The two of them had only just finished memorizing the Spirit Gathering Array when the symbols and lines engraved on the ground disappeared completely. Next, a massive platform rose up and a passageway connected to flight of stairs leading down appeared before them. Stone steps paved the stairs and there was no way to know where it led to. 

“Let’s go!”

After exchanging glances, the two of them did not say much before quickly entering the passageway. The walls on either side of the passageway were also engraved with countless runes, which shone with a faint light to give the passageway a bright look.

They leisurely made their way down the stairs. After that, the opening for the passageway on the surface disappeared. Following the disappearance of the opening, the massive platform descended, embedding itself into the flat ground once again.

The disappearance of the other end of the passageway did not escape Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang’s notice. Exchanging glances yet again, they then laughed.

“I wonder if this is good or bad? Only the two of us managed to enter this place.”

“This way, the amount of competition will lessen considerably.”

“Hopefully, there are some good items down here.”

“There will certainly be danger.”

After saying that, the two of them laughed out loudly. It was strange. In the beginning, both of them had their own motives for partnering up. Even now, the two of them still had their own plans. However, after all this time together, they had to admit that the relationship between them was getting better.

Perhaps, we can truly become friends in the future.

 That was the thought going through their minds.

Going down the flight of stairs took a long time. At the same time, it was also very uneventful. In the beginning, the two of them moved down one step at a time. Later, they sped up. With the exception of their own voices and the sound of the wind created in their wake, there was no other sound.

One hour later, they finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Secretly calculating, the two of them were shocked to find that they were now over 50 kilometres underground.

As they were heading down earlier, they had attempted to release their divine senses to inspect their surroundings. However, the walls on either side of the stairs possessed a suction force and the soul powers that the two of them released were devoured by the walls. After suffering from the same result a few times, the two of them no longer dared to do it again.

“I forgot. There is a Spirit Gathering Array right on top of us. This action of ours is akin to giving it food.”

“Given our present level of strength, we are still incapable of breaking a Spirit Gathering Array of this level. An item left behind by a True Immortal is not something that the likes of us can destroy.”

“Not necessarily, ha ha!”

The bottom part of the stairs was a spacious square. Who knows what materials were used to pave the ground, but it was bright and glossy, so much so that it could reflect their figures. Of course, that was not what had attracted their attention. The item that had attracted their attention was a mighty-looking cultivator who was seated cross-legged somewhere nearby.

The cultivator wore just a layer of leather over his waist, leaving his upper body and legs bare. His long hair blocked vision of his face. However, his muscular upper body revealed that he was a young cultivator brimming with vitality.

“Is he alive?”

“He should be similar to the one we encountered in the past. A war soul will likely come out again. Be careful.”

“He looks somewhat similar to a cultivator from Savage World. Regardless if he is dead or alive, I can feel a strong sense of danger.”

“I feel it too.”

Neither Chen Feng nor Liu Wuxiang dared to be careless and they split up, one dashing to the left and one dashing to the right. Their eyes were trained upon the bare-chested cultivator.

“Is he an Ascendant Immortal?”

“Definitely not an Earthen Immortal.”

“This is bad. Should we run?”

“Ha ha ha! So what if it’s the war soul of an Ascendant Immortal? Alone, we would be incapable of handling it. However, by joining forces, we should be able to fight it.”

“It’s hard to tell who would win, though.”

“The benefits will be monumental.”

As the two of them were discussing the issue, the bare-chested cultivator suddenly snapped open his eyes. The long hair covering his face was blown upwards as a result and two gaze attacks flashed forward with lightning-like speed.

Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang saw only light flashing out before them as the attacks charged towards them.

Sou!

Chen Feng made use of the Longevity Steps to evade the attack. Even so, the light managed to graze his body and a piece of his flesh disappeared in a flash.

As for Liu Wuxiang, he stretched his hand out to unleash his Yin Yang Cavity move. A black hole, seemingly capable of devouring everything, appeared. However, in the face of the flash of light from the bare-chested cultivator, the black hole easily shattered apart. As Liu Wuxiang was backing away, his palm was pierced, leaving a bloody hole there.

“What?!”

“That is just a gaze. To think that it would be so powerful.”

“Looks like we’ll be in quite a difficult spot. Even though it can only exert 30% of its previous power, the war soul of an Ascendant Immortal will not be easy to handle.”

“If only I can rise up to the Human Immortal stage. I’m barely able to face an Ascendant Immortal right now. Rather, I might lose outright.”

After the gaze attacks were over, the cultivator who was seated cross-legged abruptly stood up. Even when seated, he was already as tall as a normal human. By standing up, he became like a giant, towering high above others. Next, a formidable aura surged out into his surroundings in a violent manner.

Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng! Deng!

Their opponent had yet to attack. And yet, the aura that his body emanated was already enough to force Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang to back away. This opponent was simply too powerful. Just the atmosphere of oppression that he was exerting upon their souls was enough to make it so that it would be hard to even think about resisting.

The two of them exchanged glances and a bitter smile instantly appeared on their faces.

“Looks like we’ll have to go all out.”

“I fear not even going all out will help.”

After the bare-chested cultivator stood up, his face became revealed. It was that of a middle-aged man. A simple-looking face with eyes that shone like the stars. His chiselled facial features gave him a look of firmness.

