Numerous pieces of spirit beast meat were sucked dry, and the lost three drops of Blood Essence finally reformed.
Afterwards, Nie Tian turned to look at the field of darkness, and discovered that it had expanded several times over.
Now, one-fifth of the s.p.a.cious hall was covered in utter darkness.
Standing by the huge pitch-black egg, Dong Li had already consumed a significant amount of her dark power.
Having dripped a considerable amount of her own blood onto the huge egg, she had grown weak due to blood loss.
However, the heart of the life within the huge egg beat increasingly vigorously, and it seemed to have a curious flesh aura connection to Nie Tian.
Nie Tian examined it briefly, and soon realized that the connection had been caused by the infusion of the three drops of his Blood Essence.
He could also sense that the primal life within the egg was naturally intimate towards Dong Li.
That life was revived by Nie Tian’s Blood Essence and nourished by Dong Li’s dark power, blood, and soul strands.
In a way, he and Dong Li were the ones who had created the life within the egg.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to call him and Dong Li its father and mother.
After a while, the intense darkness suddenly started to retreat into the huge egg.
A few minutes later, the last shred of darkness vanished, and the huge egg reappeared.
The solid egg sh.e.l.l seemed to have become much thinner than before, revealing numerous mysterious and detailed patterns that seemed to have been drawn on it with ink.
“It seems I need more time.” With these words, Dong Li stuffed a handful of medicinal pills down her throat. Her face was pale from the blood loss, yet her eyes glittered with the light of excitement. “I think it’ll take the egg two more weeks to hatch. During this time, it’ll need to absorb more dark power from me.”
Nie Tian pondered briefly before saying, “Take one of the stone rooms here in the palace and focus on helping it through the hatching process. I believe you’ll be safe here, so just do what you need to do.”
With a graceful smile, Dong Li nodded slightly. “Alright.”
SHEW!
Her perfectly-shaped figure flew towards one of the stone rooms at the perimeter.
As soon as she did, she sent out a soul message, and the huge black egg actually followed her to that stone room.
Standing at the stone door, Dong Li said to Nie Tian, “What about you?”
“Me?” Nie Tian smiled. “There’s something else I need to take care of.”
“Okay then.” Without reading too much into it, Dong Li entered the stone room and shut the door.
Seeing this, Nie Tian walked out of the grand palace.
As soon as he did, he discovered that almost all of the well-known figures in the Domain of the Falling Stars were now gathered at this place.
He saw Hua Mu, Qi Bailu, Zong Zheng, people from the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, the Pill Pavilion Sect, and the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce from the Realm of a Hundred Battles, as well as Jiang Zhisu, Chang Sen, and others from the Realm of Flame Heaven. Even Lei Tianqi was standing among the crowd.
They surrounded the large-scale teleportation portal that connected to the Realm of Maelstrom.
A few years ago, when Zhao Shanling had first established the connection between the two domains, Chang Sen, Cao Mo, Qian Buhui, Gu Yuan, and many others had taken the opportunity to go trade for rare spiritual materials in the Realm of Maelstrom.
All of them had benefited from their trips.
However, they hadn’t asked to enter the Shatter Battlefield after hearing how dangerous the trip would be.
Only Hua Mu, Qi Bailu, and Zong Zheng, as well as Fan Kai and several others who had sided with the Heaven Palace Sect, had entered the Shatter Battlefield.
Now, their adventure to the Shatter Battlefield had long since ended, yet Fan Kai and those with him still hadn’t returned.
Therefore, the people from the Heaven Palace Sect and Lei Tianqi were all hoping that Nie Tian would tell them about the whereabouts of Fan Kai and the others.
Too eager to wait any longer, they started asking questions.
Lei Zhenyue was a member of the Lei Clan, who had been taken in by the Thunder Mountain Sect. It was only natural that he didn’t want anything to happen to Lei Zhenyu.
Looking at Lei Tianqi and the people from the Heaven Palace Sect, Nie Tian said, “I’ve no idea. Perhaps they’re caught up in something. They took the same route Yue Yanxi and his people had taken to return to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. I arranged everything. But as for whether they had unforeseen encounters on their way back, I really don’t know.”
The faces of those from the Heaven Palace Sect grew grim after they heard these words.
Before Nie Tian had returned, they had learned about Nie Tian’s arrangements from Qi Bailu and Hua Mu.
They knew that Nie Tian had asked Duan s.h.i.+hu to seek help from the Golden Vast Sect, so that Fan Kai and those with him would be able to return to the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Taking the same route, Patriarch Pure Heaven, Yue Yanxi and the other Qi warriors had long since arrived in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
Therefore, mishaps had most likely happened to Fan Kai and those with him.
When Fan Kai had left, the outsiders’ ancient stars.h.i.+ps had already sailed into the Domain of Heaven Python.
