Chen Feng had a.s.sumed that the Heavenly Tribulation was over when the tribulation clouds suddenly roiled and split apart. With a single horn on its head and golden-coloured scales covering every part of its colossal body, another wyrm appeared, brandis.h.i.+ng its four talons as it did. The moment it appeared, it emanated an overwhelming draconic might. In the face of its aura, all the water yaos and monsters within a radius of 50,000 kilometres rushed deep into the ocean bed. They were practically going all out to flee.
It actually possesses the power of a divine dragon. A pity, it is still a Yao Immortal in the end. Still, it is already very close to becoming a Yao Overlord. This should be the most that the Immortal Plane can do. Chen Feng never had much of an opinion about the Immortal Plane. After all, there was no relations.h.i.+p between him and the Immortal Plane. Rather, he would often absorb power from the Immortal Plane for his cultivation, leading to the creation of some karmic ties between him and the Immortal Plane. This time, however, Chen Feng had grown displeased at the Immortal Plane. Plans began forming within his mind.
“Immortal Plane! I didn"t do anything to you, but you fellows are actually trying to trouble me? Fine! I will be sure to settle this score with you fellows, one by one!” Chen Feng said, brandis.h.i.+ng the Heaven Piercing Lance in his hand. The aura emanating from his body grew increasingly formidable. There were no signs of exhaustion at all.
Chen Feng had raised his lance, stirring his spirits as he prepared to charge forward when the tribulation clouds roiled again and yet another wyrm appeared.
Once again, a single horn and a colossal body. Only, this one"s scales were earthen-yellow in colour. It radiated a ferocious atmosphere of power and palpable grand dao powers spread out from its body.
The corners of Chen Feng"s mouth reflexively twitched. “A metal-type wyrm and an earthen-type wyrm. One for offence and one for defence. Both are high-level Yao Immortals. Tsk, tsk. You"re trying to straight up kill me here. I am just a.s.sailing the Earthen Immortal stage, not the Ascendant Immortal stage!”
The expression on Chen Feng"s face grew increasingly icy as his heart pumped vigorously. Formidable powers surged within his body. Even so, he became increasingly calm. He knew that the following fight will be a very difficult one. The previous wyrm had taken him several days to defeat. And now, he had to face two wyrms that were even stronger than the previous one.
The golden wyrm was the first to attack. It was fast and strong. Despite using his Immortal artifact to block the attack, Chen Feng could still feel his arms going numb from the impact. After several clashes, the earthen wyrm joined the fray as well. The earthen wyrm was slower than the golden wyrm. However, its defensive power was extremely high. The stabs Chen Feng performed using the Heaven Piercing Lance were only able to leave a few unremarkable holes on its body. It had failed to pierce through the earthen wyrm"s body.
Next, a talon swipe struck Chen Feng, sending him flying. His whole body shook and cracking sounds rang out from his bones. Even the circulation of his blood streams and primary energy had been thrown into a minor state of chaos.
Sou!
Before Chen Feng could stabilize himself, the two wyrms charged again to surround him.
Chen Feng displayed the Longevity Steps to evade. Even a one-on-one fight would have been a bitter one for him, let alone a one-on-two fight. Chen Feng"s face grew even calmer, but his eyes turned pitch-black. On his back, the Longevity Wings spread open. By then, his Longevity Wings had already begun attaining tangibility.
Bang! Bang!
Two loud sounds rang out. It was as though thunder had exploded from within Chen Feng"s body. The Prudent Sword and Lightstream Sword within his body had blown up at the same time. After that, the fragments of the magic treasures fused with the Longevity Sword. However, the power released by the two magic treasures flowed through Chen Feng"s body to make its way into the Longevity Wings on his back.
Reinforced by the essence power of the two Dao artifacts, the Longevity Wings finally grew tangible. The runes and streams of light on it also became increasingly orderly. In response, the Longevity Wings unfurled to reach a length of over 50 kilometres before rapidly shrinking back to a length of one zhang.
