So, they are loose cultivators. Chen Feng nodded. Next up, Chen Feng scared off several more cultivators. Only, there were a few formidable divine senses that Chen Feng chose not to disturb. Those were Heavenly Immortals with a strength that Chen Feng did not want to provoke, for now.

At any rate, the spirit stone mine was big enough to last a thousand Heavenly Immortals for a million years. Due to that, the Heavenly Immortals there only waged a small battle against one another without escalating it into anything major.

Naturally, the rate at which Chen Feng was devouring the spiritual energy there was comparable to that of several Heavenly Immortals combined.

Having tasted the sweetness of the nectar there, Chen Feng became unwilling to leave. Thus, when the time came to change s.h.i.+fts, Chen Feng instead chased away the cultivators who came to replace him. Some of them secretly berated him for being a buffoon.

In the beginning, Patron Mountriver and the Dragon Slaying Daoist did not understand. Quickly, however, they figured out something. After hesitating for a moment, they too chose to follow Chen Feng in staying there.

For cultivators like them, cultivation could be done almost anywhere. Only, the peripheral areas of the mine were somewhat dangerous.

Suddenly, danger descended. A bright-coloured bead exploded high up in the sky, its radiance reaching tens of thousands of li into the sky. Seeing that, Chen Feng knew that a high number of enemies had appeared.

Starlight flashed out from afar, sword energy ripped the starry s.p.a.ce and killing energy swept towards them.

“It's the guys from the Starsource Order and Immortal Sword Sect.” Patron Mountriver jumped to his feet.

“Bring it! Every one of them is worth at least 10,000 contribution points!” A bloodthirsty expression appeared on the Dragon Slaying Daoist's face.

“Avoid a direct battle!” Chen Feng said, waving his hand to insert a number of flags on the ground. Instantly, the s.p.a.ce before him transformed. Blurry fog shrouded the place and killing intent roiled within the fog.

“A top-grade Immortal artifact!”

“Let's go! It can only stop them for a while.” Given how much Chen Feng had on him, he did not care about magic treasures at this level.

Although the enemy side was prepared, the Six Daos Sword Faction was also prepared. The two sides had been waging endless battles against one another throughout the years, after all. Even before Chen Feng's group was dispatched over, they already had a battle involving thousands of cultivators.

This time, though, Chen Feng noted that there were at least 10,000 cultivators. It would appear that a change had appeared. While staying behind or not did not matter to him, doing so would most certainly lead to the deaths of Patron Mountriver and the Dragon Slaying Daoist.

The cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction swiftly gathered, up to a hundred of them. With ferocious gazes, they exuded killing intent as they waited. That said, there were also some who looked around furtively. Clearly, they were feeling somewhat scared. 

“The enemy has over 10,000 men on their side. We will not be enough to stop them,” Chen Feng said, frowning.

“What, 10,000 men?!” Hearing that caused chaos to break out and some began having thoughts of fleeing. 

“Running away now means betraying the sect. What we need to do right now is to set up our defences and wait for reinforcements,” Chen Feng said calmly.

“This fellow cultivator is right. This is not the time to be panicking. We also cannot run. Set up our defences! Bring out everything you fellows have. Don't hold back!” The one who spoke up was a mid-level True Immortal. He possessed quite the status there. Thus, upon hearing him, the ruckus there quickly fell still.

“I had to save up my contribution points for a thousand years to buy this small Six Daos Sword Array. What a terrible loss!” An una.s.suming flying sword flew up and sword energy surged around in a messy manner to form a defensive barrier across the sky.

Someone else brought out a jade bottle, also una.s.suming in appearance. Next, wave after wave of water gushed out from the jade bottle to form yet another thick barrier, this one of water.

Some also brought out some bombs, setting up an ambush with them.

Sword arrays, illusion arrays, spiritual beads and magic treasures. Everyone there was aware of the urgency of their situation. In the end, even the great arrays that the Six Daos Sword Faction had set up long ago – borrowing the power of the spirit stone mine – activated.

