Everlasting

 

The four old men walked around the site once, their turbid-looking eyes sweeping around ceaselessly. They looked like ordinary old men in search of some lost item.

“There is a total of 11 people. Their cultivation bases are not high. They are just at level 1 and 2 of the Sky Human stage.”

“Minor characters like these require people like us to come out? Isn’t this just overkill?”

“Humph! Catching these killers is already in the bag for us!”

Clearly, the four old men were looking down on Chen Feng and the others.

“Don’t be careless. Let me use my treasure mirror to check it out.” One of the old men brought out a thin mirror. Its surface had the appearance of water. It was as though the item was crafted using water itself.

“Big Bro, surely there is no need for you to waste this much power into this?” one of the old men said with a displeased tone.

“Hey, hey! This is a must. I want to see who has the guts to kill the disciples of our Nine Firmaments Palace,” Big Phenom Bro said as he stretched his hand out to tap the surface of the mirror. After a minor pause, ripples spread out from the mirror. It was as though someone had thrown a piece of stone into a calm lake.

Immediately after that, images appeared on the surface of the mirror. It was none other than the images of Chen Feng and the others, who were in the midst of killing off the disciples.

“It’s the Rewinding Treasure Mirror!” one of the disciples nearby exclaimed.

“To think that it’s that treasure. With that, we’ll be able to find the killer!”

“Eh? It’s Chen Feng! It is actually Chen Feng!” someone suddenly shouted.

Big Phenom Bro frowned. With a wave of his hand, the disciple who shouted earlier fell in front of him. 

“What did you just say?” Big Phenom Bro asked.

“Elder, the cultivator shown by the mirror is a wanted criminal that our sect is currently pursuing. His name is Chen Feng. The other two fellows are his companions. As for the others, I do not know them,” the disciple said, observing the mirror carefully as he did.

“So, the recent storm was caused by these minor fellows? Humph! In the beginning, they killed off four of our Nine Firmaments Palace’s disciples. Now, they are repeating their vicious feat once more. Fine. This time, we brothers will take action. Capturing them will be as good as done. It will be the equivalent of hitting two birds with one stone,” Big Phenom Bro said.

“Let’s go!” 

Next, the Four Old Phenoms displayed a spiritwalking technique to transform into streams of light with rainbow colours before disappearing into the sky. They had gone in the direction taken by Chen Feng’s group.

Chen Feng and his companions had killed off eight more core disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace. This news spread like a wildfire and all of the Northern Plains was aroused.

Nine Firmaments Palace raged while Extreme Celestial Sect showed calmness in comparison. As for the other sects, they gloated at the misery of those who had suffered. However, many loose cultivators were secretly toasting the matter joyfully. If Nine Firmaments Palace’s issue for the capture of Chen Feng was originally a small matter, it had unquestionably escalated. There were only a handful of cultivators left within the Northern Plains who had not heard of Chen Feng’s name.

The higher-ups of Nine Firmaments Palace were infuriated and they sent forth a high number of men to capture Chen Feng. At the same time, they also doubled the rewards offered. Due to that, the cultivators of the Northern Plains flew into a state of frenzy. Both the loose cultivators and cultivators from the great sects turned their attention towards Chen Feng. All of them hoped they could leave the sect to find and either capture or kill Chen Feng. Then, go to Nine Firmaments Palace and receive the rewards.

Extreme Celestial Sect…

Sage Enigma Flame was staying inside his grotto-mansion, both his eyes closed. His whole body was enveloped by a clump of flames. A detailed look would reveal that wisps of flames were continuously flowing in and out of every single pore on Sage Enigma Flame’s body. Anyone capable of seeing through his body would be able to see that it was not limited to his pores. There were flames burning and coursing ceaselessly through even Sage Enigma Flame’s skin, flesh, muscles, bones, internal organs and blood.

