Chapter 400: The First Time in My Life

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Before Chen Fei came to West Cloud City, he was somewhat worried that West Cloud City might have been directly wiped out in the last disaster of cunning and misfortune. After all, at that time, many forces were dispatched to supervise Shangwu City, and almost anyone with a bit of strength would send someone there.

The strength of the Sword Return Tower was naturally formidable. There were two advanced stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivators previously, and several Aperture Tempering realm cultivators at other realms, making them dominant in the vicinity of West Cloud City.

However, in the last encounter, Xing Xinzhao was besieged by Qu Qingsheng and Zhou Zixuan, his Aperture was shattered, and his strength must have significantly declined. It would be difficult for him to remain at the Aperture Tempering realm Middle Stage, and the best-case scenario would be the Aperture Tempering realm Initial Stage.

Probably because of this, the Sword Return Tower did not send anyone to join the excitement in Shangwu City again. After all, they had their own affairs to deal with, and they couldn’t spare the time to meddle in the affairs of the world.

Moreover, Shangwu City was more than a thousand miles away from West Cloud City. With such a distance, by the time Shangwu City arrived, the Sword Return Tower would have more than enough time to leave.

In a sense, it could even be said that they were fortunate because of this misfortune.

“Crack! Crack! Crack!”

The power attached to the arrow became stronger and stronger, and both the bow and the arrow emitted a sharp sound at this moment. This was because the materials of both the bow and arrow were limited and somewhat unable to withstand such a tremendous force.

Chen Fei remained expressionless, manipulating the Thousand Thread Technique to constantly adjust the power.

With the Great Thunder Sword reaching Great Completion, it meant that Chen Fei could freely manipulate the power of thunder within the scope of the Great Thunder Sword’s application. With the subtle control of the Thousand Thread Technique, the basic conditions for the electromagnetic cannon were already in place.

The only drawback was that the execution speed was relatively slow. It was only suitable for besieging cities and breaking through enemy fortifications. In a face-to-face battle, with such a long preparation time, he would probably have already lost his way.

As time passed, the momentum on Chen Fei’s body became increasingly powerful, and the power contained in the arrows became more and more exaggerated, even surpassing the power limit of the combination of the Suppressing Dragon Elephant and the Primordial Sword Scripture.

And this was not the end; although the bow and arrow were already trembling at this moment, in Chen Fei’s observation, more power could still be added.

Chen Fei exerted a slight force with his arms, stabilizing the bow and arrow.

Within a radius of several hundred meters around Chen Fei, all was silent. Whether it was the birds, beasts, or insect chirping, they had all disappeared without a trace. The terrifying aura pressed down on them, leaving them unable to move a muscle.

At the main peak of the Sword Return Tower,

Sui Wengong, who was meditating cross-legged, suddenly opened his eyes. Unexplainably, a sense of crisis emerged in Sui Wengong’s heart, and as time passed, this sense of crisis became increasingly heavy.

But at this moment, he was in the main peak of the Sword Return Tower, which had the strongest protective power within the Sword Return Tower.

If he felt a sense of crisis here, how powerful would the incoming force have to be?

Xing Xinzhao walked out of his private chamber within the main peak. He had been healing, but he was also awakened by the impending sense of danger. Although Xing Xinzhao was injured, his injuries were mainly concentrated in his acupoints, and his mental state was not heavily affected.

Therefore, in terms of sensing danger, he was on par with Sui Wengong.

Sui Wengong and Xing Xinzhao both walked out of the main hall. Outside the hall, the wind was gentle, and in the distance, the setting sun was still radiating its last warmth, painting the sky crimson.

However, at this moment, neither Xing Xinzhao nor Sui Wengong had the heart to appreciate these sights.

The sense of crisis weighing on their hearts had intensified in just a moment, and as time passed, it continued to rise, seemingly without end.

Sword Return Eye!

Sui Wengong pointed his right hand as if drawing a sword and touched his own brow. In an instant, the surrounding space seemed to slow down significantly. Sui Wengong calmly sensed for a moment and then looked to his right.

Xing Xinzhao was slightly slower, but his gaze also turned towards the distance. There, an extremely powerful force was gathering, but it was too far away to sense until just now.

“Activate!”

Sui Wengong shouted lowly, and the formation of the Sword Return Tower suddenly rose, exuding a chilling aura.

All disciples of the Sword Return Tower involuntarily stopped what they were doing and looked up at the sky in confusion. Not only the new disciples but even the senior disciples who had been with the sect for many years had never seen such a formation before.

The Sword Return Tower had been thriving for many years. Several decades ago, there were other sects competing with them in the vicinity. However, as the Sword Return Tower produced advanced stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivators, these competing sects gradually disappeared.

As a result, for many years, the Sword Return Tower had not encountered any significant challenges, let alone a situation where the sect’s formation was actively activated.

The elders of the Sword Return Tower who were at the Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level sensed the change in the formation and rushed to the main peak. They saw the solemn expressions of Sui Wengong and Xing Xinzhao.

“Master, what is this?” someone asked with confusion.

Due to the distance being too great, the other Aperture Tempering realm cultivators did not have the sensing ability of Sui Wengong and Xing Xinzhao. Many of them only felt a slight anomaly, but it was just that—a slight anomaly.

“There is someone over there with strong hostility towards our sect,” Xing Xinzhao whispered.

