There were 20 Heavenly Immortals from the Ministry of Heavenly Tribulation. They could already be considered as the strongest force in this fortress.

The gazes of the black-clad Heavenly soldiers swept through the fortress and every cultivator there.

Although the cultivators were displeased at the way the Heavenly soldiers were looking at them, there was nothing they could do about it but secretly curse them. 

“You dare feel resentful?” One of the black-clad Heavenly soldiers suddenly attacked, the lance in his hand shooting out like a beam of light to blow up a half-step Heavenly Immortal.

The cultivator had been inwardly cursing the Heavenly soldiers. Unexpectedly, they had seen through his thoughts. Seeing what happened to the cultivator, the other cultivators grew even more furious. But they retracted their thoughts, fearful of bringing calamity down upon their heads.

However, when one of the Heavenly soldiers from the Ministry of Heavenly Tribulation turned his gaze towards Chen Feng, he felt a power blocking his gaze.

“Eh?”

The Heavenly soldier was surprised. Unexpectedly, someone could stop his probing attempts. More, it was a True Immortal. He then decided to channel more power into his gaze only for his mind to fall into a dazed state. It felt as though a vortex had appeared before him and his consciousness flowed away from him.

Oh, no!

Despite knowing how bad the situation was, he was incapable of resisting.

Let me see what these soldiers from the Ministry of Heavenly Tribulation are doing here. Outwardly, Chen Feng appeared normal. However, he had secretly slipped into the Heavenly soldier's sea of wisdom to search through his memories.

Only, before he could find anything useful, a formidable force burst out from the Heavenly soldier's sea of wisdom to defeat Chen Feng's divine sense.

“What?!” The Heavenly soldier recovered and there was a look of shock and fury on his face. Aiming his battle lance at Chen Feng, he shouted.

“Hurry, capture him!”

The 20 Heavenly soldiers moved in an orderly manner. Their response had been fast, extremely so. The moment those words left the Heavenly soldier's mouth, all 20 moved to surround Chen Feng.

There is a seal set up by an expert within his sea of wisdom. Looks like the mission that these fellows are undertaking is no ordinary one. Or perhaps, every Heavenly soldier from the Ministry of Heavenly Tribulation has a seal set up within their sea of wisdom? Even though his move failed, Chen Feng did not feel concerned. He slashed out with the sword in his hand and streams of sword energy, of both life and death attributes, surged out to form circles of light to stop the attacks from the 20 battle lances.

In the face of the enemy attacks, the circles of light kept breaking down. Chen Feng, however, dashed forward to re-appear outside the fortress. Streams of life and death energies swirled around him as he utilized a wondrous spiritwalking technique to swiftly make his way through the City of Dead Souls, disappearing from sight in but the blink of an eye.

“After him!”

The black wars.h.i.+p appeared again and the 20 Heavenly soldiers entered it. Next, the black wars.h.i.+p charged forward in pursuit of Chen Feng, leaving waves in the sky.

When the two parties were completely out of sight, an uproar broke out within the fortress. Unexpectedly, someone dared to attack the Heavenly soldiers of the Ministry of Heavenly Tribulation.

“The Six Daos Sword Faction is truly gutsy!”

“Yes. He actually dares to search the Heavenly soldier's memories. Incredible!”

“They're just too overbearing. I wonder if that guy from the Six Daos Sword Faction will be able to escape.”

“Oh, no! Without him, will we be able to stop the next wave of dead souls?” 

“d.a.m.n it! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are trying to kill us!”

The 100 cultivators from the Six Daos Sword Faction revealed differing expressions. That was particularly so for the Heavenly Immortals. They were feeling concerned. Although the Six Daos Sword Faction had quite the status in the Easternmost Region, it would be problematic if they ended up provoking the Immortal Court.

“This is bad! Another wave of dead souls is coming!” Suddenly, a cry of shock caused the fortress to fall into a state of turmoil once again.

