“This move again!” Chen Feng felt helpless. This opponent he faced was stronger than him in every aspect. It was a completely one-sided fight. However, this fight did give him a great deal of benefits. Fighting a cultivator who was far stronger than him was the best way to train himself and improve his strength. If it weren’t for that, Chen Feng would not have held back on using the Longevity Tower.

Due to his usage of the Twin Swords of Life and Death, whatever energy Chen Feng managed to recover was all exhausted again. Chen Feng had to rapidly circulate his longevity-type primary energy to recover his lost power while pushing himself to his limits to fight Yan Qing.

After Chen Feng was sent flying again, Yan Huo and the others finally caught up to them. Liu Guang and Qian Hong’s faces were still somewhat pale. However, thanks to the assistance of their fellow sect disciples, they had recovered some of their powers.

After arriving, Yan Huo and the others promptly attacked Chen Feng. If one were to ask who Nine Firmaments Palace wanted to kill the most recently, Chen Feng would undoubtedly be number one amongst the answers. Now that the opportunity was lying before their eyes, they would not simply let it slip out of their grasp.

“Not only is Nine Firmaments Palace bullying the weak, they are also relying on numbers to win. Is this the behaviour of an immortal dao sect?” Chen Feng ridiculed them, not a hint of concern on his face.

“Chen Feng, you have killed so many of our fellow disciples! No matter how glib your tongue may be, you can forget about escaping today!” said Yan Huo, who pulled his Firecaller Bow. Next, a fire arrow shot towards Chen Feng.

“Break!”

The Death Sword swiftly sped forward to break apart the fire arrow. At that same moment, however, Yan Qing’s attack arrived. This time, he did not utilize the Transcendent Cloudpalm of the Nine Firmaments. Instead, he brought out a spiked rope, which he hurled towards Chen Feng. The rope kept swirling about in the air and waves of viscous, restraining power bore down upon Chen Feng from every direction. Chen Feng was incapable of even putting up a fight before the rope bound him. The spikes on the rope pierced deep into Chen Feng’s flesh.

A grade 9 Prized artefact! Feeling a sensation of pain, Chen Feng became surprised. He did not think that this rope would be at the same level as his Immortal-binding Rope.

“Ha ha ha ha! And here I was, wondering just how strong you are. In the end, you are still captured. This is a great contribution!” Seeing Chen Feng bound by the rope, Yan Huo was quick to laugh out loudly.

In the past, Chen Feng had fought against the cultivator known as Yan Luo. Now there were Yan Huo and Yan Qing. All three were from the same family. Back then, Yan Luo had suffered under Chen Feng’s hands, causing Yan Huo and the others from the Yan Family to feel displeased. To finally succeed in capturing Chen Feng, Yan Huo was exhilarated [1].

“Let’s hurry up and attack! The human is already captured!” The tiger yao grew anxious.

“What’s the rush? Wait a while longer.” The Shadowless Panther shook its head.

“I’m not waiting anymore. I’ll attack right now!” said the tiger yao, which instantly leapt forward to fire out a formidable shockwave attack at Yan Huo and the others.

“Transcendent Cloudpalm of the Nine Firmaments!”

Yan Qing had been waiting for the tiger yao’s appearance. Seeing the tiger yao attack, he unleashed the palm attack that he had been preparing all this time.

“Time to make my moves.” The Shadowless Panther shook its head and its body swiftly disappeared. It was not due to a stealth technique. Rather, it was because it was moving too quickly. Why else would it be given the name Shadowless Panther? Its speed was actually several notches higher than the tiger yao.

Hearing the tiger yao’s roar, Chen Feng smiled. I didn’t think that the tiger yao would actually attack. I thought it would just watch the show.

“Everyone, be careful! The tiger yao has come again. Hurry up and set up the magic array. Capture this tiger yao!” Yan Huo shouted.

Truth be told, given the level of strength that Yan Huo and the others possessed, they should have no issues killing off this tiger yao. However, they were fearful that this tiger yao would go all out and succeed in wounding some of them. Thus, they decided on using the restraining magic array against the tiger yao. Of course, some of them also wanted to capture the tiger yao. After bringing it back, they can place certain seals on the tiger yao and turn it into a mountain guardian.

“All right, hurry up and set up the magic array!” The cultivators from Nine Firmaments Palace quickly made their move.

Bang!

Suddenly, black light flashed out and a disciple sprayed blood out from his mouth as his figure flew backwards. His figure then smashed against the ground to create a large crater. After struggling for a bit, he grew still.

“What?”

“Be careful! There are enemies nearby!”

The disciple who was killed earlier was a level 6 Sky Human stage cultivator. Seeing someone at that level die just like that, the rest of the disciples panicked and they shouted. Traces of dread could be seen within their eyes.

Bang!

They had only just shouted when another disciple’s figure flew up. His bones were broken and his soul dissipated. Clearly, he was already a dead man.

“Here!”

Yan Huo used his Firecaller Bow to fire out fire arrows again and again. In the end, however, all of them missed. Liu Guang and Qian Hong focused in an attempt to locate the hidden creature. However, all they could see were flashes of black light. They could not get a good look at the shape of the creature.

“Everyone, gather up quickly! This is a Great Yao!” Yan Qing finally took action. His five fingers grasped space and the surrounding streams of spiritual energy surged, causing strong winds to rise up all around them. A viscous and restraining power took effect and a pitch-black panther yao appeared before their eyes.

“So, it’s a Shadowless Panther! This will be troublesome.”

Everyone there recognized the yao beast. They knew that this Shadowless Panther specialized in speed. When compared with those on the same level, there were very few yao beasts that could move faster than the Shadowless Panther. Naturally, bird yaos were an exception.

