suggested.

No one objected. However, just as they were getting ready to leave the place, something happened.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

Sharp spikes suddenly shot out from the ground. Instantly, two cultivators were thoroughly pierced by the spikes.

“Not good! Everyone, careful!”

Chen Feng and Purplebolt were the fastest to respond. When the spikes first emerged from the ground, Chen Feng was quick to bring out Bloody Soul. With a swing of his hand, lance silhouettes filled the sky and the spikes were smashed to pieces before they could reach Chen Feng.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

It wasn’t just from the ground. Even the surrounding stone pillars began turning liquid and sharp spikes shot out from the stone pillars. A high number of spikes shot through the sky; wave after wave of the spikes assaulted Chen Feng and the others.

What kind of attack is this? Could there be a yao beast hiding in the dark? Chen Feng thought to himself as he parried the incoming spikes.

Puchi!

Another cultivator’s defence was broken through and he was utterly pierced by the spikes, his body becoming like a hedgehog.

Chen Feng brandished Bloody Soul. Although there were plenty of spikes, Chen Feng’s defence was not something that the spikes could break through any time soon. As for Purplebolt, he brought out a sword which flashed with purple-coloured lightning bolts. Swinging his sword around, the spikes were all shattered.

Wu Tian and Luo Bo grouped together. As they fended off the incoming spikes, they quickly rushed towards Chen Feng. In their opinion, only by staying beside Chen Feng could they escape their current predicament.

Finally, the two of them arrived before Chen Feng. At the same time, the spike attacks coming from all around them suddenly stopped and calmness returned to their surroundings, leaving only a spike-filled ground and the several cultivators who had been pierced beyond recognition by the spikes.

Due to the sudden attack, six of the eight-member group had died, leaving only Wu Tian and Luo Bo alive. Looking at the miserable sight of their companions, their eyes reflexively turned red. That was especially true for Luo Bo, who had wanted to rush forward after the spike attacks stopped. However, Chen Feng held him back.

“Don’t move around recklessly. The danger is not over yet,” Chen Feng said grimly.

Around 10 metres away from Chen Feng’s group was a circular and tall stone pillar. The stone pillar was around 10 zhang tall; it was so thick that two people would be required to circle around it. Appearance wise, it had been finely carved out. At that moment, however, a change was occurring to the stone pillar.

It became like a burnt piece of wax, twisting like a kneaded dough. Next, a large palm swiftly and silently emerged from the stone pillar before performing a grasping motion at Chen Feng and the others.

1 zhang = 3.333 m