Chen Feng brandished the recently-obtained Upright Heaven Sword. Although he was incapable of unleas.h.i.+ng its full power, using it to slice these threads condensed from soul power was still not an issue for him.

“Chen Feng?!” The cultivator who managed to escape suddenly blurted out.

“Eh, you recognize me?” Chen Feng was somewhat surprised. He had no impression of the cultivator.

“Ha ha ha! Island Lord Chen, my name is Jin Lin, a student of Absolute Academy. You have never seen me before, but I know you.”

“All right, let's not talk about that. Hurry up and think of a way to get out and inform what's happening inside to all the cultivators outside. Especially the cultivators from the East Dragon Island Alliance. You must stop them from coming in,” Chen Feng said as he swung the Upright Heaven Sword. In the end, he even opened his mouth to release a breath of primary flames and he charged forward with the sword in hand. The black threads that Chen Feng encountered this time were clearly stronger. If it weren't for the fact that the Upright Heaven Sword was sharp enough, getting entangled by the threads would give Chen Feng a real headache.

After Chen Feng charged through a distance of over 10,000 metres, the black threads finally disappeared into a stone well. There was no telling how deep the well was. When Chen Feng made his way back, he saw that Jin Lin was still standing there.

“What is it?” Chen Feng asked with a frown.

“I can't get out.” Jin Lin's face was somewhat red. Hearing that, Chen Feng slapped his head. How did he forget that? Entering this palace was easy, but leaving would be difficult.

After having figured that out, Chen Feng slashed forward with the Upright Heaven Sword, cutting open s.p.a.ce to reveal the world outside.

“Hurry up and leave!” Chen Feng shouted and Jin Lin leapt into the spatial crack, disappearing from sight.

Hopefully, he'll be able to stop some people from entering. Chen Feng sighed. Only then did he realize that countless black threads had surrounded him. These black threads were even thicker than the previous ones. They really looked like vines.

“After devouring so much essence, energy and soul power, you've finally recovered some of your strength, sir,” Chen Feng said, gripping the Upright Heaven Sword. He did not unleash any attacks.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou!

No one answered Chen Feng, but the number of black threads around him became increasingly high. It seemed as though the other party knew that Chen Feng was not to be underestimated. Thus, they did not start attacking right away.

Finally, an inconspicuous-looking black thread shot out. Its target, Chen Feng's glabella. A series of attacks immediately followed suit, targeting all of Chen Feng's vital points.

Boom!

Just as Chen Feng was about to take action, a clump of flames abruptly burst out and the black threads became like water snakes thrown into a furnace. They thrashed about. Finally, when there was only one chi left between the frontmost black threads and Chen Feng, all of them rapidly retracted, going deep into the ground to disappear from sight.

An expert has appeared. I wonder who is it? Also, there is something strange about the flames earlier. Chen Feng considered what just happened. The flames that burned the black threads were of a very high grade. They also possessed a great deal of destructive power. In Chen Feng's opinion, even if his soulflame were to level up again, it would still be incapable of matching the flames.

A youngster with an ambiguous smile on his face appeared before Chen Feng, his eyes fixed on the Upright Heaven Sword in Chen Feng's hand.

“A Human Immortal. No, an Earthen Immortal,” the youngster whispered, a puzzled look on his face.

“Friend, thank you for the a.s.sistance,” Chen Feng said gratefully. At the same time, he determined that this person was not a cultivator from Eternal World. Only, he could not be certain of his exact origins. His cultivation base was at the high-level Ascendant Immortal stage, a very formidable fellow; strong enough to give Chen Feng a sense of danger.

“No need for thanks. Let me have a look at the sword in your hand,” the youngster waved.

“That's not quite appropriate, is it?” Chen Feng said with a troubled expression.

“What's inappropriate about it? If I tell you to hand it over, you should hand it over. So long-winded!” The youngster revealed a look of impatience and he reached out to s.n.a.t.c.h away the Upright Heaven Sword from Chen Feng's hand.

Shua!

The Upright Heaven Sword thus fell into the young cultivator's hand.

“Upright Heaven Sword! A high-grade Immortal artifact! Not bad, it is suitable for me.” The young cultivator nodded, rubbing his palm over the surface of the sword. There was a very pleased look on his face.

“Fellow friend,” Chen Feng spoke up.

“You're not running away?”

“Run? This is my sword.” Chen Feng revealed a confused expression.

“Your sword? Ha ha ha! Looks like you are really not afraid of death. I really wonder if there is an issue with your brain. Just now, I have given you a chance to live. Now, you won't have the chance to even leave anymore.” After saying that, the young cultivator swung the Upright Heaven Sword, wanting to kill Chen Feng with it.

Weng!

Suddenly, a chaotic wave of sword luminescence burst out from the Upright Heaven Sword, enveloping the young cultivator. Instantly, a wretched cry rang out. After that, Chen Feng beckoned and the Upright Heaven Sword flew back into his grasp.

Shua!

With a sword slash, b.l.o.o.d.y light surged skywards and the young cultivator was nearly severed from the waist down. Chen Feng then shook his head and said, “I am also wondering if there is something wrong with your brain. You already know that this is a high-grade Immortal artifact, but you aren't even taking a single bit of precaution.”

After saying that, Chen Feng moved. Taking several steps, his figure flashed to disappear from sight. Truth be told, Chen Feng was confident in his ability to kill off the young cultivator. Only, it would require quite a bit of effort. 

Given the unknown danger posed by this place, however, Chen Feng decided that preserving his strength to deal with other potential problems was better. Fight the young cultivator to the death? Chen Feng was not crazy. There was no deep-seated grudge between them. Why would he do that? Naturally, if the young cultivator cannot understand that and continued to pursue him, that would be a different story.