Due to that, everyone there grew hopeful. Chen Feng was the only one with a dark expression on his face.

The difference in strength is too big. It is likely that just one charge from the enemy will be able to break them up. Sigh! Looks like I will need to take action. Chen Feng's figure disappeared, shocking the cultivators around him.

“Attack!”

Before the cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction were done setting up their defences, two torrents of power shot forward. One was formed using the power of stars while the other was formed using sword energy.

The first collision. Starlight flared out and all the restrictive arrays that those on the Six Daos Sword Faction's side set up were broken through. Sword light then flashed out and nearly half of the hundred plus defending cultivators were either killed or injured.

Chen Feng, who was hiding himself, sighed and waved his hand to send several streams of primary energy into the bodies of the defending cultivators. The Dragon Slaying Daoist and the others shouted as their bodies grew in size. Thanks to the bolstering power from Chen Feng, their combat powers became several times stronger.

Shua!

With another wave of Chen Feng's hand, sword energy burst out and several enemy cultivators were killed off. After that, Chen Feng's figure flashed to re-appear at a different location before attacking again, killing off several more enemy cultivators as a result.

The secret attacks from Chen Feng caused the two torrents of power a.s.sailing the defenders to turn chaotic. However, the attackers simply had too many people on their side. Besides, they also had experts. After Chen Feng killed off over a hundred enemy cultivators, he found himself besieged by tens of high-level True Immortal. Chen Feng could take down an enemy cultivator every now and again by relying on his speed, but killing off so many enemies was not possible for him.

Not unless he exposed his full strength.

Chen Feng had no intentions of doing so. At that very moment, the combat power that Chen Feng displayed was already comparable to that of a half-step Heavenly Immortal. Chen Feng had no intentions of standing out too much.

For Chen Feng, all he needed to do was to protect the Dragon Slaying Daoist and a few others. As for the rest, he couldn't care less if they survived or not.

After Chen Feng killed off yet another two high-level True Immortals, the reinforcements from the Six Daos Sword Faction finally arrived. There were at least 3,000 cultivators in total. This was the complete force that the Six Daos Sword Faction had a.s.signed to the star spirit stone mine.

Even so, the situation was still not looking good for them.

The Starsource Order and Immortal Sword Sect had made thorough preparations for this. Their objective this time was to eliminate this force from the Six Daos Sword Faction and gain even more of the spirit stone mine's territory. At the same time, they could also give the Six Daos Sword Faction a minor blow. For that end, they even sent forth Heavenly Immortals for this attack. Only, due to some unwritten rules, the Heavenly Immortals did not actually attack. Doing so would only prompt the Six Daos Sword Faction to dispatch even stronger cultivators forward. Should that happen, the situation would escalate to a point of no return.

In the face of the offensive, the 3,000 defending cultivators had to keep on giving ground while their number kept dropping. Observing all that, Chen Feng continued to hide himself while leisurely killing off the enemy cultivators. Eventually, the number of enemy cultivators who died to Chen Feng rose up to the hundreds. There were even high-level True Immortals amongst those killed by him. Seeing that, the cultivators from the Starsource Order and Immortal Sword Sect grew terrified. No one dared to step forward and fight Chen Feng.

He was simply a G.o.d of Carnage with no concept of exhaustion. Even the Heavenly Immortals who were lying hidden were struggling to hold themselves back.

“When did the Six Daos Sword Faction acquire such a character? Black Armour, Black Blade, you two go deal with him.” One of the Heavenly Immortals finally gave the order. Chen Feng's existence had given them serious losses, exceedingly so. With enough time, those losses would grow endlessly. Even these Heavenly Immortals would be incapable of shouldering the responsibility of all the losses.

Mobilizing two half-step Heavenly Immortals was already an affront to the unwritten rules, but they could no longer care about it. It would be for the best if they could secretly kill off Chen Feng. 

