This fellow! Seeing Patriarch Carefree be the first to speak up, the rest of the Ascendant Immortals muttered under their breaths.
“Thank you, Senior Carefree,” Chen Feng replied smilingly.
Next up, the rest of the Ascendant Immortals also agreed to send their cultivators to join up with East Dragon Island"s cultivators to fight a battle of expansion. The 11 Ascendant Immortals negotiated the issue and finally agreed to have each of them send forth 10,000 cultivators. The cultivators dispatched will obey Chen Feng"s commands.
Listening to their negotiations, Chen Feng silently sneered. These fellows are Ascendant Immortals, but they are so stingy.
However, Chen Feng did not say it out loud. He would not be partic.i.p.ating in what happened next. That was something he would leave to his subordinates. At that very moment, the only force in Eternal World"s world of cultivation that could warrant Chen Feng"s attention was Heavenly Firmaments Palace. Naturally, if their enemies were to dispatch Ascendant Immortals forward, Chen Feng would not be holding back as well.
Truth be told, Chen Feng was also feeling somewhat frustrated. When it came to the cultivators who were truly part of East Dragon Island, even though there were tens of millions of them, he and the Dark Kirin were the only ones capable of fighting against Ascendant Immortals. While East Dragon Island did boast of some Earthen Immortals, there was no way those Earthen Immortals could advance to the Ascendant Immortal stage any time soon. Not even obtaining immortal dao laws could make it happen overnight. Considering that, Chen Feng knew that East Dragon Island"s foundation was still lacking.
That said, the amount of power that East Dragon Island could muster was indeed very formidable. The number of Human Immortals and Earthen Immortals from East Dragon Island was not something that the other sects could contend with. That was especially so now that it had joined forces with the Four Great Academies, Heavenly Sword Faction and the others. Sweeping their way through the Central Plains should not be an issue for them.
Of course, that was only Chen Feng"s opinion on the matter. Heavenly Premier Absolute and the others were not as optimistic as Chen Feng.
“Sigh! Eternal World has existed for hundreds of millions of years. Even though our Four Great Academies are known as the Four Holylands, there are still many hidden sects out there that had simply chosen not to reveal themselves. I personally know of several forces that are in no way inferior compared to my Absolute Academy,” Heavenly Premier Absolute said.
Chen Feng nodded, not saying anything in response. He believed Heavenly Premier Absolute. There were still many dangers zones in Eternal World that he had never explored. If it was possible for him to chance upon a mid-grade Immortal artifact in the past, then it was also possible for such treasures to exist elsewhere.
At any rate, cultivators with formidable magics would be capable of opening up their own dimension and create a cultivation environment that was much better than that of the Immortal Plane. It was similar to him utilizing the Heavenstealing Technique to extract immortal energy from the Immortal Plane. Chen Feng was not one to think that others did not possess the means to perform such a feat.
“We"re just retaliating against those who attacked us earlier. We should be strong enough for that.” Chen Feng smiled.
The number of Earthen Immortals in East Dragon Island had reached 200. Thus, if there were any issues to handle, Chen Feng can simply give the orders to his subordinates. Tens of Earthen Immortals began mustering up a force before sending it forward. Human Immortals and Sky Human stage cultivators were mobilized for this as well. East Dragon Island dispatched a million cultivators while the combined number of cultivators that Heavenly Sword Faction and Extreme Celestial Sect dispatched also added up to one million. Of course, this was just the first wave. They had absorbed so much immortal energy back then. It was time for the cultivators to head out and train themselves through battle.
Chen Feng stayed hidden to observe from the dark in order to deal with any unexpected circ.u.mstances. After several groups had been sent forward, Chen Feng found out that East Dragon Island had been too slow in taking action. Heavenly Firmaments Palace"s forces had been marching south and they had already taken over a chunk of the Central Plains" territory spanning a distance of five million kilometres. They were even annexing various forces in the Eastern Provinces and Western Regions.
Heavenly Firmaments Palace had not dispatched any Ascendant Immortals. At the very least, that was how it appeared. However, the number of Human Immortals and Earthen Immortals that Heavenly Firmaments Palace sent forth was simply too high. That was especially so for the number of Human Immortals. There were so many of them, it was practically terrifying.
