Everlasting

 

Hearing Chen Feng’s words, anger glinted across the two black-clad cultivators’ eyes. However, they suppressed their rage. Since they had no confidence in dealing with Chen Feng, they decided against provoking him. Instead, they moved to the side to continue their cultivation.

“Eh? The youngster managed to fend off the two black-clad cultivators’ attacks! Am I hallucinating?” one of the cultivators there exclaimed. 

“Impressive. The two black-clad cultivators were acting so imperiously earlier, and yet, they are incapable of taking care of those two youngsters. Looks like the two youngsters are not to be underestimated. They might be the disciples of the Ten Great Immortal Dao Sects.”

“Hey, even if the disciples from those sects come here, what can they do? The way I see it, those two youngsters must possess some high-grade magic treasures, otherwise the two fellows would not have backed away.”

“Humph! Have you fellows not been paying attention to what is going on in the world of cultivation all this time? Those two are clearly Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian,” a cultivator suddenly whispered.

“Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian. You mean the two wanted criminals that Nine Firmaments Palace is currently after?” a nearby cultivator gave up on his cultivation practice and asked instead.

“It’s them. That Chen Feng is a disciple from Extreme Celestial Sect while the one known as Jian Xiaotian has an even bigger background. It is said that he is a disciple from the Central Plains’ Heavenly Sword Faction!”

“So what? Now that they have offended Nine Firmaments Palace, the two will not have long to live. I have heard that it isn’t just Nine Firmaments Palace. A considerable number of cultivators from Purple Firmaments Palace and Transcendent Firmaments Palace had also died to these two fellows. Speaking of which, I truly respect these two fellows. They are truly incredible!”

“Shh, lower your voice! Don’t provoke any troubles. Be wary of him silencing us!”

As they were discussing the issue, Chen Feng’s eyes suddenly swept over. Both his eyes felt like two sharp swords, causing a slight sensation of iciness to wash over them.

“Is he really going to kill us? Damn it! If only I had known, I would have kept my mouth shut.” Sensing Chen Feng’s gaze, cold sweat oozed out from the cultivators’ bodies.

However, Chen Feng had only given them a glance before turning away. Neither Chen Feng nor Jian Xiaotian had changed their looks. Thus, it was only normal for others to recognize them. Killing off everyone who recognized him? Chen Feng did not believe he was strong enough to do that.

Still, Chen Feng was surprised. He didn’t think that he was so famous. Everywhere he went, there would be cultivators who could recognize him.

Given the current circumstance, I will have to practice cultivation for now. The Longevity Tower was incapable of collecting the meteorite for now. Additionally, even Jian Xiaotian was cultivating. Thus, all Chen Feng could do was to quietly study the marks on the surface of the meteorite.

In the beginning, Chen Feng ignored Tower’s warnings and directly studied the holes covering the surface of the meteorite.

Earlier, Tower mentioned that the holes were created by a void storm. I want to see just what kind of void storm that is. Chen Feng was curious and his gaze fell upon a thumb-sized hole. His soul power slowly circulated.

“Sigh, forget it! This kid needs to suffer before he’ll be honest.” Seeing Chen Feng’s show of obstinacy, Tower did not stop him.

Weng!

The instant Chen Feng circulated his soul power, he sensed a change happening to the hole. The ordinary-looking hole transformed into an incomparably deep black hole. To Chen Feng’s surprise, there were countless hurricanes raging within the black hole. Those were not ordinary hurricanes. Rather, they were tribulation winds that cultivators must overcome to reach the Human Immortal stage. It was a mysteriously violent power within the cosmos, a true storm born from the void. 

This storm could easily destroy the stars. Even colossal cultivation worlds would be torn apart in its wake. The more powerful ones could even reduce said cultivation world into nothingness.

At that moment, an immeasurably powerful void storm was emerging from the hole to assail Chen Feng.

It was not a physical assault. Rather, it was a form of will, the manifestation of spirituality. It was something even more severe compared to the damage inflicted by a physical attack. All Chen Feng could feel was a piercing pain in his eyes before everything turned dark and he could no longer see anything. His mind was racked with immense pain. To his shock, it had ripped a hole within his sea of wisdom. The soul power within his sea of wisdom fell into a state of turmoil and his blazing Soulflame shrank by a notch.

“Umph!”

Chen Feng did not step backwards. Instead, he fell to his buttocks as both his hands moved to cover his eyes. Blood was continuously flowing out from the gaps between his fingers. If it were not for the fact that there were so many cultivators around, Chen Feng would have fled into the Longevity Tower.

“Brother Chen, are you all right?” Jian Xiaotian, who had only just finished his cultivation session, noticed that Chen Feng was wounded.

“I am fine. It is just a minor injury.” Chen Feng waved it off. He was in the process of channelling his cultivation technique to heal the wounds in his body.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Seeing that, Tower gloated at Chen Feng’s predicament.

“Serves you right. Why didn’t you listen to my advice? Do you think that a void storm is something that a cultivator like you can handle? Even a Human Immortal would be instantly incinerated to ash when they encounter a void storm. The void storm within certain parts of this universe can easily rip even Immortal Humans apart,” Tower said with a snicker.

Speaking of which, the damage that Chen Feng received this time was quite severe. His eyes and soul were damaged by that. Any other cultivator would have required some time to recover. However, the Longevity Scripture that Chen Feng practiced was incomparably profound. After circulating his primary energy a few times, his wounded eyes began to slowly heal up. Chen Feng also focused on repairing his damaged sea of wisdom, stirring his Soul and Anima acupoints as well to increase the recovery rate of his soul power.

