Despite all that, there were still some cultivators watching the battle from afar. These cultivators had arrived sometime after Chen Feng and had been watching excitedly in hopes of getting something good from this battle. Some, however, had unknowingly moved closer only to be affected by the b.l.o.o.d.y light as well. In the end, they bellowed and joined the fight.
“This is bad. We cannot get too close. Move farther away!” All of the spectating cultivators grew terrified. Looks of dread appeared within their eyes and they felt a chill running down their spines as they observed the cultivators there attacking to kill one another.
“Is this a trap? Did someone deliberately lure us in?”
“Unlikely. This city is very old. It didn"t even appear in the war back then. By now, there should no longer be any survivors inside this city.”
“We cannot be certain about that. Best to practice caution. Who knows just what True Immortal Heavensday left behind?”
“Yes, this here is just one pillar of light. And yet, it could already affect so many cultivators. There are 108 pillars of light in this city. No matter how many cultivators enter this city, the pillars of light would be able to suck them all in.”
“What do we do then? Are we supposed to just continue watching here?”
“Let me try something!”
One of the cultivators, a mid-level Earthen Immortal, was finally incapable of holding back. His pair of eyes shone with clarity and he began chanting. Next, using a unique method, invisible energy fluctuations spread towards the cultivators who were in the midst of the killing frenzy.
“It"s Patron Clearpeak. He is using the Heart Clarity Mantra. He is a cultivator from the Immortal Plane with a mysterious origin, but a formidable cultivation base. It is said that he is in the midst of a.s.sailing the high-level Earthen Immortal stage. The Heart Clarity Mantra that he cultivates is powerful and profound, the counter to cultivation deviation.”
“However, I wonder how effective it will be? This situation is not as simple as cultivation deviation.”
“Humph, what a busybody! If all of them end up dying, it will be good for us. For him to be taking action right now, he is just trying to be a good guy.”
“That"s right. If we save these fellows, they will just end up competing with us for whatever treasures we find next.”
“You can"t say that. This city is somewhat peculiar. It"d be best for us to stick together.”
Seeing Patron Clearpeak"s actions, some agreed and some disagreed. Rather, some were even thinking about attacking him to stop him.
However, before those fellows could take action, Patron Clearpeak"s actions had already bore fruit. The cultivators who were in the midst of killing each other felt a cooling sensation flow into their minds. Their seas of wisdom, enveloped by the killing intent, promptly grew more lucid.
Instantly, a few cultivators who possessed formidable cultivation bases were able to break free from the killing intent. Next, they rushed backwards to put a distance of 50 kilometres between them and the battlefield. After having recollected themselves, sweat broke out from their bodies. Thinking back to what happened to them earlier, they all felt fearful. It hadn"t been easy cultivating this far. If it weren"t for the a.s.sistance from someone else just now, there would have been no hope for them.
“Thank you for the a.s.sistance, fellow cultivator. I am Li Zhifeng, from the Immortal Plane"s Four Paths Pavilion. May I know your name?”
“So, it"s Patron Clearpeak. I am a loose cultivator. If senior has any instructions for me in the future, feel free to tell me about it.”
“Zhi Wuming, from the Demon Plane.”
“The Ghost Plane"s Azure Ghost Order.”
“Nether Plane.”
Some of the cultivators who were able to break free from the killing intent moved forward to express their grat.i.tude. Even those from worlds that were hostile towards the Immortal Plane, the Demon Plane and others, came over to thank him. Although there was no way to tell what they were actually thinking, it would appear that Patron Clearpeak"s actions earlier had earned their feelings of grat.i.tude and friends.h.i.+p.
The tree yao had also managed to break free. Like the others, the first thing he did after breaking free was to fly far away. After calming down, he noticed that Chen Feng and the h.e.l.l Dog had yet to come out. He gritted his teeth and hesitated. In the end, he did not have the courage to enter the fray again.