If Fan Kai and the others had indeed encountered something on their way back, it probably had something to do with the outsiders.
“Come with me to the Realm of Shattered Earth, Uncle Hua,” Nie Tian said. “I believe there’s something there that’ll be of great help to you.”
Hua Mu nodded, smiling.
“Senior Zong, Senior Qi, would you please stay and keep watch on the teleportation portal for a bit longer?” Nie Tian asked. “Try not to get too far from this place before Zhao Shanling returns. The Domain of Heaven Python is now in turbulence. No one can guarantee that outsiders won’t pour into the Domain of the Falling Stars through this teleportation portal.
“The outsiders that are running amuck in the Domain of Heaven Python are too powerful for us to handle. They’re led by ninth grade grand patriarchs.
“If they came, then it would be doom for the Domain of the Falling Stars.”
Zong Zheng and many others nodded with grim faces.
“Nie Tian, your master...” Jiang Zhisu from the Cloudsoaring Sect wanted to ask something, but stopped on second thought.
With a solemn tone, Nie Tian said, “The reason why my master hasn’t returned from the Shatter Battlefield is because he doesn’t want to, not because he can’t. I’m confident that he’ll be able to find the legendary river of time and derive profound enlightenment from it. By the time he returns, his fame will spread across the starry river.”
Jiang Zhisu let out a sigh of worry. “Hopefully, he’ll return safe and sound.”
He had learned about the upheavals in the Shatter Battlefield through the Tool Sect and the Spirit Condor.
Wu Ji was the true backer of the Cloudsoaring Sect, and the bond between the Cloudsoaring Sect and Nie Tian. Of course he didn’t want anything to happen to Wu Ji.
“This is it for now,” Nie Tian said. “It’s time for me to leave.”
“Nie Tian, the grand elder of the Divine Seal Sect wants to see you and ask you about the situation in the Domain of Heaven Python,” Lei Tianqi said anxiously.
“Senior Yue...” Eyebrows furrowed, Nie Tian took a moment to ponder the matter. “Sorry, I can’t be delayed. If Senior Yue asks why I didn’t go meet him, just tell him that I’ve finished the path of stars, and I need to visit the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace as soon as possible.”
All of the experts that were gathered in this place stood aghast upon hearing these words.
“He’s finished the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s path of stars?!”
“Is he really going to enter the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace at last?!”
“A connection is about to form between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace?!”
“The Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!!”
Nie Tian’s words put everyone in high spirits.
Nie Tian, however, didn’t say anything else. Instead, he gave Hua Mu a look before walking towards the magnificent palace that stood towering in the Realm of Split Void.
Soon, the two of them disappeared into it.
In the middle of the s.p.a.cious hall, Nie Tian casually flickered his fingers to set the coordinates for the Realm of Shattered Earth. As he did, he felt interactions from the three fragmentary star marks on his chest.
The spell formation was activated, giving rise to spatial fluctuations.
In the next moment, Nie Tian and Hua Mu appeared in the ancient teleportation portal in the Realm of Shattered Earth.
Nie Tian stepped out and pushed the gate open. “Uncle Hua, this realm I call the Realm of Shattered Earth is held together by unidentified vines that are as enormous as mountain ranges. You’d better think over how you want to do this. I don’t think you want to see the Heavenly Demonsbane inside of you receive too much power, and become too powerful for you to control.”
Hua Mu gasped with astonishment. “Why are those monstrous vines holding this shattered realm together?”
Nie Tian smiled and said, “I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll only get an answer to that question after I visit the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.”
With a respectful expression, Hua Mu said, “Alright, I know what to do!”
Standing by the gate of the palace, Nie Tian scanned his surroundings with his soul awareness, and vaguely sensed that the auras of the juniors from the Domain of the Falling Stars had become much stronger than the last time he had been here.
It was as if both their cultivation bases and battle prowesses had improved significantly.
Nie Tian didn’t think he had the time to meet them. Therefore, after Hua Mu walked through the palace gate, he turned around and walked back towards the teleportation portal.
The heavy stone gate slowly closed behind him, sealing him from this special realm.
Standing by the teleportation portal, he set the spell formation to the last set of coordinates, which led to an unknown destination.
Before, no matter how hard he had tried, he hadn’t been able to set the spell formation to those coordinates.
However, as he set up the coordinates this time, the third sub-soul in his sea of awareness, which was branded with star power magics, suddenly shone with dazzling light.
All of a sudden, Nie Tian was enlightened. “The three fragmentary star marks are the keys to this place, and that sub-soul is the key to the path to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!”
As the star power sub-soul grew active, the spell formation locked down the unidentified coordinates with lightning speed.
The spell formation then started operating.
Misty light soon enveloped the ancient teleportation portal, and spatial fluctuations that were stronger than any other teleportation portal Nie Tian had seen rapidly filled the empty hall.
Nie Tian s.h.i.+fted into the portal.