Chen Feng knew that this was due to the secret technique of Heavenly Firmaments Palace. Of course, another reason for that was the support from the Immortal Plane. If Chen Feng could extract immortal energy and immortal dao laws using the Heavenstealing Technique, then the cultivators who came from the Immortal Plane must surely possess the ability to do the same thing. All else aside, they could just bring some immortal pills and spiritual herbs with them to increase Heavenly Firmaments Palace"s strength.
Given how strong the Immortal Plane was, producing a batch of Human Immortals and Earthen Immortals was very doable. In addition, there were also hidden forces involved. One such example was the Demon Plane.
Although Chen Feng was not directly taking action, he had also employed some secret tricks along the way. As expected, Chen Feng was able to make some discoveries.
Weng!
Chen Feng utilized an illusion technique with his Magic Eyes of Darkness and an Earthen Immortal silently fell victim to it. Inspecting the Earthen Immortal from top to bottom, Chen Feng instantly discovered something within the Earthen Immortal"s body.
A seed of demonic notions. This must be the work of the Demon Emperor. Chen Feng stretched his hand out and grasped, causing a black seed to fly out from the Earthen Immortal"s body. The moment the seed made contact with Chen Feng"s hand, it tore apart Chen Feng"s flesh and made its way inside only to be utterly incinerated by the primary flames coming out from his palm.
After the seed of demonic notions was burned away, the Earthen Immortal"s body began convulsing as his aura fell into a state of chaos. His level fell from the mid-level Earthen Immortal stage to the starter-level Earthen Immortal stage.
Hoo, what an insane move! Has Heavenly Firmaments Palace gone crazy? Using a seed of demonic notions on him could indeed allow his cultivation base to rise greatly, but with time, demonic energy will corrupt him and he will end up transforming into someone of the Demon Plane. Chen Feng scoffed inwardly. With a wave of his hand, the Earthen Immortal was killed.
Next up, Chen Feng found several more cultivators with seeds of demonic notions embedded within them. This time, however, Chen Feng did not take action to get rid of the seeds for fear of alarming the other party.
That was not the only surprise that Chen Feng would find. Later on, Chen Feng caught another Earthen Immortal. In the beginning, Chen Feng had not noticed anything. It wasn"t until he saw the primary flames that the cultivator was unleas.h.i.+ng during battle did his face took on a frown.
Catching the cultivator and performing a simple investigation, Chen Feng then smiled.
Regarding the wisps of blue flames on his hand, Chen Feng revealed a scornful smile. Heavenly Firmaments Palace sure is ruthless. Surface wise, it is receiving support from the Immortal Plane. Secretly, though, it is forming ties with the Demon Plane. And now, it is even dragging the Nether Plane into this? Or perhaps the Immortal Plane already knows about this?
The blue flames in Chen Feng"s hand were none other than nether fire. If Chen Feng had not utilized his eye technique earlier, he would not have been able to notice it.
Looks like Heavenly Firmaments Palace has their own plans.
East Dragon Island"s retaliatory attacks proceeded smoothly. One by one, the sects that had taken advantage of the chaos back then to attack East Dragon Island faced destruction. Occasionally, one or two Ascendant Immortals would step forward, but they would be quickly dealt with. Chen Feng had not taken action at all. Patriarch Carefree and the other Ascendant Immortals had been very eager to deal with those Ascendant Immortals. Firstly, it was to make contributions. They wanted to obtain the True laws in Chen Feng"s possession. Secondly, they wanted to reap the benefits from destroying those sects. All else aside, just killing off an Ascendant Immortal would give them a great deal of benefits.
Due to the battle, a great deal of progress was made and many of the cultivators on East Dragon Island"s side were able to advance to the next cultivation level. However, none of them were able to reach the Ascendant Immortal stage.
Chen Feng was aware that cultivating up to the Ascendant Immortal stage was a very difficult feat. In this world, cultivating up to the Ascendant Immortal stage meant ascension to the Immortal Plane. Due to the restrictions of the Heavenly dao, breaking through to the Ascendant Immortal stage was far harder compared to Human Immortals breaking through to the Earthen Immortal stage.
