An Immortal Island in the Sea, News of Immortals

Chen Feng flicked the tiny flame in his hand toward Jiang Hong.

He had infused the flame with Spiritual Qi, and it flew so fast that even Jiang Hong's eyes could not make it out.

Jiang Hong's expression changed in alarm. She knew she could no longer dodge the incoming flame.

She immediately circulated the Qi and Blood and Gang Qi in her body to their limits, intending to withstand it.

The flame reached Jiang Hong in an instant. Almost as soon as it touched her body, the Gang Qi on the surface of her skin began to burn.

The Gang Qi strengthened by burning her Qi and Blood was as fragile as paper before the flame, serving no purpose whatsoever.

The blaze engulfed Jiang Hong's entire body in an instant, and the smell of scorched flesh filled the air.

Jiang Hong let out a howl of pain.

"Aaaah!"

Though her willpower far surpassed that of ordinary people, the spiritual flame made Jiang Hong feel as though she were suffering the most extreme pain in the world.

Watching Jiang Hong howl in agony amid the flames, Chen Feng was surprised.

The woman had not been burned to ashes instantly.

Still, by the look of it, she would not last long. At that moment, Chen Feng changed his mind again.

He decided to spare her life for the time being and ask her a few questions.

Chen Feng circulated his Spiritual Qi and sent it toward Jiang Hong.

In an instant, the spiritual flames on Jiang Hong vanished.

Once the spiritual flames went out, Jiang Hong collapsed flat on the ground.

By then, Jiang Hong's armor had long since burned away. She looked like a lump of black charcoal, with hardly a patch of unscathed skin on her body.

But Chen Feng did not let down his guard. Instead, he stepped forward and stomped until all four of the woman's limbs were broken.

There was no telling whether she had some trump card.

Once his Transcendent State ended, he would need at least several hours to recover. If he fell for one of her tricks, he would be in danger.

Chen Feng had kept one final trump card in reserve, however. From the start of the fight until now, he had not strayed far from the mine.

If danger arose, he could immediately return to the modern world through the teleportation passage.

Though Chen Feng had stomped her limbs into pieces while she was still alive, Jiang Hong did not utter a single scream.

The pain inflicted by the spiritual flames was far greater than that of her broken limbs.

Chen Feng looked at Jiang Hong calmly and said, "You're a smart woman. You should know why I didn't kill you."

Jiang Hong opened her eyes and looked at Chen Feng, her expression filled with pain.

At that moment, her eyes were the only part of her body left unscathed. Everywhere else had been burned.

"Hahaha! I spent decades practicing martial arts and finally reached the pinnacle of the martial path. I thought I could fight an immortal cultivator, but now I see I was only deceiving myself."

Jiang Hong burst out laughing, a trace of sorrow in her laughter. That sorrow came from her unwillingness to accept defeat as a mortal martial artist.

She was a heaven-gifted prodigy in her own right. Her talent for martial arts had been exceptional since childhood, and she had reached the Transformation Realm in her thirties.

Even in the imperial capital, she was a renowned genius.

She had always believed that although immortal cultivators were powerful, as a Transformation Realm martial artist, she should at least be able to put up a fight.

Yet Chen Feng had crushed her with a single Technique Method.

Her earlier attempt to slay an immortal had been utterly laughable.

Looking at the laughing Jiang Hong, Chen Feng felt no desire to spare the fairer sex.

"I don't want to repeat myself."

He had no patience to listen to the woman reflect on her life.

If he were not an immortal cultivator, his fate today would probably have been little better than Jiang Hong's.

"What do you want to know?" Jiang Hong's expression had grown somewhat vacant.

She was as good as crippled. The spiritual flames had burned all her meridians to ruin, and she had burned her Qi and Blood earlier. Even if she survived, she would be a cripple.

"Who is the Yue Kingdom ancestor you just mentioned? What level of immortal cultivator is he?"

Chen Feng asked about the thing that interested him most: news of other immortal cultivators.

