Chen Feng did not particularly care about this amount of cultivation resources. It was for his followers. Looking at the mountainous pile of spirit stones and various other spiritual objects, Chen Feng knew that – without any word from him – the fighting spirit of his followers had been aroused.
Besides, even without these items, these men would still have to partic.i.p.ate in the war. In the face of a behemoth existence known as the Six Daos Sword Faction, the hundred plus cultivators had no strength to resist.
Staying in the Six Daos Sword Faction meant that they had to abide by the rules of the sect. This action from Chen Feng was only but a symbolic bargain.
That said, they had decisively rejected Chen Feng"s request for the Six Daos Sword Codex. They did, however, make a promise. After this war was over, they would allow Chen Feng to cultivate some of the sword moves from the Six Daos Sword Codex.
Hearing that, though, the expression on Chen Feng"s face immediately changed. In truth, Chen Feng did not particularly care whether or not he could cultivate the Six Daos Sword Codex. What he wanted was to see their att.i.tude towards his request.
“Fellows, please head back. We will partic.i.p.ate in the war,” Chen Feng said.
The rate at which Chen Feng"s att.i.tude changed after receiving the benefits caused the three Heavenly Immortals to secretly feel furious. In the end, however, they endured. Turning around, they flicked their sleeves and left.
“Humph!” Chen Feng snorted.
“Gather everyone,” Chen Feng said to Tie Zhen.
“Affirmative!”
Tie Zhen then sent out a wave of divine sense. The formidable wave of divine sense spread out in an instant, causing the three Heavenly Immortals who had yet to make it too far away to shudder. They nearly fell down from the sky.
“If it comes down to it, I can easily finish off the three fellows,” Tie Zhen said proudly.
Originally, the three high-level Heavenly Immortals had felt displeased at Chen Feng"s att.i.tude. Only after sensing Tie Zhen"s divine sense did the three of them realize that the situation was unlike what they had imagined.
“How can Chen Qing"s bodyguard be so strong?”
“Does he have an ulterior motive for joining our sect? Is it truly for the Six Daos Sword Codex?”
“It is only normal for him to have his own objectives. It is also normal for him to be interested in the Six Daos Sword Codex. Since joining our sect, he has not done anything that would harm our sect"s interests. On the contrary, he would always complete his missions. And while he did accept some followers, he has mostly been keeping a low profile. This time, we ended up offending him. I only fear that he would be unwilling to help out in the war.”
“That"s all we can do. The Six Daos Sword Codex is our sect"s greatest treasure. It cannot be casually spread out. If this Chen Qing is an heir disciple of our sect, it would not have been an issue to let him cultivate it. But he is a loose cultivator with an unknown background. We are incapable of making that kind of decision.”
…
“Young Master, are we really going to partic.i.p.ate in this war?” Tie Zhen could not stop himself from asking.
“The Six Daos Sword Faction did shelter us for some time, after all. It is only right for us to contribute. However, there is a difference between partic.i.p.ating in the war and giving it our all.” Chen Feng smiled.
“A pity, the ones that the Six Daos Sword Faction sent here are not generous at all.”
After agreeing to join the war, Chen Feng began mobilizing his men. The other smaller groups also came looking for Chen Feng to form an alliance. Thus, even before they had to depart for the war, the number of cultivators that Chen Feng gathered up had exceeded 10,000.
Number wise, Chen Feng"s group of 100 followers seemed like a small group within a small group. After all, within this group of 10,000 cultivators were some groups with over 1,000 members.
Naturally, the leaders of those groups would all treat Chen Feng with great respect. In a world where might makes right, everything was simple. Chen Feng had high-level Heavenly Immortals serving as his bodyguards. That alone was enough to have everyone behave themselves before Chen Feng.
“Senior Brother Chen, what do you think of this war?” the one asking was a mid-level Heavenly Immortal. When facing Chen Feng, however, he behaved himself. Prior to this, he had tried to provoke Chen Feng only for Tie Zhen to instantly slap him to the ground. If it weren"t for Chen Feng, who spoke up, he would have at least suffered from serious injuries, if not death.
“I"m not very well-informed about the state of the war. You fellows, tell me about it.” Chen Feng put on a display of loftiness and the invisible aura of an exalted character that he exuded gave others a soul-suppressing feeling.
“The way I see it, the Six Daos Sword Faction is in quite the spot this time.” The one who spoke up this time was a beefy man, also a loose cultivator. Although he had joined the Six Daos Sword Faction for quite some time now, there was still a fundamental difference between him and the heir disciples.
“No way. The Six Daos Sword Faction is a sect with deep foundations, after all. Surely it will not lose, no?” Some of them were sceptical.
“What do you know? This is a combined attack from several forces. The Six Daos Sword Faction has suffered from serious losses so far. If it weren"t for that, why would it keep on dispatching soldiers recently?”
“That sounds logical. I have also heard that some of the more important territories belonging to the Six Daos Sword Faction had been taken over.”
“Only, what caused this war?”
“I do know a little inside information about this.”
“Oh? Come, tell us about it.”
“I hear that the higher-ups of the Six Daos Sword Faction managed to discover a Graveyard of Divine Dragons. This incident caused the other sects to attack it.”
“Graveyard of Divine Dragons!” The other cultivators exclaimed. Even Chen Feng was left in a slight state of shock.
Divine dragons. The name itself held great power. And while their numbers were limited, each of them possessed highly formidable combat power. Most divine dragons would reach the Heavenly Immortal stage upon reaching adulthood. This alone proved just how monstrous they were. Additionally, a divine dragon"s life span far surpa.s.sed that of other living creatures, allowing them to become even stronger.
