This was Chen Feng"s Heavenly Tribulation to advance to the high-level True Immortal stage. No living creatures appeared. Instead, only a series of devastating powers descended to ceaselessly scour Chen Feng"s body.
For Chen Feng, a Heavenly Tribulation at this level gave him zero feelings of pressure. He simply stood there, not moving in the slightest to allow the various powers to descend upon him from above. He couldn"t even be bothered to absorb the powers. He had already stored up too much power within his body, power that he had yet to refine.
And thus, Chen Feng easily overcame this Heavenly Tribulation and the Heavenly dao laws descended into him. Chen Feng had rarely ever had such an easy time overcoming his tribulations.
After the tribulation clouds disappeared, Chen Feng spent three days studying his gains. Then, an even stronger aura charged out from his body. Even before the aura managed to make its way to the sky, tribulation clouds had appeared once again.
Chen Feng had chosen to undergo his tribulation again to a.s.sail the half-step Heavenly Immortal stage.
The tribulation clouds seemed similar to the previous ones. And yet, it simply churned there, not unleas.h.i.+ng any attacks even after a long time had pa.s.sed. As for Chen Feng, he maintained a calm look on his face. Just the energy waves from the tribulation clouds were enough for Chen Feng to divine out the might of this Heavenly Tribulation.
“A very easy Heavenly Tribulation.” Chen Feng did not sense any pressure or danger. After repeating his divinations several times, he simply waited silently for his Heavenly Tribulation to descend.
Finally, the tribulation clouds converged and a gigantic finger emerged – like a mountain from the very depths of the universe – to suppress Chen Feng.
“Finger of Heaven.”
The instant Chen Feng"s tribulation descended, the cultivators within a radius of tens of thousands of li from the spot were able to clearly see it. Most of them ended up crying out in shock. The Finger of Heaven was a very formidable Heavenly Tribulation. Unlike the other Heavenly Tribulations, which would descend in waves, this Finger of Heaven only had this one finger attack. In return, all of its offensive power would be compressed into this one singular finger.
Last time, it was the Hand of Heaven. This time, it is the Finger of Heaven. Interesting. However, this level of power is still not enough against me. Chen Feng did not even raise his head. He could clearly sense the structural makeup, strengths and flaws of this finger"s laws, even its attack trajectory.
This finger can easily squish a high-level Heavenly Immortal. But when compared to the obstacles I had to face in the palace halls, it is nothing. Chen Feng then jabbed forward with one finger as well.
The semi-transparent silhouette of another gigantic finger appeared to collide against the Finger of Heaven.
“It"s the Longevity Finger!” All the cultivators from the Celestial Longevity Plane who were in the Six Daos Sword Faction recognized this move from Chen Feng.
The two fingers disappeared at the same time. Next, Heavenly dao laws descended upon Chen Feng, transforming into a Heavenly law before fusing with Chen Feng"s body.
This Heavenly law was different from the other Heavenly laws that he had refined in the past. This was something that he had cultivated out by perceiving the Heavenly dao. Thus, it belonged solely to him. There was no need for him to refine it in order to unleash its full power.
The half-step Heavenly Immortal stage. This rate of cultivation is truly very fast. I will likely be able to catch up to my old friends from back then. This time, the Heavenly dao actually failed to accurately a.s.sess my strength. The next tribulation, the one to advance to the Heavenly Immortal stage, on the other hand, must surely be very strong. Chen Feng himself was feeling curious. He had already prepared himself for a great battle. Unexpectedly, he would be greeted by an ordinary Heavenly Tribulation in the end.
Given Chen Feng"s strength, he was more than capable of charging straight to the Heavenly Immortal stage. But after pondering it for a moment, he decided against it. Advancing steadily, one step at a time, would allow him to build up a more solid foundation.
Moreover, there were also many other matters that Chen Feng had to attend to.
He had to make arrangements for his followers, rebuild the battered Six Daos Sword Faction and be on guard against the attacks from other forces. In Chen Feng"s opinion, the Starsource Order and other enemies of the Six Daos Sword Faction were not a threat. He was instead more concerned about the other Celestial Planes. Those forces were a notch stronger compared to the cultivators from the Immortal Plane.