Jiang Hong answered without hesitation:

"He was the previous emperor of the Yue Kingdom. I only know that he's a Qi Refining Stage immortal cultivator. He spends the whole year in secluded cultivation and rarely appears before the public."

"What about news of other immortal cultivators?" Chen Feng asked again.

Jiang Hong was somewhat puzzled. Chen Feng was an immortal cultivator himself, so why was he asking her? Nevertheless, she answered:

"I've only heard rumors about other immortal cultivators. They say that far to the north of the Yue Kingdom, there's a sea with an immortal island, and immortals live on that island. But that's only what the imperial records say. I don't know whether it's true."

"The north?" Chen Feng frowned. Hengduan Mountain, where he was now, lay north of the Yue Kingdom.

He had once asked Liu Qian about it. According to Liu Qian, Liuyang Town lay east of Hengduan Mountain, and it was the largest town on the Yue Kingdom's border.

Farther east was the territory of other countries.

To the southwest were several great mountains like Hengduan Mountain, occupied by other forces.

To the north lay a vast, boundless forest, and legendary Demon Beasts occupied its depths.

The Black Wind Stronghold had established itself here because it was close to the great forest in the north.

Many merchant caravans from the Yue Kingdom sent people into the forest to gather all kinds of medicinal herbs and resources.

The Black Wind Stronghold had primarily made its living by collecting tolls from caravans heading to the great forest.

Now it seemed that the sea Jiang Hong had mentioned probably lay beyond that forest.

Chen Feng then asked a few more questions, all about the Painting Scroll World. He still knew too little about this world.

Jiang Hong answered each of Chen Feng's questions without hiding anything.

Through Jiang Hong's account, Chen Feng finally learned some things about the Painting Scroll World.

The Yue Kingdom was part of Yingzhou, but no one knew how vast Yingzhou was.

The Yue Kingdom's imperial records mentioned only a few regions around the kingdom, all of them countries or martial arts forces.

As for regions farther away, the Yue Kingdom's imperial records contained no accounts of them.

At that moment, Chen Feng felt that this world was far larger than he had imagined. The place where he stood was probably only the tip of the iceberg.

"Immortal master, could you spare the rest of my Jiang Household?" Jiang Hong said, barely clinging to life.

She was prepared to die, but she did not want the Jiang Household to perish with her.

Chen Feng glanced at Jiang Hong.

"Do you think that's possible?"

Naturally, Chen Feng could not spare the Jiang Household. He understood better than anyone that one had to cut the grass and pull up the roots.

"Immortal master, if I die, the imperial capital will surely send people to investigate. Though I don't know why you're in a small place like this, you certainly don't want to be discovered."

"If you can spare my Jiang Household, I'm willing to write to the imperial family and tell them I'm preparing to travel to another country. That way, you'll have nothing more to worry about, immortal master."

Jiang Hong spoke up at the right moment. She knew begging for mercy from someone like Chen Feng was useless. Her only option was to show her value.

His ruthless way of doing things also made her realize that she could not play petty tricks on someone like him.

Chen Feng glanced at Jiang Hong. This woman was rather interesting.

Chen Feng immediately smiled and said, "All right."

Hearing this, Jiang Hong's expression immediately relaxed.

But Chen Feng's next words plunged her into despair.

"But I won't spare the Jiang Household. I'll spare you. As long as I keep you alive and let you stay in contact with the imperial capital, the trouble from that quarter will take care of itself."

"You!" Jiang Hong stared at Chen Feng with wide eyes.

She had not expected Chen Feng to think of that.

But as Chen Feng had said, keeping her alone alive was better than sparing the entire Jiang Household.

Chen Feng only had to wipe out the Jiang Household, imprison her, and have her send regular messages to the imperial capital.

Even if someone reported the Jiang Household's destruction to the imperial capital, it would do no good.

She was only a commander of the Forbidden Martial Guard. The imperial capital valued her, not her Lineage.

The mountains were high and the emperor far away. Who would care if a martial arts Lineage in a small border town was wiped out?

At that moment, Jiang Hong's face turned deathly pale, and all that remained was despair.