On the island where the other human Qi warriors were.
A number of thick stone columns stood in a certain formation. Every stone column seemed to contain copious amounts of power, as they were all carved with spirit beasts, plants, or other magical patterns.
Trenches had been dug in certain patterns too, and were now filled with spirit stones.
The spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth was also being channeled from the surroundings to this location by the chosen ones in order to accelerate their cultivation.
Dong Li lowered the Sound Stone in her hand, her slender eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Upon seeing this, Su Lin, Yang Kan, and the other young leaders gathered towards her.
Her bright eyes shone with fighting spirit as she said, “Nie Tian just told me that we can march over and kill the outsiders on that other island now. He also said that the outsiders on that island aren’t as powerful as we think. He’ll be able to kill a third of them by himself, and maybe even more!
“All we need to do is cooperate with him so that we can crush those outsiders and take that island.”
Xuan Ke from the Ice Pavilion Sect looked rather surprised, but after a moment of silence, he turned around to summon his sectmates.
The eyes of the leaders of the Yin Sect, the Yang Sect, and the Realm of a Hundred Battles also lit up before they turned around to do as they were bid.
“Wait!” Su Lin suddenly stopped everyone, frowning with deep concern. “Why would Nie Tian suddenly change his mind? Didn’t he tell us to hold fast here?”
With these words, she pointed at the defenses they had gone to great lengths to establish. “We set up these defenses with our precious materials so that we’ll be better prepared when the outsiders come to us. Is it wise to abandon all these and fight the outsiders on that other island?”
With a cold laugh, Yang Kan from the Flame G.o.d Sect said, “Didn’t that guy say that he’d be able to single-handedly take out half of the outsiders?”
Lu Jian from the Spirit G.o.d Sect laughed sarcastically and chimed in, “We don’t even know what’s going on on that island. We can’t just march over there without knowing what we’re getting into.”
“I suggest that we get ahold of the situation over there before we make any decisions,” Yu Yang said with a serious tone.
Dong Li had only delivered Nie Tian’s message, but didn’t know the situation over there. Upon hearing Yu Yang’s words, she hesitated briefly before turning to look at Xuan Ke.
Without saying a word, Xuan Ke summoned his table-sized, crystal-clear piece of ice and placed before everyone.
Afterwards, Dong Li place her Sound Stone at the center of the ice, and told Nie Tian to concentrate on what he was seeing.
Moments later, the crowd saw a very clear image in the large piece of ice that exuded a frosty aura.
It was from Nie Tian’s point of view as he sat in the middle of dark-green ward, around which gathered dozens of outsiders of different races.
Each and every outsider looked extremely excited, their eyes glittering with a fanatical thirst for blood, as if they were hunters who had finally chased down their prey and were ready to claim their rewards.
The image only lasted five seconds before vanis.h.i.+ng.
“Nie Tian is surrounded! He must have asked us to rush to his aid because he knew that he’s deep in trouble!” Lu Jian exclaimed, looking stirred and panicked. “The outsiders are clearly in much greater numbers than us!”
Yang Kan gave a cold snort and said, “He knows that he’s surrounded and he won’t be able to survive on his own, so he asked us to go save him.”
With a faint, cold smile at the corner of his mouth, Liao Yan shook his head and said disdainfully, “If we abandon all of the defenses we’ve devoted so much effort to set up, and rush to his aid on that island, we might end up in the same situation as him. Does Nie Tian take us for fools?”
Su Lin from the Heaven Palace Sect remained silent for a few seconds before saying, “I agree. It’s very risky and unwise to go fight the outsiders on that island. As far as I see it, we’d better hold fast here, and wait for those outsiders to come to us. Our spell formations will give us an advantage if we fight them here.”
Yang Kan, Lu Jian, Yu Yang, and Liao Yan all nodded in a.s.sent.
In fact, after seeing the actual image of Nie Tian’s predicament, Dong Li was was very worried about his safety. Now, seeing that the Heaven Palace Sect and some other forces were opposed to the idea of leaving for that other island, she felt very upset.
She spent a moment to suppress her anger before turning to Xuan Ke, Ye Qin, and Chen Hao, and asking, “So what do you say?”
Xuan Ke from the Ice Pavilion Sect was the first to express his stance, “I’ll go!”
Ye Qin and Chen Hao didn’t say a word, but nodded vigorously with determined looks in their eyes.
Dong Baijie’s expression was the same as ever as he gave a faint smile and said, “It goes without saying that we from the Realm of a Hundred Battles will go through heaven and h.e.l.l with Nie Tian.”
