Chương 190: The Lei clan chief's request

The old man felt great despair. He hadn't expected this youth to have such terrifying power. His aura was clearly that of a rank seven yang realm cultivator, but the power of his attack had actually reached the spirit realm! What sort of monster had his Lei clan offended? Regardless, he had already given up all hopes of living. He just couldn't resist in the face of this attack. But the pain and death he was waiting for didn't come.

The sword light actually flew past him and landed on the floor, causing a hundred meters long fissure on the floor. Seeing this scene, everyone swallowed. The old man in particular was confused. Did he miss? No, he… spared my life?

"As I said, I have no intention of killing anyone. Of course, if you want to die, I can help you" Long Feng's indifferent voice sounded, bringing the old man back to his senses.

"Of course not. Thank you for sparing my life, benefactor. This one owes you his life. I will do my best to repay this favor." The old man bowed, his back still drenched in cold sweat whenever he recalled the power of that Sword strike. Knowing fully well that this youth could have easily killed him without consequences, he felt grateful that he decided to spare his life.

"All I need is for you to disband the Lei clan and leave immediately." Long Feng remained indifferent to the old man. He didn't spare him out of pity, but because he didn't want to be someone who killed at all times. Lei Hao and Lei Jun were one thing, as they deserving to die, but he couldn't kill others just because he was stronger or due to a minor misunderstanding. He wasn't stone hearted.

"Yes, benefactor." The old man nodded, then turned to the woman beside him who was staring at Long Feng in a daze.

"Go and disperse everyone immediately. Tell them that the Lei clan no longer exists on this province." The woman nodded absentmindedly and left to relay the orders. In a few minutes, the words had spread and all the Lei clan members, disciples or elders were asked to pack up and leave the valley.

Long Feng stood and watched quietly as all of this happened, then he suddenly looked behind him and spoke softly,"If you have something to say, then speak, otherwise you can leave too" Behind him, the clan chief of the Lei clan suddenly walked over and stood behind him respectfully. He seemed to be hesitating about something, but his expression soon hardened in determination as he made up his mind.

"Benefactor, you spared this old man's life, so I wish to repay the favor." He began. Long Feng was originally not paying much attention to him, but the next thing the old man said made him look back in surprise.

"Benefactor should know that my Lei clan wasn't anything comparable to what it is now in the past. A year ago, the Lei clan was just a tiny clan in a nearby city and I was the strongest in the clan, being a rank three yin realm cultivator" His words made Long Feng look at him in shock. A clan with a rank three yin realm cultivator wasn't even worthy of being called a force. It was just a group of ants to any real powerful cultivator.

But for such a clan to rise to the extent that it had several Yang realm cultivators was truly unusual. The old man continued,"I can guess that benefactor is here due to the unusually dense concentration of natural energies in this valley. Benefactor should know that a year ago, this valley was just beautiful and nothing else. It's natural energies was even lower than average." Long Feng perked up in interest. The old man was finally getting to the main topic.

He was planning to inspect the valley with his soul power later when the Lei clan left completely to figure out the source of the natural energies. But since this old man was willing to tell him the truth, Long Feng would gladly listen. Of course, he wouldn't trust the man's words easily, lest he fell into a trap.

"Back then, an elder of the clan, the one you sent flying earlier, came out to go into seclusion in this valley due to it's beautiful scenery. Later, he discovered something in the center of the valley. It was entirely due to his luck that he discovered it, leading to the current concentration of energy in the valley. Benefactor, please come with me" the old man motioned as he walked towards the center of the valley. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Long Feng stared at the man's back thoughtfully for a moment before he followed behind him. The old man led him to the center of the valley, where a large palace was built. He stopped before the palace doors and turned to Long Feng.

"Benefactor, this is the place. The first thing I did when we got here was to order the construction of this palace, making it a forbidden area. Other than me, only the other two, who are the grand elders of the clan are aware of this place" As he spoke, the old man took the lead and pushed open the palace doors, stepping into the palace. The insides of the palace was dimly lit hall which was very empty, other than a stone platform in the very center of the palace.

The stone platform was dim and old, covered in ancient writings. At the four corners of the platform were four grooves around the size of a fist. The old man walked into the hall and stopped right before the stone platform.

"Benefactor, this is it. We have no name for it. Back then, the elder stumbled upon it because the concealment formation around it seemed to have lost it's energy source, thereby weakening it. As he was cultivating, he noticed some anomaly here. He attacked this exact spot curiously for an entire month straight before the formation finally dispersed, revealing this" the old man spoke when Long Feng arrived beside him. Long Feng looked at this stone platform with a frown.

There was nothing special about the platform, other than the weird markings on it and the four grooves at the corners of the platform.

"This is the source of the natural energies in the valley?" He asked doubtfully. The old man nodded.

"We were curious about it, so we tried many methods to unravel it's secrets. Out of all the methods that we used, only two methods caused a reaction from the platform. One of them was placing energy crystals in the four grooves at the edges of the platform." As the old man spoke, he took out four Yang crystals and put one each in the four grooves. Immediately the crystals entered the grooves, the energy inside them vanished instantly as though they had been absorbed clean and the now dim crystals turned to dust.

