Everlasting

 

“Looks like your Heavenly Sword Faction’s name is still effective.” Chen Feng laughed. Seeing the three fellows flee, they did not give chase.

“That’s because those three fellows are weaker than us. If they are stronger than us, I believe they wouldn’t have cared which sect we are from. They would have simply killed us and plunder our belongings.” Jian Xiaotian shook his head.

“However, the look of fear in their eyes are likely not fake. Are they really afraid that they would die?”

“No need to think so much about it. We shouldn’t have allowed them to run away just now. We should have captured them and asked them about the bottomless holes here. There’s also the poisonous swamp you mentioned.” Chen Feng began regretting not taking action earlier.

“I think it should be easy to find some people here and ask for directions,” Jian Xiaotian said smilingly.

Next up, the two of them defeated some more bandits and loose cultivators who wanted to prey on others. Slowly, they began feeling less tense about the place. Unbeknown to them, a dangerous net was slowly forming around them.

Within a valley covered in thick vines, teams of cultivators in beast hide armour kept moving back and forth. Cultivators kept lugging in boxes of cultivation materials into the valley. There was also a constant stream of cultivators who would descend from the sky, beautiful female cultivators in their grasp.

“Ha ha ha! Wang Dapeng, you obtained quite the harvest today! You actually managed to catch a few beauties.”

“Yes. Wang Dapeng, hurry up and leave two behind. Let us brothers enjoy them.”

“Nonsense! In order to capture these chicks, over 30 of my guys were either killed or wounded. I am now going to the Sixth Manager. There is something I want to report to him.”

“Humph! Boot licker!”

“Running dog!”

After Wang Dapeng left, some of the men there cursed in hushed tones.

“Eh, why did you fellows come back? Didn’t you get sent to patrol the mountains?” Suddenly, the three bandits who were scared off by Jian Xiaotian ran over in a state of panic.

“The three of us nearly died back there!”

“What happened?” Hearing that, the surrounding bandits rushed forward to surround them. Recently, fewer of them had been able to go out. Thus, each and every one of them were feeling terribly vexed.

“We just encountered cultivators from Heavenly Sword Faction!”

“What? Heavenly Sword Faction is here again? They are going overboard. They only lost a few disciples. Do they want to kill off every loose cultivator here in the Twospan Mountain Range?”

“Heh! Even if Heavenly Sword Faction mobilizes all of their forces, they will not be able to wipe out every loose cultivator here. Do not forget, there are experts residing in the Twospan Mountain Range.”

“Enough! Stop making a ruckus. Do not forget how many people Heavenly Sword Faction killed last time. When you think about it, loose cultivators and bandits like us are simply nothing in their eyes.”

“Let’s talk about what happened to you fellows first. If Heavenly Sword Faction decides to start killing again, we’ll have to rush out and fight them.”

“There are only two of them.”

“What? Just two fellows can scare you fellows until like this? Just look at how much you fellows are gasping.”

“Humph! If I were in your shoes, I would have killed them, destroyed their bodies and hid all the evidence. Without evidence, Heavenly Sword Faction cannot come kill us.”

“Are you an idiot? That’s exactly what Heavenly Sword Faction did back then.”

“What are you afraid of? Even if we cannot kill them, we can still rob them. These disciples from great sects must surely have a lot of good items. As long as we do not kill them, the higher-ups from Heavenly Sword Faction will likely not do anything about it.”

“Yes. That makes sense. Let’s go check it out. We don’t want others to beat us to it now.”

After a chaotic round of discussion, around eight bandits got up and they made their way out the valley. Instantly, some of the older and more mature of the bandits spoke up to stop them.

“Stop it! Have you fellows already forgotten the display of might from Heavenly Sword Faction? It’s fine if you fellows want to go crazy, but don’t drag our Blackwind Stronghold down with you!”

However, despite their warnings, some of the bandits swiftly left the valley, disappearing from sight before they could do anything about it.

“Sigh! I hope nothing bad happens. You guys, hurry up and haul Wang San and his gang back. I’ll go report this to the Sixth Manager right now.”

…

“Roar!”

A Goldwing Tiger the size of a small mountain descended from the sky. Its broad wings were like sickles forged in the flames of hell. Everywhere it went, trees would be sliced down. The resulting strong winds it caused were capable of cracking apart the hard ground. With a flap of its wings, it could even flatten a small mountain.

“Not good! This is a level 7 Great Yao! Why did such a powerful yao beast appear here?”

“As I recall, such a powerful Great Yao should only exist deep within the mountain range. Did we cross over to that territory?”

Sou! Sou!

Two gold-coloured beams of light flashed out to instantly pierce the chests of two cultivators. Like lances, they nailed the two cultivators to the ground.

“Everyone! Hurry up and join forces! Attack!”

A flying sword, shining with multi-coloured light, flew forward to attack the Goldwing Tiger. However, the Goldwing Tiger did not even attempt to avoid the attack. Instead, it allowed the sword to strike its body, causing sparks to fly out whenever it hit.

Its body was seemingly forged using Mystic Ironsteel. Its defence was as mighty as a mountain, impervious to all weapons. Everywhere it went, cultivators would fall to it. They could not resist it in the slightest.

“Watch me! Hammer of the Thunder God!”

