“Something is happening deep in the far-ocean region. Due to that, we have to move away. In fact, if this matter cannot be resolved, your East Dragon Island will likely be affected as well,” the Ocean Sovereign said, his face terribly ugly to behold.
“What exactly is it?” Chen Feng asked, frowning.
The Ocean Sovereign pondered for a moment before saying, “How about this? You fellows clear a path and arrange a safe place for these little guys first. Then, the four of us will bring you over to check it out. You will understand once we reach there.”
“Not an issue. I can make way and let them advance another five million kilometres. However, if they advance any further without my consent, our East Dragon Island will attack.” Chen Feng was quick to agree. Even after advancing for another five million kilometres, there would still be quite some distance between this army and East Dragon Island's territory. Besides, there were also some other forces in between. Chen Feng was not particularly worried about that. Rather, he was more concerned about what was happening in the far-ocean region.
The issue was resolved quickly. With the Yao Overlords and Yao Immortals keeping them in check, the chaotic army of water yaos – numbering tens of millions – became orderly. As for Chen Feng, he did not bring too many cultivators with him. He had only chosen to bring Bi Qing, Patriarch Heavenly Sword and Patriarch Hegemon Sword with him.
“Did a savage creature of no equal appear?”
“Or perhaps it is something strange. However, for these Yao Overlords to decide to run away, this is likely not some ordinary issue.”
“We'll know once we get there.”
The four Yao Overlords refused to mention what had happened, but Chen Feng's team kept secretly discussing the issue.
They were very fast and it did not take long before they covered a distance of five million kilometres. It was then that the Yao Overlords slowed down, their faces seemingly taking on a more serious expression.
“Eh, what is that?” Using his eye technique, Chen Feng's gaze swept across the vast ocean surface, going all the way to a distance of five million kilometres. He had noticed a black shadow expanding across the surface of the ocean.
“You'll know once we head deeper in,” the Ocean Sovereign said with a wry smile.
Feeling impatient, Chen Feng displayed the Longevity Wings and he became 10 times faster. In just a flash, he had disappeared. Seeing that shocked the Yao Overlords. They did not expect Chen Feng to possess such an ability.
“This is!” Chen Feng flew high up in the sky, swiftly reaching the area covered by the black shadow. Observing the black shadow spreading out without cease stunned Chen Feng.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Bi Qing and the two Patriarchs quickly arrived, but the Yao Overlords stayed far away.
“Poison,” Patriarch Heavenly Sword said grimly.
“It is indeed poison. More, this is a very, very potent poison.” Bi Qing nodded.
The azure ocean waters had become dark black. Additionally, it was continuously spreading outwards. Chen Feng could see that the black waters had spread to a radius of over half a million kilometres. When compared to the entire ocean, this portion of the ocean was indeed nothing. However, the poisonous energy that the black ocean waters were emanating caused Chen Feng to frown. Water yaos with wisdom had all fled the place. As for those without wisdom that remained, making contact with the black ocean waters would cause their flesh and bones to break apart. Chen Feng watched as a creature weighing tens of thousands of jin entered the black ocean water area only to utterly disappear.
Who could tell just how many water yaos had suffered when the poison first appeared?
Patriarch Hegemon Sword grasped and a clump of the black waters flew into his grasp, but it immediately began corroding his skin. Even the streams of energy that he released were incapable of stopping them. Rather, they were eroded away as well.
“What an incredibly potent poison!” Patriarch Hegemon Sword was astounded. He then released a clump of primary flames, but even that failed to burn off the black waters. In the end, he had to utilize his sword energy to slice away all the poison. As he was doing so, all of them could hear a squeaking sound coming from the poison. It was as though those were the wretched cries of a living person.
“No wonder even the Yao Overlords would have to run from it. Just what kind of poison is this?” Chen Feng grasped as well. A clump of the black ocean waters spun about on Chen Feng's palm. Chen Feng's gaze shot forward and everything within the black ocean waters were magnified. Countless microscopic living creatures were constantly proliferating and swimming about. With a thought from Chen Feng, a high number of the microscopic creatures were killed. Quickly, though, a high number of the microscopic creatures were born and it did not take long before the place was filled with them again.
Chen Feng frowned. His divine sense swept out once more. This time, all the microscopic creatures were killed off. As a result, the black colour of the ocean waters there disappeared and it returned to its original colour.
“This poison feels familiar,” Chen Feng mumbled to himself.
“I think so too.” There was a thoughtful look on Patriarch Heavenly Sword's face.
“This poison is from the Poison Plane,” Bi Qing said.
“Right, it is the Poison Plane. Back when I was exploring outer s.p.a.ce in the past, I had encountered creatures from the Poison Plane. Their poison feels similar to this.” Patriarch Heavenly Sword's eyes lit up.
“I had a.s.sumed that it was some poisonous object. To think that the pa.s.sageway to the Poison Plane had opened up instead.” Chen Feng considered the issue.
If that were truly the case, it would be even more dangerous compared to the Blood Plane. What was happening here was a good example. Practically all life would be extinguished in the wake of the poison. Even yao beasts at the Yao Overlord stage had to back away.
“Everyone, be careful.” The ocean waters began seething and the black quality of the waters became even more concentrated. The potency of the poison was increasing and even Chen Feng's eye technique was affected. It was actually incapable of peering into the bottom of the ocean to investigate the situation anymore.