Long Feng's eyes widened in surprise. When the crystal was absorbed, he had sensed absolutely nothing, as though the energy in the crystals simply vanished into thin air.

"It absorbed the energy" Long Feng quickly understood that it was the work of the platform.

"Only yang crystals work?" He asked the old man.

"No. Anything that contains energy, even beast cores and connate crystals are absorbed clean" the old man replied.

"Interesting!" Long Feng thought as he examined the platform with Bright eyes. Something told him that the platform contained a secret, and an opportunity. What it was exactly, he had no idea.

"It has no reaction?" He inquired. The old man shook his head.

"Sadly, not. No matter how many crystals and beast cores we use, thousands of them, nothing seems to have changed other than it occasionally releasing energy into the surroundings, which created this land" Long Feng was shocked. So this valley really was due to this stone platform! But what was the platform hiding? And why wasn't it having any reaction?

"What is the second method?" He asked. The old man stepped forward and placed a hand on the platform.

"This" As he spoke, he poured his inner energy into the platform. The inner energy was quickly absorbed by the platform, vanishing like it never existed.

"That's it?" Long Feng was speechless. How was this different from giving the platform crystals to absorb? It was the same thing, the platform absorbing energy. The old man smiled sheepishly. Long Feng shook his head and turned back to the platform.

"Did you try using dao concepts?"

"Yes. The same thing happened. It was completely absorbed like a stone sinking into an ocean, causing no ripples" the old man replied. Long Feng frowned. Currently, the only use of this platform was to release energy, increasing the condensed natural energies in the valley. He had conjured a few theories regarding this stone platform, one of which was that the platform was in need of energy. An unbelievably large amount of energy which he couldn't possibly have right now.

He guessed that not even imperial and deity realm cultivators could satisfy the energy desire of this platform. It can absorb any form of energy, even dao concepts. Energy… will soul power work? Long Feng immediately sent a strand of his soul power to confirm this. The moment his soul power entered the platform, a change occurred. The soul power was absorbed completely, and the dim writings on the platform lit up a tiny little bit.

The difference wasn't even noticeable, if not that Long Feng had been closely observing the platform for any changes. His eyes lit up and he sent more of his soul power into the platform, but nothing happened again. It was like his soul power was too weak to arouse the platform again.

"Was it an illusion?" Long Feng asked himself doubtfully. That brief change in the platform earlier didn't seem like an illusion to him.

"Forget it. As long as it poses no threat to my clan, I won't bother about it. When I am strong enough, I will come and figure out everything then." With this thought, Long Feng put the stone platform out of his mind and walked out of the palace hall. The old man rushed out after him and caught up to him.

"Benefactor, this one has a question" the old man spoke. Long Feng paused and looked at him.

"What is it?"

"Is Lord benefactor trying to set up a sect here?" The old man asked. This question has been on his mind for a while now, otherwise why would this young man come and take over this valley from them? He had to have a reason, and the most realistic reason the old man could think of was this.

"Not a sect. I'm moving my clan over here" Long Feng replied instantly. There was nothing to hide, since the man would know this sooner or later. The old man looked hesitant as he spoke,"Benefactor, does your clan have space for a new member?" Seeing Long Feng's questioning look, he hurriedly added, "don't misunderstand me, benefactor. This one only admires you and wishes to join your clan and lead it to greater heights." He stared at Long Feng nervously. Long Feng smiled in understanding.

"And how do I trust you? I just disbanded your clan and took over your land. How do I know that you won't backstab me?" He naturally wasn't foolish enough to accept the old man for his words.

"Benefactor, this one swears that he has nothing but fear and admiration for you. All I wish for is to join your clan. Even without your presence, I will never dare to have other ideas! As for the matter of disbanding my clan, I hold no grudges against benefactor, after all, benefactor could have killed me and everyone else in the clan, but you chose to let us go." The old man immediately responded. Long Feng shook his head.

"We'll discuss this another time. For now, you can remain in the valley."

"Yes, benefactor" the old man immediately nodded excitedly. That was what he had been waiting to hear. As long as he could stay in the valley, then he could build up the trust and relationship between the Long clan and him. Long Feng ignored the old man and went to look for the others. They were gathered together in a large hall which seemed to be the central hall of the valley where the elders of the Lei clan discussed things.

"Everything is ready. The Lei clan members are all gone" Yan jian immediately spoke when Long Feng arrived.

"So I can let them out now?" Long Feng asked. Long Yuan nodded.

"It's time for the Long clan to set it's roots and stop roaming around""Alright." Long Feng walked out of the hall and the others followed behind him. He waved his hand and a palm sized palace appeared from his void ring and floated in front of him. With a thought from him, the palace rapidly enlarged and became a towering majestic palace. The palace seems to have gone through a devastating battle and was covered in scars, marks and deep dents. The doors were almost completely destroyed even.

All of these were caused by an imperial realm Yin ghost in the Yin ghosts forest. The former spirit armament palace had now dropped to a half spirit armament. Looking at the palace, Long Feng sighed. With a thought, the palace doors swung open and hundreds of figures walked out of the palace. The place instantly became lively.