The Domain of Heaven Boundaries was plunged into turmoil.
The six invading Demon grand patriarchs came and went like shadows, along with their eighth grade clan members.
Many different realms that belonged to the five major sects and three major clans were raided from time to time.
Nie Tian was busy traveling between those realms with the help of Pei Qiqi and teleportation portals.
However, every time he made it to those realms, those Demon grand patriarchs would immediately withdraw into the starry river.
As he attempted to go after them, he would receive word of other realms being attacked by the Demons.
Therefore, Jing Feiyang and the other experts kept s.h.i.+fting from one battlefield to another, chasing after the Demons.
The Demons continued with their guerrilla warfare, spreading the flames of war to more and more realms.
The realms that weren’t attended would always be raided, causing great casualties to their local sects and clans.
Gradually, the five major sects and three major clans developed a way to contend against the Demons.
They gathered all of the Qi warriors in a realm behind one grand spell formation, where they fended off the Demons with the help of the grand spell formation.
This was the same method the humans had adopted when the Domain of Heaven Python had been invaded by outsiders.
Meanwhile, upon learning that Cardy, the Blood Warden, led this invasion, Nie Tian contacted Xie Qian from the Domain of Vast Darkness, asking for help. At the same time, he informed his sect of what was happening.
Cardy was at the peak of the ninth grade. Among all of the Demon grand patriarchs, he had the best chance at breaking through into the tenth grade.
Him leading the invasion meant that Nie Tian’s force would be at a clear disadvantage if a head-on battle broke out between them.
Even Xie Qian, who was at the late Saint domain, might not be able to match Cardy in battle, yet he would at least have a fair chance.
Soon, Xie Qian arrived from the Domain of Vast Darkness.
The Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace also arranged for elder Yan Zhan to come deal with Cardy.
However, as soon as the two experts arrived, the Demons seemed to suddenly cancel their activities in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
The six Demon grand patriarchs were suddenly nowhere to be found, as if they had vanished into thin air.
Pei Qiqi traveled from place to place in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries in an attempt to find the hidden teleportation portal through which the Demons had come but failed.
It seemed that Cardy had transferred it to a very secluded location, so that even her unique spatial treasure couldn’t detect its unusual spatial fluctuations.
...
The starry river between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Domain of Forbidden Heaven.
On a large floating meteor sat a small-scale teleportation portal, which suddenly emanated strong spatial fluctuations.
Previously, the Lei Clan, which was one of the Divine Flame Sect’s subordinate clans, had accidentally traveled through the Domain of Forbidden Heaven to the Domain of the Falling Stars.
They had built these teleportation portals so they would be able to return to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries through a series of teleportations.
Back in the day, Nie Tian had used them to enter the Domain of Forbidden Heaven and found the Realm of Shattered Earth. For a long period of time, Nie Tian had relied on them to travel back and forth between the Domain of Forbidden Heaven and the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Only after Kan Zhisheng had built an inter-domain teleportation portal in the Divine Flame Sect and connected it to the other two domains that belonged to Nie Tian had he stopped using the Lei Clan’s teleportation portals.
Now, even members of the Lei Clan would use the large-scale teleportation portal in the Divine Flame Sect to travel between the Domain of Forbidden Heaven and the Domain of the Falling Stars.
For that reason, the seven transit teleportation portals they had originally built to connect the two domains had been practically forgotten.
WHOOs.h.!.+
Cardy suddenly appeared in the teleportation portal.
Standing in the middle of the portal, he gazed into the distant starry river, his eyes like two icy blades. “The Domain of the Falling Stars… That dark stone was the foundation of the Sixth Demon Realm. Since that grand monarch entered the tenth grade with its help, it might be able to help others enter the tenth grade as well.”
Just as he was about to activate the transit teleportation portal, his expression suddenly flickered.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Rays of pale-gray light seemed to appear out of nowhere, and shot at him like thousands of sharp swords.
The teleportation portal instantly exploded, along with the floating meteor it was on.
By the time Cardy realized what was happening, he found himself floating in the starry river, both the teleportation portal and the meteor reduced to dust.
Only then did a stars.h.i.+p slowly sail out of a dark shadow.
