Despite the feeling of danger in his heart, Ta Luotian believed that he would be able to deal with them so long as he paid a certain price. His objective was Chen Feng. Since he had found some clues, he could not return empty-handed. The men he brought over had all died. By returning like this, he would become a laughing stock.

Dao Monarch Heavensdao was correct, the Dark Kirin was indeed lurking nearby. Given the Dark Kirin's abilities, killing Ta Luotian would not be too difficult for him. However, after arriving, the Dark Kirin decided against taking action. In his opinion, Tun Ri's group should be strong enough for this.

These fellows from the Celestial Longevity Plane are truly extraordinary. Every single one of them possesses the strength of a War Immortal. I wonder, how many of these geniuses does the Boundless Corps has? In the future, I should follow Chen Feng to the Celestial Longevity Plane to experience it for myself, the Dark Kirin thought. Still, despite having calculated the end result of this battle, the Dark Kirin had still brought out War Butcher to stay on guard for any unexpected situations.

War Butcher, the formidable mid-level Divine artifact, stayed still within the Dark Kirin's hand, like an ordinary piece of iron. Not a wisp of power leaked out from it. This proved that the Dark Kirin had gained full control over this peerless weapon of carnage.

Hmm, something's not right! Suddenly, the Dark Kirin's eyes flickered slightly. After equipping War Butcher, his perceptive abilities rose by a notch and he immediately noticed that there were some other existences spying on them. Additionally, these people were not Dao Monarch Heavensdao's group. 

There were two unfamiliar auras. Just the stealth techniques that they were employing was enough to secretly alarm the Dark Kirin.

So, there are two more half-step Gold Immortals lurking in the dark. They should be from the Celestial Longevity Plane as well, no? From the looks of it, they are not on the same team as Ta Luotian. However, their objective is the same. The Dark Kirin secretly smirked. He planned on killing one of them later to deter them. At the same time, he can also help lessen the problems that Chen Feng had to face.

“Soul Lock Mantra!”

Ta Luotian fired out his secret technique once more. And although Da Feng and the others were already prepared for it, they were still incapable of stopping it. At any rate, the Soul Lock Mantra was a very powerful secret technique from the Longevity Scripture. Additionally, Ta Luotian had recently been spending most of his time on specifically cultivating this Soul Lock Mantra. Naturally, the power of this secret technique that he could bring out was extraordinary.

Da Feng, who had transformed to his original form of a divine bird, was only able to fly across a certain distance before falling to the ground. Brightmoon's face flickered, having lost the ability to fight. Only Tun Ri and Tian Wu could keep on attacking, roaring as they did. However, their slow movements and weak attacks proved that they too had been affected.

Tie Zhen's group, on the other hand, continued as usual to send wave after wave of attacks from a distance. As for Ta Luotian, utilizing the Soul Lock Mantra had affected him slightly as well. Although it was only a minor effect, Sha Xian managed to make use of that opening. Silently but with lightning-like speed, Sha Xian landed a sword stab upon Ta Luotian's body.

In the beginning, Ta Luotian had not paid much heed towards this sword stab. In his opinion, the price he had to pay to deal with this group mostly rested on Sha Xian's actions. In other words, he was already prepared to take this attack from Sha Xian. But when the sword slid into his body, Ta Luotian instantly regretted his decision. A formidable sword energy coursed through the wound and into his body before furiously damaging the vitality within. 

If that was all, it would not have been a big deal. Even in the worse-case scenario, it would only amount to a minor injury for him. Rather, even a heavy injury was nothing. As a half-step Gold Immortal, he could quickly recover from it. However, a black bead had also – alongside the sword energy – entered his body.

The very instant Ta Luotian sensed the black bead, terrible dread gripped his heart. He recognized the black bead.

Tun Ri. In addition to his innate skill of devouring everything, he also had another innate skill. To form and nurture black beads within his body. The beads contained the remnant powers that Tun Ri had devoured but not digest. They possessed a devastating, world-obliterating power. Only, forming one bead alone required hundreds of years or longer. Tun Ri named the black beads Blazing Suns. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was his most powerful killer move.

“Blazing Sun!” Terrified, Ta Luotian hastily reacted and layer after layer of power flowed over from every part of his body to wrap around the black bead. Next, his body abruptly split into several pieces – also wrapped up in power – before flying away.

“Explode!”

At that very moment, however, Tun Ri's shout rang out and the black bead that had appeared bereft of light suddenly flared out with a radiant light. It was as though a star had suddenly appeared and it swiftly transformed, from the birth stage all the way to the end stage.

Everywhere the golden light went, Ta Luotian's body, the body of a half-step Gold Immortal, would melt.

“Retreat!”

There had been no need for Tun Ri's call for retreat. The moment the black bead entered Ta Luotian's body, everyone there had begun retreating. The terrifying wave of light was not just dazzling. It also brought devastation with it.

“Everyone, stay calm and spread out! Don't let him escape!” Tun Ri shouted, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth.

“Where's Sha Xian? How is he?” Sha Xian had been the closest to Ta Luotian earlier. He was likely in a terrible state.

“Oh, no!”

Dao Monarch Heavensdao's group, which had been secretly observing the fight, was finally incapable of staying still anymore. They took action simultaneously and six beams of light streaked through the sky to swirl around and intertwine, forming a golden-coloured barrier to stop the shockwaves of devastation.

