Everlasting

 

They were neither capable of beating the giant stone man nor escaping from it. It was certain death and yet, Chen Feng and Purplebolt were incapable of letting up. A failure to counter attack meant the failure to hold the giant stone man back.

 “Scram, insects!” A giant fist fiercely shot out, sending both Chen Feng and Purplebolt flying.       

“This fellow’s defence is simply impenetrable. My lightning attacks are practically ineffective.” Purplebolt’s face sank. This was a first for him.

“A pity, I have yet to open up my Fire acupoint.” Chen Feng shook his head. Besides overpowering physical attacks, fire attacks would be the best against this giant stone man. Unfortunately, he had only opened up his Wood acupoint, which was not too useful for the present situation.

“Appearance wise, this stone man possesses a fairly high level of intellect. It must have been around for quite some time. What a peculiar stone forest.”

“How about trying to destroy it from the inside?”       

Chen Feng and Purplebolt swiftly discussed the matter in an attempt to find the giant stone man’s weakness. However, after spending some time examining it, they concluded that escape was the best option.

“Heh! You two ants! Have you resigned yourselves to die?” Once again, the giant stone man attacked. It would appear that the giant stone man’d had enough fun. It no longer intended on continuing its fight against Chen Feng and Purplebolt and began unleashing its killer moves against them.

Its giant palm swiftly opened up, abruptly expanding in size to arrive before Chen Feng in a flash. The winds it brought forth were so intense, Chen Feng found it hard to breath.

“Taste my Shadowless Goldshine Blade!” Chen Feng swung, and a ferocious, flaming blade slashed down on the giant stone man’s palm.

Kacha!

The result of the slash went beyond Chen Feng’s expectations. Two of the giant stone man’s fingers were cut. However, Chen Feng was sent flying by the slap.

“I’ll hold him!” Purplebolt rushed forward and resumed his flurry of attacks against the infuriated giant stone man. This time, he revealed his true form. His massive wyrm body gave off a greater atmosphere of deterrence and he immediately wrapped up the giant stone man.       

Roar!

Seeing the giant stone man bellow in rage, Chen Feng used the opportunity to slip into its mouth. Having entered the giant stone man’s body, Chen Feng realized that his earlier assumptions were wrong. 

Magic arrays. There were magic arrays everywhere. Earlier, Chen Feng had assumed that the giant stone man was made purely of rocks. 

“Indeed, this giant stone man is different compared to the lesser stone men. To think that there could be so many magic arrays inside its body. However, they should be easier to destroy.” After saying that, Chen Feng furiously stabbed out with Bloody Soul. Immediately, a series of explosions erupted from the magic array that was right before Chen Feng. The explosions were so powerful, it caused Chen Feng’s figure to tumble about.

The giant stone man who was in the midst of fighting Purplebolt instantly halted. However, it quickly recovered.

Thanks to the soul link between Chen Feng and Purplebolt, Chen Feng was able to clearly see the halt in the giant stone man’s movements. He grew overjoyed as he knew that his attacks were bearing fruit. Thus, he continued exerting his all to stab forward, again and again, causing more magic arrays to burst apart.

Chen Feng continued advancing while utilizing brute force to destroy the magic arrays around him. Following his actions, the giant stone man’s actions began slowing down.

“Great, it’s here!” Chen Feng’s eyes lit up as he swiftly rushed forward. The bloody lance in his hand shot forward, unleashing sky-encompassing lance silhouettes. Next, Chen Feng leapt and his hand reached out to grab a circular, greyish stone orb.

The very moment Chen Feng grabbed the stone orb, the giant stone man came to a complete halt. Then, its whole body shook vigorously as layer after layer of stone began falling off its body.

Bang!

Purplebolt used the opportunity to unleash a lightning bolt, which blew a hole through the once-invincible giant stone man. Cracks then spread out across the giant stone man’s body.

Bang!

The giant stone man’s head blew up and Chen Feng jumped out from the explosion. He then followed it up with a large palm silhouette attack, accelerating the rate at which the giant stone man was shattering apart.

Crash!

It did not take long for the giant stone man to crumble into a mountain of stone fragments. Without the control imposed upon it by the giant stone man, the surrounding stone forest combat array collapsed.

Chen Feng and Purplebolt quickly grabbed Luo Bo and Wu Tian before flying out from the place.

“Huh! That was truly dangerous. I was nearly killed by the stone man. However, what is this stone orb?” Chen Feng regarded the stone orb in his hand before tossing it into the Longevity Tower.

After Chen Feng’s group left, the stone fragments scattered across the ground began flying around haphazardly. One by one, the stone fragments sank into the surrounding stone pillars. Soon enough, there were no more stone fragments left on the ground and the surrounding stone pillars regained their normal state. It was as though nothing had happened at all.

Naturally, Chen Feng, who was tens of li away, knew nothing about what happened.

At that moment, Chen Feng was helping Luo Bo and Wu Tian recover. The two of them were seriously injured and must be treated soon, otherwise they might end up dying.

“Like I said, these two are just extra baggage,” Purplebolt, who was standing beside them, said with a dissatisfied tone. He’d had to go all out in the earlier fight, but ended up not getting anything at all in return. Thus, he felt highly displeased.

“Shut your mouth! It seems you don’t want the Two-headed Icefire Wyrm’s yao core anymore,” Chen Feng reprimanded loudly.