Demon corpses could be seen chained on the stars.h.i.+p. Rich corpse power was being channeled into the stars.h.i.+p through the chains, as if this was how the stars.h.i.+p was powered.
The man who Li Langfeng had met not long ago smiled as he flew from the stars.h.i.+p, as light as a feather. “Cardy, the Blood Warden.”
Cardy’s gasped. “It’s you!”
Taking another look at the corpses of his people, he asked, “Did you kill them? I distinctly remember you being chased by the four great sects. You should hate them to their guts. Because of your connection with the Bonebrutes, they viewed you as a crooked force, and hunted you for many years. I thought that we had common enemies. Was I wrong?”
“These are different times,” the man said with a broad smile. “And my connection with the Bonebrutes was only limited to transactions of materials. I’m still human. I don’t care what the four great sects think of me.”
Exasperated, Cardy asked, “Are you here to stop me?”
The man shook his head. “No. I’m here because I have my eyes on you, and think you’ll make a perfect Heavenly Corpse. It’ll be your honor to become my most powerful Heavenly Corpse.”
As soon as he uttered these words, three corpses flew out of the stars.h.i.+p he had come from, wreathed in intense corpse auras.
A Demon, a Bonebrute, and a Fiend.
All three of them had been ninth grade grand patriarchs, but now their eyes were all glazed. Clearly, they had lost their independent will and become puppets, similar to Nie Tian’s Bone Blood Demon.
Then, as the man waved his hands casually, the three Heavenly Corpses that had been refined from outsider grand patriarchs exploded towards Cardy at a shocking speed.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
At the same time, the Demon corpses chained on the stars.h.i.+p blew up as they were drained of their corpse power.
Cardy was infuriated. “You dare to make a move against me?!”
The man chuckled. “Why not? You’ll be my stepping stone to the G.o.d domain. If I can successfully refine a peak ninth grade Demon grand patriarch like you into a Heavenly Corpse, then my breakthrough will happen naturally.
“I bet you don’t know that I’ve waited for you for a long time here.”
“Don’t think that you’re the only one that’s clever, Cardy. The reason why you have the other six grand patriarchs keeping Nie Tian busy in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries is because you want to sneak that dark stone away. Am I right?
“Unfortunately, you’re only at the ninth grade.
“Any Demon who’s not a grand monarch will only fall prey to me.”
WHOOs.h.!.+ WHOOs.h.!.+ WHOOs.h.!.+
The three Heavenly Corpses unleashed torrential corpse auras that were mixed with all sorts of deadly toxins, instantly engulfing Cardy.
Seeing this, Cardy hastily activated the Demons’ Indestructible Form. Thanks to ancestral awakening, his body expanded violently.
A fierce battle broke out.
...
In the Realm of Unbounded Desolation in the Domain of the Falling Stars.
After leaving the Realm of Shattered Earth, the Heaven-equal Vine had already shrunk to a plant that was only about ten meters tall.
With Nie Tian’s guidance, it had traveled through the starry river to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.
Its search for the secret portal that would allow it to enter the magical land where Nie Tian had found that small Tree of Life had already lasted quite a long time.
However, not a single powerful expert from the Tool Sect sensed its existence.
The Heaven-equal Vine continued to fly silently over dead volcanoes, its branches swaying to capture any unusual auras in the air.
All of a sudden, it seemed to detect extremely strong fluctuations from the starry river.
In the Tool Sect.
Qi Bailu, who had gone to great lengths to enter the Void domain, was refining earthflame essence from fiery realms and fusing it into his spiritual core with the help of his Flame Mirror.
Suddenly, a wisp of ethereal soul awareness descended upon him.
Qi Bailu’s expression flickered. He instantly put his cultivation on hold, and focused on sensing that mysterious awareness.
“Two powerful experts are fighting fiercely in the starry river? And this is a message from the Heaven-equal Vine?”
At the same time, in the Realm of Split Void...
A Heavenly Demonsbane pattern came to appear on Hua Mu’s forehead.
“It’s the Heaven-equal Vine!”
He also received the same message from the Heaven-equal Vine, and learned that a mighty expert and a ninth grade Demon grand patriarch were engaged in a fierce battle in the nearby starry river.
Hua Mu’s expression flickered with astonishment.