His mental power spread out, connecting the Sword Return Eyes of everyone present. In the next moment, everyone sensed a powerful force coming towards them from afar.

Sensing the intensity of this force, everyone’s expressions changed, including Xing Xinzhao and Sui Wengong.

Even though they had sensed the formidable nature of this force earlier, it was only after connecting everyone’s perception together that they realized that this force had reached the pinnacle of the Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level.

At the pinnacle of the Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level, Xing Xinzhao and Sui Wengong had never offended such top-tier experts in all their years. In recent times, due to Xing Xinzhao’s injury, they had even reduced the influence of the Sword Return Tower.

No grudges in the past, no recent enmity. Xing Xinzhao and Sui Wengong couldn’t make sense of it.

If they had to mention someone they had recently offended, it would be the Primordial Sword Sect. However, the strongest in the Primordial Sword Sect was only at the advanced stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level. Even though they had retrieved their secret manual, refining it into a true skill was not something that could be accomplished quickly.

As for the disciples of their sect offending such a powerful expert, it was likely that they would have been obliterated on the spot, and there was no way they would have taken so long to track them to the sect.

“Concentrate!”

Sui Wengong shouted lowly, and the blade in his hand emitted a dazzling light. The power of the entire Sword Return Tower formation was concentrated on Sui Wengong alone.

At the same time, other Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level elders stood at the formation’s core on the main peak, infusing their energy into the formation, continuously boosting Sui Wengong’s power.

This was the function of a sect’s formation – it could unite and focus the power of all its members. With Sui Wengong’s current strength, he was at the advanced stage Aperture Tempering realm cultivation level, and there was no way he could break through alone. He might even be defeated here.

Unless a situation like the one where the Long Rainbow Sect was besieged by multiple sects occurred, where the power of the formation, while still present, was overwhelmed by the sheer number of opponents and was rendered powerless.

Several miles away,

Chen Fei saw the Sword Return Tower’s formation rising, his expression unmoving. It was inevitable for the Sword Return Tower to notice something unusual, especially considering the tremendous momentum gathered by Chen Fei’s arrow.

Regardless of the circumstances, there were Aperture Tempering realm cultivators at the late stage within the Sword Return Tower, and if they didn’t react to such a situation, it would be a sign of their vulnerability.

Chen Fei didn’t care whether the Sword Return Tower would discover the situation or not. When it came to conquering a sect’s mountain gate, ultimately, it was about each side’s strength.

In this world, schemes and tricks could be effective, and very effective at that, but it required roughly equal strength between the parties or a slight disadvantage for strategy to play a crucial role.

However, if one side possessed significantly greater strength than the other, the effectiveness of strategy would be greatly diminished.

Just like when the Cliff Mountain Sect attacked Qinhai City, despite Qinhai City’s defenses, the Cliff Mountain Sect only needed a decapitation strategy, rendering the city’s defense useless.

This was a world where power ultimately mattered. In the end, it was strength that counted.

Just like dominant forces, all they needed was an Aperture Tempering realm cultivator to suppress the energy circulation. Everything else was secondary. As long as there was an Aperture Tempering realm cultivator, all other forces would obediently attach themselves to them.

“Sizzle!”

The sound of magnetic storms was incessant, and despite being desperately suppressed, the bow and arrow were still trembling, and the amplitude of the tremors was increasing.

It seemed as if, in the next moment, the entire bow and arrow set would explode.

Star Gazing Art!

The scene at the Sword Return Tower’s main peak was getting closer in Chen Fei’s eyes. Vaguely, Chen Fei saw Sui Wengong and Xing Xinzhao, as well as the other Sword Return Tower elders standing to the side.

Seemingly sensing Chen Fei’s gaze, Sui Wengong, who had gathered a group of experts, also turned to look in Chen Fei’s direction.

Sui Wengong didn’t possess the Star Gazing Art, so he couldn’t see such a distant location, but with the support of the Sword Return Eyes and the enhanced formation, he had become extremely sensitive to the scrutiny of his gaze.

Seeing Sui Wengong’s reaction, Chen Fei revealed a slight smile. In the next moment, he released the arrow in his right hand.

“Buzz!”

A burst of sonic clouds appeared behind Chen Fei. The trees in the vicinity were shattered by the power fluctuations, turning into splinters. With Chen Fei as the center, an area of more than ten meters in radius turned into a clearing.

Further away, rocks shattered, trees were uprooted, as if this place had become the epicenter of a storm.

This arrow’s power was so astonishingly great that in a conventional battle, Chen Fei would never be able to unleash such force on the spot.

Chen Fei’s iron longbow in his left hand had turned to dust at some point. It was just an ordinary iron longbow, and without the support of elemental energy, it was instantly destroyed.

Under the Star Gazing Art, Chen Fei watched as the arrow pierced through the air, creating a hole in the atmosphere. Despite the several miles of distance, it seemed to arrive in front of the Sword Return Tower’s main peak in the blink of an eye.

Just as the formation outside the Sword Return Tower’s mountain gate had just issued a warning, a deafening sonic boom resounded throughout the entire Sword Return Tower. All Sword Return Tower disciples stared in astonishment at the location of the main peak, where a dazzling light erupted.

“Boom!”

The Sword Return Tower’s main peak shook, and the elemental energy of heaven and earth surged, causing the hearts of all Sword Return Tower disciples to skip a beat, and a hint of panic involuntarily crept into their hearts.

This kind of power was something they had never witnessed in their entire lives..