Everlasting

 

The sudden encounter with Chen Feng caused the rage within Liu Mu’s heart to erupt. Liu Mu was someone who could be considered a cultivation genius and he was not exactly a narrow-minded person. However, since Chen Feng gave him the slip back in Purplebolt Mountain, Liu Mu had always wanted to find Chen Feng and set the record straight.

Naturally, there was no way he would let Chen Feng go now. Even Chen Feng’s status as a disciple of Extreme Celestial Sect was useless to him. In the Northern Plains, Nine Firmaments Palace feared no one.

Following the call to attack, all eight of them launched their attacks simultaneously. Although the disciples of Nine Firmaments Palace were haughty, they did not look down on their enemies. They had chosen to utilize their strongest killer move right from the start, the Eight Trigrams Array.

Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian knew that allowing their enemies to complete the Eight Trigrams Array would mean a tough battle for the two of them. Thus, the instant the other party attempted to activate the Eight Trigrams Array, the two of them attacked. Furthermore, they chose to unleash their strongest moves right from the start.

With a roar from Skyroar Spiritsword, a rampaging sword beam blasted forward. The beam seemed desirous of cleaving apart all that stood in its path.

On Chen Feng’s side, all the sources of power within his body were spurred into action. His streams of primary energy circulated several times faster than before and his various opened insight acupoints sprayed out wave after wave of formidable power at the same time.

Next, Bloody Soul seemingly transformed into a blood dragon, howling and smashing its way forward. The tip of the lance vibrated intensely. Every vibration it made caused a layer of space standing before its path to break.

Chen Feng was utilizing Bloody Soul to unleash one of Longevity Lance’s move. Since advancing to a grade 3 Prized artefact, Bloody Soul’s power had doubled. 

That one attack seemed capable of piercing even Heaven itself.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jian Xiaotian’s sword attack sent three opponents flying, making it so that they could no longer set up the Eight Trigrams Array.

Puchi!

Chen Feng’s attack was even more vicious. His lance pierced right through one of his opponents.

“What a powerful sword energy! You are from Sword Hall!” one of them shouted in panic, pointing at Jian Xiaotian.

“Kill them all!” Even as the person was shouting, Chen Feng had stabbed another opponent to death.

The remaining cultivators began fleeing in separate directions. They were very fast to react. Seeing the tables turning against them, they immediately fled.

Shua!

Jian Xiaotian displayed a swift slash and one of the escaping cultivators was cleaved in half.

By then, the haughty disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace were all shaking in their boots. The only thing they could think of was how to escape. There was barely any effort to resist.

In total, Chen Feng was able to kill off three cultivators while Jian Xiaotian killed two. However, three cultivators managed to escape. Amongst them was Liu Mu.

“Split up and chase! We have to kill them all, otherwise there will be troubles!” Even as he spoke, Chen Feng charged in pursuit of one of the fleeing cultivators.

Jian Xiaotian did not spout any nonsense. He too, knew that these fellows cannot be allowed to escape. If they did, it would bring him endless problems.

An hour later, Chen Feng met up with Jian Xiaotian.

“They got away. This space is too peculiar. Even though I had locked on to the other fellow’s aura, it disappeared.” Chen Feng shook his head. He felt depressed. When he was pursuing the cultivator earlier, his Thousand Seeker Mirror suddenly ceased functioning. It was as though a strange power was affecting the Thousand Seeker Mirror.

“Me too. However, I was more unfortunate. I was ambushed by a yao beast and was nearly wounded,” Jian Xiaotian said.

“Killing five core disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace will bring a huge problem. I fear that not even my sect can protect me,” said Chen Feng, who shook his head with a wry smile.

“Brother Chen, you don’t appear too worried about it,” Jian Xiaotian asked with a smile.

“Ha ha! Worrying about it cannot change what will happen. If the sect cannot protect me, I will simply have to leave. Besides, just because Nine Firmaments Palace wants to create troubles for me doesn’t mean I will simply roll over and accept it,” Chen Feng said with a carefree smile.

“Good! Brother Chen has an open mind. You have the ability to let go. Your future is immeasurably bright. If Brother Chen is willing, you can come to my Heavenly Sword Faction. This Nine Firmaments Palace can only throw their weight around in the Northern Plains. In the Central Plains, Heavenly Sword Sect makes the rules!” Jian Xiaotian laughed out.

“The Central Plains. I will definitely go there, but not now. However, Brother Jian, you cannot be careless yourself. No matter how you cut it, the both of us had killed off the disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace. I have the status of a disciple from Extreme Celestial Sect to protect me. Meanwhile, even though your Heavenly Sword Faction is powerful, here in the Northern Plains, you can only be considered as an outsider. Nine Firmaments Palace will not let you go,” Chen Feng said.

“Ha ha! There is nothing to worry about. If it comes down to it, I can simply leave and return to the Central Plains. Besides, this is the Seven Kills Direlands. Those three fellows might not be able to return alive. Even if they don’t die by our hands, there is the possibility of them dying to one of the yao beasts here.” Jian Xiaotian laughed. He did not appear too worried.

Although Chen Feng had spoken about the matter casually, he was secretly worried. In the Northern Plains, the three great sects, Nine Firmaments Palace, Transcendent Firmaments Palace and Purple Firmaments Palace, were highly overbearing existences. If Liu Mu and the others managed to make it back to their sect, they will never let this slide. Meanwhile, Chen Feng was just a minor Concealed stage cultivator. He did not believe that Extreme Celestial Sect would choose to antagonize those three great sects for the sake of one minor disciple.

