Seeing the iron card, Chen Feng made to collect it but someone beat him to it and a hand s.n.a.t.c.hed the iron card.
Shua!
The young swordsman was quick to react and a sword flashed out to sever the arm. However, the iron card ended up in the hands of another.
“You"re really wanna die?!” The sword slung across Man Niu"s back flew out on its own and sword light flashed. The cultivator was thus cleaved into two. But that was not all, the cleaved halves of the cultivator"s body then began disintegrating away into nothingness.
The sword flew around in an arcing motion before finally returning to Man Niu"s back. Seeing that, the others no longer dared to take action. They had no choice but to allow Man Niu to take the iron card.
Chen Feng"s eyes narrowed. Since their first meeting, Man Niu had never utilized the sword before. It was then that Chen Feng knew that Man Niu was still hiding his strength.
Although Man Niu had only utilized the sword for a brief moment, Chen Feng could see that it was stronger than the flaming spear that they had obtained earlier.
After getting his hands on the iron card, Man Niu looked at it for a moment before tossing it over to Chen Feng, who inspected it for a moment before tossing it over to Chi Mingzi.
After inspecting it, Chi Mingzi then returned it to Man Niu.
“Fellows, what is it?” one of the other cultivators, a staff-wielding fellow, could not stop himself from asking.
“Let"s go. There should be nothing else here.” Chen Feng shook his head as he took the lead to leave.
“Hold it! Without making things clear, you are not allowed to leave.” The three remaining Heavenly Immortals stood before Chen Feng.
“You fellows are seeking death here.” A chilling light flashed across Chen Feng"s eyes and the stone plate spun, shooting towards one of the Heavenly Immortals. At the same time, Man Niu and Chi Mingzi had already charged forward as well. Due to that, the three Heavenly Immortals had no choice but to give way. Should a fight erupt, they would certainly end up on the losing side.
Back then, they"d had to fight their way in, but the process of leaving was free of troubles. It did not take long before they left the cave.
After that, something unexpected happened. One joss stick"s worth of time after they exited the cave, s.p.a.ce there became blurry and the cave disappeared, leaving only a bare cliff.
“What happened?” Man Niu promptly swung forward with his copper staff to shatter the towering cliff before him. However, he was unable to discover anything.
“Incredible! If we had stayed inside, who knows where we would end up getting transported to?”
“I think, it is because we obtained the iron card. As such, this cave"s existence is no longer needed.”
“Iron card, that"s right! Just what is the iron card?”
The moment the iron card was mentioned, the eyes of all the cultivators there lit up once more. Noticing the faint look of greed in their eyes, Chen Feng secretly sneered.
Back then, only Chen Feng, Man Niu and Chi Mingzi had inspected the iron card. Not even the young swordsman and the beefy hammer wielder had been able to look at it. As for the others, they could just forget it.
“Chen Feng, you"re finally out.” Heavenly Premier Extreme Celestial swiftly moved over to stand beside Chen Feng. There was a slightly strained look on his face. He was just a half-step Heavenly Immortal, but there were so many genuine Heavenly Immortals there. Heavenly Premier Extreme Celestial simply dared not approach them.
As expected, when the Heavenly Immortals there saw a half-step Heavenly Immortal, some of them revealed a slight look of disdain.
After having a chat with Heavenly Premier Extreme Celestial, Chen Feng turned to look at Man Niu and the others. They all nodded before heading out. And so, the young swordsman, beefy hammer wielder and Heavenly Premier Extreme Celestial joined Chen Feng"s team and the power of this small team grew.
Naturally, the iron card was still in Man Niu"s hands.
Seeing them leave, the remaining three Heavenly Immortals followed. It would appear that they were unwilling to give up on the iron card.
Noticing that, Chen Feng"s team merely smiled and they continued onwards.
“Fellows. Since we are already a team, surely there is no need to be hiding it, no?” the beefy hammer wielder said in a somewhat dissatisfied tone.
Man Niu laughed and tossed the iron card in his possession to the beefy hammer wielder. Upon receiving the iron card, the beefy hammer wielder grew stunned. However, after looking at the iron card, he ended up grinning.
The young swordsman who had long since lost his patience s.n.a.t.c.hed the iron card over to have a look as well. In the end, he too, grinned.
“It looks like there is a need to find a second iron card. Still, the corpse of a high-level Heavenly Immortal seems quite alluring.”
“The corpse of a high-level Heavenly Immortal can be preserved for billions of years. Even if there is no legacy, obtaining just one Heavenly law or blood essence from this Heavenly Immortal is good.”
“Why do I get the feeling that this is not as simple as it looks?”
“It is a little peculiar. By the way, those cultivators who were sealed in ice also disappeared along with the cave. Think about it. Since we have already obtained the item, why would the cave disappear?”
“Brother Chen, what are your thoughts about it?” As they were discussing the issue, Man Niu noticed that Chen Feng was staying silent. And so, he could not stop himself from asking.
“I was wondering if we may have missed out on some good items there,” Chen Feng said smilingly.
“What do you mean?” Man Niu hastily asked.
“Back when I was scanning the cave, I had this strange feeling. I cultivate a very wondrous eye technique and not even a mid-level Heavenly Immortal can hide from me. And yet, I keep getting the feeling that there should be some other items inside the cave. But we were unable to find anything. Now that I think about it, the other party must have done something to blindside us,” Chen Feng said.
