The young cultivator who came to make the report was only a Sky Human stage disciple of Extreme Celestial Sect. Facing the Human Immortal elders was already making him nervous, but taking on the atmosphere of power from a high-level Human Immortal was simply impossible for him.
“Chaos? What do you mean? Give us the details.” Only then did Wan Jiecheng realize that he had lost his composure. He immediately retracted his gaze and waved his hand. The young cultivator then got up.
“The current situation is as such. The day before yesterday, a force suddenly appeared within Nine Firmaments Palace"s territory before splitting up into four groups. They then attacked the territories under Nine Firmaments Palace, Purple Firmaments Palace and Transcendent Firmaments Palace. They did not stop at all. In just three days, they have taken down over 100 large cities and 3,000 mid-sized cities,” the disciple hastily said.
Seemingly swallowing his saliva, he then continued. “As for the casualties suffered by the Three Palaces, we do not have it for now. However, it should be quite considerable.”
After he was done reporting, the young disciple noticed that the whole hall had fallen silent. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
As for the young disciple, although he was feeling somewhat nervous, his feelings of excitement and delight outweighed his feelings of nervousness.
“Are you telling the truth? You should know, giving a false military report is a punishable crime,” one of the elders spoke up.
“It"s true! It"s all true! It is the absolute truth! Elders, if you do not believe me, you can search my soul!” the disciple hurriedly said.
“Someone has come again.” Wan Jiecheng waved his hand and three young disciples were brought into the hall.
“Reporting to the Sect Master!”
“Enough! Give us the report one by one.”
In the end, they found that the contents of the three disciples" reports were almost similar to that of the first disciple. There was only one difference. The reports from the three disciples who came later were more detailed.
The additionally information they obtained was pertaining to the cultivators who were taking advantage of the situation. Those people had been defeated and scattered as well.
“Where did this force come from?”
Wan Jiecheng and the elders there looked at one another. They had come to believe the veracity of the reports.
“Sect Master, did you mobilize that force?” one of the elders tentatively asked.
“No.” Wan Jiecheng was direct with his reply.
“Besides, even if we are to mobilize all our power, we would likely be incapable of doing that.”
“No matter what, the other party is a friend of our Extreme Celestial Sect. Only, who are they?”
“Go check it out.”
Two hours later, the disciple sent to check it out returned.
“These men first appeared in Carefree City. They teleported in from the Central Plains" Heavenly Sword Faction. There are indeed a high number of disciples from Heavenly Sword Faction amongst them.”
“However, most of the cultivators in this force are yao beasts and water yaos.”
“How strange! Our Extreme Celestial Sect is in the Northern Plains. We do not have much dealings with the Central Plains, let alone with Heavenly Sword Faction, a first-rate sect there.”
“Heavenly Sword Faction. Didn"t Sword Hall branch out from Heavenly Sword Faction?”
“However, we do not have many dealings with Heavenly Sword Faction. Even if we do, would they send a force from so far away to come help us?”
“There is also a high number of water yaos. Just what is going on here?”
The elders there discussed the issue, shocked and speculative looks on their faces.
“Is that all the information we have?” Wan Jiecheng had remained silent all this time. His abrupt words caused the other elders to fall silent.
“We have more.”
“Tell us!”
“A portion of the cultivators are from Absolute Academy.”
“Absolute Academy! One of the four Holylands!”
Wan Jiecheng"s eyes promptly lit up. They shone unabated as he could not understand what was happening.
“Who else?” Wan Jiecheng asked again.
“It looks like Chen Feng is with them as well.”
“Chen Feng?” Wan Jiecheng and most of the elders there felt puzzled.
Another disciple sent to gather information came. The information that he brought was even more comprehensive and accurate.
“Chen Feng is the one who brought this force over from the Central Plains. At present, he is furiously attacking the cities and strongholds under Nine Firmaments Palace"s side. He has killed off tens of Earthen Immortals, hundreds of Human Immortals and countless Sky Human stage cultivators on Nine Firmaments Palace"s side.”
“Just who is Chen Feng?”
“Chen Feng is Sage Enigma Flame"s apprentice. He was a disciple of our sect. However, he offended Nine Firmaments Palace and was pursued by them as a result. Due to that, he left the Northern Plains for the Central Plains. At present, Chen Feng holds the position of an honorary elder of Heavenly Sword Faction, a student of Absolute Academy and the Island Lord of East Dragon Island.
“He has over a million water yaos under him. There are also Yao Immortals and Demon Kings amongst the ranks of his subordinates. He is a rising force in the Central Plains.” The disciple who came in later had investigated Chen Feng"s information in detail. Of course, some of the details remained vague.
Hearing those words, the faces of a few of the elders there flickered about in an awkward manner.
“Chen Feng, Sage Enigma Flame"s apprentice. I know about that matter.” After saying that, Wan Jiecheng closed his eyes and the atmosphere in the hall instantly grew somewhat stifled.
After some time, Wan Jiecheng opened his eyes and light flashed out from them. For the elders there, it felt as though a blazing sun was s.h.i.+ning before them all and they reflexively closed their eyes.
“Humph!”
Wan Jiecheng scoffed and his gaze swept forward. Upon making contact with Wan Jiecheng"s gaze, all the elders lowered their heads.
“If I recall correctly, back then, Chen Feng was a core disciple, no? In the beginning, he had joined our sect as an outer disciple, but his cultivation base rose very quickly. He can be considered as a pinnacle genius. Later, however, he got into some conflicts with some disciples from our sect.
