In the end, one of the two star wanderers was killed while the other one fled. Chen Feng had not lifted a finger at all.

“What is this? You fellows are still here? Are you fellows also here for the immortal technique?” Chen Feng said, looking at the distant group of Ascendant Immortals.

“Island Lord Chen, isn't this action of yours something of a bullying act?” one of them could not stop himself from speaking up. Only, after saying that, his face became flushed.

Chen Feng was only an Earthen Immortal while every single one of them was an Ascendant Immortal. Thus, his words were a joke. That said, everyone there also knew that Chen Feng's combat power was indeed the strongest there. Even if all the cultivators there joined forces, they would be no match for Chen Feng.

“Since Island Lord Chen has decided to take action, we'll take our leave.”

Although they were feeling unsatisfied, all of the Ascendant Immortals chose to leave in the end. Should they end up offending Chen Feng, they would end up dying for nothing.

“Island Lord, we…”

“You guys, don't rush to leave just yet,” Chen Feng said. His eyes flashed with light as his divine sense rippled forward. Immediately, the three of them felt a secret technique within their seas of wisdom.

“That's the immortal technique I obtained earlier. Its name is Imperial Heart Sutra. As for how much of it you can cultivate, that will depend on your own fortune.”

“Thank you, Island Lord! Thank you!”

“Well, then. Next up, you fellows will need to be careful. Truth be told, this immortal technique is already enough for you fellows to study for quite some time.” After saying that, Chen Feng's figure flashed, disappearing from sight.

Chen Feng had said that out of good will. Those three had only just entered the Ascendant Immortal stage. They did not possess a pinnacle-tier cultivation talent. Additionally, it would appear that they did not possess much luck either. They could easily end up dying upon meeting an expert. The only exception would be for the good item to come to them on its own. Of course, that would mean that they had gotten lucky.

“What should we do? Do we listen to Island Lord and return to cultivate ourselves?”

“I think we should wander around and see if we can find any other good items.”

“That works for me. Looking around is good as well. The world of cultivation is so chaotic right now. If only I can get my hands on an Immortal artifact.”

As they had only just reached the Ascendant Immortal stage, their strength had skyrocketed. Due to that, their confidence also rose to an unprecedented level.

Chen Feng did not know what choice the three of them would make. He also did not want to interfere. At any rate, something else had attracted his attention.

There's the aura of a True Immortal up ahead, but no battles. What is going on? Chen Feng reached out with his hand and grasped, and the streams of spiritual energy in the air converged on his palm.

Although there is the aura of a True Immortal, it is nowhere near the auras of the four True Immortals from back then. Let's go check it out.

It did not take long for Chen Feng to find a ma.s.sive palace. Calling it ma.s.sive was not an exaggeration. It rose to a height of 10,000 zhang, spanning a radius of 500 kilometres. Due to the emergence of this palace, the surrounding mountains and rivers were affected.

After arriving, Chen Feng saw that cultivators were constantly entering the palace. He noticed that the weakest of those entering was at the Human Immortal stage. Those below that were simply incapable of entering.

Normally, Chen Feng would not have wanted to enter, the size of this palace notwithstanding. Even Human Immortals were allowed to enter. It was proof of how low the level of this palace was. However, the aura of a True Immortal that he sensed back then made Chen Feng suspicious.

“Tower, what do you think is inside?” Utilizing his divine sense to scan the palace, Chen Feng found nothing useful there.

“How would I know? If you want to know what's inside, just go in and you'll find out.”

“In other words, you know what's inside.”

“Even if I know, I won't tell you.”

“Then, I will have to enter and check it out,” Chen Feng said, the aura coming off his body transforming to quickly become that of a high-level Human Immortal. Next, he mingled into a group of Human Immortals to enter the palace.

Upon entering the palace, Chen Feng felt a chilling sensation surge into his heart. It was followed by a feeling of crisis.

Chen Feng was not the only one. Others had also sensed that.

“I have a foreboding feeling about this!” a mid-level Human Immortal said.

“Nonsense! All of us sensed that. We came here for an adventure. Is it possible for us to obtain treasures without taking any risks?   We all came in together. This can be considered as a form of destiny. I think we should partner up.” 

“Makes sense. We are all Human Immortals. We are no match for those Earthen Immortals and Ascendant Immortals. All we can do is to group up. Just getting a bit of some small benefits is enough.”

“Eh, Brother Ma! What are you doing?”

“There's a secret chamber this way. I can sense strong spiritual energy from it. There must be some good items inside.”

“Let's go!”

Several Human Immortals followed Brother Ma into a secret chamber. However, there were ten other Human Immortals – Chen Feng included – who did not follow. Immediately after that, though, a wave of formidable energy fluctuations emerged from the secret chamber, the aura of an Immortal artifact. Due to that, three more Human Immortals were unable to hold themselves back and they rushed inside.

Chen Feng remained still. He lowered his head to ponder the situation, puzzled at what was happening.

“Fellow friend, you should know what is inside, right?” Someone approached Chen Feng and asked.

“I do not. But I do know this. Entering will spell certain death.” Chen Feng shook his head.

“I think so too. So many people had entered just now, but not a single one came out. They are likely facing disaster.”