By then, Chen Feng was already far away from the fortress. His figure kept moving through the City of Dead Souls. After covering a distance of 50,000 kilometres, he made his way into an area with ruined buildings that stretched far into the horizon. 

This time, the buildings there were different compared to the fortresses. If it weren't for the fact that there were dead souls flying around, the place would look no different compared to the cities found outside. Naturally, there was also a good number of foreign cultivators there.

Hah! These fellows really did come after me. Chen Feng sneered. As the enemy was utilizing a wars.h.i.+p, they were able to fly quickly. Chen Feng was also not employing the Longevity Steps. Thus, it would not take long before they catch up to him. 

Very well. Back then, when I was undergoing my tribulations, you fellows interfered quite a bit. And now, you're actually chasing me? Just consider this bad luck on your part. Chen Feng's figure then dashed forward to leave the stretch of buildings and enter a dark and grey mountain range.

Chen Feng headed into a valley. However, the moment he entered, a high number of dead souls pounced on him. With a flick of his fingers, Chen Feng sent a clump of flames outwards to burn fiercely and a high number of the dead souls were burned. Not even the dead soul sprites were able to stop Chen Feng's soul flame.

Finally, the black wars.h.i.+p arrived, smas.h.i.+ng through any mountain peak in its path. The 10 black-clad Heavenly soldiers then appeared, a.s.sumed a formation, and charged towards Chen Feng with their battle lances.

These Heavenly soldiers possessed highly formidable combat powers and were insufferably arrogant. Against Chen Feng, they chose to display their full might, not letting their guards down in the slightest. Due to their previous interaction and how fast Chen Feng was able to flee, they could tell that Chen Feng was no ordinary person. Not to mention, it was clear to them that Chen Feng had taken the initiative to wait here for them. Realizing that, a hint of concern grew within their hearts.

“Kill!”

The power of all 20 Heavenly soldiers poured into one singular Heavenly soldier before gathering into his battle lance. The tip of the lance came to possess a nigh-invincible power, seemingly capable of piercing through the Immortal Plane itself.

That concentrated power then shot towards Chen Feng.

In the face of the coming attack, Chen Feng did not retreat. Neither did he utilize his magic treasures. Instead, he took a step forward and fired out a punch. 

At that very moment, Chen Feng became like a volcano that had been stockpiling power for ten thousand years. Fist and lance collided before an incomparable force swept out from Chen Feng's body.

The tip of the lance broke.

“Impossible!”

All 20 Heavenly soldiers cried out in shock at the same time. In the face of the lance, Chen Feng's fist was akin to a hot knife slicing through b.u.t.ter. His punch utterly shattered the lance apart.

“Nothing is impossible.” Chen Feng then bellowed and another wave of power burst out from his body to instantly disintegrate the Heavenly soldier in front of him. But that was not all. A mountainous power emerged from his fist and he fired out yet another punch. 

Boom!

Like beaten up burlap sacks, the rest of the Heavenly soldiers were all sent flying.

“Regardless of what your mission here may be, meeting me is just bad luck on your part.” Chen Feng then reached out with one hand to grasp and a battle lance flew into his grip. Swinging the lance, he instantly killed off several more of the Heavenly soldiers.

“This action of yours is a challenge to the dignity of the Immortal Court! If you kill us, your soul imprint will appear in the Immortal Court! Then, not even running to the depths of this universe can save you from the pursuit of the Immortal Court!”

“What a joke!” Chen Feng scoffed and the lance in his hand swung to kill off the rest.

“I'm just killing a few small fries here. One day, I might even break into the Immortal Court,” Chen Feng said, a derisive smile on his face.

Suddenly, an invisible aura emerged from his body to form a mysterious rune, which then flew away.

This was the Immortal Court's handiwork. Anyone who killed the Immortal Court's Heavenly soldiers would have the imprints of their aura sent to the Immortal Court. In the end, they would be declared as wanted figures by the Immortal Court.

“Not so fast!”