Back when Chen Feng was making his way through the palace halls, nearly 200 of the soldiers that the Boundless Corps dispatched over were killed off. Every single one of them was an elite, Heavenly Immortals with formidable combat might. Even for the Boundless Corps, this was in no way a negligible loss.
Additionally, they had also lost contact with Sha Xian and the others, who came to reinforce. There was no way to tell if they were dead or alive.
Chen Feng maintained a calm demeanour. However, his heart was in a state of constant upheaval as killing intent brewed ceaselessly within him. That was even more so whenever he looked at the current state of the Six Daos Sword Faction. He had practically no words to say about it.
One of their half-step Gold Immortals were killed while the others were all badly wounded. The number of Heavenly Immortals killed reached the several hundreds while the number of True Immortals killed reached ten thousand. Territory wise, they lost 90% of their original territory, leaving only the territories they had in the Primordial Mountain Range and some hidden strongholds. This war had truly dealt a critical blow to the Six Daos Sword Faction. Even though it possessed a very deep foundation, this blow was not something that they could recover from anytime soon.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Six Daos Sword Faction"s position had fallen by several notches this time. Who knows just how many eyes were now preying on their territory in the Primordial Mountain Range?
As Chen Feng went about dealing with the affairs there, he could sense that some of the disciples of the Six Daos Sword Faction were bearing a slight feeling of hostility and dissatisfaction towards him. In their opinion, all these troubles were due to Chen Feng. Sensing that, Chen Feng knew what had to be done.
“What"s the current situation with the Boundless Corps?” Chen Feng asked one of the soldiers from the Boundless Corps who just recently came to the Immortal Plane.
“It"s not too good. The Boundless Corps is presently engaged in battles in many places. Due to that, it is incapable of diverting too many of its men. If it weren"t for that, we would not have had to face such a wretched situation.” The soldier was a high-level Heavenly Immortal. Even so, when facing Chen Feng, he displayed a highly respectful att.i.tude. It was because the aura of suppression that Chen Feng subconsciously emanated was simply too strong. Not even when facing a Deputy Commander would he feel this way. Thinking back to how Chen Feng was able to easily kill off several half-step Gold Immortals, everyone there was confident that Chen Feng would be able to return to the Longevity Clan in a domineering fas.h.i.+on and become a strong addition to the Boundless Corps.
Chen Feng nodded, not asking anything else about it. Since the Boundless Corps was incapable of sending too many men over, he would have to figure out another way.
Hopefully, Dark Night can give me a pleasant surprise, Chen Feng thought.
It did not take long before a sizable number of cultivators from the Dark Plane came to the Six Daos Sword Faction. The cultivators consisted of cultivators from the Immortal Plane who came over from other places and those from the Dark Plane. The human cultivators only make up a small number of cultivators from this group. Most of them were creatures of darkness.
One hundred Heavenly Immortals, two thousand True Immortals and some Ascendant Immortals. This was the force that the Dark Kirin had managed to gather up recently. Even though this was not a particularly large force, it did help relieve the urgent situation that Chen Feng was facing.
The addition of the creatures of darkness helped considerably. One after another, many of the cultivators who snuck in while bearing ill intentions were found and killed. The one who suffered the most from this was the Immortal Slaying Pavilion.
Chen Feng was aware that this was a very critical juncture for them. Back then, they had indeed managed to beat back the Starsource Order, Immortal Sword Sect and Immortal Slaying Pavilion. However, in order to stop the Six Daos Sword Faction from recovering, those three forces would definitely think of ways to finish off the Six Daos Sword Faction.
But with Chen Feng and the Dark Kirin staying guard over the Six Daos Sword Faction"s territory in the Primordial Mountain Range, they were not afraid of any counter attack from the enemy forces. For the usual half-step Gold Immortals, coming here was the equivalent of committing suicide. The only exception would be if the cultivator was a Gold Immortal. Only, the Six Daos Sword Faction also had a Gold Immortal. It was none other than the variant wyrm that Chen Feng had subdued.
