“Now is not the time for this. If he can enter, we should be able to enter as well. If we’re just one step too late, it might be over,” Flame Monarch Scarletflow said as he fired out a punch at the portal.

Fiery sparks enveloped their whole surroundings as a dazzling light burst out. Next, Flame Monarch Scarletflow kept backing away. He had to retreat through a distance of over 5,000 kilometres and blood trickled down from his mouth.

“Everyone, work together and attack!”

Xue Luosha did not remain on the side lines either. Eight high-level True Immortals joined forces to attack. Once again, it failed to bring about any results as all eight were thrown backwards.

“Why can’t we enter?”

“Again!”

“Forget it. This is not something that can be broken through brute force.”

“Ha ha ha ha! Fellows, why so hasty? Without the key in my possession, you fellows will not be able to enter.” It was then that someone else arrived. Additionally, he happened to see them in their wretched state.

“Star Monarch Waterway, to think that the last key would be with you. But aren’t you too late?” Flame Monarch Scarletflow said with a sneer.

This newcomer was clad in faint-cyan clothes and there were two cultivators behind him. He had a somewhat gentle appearance, but his steady gaze was as deep as the sea. He was Star Monarch Waterway, someone with quite the renown in the Immortal Plane.

“Not at all. If I had come earlier, I would not have been able to see you in such a wretched state.” Star Monarch Waterway laughed, his eyes sweeping across Xue Luosha and the others.

“Are the remaining two keys on these people? I say, Flame Monarch Scarletflow, why are you working together with these fellows? Are you not afraid of losing part of the gains to them? Let’s just join forces to kill them off,” Star Monarch Waterway suggested.

Hearing that, Xue Luosha and the six cultivators secretly became furious. However, they also grew somewhat concerned. Flame Monarch Scarletflow and Star Monarch Waterway were simply too strong. More, the two cultivators behind Star Monarch Waterway were also not to be underestimated. Should the two of them truly choose to join forces, they would have to figure a way to flee.

“Now is not the time for this. You are late. Someone else has entered,” Flame Monarch Scarletflow said with a scornful grin.

“What?” The expression on Star Monarch Waterway’s face finally flickered.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” A white stream of light flew out from Star Monarch Waterway’s glabella, which landed upon the portal.

Red light flew out from Xue Luosha’s glabella and Flame Monarch Scarletflow sent out a stream of black light. As for the six cultivators, they sent forth a stream of blue light.

Those were the four keys needed to open the portal.

The four keys disappeared into the portal. Following that, the portal slowly opened up to reveal a golden-coloured pathway. Star Monarch Waterway was the fastest to react and he charged in first, followed by Flame Monarch Scarletflow.

“Xue Luosha, I think we should partner up.” The six cultivators then turned to Xue Luosha, taking on a gentler demeanour towards her.

“I have no objections.” Xue Luosha was the third to charge in.

“Let’s go as well. The competition for the treasures will be fierce.”

Not long after entering the golden pathway, it began diverging. One pathway after another – paved with unknown rocks – spread out, interconnecting with one another. They extended outwards in every direction, going farther and farther ahead to the point where only darkness could be seen at the end. Additionally, there were also numerous motes of starlight far in the distance. Seeing that, they all felt as though the pathway had been constructed within a starry space.

Sou!

The first to fly up was one of the Star Monarch Waterway’s attendants. He was also a high-level True Immortal. He swiftly flew up, wanting to see what lay ahead of the starry-like pathways.

However, he had only just flown up when his face immediately sank. His figure froze and it plummeted down, disappearing into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

Promptly, a chain flew up from the darkness beneath and the other attendant caught the chain before pulling it. And so, the attendant who had been turned into an ice popsicle was pulled back up.

With a banging sound, ice fragments scattered and the frozen attendant recovered.

“What happened?” Star Monarch Waterway asked solemnly.

“Restrictive arrays set up by the Heavenly Immortal. It is very hard to fly. As for the space below the pathway, it looks like a world of ice.” Although the layer of ice encasing him had fallen off, there was still a lingering sensation of fear within the attendant’s heart.

“Hard to fly, eh?” After saying that, Star Monarch Waterway leapt upwards, vaulting through the space above to land on another pathway.

“Indeed, the restrictive arrays are very strong. Even with my level of strength, I can only fly for a moment. If so, we can only move forward using the pathways.

“By the way, didn’t someone enter before us? Where is he now?”

“There is a palace there.”

Despite the blurry quality of the surrounding space, they could see that one of the pathways was leading into small palace. And while there were restrictive arrays there, those who moved forward using the pathways would not be affected. Thus, it did not take long before they arrived at the palace.

The doors of the palace gate were open. Seeing that, a foreboding sensation struck the hearts of all present. As expected, after entering, they found that the palace was empty. It was a clear sign that someone had robbed the place.

“There are still energy fluctuations in here. He must have only just left this place,” Flame Monarch Scarletflow said.

“He beat us to it.”

Next up, they found a few more palaces. Once again, they were too late and all the items in there had been ransacked.

Every one of them knew that it was Chen Feng. And yet, despite rushing forward, they were incapable of finding a single trace of Chen Feng.

“Xue Luosha, you should be able to contact him, no?” Flame Monarch Scarletflow turned to look at Xue Luosha.

“No.”

Xue Luosha replied before turning around to leave. At that very moment, Xue Luosha was wondering if it had been a mistake to bring Chen Feng along.

Even though he did not possess the key, he could enter this place. How did he do it? The question hovered around Xue Luosha’s mind.

“I’ll capture the woman and interrogate her.”

“Forget it. At present, the most important thing is to find the kid who came in before us,” Star Monarch Waterway said before speeding up.