After a long time had passed, Sage Enigma Flame’s entire body shook and the surrounding streams of earthen fire were absorbed back into his body. At the same time, the streams of earthen fire erupting out from the nearby holes within the grotto-mansion flowed towards Sage Enigma Flame. All of them were absorbed by him.

Over 100 streams of earthen fire were refined by Sage Enigma Flame. Only then did the activity from the holes subside. Next, Sage Enigma Flame opened his mouth and ejected a black smoke out. When the black smoke made contact with the nearby wall, it immediately eroded out a one zhang square hole on the wall.

“Humph! I finally managed to force the water-type poison out. Zhao Family! You fellows joined forces with Nine Firmaments Palace to force my apprentice to run away. You even wounded me. I must settle this account with you fellows!” Sage Enigma Flame harrumphed, his eyes burning ferociously.

Next, Sage Enigma Flame left his grotto-mansion. He flew through Extreme Celestial Mountain at a rapid speed and it did not take him long to fly through a distance of over 500 kilometres. Finally, he stopped above a mountain. The mountain pierced a stretch of clouds and it was unknown just how tall the mountain was.

This mountain was different from the mountains belonging to the other cultivators. This mountain was grand and majestic. There were stacking cliffs and lakes around it and spiritual energy swirled about. Ancient trees grew there and an aroma of flowers wafted through the air even as flocks of birds and rare animals made their appearance known. It was a place that gave others the impression of natural harmony. Some would also feel this to be a place of ancient grandness. 

This mountain was the tallest mountain in Extreme Celestial Mountain, Extreme Celestial Summit. It was also the Sect Master’s place of residence.

“Sage Enigma Flame greets Sect Master!” Sage Enigma Flame came to the foot of Extreme Celestial Summit and shouted.

Before Sage Enigma Flame could shout out a second time, two cultivators, one male and one female, swiftly emerged to appear before Sage Enigma Flame.

“Sage Enigma Flame, the Sect Master is currently in cultivation retreat. And yet, here you are shouting so loudly. Where are your manners?” the male cultivator said coolly. He was simply putting him down.

“Humph! Jin Lin, what is this? After following Sect Master for some time, have you come to regard others as nobodies?” Sage Enigma Flame said with a ridiculing tone.

“Greetings, Sage Enigma Flame,” the gentle-looking female cultivator said smilingly.

“As expected, Junior Sister Shui is the courteous one.” Sage Enigma Flame smiled, nodding his head.

“All right! I am not going to exchange nonsense with you two. Now, tell the Sect Master that I have an important matter to discuss with him.” Sage Enigma Flame’s face took on a serious expression.

“No. Before the Sect Master entered his cultivation retreat, he had given us the order. No one is allowed to disturb him.” Jin Lin continued to speak with an indifferent tone.

“No! I must meet the Sect Master today!” Sage Enigma Flame’s face turned icy.

“Disturbing the Sect Master’s cultivation retreat without authorization is a crime punishable by death!” Jin Lin shouted.

“Whether or not it is punishable by death is not up to you.” After saying that, Sage Enigma Flame moved to go forward.

“Halt!” Jin Lin’s figure flashed forward to stop Sage Enigma Flame.

“It seems I have no choice but to take action.” Flames began burning within Sage Enigma Flame’s eyes. The power of fire within his body was like a volcano that would erupt at any moment.

“Shui Rou, what are you spacing out for?” Jin Lin shouted.

There was a wry smile on the female cultivator’s face as she too flashed forward to stand beside Jin Lin to block Sage Enigma Flame.

“Humph! Do you fellows think that you can stop me by joining forces? Whatever! Let me see if you two have made any progress recently,” Sage Enigma Flame said with a sneer. Without any overt actions from him, strands of gold-coloured flames seeped out from his body to quickly envelop his figure.

“I was just about to ask you for some pointers,” Jin Lin said. His body radiated rays of dark-gold sword energy, which swirled around him.

Beside him, Shui Rou sighed and waved a hand. Water balls were immediately condensed out from the air. Each of the water balls was only the size of a fist. However, they were crystal-clear and the power of water palpitated and grew ceaselessly within them. 

