“Nie Tian, go all-out in the battle... Do your best to survive!” Elder Wei Lai said to Nie Tian with a heavy tone.
A puzzled expression appeared on Nie Tian’s face.
Before the experts from the Five Elements Sect, the Heaven Span Pavilion, and the Void Spirit Society exclaimed Ophelia’s name, Wei Lai had approached him and spoken haltingly. He was well-aware what he had wanted to say.
Wei Lai had hoped that he would lose the duel intentionally.
The reason why he had attempted to do that was because he had deemed Mo Heng not strong enough to challenge Grand Monarch Primal Demon.
He had learned from Yan Zhan that Nie Tian had indeed killed Catie from the Bispo Clan with the help of a bone from a Star Behemoth outside the Realm of a Hundred Battles.
Others might question the authenticity of this piece of news, and a.s.sume that the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace had exaggerated Nie Tian’s battle prowess.
He, however, knew how extraordinary Nie Tian really was.
For this reason, he had been worried that Nie Tian winning the duel would make Mo Heng’s duel against Grand Monarch Primal Demon inevitable.
Now, as Ophelia’s name was mentioned, he immediately urged Nie Tian to go all-out in battle instead...
With a bitter, puzzled smile, Nie Tian asked, “Do you think that even if I go all-out to fight her, I’ll still lose the duel? And if I don’t go all-out, not only will I lose, but I’ll even die at her hands. Is that it?”
Wei Lai nodded hesitantly. “I honestly forgot about her until those people mentioned her name. If you’re actually going to fight her, I’m afraid you...”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but Yan Zhan and Fang Yuan, who were standing off to the side, nodded along with agreeing expressions.
“Ophelia...” Nie Tian said inwardly.
Soon, those who were close to him gathered to his side again to help him get a better understanding of Ophelia.
From them, he learned that even though Ophelia was at the eighth grade, she was in possession of a powerful tool that had been left to her by Grand Monarch Illusory Demon. The grade of that tool was equal to humanity’s Immortal grade.
Besides, it was said that Ophelia’s bloodline was so mighty that it allowed her to contend against ninth grade grand patriarchs.
With the help of that terrifying tool, her battle prowess surpa.s.sed all of the other eighth grade Demons, including the direct descendants of the four living Demon grand monarchs.
Part of the reason why Nie Tian had never heard of her was because she had confined herself to an illusory dimension she herself had created over the years in an attempt to master a mysterious Demon bloodline magic.
Because of that, it had been a long time since the last time she had joined a battle in the Dead Star Sea.
However, all of the human experts who had seen her fight knew how deadly she was. The mere thought of her battle prowess would make them insecure and uneasy.
Pieces of information about Ophelia came from Yan Zhan, Fang Yuan, Hou Chulan, and the others that were gathered around Nie Tian.
Nie Tian’s expression grew grimmer and grimmer as he listened to them. However, the look in his eyes remained unswerving.
After telling him what made Ophelia so dreadful, Fang Yuan, Hou Chulan, Huang Jinnan, and Lou Hongyan gave Nie Tian a number of medicinal pills that could help him recover spiritual power, spiritual materials that could help nourish his soul, and eighth grade outsider and Ancientbeast corpses.
By doing this, they hoped they could provide Nie Tian with some help, so that his duel against Ophelia wouldn’t end in his rapid and total defeat.
Nie Tian didn’t exactly need the spiritual materials and medicinal pills.
However, the eighth grade outsider and Ancientbeast corpses met his needs. With them, he could generate Blood Essence to fuse into the Flame Dragon Armor and Star Behemoth bone.
The only problem was that powerful experts from the four great sects were now gathered in this place. Most of them were at the Saint domain, with even a few G.o.d domain ones.
He was afraid that he would attract unnecessary attention if he used Life Drain to generate Blood Essence here.
Furthermore, he could feel that peculiar soul fluctuations would fly out of the Demon stronghold from time to time, and flash past over his head.
He suspected that powerful Demons or experts of other outsider races were also paying close attention to him.
This made him even more apprehensive about using his unique abilities.
A few days later...
Several enormous dragons gradually appeared from behind the Demons’ floating land.
Both the humans and the Demons were surprised by their sudden appearance.
They flew past the Demons’ floating stronghold that was enveloped in a dark purple ward to where the humans stars.h.i.+ps were berthed.
One of them slowly morphed into a human figure that Nie Tian found very familiar.
It turned out to be the middle ninth grade dragon Nie Tian had met on the floating continent.
With a knitted brow, Yan Zhan stared at the few dragons that had appeared out of nowhere. “Dragons, an ancient branch of the Ancientspirits!”
“Greetings!” Ji Yuanquan from the Void Spirit Society exclaimed softly as he approached the incoming dragons with great caution. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
McEleney, who had a.s.sumed human form, answered, “We heard that Grand Elder Mo Heng of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace has challenged Grand Monarch Primal Demon to a duel. So we came to watch.”
“Just watch?” Ji Yuanquan probed.
That was when McEleney suddenly turned his head towards Nie Tian. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he waved at him. Nie Tian was surprised at first, but smiled back immediately afterwards. At the same time, he took the initiative to fly towards the dragons.
“Be careful!” Many from the Five Elements Sect called out to Nie Tian, fearing that it was a trap.
“It’s alright. We know each other.” Nie Tian said calmly.
The other five dragons that were as large as the humans’ ancient stars.h.i.+ps remained in their dragon form, floating behind McEleney, who had only a.s.sumed his human form so that Nie Tian would be able to recognize him.
“You did us a great favor on that floating continent.” With these words, McEleney turned his head to shoot a glance at the Demon’s floating stronghold. He let out a cold harrumph and continued, “Those filthy creatures, on the other hand, did unspeakable things to our people! I heard that you were going to fight a duel against a Demon fighter, so I came to show you my support. I hope you’ll win!”
Confused looks spread across the faces of the powerful experts from the four great sects after they heard these words.
They knew that dragons, Ancientbeasts, and t.i.tans were powerful races that dated back to the Desolate Antiquity Era, which weren’t usually friendly to humans.
The Ancientspirits’ heaven and earth was far beyond the Dead Star Sea. If humans wanted to enter their lands, they would have to march through the Dead Star Sea and the Demons, Phantasms, Fiends, and Bonebrutes’ domains first.
Every time the outsiders were at a disadvantage in their war against the humans, they would choose to help the outsiders.
They understood that once the lips were gone, the teeth would be cold.
However, when they weren’t facing threats from the humans, battles would also break out between them and the outsiders from time to time in areas where their territories bordered.
It was just that they had ended their conflicts with the outsiders earlier, when the humans had marched ma.s.sive forces into the Dead Star Sea.
Apparently, they had reached a mutual understanding with the outsiders: once the humans gained an overwhelming advantage in the Dead Star Sea, they would bury the hatchet and join up to fight the humans.
Judging from this, they should be allies at the moment.
However, upon arriving, McEleney expressed his support for Nie Tian, and called the Demons filthy creatures.
This took everyone present by surprise.
Nie Tian, however, remained calm as ever. He grinned and said, “Thank you!”
One of the dragons floating behind McEleney fixed its red eyes on Nie Tian the whole time, raging flame auras swirling in its large eyes.