Chapter 383: Search
Chen Feng was in the midst of cultivating. With just a thought, he could feel the surrounding streams of immortal energy surge towards him before flowing into his body.
His longevity-type primary energy swiftly circulated and minute amounts of viscous liquid began emerging from every single pore on Chen Feng’s body. All of them were the impurities that his body was ejecting.
Truth be told, for cultivators at Chen Feng’s level, these things could not even be considered impurities yet. If it were not for the immortal energy, not even absorbing the energy from 10,000 Prized crystals would allow Chen Feng to get rid of these impurities.
This was a high-level advancement and replacement process. Compared to this high-grade immortal energy that he was absorbing, the spiritual energy that he had absorbed and refined in the past was ordinary and garbage.
During the cultivation process, Chen Feng could sense it. The more immortal energy he absorbed, the more vigorous his longevity-type primary energy became. The rate at which it was circulating was continuously climbing. The might of his fleshly body was also rising, and his muscles grew increasingly compact and durable.
His rate of cultivation was much higher than before.
If I can cultivate here from a young age, I would have overcome Lightning Tribulation long ago, Chen Feng thought.
Sensing the continuous rise in his cultivation base, Chen Feng began ignoring everything else. He ignored whether or not there were any dangers around him and silently continued his cultivation efforts.
Days passed and Chen Feng, Jian Xiaotian and Lin Shaokun continued to give it their all to cultivate themselves. The immortal energy around them never disappeared.
It did not take long for one month to go by.
As Chen Feng’s team of three were peacefully cultivating inside Pot Mountain, they were unaware of the chaos erupting outside.
In recent years, the biggest incident within the Northern Plains – with the exclusion of the emergence of Driftcloud Immortal Mountain – was of Chen Feng killing off the core disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace.
Nine Firmaments Palace had sent out their men to search for the whereabouts of Chen Feng’s team while offering rewards to the world of cultivation for them. As long as that person could either capture or kill Chen Feng’s team of three, regardless of who they may be, they would be able to receive the generous rewards from Nine Firmaments Palace.
Thus, all the loose cultivators within the Northern Plains were stirred. A Sacred artefact, a Sky-tier cultivation technique and one million Prized crystals. These things could cause the eyes of most loose cultivators to go red. Even some cultivators from the various great sects had secretly made their move. A Sacred artefact! What was that? It was something that most of the smaller sects could not even boast of.
Naturally, there were also some who secretly felt satisfied with the incident. They thought that Chen Feng was truly audacious and that he did a good job. At any rate, Nine Firmaments Palace was usually very arrogant. It was a sect that had offended countless people. They simply couldn’t say anything due to how powerful Nine Firmaments Palace was. To see Nine Firmaments Palace suffer a loss gave them a secret feeling of happiness.
However, some people then realized that there was no response from Extreme Celestial Sect. They were seemingly not revealing any reaction towards what was happening towards Chen Feng. Due to that, many cultivators felt shocked. At the same time, they also felt disdain towards Extreme Celestial Sect. Despite being one of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects of the Northern Plains, they were not doing anything in response to the fact that their disciple was openly getting hunted down. As a result, many cultivators lowered their opinion of Extreme Celestial Sect, slightly.
In the beginning, everyone believed that Chen Feng’s team was surely facing an inescapable calamity. They had offended Nine Firmaments Palace, after all. However, as the days went by, one news after another spread out through the world of cultivation.
In the beginning, it did not take long for someone to find Chen Feng’s team. However, the result was that their pursuers were all killed. Chen Feng’s team kept fleeing as even more loose cultivators rushed towards where Chen Feng was last seen. Even the disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace had stepped forward.
However, even more loose cultivators were killed while Chen Feng’s team of three remained alive. In the end, something even more shocking occurred. Chen Feng’s team suddenly disappeared without a trace. No matter how thoroughly these cultivators searched through the area where Chen Feng’s team was last seen, they could not find anything.
“What? Disappeared into thin air?” said a middle-aged cultivator within one of Nine Firmaments Palace’s outpost. He was one of the elders that Nine Firmaments Palace had sent out to hunt down Chen Feng.
“Yes. They have disappeared for quite a while now. At present, there are over 1,000 loose cultivators pursuing Chen Feng and the other two fugitives. All of them are cultivators who have overcome Lightning Tribulations before. However, they have been incapable of finding the whereabouts of Chen Feng and the other two. In fact, they could not find a single clue regarding their whereabouts.” The one responding was Lei Sha, a core disciple from Nine Firmaments Palace.
“Which area were they last seen before disappearing?” the elder asked.
“Pot Mountain,” Lei Sha said respectfully.
“Pot Mountain. Isn’t that just an ordinary place?” The elder felt puzzled.
“Since Chen Feng and the other two could utilize a teleportation array to jump through space to get out from Extreme Celestial Sect, they can surely repeat that again. If the three of them had utilized a teleportation array to escape from the area, or even the entire Northern Plains, it will become a tricky issue,” Feng Lang interrupted.
“Escape from the Northern Plains? It’s not that easy. Even with a high-grade Prized-tier flying-type magic treasure, it will take them a long time to do so, let alone the highly expensive teleportation array. These things consume a great deal of spirit stones,” the elder said.
“Elder. According to the latest piece of news, someone saw Chen Feng and the other two fleeing in a Skysoar Shuttle,” said another core disciple who entered the room.
“What artefact tier is the Skysoar Shuttle at?” The elder’s eyes flashed with light.
“It was extremely fast. It should be a top-grade Prized artefact,” the disciple replied.