“In other words, we missed out on some goodies? But who is the other party?”
“I felt that too. Only, I have not been able to describe that feeling clearly.”
Listening to Chen Feng, they started talking about it only to find out that their feelings were pointing to the similar conclusion.
“The other party s.n.a.t.c.hed the treasures away. Before leaving, they also plundered the Heavenly laws. And now, the entire cave has disappeared as well. The only thing left is the iron card. Just who is the other party and what are they up to?”
“According to the iron card, we need to go find the other iron cards. The direction has already been marked. If our speculation is correct, we will be heading into a trap next.”
“Or perhaps the other party wants us to take the lead while they fish in troubled waters, taking advantage of us on the sly.”
To be able to cultivate up to this level, every single one of them was an unparalleled genius. And with Chen Feng"s reminder, they were able to swiftly come up with various possibilities.
“If that is the case, what should we do? Although this is quite dangerous, there will still be some decent harvests there.”
“Of course, we have to go. Only, we will need to make preparations and consider how to maximize our profits.”
“I have a suggestion. We have three Heavenly Immortals behind us. Eh, there are five now! If we encounter danger, we can send those fellows in as fodder.”
There was a distance of around 5,000 kilometres between Chen Feng"s team and the five-man team. As Chen Feng and the others were coming up with a plan, they were also swiftly discussing the issue amongst themselves.
“The iron card that those fellows obtained is definitely not an ordinary object. Even now, they are thinking of shaking us off. We cannot simply let this slide.”
“What else can we do? They have Divine artifacts in hand. We are no match for them.”
“That"s why, we should secretly follow them. Wait until they find the treasures. It would be even better if their side end up in a mutually-destructive scenario. They are not exactly a tight-knit group.”
“We"ve been following them so closely. They must surely have noticed us.”
“So what if they notice us? Don"t worry. I have already contacted my other friends. Just by getting a few more members into our team, we will have a good chance of gulping them up.”
“Is it here?”
Chen Feng"s team looked at a ma.s.sive lake lying before them.
“According to the iron card, it"s here,” Man Niu said, stretching his hand out to grasp. Immediately, the waters of the ocean-like lake flowed upside down and the entire lake was emptied in just several breaths" worth of time. All of the lake"s waters had flowed into Man Niu"s hand to become a small ball of water.
“I feel like I have grown stronger,” Man Niu said, feeling puzzled.
“It"s not that, the restrictive arrays here are weaker,” Chen Feng said, firing out a punch that stirred the winds and clouds. The fist blast he fired out surged forward like a great river and the few extrterrestrial creatures emerging from the dried-up lake were all sent flying.
Following the disappearance of the lake"s waters, the various yao beasts occupying the bottom of the lake were revealed. The malevolent energy coming off some of the yao beasts there was so strong that they left even Chen Feng"s team shocked.
“Look!” Man Niu pointed at the centre of the lake. A damaged altar rested there; and at its centre was an iron card, identical to the one they had obtained earlier.
“Surely, it"s not that simple?” Chi Mingzi said, stretching his hand out to grasp and a palm silhouette made its way through s.p.a.ce to grab the iron card on the centre of the altar.
Bang!
Invisible power abruptly surged out from around the altar to wipe out the power that Chi Mingzi had sent forth.
“I knew it"s not that simple.” Chi Mingzi took action once more and a palm silhouette wreathed in flames shot towards the altar once more, accompanied by rumbling sounds.
This time, all of them could clearly see multi-coloured streams of light surging out from around the altar to form a dome of light, which encased the altar.
The flaming palm silhouette made contact with the dome, which flashed with light to quake the flaming palm silhouette apart.
“Looks like we"ll have to work together for this.”
“Before that, let"s deal with the extrterrestrial creatures here first.” Chen Feng pointed at the extrterrestrial creatures that were furiously flying up at them.
“That"s simple. Let"s just kill them.” The copper staff in Man Niu"s hands swung out and tens of extrterrestrial creatures were sent flying from the attack.
“There are so many extrterrestrial creatures. Dealing with them will take quite some time. When the time comes, who knows if those lurking fellows will jump in?” Despite saying that, the young swordsman charged forward, sword in hand.
There were many extrterrestrial creatures inside the lake. Thus, they had no intentions of killing them all. Instead, they carved out a path towards the altar.
Eventually, the other team of cultivators who had been secretly following them was finally incapable of holding back. They revealed themselves, wanting to charge forward and s.n.a.t.c.h the iron card.
“Lost patience already?” Chi Mingzi scoffed and waved. Thirty-six flags flew out to form a great array, which created a defensive perimeter to keep the extrterrestrial creatures outside.
“Tsk, tsk. This Divine-tier great array is something else,” the young swordsman said enviously.
“I"ll be needing everyone"s help for this,” Chi Mingzi said impa.s.sively. He had pondered a long time before finally deciding to bring out this great array.
“Naturally.” Chen Feng and the others channelled forth their power. With the injection of power, the great array finally began to operate in earnest. Immediately, the sounds of ghastly cries rang out and the world turned dark. The winds and clouds stirred and countless extrterrestrial creatures could be seen moved in and out of existence.
“Ha ha ha! Those fellows who think they can take advantage of us will have a hard time making their way in.” Chi Mingzi laughed smugly.
“This is bad! They were already prepared!”
“How insidious! Doesn"t this mean they would have finished collecting all the treasures by the time we make it in?”