Everlasting

 

Hmm, these fellows’ cultivation bases are not bad. Two amongst them could even fight the yao beasts. However, it will still be difficult for them to defeat the two yao beasts and collect the Fire Cluster Grasses. Even in the best-case scenario, both sides would be mutually wounded.

Eh? Something isn’t right. There is fresh blood energy lingering here. There are also some torn bits of flesh and bones here. Looks like some people must have died here before. However, was Liu Qing the one who lured them over? After carefully sensing his surroundings, Chen Feng retracted his senses. However, the auras of every one of the cultivators were already captured by the Thousand Seeker Mirror. Clearly, Chen Feng had no intentions of letting those fellows go.

“All right, the Fire Cluster Grasses are just up ahead,” Liu Qing said, slowing down.

Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian looked at each other before quickly stepping forward. At the same time, they released their auras. As expected, a ferocious yao beast silently leapt out from the grasses to pounce at Chen Feng. This yao beast’s appearance resembled that of a tiger and a leopard combined. Its head hard, its fangs gleamed and its claws sharp. It was double the size of a wild ox. Due to how fast it was charging forward, its arrival brought with it strong winds, which blew towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian, causing the soil on the ground to blast upwards and the grasses and woods in the surrounding areas were smashed.

Are they going to die with just one talon swipe? Are they so useless? Liu Qing, who had been following them, looked at the motionless Chen Feng with a puzzled look. 

If this could scare the kid senseless, it will definitely kill him.

What happened next left Liu Qing dumbfounded. He watched as Chen Feng extended his palm, placing it on the fire-type yao beast’s head. Next, a banging sound rang out and the yao beast fell to the ground, creating a deep crater as it did. After that, Chen Feng raised his leg and stamped down against the yao beast’s body. No matter how much the yao beast howled, it was incapable of extricating itself.

Boom!

Fiery-red flames surged out from the yao beast’s body and the flames raged towards Chen Feng. The flames contained Sky Lightning, essencebound spirit flames and worldly flames absorbed from the surrounding vegetation and spirit stones. The flames were capable of easily scorching even durable rocks. However, Chen Feng merely waved his hand and a vortex appeared on his palm to instantly devour all of the flames that the yao beast was releasing. After all the flames disappeared, the yao beast finally remained still. It instead shivered on the ground. Clearly, it was in an extreme state of fear.

How is this possible? How are these two fellows so powerful? Doesn’t this mean we’ve kicked the iron plate? Liu Qing’s face sank sharply and his feet moved, wanting to quickly leave.

“Brother Liu, this is all thanks to you. Thanks to you leading us here, we are able to find so many spiritual herbs. These Fire Cluster Grasses are very useful to me.” Jian Xiaotian turned to smile at Liu Qing. For Liu Qing, however, the smile on Jian Xiaotian’s face appeared extremely detestable.

“He he! You two managed to obtain so many goodies. Don’t forget about my help in guiding you fellows here.” Liu Qing forced himself to smile. The current situation had gone beyond his expectations. At the same time, he was also feeling a foreboding sensation.

“Of course. We’ll never forget your help in guiding us here. How about this? In order to express our gratitude, you can be the first to harvest these Fire Cluster Grasses. Naturally, you can only take two stalks.” Jian Xiaotian waved at Liu Qing.

“Err… ha ha, I didn’t help much at all. Just forget it. I don’t need the Fire Cluster Grasses,” Liu Qing hastily said. Don’t joke around. There is still a yao beast lurking around! Although it cannot deal with these two fellows, it can still gulp me down!

“Brother Liu, no need to hold back. Just go ahead and pick two.” Chen Feng, too, waved him forward enthusiastically.

“You two should pick the herbs first. I fear that there are more yao beasts lurking around.” Liu Qing rejected their offer.

“In that case, I won’t hold back now.” Jian Xiaotian then strode forward, stretching his hand out to grab one of the Fire Cluster Grasses on the edge of the field.

Sou!

The other yao beast that had been lurking about finally charged out. It looked similar to the fire-type yao beast from earlier. However, this one was slightly bigger. After appearing, it attempted to bite Jian Xiaotian’s arm. However, with a slight movement from his arm, Jian Xiaotian displayed his Hegemon Sword Technique to send the yao beast with 5 Lightning Tribulations under its belt flying. Coincidentally, it flew towards the spot where the bandits were lying in wait.

At the same time, Chen Feng grabbed the yao beast under his foot and hurled it forward. It flew through over 100 metres and a series of wretched screams and chaotic sounds rang out. Chen Feng knew that those struck by the yao beast would be either killed or gravely wounded.

“Roar!”

After getting back on their feet, the two fire-type yao beasts did not instantly run away. Instead, they began slaughtering the human cultivators around them to vent the rage within them. With just one confrontation, several of the cultivators waiting in ambush had fallen to the two yao beasts.

“Eh? There are people up ahead. Are they also here for these Fire Cluster Grasses?” Chen Feng deliberately put on a puzzled look.

“It’s possible. Looks like we’ll have to be quick.” Jian Xiaotian moved forward and waved his hand. Next, one Fire Cluster Grass stalk after another flew up, roots included.

In just two breaths’ worth of time, Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian had utterly cleaned up the field of Fire Cluster Grasses. As for Chen Feng, he even channelled his Magnetic acupoints to absorb the power of fire beneath the ground.

“The ground beneath must be connected to earthen fire. However, it is too deep. It will take quite some effort to practice cultivation here,” Chen Feng said.

“Oh! Brother Liu, where are you going? We haven’t thanked you yet.” Jian Xiaotian’s figure darted forward to appear before Liu Qing, who was attempting to sneak away.