The wings had a faint-cyan colour. The image of the quivering Longevity Wings coming out from Chen Feng"s back gave a feeling of wonder. With a thought from Chen Feng, several faint images appeared in the sky. In but the blink of an eye, he had s.h.i.+fted his position several times. Every time he did so, he would appear over 50 kilometres away from his previous location. Even the tribulation clouds above him were incapable of responding to his actions.
This feels better. As it so happens, I can make use of them to refine my state of cultivation. Chen Feng snickered. The Longevity Wings behind him shook sharply and Chen Feng flashed forward to arrive atop the earthen wyrm, the Heaven Piercing Lance in his hand stabbing at the wyrm"s body. This time, the attack was supported by the momentum created by the Longevity Wings, giving it an even stronger offensive power.
Boom!
The stab succeeded in piercing through the earthen wyrm"s body. Of course, it only managed to pierce through it. Just as Chen Feng was thinking about continuing with his attacks, the golden wyrm arrived and Chen Feng darted away.
Just like that, Chen Feng relied on his unparalleled speed to land successive hits on them. Even so, emerging victorious will still be very difficult.
Chen Feng did not let up. Neither did he grow vexed. Instead, his eyes kept s.h.i.+ning with light as he searched for any target of attacks and weak points.
Weng!
A wave of power of laws descended from the tribulation clouds and Chen Feng instantly felt himself become much slower.
Chen Feng could not stop himself from cursing out loudly. This time, he had truly become infuriated with the Immortal Plane. The fact that he had to face a higher-levelled Heavenly Tribulation aside, they were repeatedly resorting to sneaky actions against him.
Due to the interference from this wave of power, Chen Feng"s speed fell by 30%. Next, the two wyrms swiftly surrounded him. After a series of clashes, Chen Feng fell into a disadvantageous position again. He also suffered from some wounds from the clashes.
“Humph! I don"t believe you fellows can still interfere!” Chen Feng clenched his teeth and another Dao artifact inside his body blew up. This time, it was the Bone Whip. One by one, the segments of the bone whip blew up and its fragments fused with the Longevity Whip. As for its power, it entered Chen Feng"s eyes. Chen Feng grunted and blood kept flowing out from his pitch-black eyes. At the same time, however, the power of the Magic Eyes of Darkness was released at a seemingly limitless rate. The strands of black light emerging from his eyes seemed to contain icy energy.
Through his eyes, Chen Feng was able to determine the cultivation state, movement trajectory and reaction of the two wyrms.
After grasping the movements of the two wyrms, Chen Feng no longer feel pressured and the fight became much easier. Additionally, every attack from Chen Feng would land on the wyrms" weak points. For example, the spots where they were gathering their power. Chen Feng would locate and immediately stab at those spots.
Chen Feng had blown up several Dao artifacts in a row to empower the Longevity Wings and Magic Eyes of Darkness. Even so, he still had to fight for one whole day. Finally, Chen Feng found a good opportunity and his lance struck the golden wyrm"s abdomen area. As a result, the golden wyrm paused for a moment. During that moment, Chen Feng unleashed a tempest of attacks with his lance. In the end, a series of explosions burst out from the golden wyrm and it was reduced to streams of golden energy.
And so, only the earthen wyrm was left, giving Chen Feng an easier time. After spending some more time on it, Chen Feng finally finished off the earthen wyrm as well.
Chen Feng dared not be careless and he swiftly worked on recovering his strength, waiting for the next phase of his Heavenly Tribulation. Thankfully, after roiling about for a while longer, the tribulation clouds disappeared and grand dao powers poured down. Even if the Immortal Plane had still wanted to interfere, it would no longer be able to. This was the grand dao laws of the universe itself. Only legendary figures would be able to interfere with laws of this level. As for Chen Feng, he believed that a minor character like him would not be able to attract the attention of such figures.
Secretly making use of the Longevity Tower, Chen Feng began to capture and devour the grand dao powers that were descending from the profound folds of s.p.a.ce. The power of laws here was exactly what Chen Feng needed. For other cultivators, they would usually only absorb the one grand dao power that they needed. However, Chen Feng was different. His cultivation techniques were more special and the number of magic treasures he nurtured was higher. Even if all the grand dao laws from the whole cosmos were to descend, Chen Feng would not begrudge there being too many of them.