Truth be told, when the Heart Clarity Mantra was being used earlier, Chen Feng was able to gain a moment of clarity. Making use of the opportunity, Chen Feng utilized his own Soul Subduing Mantra to give himself an even higher level of clarity before deciding to flee from the place.
It was then that a wave of killing intent suddenly swept into Chen Feng"s body. The ferocious a.s.sault of the killing intent caused Chen Feng to lose control once more. After struggling for just a moment, Chen Feng roared and waved his hand, causing the Blood Mustering Bead in his grasp to s.h.i.+ne with rays of b.l.o.o.d.y light. Cultivators who were enveloped by the b.l.o.o.d.y light would then emanate a sky-soaring killing intent.
“Heh! You haven"t released all your killing intent. It is not yet time to wake up.” Unbeknownst to Chen Feng, Tower was the one behind it all. Tower snickered as Chen Feng fell into the sea of killing intent once more.
Earlier, the Heart Clarity Mantra that Patron Clearpeak utilized had managed to rescue half of the cultivators there. The other half, however, were quickly engulfed by the wave of killing intent as soon as they broke free. Moreover, this time"s wave of killing intent was even more ferocious compared to the previous one and the cultivators were even more deeply immersed within it.
Coincidentally, Liu Wuxiang and the h.e.l.l Dog had fought their way to the other side of the pillar of light. Thus, the Heart Clarity Mantra that Patron Clearpeak utilized earlier failed to reach them. At that very moment, Liu Wuxiang"s eyes had become two black holes. Two clumps of red light kept compressing within the black holes, giving him an even more ghastly appearance compared to the other murderous cultivators there.
Likewise, there was also a change to the h.e.l.l Dog. He fought in a somewhat crazed manner and there were signs of chaos within the aura he exuded. His aura fluctuated, sometimes strong and sometimes weak. This was a sign that he was about to break through.
“h.e.l.l Dog is about to break through? Even though he has fallen into a state of killing frenzy, he can break through?” the tiger yao who was inside the Longevity Tower asked curiously.
“A killing frenzy can lead to a chaotic state of mind. However, it can also liberate the soul and release the power hidden within.
“You can either continue on with the path of killing to become a demon or make use of the killing intent to break through.
“Looks like the h.e.l.l Dog is doing well. He will be succeeding soon.”
Tower was in a surprisingly good mood. Thus, he answered the tiger yao"s question.
“How is this possible? Is he really going to level up? If he becomes a mid-level Yao Immortal, that means he will become even stronger than me! Are you kidding me?” Amongst all the yaos and demons there, the one who had the hardest time accepting it was the Two-headed Windbolt Wyrm.
Of the four Yao Immortals that Ascendant Immortal Skylodge left behind, the Two-headed Windbolt Wyrm was the strongest. Deep inside, he did not even consider his three companions as worthwhile opponents. Thus, seeing the h.e.l.l Dog on the verge of a breakthrough, he felt both envious and entangled. And yet, there was nothing he could say about it. As he possessed a lofty temperament, he had been unwilling to become Chen Feng"s subordinate. However, after hearing what Tower said earlier, he felt somewhat regretful. He regretted not going out earlier to partic.i.p.ate in the killing frenzy. If he had, he might have been able to break through as well.
Boom!
Roar!
The h.e.l.l Dog roared skywards. His Nether Eye had already opened up. Add his pair of eyes into the equation, a total of three b.l.o.o.d.y beams of light shot up into the sky and a wild and ferocious aura swept into his surroundings.
“It is already very close to the mid-level Earthen Immortal stage. Will it really be breaking through?”
“Hard to say. Breaking through at a time like this is just committing suicide.”
“Heh, we"ll have to keep an eye on it. That"s a creature of h.e.l.l. Those fellows have always been an arrogant bunch who do not understand how dangerous the world is. Even if its breakthrough is a success, it would still have to exhaust all its strength for it. When the time comes, it will just die.”
