Nie Tian didn’t hold anything back from Wu Ji.
He explained everything to him in length, including what Hua Mu had said to him and how he obtained the Flame Dragon Armor.
“Even I didn’t receive any information regarding the Heaven Gate until recently,” Wu Ji frowned and said. “The h.e.l.l sect, on the other hand, only managed to get a hold of the information through a very powerful expert from the Realm of Earth Sieve. That Hua Mu person has such quick access to this kind of information. I’m afraid he’s far beyond ordinary.”
After a brief pause, he continued, “He planned for Lai Yi to take the Flame Dragon Armor out of the Realm of Dark Underworld. It seems that Hua Mu...”
Wu Ji didn’t finish his sentence.
After explaining everything that had happened in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range, Nie Tian patiently waited in silence for Wu Ji to give his opinion and advice.
He knew in his heart that his master would point out the brightest path for him.
Wu Ji remained wordless, seemingly trying to sort out the details and find an answer. Quite some time later, he said, “It’s your blessing that a Spirit Channeling grade treasure acknowledged you. However, your cultivation base is still too low, and such a precious treasure is no ordinary item. Therefore, you have to bear one thing in mind: never bring it out unless you face a situation of life and death.
“I’ll try my best to cover up the fact that the Flame Dragon Armor is in your possession, since I fear that if such information spreads to the Realm of Dark Underworld, it will only attract more trouble.”
He didn’t ask for the Flame Dragon Armor to study it, but rather imparted to him the miraculous features of Spirit Channeling treasures. He also taught him how to get along with such precious treasures and how to use his flesh power and spiritual power to gradually strengthen the link between him and the treasure, so that he would be able to display its true might when he became strong enough.
Nie Tian listened with all his heart, and engraved every one of his words in his mind.
“Alright, that’s enough about the Flame Dragon Armor.” After pa.s.sing all his understanding and knowledge regarding Spirit Channeling grade treasures to Nie Tian, Wu Ji said, “Now that you’ve obtained a key to the Heaven Gate, you’d better partic.i.p.ate in the trial when the time comes. But I’m still a bit worried about your safety in there, since cultivators from the Lesser Heaven stage won’t be the only ones to step into the Heaven Gate; cultivators in Heaven stage and Greater Heaven will also enter.”
His expression looked somewhat grim as he frowned briefly. “Most importantly, talented youngsters from the other eight realms will also enter through the other two Heaven Gates. Not only do they have higher cultivation bases, they also have superior spiritual incantations and techniques at their disposal. They may even possess spiritual tools that are more exquisite and of higher ranks.”
He looked deeply towards Nie Tian. With a gentle sigh, he said, “Although you’re just as gifted as they are, the years you’ve spent on cultivation are limited. Also, I never expected that one of the Heaven Gates would open up in the Realm of Flame Heaven. Otherwise, I would have brought you back to the Cloudsoaring sect the day I discovered you.
“The reason why I let you stay in the Nie clan was that I wanted to see if you had other special traits aside from your innate talent.
“I wanted to have a more thorough understanding of you before bringing you to the Cloudsoaring Mountain, and as I’ve expected you didn’t let me down.
“Who would have expected that the Heaven Gate would open up at such an unfavorable time?”
Wu Ji felt quite regretful.
He understood perfectly well the fortune the Heaven Gate could bring Nie Tian. He originally thought that when Nie Tian had become strong enough, and even if the Heaven Gates didn’t appear in the Realm of Flame Heaven, he would be able to get him a spot with his own influence.
However, he seemed laden with anxiety when Nie Tian obtained a key to the Heaven Gate all by himself...
According to Nie Tian’s performance in the Green Illusion dimension trial, he believed that Nie Tian was mentally strong enough for the brutality and bloodiness that awaited in the Heaven Gate trial.
He was only hung up on the fact that Nie Tian’s cultivation base was rather insufficient, and feared that powerful Qi warriors of the Heaven or Greater Heaven stage from other realms would mercilessly kill him the moment they ran into each other.
The way Wu Ji taught his disciples was quite different from others’; he wouldn’t pull up seedlings to help them grow by making disciples advance in their cultivation levels with the help from large amounts of medicinal pills and other external forces.
He put more value in a solid foundation. He wanted for his disciples to make breakthroughs mostly based on the enlightenment they drew from their own experience, and only with a small nudge from him.