Meanwhile, East Dragon Island"s strength rose rapidly. It was all due to the immortal energy that Chen Feng had extracted over, turning East Dragon Island into the number one cultivation paradise. Every day, countless cultivators would rush over in droves, wanting to join East Dragon Island. Even the various water yaos from the far-ocean region and loose cultivators were converging on East Dragon Island.
In the face of this situation, Chen Feng had given them a simple response.
“You want to join East Dragon Island? Not a problem. Join the war first. Only after you have survived the war will we consider you.”
Despite the overbearing quality of the condition, it had still attracted many cultivators to partic.i.p.ate in the war. Due to that, the number of cultivators that East Dragon Island could dispatch for the war rose higher and higher.
In merely half a year, almost all of the sects that had attacked East Dragon Island back then had been destroyed. East Dragon Island, on the other hand, managed to take over more territory, up to tens of millions of li of territory. As the East Dragon Island Alliance was in high spirits, something unexpected finally happened.
On this particular day, hundreds of thousands of cultivators from East Dragon Island were attacking a sect known as the Divine Wilderness Temple. Despite its impressive name, this Divine Wilderness Temple could only be considered a lesser power amongst the first-rate sects. It was a force that had only just emerged not too long ago. If it weren"t for the fact that it had an Ascendant Immortal, it could only be considered a second-rate force.
However, the attack on this Divine Wilderness Temple ended up with an unexpected incident. The cultivators from East Dragon Island had a.s.sumed that taking down Divine Wilderness Temple would be a piece of cake and that it would fall in one fell swoop. Unexpectedly, the moment they charged through the gates of the sect, they ended up falling victim to a great array.
Those magic arrays were either the work of some experts with formidable magics or Ascendant Immortals. Either way, it was not a good thing.
The ones secretly following the cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance were Patriarch Heavenly Enigma and Ascendant Immortal Profound Truth. Ascendant Immortal Profound Truth was from Profound Azure Sect, also a first-rate sect and a powerhouse.
Normally, the two of them would only secretly follow the army and not directly take action. Only when the other party had Ascendant Immortals would they take action. However, when they saw the hundreds of thousands of cultivators fall prey to the great array, not a single one emerging, the two of them could not stop themselves from taking action.
In the beginning, they did not feel too concerned. However, when they entered the great array, they found out that the situation was beyond their expectations.
Their army, numbering hundreds of thousands, had begun suffering from casualties. It had to be said, Patriarch Heavenly Enigma and Ascendant Immortal Profound Truth had chosen to follow this army from the East Dragon Island Alliance because there were many members of Profound Azure Sect and Heavenly Enigma Sect amongst this army. As the war progressed, the benefits they managed to obtain kept growing. Due to that, they also increased the number of cultivators they invested into the war. The cultivators from their two sects made up over 100,000 cultivators from the hundreds of thousands of cultivators in this army. Thus, seeing the members of their sect dying infuriated the two Ascendant Immortals.
That said, the two of them were Ascendant Immortals. They did not lose their sense of reasoning. Instead, they attempted to first send a distress signal to the other armies from the East Dragon Island Alliance. When they attempted to do that, however, they grew shocked to find that they were unable to send a distress signal out.
Following that, the two of them were thrown into a special s.p.a.ce. Four enemy Ascendant Immortals were waiting for them there.
“Looks like we are in danger here.”
“Hopefully, reinforcements can arrive quickly.”
“I only fear that we would have died by the time reinforcements arrive. Do not forget, there are also hundreds of thousands of cultivators here.”
Patriarch Heavenly Enigma and Ascendant Immortal Profound Truth quickly discussed the issue, a bitter smile on both their faces.
“Are the two of you thinking about holding out until reinforcements arrive? We have already made preparations to deal with your reinforcements.” The one who spoke wore faint-blue armour and a faint layer of lightning radiance enveloped his whole body. That was especially true of his face, which was covered with a visor. While it was possible to see an icy countenance on his face, the details of his face were a blur.
1 li = 0.5 km