Of course, after overcoming his tribulation to become a half-step Heavenly Immortal, Chen Feng"s strength had multiplied yet again. Thus, even if a Gold Immortal were to come, Chen Feng himself would be capable of fending off the Gold Immortal.
What happened next, however, surprised Chen Feng. The Eternal Alliance came to seek protection from Chen Feng.
In recent years, the hottest issue in the Immortal Plane was that a high number of cultivators was ascending from the lower worlds into the Immortal Plane. Due to that, alliances sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain. Although their high-level combat power was limited in number, they were very influential. Throughout the many billions of years, countless cultivators had ascended from these worlds into the Immortal Plane, after all.
Most of the cultivators from the Eternal Alliance were cultivators who ascended from Eternal World. In addition, there were also some loose cultivators native to the Immortal Plane. These people had banded together for the sake of mutual interests.
But while there was a considerable number of cultivators there, their overall strength was on the weaker side. Most of the cultivators ascended to the Immortal Plane at the Ascendant Immortal stage. Even with talent and luck, those who could cultivate up to the True Immortal stage could already be considered as Heaven-defying existences.
Thus, even though there were over 10,000 of them, the number of Heavenly Immortals there was very small. Most of them were Ascendant Immortals, with a small number of True Immortals.
Some of the True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals were Chen Feng"s friends back when he was in Eternal World. Back when they ascended, they were already True Immortals. After reaching the Immortal Plane, they were able to cultivate at an extremely fast rate and their cultivation base soared.
Patriarch Heavenly Sword, Heavenly Premier Absolute and the others were one such example. Naturally, some had ended up elsewhere in the Immortal Plane. Given how vast the Immortal Plane was, gathering up all of them was an impossible task.
Even though this force did not have any cultivators with outstanding combat powers, Chen Feng was satisfied. Those who could ascend to the Immortal Plane were all geniuses, one in ten thousand. Given time, they would have no issues surpa.s.sing the native cultivators of the Immortal Plane.
That said, Chen Feng did feel disappointed to find that many of the other cultivators who ascended from the lower-levelled worlds had chosen to join other forces. Still, it was understandable. Finding a backer here in this Immortal Plane would be much safer compared to going forward alone.
Before the chaos could completely subside, however, more troubles came knocking for Chen Feng.
Back then, Tun Ri and the others were besieged by a high number of cultivators and even had to face a.s.sa.s.sination attempts. All of it was due to Chen Feng"s appearance in the Six Daos Sword Faction. And now, Chen Feng had openly appeared. It would be strange if no one were to appear now.
After inquiring about Chen Feng"s appearance and what happened throughout it all, those forces who wanted to take action against Chen Feng made various preparations. Due to that, the cultivators who came to stir up troubles were experts, each more formidable than the last.
Chen Feng had been in the midst of his cultivation session when the a.s.sa.s.sin came after him. In the beginning, he had a.s.sumed that this person was from the Celestial Longevity Plane. But after seriously wounding and capturing the a.s.sa.s.sin, he found out that this half-step Gold Immortal was from the Immortal Slaying Pavilion.
He did not hesitate to kill off the a.s.sa.s.sin.
The second a.s.sa.s.sination attempt happened when Chen Feng was patrolling the Primordial Mountain Range. Three half-step Gold Immortals attacked him head on while two more half-step Gold Immortals attacked him from the dark. It was a perfect ambush.
This time, however, Chen Feng was prepared. The Dark Kirin and s.p.a.ce-time extrterrestrial creature had been hiding nearby as they became the oriole behind the mantis. Chen Feng only had time to finish off one while the Dark Kirin and s.p.a.ce-time extrterrestrial creature dealt with the other four.
“The Starsource Order"s side has sustained serious losses after failing these two a.s.sa.s.sination attempts. They will likely behave themselves for the time being,” Chen Feng said smilingly.
“No. Two of the half-step Gold Immortals we killed were loose cultivators, hired using a great amount of wealth.” The Dark Kirin reminded Chen Feng.
Note: Oriole behind the mantis. From the saying: "The mantis hunts the cicada, unaware of the oriole from behind". Meaning, the hunter becoming the hunted.