“Arrrghhh!” When the sword energy finally dissipated away, the young cultivator had become utterly stained in blood. He howled furiously for a long time, incapable of calming himself down.

Despite how it looked, the injuries he suffered from were actually quite light. Only, the issue gnawing at the young cultivator was the fact that he, a high-level Ascendant Immortal, had lost to an insignificant Earthen Immortal. This was a humiliation. There was only one way to erase this humiliation, and that was to find and kill that kid.

Speaking of which, he had only chosen to take action after sensing the aura of an Immortal artifact. Unexpectedly, he would end up in such a situation.

Chen Feng did not care if the young cultivator would come after him or not. Even if the young cultivator did, he would not feel fearful. That said, Chen Feng was presently inside another s.p.a.ce.

Inside this s.p.a.ce was a group of Ascendant Immortals. Tens of thousands of cultivators had entered this ma.s.sive palace, after all. Additionally, that number was continuously rising. The majority of the cultivators were Human Immortals, but most of them were probably dead by now. There was also quite a bit of Earthen Immortals. Only, not many could survive this long. Along the way, Chen Feng had saved several Earthen Immortals. He sent them all outside.

In the end, Chen Feng was drawn by formidable energy fluctuations to this s.p.a.ce. A total of twelve Ascendant Immortals were fighting against black vines, each as thick as an arm. However, the situation did not look good for the Ascendant Immortals who were in a disadvantageous position. On the ground were several withered corpses, their essence, energy and soul power drained.

“Why is it an Earthen Immortal? Coming here is just suicide!” One of them saw Chen Feng. Originally, he had a.s.sumed that reinforcements had arrived. However, when he noticed Chen Feng's cultivation base, he became disappointed.

“Island Lord Chen, you're here too!” Someone else recognized Chen Feng.

“Greetings, Island Lord!” This time, it was an Ascendant Immortal from East Dragon Island.

Looking around, Chen Feng's face turned somewhat grim. Of the 12 Ascendant Immortals there, five were at the mid-level Ascendant Immortal stage. And yet, they were still incapable of stopping the attacks of the black vines.

Still, Chen Feng decided to take action in the end as two vines shot towards him with lightning-like speed. One swung at him while the other stabbed forward.

“Break!”

Sword light flashed and the two vines were severed. As the vines were condensed using soul power, they began dissipating away after they were severed. However, Chen Feng's sea of wisdom surged to devour the streams of black energy that were about to dissipate away. His soul vortex spun quickly to grind them all into bits before transforming them, making the power his own.

As expected, they're highly supplementary items! Chen Feng's eyes lit up and he attacked again. Sword light flashed and one black vine after another was cut down.

“A high-grade Immortal artifact!” Seeing the sword in Chen Feng's hand, the eyes of the Ascendant Immortals there turned inflamed. If it weren't for the fact that they were fearful of Chen Feng's strength, some of them would have tried to s.n.a.t.c.h it from him.

Shua!

After cutting down several black vines, Chen Feng found the opportunity to cut open s.p.a.ce again.

“Hurry up and get out!”

The Ascendant Immortals from the East Dragon Island Alliance swiftly darted into the spatial crack to disappear from sight. Two Ascendant Immortals who were beside them hesitated for a moment before following suit. The others, however, showed no interest in leaving. It did not take long before the spatial crack closed up.

If these fellows want to get themselves killed, there is nothing I can do about it. Chen Feng swung the sword again, displaying his sword techniques to quickly charge out. After moving some distance away, he turned around and saw that the other cultivators were following him.

Pondering the matter, Chen Feng came to understand what was happening. And while he was inwardly swearing, he said, “Are you fellows still not going to leave? This place is very dangerous! Do you want to get yourselves killed here?”

However, they did not appreciate Chen Feng's act of good will. Rather, some believed that Chen Feng wanted to chase them away in order to monopolize the treasures. Due to that, they said nothing as they silently followed Chen Feng closely.

“Whatever!” Chen Feng shook his head and sighed. Next, the sword in his hand fired out surging streams of sword beams. It was none other than the Storm of Sword Beams move.

All of the surrounding black vines were cut down and a black, skull-sized crystal ball appeared, hovering before their eyes.

“A treasure!”

Someone shouted and charged forward, desirous of being the first to s.n.a.t.c.h the crystal ball. Chen Feng had wanted to stop him, but it was too late. A beam of black light flashed out and the Ascendant Immortal was turned into a withered corpse in the blink of an eye.

“You can only blame yourself for that.” Chen Feng swung the sword to shatter the crystal ball, which burst into a black stream of energy. Knowing that the black stream of energy was pure soul power, Chen Feng opened his mouth to suck in all of it.

By Chen Feng's estimate, if he could fully refine and absorb the power of the crystal ball, he would be able to double the strength of his own soul power.

Weng!

After the crystal ball was shattered, the ma.s.sive palace shook slightly. Then, a formidable wave of energy fluctuations spread out from the very depths of their surrounding s.p.a.ce. This energy wave rapidly swept through the entire palace before locking down upon Chen Feng. As a result, Chen Feng felt his eyes going dark and wave after wave of chaotic images furiously a.s.sailed his sea of wisdom.

“Soul Subduing Mantra!” A talisman quickly condensed itself within Chen Feng's sea of wisdom and the chaos engulfing the sea of wisdom instantly subsided.

However, there were two other cultivators who could not understand the situation. Noticing the confused expression on Chen Feng's face and how his body was shaking, they believed that the opportunity had come. Thus, they simultaneously rushed forward to grab the sword in Chen Feng's hand.

1 chi = 0.333 m