A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Droven finally raised his shield properly, his expression turning slightly serious.

"Old bastard, how many talismans do you really have? Isn’t it just bullying the younger generation?"

"How many? As many as it takes to kill you. And so what if I am bullying the younger generation? Hahahahaha!"

The Sun Ocean Lord’s expression became bloodthirsty as he laughed.

"Now die!"

The nine suns descended.

BOOOOOOM!

The battlefield disappeared beneath a sea of fire. Even the Demon Vines retreated to the corners, huddling along the edge of the isolation layer.

Scorching heat filled the area, burning through the ground and causing the mud to harden before cracking like a broken eggshell.

The moisture trapped inside the Demon Vines and the small vegetation within the isolation layer was forcefully drawn out by the heat before seemingly evaporating into nothingness.

One had to admit that the talisman the Sun Ocean Lord had used was truly powerful. It was an inheritance-type item passed down within the Sun Ocean Sect to every sect master. The nine miniature suns produced by a single talisman were capable of harming multiple native late-stage Lords at the same time if used properly.

Furthermore, the talisman’s effects were intensified because the isolation layer trapped the heat inside and further amplified its damage output. If it weren’t for the Array Eye’s shielding effects, the Sun Ocean Lord himself would have been affected by his own talisman.

One could say that the Sun Ocean Lord had chosen the right time and created the perfect opening to use the talisman against Droven. And while using it, he had also made sure to protect himself.

Yet when the flames receded, Droven was still standing.

His shield had dimmed, and there were a few cracks on his armor, but he was still standing.

Droven had also been physically shaken by the talisman’s effects. He had to spend a considerable amount of Spirit Essence to maintain the shielding effects of his artifacts. But he didn’t let his struggles become apparent to the Sun Ocean Lord.

This was because he wanted to protect the prestige of the imperial Lords in the eyes of the native cultivators. He knew that this prestige alone would help the empire’s forces gobble up the entire subcontinent without facing much resistance.

Thus, protecting this prestige was paramount, especially for Lords who wanted to govern their own fiefs in the subcontinent. Droven was one of those candidates. This was why he and the others had been assigned various tasks throughout the subcontinent to conquer different individuals and forces.

The Sun Ocean Lord stared at him in disbelief. He couldn’t imagine that he would be helpless against a mere mid-stage Lord even after utilizing one of his sect’s treasures.

"You... you filthy imperial bastards. I... I will make you pay for chasing me all the way here."

Droven didn’t respond.

He simply stepped forward.

BOOM!

The Sun Ocean Lord immediately retreated.

A fist passed through the position where his head had been a moment earlier.

The wind pressure alone caused his hair to fly backward. If that fist had landed directly, the Sun Ocean Lord had no doubt that his body would have been shattered.

He didn’t dare test that assumption. Instead, he immediately hid behind several Demon Vines.

BANG!

Droven’s fist slammed into the vines.

The enormous Demon Vines caved inward.

Several layers of wood cracked, but the vines didn’t break. Instead, they twisted around Droven’s arm.

The giant frowned.

More vines emerged from the ground.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

They wrapped around his legs, waist, arms, and shield.

Droven’s expression darkened.

"Annoying."

One had to say that using the Demon Tree as the Devil’s Den’s Array Core was certainly effective. Aksai didn’t need to actively monitor and control the formation to deal with multiple enemies at the same time.

All these tasks could be delegated to the Demon Tree, which possessed a certain level of intelligence and could identify friend and foe.

Even without Aksai’s guidance, the Demon Tree actively protected the Sun Ocean Lord so that he could better serve as Aksai’s pawn.

Of course, Droven couldn’t have guessed that a Spirit Tree was after his life. He thought that it was the formation master who was trying to hinder him while simultaneously protecting the Sun Ocean Lord.

"Hehehe. No matter how much you try to save this old man, he is bound to die by my hands today."

Muttering this to himself, Droven flexed his muscles.

CRACK!

Several vines snapped.

But before he could free himself, new ones emerged.

They simply wouldn’t stop.

That was the only reason the Sun Ocean Lord was still alive.

If he had been fighting Droven on an ordinary battlefield, the battle would have ended almost immediately.

The Sun Ocean Lord’s offensive power wasn’t weak.

Far from it.

He had lived for almost five centuries.

His collection of talismans and alchemy pills was enough to overwhelm ordinary late-stage Lords for days on end.

