On the outside...
Xuan Guangyu, Hong Minghui, and his subordinates were still waiting for Fan Tianze to make another attempt to break the Star Behemoth’s defense so that they could enter.
However, after his first attempt, Fan Tianze had claimed that he had to gather more power to activate his dharma idol, which he actually didn’t.
The Limpid Cyan Sword floated vertically right over Fan Tianze’s head.
The divine light it released formed a cyan ward that enveloped him.
Inside, Fan Tianze narrowed his eyes, as if he were pondering something.
Xuan Guangyu started to lose his patience. He couldn’t help but ask, “Brother Fan...”
Fan Tianze turn his head towards him and said, “The s.h.i.+eld made of the Star Behemoth flesh aura is actually quite strong. I need more time to recover and gather strength.”
“I see,” Xuan Guangyu said with an uncomfortable expression. After a moment of hesitation, he added, “Well...”
Before he could finish, Fan Tianze said coldly, “You go ahead and do it if you’re in a hurry.”
Xuan Guangyu’s face froze.
If he dared to make more attempts, he would have done it long ago. Why would he wait till now?
He knew that Pei Qiqi would notice it as soon as his divine tool or incantations made contact with that energy s.h.i.+eld.
According to her, she was making advances in her cultivation with the help of the special s.p.a.ce created by the Star Behemoth, and if anyone disturbed her, she would report it to Qu Yi.
“Why don’t we wait a bit longer?” Struggling to suppress his anger, Xuan Guangyu backed off to where Hong Minghui and his subordinates were gathered, leaving Fan Tianze alone.
“What a weird guy,” Fan Tianze muttered to himself.
...
In the depths, Fan Tianze’s sub-soul sold Xuan Guangyu and Hong Minghui out without even the slightest hesitation. “He can’t wait for me to break this Star Behemoth’s flesh aura s.h.i.+eld.
“I learned about the Star Behemoths long ago. However, it was a piece of information I recently obtained that made me decide to come here. According to it, a unique treasure is to be unearthed in this independent s.p.a.ce, where this Star Behemoth lies.”
Pei Qiqi was baffled. “A unique treasure?”
Hearing this, Nie Tian glanced around. However, all that he could see was power of different attributes and auras. Where was this ‘unique treasure’?
However, as he gave it more thought, it occurred to him that maybe all this concentrated, refined power was the ‘unique treasure’ he was talking about.
“I have plans to attempt to advance to the late G.o.d domain, so I need to find certain rare materials to make sure that it happens smoothly,” Fan Tianze said honestly. “However, even the Heaven Span Pavilion has a hard time finding the materials that suit me and can smoothen my breakthrough. So I decided to come here to take a look as soon as I heard that there was a unique treasure to be unearthed here.”
“So have you found anything?” Nie Tian asked.
“As soon as I took a quick look around with my sub-soul, I realized that I had been fed false information,” Fan Tianze said, looking somewhat disappointed. “The incantations I practice won’t benefit from the heterogeneous energies here either. I’m long past the phase where I had to rely on these to make breakthroughs in my cultivation.”
Soon after Fan Tianze’s sword intent and soul awareness had entered, he had come to realize that the so-called unique treasure was merely a false rumor. In fact, it might have been false information Xuan Guangyu and his men had spread to mislead people.
The only interesting finding of this trip was the incredible changes a drop of Nie Tian’s Blood Essence had had on his sub-soul.
“There’s nothing I want here. I’m leaving.” With these words, Fan Tianze’s sub-soul took a long, deep look at Nie Tian. “Perhaps I’ll find you and ask you to do me a favor someday.”
Nie Tian was taken aback. “What favor?”
“Let’s talk about it when I see you next time.” Fan Tianze didn’t give an explanation. “I’ll do you a favor and tell the others there’s no such thing as a unique treasure down here after I get out.”
BZZZ!
His sub-soul morphed into a streak of light that shot up, leaving Nie Tian and Pei Qiqi exchanging confused glances.
...
The Limpid Cyan Sword suddenly burst forth with blinding light.