His eyes swept across both Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang, giving them the impression that the gaze had pierced through their bodies to give him knowledge of everything inside them.

“Too weak. However, they have some good items on them. Whatever, I’ll have to settle for this. If I wait any longer, who knows how much longer it would take?”

After saying that, a spark of luminescence emerged from the middle-aged cultivator’s forehead to quickly form a figure that looked identical to him. Standing side by side, they looked like twins.

However, Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang knew that the newly-formed figure was a war soul formed using the essence, energy and soul of the middle-aged cultivator. Since he had sent his essence, energy and soul out from his body, his previous fleshly body had become a mostly worthless shell.

“It really is a war soul. This is better. It can only exert 30% of its original power.”

“For Ascendant Immortals, even 10% of their original strength is enough to kill off an Earthen Immortal.”

“No way! They’re so powerful?”

“Why not? We’re talking about Ascendant Immortals here. That’s an existence that has broken free from the shackles of their original world and created their own world. For an existence such as this, killing the two of us is the equivalent on squashing off two bugs.”

“In that case, does that mean we’re goners? Let’s figure a way to escape.”

“I fear we won’t have the chance to leave.”

“You two little fellows sure have a lot of nonsense to exchange.” After saying that, the middle-aged cultivator arrived before Liu Wuxiang to fire out a lightning-fast punch.

It was a very simplistic move with no superfluous aspects. Rather, it only contained one aspect, speed.

The words he spoke earlier had yet to completely spread out, but Liu Wuxiang had already been blasted away by the punch. For Liu Wuxiang, it did not feel as though the punch contained only speed. Rather, it also contained power, a power that could seemingly shatter apart his body.

Just half a blink’s worth of time after Liu Wuxiang was sent flying from the punch, Chen Feng too, was sent flying from another punch. Even before falling to the ground, an arrow-shaped spray of blood had escaped Chen Feng’s mouth.

“Cough! Cough! Brother Liu, looks like escaping is not an option for us.”

“If so, let’s give it our all!”

“Give it our all, easier said than done. Just one punch is enough to send us flying. I couldn’t even get a clear look at the attack.” Chen Feng shook his head. His Magic Eyes of Darkness spun and his own essence, energy and soul grew in strength.

“Magic Eyes of Darkness! There is also world essence power! Not bad, kid. Your fleshly body is not bad!” The middle-aged cultivator who had been in the midst of charging towards Liu Wuxiang immediately halted. Then, he charged towards Chen Feng. Again, he unleashed another simplistic attack, a punch. And yet, it gave Chen Feng the notion that he would be incapable of blocking it and that he should promptly get on his knees and beg for mercy.

The difference between their soul powers was simply too great.

Chen Feng bellowed and a bolt of lightning shot out from his tongue. Next, layer after layer of lightning radiance emerged to defend him.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

Everywhere the fist went, the layers of lightning radiance before Chen Feng would shatter apart. The fist was seemingly unaffected in the slightest as it smashed down against Chen Feng’s chest.

“Yin Yang Cavity!”

Liu Wuxiang’s attack arrived. This time, the aura coming out from Liu Wuxiang was that of an Earthen Immortal and the power behind his attack had grown several times stronger. He was going all out right from the start.

Boom!

A blood-coloured light erupted in front of Chen Feng.

A black-coloured light erupted behind the middle-aged cultivator.

Next, Chen Feng’s figure flashed back a few times to stand somewhere far away. He cut a terribly wretched sight. His chest was bloodied and blood flowed out from the wounds. Energy streams were released to rapidly heal his wounds and he was restored to his original state. However, Chen Feng felt his heart lurching. His rate of recovery was a notch slower than before.

Meanwhile, Liu Wuxiang’s attack on the middle-aged cultivator had only managed to shake him slightly. It had failed to even pierce through his skin.

“Can you two not see? I am an Ascendant Immortal. My ability to utilize powers is already at a level beyond your understanding. Relying on two Dao artefacts will not help you block my attacks,” the middle-aged cultivator said indifferently.

“This fellow might be from Savage World.”

“That’s not important. Brother Chen, stop holding back. It seems we’ll have to utilize Immortal artefacts.”

“Sigh! I’m worried that not even Immortal artefacts can deal with him.”

“Even so, we must give it a shot. The difference between our two sides is simply too big. Without using Immortal artefacts, we will surely end up dying.”

Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang secretly communicated with one another. However, before they were done, the middle-aged cultivator attacked once more. Even though he was just standing there, both his hands elongated as they grasped at both Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang.

This move showed just how much he was looking down on the two of them. With a thought from Chen Feng, a bolt of lightning heavily struck the middle-aged cultivator’s palm. The lightning bolt exploded, but the palm remained unscathed.

Likewise, Liu Wuxiang’s Yin Yang Cavity move was also easily shattered by the palm heading his way. 

Sou! Sou!

The palms grasped to grab the necks of Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang respectively.

Boom! Boom!

Suddenly, two auras, the auras of Immortal artefacts, charged out from Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang’s bodies. The semi-transparent silhouettes of a battle lance and a sword descended upon both the middle-aged cultivator’s arms at the same time.

This attack did not disappoint. The two arms were cut off and Chen Feng and Liu Wuxiang were able to free themselves.

1 li = 0.5 km