“I have a puppet. We can use it to check it out.” Someone brought out a puppet. Only, as the puppet was approaching the secret chamber, it became incapable of moving forward anymore. Instead, a milky-white stream of light enveloped it. After that, the puppet disintegrated into bits.

“Only cultivators may enter.”

“Let's check it out with divine senses.”

One of them used his divine sense to check the secret chamber. Next, however, the cultivator began walking towards the secret chamber, seemingly bewitched.

“Not good! He is bewitched!” Someone stepped forward to stop him, but failed.

“Wake up!” Chen Feng shouted, his voice like thunder, causing all the cultivators there to shudder. It was so shocking that they were nearly incapable of recollecting themselves. Every single one of them cast astonished looks at Chen Feng. They did not think that Chen Feng's cultivation base was so strong.

The bewitched cultivator fell limply to the floor, a dazed look on his face. He would not be able to get up anytime soon.

Next, Chen Feng condensed his divine sense into the shape of a thread and sent it drilling into the secret chamber. Upon entering the secret chamber, he saw all the cultivators who entered earlier lying haphazardly on the floor. Those cultivators had been well and alive back then. At that very moment, however, all of them had become withered corpses. Black-coloured, vine-like threads swung about. Chen Feng's divine sense alarmed them and one of the threads swung towards the divine sense.

“Fire!”

Chen Feng shouted and the divine sense he sent forward erupted with flames, desirous of burning the black thread away. However, the effect of the fire was not that great. On the contrary, the black thread made its way through the flames before stabbing at Chen Feng's divine sense.

This was Chen Feng's first time facing such a peculiar attack. He felt his divine sense going numb as the black thread released a suction force. It wanted to devour Chen Feng's divine sense.

Condensing the soul into tangible threads. This is indeed the work of a True Immortal. After understanding that, Chen Feng swiftly severed the connection to his divine sense, abandoning the part that he had sent into the secret chamber.

“Hurry up and run!” Chen Feng said to the other Human Immortals. He himself did not run as he knew that he could still put up a fight against the other party. Given the present situation, even Earthen Immortals and Ascendant Immortals would die.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

As the Human Immortals there were feeling stunned, black threads shot out from the secret chamber before spreading out to pierce their foreheads, every single one of them. They failed to make a single sound and the black threads picked them up. When their bodies finally fell to the ground, they had become withered corpses.

All of their essence, energy and soul power had been devoured by the black threads.

In the face of the earlier attack, Chen Feng had employed the Longevity Steps to evade. Following that, however, the black threads moved to encase the surrounding s.p.a.ce, sealing up all of Chen Feng's escape paths.

“Subdue!”

Chen Feng shouted and his soul power shot forward in the form of unique energy fluctuations, causing the surrounding black threads to abruptly come to a halt. Then, Chen Feng waved his hand and a stream of sword energy became like a charging waterfall as it sliced the black threads in its path into shreds.

Sou!

Next, Chen Feng entered the secret chamber and saw a black crystal ball floating within the secret chamber. The black threads emerged from within the black crystal ball, like tentacles. After pondering it for a moment, Chen Feng decided against taking action. Instead, he retreated from the secret chamber, found a pa.s.sageway and left the place.

After leaving the place, Chen Feng continued to pretend to be a Human Immortal while wave after wave of his divine sense spread out to inspect what was happening within the palace.

Pretty much all the Human Immortals who came in are already dead. Chen Feng charged out from another secret chamber. All the halls and secret chambers that Chen Feng had been through contained the black crystal b.a.l.l.s. Every cultivator who entered would have their vitality sucked away from them by the black threads. Several times, Chen Feng had to put up a fight before he could charge out.

The number of Human Immortals I saw earlier exceeded 10,000! Tens of them were from the East Dragon Island Alliance. Chen Feng shook his head, a bitter look on his face.

What a disaster! Too many people have died. Looks like I must quickly deal with this issue. Who knows how many more cultivators would come in?

The number of cultivators in the East Dragon Island Alliance had reached several hundred million in number. Chen Feng was unable to stop them from coming out to search for serendipity, but he also knew that there would be some casualties.

But even though he was already psychologically prepared, seeing tens of cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance turned into withered corpses had still left Chen Feng uncomfortable.

“Help!”

“What the h.e.l.l are these things?”

“Guys, don't panic! Work together to fight back!”

“Hurry up and use fire-type magic!”

Disorderly shouts rang out somewhere not far away from Chen Feng. By the time Chen Feng sensed it, there were only three cultivators left. When the cultivators who were running for their lives saw Chen Feng, one of them shouted at Chen Feng to run while another begged for help.

Chen Feng waved his hand and sword energy flashed out to sever two black threads. The cultivator who shouted at Chen Feng to run was rescued.

“Hurry up and run!” He was an Earthen Immortal, his eyes filled with dread.

Chi! Chi!

The other two cultivators had their foreheads pierced by the black threads and their bodies withered away.

Sou! Sou!

Several black threads attacked Chen Feng again, but a flaming wheel of sword energy promptly burst out before Chen Feng. The fire-type sword energy kept burning and slicing and the black, vine-like threads were severed before turning to ash.

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km