In the Domain of Forbidden Heaven.
Numerous meteors floated in the starry river somewhere between the Realm of Shattered Earth and the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Five vast floating meteors were connected by stone bridges. A few ancient stars.h.i.+ps were berthed on the meteors.
This was the place where Dong Li had arranged for the Blood Sect disciples to hole up. Master Blood Spirit had later joined them.
Long before, the Domain of Forbidden Heaven had been sealed off by mysterious restrictive spells, which had even prevented the deadly impurities from entering it.
For that reason, even weak Qi warriors could travel around in it, as long as they had air-transportation spiritual tools.
In recent years, the restrictive spells seemed to have been lifted. That was when mixed energies had poured into it from all directions.
However, compared to other domains that were filled with dead realms, the environment in Domain of Forbidden Heaven was still rather friendly to Qi warriors with low cultivation bases.
On the meteors, the ancient stars.h.i.+ps’ protective s.h.i.+elds were up, keeping the impurities away from the Blood Sect disciples, so that they could practice cultivation with spirit stones.
Li Langfeng was sitting on a much smaller, pale-gray floating meteor that was a considerable distance from the five interconnected meteors.
In front of him, a cl.u.s.ter of pale flame was slithering up and down a dead Fiend, as if it was gathering toxins for him.
Li Langfeng had broken through into the Soul realm not long ago.
However, his unusual body allowed him to practice cultivation in the starry river even though he was only at the Soul realm.
Apparently, after suffering from countless toxins, his incomparably strange body had even found the mixed energies in the starry river bearable.
Furthermore, his unique cultivation method would harm those in his surroundings.
That Fiend corpse Nie Tian had given him contained deadly toxins. He was afraid that Blood Sect disciples with low cultivation bases would catch the toxins, so he had intentionally distanced himself from the five floating meteors.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
All of a sudden, the cl.u.s.ter of pale flame in front of Li Langfeng jolted violently.
Looking at the pale flame, Li Langfeng went blank for a moment before his expression flickered.
He rapidly summoned an air-transportation spiritual tool, put the Fiend corpse away, jumped on board, and said in a soft voice, “Show me the way.”
The pale flame then shot off into the distant starry river.
Li Langfeng’s air-transportation spiritual tool followed it away from the Blood Sect’s gathering place.
After an unknown period of time, the pale flame found its target: a flat octagonal meteor.
An unidentified ancient stars.h.i.+p could be seen berthed on the meteor.
Li Langfeng squinted, and discovered that the ancient stars.h.i.+p was wreathed in an intense aura that was unique to corpses and most Qi warriors couldn’t perceive. “Such rich corpse aura!”
Besides, he also noticed that dead Demons were chained up on the ancient stars.h.i.+p, and the ropes binding them seemed to be channeling power from them.
“Hmm?!” A soft exclamation came from the unidentified ancient stars.h.i.+p.
The misty corpse aura rapidly gathered and condensed into a person that floated over the berthed stars.h.i.+p.
It was a scrawny middle-aged man whose face was as pale as paper. Dressed in white robes, he had silver white pupils.
Even though they were still separated from each other by hundreds of meters, the man saw Li Langfeng. However, in the next moment, his attention was caught by the cl.u.s.ter of pale flame beside him.
The man’s silver eyes lit up. “A cl.u.s.ter of Poisonous Corpse Flame! And it has developed its own awareness?!”
Fascinated by the cl.u.s.ter of pale flame, he muttered, “Such flames can only form in the b.l.o.o.d.y Grave Mountain Range in the Shatter Battlefield due to their profound connection to the ghouls that roam those mountains.
“I can’t believe that man actually won the acknowledgment of a cl.u.s.ter of Poisonous Corpse Flame. And his aura...”
While muttering, the man refocused on Li Langfeng.
Under his gaze, wisps of multicolored toxic aura suddenly rose from his body to hover around him.
Among them, the pale wisps that seemed to be from that mysterious flame were the most eye-catching.
“He has great potential. Our sect’s incantations will agree with him perfectly.” Fixing Li Langfeng with an amazed look, the man finally asked, “Who are you? And what are you doing here?”
“I’m Li Langfeng from the Domain of the Falling Stars.”