“That"s a normal occurrence in every sect. So, it"s no big deal. However, after he beat the young ones, the big ones came out. After he beat the big ones, the old ones came out. That"s going overboard. Still, it can be considered normal as well.”
After saying that, however, Wan Jiecheng"s gaze became like a blade and it swept forward again. Due to that, it felt as though the temperature within the hall was falling.
“Thankfully, there was Sage Enigma Flame there to protect him. Due to that, some fellows could not go overboard. Only, he later offended Nine Firmaments Palace. Heh! The kid sure is ruthless. He killed off the disciples from Nine Firmaments Palace again and again. In the end, even Transcendent Firmaments Palace and Purple Firmaments Palace were dragged into it. Those fellows kept pursuing him and even Sage Enigma Flame could no longer protect him. Due to their murderous pursuits, he ended up running to the Central Plains.
“Heh!”
A self-deprecating look appeared on Wan Jiecheng"s face. “Our sect"s disciple was pursued, but even when he was inside our very own territory, he could not find protection. Heh! How disappointing!”
Some of the elders in the hall revealed looks of shame while a few others trembled.
“However, I did hear about how some disciples personally chose to take action, helping Chen Feng somewhat through his ordeal. Those people should be rewarded.”
Bang!
Wan Jiecheng abruptly slapped the armrest of his chair and his face grew icy. Instantly, the atmosphere of the hall froze and it seemed as though ice would form due to the atmosphere.
“Back when Chen Feng was pursued by his enemies, when he was in a life and death situation, some people from our sect had partic.i.p.ated in his pursuit. However, these fellows did not go to help Chen Feng. Instead, they wanted him dead! They actually helped Nine Firmaments Palace hunt down Chen Feng!”
Wan Jiecheng"s voice was cold to the extreme.
“The Zhao Family, Sun Family and some elders were involved in it.”
“Am I wrong?”
Silence. Finally, some people walked forward and knelt down. They were the elders at the Human Immortal stage.
“Sect Master, please punish us.”
“Punish? Heh!” Wan Jiecheng sneered.
“You fellows are to immediately partic.i.p.ate in the war. Before the war is over, you are not allowed to come back.” After considering it for a moment, Wan Jiecheng then gave the order.
“Yes!”
After the kneeling elders left the hall, Wan Jiecheng then calmed down.
“Sage Enigma Flame. Chen Feng. Good. Very good! To think that, when our sect is at such a critical juncture, something like this could happen.”
“Since the situation has turned around, we can no longer hold back on our final force. Mobilize them! Mobilize them all and have them rush into the battlefield!” Wan Jiecheng finally made the decision.
“Yes!”
Everyone there grew delighted. They all knew just how formidable the final force of their sect was. By bringing it out now and working together with Chen Feng"s force, they might actually be able to tide over this difficult situation.
As this was happening, Chen Feng led his men into Nine Firmaments Palace"s territory, advancing through hundreds of thousands of li before they were obstructed by a group of cultivators.
This group of cultivators consisted entirely of cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace. Their number was not high. However, each and every one of them possessed formidable cultivation bases. Led by Earthen Immortals, the rest were all Human Immortals.
“Tsk, tsk. There are six Earthen Immortals here. Two amongst them are mid-level Earthen Immortals. As for the 20 Human Immortals, most of them are high-level Human Immortals. Although their number is not high, the might of this force cannot be underestimated.” Chen Feng smiled.
“Looks like these people are not here to fight. They must be here for a negotiation. Either that or they are here to investigate the situation. If it"s none of those, then they must be here to buy time.”
“Sigh! Truth be told, throwing out group after group of cultivators like this is the wrong choice for Nine Firmaments Palace. Are they really not afraid that I would beat them all one at a time?”
“There is still a need to exercise caution. The enemy has six Earthen Immortals on their side. If a fight erupts, there is no need for people like us to be afraid. However, our disciples and others on our side will surely be wounded,” Sword Immortal Great Heaven said.
“Naturally. However, it doesn"t matter if the enemy wants to fight us. They are only mid-level Earthen Immortals. They cannot pose much of a threat to me.” Chen Feng nodded in an indifferent manner.
“Chen Feng!”
One of the enemy cultivators spoke up.
“How should I address you?” Chen Feng stepped forward and asked with a smile. Beside him were Sword Immortal Great Heaven and Sword Immortal Great Wind.
Chen Feng was not worried that the enemy would attack him. Should they choose to do so, he could kill them off by simply bringing out one of his top-grade Dao artefacts. Not to mention, he also possessed Immortal artefacts.
“Patriarch Yan Mo!” The cultivator who spoke up was dressed in black robes. He had long hair and an unkempt beard which flew about in a disorderly manner, giving him a wild image.
“So, it"s someone from the Yan Family. Greetings! I recall fighting against Yan Luo and Yan Qing before. I wonder, what level has those two reached now?” Chen Feng said smilingly. There was an indifferent look on his face. It appeared as though the Earthen Immortals in front of him were nothing in his eyes.
“Yan Luo and Yan Qing are the rising stars of our Yan Family"s younger generation. Their talents are quite good and they are already at the Human Immortal stage,” Patriarch Yan Mo said coolly.
“Ha ha ha! They were nothing more than defeated soldiers back then.” Chen Feng laughed.
“Naturally, they are no match for the famed Island Lord of East Dragon Island.” Patriarch Yan Mo did not become angry at all.
“Since you fellows are aware of who I am, you should also know why I am here. I have killed countless cultivators since coming here. And yet, you only brought such a small number of cultivators with you. It doesn"t seem sufficient. Or, are you fellows here to die?” Chen Feng said smilingly, killing intent gleaming out from his eyes.
1 li = 0.5 km