“Oh, is that so? How many spirit stones can you give us?” Wen Shaoxiu asked with a smile.

“I have 100,000 Prized crystals here. I can give them to you two so long as you agree to leave.”

As the Man-eater Vine was communicating with Wen Shaoxiu, Chen Feng's eyes suddenly lit up and he flicked his finger. A black beam of light flashed forward and the Death Sword slashed the Man-eater Vine's body. Black beams swiftly sliced forward to sever one third of the Man-eater Vine's huge body.

That was not all. A thick power of death then coursed through the wounded parts into the Man-eater Vine's body. The pure power of death then proceeded to break apart the huge Man-eater Vine's body, taking only a few breaths' worth of time for it.

Bang!

In the end, the Man-eater Vine exploded into strands of wood essence, which scattered across the sky. Next, Chen Feng beckoned and a fist-sized yao core fell into his hand.

The yao core was round and crystal clear. Minute strands of red light filled the hazy cyan radiance of the yao core. Chen Feng could sense that this yao core contained a thick yao power and power of wood.

For other cultivators, they would only be able to absorb the power of wood within this yao core and not the yao power inside. The average cultivator would suffer from cultivation deviation from absorbing yao power.

“What a high concentration of power! This will be helpful for cultivation,” Chen Feng said, keeping the yao core.

“Chen Feng, you killed it too quickly. That's a Yao King,” Wen Shaoxiu said.

“There is no choice. We are in trouble right now.” Chen Feng's face was grim and the Twin Swords of Life and Death transformed into twin beams, black and white in colour respectively, to fly forward. Everywhere they went, s.p.a.ce itself would be slashed apart.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

An unknown number of thick vines was slashed apart. Finally, another humanoid Man-eater Vine, over 100 zhang in height, was slashed to shreds by the black and white sword beams.

Sou!

Another fist-sized yao core fell into Chen Feng's grasp.

The lands quaked and huge, humanoid Man-eater Vines charged forward from every direction to besiege them. Countless thick vines shot forward, flailing about in the sky without respite to quickly form layer after layer of vine nets. They became like a thick barrier covering a radius of over 1,000 zhang.

“This is bad. All of them are at the Yao King stage. There are at least 10 of them.” Wen Shaoxiu revealed a wry smile.

Facing the siege of 10 Yao Kings was the equivalent of facing the siege of 10 Human Immortals. Additionally, they were within the territory of the Man-eater Vines. With their combined might, they could surely kill off both Wen Shaoxiu and Chen Feng with their overwhelming power.

At the very least, Wen Shaoxiu did not believe that Chen Feng could kill off so many Man-eater Vines.

“Looks like we'll have to go all out.” Chen Feng beckoned and the Twin Swords of Life and Death circled around to return to him. Two sword beams, one black and one white, swirled around him to create a peculiar image.

“We truly do have to go all out. However, this will surely end with our deaths.” Despite the bitter smile on his face, Wen Shaoxiu displayed a look of resolve, fearless towards the prospect of death.

“Not necessarily. Something unexpected might happen. Have you ever wondered why there are so many Man-eater Vines here? Also, it seems that the earlier Man-eater Vine isn't just trying to buy time,” Chen Feng said smilingly.

“You mean there is something here!” Wen Shaoxiu's eyes lit up.

“Most certainly.”

Two of the Man-eater Vines attacked. At the same time, spear-like vines spun as they drilled their way forward.

“Let's go!”

“Sacred Boltflame Sword!”

The sword in Wen Shaoxiu's hand was a decent Sacred artefact. Its power activated, it was able to unleash an extraordinary might to cut down the surrounding vines. Next, it slashed at the humanoid Man-eater Vines.

One of the Man-eater Vines' swung its thick arm and a building-sized palm descended. The central part of the palm sprayed out poisonous energy.

This is a good opportunity to train myself. No matter what, I must not use the Longevity Tower. Chen Feng stamped and a thick power of earth rose up to quickly form earthen spikes, meant to stop the advance of the Man-eater Vine. At the same time, Chen Feng drew an arc with the sword in his hand. Next, sword beams flashed forward to cut apart all of the attacking vines.

Sou!

Chen Feng utilized the Kirin Steps to swiftly rush forward, stabbing at the Man-eater Vine's head. Chen Feng could sense that its yao core was located there.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

Countless sharp thorns shot out, becoming like a rain of arrows enveloping Chen Feng.

“Break!”

Chen Feng shouted in a hushed tone and sword light flowed out. After that, a sphere of sword light erupted to instantly sweep away the thorns.

Hu!

By then, the Man-eater Vine's huge arm was already sweeping towards Chen Feng and the hard soil resting on the ground flew up in its wake.

At the same time, the other Man-eater Vines began attacking as well and spear-like vines sealed up every path around Chen Feng and Wen Shaoxiu. They wanted to blast the two of them to pieces.

Hopefully, Brother Wen will be able to hold on. Chen Feng made some time to give Wen Shaoxiu a glance. However, his vision of Wen Shaoxiu was blocked by the high number of vines and even his eye technique could only give him a blurry image.

Chen Feng then mobilized all his strength and the Life Sword transformed into a white beam of light, which swirled around him. The Death Sword, on the other hand, became a black beam which rampaged about.

The black beam danced about and every vine it cut would instantly be reduced to ash. Even so, the surrounding vines appeared limitless. No matter how domineering the Death Sword may be, it could not clear out the increasingly populous vines.