“Ha ha ha ha ha! You want to kill me? As if! Consider yourselves lucky this time! I will be back soon enough!” A clump of flesh, wrapped in golden light, rapidly flew through the sky as it fled.

“You're not going anywhere!” Sha Xian suddenly emerged from the void. Although he only had half his body left, he continued to emit surging waves of killing intent and the sword in his hand slashed towards the pile of flesh.

“Good, kill him!” Seeing that, Tun Ri and the others instantly shouted.

However, it was at that moment that one of the hidden half-step Gold Immortals finally decided to take action. A beam of golden light pierced Sha Xian's body, blowing it up into bits.

“Die!”

The Dark Kirin's face sank as he promptly stabbed forward with War Butcher. A cloud of blood burst out from the void and a wretched cry rang out. Next, the cloud of blood rapidly gathered up and part of it successfully fled. The Dark Kirin had wanted to continue attacking, but it had already disappeared. Likewise, the other half-step Gold Immortal had also disappeared.

“Humph!” The Dark Kirin grunted, his face somewhat contorted. Even though he was already keeping his guard up, that person had still managed to kill off Sha Xian. Additionally, part of Ta Luotian's flesh also managed to escape. He would definitely recover from this. After considering all that, the Dark Kirin decided against revealing himself. With a flash, he disappeared.

Dao Monarch Heavensdao sighed before withdrawing the golden barrier of light. The mountains, rivers and buildings within the barrier had already disappeared, leaving only a stretch of ruins.

“Sigh! If only we had known, we should have taken action earlier. I wonder, will these fellows hate us for it?” Dao Monarch Secularism sighed as well and he shook his head.

“Enough with your belated advice bull c.r.a.p. Who could have known that there were two more in hiding? Even though Dark Night took action earlier, he failed to take them down.”

“This time, a total of three half-step Gold Immortals appeared. I wonder what will happen next? Right now, I am praying that Chen Feng would hurry up and appear.”

…

“Sha Xian!”

There was a look of grief and rage on the faces of Tun Ri and the others. Additionally, there was also a thick air of killing intent around them.

“This is just a clone. I already know who the other person is. My main body will be going after him soon enough. Fellows, it won't be long before we meet again.” The final remnants of Sha Xian's imprint disappeared.

“Those old guys actually did not help out,” Tun Ri said, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth.

“Forget it. This is originally the affairs of our Celestial Longevity Plane. Now that someone has taken action, things will probably become more eventful. Looks like we'll need to find reinforcements. Only, I wonder when the Young Master will appear. Also, where has the Longevity Tower gone off to?”

“We cannot stay here anymore. Let's find another place.”

“Those fellows are leaving. Should we stop them?” Dao Monarch h.e.l.l and the others were constantly keeping an eye on Da Feng and the others.

“No need. They won't go too far.”

…

After resting for a while, Chen Feng finally stepped into the 91st palace hall. Naturally, Chen Feng was unaware of what was happening outside. Even if he did, he could not come out. And even though Chen Feng had spent some time resting, he was still in the lead here. None had managed to catch up to him. That said, Chen Feng did not look down on them. At any rate, those who could be selected to come here were all Heaven-defying geniuses.

Fighting spirit filled Chen Feng's body. After staying still for a time, his strength had sublimated somewhat. Chen Feng knew that if he were to undergo his tribulation now, he would be able to easily overcome it. However, he also knew that doing so would cause the level of difficulty that he had to face to rise accordingly.

Though, whether or not he could undergo his tribulation in this mysterious place was another issue.

Taking one step into the palace hall, Chen Feng then felt as though he was within a vortex. His divine sense became unsteady. Next, part of his divine sense – in the face of the formidable force – flew out from his sea of wisdom.

This stage was a battle for his divine sense.

An arena appeared within a greyish s.p.a.ce and Chen Feng's divine sense appeared there. Light flashed and a cultivator walked forward.

The cultivator's hand swung and a staff appeared in his grip. Next, he performed a provocative gesture aimed at Chen Feng.

With a thought from Chen Feng, a Longevity Combat Armour appeared over his divine sense body and a staff appeared in his hand as well. It was the Longevity Staff.

All of that were created by his divine sense and were thus dependent on the strength of the divine sense.

I have cultivated my divine sense up to the Longevity Flame realm. Additionally, it is also supported by other powers. I wonder, how strong is the other party? Chen Feng wondered as he swung his staff to unleash the first attack.

Boom!

The two began fighting.

The 92nd stage…

The 93rd stage…

After pa.s.sing three stages in a row, Chen Feng stopped. He believed that these non-stop palace halls were about to come to an end. Every one of the stages there had required Chen Feng's full strength to overcome. Occasionally, he had also suffered from some notable wounds.

The difficulty level has increased and the chances to rest have also increased. I wonder, will I be able to endure to the very end? Additionally, what will I obtain after reaching the end? Due to him spending so many years going through all those stages, Chen Feng ended up feeling somewhat exhausted.

By then, even the concept of time had been lost to Chen Feng. All he knew was that he had to pa.s.s this stage before him to enter the next palace hall and face a new challenge.

The 94th stage…

Boom!

An overwhelming wave of power a.s.sailed Chen Feng, who remained unmoved. However, his eyelids twitched.

“A half-step Gold Immortal!”