A beefy and muscular man swung to send a mountain-like hammer forward. The hammer shone with a deep blue-light, giving off the appearance of a divine hammer, capable of flattening mountains.

Bang!

The attack smashed the ferocious Goldwing Tiger on its head and every one of the cultivators there cheered loudly. Unexpectedly, the Great Yao abruptly turned back around and its broad wings abruptly flapped to bring about a hurricane, which swept the beefy cultivator away.

“We have finally encountered a powerful Great Yao.” Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian were standing atop a great, luxuriant tree. They observed as the Great Yao displayed its prowess.

“Steel and wind type. This is a variant-type Goldwing Tiger with two types of fundamental power. Those cultivators are simply incapable of dealing with it. They will need someone at level 8 of the Sky Human stage.” There was a cautious look on Jian Xiaotian’s face. 

“Even a level 8 Sky Human stage cultivator would be incapable of handling this Great Yao. This is a flying-type yao beast.” Chen Feng shook his head. Although he had been gathering his strength, he did not attack. At any rate, a yao beast of this level was not something that could be easily defeated.

“Fellow cultivators, help!” Two cultivators on flying swords flew towards Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian, one from the left and one from the right.

“They are trying to drag us into the fight.” Jian Xiaotian scoffed.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Three beams of golden light flashed forward. Two of the beams killed off the two incoming cultivators while the last one shot towards Chen Feng’s chest, desirous of piercing right through it.

In the face of the attack, Chen Feng waved his hand to perform a grasping motion and caught the golden beam of light. The golden beam of light was like a living creature. After struggling for a while, however, it dissolved into the power of steel.

“A very powerful attack,” Chen Feng praised.

Seeing a human block its attack in such a casual manner, the light in the Goldwing Tiger’s eyes shone brightly. It circled around to arrive above Chen Feng’s head. Its two sharp paws stretched down, one from the left and one from the right, to grasp at Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian’s heads. If its paws succeed in grasping their heads, even metal men would be crushed into pieces.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

Jian Xiaotian fired out a wave of sword beams, which resembled a meteor shower. His attack caused sparks to burst out from the sharp paw above him. As for Chen Feng, he utilized the Life Sword to punch a hole through the paw above him.

The Goldwing Tiger roared furiously and flew higher into the sky. Next, it swiftly flew far away, disappearing into the mountain range in a flash.

“It’s pretty fast at running. I had wanted to turn that flying beast into a mount,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

However, it did not take long for a series of fighting sounds to ring out from the distant mountain range. Clearly, the Goldwing Tiger had gotten into a fight with another batch of cultivators.

“Did the yao beast go crazy? It is already wounded. Why isn’t it hiding?” Chen Feng felt puzzled.

“It looks like the yao beast wants to vent its anger at humans. Something must have happened,” Jian Xiaotian said.

“I think the yao beast must have lost something.” Chen Feng pursed his lips as a short fatty suddenly emerged from the ground. His eyes looked about vigilantly. After making sure that there was no one around him, he patted off the dust on his body and brought out two eggs, shining with golden light.

Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian looked at each other. Clearly, the two golden eggs, each bigger than a fist, were stolen from the Goldwing Tiger.

Sou! Sou!

Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian’s figures flashed, descending from the treetop to land before the short fatty.

“Argh!” The short fatty was shocked. His figure shot tens of metres backwards in a flash. At the same time, the two golden eggs that were in his hand disappeared.

“So fast.”

“This fatty is not to be underestimated.”

The short fatty wore black robes and he had neither a moustache nor a beard on his face. However, because he was too fat, his eyes were practically hidden from view. There was a smile on his face, seemingly engraved into place, making it impossible to tell his true age.

Seeing that Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian were not pursuing him, the fatty instantly tried to run away. Jian Xiaotian dashed forward and his figure became like a sword beam, charging like the wind as he pursued the fatty. Even so, it was clear that the fatty was several notches faster than Jian Xiaotian. The distance between the two of them grew larger and larger.

Boom!

An astral sword, filled to the brim with death energy, descended from the sky to graze the fatty’s robes. When the astral sword made contact with the ground, it erupted, creating a deep crater. In fact, there was no way to tell just how deep the crater was. Countless cracks spread out from the crater.

“Sii!” The fatty sucked in a breath of air and he no longer dared to move. Chen Feng and Jian Xiaotian then cut off his escape route, standing on his left and right.

The fatty’s eyes darted about and he asked, “What are you two trying to do here? Are you thinking of committing a crime?”

“Why are you running? We didn’t even attack you,” Jian Xiaotian said with a grin. However, he was actually feeling highly shocked. He was unable to determine this fatty’s cultivation base. Additionally, he was also slower than the fatty. Although they had not gotten into a fight, Jian Xiaotian had this feeling. He was no match for the fatty.

“Since you two do not have any malicious intentions, why are you stopping me? Do you want to ask for directions? He he! I am not familiar with this place. Then, goodbye.” The fatty smiled. Then, after performing a salute, he turned and made ready to leave.

Shua!

The Death Sword flew out, circling a few times around Chen Feng before hovering in mid-air. However, the fleeting aura of death radiating from the sword locked the fatty down.

As expected, the fatty lost the guts to move. A bitter smile appeared on his face. “I say, what do you two want? Do you have the wrong fellow?”