Truth be told, Chen Feng should feel fortunate. Luckily, he had cultivated the Soul Subduing Mantra before this. Thus, the density of his soul was tens of times higher compared to cultivators on the same level as him, otherwise he would have taken even more damage from that.

Next, Chen Feng brought out an Earthen-tier medicinal pill, the Soul Condensing Pill. After taking it, the medicinal power spread out. Chen Feng then utilized the Soul Anchor Mantra and his damaged sea of wisdom swiftly recovered.

Tower simply watched as Chen Feng healed himself. He did not help at all. After one hour, Chen Feng’s wounds were no longer a concerning issue. Additionally, his rate of recovery was becoming increasingly fast. It would likely only take him just one more joss stick’s worth of time to make a full recovery.

“Pu!”

A cultivator who was studying the meteorite suddenly snapped open his eyes and his figure was thrown backwards. Blood sprayed out from his mouth.

“This blade intent is too powerful. I was too hasty for success.” The wounded cultivator quickly brought out some medicinal pills to help him recover.

“Oomph!” Another cultivator grunted before backing away, his face assuming various contorted expressions. Clearly, it was due to the damage he took during his cultivation process.

Weng!

Intense emanations radiated out from one of the cultivators and dark clouds immediately appeared up in the sky, turning the entire sky dark as a result. Bolts of lightning flashed across the dark clouds as a tempestuous power gathered.

“Ha ha ha! I didn’t think that I would be able to break through so quickly! This is my Lightning Tribulation!” the cultivator cried out in shock and joy.

“If you are undergoing Lightning Tribulation, then go far away. Don’t pull us into it!” one of the cultivators there berated him.

There was no need for others to tell him that. The cultivator himself knew that he could not undergo his Lightning Tribulation there. His figure darted off as he flew into the distance. After he left, the dark clouds above sensed the change in his location and flew towards him as well.

“Sigh! Someone managed to break through so quickly. How enviable!”

“Enough, don’t envy others. Hurry up and cultivate. The spiritual energy here is stronger compared to the other places to begin with. Who knows? We might be able to break through soon as well.”

It did not take long for Tribulation Clouds to appear once again. Another cultivator was going to undergo his Lightning Tribulation.

By then, Chen Feng had made a full recovery. This time, he no longer attempted to study the holes on the meteorite. Instead, he found one of the weaker sword marks to study.

In the face of the formidable sword intent coming from the sword mark, Chen Feng felt as though he had entered a wondrous world. A sword, formed entirely from sword energy, moved as though there was someone controlling it to attack Chen Feng without respite. The sword moves were simplistic, but every one of them was aimed at Chen Feng’s vital spots and weak points. Chen Feng displayed the Longevity Sword Technique to fight the sword. However, after just one confrontation, the sword managed to force Chen Feng back, again and again.

It was not because the sword moves were more profound compared to the Longevity Sword Technique. Rather, it was mainly due to the sword will contained within the sword mark. It was simply too strong. Chen Feng felt like an ant facing a giant.

Finally, Chen Feng was no longer capable of holding on and he closed his eyes. Even so, he could sense that the pressure had yet to dissipate. Thus, he backed away, unravelling the sword intent pressing down against his body as he did.

“Kid, try to adjust your soul power.” Tower reminded him.

Chen Feng was quick to understand what Tower meant. He slowly released a strand of his soul power. As expected, the sword intent coming from the sword mark grew much weaker. With a thought, Chen Feng then increased the strength of the soul power and the sword intent coming out from the sword mark grew stronger as well.

“I see. The power of the martial wills contained within the marks would grow stronger in accordance to the strength of the cultivator’s soul power,” uttered a shocked Chen Feng.

“In other words, I can slowly increase the level of pressure during cultivation. That way, I do not need to fear getting injured.”

Next up, Chen Feng continued to study the sword mark. Chen Feng utilized the Longevity Sword Technique within the illusionary space to combat the sword moves unleashed by the sword intent.

Truth be told, although Chen Feng had been practicing the Longevity Sword Technique, he had rarely used it. When fighting his enemies, Chen Feng would usually rely on his mighty fleshly body and magic treasures to defeat his opponents. However, as his cultivation base grew, Chen Feng came to realize that his skillset was too shallow. Thus, this was a good opportunity for him. Chen Feng made up his mind to hone himself properly in front of the meteorite.

Chen Feng spent one whole day honing himself. On the second day, as Chen Feng was retracting his soul power to assess his gains for the day, something unexpected happened to disrupt his cultivation practice.

“It’s Chen Feng! It really is Chen Feng!”

“Yes, it is exactly the same as the portrait. I didn’t think we would be the first to find him. We failed to find anything after entering this Starsea Region. Unexpectedly, we managed to bump into two fat sheep!”

“Enough, don’t delay anymore. Attack! Capture Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian and we’ll immediately head to Nine Firmaments Palace!”

Three cultivators who had only just arrived there inadvertently caught sight of Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian, who were cultivating themselves. Instantly, their eyes lit up. After a brief discussion, they strode towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian.

The first to notice the cultivators’ approach were the two black-clad cultivators from the Demon Order. However, when the two of them saw what the cultivators were there for, they decided against taking action.

When there were three metres between them and Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian, the three cultivators attacked. First, two flying swords shot towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian. Next, a seal stamp descended from the sky, pressing down on Chen Feng. Additionally, a landscape painting exerted a formidable suction force as it swirled towards Jian Xiaotian.