“Top-grade Prized artefact. Its flight speed is definitely fast. However, it also uses up a great deal of spirit stones. In other words, they have not gone far. They must be hiding somewhere,” the elder said.
“Elder, what do we do now? Are we really going to let those loose cultivators kill Chen Feng and the other two? Even if Chen Feng and the other two are killed, this matter would become a shameful issue for us,” Lei Sha said.
“And what of it? Do not forget, in the world of cultivation, might makes right. Besides, it is precisely because we want to avoid getting shamed that we are not sending out our experts for this. If it weren’t for that, Chen Feng and his friends would have been caught, his strength notwithstanding. However, I didn’t think that these kids could possess quite the number of tricks up their sleeves. Especially that Chen Feng, he possesses a Sacred artefact. It will be difficult for those loose cultivators to capture or kill Chen Feng. Still, in order to avoid any mishaps, we should make our move,” the elder said.
“Yes!” Hearing the elder’s words, Lei Sha and the others revealed grins on their faces. Clearly, they had been holding back to the point of suffocation.
“By the way, is there any movement from Extreme Celestial Sect?” the elder asked.
“Extreme Celestial Sect’s Sect Leader is continuing with his cultivation retreat. Right now, their Department of Elders is the one making the shots. However, it is clear that Chen Feng has quite a high number of enemies within Extreme Celestial Sect. At present, some of their forces, with the Zhao Family in the lead, have come out to capture Chen Feng,” Feng Lang said.
“Humph! The Zhao Family is probably after the Sacred artefact in Chen Feng’s possession. Since this Chen Feng possesses a Sacred artefact, he probably has quite the background. I believe that not even Sage Enigma Flame can bring out a Sacred artefact, let alone give one to his apprentice,” the elder said.
“According to our investigations, Chen Feng came from Iron Sword Sect, a sect in Black Origin City, located within High Clarity Empire. It is a remote location where the strongest character is only at the Concealed stage. However, according to the rumours, Chen Feng had entered Driftcloud Immortal Mountain before. Perhaps he had obtained the Sacred artefact from the immortal mountain,” Feng Lang said.
“Driftcloud Immortal Mountain.” The elder’s face flickered.
“To be able to come out from Driftcloud Immortal Mountain, this Chen Feng is quite lucky. Fine. Let’s not tarry. Head out immediately. I want to see this little cultivator for myself,” the elder said.
This time, Nine Firmaments Palace brought out two flying-type magic treasures. The two of them had the shape of dragon boats and were called Flying Warships. Although the two Flying Warships were not Sacred artefacts, they were still high-grade Prized artefacts.
Nine Firmaments Palace’s emblem was hung above each of the two Flying Warships and all the cultivators who saw the two Flying Warships would quickly make way for them. Haughty, overbearing and unstoppable.
Nine Firmaments Palace dispatched a total of two elders and 20 core disciples. Although there were not many of them, even the weakest amongst them had overcome 3 Lightning Tribulations. As for the two elders, they had overcome 7 Lightning Tribulations. They could already be considered as the elites amongst the elites.
The forces from Nine Firmaments Palace moved quickly and arrived at Pot Mountain not too long after departing. After arriving, they began spreading out to search for Chen Feng’s team of three. They searched every inch of the area within a radius of 500 kilometres from Pot Mountain. However, they were unable to find any traces of Chen Feng and the other two.
“Did Chen Feng escape to some other place?” Lei Sha could not stop himself from saying.
“Even if they did manage to escape to some other place, as long as they have not left the Northern Plains, our Nine Firmaments Palace will be able to find them. Right now, however, it seems as though they had simply disappeared into thin air. How peculiar,” Feng Lang said.
It wasn’t just the core disciples. Even the elders had contorted expressions on their faces.
“What do we do?”
“Search carefully once again!”
This time, they expanded the range of their investigation. Three days quickly passed by, but there were still no clues. Additionally, there were also no news regarding Chen Feng’s team of three from the loose cultivators’ side.
“Elders, there are no news about Chen Feng. What should we do next?” Feng Lang stepped forward and asked.
“Don’t be anxious. The sect will send us some information soon,” said an elder in white robes.
He had only just spoken those words when a bright light suddenly shone up in the sky. The light moved quickly, like a meteor streaking through the sky.
It did not take long for the light to arrive before the two elders. Surprisingly, the light was actually a white bird, whose entire body shone with brilliant light.
“The information is here,” said another elder who sported black robes, a smile on his face. He extended his palm out and the white bird landed on the palm. Instantly, the bird transformed into a square-shaped piece of jade.
Pa!
The piece of jade burst apart, transforming into motes of light. The motes of light quickly moved about, condensing to form several shining words.
“Chen Feng is in Pot Mountain,” the two elders read in a whisper.
Pa!
Next, the words burst apart again and the motes of light disappeared.
“In Pot Mountain? How is this possible? This Pot Mountain is clearly just an ordinary mountain? We have practically turned it upside down by now!”
“Humph! Keep searching! Even if it means turning Pot Mountain upside down for real, you must find those three fellows!”
The two elders issued the order and the disciples had no choice but to continue searching. The two elders also joined the search, using their soul powers to carefully search the place.
After half a day, the core disciples began reporting the results of their search.
“Elder, there is nothing.”
“Everything appears normal. This is just an ordinary mountain.”
“There are no traces of Chen Feng and the other two fellows.”
The faces of the two elders grew even more distorted. They did not doubt the information given by the sect at all. They knew that it had to be accurate. However, they were incapable of finding Chen Feng and the other two. This meant that there was something wrong somewhere. That something was this Pot Mountain.