The spectating cultivators discussed the issue amongst themselves. The commotion caused by the h.e.l.l Dog had already attracted the attention of all the cultivators there. Thus, some of the cultivators had begun making preparations to attack at a moment"s notice.
The h.e.l.l Dog"s aura climbed steadily and the b.l.o.o.d.y light within his eyes gradually disappeared. Thanks to the explosion of power, he had managed to temporarily force out the killing intent within his body.
The h.e.l.l Dog turned to look at Chen Feng, who was still in a killing frenzy. After considering it for a moment, his ma.s.sive body abruptly dashed over 50 kilometres away. Then, it disappeared with a flash.
“Chase it!”
Seeing the h.e.l.l Dog das.h.i.+ng away, some of the spectating cultivators were incapable of holding back anymore. Thus, they pursued him, wanting to kill him off. However, they were soon disappointed. No matter how hard they searched, they were incapable of finding the h.e.l.l Dog.
Where did the h.e.l.l Dog go to? Naturally, he had gone into the Longevity Tower. After he entered the Longevity Tower, a high number of spiritual energy streams converged upon him. However, before the spiritual energy streams could come close to the h.e.l.l Dog, all of them were absorbed into his body.
Tower had been the one to mobilize the spiritual energy streams. Most of them were immortal energy and some even contained other types of spiritual energy. In fact, Tower even drew out some cosmic essence power for him. While it did not appear as though there was anything special about that action, Tower had actually spent quite some effort for it, albeit secretly. It was all so that the h.e.l.l Dog could successfully level up to become a mid-level Yao Immortal.
The h.e.l.l Dog was not the only one who could sense the cosmic essence power within the streams of spiritual energy. The other yaos and demons were able to sense it as well. Thus, they were both shocked and envious. At the same time, some of them began wondering how they should go about ingratiating themselves up to Tower and Chen Feng so that they too, could get some benefits.
“Kid, the amount of energy is already sufficient. However, whether or not you can successfully level up will depend on yourself. I will not be helping you with that,” Tower said coolly.
“Thank you, senior,” the h.e.l.l Dog said respectfully. Next, he roared skywards again and the aura exuding from his body became even more violent.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!
Waves of vital energy rose up from Chen Feng"s body and his broken bones and damaged flesh recovered at breakneck speed. In the beginning, he had needed a few breaths" worth of time to heal himself. At present, however, it took him less than one breath before all of the wounds on his body were healed up.
Although Chen Feng was trapped within the killing frenzy, he was still aware of his body"s situation. Every cycle of wound and recovery would cause his fleshly body to grow a notch stronger while his soul became even more solid.
At the same time, the various hidden energies within his body were gradually being consumed away and Chen Feng could feel his body becoming less tense.
Huh! When you look at it this way, this is a good thing. However, to be wasting the energies in such a manner is kind of a waste as well. That said, it will take a very long time to fully consume all the energies hidden inside me, Chen Feng thought. Although his eyes remained bloodshot, his attacks became more tactical and sensible. The fact that he could endure in the face of so many Earthen Immortals was already an incredible feat in and of itself.
Cultivation base aside, his combat experience and techniques had improved considerably. This highly daunting situation had brought about a rapid progress.
“Another time. I should be able to pull out the rest of the cultivators.” Patron Clearpeak utilized the Heart Clarity Mantra again.
“Clearpeak, stop it. No need to be a busybody.” Some of the cultivators who did not like what he was doing finally stepped forward to stop him.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Immediately, several cultivators dashed forward to stop the cultivators approaching Patron Clearpeak. There were sneers on the cultivators" faces and it seemed as though they were ready to attack at any moment.
“What are you fellows doing?”
“No matter how you cut it, Patron Clearpeak had helped us earlier. If any of you wants to do anything to him… heh, we"ll just have to fight it out.”
1 li = 0.5 km