Chen Feng then brought out the Essence Spirit Bead. Wave after wave of Sky Fire emerged from the Essence Spirit Bead and all the poisonous energy rising up from the ocean was burned away.
“The amount of poison is rising and the ocean is rocking about violently. It is spreading far into its surroundings. If this keeps up, even our East Dragon Island will be affected.” Chen Feng himself could not figure out a good way to deal with this. At any rate, this poison from the Poison Plane was no ordinary poison. This was a poison that could even kill off Ascendant Immortals.
“Sigh! This part of the ocean will likely become a dead sea.” Patriarch Heavenly Sword sighed.
Sou!
Patriarch Hegemon Sword, who had a more impulsive streak in him, swung to fire out a tangible beam of sword energy forward. The sword beam pierced its way into the ocean waters and continued descending. However, the sword beam that was radiating an indomitable atmosphere was swiftly eroded into nothingness by the ocean waters there.
“It can even erode sword energy.”
That said, Patriarch Hegemon Sword's move did bring out some results. A pillar of water burst up into the sky as a result of his move. When the pillar of water rose up into the sky, Chen Feng swung with his palm to destroy it.
“Let me give it a try.” Chen Feng then brought out a porcelain bottle. This porcelain bottle was a pseudo-Immortal artifact with a world of its own inside. Chen Feng channelled his magic power into it and streams of ocean waters surged into the porcelain bottle.
Chen Feng's plan was very simple. He would collect the poison waters into the porcelain bottle. That way, he could cut off its impact on its surroundings.
“It will likely be useless.” Bi Qing shook his head.
As predicted, after some time, the porcelain bottle in Chen Feng's hand began cracking. In the end, it broke apart with a bang and the poisonous waters fell back into the ocean, like a Heavenly river.
“It could even corrode s.p.a.ce. Looks like even a real Immortal artifact would be incapable of holding it.” Chen Feng shook his head. Truth be told, Chen Feng had thought about using the Longevity Tower to collect the poisonous waters. However, after considering it further, he decided against it. As he was still in the dark about how strong the poison was, Chen Feng did not want to use the Longevity Tower to test it. Even if it could collect it, it would likely need to expend some energy to contain it.
“I have an idea. We can shift these poisonous waters into outer s.p.a.ce,” Bi Qing suddenly said.
“That is a good plan.” Chen Feng nodded.
They immediately took action to set up a magic array for that. As for the four great Yao Overlords, they merely hesitated for a moment before coming over to help. Since they were all high-level cultivators, they were able to swiftly set up a teleportation array which shone with flowing light. Chen Feng had brought out a good number of top-grade spirit stones for the sake of setting up this teleportation array.
Still, now was not the time to be thinking about that. The area affected by the poison was beginning to expand further. Moreover, due to the existence of undercurrents, several streams of the black ocean waters had already made their way millions of li forward.
The teleportation array descended to make contact with the surface of the ocean. Instantly, a ma.s.sive maelstrom appeared and large amounts of the black ocean waters entered the maelstrom before disappearing.
They had been shifted away into outer s.p.a.ce. Of course, Bi Qing himself did not know where exactly it was transported off to. All he knew was that it was at least millions and millions of li away. For them, all that mattered was that it did not end up in Eternal World.
In less than one joss stick's worth of time, though, the teleportation array abruptly exploded and whatever remained were corroded away by the seething black ocean waters.
Sou! Sou!
Next, they sent two teleportation arrays down at the same time. As expected, as the teleportation arrays went to work, the rate at which the poison was spreading slowed down. Later, it even began flowing backwards. Seeing that, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why didn't we think of this back then?” It was then that the Yao Overlords felt somewhat embarra.s.sed.
After using up over 10 teleportation arrays, they managed to shift away an immeasurable amount of black ocean waters and the area affected by the poison shrank down to a radius of 50,000 kilometres.
Even so, the expression on Chen Feng and Bi Qing's faces only became more serious. Likewise, the others could also feel a faint sense of foreboding.
“Even now, no creatures from the Poison Plane are appearing. This is very peculiar.”
“They must be plotting something.”
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
A series of loud sounds reverberated out from the bottom of the ocean and the black ocean waters kept roiling and rising higher. It looked as though a mountain was emerging from the surface of the ocean. Only, this mountain was of pure water.
“Careful, something will be coming out soon.”
Immediately after that, black-coloured spheres burst out through the ocean. The black spheres were not particularly large, only the size of a head. However, the power contained within each of them and the auras they emanated caused Chen Feng and the others to involuntarily back away.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The black spheres exploded and thick streams of poisonous energy surged forward, corroding even s.p.a.ce. When the power of s.p.a.ce then surged in as a result, the streams of poisonous energy became even more volatile.
In just several breaths' worth of time, the streams of poisonous energy had enveloped Chen Feng and the others. Grating sounds rang out as the poison there worked on corroding their astral energy shields.
The Longevity Wings on Chen Feng's back flapped swiftly and the surrounding streams of poisonous energy swirled off to form a hurricane before spinning far away. Chen Feng then charged high up into the sky, climbing through a distance of over 10,000 zhang. A wave of energy emerged from his pores and the poisonous energy that was clinging to him immediately fell off.
1 li = 0.5 km. (Five million kilometres or 10 million li can also be interpreted as 'far away'.)
1 jin = 0.5 kg
1 zhang = 3.333 m