By then, Chen Feng had already broken out from the enemy encirclement. His figure would flash about every now and again. Every flash would result in the death of either one or a few enemy cultivators.

Ha ha! As expected, they cannot hold back anymore. However, they just sent forth two half-step Heavenly Immortals. That's suicide. Chen Feng was not feeling concerned at all about the sneaky attempt on his life. The Immortal Slaughter Sword in his hand abruptly jabbed forward and Volcanic Power burst forth. Black Armour and Black Blade did not even get the chance to approach Chen Feng before they were sent flying.

“I won't kill you two. Go back. This is not a battle that you fellows can partic.i.p.ate in.” Chen Feng's voice rang out beside their ears and blood began trickling down their seven orifices.

Black Armour and Black Blade could already be considered as geniuses with a firm state of mind. At that very moment, however, they felt a chill running down their hearts.

Even after returning to the side of their Heavenly Immortals, their souls continued to feel unsteady. This was all due to Chen Feng's voice earlier.

The face of the Heavenly Immortal from the Starsource Order grew grim.

“Could that person be a Heavenly Immortal who's hiding his strength?”

“Unlikely. The Six Daos Sword Faction would not do something like this. If they dare break the rules, not only will it lead to a full-blown war, that person will end up suffering the murderous pursuit of cultivators on the same level as him.”

“If he's not a Heavenly Immortal, he must be a peerless True Immortal!” A look of clarity appeared on the faces of the few Heavenly Immortals there.

“Even though a genius like this is not unheard of, it is also very rare. You can hardly find even one in ten thousand years.”

“What do we do? We cannot take action. Are we to just watch as this kid continue to put on a wanton display of arrogance?” Even as they were discussing the issue, several more of their cultivators fell to Chen Feng. 

“Ha ha ha! I've already checked. This fellow is probably not a formal disciple of the Six Daos Sword Faction. In other words, he is a loose cultivator that they recruited. Since we've encountered this genius, we must not let him go.”

“Yes. These loose cultivators would only choose to join the Six Daos Sword Faction for the sake of better cultivation conditions. We can show even more sincerity than the Six Daos Sword Faction. Additionally, it would appear that this youngster has fallen for someone's plot. Why else would he be a.s.signed to such a dangerous place?”

“That makes sense. Star Monarch, your ability to discern is one of a kind. I'm impressed. However, capturing him will be quite difficult.”

“Not at all. We Heavenly Immortals cannot attack, but that does not mean we cannot interfere.”

“Star Monarch, you mean?”

“Black Armour, Black Blade, Starcloud, Starlight. You four take my Starsource Chain to tie him up.”

“You want to utilize a pseudo-Divine artifact!”

“Yes.” The Heavenly Immortal nodded, flicking his fingers to send a mote of starlight towards Black Armour and Black Blade.

“Just in case, though, shouldn't your Immortal Sword Sect contribute a little as well?” 

“Ha ha ha! I figured you'd be thinking of that. I have a sword array here. It will be enough to entrap him.”

As the two were discussing how to capture Chen Feng, Chen Feng himself had already noticed something. He considered defending against this move. But when he saw the magic treasures that the enemy brought out against him and the aura of the cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction, Chen Feng swiftly changed his mind.

A barrier of swords descended to surround Chen Feng. When the cultivators from the Starsource Order's side approached the barrier, they would be thrown back. On the contrary, when the cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction approached it, they would be killed by the sword energy.

“Senior Brother Chen!” Seeing Chen Feng trapped inside, Patron Mountriver quickly cried out. The Dragon Slaying Daoist, on the other hand, rushed forward without saying a word.

“You two, retreat. I will be fine.” Chen Feng's voice reached their ears.

After that, Chen Feng kept slas.h.i.+ng out with his sword and every slash would create a formidable burst of sword light.

1 li = 0.5 km