However, the current situation was that the Heaven Gate trial was right around the corner, and he didn’t want Nie Tian to miss such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This was why he was so bothered.
“How can I help him...?” Wu Ji fell into a deep pondering.
“Master, when did you discover me?” Nie Tian was intrigued.
Wu Ji snapped out of his thoughts, and a faint smile appeared on his face. “It was when you used the Blood Core to absorb the flame power from the mine that I sensed the unusual turbulence in the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. I laid my eyes on you ever since. If it weren’t for me, you and your aunt would have died in the mine when it collapsed.”
“Thank you for your kindness, master!” Nie Tian suddenly connected all the dots.
As he recalled, during that time when he and Nie Qian had absorbed flame power with the dragon bone, it caused the mountain to tremble and the rocks over their heads to fall. However, very strangely, the rocks had showered down all around them, but not a single one hit them.
Afterwards, when they tried to escape from the mine, the rocks that had blocked the tunnel all exploded into pieces, allowing them to get through unscathed.
After they had emerged, Nie Qian gave the credit to the blessing and protection of the Nie clan ancestors.
Although Nie Tian didn’t buy all that back then, he couldn’t come up with a better explanation for the miraculous, illogical phenomena, and thus half-believed that they had been favored by G.o.ds.
Only on this day did he finally come to understand that the “G.o.d” that had favored him was actually the elder in front of him.
“There’s another secret to the Blood Core, master. During the time when I was still living in the Nie clan, I used it to enter a whole other world, and I...”
Realizing that Wu Ji had been protecting him and hold nothing back with him the whole time, Nie Tian wanted to reveal his biggest secret to him.
Even though, at this point, he could still remember Nie Donghai’s warning that he should never tell anyone about the fact that he had used the dragon bone to enter a mysterious land.
Even Nie Donghai himself hadn’t asked him about what had happened, fearing that someone might trap and capture him one day and pry the information out of him.
However, as Nie Tian was going to explain it to him, Wu Ji waved his hand and stopped him. “Say no more.”
Confusion stretched across Nie Tian’s face.
“I know,” Wu Ji said with a smile.
Nie Tian was taken aback. “You know?!”
Wu Ji nodded. “The moment the abnormal spatial fluctuations appeared in the Nie clan, I knew they were caused by you. I had knew that the dragon bone of yours was beyond ordinary back when you used it to drain the flame power of the entire mine. You disappeared for a few days. I tried to search for you and couldn’t find your aura throughout the entire Realm of Flame Heaven. By that time, I knew that you had traveled to somewhere special.”
Nie Tian was shocked. “Master, you... can search for my aura throughout the entire Realm of Flame Heaven?”
“Yes, I can, but it’s very draining.” Wu Ji gave him a positive answer and continued, “I also know that you’ve gained a great deal in there. Now that you have the complete Flame Dragon Armor, and it’s gradually fixing itself with the Earthflame Crystal Strings it collected, I think you can consider trying to step into that mysterious land again.
“Rest a.s.sured. You can feel free to use the Flame Dragon Armor here. No one will be able to detect the anomaly in the spatial fluctuations when I’m around.
“I, on the other hand, need to think over how to help you prepare for the Heaven Gate trial in a way that can enhance your battle prowess without over-consuming your potential.
“This is it for today.”
With a wave of his hand, Wu Ji hinted for Nie Tian to go back to his hut and study the Flame Dragon Armor, hoping that he would be able to use it to return to the mysterious land just like the way he had before.
Upon hearing his instructions, Nie Tian rose to his feet and returned to his hut. After thinking for a while, he took the Flame Dragon Armor out of his bracelet of holding.
FIZZ!
A beam of light flashed across in the air and in the next moment, the Flame Dragon Armor steadily landed on the stone floor, emanating a halo of dark-red light.
He reached out and placed his hand on top of the Blood Core that was in the chest plate of the Flame Dragon Armor, as he tried to use his soul consciousness to communicate with the soul that lay within.
He expressed his wish to step into that mysterious land again.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
All of a sudden, flaming light shot out from the Flame Dragon Armor in every direction, and once again it became like a burning sun. Together with it, a surge of strange s.p.a.cial fluctuations rippled outwards from within the small hut.
In the next moment, the Flame Dragon Armor seemed to have turned into a gate and engulfed Nie Tian.