Then, he turned to look at the leaders of the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, the Pill Pavilion Sect, and the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce.
Cao Qiushui, Qian Xin, and Qin Yan nodded successively.
Gu Haofeng was the only one who seemed hesitant. However, after realizing that the other forces had all given their consent, he nodded somewhat reluctantly and said softly, “Alright...”
“Okay, let’s go!” With these words, Dong Li shot a nasty glare at Su Lin and the others and said, “I hope you won’t regret your decision!”
Yang Kan gave a cold harrumph. “I’d heard that you were a smart woman. Who would have known that you’re just as dumb as the others when it comes to the man you like. No one will hold you back if you want to get yourself killed, but don’t you imagine that you can drag us down with you. We’ll regret it? You lot will regret your decision soon enough!”
Lu Jian shook his head. “Women... Once they fall in love, they lose their senses. Who would have thought that such a smart woman still can’t escape this principle. Those of you who want to die, be my guest, but leave us out of it.”
“Good! As you wis.h.!.+” Gritting her teeth, Dong Li summoned her Rainbow Lightning. As she waved her hands, the few Dong Clan members and Dong Baijie jumped into it.
“Let’s go!” Xuan Ke, Ye Qin, and Chen Hao also summoned their air-transportation spiritual tools and beckoned for their members to get in.
Soon, the members of the Yin Sect, the Yang Sect, the Ice Pavilion Sect, and the Realm of a Hundred Battles, who had secretly formed an alliance, flew off towards the nearby island on their air-transportation spiritual tools.
Liao Yan snorted disdainfully and said with a nasty look on his face, “A band of moths flying towards blazing flames!
“They have a death wish, so be it. Alright, everyone, let’s hold fast here while they fight the outsiders to death. Perhaps the outsiders will have only half of their forces left when they’re finished with them and come at us, then we might be able to take them without much effort.”
Upon hearing his words, everyone seemed settled and went back to their work or cultivation.
All of them thought that they wouldn’t see Nie Tian or those from the other forces again.
…
Quickly wiping the blood off the corner of his mouth, Armes held out his hand towards Abreu and said coldly, “Give me one of your fourth grade spirit beast hearts!”
Surprised, Abreu asked, “What happened to yours?”
The corner of Armes’ mouth twitched as he thundered, “I used them all!”
Shocked, Abreu shot a glance at Nie Tian. His expression flickered slightly as he hastily fetched a b.l.o.o.d.y heart and handed it to Armes.
Armes grabbed it with a quick motion and, without even looking at it, stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing hardly three times, he swallowed it down and said fiercely, “I need a little bit of time to recover. You and the others go strike him down with everything within your power!”
Tago, the Demon leader, looked astonished as he asked, “Y-you’ve suffered injuries, Lord Armes?! Is he really that powerful?”
Fuming with anger, Armes blurted, “He’s a Son of the Stars of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace! What do you think?!”
A respectful expression spread across Tago’s face. “A Son of the Stars...”
Then, as he came to discover that Nie Tian was sitting in a dark-green ward, he couldn’t help but mutter, “What the h.e.l.l is that?!”
Stonemountain, the Stoneman leader, recognized the spell formation, and exclaimed, “That’s the ancient spell formation the Floragrims used to protect their ancestral land! How in the world did he come to possess it? That ancient spell formation took a few Floragrim monarchs a lifetime to forge. They infused it with magical tree patterns they copied from the ancient Tree of Life, and refined them with their own blood essence.”
“Who knows?!” Armes said furiously.
At that moment, Nie Tian, who was sitting under the dark-green ward, suddenly jumped out of it, threw his head back, and let out a heaven-shaking roar.
He reached his hand out into the air, as if he wanted to grab the heavens and pull them right down.
The rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth and the violent, ripping power within the boundless gray mist answered his summons, and quickly formed a energy ball in his hand.
The energy ball was dark-gray and the size of a watermelon. It thrummed with violent, mixed energy fluctuations.
SHEW!
It suddenly shot towards the location where the Stonemen were gathered and exploded, giving rise to an explosive force that seemed to be able to shatter domains and rip the highest heavens apart.
Three Stonemen were instantly engulfed by the grayish light created by the explosion. Even though their bodies were as tough as steel, they couldn’t stop screaming miserably.
Shocked, the other outsiders looked over with rapt attention, and discovered that their skin and flesh had already been ripped open, and their whole bodies were covered in blood.