In the face of the suppressive actions from the Heavenly Immortals, they had no choice but to follow. As for Chen Feng, he said nothing. Seeing that, the Heavenly Immortals grew even more uncertain.
The Valley of Souls was located deep within the City of Dead Souls. It was an important and special place within the city. It was also the most dangerous place there.
Naturally, the more dangerous it was, the more cultivators would come to explore the place.
Thus, their group encountered a good number of other cultivators who were also heading to the Valley of Souls. Seeing that, they grew slightly more relieved.
Chen Feng did not bring out the wars.h.i.+p he obtained back then. Instead, he simply followed them. After one month, they finally arrived at the Valley of Souls.
“The last two targets are inside. Kill them off and our mission will be complete,” Sword Saint Windflow said, taking the lead to enter the Valley of Souls.
The True Immortals and half-step Heavenly Immortals then followed.
The Heavenly Immortals had displayed a casual att.i.tude towards Chen Feng, allowing him to do whatever he wanted without asking anything. Even if Chen Feng were to leave right now, they would not say a word about it. This was the result of having absolute power.
The moment they entered the Valley of Souls, Chen Feng"s divine sense became like a line as it extended far into the distance. It kept scanning their surroundings. There were dead souls in the Valley of Souls as well. But contrary to his expectations, the number of dead souls there was small. Only, these dead souls were all very strong.
As the headquarters of the dead souls, the place was not chaotic. Instead, it was quite orderly and strict. Occasionally, some fights would break out only to quickly end. Those happened because they had discovered trespa.s.sing cultivators.
“The Valley of Souls sure is big. It is said that it has a world of its own inside. Though, the dead souls here seemed like trained soldiers. It looks as though they are protecting something here. Could there actually be some treasures inside?” Chen Feng suddenly said with a smile.
“It is said that there are Flowers of Dead Souls inside, born from the power of dead souls. Additionally, there are also Beads of Dead Souls that are of a higher quality. Only, there are experts inside and even Heavenly Immortals would die if they enter.” Hearing the question from Chen Feng, someone immediately responded.
“Even Heavenly Immortals would die? I wonder how many of us will survive,” Chen Feng said smilingly.
Everyone there sighed, a troubled look appearing on their faces.
“When the time comes, I hope that Senior Brother Chen can help out. If we can survive this, we will obey Senior Brother Chen in the future.”
The Heavenly Immortals could hear the conversation between Chen Feng and the True Immortals. And while they wanted to berate them, the Heavenly Immortals dared not speak up. They did not even have the guts to reveal dissatisfaction, for fear that Chen Feng might notice.
Chen Feng simply responded with a laugh and said nothing about it. Seeing that, the cultivators felt somewhat disappointed. Chen Feng was very strong. He also had six bodyguards at the Heavenly Immortal stage. If Chen Feng was willing to take action, their chances of surviving would be improved considerably.
A total of 100 True Immortals had set forth. After facing the outbreak of dead souls, however, up to 40 of them were killed off. And now, they were entering the headquarters of the dead souls. This was undoubtedly a very dangerous place. If it weren"t for the fact that there were several Heavenly Immortals keeping them there, some of them would have fled long ago. Becoming a traitor to the Six Daos Sword Faction and facing its murderous pursuit was better than just dying here.
With Sword Saint Windflow leading the way, the rest swiftly entered the Valley of Souls. Carefully observing, Chen Feng noticed that those Heavenly Immortals were very familiar with the routes there. They knew where there were dead souls and where the arrays were weakest. Occasionally, when it appeared as though there was no longer any way forward, Sword Saint Windflow and his team of Heavenly Immortals would simply charge forward. Their actions did not alarm the other party.
Despite having entered the Valley of Souls for one whole day, they had not encountered or fought any of the dead souls there. Due to that, they began feeling relieved. However, when they saw the bones and battered remains of the cultivators hunted down by the dead souls, they grew apprehensive again.
Would the two traitors hide here? The thought appeared within the minds of all present.
“What do you fellows think?” Chen Feng secretly asked Tie Zhen and the others.
“Young Master, I sense danger,” Tie Zhen replied seriously.
Chen Feng nodded. Tie Zhen was a high-level Heavenly Immortal with an extraordinary combat power. That was particularly so when considering the fact that he was from the Celestial Longevity Plane. In Chen Feng"s opinion, when compared to those on the same level in the Immortal Plane, Tie Zhen could already be considered as one of the best there were. Only War Immortals would be able to match him.
For even Tie Zhen to sense danger proved that there was an issue here.
“It is said that there is the corpse of a Gold Immortal inside the City of Dead Souls. However, it has been so long since and countless cultivators have come to explore this place. Although they managed to find some treasures, they found no clue regarding the corpse of a Gold Immortal. Even so, this City of Dead Souls remain very mysterious.”
Tie Zhen hesitated for a moment before saying, “Young Master, I suggest we leave this place.”
“Leave, why leave? I am very curious about what is in here,” Chen Feng replied coolly.
Tie Zhen sighed. He said nothing else about it. All he could do now was to keep his guard up.
Bang!
A piece of dark-grey boulder suddenly blew up, transforming into a ferocious extrterrestrial creature, which brandished its claws and fangs to rip apart an unsuspecting cultivator. As it was thinking of attacking a second cultivator, Chen Feng took action. A beam of sword light ended the extrterrestrial creature"s life.