“How troublesome! By borrowing the power of the terrain, these Man-eater Vines can continuously extract power from the ground to sprout out new vines non-stop. The only way to stop them is to have someone strong enough to kill off all the Man-eater Vines in one go.” Due to his constant usage of the Twin Swords of Life and Death, Chen Feng could feel the increased consumption of his primary energy. His tangible primary energy began growing faint as well. If it weren't for his insight acupoints, replenishing his energy, and the Heavengulping Absorption Technique, which was constantly devouring the surrounding essence, Chen Feng would have been incapable of holding on.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three mountainous Man-eater Vines arrived before Chen Feng and they swung their fists at Chen Feng. For Chen Feng, it felt as though there were waves of heavy, mountain-like fist blasts descending upon him, intent on smashing him flat.

“Blood Barrier!”

Finally, Chen Feng deployed the Blood Mustering Bead and a thick, blood-coloured light radiated out to envelop his figure right before the attacks from the Man-eater Vines arrived.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of booming sounds rang out and Chen Feng felt as though there was a series of explosions erupting right before him. The blood-coloured barrier shook intensely and countless spiderweb-like cracks spread out across its surface.

Finally, the cracks disappeared, exploding all of a sudden into b.l.o.o.d.y mist, which filled the sky.

The Blood Barrier that the Blood Mustering Bead produced was actually broken and a formidable force landed against Chen Feng's body. It felt as though he was deep in the sea, rocked by the countless undercurrents there. Next, the flowing powers coming from the various angles exploded, eliciting a grunt from Chen Feng as his figure tumbled backwards uncontrollably.

Still, even though the Blood Barrier was broken through, it did manage to stop 99 % of the power behind the enemy's attack. Due to that, the remaining power was insufficient to wound Chen Feng.

Even the Blood Barrier was broken. Looks like we won't be able to charge out without using the Longevity Tower, Chen Feng thought.

How is Brother Wen? Chen Feng grew worried. If even his Dao artefact was insufficient to block the attacks from the Man-eater Vines, wouldn't it be even worse for Wen Shaoxiu?

However, after seeing Wen Shaoxiu's figure flashing with light, Chen Feng grew relieved. At the same time, he became puzzled. It would appear that Wen Shaoxiu was not too badly wounded.

As Chen Feng was feeling puzzled about it, he suddenly saw a dazzling light proliferating out from Wen Shaoxiu. It was like a white-coloured energy barrier, expanding non-stop, incinerating the countless vines around it.

Chen Feng watched as two humanoid Man-eater Vines made contact with the white-coloured energy barrier. In the very next instant, the two Man-eater Vines became ash. Not even the yao cores inside their bodies were left behind.

“Incredible! That's an instakill! What is going on? Did Brother Wen reach the Human Immortal stage?” Chen Feng blurted out in shock.

Chen Feng was quick to determine that this was not Wen Shaoxiu's power. At the same time, a foreboding sensation rose up from his heart. This power was simply too overwhelming. It could even instant kill the Man-eater Vines that were at the Yao King stage. Chen Feng did not think that he could block the power.

Thus, Chen Feng immediately backed away. The two sword beams swirled around him to rapidly break through the many layers of obstructions in his path and he charged away.

Weng!

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

As Chen Feng was swiftly charging away, the white-coloured energy shield abruptly broke apart. However, it only became more violent. A power resembling lightning bolts and sword beams emerged to generate a formidable soundwave. Next, the power became like a volcanic eruption as lightning bolts swept outwards in every direction.

The Man-eater Vines and the hard ground, even the non-tangible s.p.a.ce was transformed by this power into nothingness.

It was as though this world was made from paper and the power was a raging fire capable of burning everything.

Chen Feng was already rushing away at an extreme velocity. Even so, the energy wave was still able to catch up to him.

First, the sword light around him was destroyed. Next, the energy wave struck the new Blood Barrier that Chen Feng had only just put up.

Instantly, the Blood Barrier was destroyed.

Seeing the defensive measures created by Sacred artefacts and a Dao artefact so easily destroyed, Chen Feng was immediately visited by a sense of foreboding.

Thus, he channelled the power of darkness and void. At the same time, the semi-transparent silhouette of the Longevity Tower appeared around Chen Feng again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The semi-transparent silhouette of the Longevity Tower did not shatter apart. However, thunderous booms rang out and Chen Feng was shocked to find that cracks were continuously appearing across the surface of the silhouette of the Longevity Tower. Still, the cracks disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The Longevity Tower was injecting power into the silhouette.

Weng!

The Longevity Tower shook lightly and the energy wave charging at Chen Feng instantly dissipated. Even so, Chen Feng continued to back away, putting a distance of over 10,000 zhang between himself and the epicentre.

After the energy explosion had subsided, Chen Feng was shocked by what he saw.

A ma.s.sive crater, with a radius of 10,000 zhang and a depth of 100 zhang, was laid out before his eyes. The surface of the crater was smooth, so much so that one would be able to see their reflection upon its surface.

As for the areas beyond 10,000 zhang from the epicentre, all of the plants growing on the ground had disappeared. Rather, not even a speck of ash was left.

Seeing that, Chen Feng sucked in a breath of cold air. The ground here was much stronger compared to the ground of the outside world. And yet, in the face of the earlier energy wave, it became as soft as tofu.

1 zhang = 3.333 m