Liu Mu and the others were not ordinary disciples. Rather, they were core disciples, cultivators who had already overcome Lightning Tribulation. Nine Firmaments Palace had likely found out about those disciples’ deaths the moment Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian killed them.

Five core disciples were killed in one fell swoop. For the immortal dao sects of the Northern Plains, this was a big issue. Furthermore, those were disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace.

Thus, Nine Firmaments Palace would most certainly attempt to take revenge immediately. The first to receive their wrath will be Jian Xiaotian. If Jian Xiaotian cannot leave the Northern Plains immediately to head back to the Central Plains, he would undoubtedly die.

At the very least, that was what Chen Feng believed.

Next, Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian ventured forward together, relying on their senses to track Liu Mu and the other two disciples.

“I can hear a bellow coming from up ahead. It must be the yao beast I encountered earlier. Earlier, it nearly wounded me with a sneak attack. Now that we have grouped up, let’s finish it,” Jian Xiaotian said.

“What kind of yao beast is it?” Chen Feng asked.

“It is an Earthen Python!”

As expected, it did not take long before Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian caught sight of an earthen-yellow python. It was in the midst of battling a cultivator. The surrounding plants were flattened as a result of their battle and the ground was battered badly. It was quite a shocking sight.

“It’s that Earthen Python. It nearly gulped me down earlier. I wonder if it also gulped down that disciple from Nine Firmaments Palace that I was chasing?” Jian Xiaotian said.

“Hopefully, that disciple was eaten. Speaking of which, this fellow is quite strong. I wonder if he is just a loose cultivator or a disciple from some other sect.” Chen Feng revealed a surprised look as he watched the cultivator fight the Earthen Python, forcing it to slither about rapidly.

This fellow was not too tall or muscular. However, the gilded staff in his hand emanated a daunting atmosphere. Every swing of the staff could shatter a small mountain. The Earthen Python, which appeared even stronger than the Wolf King, was getting its ass handed to it to the point of seeing stars. 

Although there were countless types of magic treasures in the world of cultivation, cultivators with flying swords make up the majority. From what Chen Feng could gather, cultivators who utilized staffs usually possessed mighty fleshly bodies, beefy muscles and overbearing offensive techniques like Lu Ta.

However, seeing the figure of the staff-wielding cultivator surprised Chen Feng. 

“Impressive. This fellow has overcome at least 3 Lightning Tribulations. Brother Chen, you have never heard of such a powerful cultivator?” Jian Xiaotian said with a surprised tone.

“No, the Northern Plains is too big. I myself only recognize a few cultivators from my own sect, let alone the cultivators outside,” Chen Feng replied with a chortle.

“I had originally planned on joining forces with him to kill off that snake. However, it would appear that is no longer necessary,” Jian Xiaotian said.

“Eh? Something else is happening!” Chen Feng suddenly said, a smile appearing on his face.

The Earthen Python found an opening and slipped out. Coincidentally, it was rushing towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian.

They felt the ground quake. Next, the Earthen Python was before them. As Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian were planning to attack, the Earthen Python suddenly shrank before swiftly drilling down the ground.

“Thinking of escaping?” Both of Chen Feng’s feet stamped downwards, causing the ground to quake violently. Stones and soil were thrown into the air and even the Earthen Python was blasted out by the earthen power.

Bang!

Jian Xiaotian quickly rushed out to land a heavy blow on the Earthen Python, causing it to flip about in the air.

It was then that the young cultivator with the gilded staff rushed over. He swung the staff and smashed the Earthen Python’s head.

Pa!

The Earthen Python’s head burst like a broken watermelon. Next, the young cultivator beckoned with one hand and a fist-sized yao core flew into his hand.

“Thank you for your help.” As Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian was gaping at what just happened, the cultivator moved to stand before them, the gilded staff resting on his shoulder.

Only then did Chen Feng manage to get a good look at the cultivator’s face.

Judging by his face, he should be around 20 years old. Naturally, in the world of cultivation, a person’s face alone was not indicative of his or her age.

He possessed a small face and healthy facial features. His pair of eyes would occasionally radiate sharp glints of light. When he opened his mouth, his white teeth were revealed. The glance gave Chen Feng a feeling that this fellow should be quite young. 

“It’s nothing worth mentioning,” Jian Xiaotian said with a smile.

“I just want the python’s yao core. You two can have the rest.” After saying that, the youngster waved his hand and left.

“Err.” Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian had only just wanted to say something when they realized that the youngster had disappeared.

“This Earthen Python has already overcome several Lightning Tribulations. Every part of its body is a treasure. Unexpectedly, he had simply tossed it away. What a strange fellow,” Jian Xiaotian said with a wry smile.

“He is very strong. However, he left too quickly, I had wanted to ask his name.” Chen Feng shook his head.

“Hurry, look at this!” Jian Xiaotian’s eyes suddenly lit up. Next, he reached out with his hand and a sword flew out from a nearby patch of grass into Jian Xiaotian’s grip.

“This looks like a weapon from Nine Firmaments Palace.” Chen Feng picked up the sword and inspected it. Next, he sent his soul power into the sword.

“The soul imprint left inside has disappeared. It seems this sword’s owner was eaten up by the Earthen Python,” Chen Feng said.

“Looks like our luck is quite good. Another disciple down. In other words, there are only two left. Hopefully, our luck will continue going strong,” Jian Xiaotian said happily.

“There is luck all right. However, it is not good luck. Rather, it looks like bad luck.” The smile that had been on Chen Feng’s face turned into a bitter one.

As Chen Feng was speaking, the smile on Jian Xiaotian’s face too, disappeared. Next, the great sword on his back transformed into a stream of light to flow into his grasp.

Chen Feng immediately brought out Bloody Soul.