“Hey, hey! Attack of the Fire Dragon!” Sage Enigma Flame chortled and two wyrms, formed using streams of fire, charged out from his body. The fire wyrms brandished their massive claws as they rushed towards Jin Lin and Shui Rou respectively.

“Dark-gold Sword Beams! Cut! Cut! Cut!” Jin Lin swung his hand to send out three dark-gold sword beams in quick succession. All three struck the fire wyrm’s body.

The first sword beam cleaved the claws of the fire wyrm, the second sword beam cleaved the body of the fire wyrm and the third sword beam shattered whatever was left of the fire wyrm.

On the other side, Shui Rou waved her hand and the water balls suddenly converged to form a singular and large water ball. Next, the water ball expanded in size to envelop the fire wyrm charging at her.

“Heh! You’ve got some skills. Taste my Fire Flow Blades!” After saying that, Sage Enigma Flame opened his mouth and blew to fire a stream of flames out from his mouth. Surprisingly, the stream of flames consisted of countless fire blades. After shooting out from Sage Enigma Flame’s mouth, they spread out to blot the sky as they charged towards Jin Lin and Shui Rou.

“Enigma Flame! Since you are using your killer moves, do not blame me for being rude!” Jin Lin’s face sank. A dark-gold sword had suddenly appeared in his grasp and he swung, creating sky-encompassing sword beams. The sword beams and fire blades clashed against each other, releasing an endless number of sparks.

Shui Rou stood before him, setting up a thick layer of water shield, which blocked off the attacks from Sage Enigma Flame.

As their battle was growing in intensity, a formidable power descended from above and every single attack that the three of them had unleashed disappeared. The three of them felt as though Mt Tai had descended upon them. Reflexively, they backed away.

When the three of them were finally able to steady themselves, they discovered that there was a middle-aged man standing in between them. This man wore white-coloured clothes and looked like a scholar. However, he possessed a strong and upright stature, with bright and profound-looking eyes. Although there was nothing about his appearance that was particularly striking, his simple action of standing there brought about a sense of shock into their hearts.

“Greetings, Sect Master!” Sage Enigma Flame and the other two fellows were first taken aback. Then, they simultaneously bowed towards the middle-aged man.

He was none other than the Sect Master of Extreme Celestial Sect, Wan Jiecheng. He was in charge of the millions of Extreme Celestial Sect disciples, holding jurisdiction over a territory spanning hundreds of thousands of li and a Human Immortal. He was a character who could cause the Northern Plains to quake with just a stamp of his foot.

“Enigma Flame, I know why you are here,” Wan Jiecheng said calmly, looking at Sage Enigma Flame.

“Sect Master, forgive me for asking, but how do you plan on dealing with this issue? At present, the entire Northern Plains is watching our Extreme Celestial Sect while the Zhao Family is making sneaky moves. Humph! The Zhao Family and the elders from Nine Firmaments Palace joined forces to wound me. I must thoroughly settle this account with them!” Sage Enigma Flame said, gnashing his teeth.

“I will take care of this issue. I have a medicinal pill here. Take it to help you recover.” After saying that, Wan Jiecheng flicked a finger and a fiery-red medicinal pill flew forward to hover before Sage Enigma Flame.

“A Sky-tier medicinal pill, the Fire Essence Pill. Sect Master is truly generous. However, my apprentice had participated in the sect’s Grand Competition before this. Winning the first place was a sure thing for him. Sect Master, please give me the Heart of Seven Apertures,” Sage Enigma Flame said as he shoved the Fire Essence Pill into his mouth. It was as though he was simply eating candy.

“Humph! That apprentice of yours didn’t go through with the competition to the end. Besides, the Heart of Seven Apertures had been awarded to the winner of the Grand Competition. Our sect does not have a second Heart of Seven Apertures,” Jin Lin interjected.

 

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km