“It"s a dead soul sprite that transformed itself into a boulder,” Chen Feng said.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
He had only just said that when the surrounding boulders blew up. In the blink of an eye, tens of dead soul sprites appeared. By then, however, the cultivators were already on guard for this. They attacked at the same time, unleas.h.i.+ng their respective killer moves to instantly kill off all the dead soul sprites. Even so, the dead soul sprites had still managed to kill off two cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction.
“The cultivation bases of these dead souls are a notch higher compared to the ones we encountered previously,” Sword Saint Windflow said. He appeared indifferent towards those who were killed earlier. Seeing the look of indifference caused even the heir disciples from the Six Daos Sword Faction to feel uncomfortable.
These fellows are all being sent to their deaths, Chen Feng thought.
They continued onwards. Every now and again, they would encounter some dead souls. These dead souls were all very strong. That said, their fights usually ended very quickly. Additionally, due to certain reasons, their fights did not attract the a.s.sault of the other dead souls. The most interesting part of their journey involved them encountering other cultivators. Some of those cultivators came forward, wanting to join forces with the Six Daos Sword Faction only to be rejected.
“Senior, are the last two traitors really in here?” one of them finally could not stop themselves from asking.
“What? Are you fellows hesitating?” Sword Saint Windflow put on a display of exalted authority.
“I wouldn"t dare. Disciple is merely curious,” the True Immortal forced himself to reply.
“No need to be curious. You fellows will know soon enough,” Sword Saint Windflow said.
As the two of them were talking to one another, Chen Feng secretly observed their every actions. Chen Feng was able to clearly see the most minute changes in their demeanours and even the changes in their souls.
Chen Feng"s a.n.a.lysis led him to the conclusion that the last two traitors were indeed here. However, Chen Feng also sensed something else from Sword Saint Windflow"s soul fluctuations.
These fellows have been constantly hiding something from us. Unexpectedly, even a great orthodox sect would think so little of their disciples. Some of them are loose cultivators. As for the heir disciples, they are probably the unpopular ones.
“It"s here.”
Sword Saint Windflow stopped and stretched his hand. Next, a mote of starlight flew out from his palm before spreading out. When it became clear, they all saw that it was a talisman.
The four Heavenly Immortals took action simultaneously and the talisman grew bigger. Various runes flashed with light. At the same time, it also radiated lightning-like rays of light. The s.p.a.ce before them shook and a cave appeared there. There was no telling just how deep the cave was.
“This talisman is something that a high-level Heavenly Immortal crafted.” Chen Feng nodded.
“The Grotto of Souls!” Some of the cultivators there exclaimed. They had recognized the place. The most dangerous part of the City of Dead Souls was the Valley of Souls. And the most dangerous part of the Valley of Souls was the Grotto of Souls.
“You three, head in and explore.” Sword Saint Windflow casually pointed at three cultivators.
“No!”
The faces of the three cultivators sank sharply and they rejected the order.
Shua!
Sword Saint Windflow waved his hand and a beam of sword energy flew out. One of the three cultivators was cleaved into two.
His act of killing caused an uproar to break out.
“Entering the cave might not necessarily end with your deaths. Rather, when you return to the sect, you will be rewarded. But if you do not enter, you will die immediately!” Sword Saint Windflow said, killing intent surging out from him.
“Let"s leave!”
“We"ll run away! I want to leave the Six Daos Sword Faction!”
“Everyone, leave together! I don"t believe they can stop us.”
“This is too much! We"re the disciples of the sect as well! Are you not afraid of invoking public anger with these actions?”
Sword Saint Windflow"s action of killing one of the cultivators caused most of them cultivators there to take action, bolting away in every direction.
“None may leave!”
A small and transparent sword appeared in Sword Saint Windflow"s hand. Flying forward, the small sword transformed into a curtain of swords to encase everyone there. Two of the cultivators there had been the fastest to flee. They ended up smas.h.i.+ng into the curtain of swords and were instantly shredded to bits.
“This is a sword array created by a high-level Heavenly Immortal. You fellows will not be able to break through. Now, you three, enter the cave,” Sword Saint Windflow pointed at another three cultivators. This time, they did not resist. Gnas.h.i.+ng their teeth, they entered the cave.
Sword Saint Windflow then turned around and saw a smile on Chen Feng"s face, which caused his heart to lurch. Smiling at Chen Feng, Sword Saint Windflow said nothing about it.
Chen Feng was different from the other cultivators. Sword Saint Windflow could not give Chen Feng any orders. In the beginning, they were even thinking of flattering Chen Feng. But seeing Chen Feng accept six Heavenly Immortals as bodyguards, they grew fearful of Chen Feng.
At that very moment, they were only afraid that Chen Feng would interfere. However, they could not stop. Thus, they secretly prayed, hoping that Chen Feng would not interfere with this matter.
One day later, three more cultivators were sent in.
Three cultivators would be sent in every day. In the end, every single one of the disciples had been sent in.
Naturally, Chen Feng"s group was only watching it all from the side.
During all that, Chen Feng had secretly split out some of his divine sense and attached them onto the cultivators sent inside. He wanted to see what was happening inside the cave. However, once the cultivators entered the cave, the divine sense that Chen Feng sent out would simply disappear. It was as though it had disappeared into another part of s.p.a.ce.
It"s not to be underestimated. Chen Feng pondered. Turning to Tie Zhen, he saw Tie Zhen shaking his head as well. It would appear that he had encountered the same issue as him.
There was no news about the cultivators sent in to explore the cave. As for Sword Saint Windflow"s group, they waited silently. After over half a month, one of the cultivators finally made it out.