The owners of the four keys split up and they swiftly advanced along their respective pathways to disappear from sight.

…

Tsk, tsk. The harvest this time is quite good. However, I have yet to find anything that could truly move me. Chen Feng had ransacked a total of nine palaces and obtained a good number of items. There were even a few top-grade Immortal artifacts amongst them. But those were the best items there. Unlike what Chen Feng had imagined, there were no items of greater value. For example, the corpse of a Heavenly Immortal or a pseudo-Divine artifact.

Those things must surely exist here. This is a Heavenly Immortal we’re talking about, after all. Surely, he cannot be some third-rate fellow. Only, I have yet to find where those items are located. Having reached that line of thought, the Longevity Wings on Chen Feng’s back unfurled and he flew across the space above like a bird. The restrictive arrays there were not that debilitating towards Chen Feng. This was also why the others had failed to find Chen Feng. And even if they did find him, given how fast he could fly, he would be able to leave them in the dust.

The first party to encounter Chen Feng was Xue Luosha. Seeing that surprised Chen Feng somewhat.

“Chen Feng, looks like you’ve gotten yourself quite the harvest,” Xue Luosha said, appearing before Chen Feng.

Chen Feng’s eyes promptly narrowed and he regarded the voluptuous female cultivator standing before him, a thoughtful look on his face. “Looks like I had underestimated you. I believe you should also have gotten some harvest yourself.”

“You’ve ransacked everything. What harvest could I possibly have?” Xue Luosha said.

“A pity, the number of valuable items here is too small. Even now, I have yet to find a single Longevity Fruit. You should know the consequences of lying to me.” Chen Feng then turned around and left.

Despicable!

Xue Luosha swore inwardly, but she chose to follow Chen Feng.

The pathway was long and winding, like a maze built in the starry space. There was no telling where it was connected to. Thankfully, there were some palaces there. The treasures within the palaces attracted the cultivators to eagerly advance.

“Are there no dangers here? Could this be purely a treasure hoard? If it is, there’ll be nothing to worry about.” After saying that, Chen Feng quickened his pace. A palace had appeared before him.

But Xue Luosha was even faster than him, Overtaking Chen Feng, Xue Luosha then charged into the palace. Seeing that, Chen Feng shook his head, a smile appearing on his face.

Bang!

Several sounds of collisions rang out and Xue Luosha’s figure flew out from the palace. There was a deep and bloody wound on her shoulder and blood kept flowing out from it.

“There’s danger inside.” Xue Luosha jerked her head to stare at Chen Feng.

“Yes. I was just about to tell you about it. Unexpectedly, you would be so anxious to enter,” Chen Feng said with a look of indifference. Seeing the expression infuriated Xue Luosha even further.

“As expected, you two are together.” Suddenly, Star Monarch Waterway appeared, flying over from the distance. Behind him were his two attendants. Seeing that, Chen Feng’s eyelids twitched slightly. Even though he was also capable of flying here, he knew how hard it was. Without the Longevity Wings, Chen Feng knew that he would have a harder time flying here.

Star Monarch Waterway, on the other hand, was able to bring his two attendants with him with such ease. Should a fight erupt between the two of them, Chen Feng did not feel too confident in his ability to defeat him. Even so, there was nothing Star Monarch Waterway could do if Chen Feng wanted to leave. But Chen Feng felt the will to fight rising within him. He wanted to fight this person to fully stimulate out his combat power.

Star Monarch Waterway stood before Chen Feng and Xue Luosha while his two attendants entered the palace.

Seeing that, Chen Feng chuckled and deliberately took several steps back.

“Friend, looks like you are interested in the items here. If that’s the case, I’ll take my leave,” Chen Feng said and he made to leave.

Unexpectedly, Star Monarch Waterway’s figure would flash forward to re-appear before Chen Feng.

“Compared to the small palace up ahead, I am more interested in you, friend.”

“Oh, is that so?” Chen Feng smiled.

“Hand over the items you obtained earlier and become my follower,” Star Monarch Waterway said.

“Tsk, tsk. You have quite the appetite.” A ridiculing look flashed across Chen Feng’s eyes.

“By the way, your two partners might die inside,” Chen Feng said, his figure flashing forward to leave a series of after-images in the air before landing lightly on another pathway.

“The Longevity Clan’s Longevity Steps, deserving of its reputation. A pity, you encountered me.” Star Monarch Waterway simply flew up, seemingly unaffected by the restrictive arrays there. Like a bird of prey, he dived at Chen Feng.

However, when there was still a short distance between him and Chen Feng, Star Monarch Waterway abruptly halted. Next, a sun burst out before Star Monarch Waterway’s very eyes.

Xue Luosha’s eyes lit up. She knew, Chen Feng had utilized the Divine Sun Needle.

He’s truly insidious. After hesitating for a moment, Xue Luosha then went after him.

As there was only a short distance between the two, Xue Luosha was able to arrive within one breath’s worth of time. In that time, however, Chen Feng and Star Monarch Waterway had already exchanged several blows.

Chen Feng’s attack using the Divine Sun Needle had been ineffective. Chen Feng knew then that this was a formidable opponent. And so, he brought out the Upright Heaven Sword and employed the Longevity Steps to fight Star Monarch Waterway.

The Upright Heaven Sword in Chen Feng’s hand had already levelled up to the top-grade Immortal tier. Even so, it was still a notch inferior compared to the pseudo-Divine artifact in Star Monarch Waterway’s hand. Thankfully, Chen Feng had the assistance of his eye technique, allowing him to see through his opponent’s attacks and not fall into a disadvantageous position in the fight.

1 li = 0.5 km