Stretching his hand, Chen Feng grasped. He was utilizing the Heavenstealing Technique. As a result, the rune instantly broke apart. No one would know that Chen Feng was the one who killed off the Heavenly soldiers. In truth, Chen Feng himself didn't particularly care about it.

This wars.h.i.+p is good. It's mine now. Chen Feng then beckoned and the black wars.h.i.+p rapidly shrank before flying into his palm. After undergoing a refining process, it then rapidly expanded in size and Chen Feng entered it.

For Chen Feng, a wars.h.i.+p at the pseudo-Divine tier was actually not that important. What was important was the fact that this wars.h.i.+p represented the Immortal Court.

Chen Feng did not return to the fortress. Instead, he began wandering around the City of Dead Souls. He killed dead souls and some other soul-type creatures, obtaining their soul power. He also obtained some rare ores. Several times, he had to face the wave of dead souls where he fought ferociously against the dead souls and the likes. 

It did not take long before one year went by. Chen Feng had killed over 100,000 dead souls and collected a thousand pieces of rare ores. Most importantly, he had also obtained 10 Beads of Dead Souls. 

The Beads of Dead Souls. They were items that would appear in places with death energy and soul power. Containing formidable death energy and pure soul power, they were very valuable objects.

After obtaining and absorbing the 10 beads, he could clearly sense his soul growing stronger. Additionally, the Death acupoint also grew bigger. More, even the Twin Swords of Life and Death were able to advance to the pseudo-Divine tier.

He also found and killed off two more of the mission objectives. The two cultivators were once disciples of the Six Daos Sword Faction. However, they killed their own fellow disciples and ran away after that. The Six Daos Sword Faction had been pursuing them since.

These two have actually reached the Heavenly Immortal stage. They can already be considered as geniuses. If the Six Daos Sword Faction did not send those six Heavenly Immortals to secretly escort the team, those True Immortals would end up suffering from serious casualties. Chen Feng chuckled.

Even now, Chen Feng was in the dark about the six Heavenly Immortals' objective.

Back then, I should have searched his memories. Chen Feng shook his head and he stopped thinking too much about it. The mission for this trip was to hunt down the traitors and find the Beads of Dead Souls. He had done both. Thus, he did not care if the others lived or die. Next up, he wanted to explore the City of Dead Souls.

Chen Feng had yet to enter the depths of the City of Dead Souls. He had not encountered any real danger. Due to that, he had been feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Riding the wars.h.i.+p he looted from the Heavenly soldiers, he then flew deep into the City of Dead Souls.

As Chen Feng was exploring the City of Dead Souls, several cultivators with extraordinary auras also arrived at the city.

“This is the City of Dead Souls.” One of them was tall with an upright figure. With chiselled facial features and an icy strict expression on his face, he sported a military suit of armour. In his hand was a battle lance. His eyes were like the stars, capable of suppressing others with just his gaze.

He was a high-level Heavenly Immortal.

“There should be no mistake about it. Back then, our lord caught hold of the Longevity Tower's aura. His divination revealed that it will appear in this City of Dead Souls.” The one who spoke up this time wore scholarly clothes that fluttered in the wind. In his hand was a hand fan. Despite his attire, however, his eyes would occasionally flash with treacherous light.

“Let's go!”

Entering the City of Dead Souls, they swiftly disappeared from sight.

After one joss stick's worth of time, several more cultivators appeared. The auras of these cultivators were somewhat similar to those who appeared before. Only, there was a slight difference in the suits of armour they wore.

“Flag Captain, this is the City of Dead Souls. I have been here before in the past.”

“As if I need you to tell me that. Do I not have eyes?” The eyes of the one leading them shone with light and his gaze swept around again and again. Suddenly, his hand shot out to grasp the air and a strand of energy stream appeared.

“The aura of the Celestial Longevity Plane. There's already someone ahead of us!”

“That's not good! The Young Clan Lord is in danger!”

“Hurry!”

And so, they rushed into the City of Dead Souls.

1 li = 0.5 km