“Err, I have some personal matters.” Liu Qing’s face turned red. At this point, no matter how dumb Liu Qing may be, he could tell that Jian Xiaotian was simply teasing him.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Suddenly, several ferocious-looking cultivators rushed towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian. The yao beasts’ attack had left their group in a state of chaos and many were either dead or gravely wounded. The remaining cultivators, furious, chose not to run away. Instead, they chose to charge forward to fight Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian.

“Sigh! Why aren’t you fellows running away?! Aren’t you fellows just committing suicide by doing this?” Liu Qing could not stop himself from shouting out loud.

“Eh? This fellow has quite the sense of camaraderie.” Chen Feng cast a surprised look at Liu Qing. To be willing to speak out at a moment like this to warn his companions instead of thinking about escaping alone proved that this fellow was not completely without morals.

Jian Xiaotian attacked. One Skywheel Shattersword move from him killed off all of the incoming cultivators. Originally, Chen Feng had wanted to kill them all. However, he had changed his mind. At any rate, these fellows were too weak. They were simply incapable of threatening him. Additionally, he had no deep grudges against them. Thus, Chen Feng did not attack at all.

After Jian Xiaotian easily killed off a few of them, the others who were still alive dared not rush forward anymore. Instead, gritting their teeth, they ran far away. At that moment, the only thought running through their minds was whether or not they would be able to escape.

“Why aren’t you running away?” Chen Feng looked at Liu Qing.

“Sigh! My mistake caused my fellow brothers to suffer. Just kill me.” Liu Qing sighed. The gentle expression on his face had long since disappeared.

“Hand over everything on you and we’ll spare your life,” Chen Feng said.

“What?” Liu Qing was taken aback. For a moment, he was seemingly incapable of understanding what Chen Feng meant. However, he quickly brought out everything on him.

“All right. You can leave now.” Chen Feng waved him off.

“You are really letting me go?” Liu Qing was still in disbelief.

“What’s with all the nonsense? Do you not want to leave?” Chen Feng said, raising his hand. Strands of energy seeped out from his hand.

“Yes, yes! I’ll go now! I’ll go now!” Liu Qing did not even bother wiping away the beads of sweat on his face as he turned to run away.

“Come out now. Are you fellows not feeling bored after watching for so long?” Chen Feng suddenly said.

“You two are truly formidable. I wonder, where are you two from?” Three hardy-looking muscular men in armour forged using beast hides walked out.

“Level 4 of the Sky Human stage. It’s nothing.” Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

“Who are you fellows?” Jian Xiaotian asked coldly and a sword intent rushed towards the three fellows.

In the beginning, the three men had arrogant looks on their faces. However, when they sensed the atmosphere of coercion that Jian Xiaotian sent out, their faces sank sharply.

“We are from Blackwind Stronghold. You fellows must be from the Northern Plains, right? Do you not know the rules of Twospan Mountain Range?” one of them said icily, gritting his teeth.

“Oh? And what are the rules here?” Jian Xiaotian asked casually.

“It doesn’t matter if you are from the Central Plains or the Northern Plains or some other place, if you want to stay in the Twospan Mountain Range, you must pay tribute. You should have heard about this rule, no?”

“Pay tribute?” Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian immediately smiled.

“I wonder, who set that rule?” Jian Xiaotian asked with a scornful smile.

“This is our Blackwind Stronghold’s territory. Naturally, it is our Blackwind Stronghold. If you don’t, not even ten lives will be enough for you to walk out from the Twospan Mountain Range.” The more they spoke, the more courageous the three fellows became. It seemed as though the words Blackwind Stronghold were giving them an infinite amount of power and they gradually recovered from the atmosphere of coercion that Jian Xiaotian sent out earlier.

“So, what should we pay as tribute?” Jian Xiaotian asked again.

“Didn’t you fellows obtain some Fire Cluster Grasses earlier? Hand them all over and I will ensure that you fellows can remain safe here in the Twospan Mountain Range.” The courage that the three fellows were displaying began to soar.

“Brother Jian, this Twospan Mountain Range is truly a chaotic place. They even dare obstruct and blackmail someone from Heavenly Sword Faction,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“What? You fellows are from Heavenly Sword Faction?” The three fellows felt their hearts lurch. Next, they could not stop their bodies from shivering. 

The three of them could still vividly remember what happened last month. A few disciples from Heavenly Sword Faction had died in the Twospan Mountain Range. As a result, a high number of disciples from Heavenly Sword Faction descended upon the Twospan Mountain Range. Wielding a sword each, they killed countless bandits here. Even several of the strongest bandit nests within the Twospan Mountain Range were completely incapable of stopping them. It was then that those bandits – used to reigning over the Twospan Mountain Range – realized just how formidable and domineering those great sects were. Finally, seeing no other options, they mobilized everything they had … … to find and offer up the bandits who killed the disciples from Heavenly Sword Faction.

It hadn’t been too long since that incident. Thus, everyone involved was still feeling fearful of Heavenly Sword Faction’s name. To suddenly hear that these fellows that they were trying to blackmail were from Heavenly Sword Faction, the three fellows felt the desire to simply commit suicide.

“Earlier, you mentioned that you want us to hand over the Fire Cluster Grasses?” Jian Xiaotian stepped forward, a sneer on his face.

“We wouldn’t dare, we wouldn’t dare! We did not know that you two are from Heavenly Sword Faction! We brothers were blind! Sorry, sorry. We’ll go away now!” After saying that, the three fellows turned tail and ran.