Purplebolt immediately grew quiet. Behaving himself, he simply stood nearby, not daring to say anything else. At present, the item on Chen Feng’s person that Purplebolt wanted the most was the 8 Lightning Tribulations yao core. Even if he could only refine a small portion of that yao core’s energy, it would still be infinitely useful towards him.

After finally opening his eyes, Wu Tian said gratefully, “Brother Chen, thank you for the assistance.”

“Brother Chen, it seems we are dragging you down,” said Luo Bo with an embarrassed tone.

“We are from the same sect, saving each other is part of our duty. The wounds on your bodies are no longer an issue. Right now, I am worried about how to get out from this stone forest. Who knows if there are any other threats here besides the stone men,” Chen Feng said thoughtfully.

The stone forest was quite peculiar. It was not a good place for cultivation. Of course, that was because the cultivation bases of Chen Feng and the others weren’t high enough.

“Purplebolt, you stand guard. I will be practicing cultivation for a bit.” Knowing that both Luo Bo and Wu Tian needed some more time to recover, Chen Feng did not simply wait. He continued with his own cultivation practice as he attempted to open up the other acupoints in the Five Elemental acupoints.

Despite his feelings of frustration, there was nothing Purplebolt could do about it. He could not defy Chen Feng’s orders. He could only blame himself for falling into Chen Feng’s hands.

However, just as Chen Feng was planning to begin his cultivation practice, an earth-shaking, explosive sound erupted from afar. Next, loud soundwaves spread towards their location through the ground. The ground quaked and Chen Feng could sense the waves of formidable earthen power within them.

“What is going on? Could more stone men be appearing?” Chen Feng said.

“No. I sense spatial power fluctuations,” Purplebolt said with a frown.

As a Great Yao who had overcome 1 Lightning Tribulation, Purplebolt’s soul and divine sense was superior compared to Chen Feng’s.

“Spatial power? Come, let’s go check it out.” Without saying anything else, Chen Feng helped Luo Bo and Wu Tian, who were focused on recovering, up and brought them with him as he flew towards the source of the sound.

Soon, a towering, ancient-looking teleportation array appeared before their eyes. Seeing the teleportation array, Chen Feng immediately grew overjoyed.

“Finally, we can leave this damned place!” Chen Feng reflexively let out a smile.

“It might lead to a more dangerous place,” Purplebolt, who was beside him, said with a questioning tone.

“Regardless of whether the path ahead is dangerous or not, it is surely better than being trapped inside this place,” said Chen Feng with a smile as he walked into the teleportation array. 

Apparently, the teleportation array had only just emerged from the ground. When they saw the teleportation array, even Wu Tian and Luo Bo revealed looks of joy. They felt so joyful, the pain from the wounds on their bodies lessened considerably.

“In any case, the appearance of a teleportation array is a good thing. Let’s not hesitate. We should hurry up and leave this place to avoid any other unforeseen circumstances.” Having said that, Chen Feng sent a stream of primary energy into the circular pillar beside him.

Sou!

Immediately, Chen Feng felt the primary energy within his body getting sucked away at an alarming rate. When the teleportation array finally activated, 80 % of Chen Feng’s primary energy had been sucked away. As Chen Feng had already experienced this before, he quickly took Pure Essence Pills to replenish the primary energy that was lost.

Rumble!

A loud rumbling sound rang out as a spatial passageway was opened up. Next, an overwhelming spatial power enveloped Chen Feng’s group of four and they were teleported away.

“I wonder where we’ll end up?” Luo Bo blurted out. He was both excited and concerned.

“We’ll know soon enough,” said Chen Feng with a smile.

It was truly fast. No sooner did Chen Feng utter those words did light flashed out before their eyes. Next, they saw countless cultivators standing before them. Some of them were charging towards them with blood-red eyes.

“This is?”

Chen Feng’s group of four stared with looks of disbelief, their eyes wide open. It was as though the scene before them was an illusion.

“Did we make it out?” There was a slight tremor within Wu Tian’s voice.

“That is probably the case.” Chen Feng, too, felt excitement in his voice.

By then, a group of cultivators had arrived before Chen Feng’s group. Some of them stretched their hands forward to seize them.

“Courting death!”

Before Chen Feng could even react, Purplebolt, who was beside him, attacked. With a wave of his hand, he created a massive dragon talon, which swept forward. The group of cultivators charging at Chen Feng’s group was thus sent flying away. Meanwhile, those who attempted to seize Chen Feng’s group ended up with bloody holes on their bodies, thanks to the claws on the dragon talon.

“Kill! Kill these fellows! There must surely be treasures on them!” Although Purplebolt’s terrifying attack managed to force them to retreat, it did not take long for more cultivators to charge forward.

“I am Extreme Celestial Sect’s disciple! Do you fellows have a death wish?” Luo Bo suddenly shouted.

“I am Skypond Faction’s disciple!” shouted Wu Tian.

As expected, the charging cultivators grew shocked. Then, some of them backed away. However, there were still a few who continued to furiously charge forward.

“I recognize you fellows! You are loose cultivators with no sects backing you! You dare impersonate immortal dao sect disciples? You fellows are the ones courting death!” one of them shouted and the others quickly followed suit. They unleashed their killer moves in quick succession, wanting to quickly kill off Chen Feng’s group of four.

1 li = 0.5 km