Everlasting

 

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

Chen Feng’s divine sense roared out incessantly as the condensed Longevity Blade rapidly sliced forward, seemingly cutting a path into the void as it rampaged through the limits of Heaven. Wherever it went, the scattered Soulflame fragments exploded, transforming into strands of essence energy.

“Blood energy flows like a dragon and charge like a tempest!”

Like celestial dragons, stream after stream of blood energy coursed through the sea of wisdom, extinguishing all of the Soulflame sparks.

In less than one breath’s worth of time, the Longevity Blade that Chen Feng formed using his divine sense had made a circle through his sea of wisdom. All of the energy sparks from the two Soulflames had been shattered into pieces, transformed into pure energy.

“Longevity Scripture, devour life force!”

Chen Feng gave a howl and the Longevity Blade formed from his divine sense swiftly transformed into a rapidly spinning maelstrom. It was like a spillway for the sea itself as it quickly devoured and absorbed everything around it.

Countless star-like energy motes were sucked into the maelstrom and absorbed. At the same time, the bursts of blood energy began changing as well. They split apart continuously, transforming into the smallest form possible before fusing with Chen Feng’s 1st sea of wisdom layer, causing his sea of wisdom to become more stable and powerful.

“What an extraordinary kid! He could actually come up with this method!” 

Tower, who was hiding within Longevity Tower, seemingly sensed something and he utilized a technique to inspect what was happening within Chen Feng’s mind.

“It seems my bet was correct. Or rather, my judgement was not wrong. To think this kid could actually endure it all. Not to mention, he did it in such a short period of time. Tsk tsk! If I recall correctly, even his dad was only able to condense out Soulflame after reaching level 2 of the Concealed stage,” Tower suddenly said cheerfully.

“However, this can also be considered the kid’s luck. Without a fearless attitude, there is no way this could succeed.”

“Huh! After so many years, I finally see a glimmer of hope. Hopefully, this glimmer can take root and grow strong. After waiting for so long in the dark, I am getting impatient myself. I wonder, do the Myriad Celestial Planes still remember my former eminence?”

This cultivation process was one without the concept of time. Chen Feng kept devouring the motes of Soulflame within his sea of wisdom and forgot all about time and everything else. He simply continued channelling the technique to devour energy and strengthen himself.

“Strange, it has been half a month now. Why is Brother Chen still not coming out? Did something happen?”

Lu Ta and Ye Ziming met in the courtyard and looked at Chen Feng’s room with puzzled looks.

“True. The rate at which Brother Chen recovers should be faster than us. After these few days, our injuries have completely healed up. Brother Chen should have recovered.”

“Do you want to go in and check?”

“Better to wait. It is possible that Brother Chen has gained some cultivation knowledge.”

It did not take long for another half a month to pass. Lu Ta and Ye Ziming came to stand before Chen Feng’s room and discussed it through for a moment before going back.

As they were about to pass the second month mark, the two of them were finally no longer able to hold themselves back. They pushed open the doors and stepped inside.

After entering, the two of them saw a small, ancient-looking, nine-level tower resting in the middle of the room. It revealed no presence and was silent, peculiarly so.

“Brother Chen should be practicing cultivation inside this little tower, right?” asked Lu Ta.

“That should be the case. Brother Chen! Brother Chen! Are you all right?” Ye Ziming suddenly called out. The resulting sound waves condensed into needle form before flying into the little tower.

“I am fine. Sorry for causing you two to worry. I still need to practice for a while.” Chen Feng’s voice rang out from the little tower.

“If that is the case, we can be at ease. Brother Chen, don’t worry and just continue with your cultivation. We’ll head out first.”

After that, Ye Ziming and Lu Ta turned and left. Still, there was no reaction from the little tower.

By then, Chen Feng’s cultivation process had reached a critical juncture. The rapidly spinning maelstrom was gradually becoming solid while the rate at which it was spinning grew increasingly fast. Chen Feng had devoured and absorbed one third of the Soulflames within his sea of wisdom. Chen Feng could sense it. He had reached a crucial point.

“Soul tempest, condense primary flames.”

Chen Feng suddenly released a bellow and the rate at which the maelstrom was absorbing the sparks accelerated. Next, a flickering flame suddenly emerged from the centre of the maelstrom. The flickering flame appeared extremely weak and could be extinguished at any moment. And yet, seeing that flickering flame caused Chen Feng to feel joyful. He knew he had succeeded. The flickering flame was Soulflame.

Hu!

The instant the flickering flame was condensed out, the maelstrom’s absorption rate grew faster. It was multiplying geometrically. At the same time, the Soulflame in the middle of the maelstrom was slowly growing in size. Only after it had grown as big as a candleflame did Chen Feng became at ease. 

“Excellent! Soulflame, divine sense, condense.”

Chen Feng’s divine sense began condensing and transforming. Finally, it formed a humanoid shape. However, its features were vague.

Even so, to be able to cultivate up to that point made Chen Feng felt content. Divine sense taking humanoid form was something that required him reaching level 3 of the Concealed stage to achieve. Now, by relying on the power of the condensed Soulflame, he had succeeded in doing so.

So long as the Soulflame remains intact, so too will the soul. One’s lifespan will increase again. This is something that every cultivator pursues. Chen Feng thought to himself. 

