Everlasting

 

“Thank you for the assistance, Elder Chen.” Liu Wenlong and the other two fellows stepped forward to perform a respectful bow towards Chen Feng. If it weren’t for Chen Feng’s assistance earlier, they would have died.

“We have heard of Elder Chen before. If one were to ask who is the most famous person in the Northern Plains, the answer would certainly be the one who had killed off the disciples of Nine Firmaments Palace, Chen Feng.”

“Yes, we have long since heard of the name Chen Feng. Unexpectedly, you are even stronger than your reputation suggests. To think that Brother Chen would become an honorary elder of our Heavenly Sword Faction.”

The other two cultivators with Liu Wenlong were Zhang Tian and Zhuo Ban. All three were level 7 Sky Human stage cultivators. They smiled as they regarded Chen Feng. At any rate, Chen Feng’s name had been ringing loudly within the Northern Plains for the past few years. It was such that even cultivators in the Central Plains had heard of him. The three Palaces were the strongest existences within the Northern Plains. And yet, Chen Feng had been ceaselessly butchering their disciples while remaining safe all this time.

“You overpraise me. I left the Northern Plains in order to seek refuge in the Central Plains. I hope that you fellows can help me in the future,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“Brother Chen, no need to be so modest. You are an honorary elder of our Heavenly Sword Faction. If there are any issues, our Heavenly Sword Faction will definitely become your shield, a formidable one to boot,” Zhuo Ban said, slapping his chest.

“When we found out that Jian Xiaotian is one of those that Nine Firmaments Palace is after, our sect had sent forth several teams of disciples to extract him. However, those from Heartless Heaven Sect kept obstructing our attempts. Only two teams managed to enter the Northern Plains. By the looks of it, they failed to find you two,” Zhang Tian.

Hearing that, Chen Feng felt his heart stirring. Regardless if their words were true, their sect’s official response was considerably better than Extreme Celestial Sect’s official response.

“According to Brother Jian, you fellows came here to the Twospan Mountain Range for a mission?” Chen Feng suddenly asked.

“Err, yes.” Liu Wenlong hesitated for only a moment before saying frankly, “Our Heavenly Sword Faction is presently at war with Heartless Heaven Sect. Our sect has a force stationed here. We are here to get them and have them join the war. Unexpectedly, we ended up getting ambushed by those from Heartless Heaven Sect and many of our fellow brothers and sisters were killed.”

Chen Feng nodded. He did not pry too far into it. He was just an honorary elder of Heavenly Sword Faction. Additionally, it was under Jian Xiaotian’s suggestion. It was unknown if the higher-ups of Heavenly Sword Faction would agree to it. Thus, it would be better for him not to pry too deeply into some secrets.

“Of course, Elder Chen is no outsider. Rather, we will be needing Elder Chen’s assistance next,” Liu Wenlong continued.

“Yes, Twospan Mountain Range is a very dangerous place and Heartless Heaven Sect has men here. Who knows how dangerous it will be? We ask Elder Chen for your assistance.” Zhang Tian spoke up as well.

They were no fools. They could see how powerful Chen Feng was. Thus, they had to do their best to get his help. Even if Chen Feng was not their sect’s honorary elder, having such a formidable friend would be a good thing.

“Come, let’s head to the secret site,” Liu Wenlong said, inviting Chen Feng to come together with them.

Chen Feng nodded. As they had invited him, he would not disagree. Additionally, he was also interested in finding out what Heavenly Sword Faction had hidden within this Twospan Mountain Range.

“Senior brothers, what kind of force did our sect hide here? Is there another group of our fellow brothers and sisters hidden here?” Before Chen Feng could ask, Jian Xiaotian finally lost his patience. In the past, Jian Xiaotian’s cultivation base of level 1 of the Sky Human stage was too low. However, the present Jian Xiaotian had overcome his 5th Lightning Tribulation. He could now be considered as someone with quite the status in Heavenly Sword Faction.

“Junior Brother Xiaotian, it is not that we do not want to tell you. Rather, we don’t even know what that force in the secret site is,” Liu Wenlong replied with a wry smile.

“Not even you fellows are aware of it?” Jian Xiaotian’s eyes widened in shock. 

“Yes, the Deputy Sect Master was the one who instructed us to head there. According to him, we will understand once we arrive at the secret site,” Liu Wenlong said.

“If that is the case, let’s hurry over. I want to see for myself what is inside the secret site.”

Two days later, Chen Feng and the others arrived before a steep cliff wall. Although the cliff wall was smooth, it looked no different from others. The only thing of note was that the place was somewhat secluded. Trees flourished all around the place and various types of vegetation covered the area. There were also thick vines there. 

The spiritual energy there was hardly noteworthy. Add the fact that there were not many medicinal herbs there and that the environment was less than acceptable, most cultivators would not come here. 

“Is it here?” Jian Xiaotian felt curious.

“This should be the place.” Liu Wenlong and Zhang Tian brought out a piece of jade each. After they joined the two pieces of jade together, the two jade pieces shone with a dazzling light, which fell upon the surface of the wall. Without making a sound, water-like ripples spread out from the wall and a passageway appeared before them.

“An illusion. There is a magic array here.” Chen Feng nodded. He was also feeling surprised. He had utilized his divine sense earlier, but was incapable of detecting anything.