But Droven wasn’t an ordinary opponent.

His defensive foundation was simply too deep.

His armor and shield were both high-grade 3rd Order artifacts, and each possessed its own Connate Spells.

His physical body was even more terrifying.

And although Droven wasn’t considered particularly skilled at attacking cultivators according to the standards of the Shinayin Empire, that statement had to be understood within the context of the empire.

Among imperial cultivators, there were countless monsters who specialized in offensive techniques. Varesh was only one example. Compared to them, Droven’s offensive abilities were indeed mediocre.

But in the Dadangar Subcontinent?

He was a nightmare.

And against someone like the Sun Ocean Lord, Droven didn’t need sophisticated offensive techniques.

He only needed to get close.

One clean strike was enough.

The Sun Ocean Lord knew this better than anyone. However, he could also sense that even Droven had limits, and those limits were beginning to show. It was just that the Sun Ocean Lord had no way of knowing how much longer Droven could maintain this pace.

"You damn imperial cu*nt..."

He swallowed another pill.

"How much longer can you keep doing this?"

Droven glanced at him.

"That depends on how much longer you can keep running."

The Sun Ocean Lord’s expression became bitter.

Unfortunately for him, Droven wasn’t someone who would boast about his powers to his opponents. As such, there was only one way to learn about his limits: confront him head-on.

He threw another talisman.

BOOM!

Droven blocked it.

Another.

BOOM!

Another.

BOOM!

The battle continued.

One trump card after another was consumed. The Sun Ocean Lord’s heart bled every time he used another precious treasure.

But he couldn’t stop.

Every time he stopped, Droven advanced.

Every time Droven advanced, the Demon Vines had to intervene.

And every time the Demon Vines intervened, they bought the Sun Ocean Lord another precious moment.

The old Lord couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

’If not for this formation...’

He looked at the Demon Vines surrounding him.

’I’d already be dead.’

Yet Droven was equally frustrated.

The Sun Ocean Lord was like a particularly annoying insect. He wasn’t strong enough to kill Droven, but he had enough tricks to keep escaping.

As long as Droven used his artifacts properly and dealt with the powerful talismans the Sun Ocean Lord threw at him, he could survive and tire the old Lord out at the same time.

But even he had his limits.

The Intent-based techniques were indeed much more effective against the native Lords. However, they weren’t so overwhelmingly powerful that Droven could simply ignore the trump cards used by the Sun Ocean Lord.

Even though he pretended to be unscathed, only he knew how much of a toll the Intent-based techniques he used to withstand those attacks were taking on his soul.

Furthermore, the Demon Vines made everything worse for Droven. Even when he destroyed them, they would eventually regenerate and return.

They were practically unkillable.

If not for these troublesome vines, Droven would have already killed the Sun Ocean Lord and joined Varesh. Then, the four imperial cultivators could have worked together to dismantle the entire formation.

But Droven wasn’t impatient.

He had always been a man who could sit by the riverbank and watch the bodies of his enemies float downstream before disappearing into the rushing currents.

’It doesn’t matter.’

His eyes calmly swept over the Sun Ocean Lord.

’Keep wasting your resources.’

The giant didn’t pursue recklessly. Instead, he simply raised his shield and waited.

The Sun Ocean Lord’s tricks were troublesome and numerous. But none of them was truly dangerous individually.

Most importantly, they couldn’t be amplified by Intent.

Droven’s own techniques, armor, and shield possessed powerful foundations that didn’t rely on ordinary Spirit Essence alone. The Sun Ocean Lord’s attacks, on the other hand, were ultimately limited by the strength embedded within his talismans and artifacts.

Once those resources were exhausted, his combat strength would fall sharply.

Droven could wait.

The Sun Ocean Lord couldn’t.

Another explosion shook the battlefield.

The old Lord emerged from the flames, breathing slightly harder than before.

He looked at the remaining talismans in his storage ring.

His expression became increasingly ugly.

’I’ve already used more than half.’

He clenched his teeth.

’Damn it. This bastard is really going to force me to empty four centuries of savings.’

Droven noticed the subtle change in his expression.

A faint smile appeared beneath his artifact helmet.

The time was approaching.

He didn’t need to defeat the Sun Ocean Lord through a hundred exchanges.

He only needed to wait until the old Lord ran out of tricks.

Then—

He would strike.

And when that moment arrived, he would make sure the first blow was decisive.