They were able to deal with the tiger yao. However, the sudden appearance of the Shadowless Panther, which specialized in speed, caused their faces to contort. At any rate, two of their fellow sect disciples had been killed earlier. At that moment, all of them were pinning their hopes on Yan Qing, hoping that he would be able to hold back this Shadowless Panther.

“You fellows go handle the tiger yao! I will take care of this Shadowless Panther,” Yan Qing said. Next, he waved his hand to condense another palm silhouette, which shot towards the Shadowless Panther. Now that the Shadowless Panther had been revealed, Yan Qing, with his formidable soul power, would be able to catch its aura and position.

In Yan Qing’s opinion, Chen Feng, who was already bound by his rope, would have absolutely no way of escaping. Thus, he was not feeling worried about Chen Feng.

“Have fun, guys! I’ll head off first.” Unexpectedly, Chen Feng’s figure slowly floated upwards, rising in speed as he flew far away. It did not take him long to disappear into the forest.

“What happened? My Formless Rope has already bound him! How can he still move?” Seeing Chen Feng fly away, Yan Qing’s face sank. He wanted to pursue Chen Feng, but there was no one else there who could handle the Shadowless Panther. Thus, he hesitated for a moment. In that one moment, the Shadowless Panther transformed into a beam of black light and charged at Yan Qing.

Forget it! I should deal with these two Great Yaos first. I’ll go look for the kid later. In the end, Yan Qing gritted his teeth and brought forth his all to attack the Shadowless Panther.

Sou!

The Death Sword flew out from Chen Feng’s body to unleash a series of slashes at Chen Feng’s body and the spiked rope was sliced apart before falling down.

A pity. This is a Prized artefact. Chen Feng felt a twinge of regret.

“It can still be used. I can devour some of the materials inside it,” said Tower, who brought the remnants of the rope into the Longevity Tower and began refining it.

“The two Great Yaos should be strong enough to entangle them for a while. Now, let’s go check out what goodies are inside the Shadowless Panther’s lair,” Chen Feng said, sending all of his soul power out to scan the place.

Hmm, there are quite a bit of spiritual herbs. The number and age of the spiritual herbs here are better compared to the ones at the tiger yao’s lair. Looks like the tiger yao’s strength is the weakest here, otherwise his territory would not have been the outermost one. After all, the closer to the spirit stone mine, the more spiritual energy the yao beasts would be able to absorb.

Chen Feng kept darting about across the ground, collecting any spiritual herbs and spiritual trees that caught his attention.

The tiger yao’s lair had a spirit fountain. I wonder what this panther yao has? Chen Feng’s heart was filled with expectations.

“Kid, you are just running around aimlessly. When will you be able to find it? Just follow my lead. The good stuff should be some distance up ahead,” said Tower, who finally could not hold back.

“Up ahead.” Chen Feng nodded. He followed the direction Tower gave him and sped up, ignoring the spiritual herbs he encountered along the way. For Tower to say that there was something good there, there will surely be something good.

He was within the panther yao’s territory. However, the panther yao was presently fighting Yan Qing and the others. Thus, it could not come over to stop Chen Feng, who was rushing forward unimpeded. It did not take long for him to reach the place that Tower had mentioned.

“It’s a small pond!” Chen Feng regarded the pond in surprise.

“Take a closer look.” Tower chuckled.

The pond was not particularly large, but the waters of the pond was so clear, it was possible to see the bottom of the pond. Chen Feng could clearly make out the fishes swimming inside the pond. However, that was not the main point. To Chen Feng’s surprise, the pond was continuously absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy. Finally, all the absorbed streams of spiritual energy gathered upon a very ordinary-looking lotus.

“There is something special about this lotus,” Chen Feng whispered, looking at the lotus.

“Hey, this is a Nine Leaf Lotus. It has produced nine seeds. Kid, consider yourself lucky. Hurry up and keep it,” Tower said.

Nodding, Chen Feng swiftly moved forward to pull out the lotus within the pond, its roots and the mud along with it. When Chen Feng kept the lotus, the waters within the pond roiled. It seemed as though several Lightning Talismans had erupted beneath the waters.

“Hurry up and run, kid. You’ve made a killing this time around. Every one of the seeds on the lotus is comparable to a 9,000-year-old spiritual herb. Its value is comparable to everything you acquired in the tiger yao’s territory. If the panther yao finds out about this, it will end up puking blood from excessive rage,” Tower said with a snicker.

The very instant Chen Feng collected the Nine Leaf Lotus, the Shadowless Panther, which was fighting Yan Qing, had abruptly roared out furiously. Next, it transformed into a beam of black light to quickly leave the battlefield as it rushed back to its lair.

Seeing the Shadowless Panther’s departure, the tiger yao dared not linger either. It quickly broke out from the cultivators’ encirclement and went after the Shadowless Panther.

“What happened? Why did the two yao beasts run away?” Yan Huo felt surprised.

“Something must have happened to the panther yao’s lair. Most likely, it’s Chen Feng’s handiwork,” Yan Qing said grimly.

“Then, what do we do now? Do we give chase?” Yan Huo asked.

“No rush. If I am not mistaken, there must be a large spirit stone mine up ahead. Moreover, there will definitely be Great Yaos staying near the spirit stone mine. There might even be Yao Kings. We came here to explore this place and train ourselves. There is no need for us to take such a big risk. There is a good number of spiritual herbs here. Wait until we have contacted more cultivators before going deeper,” Yan Qing said slowly.

1 Yan Luo first appeared in Chapter 370. He got his ass whooped in Chapter 389. ↩