“Come!”

Liu Wenlong took the lead while Chen Feng and the others followed suit. After entering, they realized that it was a small dimension created using magic power. The space inside was not particularly large. Chen Feng’s eye power was enough to see the ends of the space.

Even so, the dimension was still as big as a small city. Additionally, the environment within the dimension was quite good. The air was fresh and vegetation and trees thrived inside as flowers bloomed. Rare trees stood upright and a small river flowed through the place. Shoals of fishes could be seen swimming about within the river. There were also small animals running through the grasses.

The place was like a paradise.

The environment here is quite good. They all thought that.

“There are people inside,” Chen Feng suddenly said.

“Of course.” A muffled voice rang out and a gaunt old man suddenly appeared before them. The old man was short, not even up to Chen Feng’s shoulder in height and his waist was slightly bent. His bones stuck out prominently, truly personifying the term a set of bones wrapped in skin. He looked like a rickety old man. And yet, his appearance had shocked Chen Feng and the others. None of them could figure out how the old man had appeared. This meant that the old man’s cultivation base was far superior compared to theirs’.

“Who are you?” asked a shocked Liu Wenlong.

“Humph! You fellows do not need to know who I am. Why are you fellows here?” The old man’s face suddenly turned insidious and he grinned, giving them a chilling sensation.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

Suddenly, several figures flashed by and four more men appeared before Chen Feng and the others.

“What happened?”

“Oh, there are outsiders. Wait, they are disciples from our sect. Why did you fellows come here? Can we go out already?”

Chen Feng’s eyes narrowed. These five fellows were not to be underestimated. All five were half-step Human Immortals. That was especially true of the gaunt old man who had appeared first. He was already very close to reaching the Human Immortal stage.

Is this the force that Heavenly Sword Faction left hidden here? Chen Feng speculated.

Liu Wenlong brought out a talisman, which the gaunt old man brought over with a wave of his hand. Giving it a casual glance, he grinned before laughing.

“We are free!”

“We can really go out? Did something happen to the sect?”

“Kids, tell us what is happening outside,” one of the five cultivators, a bare-chested, muscular man pointed at Liu Wenlong and the others before asking.

“Our sect is currently in a large-scale war with Heartless Heaven Sect. Things are not looking good, so the Sect Master instructed us to come here to mobilize the force here,” Liu Wenlong said frankly. He was still uncertain what was happening. Could these fellows be the force hidden here? Although these fellows’ cultivation bases were quite powerful, there were too few of them.

“Heartless Heaven Sect can fight equally with our Heavenly Sword Faction? Did some other sect interfere?” the gaunt old man asked.

“Heartless Heaven Sect has joined forces with Warlord Pavilion.” 

“Warlord Pavilion? Humph, when we get out, we’ll settle it with them! All right. You fellows wait here. I will get ready,” the gaunt old man said, extending his hand to fire out beam after beam of light. Instantly, runes flashed out from the ground, intersecting one another as they did. Next, the ground shook and cracks spread out before large humanoid combat puppets slowly emerged from the ground.

“Combat puppets!” Chen Feng was astounded.

One of the five cultivators, a pale-faced youngster, looked at Chen Feng and said, “Kid, you know your stuff. These are indeed combat puppets.”

Those humanoid combat puppets were many times bigger compared to the combat puppets that Chen Feng possessed. Every one of them was around one zhang tall. It was unknown just what materials were used to craft them, but various runes could be seen all over their bodies, which shone with a faint lustre.

I wonder, how are these combat puppets compared to my metal puppets? Chen Feng wondered.

As the combat puppets emerged, the other cultivators within the dimension emerged as well. It did not take long before over 1,000 men were gathered there.

“This time, a total of 500 men will be dispatched. The others are to stay behind. You guys, discuss this amongst yourselves,” shouted the bare-chested, muscular man who was standing beside the gaunt old man.

“Do any of you want to test out the strength of these combat puppets?” Seemingly having seen through the thoughts within the minds of Chen Feng and the others, the gaunt old man said with a snicker.

Liu Wenlong and the others hesitated. They had not expected such a development. Thus, none of them dared to act recklessly. Although they had seen combat puppets before, some of the stronger combat puppets were very hard to handle.

“Let me try it.” Interested, Jian Xiaotian stepped forward.

Bang!

With just one step, a combat puppet covered a distance of tens of metres to arrive before Jian Xiaotian, a punch swinging forward as it did. Jian Xiaotian was quick to react. His figure flashed away, dodging the attack. However, the combat puppet was even faster. Its thick arm swept forward to send Jian Xiaotian flying.

“Whoa! They are so powerful!” Jian Xiaotian was shocked.

“Kid, you were careless. This combat puppet didn’t even display out 30 % of its full strength earlier.” The gaunt old man’s words stunned them all.

Soon enough, the rows of combat puppets were fully assembled. Chen Feng glanced around and saw a total of 200 combat puppets. Surface wise, all 200 appeared identical. However, Chen Feng was able to sense differing power emanations coming from the puppets.

“Ha ha ha! How about it? Do any of you still want to test it?” The gaunt old man laughed. It seemed as though he really wanted to see Liu Wenlong and the others get beaten. Perhaps, staying here was too boring for him.

 

1 zhang = 3.333 m