“The Domain of the Falling Stars...” The man smiled. “So do you know Nie Tian, the seventh Son of the Stars?”
“He’s my master,” Li Langfeng said with a firm tone.
The man’s smile grew broader as he looked deeply at Li Langfeng and continued, “The seventh Son of the Stars surely is special. After all, considering the incantations the Blood Sect and you practice, you can all be viewed as crooked forces, yet he took you under his wing all the same.”
Li Langfeng’s expression flickered.
He suddenly realized that he probably shouldn’t have told the man about his relations.h.i.+p with Nie Tian.
“Relax,” the man said. “I bet you can tell that I’m from a so-called crooked force myself. To tell you the truth, I’m from the Heavenly Corpse Sect. Are you interested in joining us? Not only will our secret incantations agree with your cultivation perfectly, but they can also help you bring out the full might of that Poisonous Corpse Flame of yours.”
Li Langfeng snorted coldly. “Not interested!”
The man laughed. “Well, you will be. Wait till you enter the late Soul realm and prepare to break through into the Void domain. The incantations you practice are special. Only I will be able to provide you with the materials and environment you’ll need to forge your inner domain. But I guess there’s no rush in that.”
After a short pause, he added, “Since Nie Tian is your master, tell him that he can stop wasting his time looking for hidden teleportation portals in the Domain of Forbidden Heaven, the Domain of the Falling Stars, and the Domain of Heaven Python.
“There’s only one outsider teleportation portal left in all of his domains now. It’s in the Pure Heaven Sect’s territory in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
“He’ll be able to find it in the starry river north of the Realm of Pure Origin.”
With these words, the man vanished. With a loud rumble, corpse power was ignited, pus.h.i.+ng the ancient stars.h.i.+p off the floating meteor.
In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the distant starry river.
Filled with questions, Li Langfeng had to return to the place where the Blood Sect disciples were gathered.
Two days later, Nie Tian and Pei Qiqi arrived on the Star Boat.
Upon seeing them, Li Langfeng flew to them and explained his recent encounter.
Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment. “What? You ran into a member of the Heavenly Corpse Sect? What was his cultivation base?”
Li Langfeng shook his head. “I don’t know. His cultivation base was so far higher than mine that I couldn’t tell what it was exactly. But what I could tell was that the pressure he brought me was much greater than what I feel from Jing Feiyang, Quan Zixuan, or Qu Mingde.”
As Nie Tian’s trusted follower, Li Langfeng had visited the Domain of Heaven Python and met middle Saint domain experts like Jing Feiyang on various occasions.
However, compared to Jing Feiyang, that mysterious man had given him more pressure, and his cultivation base had seemed more unfathomable.
Pei Qiqi frowned and said, “If that’s the case, that person from the Heavenly Corpse Sect must be at the late Saint domain... or even the G.o.d domain.”
Nie Tian gasped with astonishment. “G.o.d domain!”
Aside from the four great sects, very few human sects and clans had ever seen any G.o.d domain experts.
After all, the G.o.d domain represented humanity’s peak strength.
The sectmaster of the Nether Spirit Society, who had recently resurfaced, was at the early G.o.d domain. Now, an expert from the Heavenly Corpse Sect showed up, and he was also at the G.o.d domain?
How come these crooked forces that were deeply detested by the four great sects were so powerful?
“Besides, he said that you shouldn’t waste your time searching,” Li Langfeng added. “There’s only one outsider teleportation portal left, and it’s in the Pure Heaven Sect’s territory in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. You’ll be able to find it in the starry river north of the Realm of Pure Origin.”
Nie Tian and Pei Qiqi’s expressions flickered again upon hearing these words.
Why was the Heavenly Corpse Sect so knowledgeable on where the outsider teleportation portals were?
“Should we trust that man?” Pei Qiqi asked.
Nie Tian looked uneasy and suspicious as he said, “I suppose it was him who killed those Demons in the Domain of Forbidden Heaven, but he seems to be avoiding us. I wonder why that is. However, since we don’t have any other clues, we might as well go and see if what he said is true.”
“If that’s your decision, we’d best set out as soon as possible,” Pei Qiqi said.
“Sure, let go to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries right now!”