After another month, Chen Feng finally finished his cultivation retreat.

The energy from the two Soulflames within his sea of wisdom had been utterly absorbed and a clump of flames burned constantly within his sea of wisdom. Although it was hot, it did not bring Chen Feng any harm. Instead, it felt warm. Additionally, since the formation of the Soulflame, Chen Feng could feel his divine sense growing perpetually stronger. Even though the rate at which it was happening was minute, he was indeed growing stronger. 

However, there was one matter which left Chen Feng with a feeling of discomfort. The power of his soul was now disproportionate with his physical power.

As Chen Feng had absorbed the Soulflames of two level 7 Concealed stage cultivators, his divine sense was at least tens of times stronger. And yet, his physical power had not increased at all. It was still the same. Thus, a gap appeared between his soul power and physical power.

A rapid increase in power was a good thing. However, it should not increase disproportionately, or it might cause troubles down the future. 

When there are enough medicinal herbs, I will refine the two strands of Primordial Demongod blood. Chen Feng pondered secretly.

Right, the supervisor from Myriad Suns Trade Association mentioned back then that Liu Yuntian bought three stalks of Icespirit Grass. I wonder, did we get that as well? Chen Feng suddenly recalled.

Chen Feng had originally wanted to find Tower and settle the ‘account’ with Tower. However, no matter how much he shouted within Longevity Tower, Tower did not respond at all. It was likely that he was feeling too embarrassed and decided to simply hide himself.

“Hey! Hey! I don’t believe you won’t come out,” Chen Feng was unable to stop himself from smiling as he said that. Although he was somewhat displeased with Tower, his strength had indeed increased. That was a fact. 

When Chen Feng exited his room, he saw that Ye Ziming and Lu Ta were sitting in the middle of the courtyard, waiting for him.

“Brother Chen, you are finally out,” said Ye Ziming jovially.

“Are the wounds on your bodies are all healed up? How long did I spend on cultivation?” asked Chen Feng.

“Three months. You have been cultivating for three whole months. The wounds on our bodies have long since healed up,” answered Ye Ziming with a smile.

Chen Feng looked at both Ye Ziming and Lu Ta. With a thought, he noticed that he could clearly see the strengths of both their bodies. It felt as though his gaze could pierce right through both Ye Ziming and Lu Ta.

Level 4 of the Concealed stage and level 3 of the Concealed stage. Additionally, there is a powerful hidden force within Ye Ziming’s body. However, it seems to be sealed. Chen Feng was able to grasp their cultivation bases in an instant.

“Eh? Brother Chen, that aura you just emanated is?” Ye Ziming was the first to feel it.

“It’s nothing, I just had a slight breakthrough,” said Chen Feng with a smile. At the same time, he felt secretly joyful. At that moment, his soul power had increased by leaps and bounds and he could determine other people’s cultivation bases, unless of course, if the target was someone whose cultivation base exceeded his by several times.

“This isn’t right! Why do I sense something amiss? Your gaze earlier caused a feeling of emptiness to appear in my heart.” Ye Ziming cast a frown at Chen Feng.

“Why can’t I determine your cultivation base?” Ye Ziming suddenly cried out.

“Could your cultivation base have exceeded mine?” 

With a thought, Chen Feng retracted his divine sense and the aura emanating from his body changed.

“Eh? You are still at level 1 of the Concealed stage! What is going on here?” asked a puzzled Ye Ziming.

“It is just a magic technique to confuse people,” replied Chen Feng with a smile.

“If so, your cultivation base is at?” asked Ye Ziming, who was feeling uncertain.

“Still at level 1 of the Concealed stage,” said Chen Feng.

“Brother Chen, these are the things acquired from Liu Yuntian’s body. There are quite a number of good stuffs here.” Ye Ziming pulled out a round and transparent jade bracelet on the table.

“This is actually a spatial artefact. For a grown man to actually be wearing something like this,” said Chen Feng as he picked up the jade bracelet.

Who knows what the jade bracelet was carved out from? The carvings on it was meticulously exquisite and the images on its surface were vivid and life-like. Chen Feng could even make out some patterns within the jade bracelet.

Using his divine sense to inspect it, Chen Feng found plenty of seals placed upon it. There was also a very large space within it, one which contained a great deal of items.

“The space inside is quite big!” said a surprised Chen Feng.

“This is a grade 6 Magic artefact. It is capable of storing a small mountain. The Purplecloud Sky Grotto’s Sect Master really dotes on this son of his,” said Ye Ziming with a smile.

“Tsk tsk! The first item is already a grade 6 Magic artefact. We loose cultivators practically have nowhere to put our faces,” said the nearby Lu Ta with a sigh.

Chen Feng’s divine sense entered the Magic artefact’s space and searched around for a moment. Next, with a thought from Chen Feng, a jade box appeared on the table. Inside the box were three stalks of orderly placed Icespirit Grass.

Great! Icespirit Grass is now in my hands. Now, there is only the Soulguard Flower. However, where do I find it? Chen Feng thought.

“Fellows, I urgently need these three Icespirit Grasses. I won’t be holding back now,” said Chen Feng heartily.

“No need to hold back, Brother Chen. It seems Brother Chen has yet to notice it, but this spatial Magic artefact still has some other good stuff.” Ye Ziming suddenly revealed a puzzling smile.