Chapter 148: Setting Sail! The Shocking Debut of Ascension No. 1!

Three days later. Auspicious for travel, auspicious for a long voyage.

In front of the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect—no, it should now be called “Ascension Group Headquarters”—there was a sea of people, with banners fluttering everywhere.

The Sect Masters and Family Heads of the major branches across the Eastern Wasteland had almost all come out in full force, rushing over to see off the Ascension Group as it prepared for its expedition.

The current Ascension Group used Qingyun Sect as its headquarters and had successively absorbed twenty-five sects and families across the Eastern Wasteland as its secondary and tertiary branches.

The entire group possessed three Nascent Soul Ancestors including True Lord Xuantian, more than four hundred Golden Core Elders, and Foundation Establishment disciples who, due to the “All-Members Foundation Establishment” mobilization, had already exceeded two hundred thousand.

In terms of overall strength, it had in fact already surpassed the vast majority of second-rate forces, though it still lacked high-end combat power beyond the Nascent Soul realm.

Sun Desheng squeezed to the very front of the crowd, his chubby face smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum. This time, he had gone all in again, adding another huge sum of “investment”. By now, he was already considered a “Senior Honorary Shareholder” of the group.

“President Chu’s expedition this time will surely succeed at the first strike and return victorious!”

“Of course! President Chu’s business model will definitely overturn the entire Mortal Realm!”

All kinds of flattery and praise rang out endlessly, pushing the atmosphere to its absolute peak.

At noon, Chu Feng, dressed in a jet-black, CEO custom-made long robe, slowly walked onto the high platform in the plaza before the mountain gate, surrounded by a group of core executives.

“Thank you to all the ‘shareholders’ and ‘partners’ for coming to see us off.”

Chu Feng cupped his hands toward those below, his voice booming like thunder.

“I won’t say too many pleasantries. Today, before we depart, please allow me to show everyone our group’s latest model of ‘Chairman-exclusive vehicle’, to strengthen everyone’s ‘investment confidence’.”

As his words fell, he snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the winds and clouds changed, and the light of heaven dimmed!

Everyone subconsciously looked up at the sky, then collectively sucked in a sharp breath.

They saw the clouds high above the nine heavens being slowly pushed aside by an invisible force. A… no, it could no longer be called a “boat”. A colossal behemoth tore through the sea of clouds, descending slowly with a suffocating sense of oppression!

It was a gigantic flying vessel forged entirely from an unknown pitch-black metal. Its length exceeded a thousand zhang, its shape sleek yet ferocious, filled with a sense of futurism.

On the hull, there were none of the traditional flying vessels’ complicated carved beams and painted rafters. In their place were array patterns flashing with spiritual light, brimming with raw power.

The most eye-catching feature was on the side of the massive prow, where whole blocks of top-grade spirit stones had been pieced together and inlaid to form four golden characters, dancing like dragons and phoenixes—

Ascension Group!

Beneath those four characters was an exquisitely designed “LOGO”, assembled from slightly smaller spirit stones.

“My heavens… this… what kind of treasure is this?!”

“This speed… I feel it’s even faster than Old Ancestor Xuantian’s escape light!”

“This pressure… it’s practically a moving aerial fortress!”

Sun Desheng’s eyes were practically popping out as he stared. He muttered to himself,

“This… this must cost an astronomical amount… No, when I go back, I’ll sell off my family assets. I have to add another round of investment!”

This super flying vessel, named “Ascension No. 1” by Chu Feng, was precisely his masterpiece from the past few days.

It used True Lord Xuantian’s private flying vessel, the “Xuantian Boat”, as its framework. Chu Feng had unceremoniously dismantled it into pieces, then lavishly fused into it all kinds of precious divine metals and soul crystals scavenged from the Ten Thousand Souls Cavern Divine Kingdom—materials that had long gone extinct in the outside world.

Then, Leng Yanran, who had just advanced to Pill Immortal and also possessed extremely high talent in array formations and runes, personally engraved over a hundred spirit-gathering, defensive, and offensive formations inside and outside the hull.

The final product had already completely surpassed the scope of a “flying vessel”, transforming into a true aerial warship!

“Everyone, please come aboard and take a look.”

Chu Feng made a “please” gesture, and a gangplank formed of spiritual light slowly extended down from “Ascension No. 1”.

The crowd boarded the flying vessel with a pilgrim-like reverence, treading carefully.

The moment they entered the interior, another round of gasps erupted.

The internal space of the vessel was more than ten times larger than it appeared from the outside, clearly employing the Sumeru-in-a-mustard-seed technique.

This place had been completely remodeled into an “aerial headquarters” integrating cultivation rooms, conference rooms, alchemy chambers, and entertainment areas.

The floor was paved with “Warm Cloud Spirit Jade”, which was warm in winter, cool in summer, and could automatically gather spiritual energy.

Hanging on the walls were not landscape paintings, but one radiant, high-grade magic treasure after another. In Chu Feng’s words, this was called the “Corporate Foundation Display Wall”.

There was even a small bar counter, stocked with all kinds of spirit wine. A Heavenheart Holy Land female disciple undergoing “labor reform”, dressed in a maid outfit, was expressionlessly mixing drinks for everyone.

This extravagantly luxurious decoration style, filled with Chu Feng’s unique “corporate flair”, completely intimidated these Sect Masters from the “backwater countryside”.

“Alright, the tour is over.”

Chu Feng clapped his hands and sent everyone back off the flying vessel.

“Family Members, it’s time for us to depart.”

He stood on the lofty prow of “Ascension No. 1”, spreading his arms, about to deliver an impassioned farewell speech and draw a perfect conclusion to this launch.

However, at that very moment—

A sudden change occurred!

A black sword light, as thin as a strand of silk yet chilling to the extreme, as if condensed from all the resentment and hatred in the world, tore through space without any warning. Moving at a speed surpassing time and space, it shot explosively from the distant horizon!

Its target was not Chu Feng at the prow, nor any person at all, but the power core beneath the massive hull of “Ascension No. 1”, where the energy fluctuations were the most intense!

This strike was vicious, ruthless, and sinister to the extreme!

A familiar yet crazed divine sense accompanied the sword light, exploding thunderously between heaven and earth:

“Chu Feng! You destroyed my dao ground! You stole my divine relics! Even if this old monk’s soul scatters into nothingness, I will drag you, this demon, into the Avici Hell!!”

It was the Abbot of Nirvana Zen Monastery!

This old monster had actually not died yet!

Unwilling to accept failure, he had burned his own Nascent Soul and divine soul, launching this all-or-nothing, final long-range assassination!

This attack condensed his lifelong cultivation and resentment. Its power was enough to inflict fatal damage on any late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivator!

“Not good! Protect the President!”

True Lord Xuantian’s expression changed drastically as he moved to intercept without a second thought.

The farewell crowd below was terrified out of their wits by this sudden, earth-shaking change, scattering in all directions.

Yet, facing this deadly strike capable of destroying half the mountain gate, Chu Feng, standing at the prow, did not even twitch an eyebrow.

He remained perfectly still and did not even turn his head to look at that world-destroying sword light.

Under the horrified gazes of everyone, he merely unhurriedly took out a cup of freshly brewed spirit tea from his storage ring and gently blew on it.

As if that terrifying attack, capable of deciding the life or death of a Nascent Soul, was nothing more than an insignificant breeze brushing against his face.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep