The plan that Heavenly Premier Everwind and Heavenly Premier Cavernous Void came up with was good. However, before they could even attack, a second Ascendant Immortal emerged from the pa.s.sageway, followed immediately by a third Ascendant Immortal. Then, the fourth emerged as well.
Sensing the roiling blood streams within their bodies and the rising dread, the faces of the two Heavenly Premiers turned pale.
Sou! Sou!
As Patriarch Twin Devices was directing the sword array to kill off the blood cultivators below, he was also keeping an eye on what was happening underground. When he sensed waves of b.l.o.o.d.y luminescence – with a concentrated and unbreakable quality – emerging from beneath the ground, a panicked look appeared on his face.
“These Earthen Immortals are easy to handle, but those Ascendant Immortals will be a problem. When will the Island Lord come?”
As he considered that, Patriarch Twin Devices stopped killing off the blood cultivators on the surface. Instead, he mobilized the sword array to form a concentrated attack before firing it into the ground.
At the same time, he also sent Mu Cang a secret vocal transmission to have some Human Immortals lead the Sky Human stage cultivators away from this battle. Only the Earthen Immortals and a number of Human Immortals would stay behind to deal with the blood cultivators.
By then, practically half of the entire Sky Pillars Mountain Range had been covered in b.l.o.o.d.y light. The number of blood cultivators had reached one million. The weakest blood cultivator was at the Sky Human stage. They were no longer something that the current force from the East Dragon Island Alliance could stop.
Sou! Sou!
The Heavenly Premiers Everwind and Cavernous Void appeared on the surface, cutting quite the miserable sight as they did. The number of Ascendant Immortals from the Blood Plane who were right on their heels had risen up to five. If it hadn"t been for Patriarch Twin Devices, who mobilized the sword array to help them earlier, they would have a hard time breaking out.
“We cannot stop them! Why aren"t the reinforcements here yet?” Heavenly Premier Everwind shouted.
Sou! Sou!
s.p.a.ce was ripped apart and three cultivators appeared high up in the sky. One of them immediately unsheathed his sword and an overbearing astral sword swept forward to hack apart an Ascendant Immortal from the Blood Plane. The remnants of the Ascendant Immortal were utterly evaporated by the sword energy.
It was Patriarch Hegemon Sword. As he was a mid-level Ascendant Immortal, one attack from him was capable of killing off an Ascendant Immortal. As for the other two, they were Heavenly Premier First Origin and the Long-browed Daoist. The Long-browed Daoist was also a newcomer. This was his first time partic.i.p.ating in one of East Dragon Island"s war campaigns.
“The Island Lord"s cultivation retreat is presently at a critical juncture. He sent us first. Why are there so many of these fellows here?” Patriarch Hegemon Sword was puzzled.
“Someone opened up a pa.s.sageway to the Blood Plane! Those fellows are all Blood cultivators!” Heavenly Premier Everwind rapidly informed them of what happened earlier.
“The Blood Plane? This is problematic. Although the Blood Plane is not as strong as the Immortal Plane, it is on the same level as the Demon Plane and Nether Plane. In fact, it is even more devilish. Heavenly Firmaments Palace must have gone mad.”
“Don"t worry! The pa.s.sageway should just be a temporary one. If there are just these Ascendant Immortals to deal with, then there will be nothing to fear.”
Patriarch Hegemon Sword had managed to kill off one of the Ascendant Immortals from the Blood Plane earlier. Thus, he was of the opinion that he could deal with the situation with a few more sword attacks. Suddenly, however, a sky-vaulting, blood-coloured light appeared before them all. The b.l.o.o.d.y light then formed a great blood-coloured hand, which then swung towards Heavenly Premier Everwind.
“Attack!”
“Kill!”
Everyone worked together to fight the great hand. Even so, all of them were slapped aside in the end. Next, the great hand split up into five cultivators; blood energy swirling around the five cultivators.
“Another five!” Heavenly Premier Everwind and the others turned to look at one another. Number wise, their enemy now had the advantage. More, the pa.s.sageway had yet to close up. Who knows how many more of these blood cultivators would show up? Thinking about it, this was not their territory while the cultivators from Heavenly Firmaments Palace had already left. Why don"t they leave as well?