As Chen Feng had chosen to undergo his Heavenly Tribulation in the ocean, his tribulation ended up attracting the attention of some formidable water yaos and water monsters. After Chen Feng overcame his Heavenly Tribulation, though, none of them came forward to disrupt him. The commotion caused by his tribulation was simply too great. Additionally, it would seem that Chen Feng had managed to emerge unscathed from the Heavenly Tribulation. Most importantly, there were Immortal artifacts protecting him. Even some Yao Immortals with great magics dared not step forward. Doing so was suicide.
While Chen Feng was undergoing his tribulation in the ocean region, the Northern Plains descended further into chaos, true chaos. The cause of all that was the Three Palaces, who finally decided to make their move, a monumental move.
It was as Chen Feng had predicted, no, this had exceeded Chen Feng"s predictions. The power of Nine Firmaments Palace, Purple Firmaments Palace and Transcendent Firmaments Palace erupted like a volcano and the might that the three sects displayed was over a hundred times stronger than the one they showed in the Planar War.
They fielded a high number of Earthen Immortals and an endless throng of Human Immortals. As for their Sky Human stage cultivators, there were so many of them they practically blotted out the sun. Like a swarm of ants, they spread out from the Three Palaces. There were none that could stop their march, not even those first-rate sects that had occupied the same status as Nine Firmaments Palace.
Extreme Celestial Sect had long since prepared themselves for this. They had summoned their disciples and members back to the Extreme Celestial Mountains early on. After that, the Extreme Celestial Mountains simply flew away, leaving the spirit vein on the ground. It was unknown just where they had hidden themselves.
In but 10 days, all of Extreme Celestial Sect"s territory were taken over. Immediately after that, the Three Palaces continued attacking. Like locusts, they left a trail of devastation everywhere they went.
Realizing how bad the situation was, Skypond Faction, Sword Hall, Flowing Cloud Hall and the other first-rate sects quickly formed an alliance. Even so, it was to no avail. They were simply incapable of stopping the furious and invincible march of the Three Palaces. Every day, the first-rate sects of the Northern Plains kept losing one territory after another.
Soon enough, Jade Talisman Sect was destroyed. The tens of Earthen Immortals defending the sect were killed. As for their sect guardian treasure, the Immortal-tier Upright Five Lightning Talisman, it was s.n.a.t.c.hed away.
The destruction of Jade Talisman Sect caused the eyes of the other sects to turn bloodshot. Every single one of them chose to bring their full might to bear. They had decided to wage a battle to the death against the Three Palaces.
But even that was useless. It did not take long before Pill Ding Sect was destroyed as well and only a handful of its disciples were able to escape.
Skypond Faction and the other sects were also seriously damaged. The number of cultivators that Nine Firmaments Palace"s side possessed was simply too high. They were practically endless. Additionally, it seemed as though there was a mysterious power hiding somewhere behind them.
In the end, even as they were in the midst of fighting back, Skypond Faction, Sword Hall and the other sects began summoning back their disciples and members. They had decided to leave. However, the world of cultivation was presently in a state of chaos. Where could they go to? The Central Plains, Western Regions, Eastern Provinces and Southern Seas were all embroiled in battles as countless sects battled for territory.
“Let"s head to the Central Plains. Our Sword Hall came from Heavenly Sword Faction, after all. Now that it has come to this, there is nothing to feel ashamed about. It is better than staying here and be killed to the very last.”
“Our Flowing Cloud Hall will follow you.”
“Very well. Let"s go together. We can help each other.”
Flowing Cloud Hall had many female cultivators. Given the chaos gripping the world of cultivation, they were in the most danger. Sword Hall"s Sect Master did not reject Flowing Cloud Hall"s request. They were both sects that had lost their homes. By joining forces and heading to the Central Plains, even if Heavenly Sword Faction were to reject them, they would still be able to carve out a place to call their own.
1 li = 0.5 km
1 zhang = 3.333 m