A streak of sword light shot through the glorious s.h.i.+eld and disappeared into Fan Tianze’s divine sword.
Xuan Guangyu’s expression flickered. Upon seeing the returning sword light, he immediately realized that Fan Tianze had been fooling him by saying that he had to gather power to make another attempt, while the truth was that a mixed wisp of his sword intent and soul awareness had been down there the entire time.
However, Fan Tianze didn’t seem to be worried about Xuan Guangyu being offended by the truth as he said, “There’s nothing down there. You were under the wrong impression. There’s nothing down there that can benefit people like us. Perhaps outsiders and Ancientspirits can benefit from the rich flesh power down there. However, since their bloodlines are naturally suppressed by the Star Behemoth’s, they can’t enter.
“You and I can’t get any significant help from the special s.p.a.ce down there.” With these words, he pointed at Hong Minghui. “He might though.
“It can help those with low cultivation bases gather strength and refine their spiritual seas more efficiently, but that’s all.”
As soon as he finished with these words, he flew off into the distance on his sword before Xuan Guangyu could say anything.
On his way back, he encountered a few powerful experts from other human sects, who had also heard about the unique treasure and traveled all the way to this place.
In an honest manner, he told them that he had found nothing after conducting a thorough scan of the underground s.p.a.ce, and that what they had heard was nothing but a false rumor.
Even though he didn’t usually enter people’s sight, he was a well-known powerful expert. Therefore, most of those he talked to gave up and returned.
Because of this, the word Hong Minghui had spread to intentionally mislead and attract powerful experts didn’t really work.
In fact, not a single G.o.d domain expert entered that area after Fan Tianze had left.
Even though some of the weaker cultivators still harbored hope and went there anyways, they were unable to penetrate the mysterious energy s.h.i.+eld formed by the Star Behemoth’s flesh aura.
The result was that Xuan Guangyu and those with him wasted their time waiting there for a prolonged period of time.
...
Without more distractions, Nie Tian was able to focus on his cultivation.
As he continued to refine his spiritual sea, larger and larger portions of his spiritual cores crystallized.
Without meeting any cultivation barriers, he broke through into the late Soul realm. Everything happened incredibly smoothly.
All of his spiritual cores finished crystallization!
As he made another breakthrough in his cultivation, Pei Qiqi finished channeling all of the spatial power in this curious heaven and earth into herself.
She also made significant progress with her cultivation, even though she didn’t make a breakthrough.
However, her bloodline had grown incredibly fast here. Her body had also become much tougher after repeated refinement with pure spatial power.
Upon sensing Nie Tian’s breakthrough, she rushed over, looking delighted. “You made another breakthrough in your cultivation?!
“What a wonderful experience! It seems that you didn’t even run into any barriers, and everything happened very smoothly.”
Nie Tian opened his eyes, fiery sparks appearing in the depths of his eyes. With a smile, he said, “It seems that with the help of this unique s.p.a.ce, minor breakthroughs in cultivation do happen rather smoothly. Perhaps this is the most special feature of this s.p.a.ce created by a Star Behemoth.”
“I feel that it’s about time this terrific opportunity of ours ended,” Pei Qiqi said.
“Yeah, I feel that too.” Nie Tian looked up at the energy s.h.i.+eld, which seemed to have stopped channeling power from the outside world. “It’s about to close, isn’t it?”
“Exactly,” Pei Qiqi said. “Let get out of here.”
“Luckily, both of us have made significant progress in our cultivation, bloodlines, and bodies,” Nie Tian said, looking rather satisfied. “The only thing that frustrates me is that even though my bloodline was clearly touched, it didn’t upgrade and enter the next phase as it was supposed to.”
“Our bloodline upgrades are far more complicated than our cultivation advances,” Pei Qiqi said with a consoling tone. “They’ll come when they come.”
Nie Tian sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
Sensing that the Star Behemoth’s flesh aura s.h.i.+eld had started to heal, Pei Qiqi took out her s.p.a.ce Boundaries Crystal.
The two of them then left the depths with the help of this Heaven Nourished grade treasure that had been unearthed in the Shatter Battlefield.