The Graveyard or Divine Dragons was a place where divine dragons were buried. Just the appearance of the corpse of a gigantic dragon would lead to a struggle between many Immortal Humans over the corpse. What then would happen should a Graveyard of Divine Dragons appear?
At that very moment, even Chen Feng was feeling somewhat excited. There was a strong thought racing within his mind. To enter the Graveyard of Divine Dragons and obtain the treasures there.
He then turned to look at Tie Zhen. As expected, light flashed across the eyes of his strongest bodyguard.
“For real? Why is your information so scary?” Some of the cultivators expressed their scepticism.
“I myself had heard it from someone else. However, it is very reliable.”
“What are you fellows talking about?” It was then that several Heavenly Immortals walked over. The auras they exuded were strong, akin to blades. When their gazes swept around, the cultivators found themselves incapable of raising their heads.
“They"re all Sword Premiers! Everyone, careful!” The clamouring voices there faded and Chen Feng saw that the three Heavenly Immortals who came to find him back then were amongst this group of Heavenly Immortals. Only after hearing the introduction from the cultivator beside him did Chen Feng know of their t.i.tles.
“From this moment onwards, all of you must listen to my commands. I believe that many of you do not recognize me. However, you fellows must have heard of the name Sword Premier Demolisher.”
“So, it"s Sword Premier Demolisher!” The cultivators there broke into an uproar and they began chatting amongst themselves in hushed voices. Sword Premier Demolisher was satisfied to see that and the corners of his lips curled into a smile.
“Tie Zhen, what do you think?” Chen Feng secretly asked.
“His cultivation base is average,” Tie Zhen answered, a look of arrogance flas.h.i.+ng across his eyes.
Chen Feng nodded, understanding. In truth, he was also secretly utilizing his eye technique to inspect them. However, he did not go too deep with his inspection. In his opinion, it was only natural that these fellows were no match for Tie Zhen. What he wanted to know was the specific difference in strength.
The few leaders of the loose cultivators looked at one another before turning to look at Chen Feng. In the end, they retracted their gazes and said nothing. The strongest amongst them was only at the mid-level Heavenly Immortal stage. They were strong enough to recruit a bunch of cultivators. But in the face of high-level Heavenly Immortals, they were still one level inferior.
“You are Chen Qing?” Sword Premier Demolisher suddenly turned towards Chen Feng.
“Greetings, senior,” Chen Feng smiled and nodded his head. Seeing that, Sword Premier Demolisher raised his brows. Turning to give Tie Zhen a glance, he then said nothing else.
“Everyone, let"s head out.” Without even giving them any inspiring words, Sword Premier Demolisher brought out a Divine-tier Skysoar Wars.h.i.+p. He was the first to head in. As for the other cultivators, they lined up and entered.
Over 10,000 cultivators entered the wars.h.i.+p, but it was not crowded at all. The s.p.a.ce it created inside seemed almost no different from the Immortal Plane and everyone was given a fairly sizable courtyard.
Heh! Even Heavenly Immortals have been dispatched. They are even mobilizing a Divine-tier wars.h.i.+p. Looks like the situation is truly pressing. Chen Feng chuckled.
“Young Master!” Tie Zhen moved over.
“What did you find out?” Chen Feng asked, smiling.
“Just now, I searched the seas of wisdom of tens of cultivators. The news about the Graveyard of Divine Dragons should be true,” Tie Zhen replied.
“The Graveyard of Divine Dragons!” A smile appeared on Chen Feng"s face. If this was true, he would have to get himself a piece of the pie. In Chen Feng"s opinion, this Graveyard of Divine Dragons was more reliable compared to the pa.s.sageways connected to who knows where.
Just as Chen Feng was about to say something, several cultivators came to visit him.
“Fellows, come on in,” Chen Feng said with a smile.
Several Heavenly Immortals visiting a True Immortal. It was a highly amusing matter. However, the Heavenly Immortals showed great respect towards Chen Feng.
“Senior Brother Chen, the other party is clearly treating us as cannon fodders. We are loose cultivators. If we have to head to the battlefield, who knows how many of us can survive.”
“Yes. Originally, I had a.s.sumed that we can carry out this mission by ourselves. Unexpectedly, some high-level Heavenly Immortals would come as well. We have no way to resist.”
“Senior Brother Chen, you are the strongest amongst us all. We will listen to you. Tell us, what should we do next?”
The moment they arrived, they began discussing the issue. As for Chen Feng, he had remained silent. Only after they had fallen silent did he speak up.
“If so, what are your plans?” Chen Feng asked, still smiling.
“There"s no way we"ll become cannon fodders! We plan on following Senior Brother Chen"s instructions!” one of them said loudly.
“Follow my instructions.” Chen Feng nearly laughed out. Did they think of him as an idiot? They wanted him to take the lead.
After considering it for a moment, Chen Feng said, “I do have a plan.”
“Senior Brother Chen, what is the plan?” Everyone there grew somewhat delighted.
“After entering the battlefield, our 10,000-strong group can split up into smaller teams and join up with the heir disciples of the Six Daos Sword Faction. Whenever they attack, we"ll attack as well. Whenever they retreat, we"ll retreat as well. What do you fellows think?” Chen Feng said.
“This plan is quite good. I only fear that it will not be easy to implement.” The eyes of the cultivators there first lit up only to turn dim.
“Discussing more about it now is useless. In fact, I think that we might be overthinking it. The Six Daos Sword Faction is presently in a crisis. It is in need of everyone"s strength. It will likely not risk universal condemnation by deliberately coming after us. If they were to do so and news of it spreads out, it would only discourage the other loose cultivator recruits,” Chen Feng said.