"What about Changsun Shenqiong?" Xue Yi asked.
"He was just with me. I informed him of the plan and he"s on his way here with the rest from Heptastar," Qing Min said.
"Looks like Quadform and Heptastar are rather obedient," Xue Yi said.
"That"s true. However, leaving Long Cangyuan alone at the other black hole star isn"t too appropriate. I’ll have someone take his place later," Qing Ming said.
"Alright. What about establis.h.i.+ng contact with our sect outside?"
"It"s been done. A thousand and five hundred eighth-level death-phase tribulation elders will be sent here as reinforcements. As a consequence, we have to temporarily let up the pressure we"re applying to Pentaphase. I notified Ying Zi and Fu You, so they should be coming to our aid as well. With all of us working together, the other four sects don"t dare to come to the Kilostar Domain at all, so we only need to leave one ghoul king outside."
"Alright, then this will be it. Once we’ve all gathered, we must give it our all to deal with Li Tianming and Dugu Jin. We can"t make any progress if we don"t kill them. For now, we can still afford to stop treasure hunting and deal with the pests first."
"It"s best we deal with them fast, too. If word of this gets out, not only will we end up the laughingstock of the continent, our allies will also start doubting us."
"I know!" Xue Yi didn"t need Qing Ming to point it out; he could feel the rage burning within him.
Right as Qing Ming was about to leave, a dozen tribulation elders haggardly ran over, looking as if they were about to suffer a mental breakdown as they knelt before the two ghoul kings.
"What"s going on?" Xue Yi had a bad feeling. His eyelids had been twitching quite often lately, something he considered to be a bad omen. His eyes simply couldn"t stop twitching when Xia Ziluan was killed.
"Ghoul Kings... Li... Li Tianming killed... Ye Bodhi..."
"He even made off with a hundred thousand tribulation artifacts, all of which have eight or more tribulation patterns!"
"Those treasures had just shown up. We were the ones who discovered them first, but then Li Tianming came slaughtering our way!"
They sounded so out of breath that their voices shook as they made their reports. Their words shocked everyone present.
"Are you guys sick in the head? That joke"s in real bad taste!"
"f.u.c.k off!"
"Ye Bodhi"s at the eighth-level life phase. He"s probably already stronger than us. Not to mention, he cultivates the Saintking Bodhi Body. The ones who can deal with him here in Kilostar Domain can probably be counted on one hand."
"But can we really be sure?"
The news was so shocking that most people found it hard to believe. In fact, they were angry at the ones making the report, thinking that this was their idea of a sick joke.
"Ghoul King, we witnessed it directly and are willing to stake our lives on it."
"Apart from Ye Bodhi, we also lost more than sixty tribulation elders to Li Tianming."
"Ghoul Kings, please avenge them!"
They broke down into a fit of agonized crying.
"If this turns out to be false, your heads will roll," Qing Ming said with a shaky voice.
"We swear on our lives it is true."
"Many others were there to witness it too. They’ll soon come to report the same thing."
"By the way, Long Cangyuan"s son is still alive. He was defeated by Li Tianming and had to escape. He should be here with us shortly."
Based on that, there was little chance that what they had said was false. The faces of the thousands there instantly changed.
"Ye Bodhi is the son of those two beings...."
"He was destined to stand at the very top.... Even if he was in the Kilostar Domain, how could he be defeated?"
"This is getting serious!"
While the death of Xia Ziluan was a personal matter of Xue Yi’s, the death of Ye Bodhi was something that concerned the entirety of the Nonahall Divine Realm. That was the difference between his and Xia Ziluan"s status. Ye Bodhi was truly held in the highest regard in the Nonahall Divine Realm.
Now, they were all panicking at the implication of his death. While they had a lot of life experience, having lived long lives, they had never heard of the Nonahall Ghost Sect being pushed into a corner like this ever before. The deaths of Yama and Hei An back during the Number One Summit weren"t that much of a big deal as they were still far too young and couldn"t be compared to Ye Bodhi at all. Everyone turned to the ghoul kings for answers; even the ghoul kings looked to each other, feeling a chill down their spines.
"What do we do?" Qing Ming said, his eyes wavering.
"This is getting out of hand. What happened can no longer be changed. We absolutely have to deal with this annoying fly as soon as possible. That way, we’ll at least have something to answer with. Otherwise...." Xue Yi was feeling genuine fear. He furrowed his brow as he thought of the white-haired youth, feeling ultimate regret for not killing him the first chance he had. Now, everything was getting out of hand. Tianming had done the impossible and shattered the heavens!
"That"s right. Things are completely different from before."
"The exalted two spared no effort on raising and nurturing Ye Bodhi. I wonder what the situation at the sect is right now...."
Xue Yi felt like he was being pulled apart by Tianming himself. He wanted to slap himself in the face really badly.
Breaking the silence, he called for one third-origin elder and said, "You, ask the ghoul kings outside to bring Yi Xingyin here when they enter. It"s about time we put him to use."
Qing Ming grit his teeth. "I thought we wouldn"t need to use him at all. How could we have known that it would come to this?"
"Even Yi Xingyin isn"t necessarily useful to us now, but we"ll give it a try anyway. The way I see it, with how ruthless that brat is, he might not care if Yi Xingyin lives or dies at all," Xue Yi said.
At the end of the day, everything that had happened had gone far beyond their wildest imaginations. Xue Yi thought that he had reacted quickly enough to things already, but it couldn"t be helped. Tianming, with the help of his Eyes of Judgment, was an unhinged demon, hunting down one sinner after another and fueling his growth to the point that he was able to deal a huge blow to the entire Nonahall Divine Realm.
......
The Specter Mountains within the Nonahall Divine Realm looked like a sleeping giant. At the location near the giant"s heart was another forbidden area belonging to Nonahall Ghost Sect. The area was grey and desolate, with not a single blade of gra.s.s growing. It was as silent as a cemetery.
This was actually the place where Ye Bodhi had grown up. There were two buildings in that area, one pure black and hidden in the shadows and the other pure white, but not the saintly kind. Instead, it was the pure white of the bone of a person worked so hard that it had turned pale. These were the legendary Black and White Skypalaces, which all disciples in Nonahall were aware of. However, few had the fortune to see the place for themselves. Only the strongest of the sect were allowed to cultivate there, and not even every ghoul king had the right to enter it. Yet today, a ghoul king dressed in purple came to the palace after making his way through the thick fog. It was Zi Xiao.
"Bodhi"s lifesoul stone has shattered," said a woman"s voice from within White Skypalace. It sounded old and coa.r.s.e, like that of a dying crone. The voice stated it as if it was a matter of fact, carrying not a hint of emotion at all.
"That is correct," Zi Xiao said, nodding. "A few days ago, my son Gu Yunge and daughter-in-law Xia Ziluan also perished."
"Is it the doing of that imperial son?" asked a man"s voice from the Black Skypalace. Oddly enough, the voice sounded like that of a prep.u.b.escent teenage boy. The two voices made for quite an odd pair.
"Yes," Zi Xiao said, nodding.
"Fourth, have Bodhi"s eyes been found?" the man asked.
"Yes. They are now on the way back to the sect."