Seeing the formidable display of might from the Blood Plane, Heavenly Premier Everwind and the others began thinking about retreating. The invasion of blood cultivators from the Blood Plane was a matter that involved the entire world of cultivation. Why should the East Dragon Island Alliance be the only one to take on this burden?
However, retreating just like that also did not feel right. These blood cultivators had begun killing the moment they appeared and a good number of cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance had already fallen to their attacks. Seeing their companions killed off, the cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance grew resentful. They tossed aside the thoughts of retreating and instead began fighting with everything they had.
Given the present situation, even if they were to retreat, they would still suffer from some casualties.
Upon emerging, the blood cultivators – Ascendant Immortals included – became like wild animals that had been starving for years. All of them attacked the cultivators from East Dragon Island with a mad-like fervour.
“I"ll stop three of them. I"ll leave the rest of them to you!” Patriarch Hegemon Sword had the highest cultivation base amongst them all. With a swing, he unleashed a 10,000-zhang-long astral sword and the blood cultivators who were too close to him were instantly evaporated.
In his opinion, due to the restrictions of the Heavenly dao laws, the cultivators from the Blood Plane should not be too powerful. Starter-level Ascendant Immortals should already be the limit. Thus, he should be able to stop their advance for a moment.
But he did not think that such a great unrest would happen in Eternal World. For the cultivators of the Immortal Plane and a True Immortal from the Demon Plane to be able to appear here, it must mean that there was a loophole within the Heavenly dao laws. Either that, or the Heavenly dao laws here were gradually weakening.
Thanks to the existence of Patriarch Hegemon Sword and the fact that the blood cultivators were incapable of wielding their full power, the two sides were able to engage in a dazzling battle. That said, seeing the appearance of so many Ascendant Immortals from the Blood Plane, Mu Cang knew that they could not continue. Leading Lan Ling and the rest, he quickly retreated. They had mobilized over 100 Earthen Immortals for this campaign. At that very moment, however, they had lost tens of Earthen Immortals. This was quite a big blow for Mu Cang.
Unbeknownst to them all, Chen Feng had already arrived. Only, he was hiding himself.
“Senior, these blood cultivators are like high-grade supplements for me. I am personally hoping that the Blood Plane would send some more experts over.” Beside Chen Feng was Bi Qing. The Longevity Tower was standing guard over East Dragon Island while a group of cultivators were cultivating inside it. As their cultivation session had reached a critical juncture, Chen Feng did not interrupt them. Due to that, this wave of reinforcements consisted of just Chen Feng and Bi Qing. Though, it would appear that neither of them had any intention of taking action just yet.
The aura emanating from Bi Qing"s body was very fleeting, making it impossible for others to determine his cultivation state. As for Chen Feng, his aura was completely drawn back. Even so, Bi Qing was still able to see that Chen Feng remained at the starter-level Earthen Immortal stage. Chen Feng had indeed been focused on cultivation all this time, but he had been suppressing his cultivation base and strength while polis.h.i.+ng them.
“Ha ha ha! The Blood Plane is not to be underestimated. If a True Immortal appears, we will have to run for our lives,” Bi Qing said, laughing.
“True Immortal. That is a possibility. The chaos engulfing Eternal World recently has reached something of a turning point. When the time comes, the Heavenly dao laws will weaken and who knows how many experts will appear? Our East Dragon Island Alliance may be thriving right now, but it will not be able to hold against true experts. If only we can get our hands on some more True laws.” Chen Feng shook his head.
“True laws? Where are you going to find something so good? Unless of course, if the Longevity Tower can recover some more of its power.” Bi Qing was also aware that the future was likely rife with problems. Although he was something of a lone wolf, he had already allied himself with Chen Feng. He would need the Longevity Tower"s help to recover to his previous cultivation level.
“Tsk, tsk. Two more Ascendant Immortals have come. I wonder if Patriarch Hegemon Sword and the others will be able to hold on.” After saying that, Chen Feng brought out the Blood Mustering Bead. Strands of blood energy rose up from the ground and all of them flowed into the Blood Mustering Bead. Inside the Blood Mustering Bead were nine ferocious and wicked wyrms. They were none other than the Poisonous Vileblood Wyrms. Chen Feng had been keeping them inside the Blood Mustering Bead all this time where they could borrow the Blood Mustering Bead"s power to cultivate.
When Chen Feng had first received the call for help, he had indeed felt highly astounded. However, when he found out that it was blood cultivators from the Blood Plane, his worries disappeared. On the contrary, he grew delighted.
Blood cultivators possessed the power of blood. For Chen Feng, that was a highly supplementary item. Whether or not the Blood Mustering Bead could reach the Immortal tier would depend on these blood cultivators.
“They have quite the potential. Still, you sure can take it easy. Are you not afraid that they will be killed here? Every death will be a blow to our combat power,” Bi Qing said with a smile.
“It can"t be helped. These fellows are mostly newcomers and I want to see if they will give it their all for this.” Chen Feng was indeed not thinking of taking action at the moment. Firstly, the cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance should still be able to endure for a while longer. Secondly, Chen Feng was focused on mobilizing the Blood Mustering Bead to devour the surrounding power of blood. Besides, there was Bi Qing beside him. Thus, Chen Feng was not feeling too worried.
“This magic treasure of yours is quite decent. Unfortunately, its grade is somewhat low,” Bi Qing said, looking at the Blood Mustering Bead in Chen Feng"s hand.
“Yes. This time, I want to make use of these blood cultivators" power to let my Blood Mustering Bead level up to the Immortal tier. Though, I did hear that the Blood Plane has some good magic treasures as well. I wonder if I"ll be able to obtain them in the future?” Chen Feng smiled.
“Not good!” Bi Qing"s face suddenly sank and he disappeared. By the time Chen Feng noticed him, Bi Qing was already in the thick of battle. He swung his sword and three blood cultivators had died to him. As Bi Qing was planning to continue fighting, two blood cultivators stopped him.
Given Bi Qing"s current level of strength, he could even kill off mid-level Ascendant Immortals. Killing off starter-level Ascendant Immortals was something he could perform instantly. That he could be stopped meant that those cultivators were experts. At the very least, they were mid-level Ascendant Immortals.
“The experts have revealed themselves.” Chen Feng did not feel too concerned. Instead, he grew excited. The blood of the three Ascendant Immortals that Bi Qing killed earlier flowed into the Blood Mustering Bead, causing it to advance from a high-grade Dao artifact to a top-grade Dao artifact. Rather, its power was still rising. Given enough time, just the blood of these Ascendant Immortals would have been enough for Chen Feng to increase the Blood Mustering Bead"s tier to the Immortal tier.
Since they had been found, Chen Feng stopped hiding himself. Stepping out from void s.p.a.ce, he then mobilized the Blood Mustering Bead in his hand to exert a suction force. As a result, all the blood within the entire Sky Pillars Mountain Range, covering a length of 50,000 kilometres, became like rivers converging into the ocean. All of them flowed into the Blood Mustering Bead.
Weng!
Wave after wave of b.l.o.o.d.y light radiated out from the Blood Mustering Bead. Next, a series of lightning suddenly descended to strike the Blood Mustering Bead.
Lightning radiance flashed while the Blood Mustering Bead shone with a blood-red light. Even though this was a Heavenly Tribulation, Chen Feng did not release his grip on the Blood Mustering Bead. Instead, he allowed the power of Sky Lightning to envelop both him and the Blood Mustering Bead.
“Laws of time!”
Chen Feng linked up with the Longevity Tower, which was tens of millions of li away from him. Instantly, a power shot forward, ignoring s.p.a.cetime to descend upon Chen Feng and the flow of time there was changed.
For those outside, the Blood Mustering Bead had only been undergoing its Heavenly Tribulation for several breaths" worth of time. However, as the Blood Mustering Bead was inside the affected area alongside Chen Feng, it was in fact, one whole month.
“The laws of time!”
The faces of the blood cultivators from the Blood Plane who had only just appeared flickered and there was a slight look of fear in the way they looked at Chen Feng.
When all the power of lightning had disappeared, Chen Feng re-appeared before them all, the Blood Mustering Bead in his grasp. The Blood Mustering Bead was already a top-grade Dao artifact. One step was all that"s left between it and the Immortal tier.
1 zhang = 3.333 m
1 li = 0.5 km