The distance between different domains was usually extremely vast.
Teleportation through inter-domain teleportation portals was the fastest way to travel between domains. If that wasn’t an option, it would take a very long time to travel between domains, even on ancient stars.h.i.+ps.
Even though the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Endless Snow were neighboring domains, Nie Tian and the others still sailed for several months before they finally entered the Domain of Endless Snow.
During this whole time, they had only been briefly delayed by Old Shadow Eccentric and Master b.l.o.o.d.y Despair.
Most of the time, their ancient stars.h.i.+p had sailed at full speed, while they practiced cultivation wholeheartedly.
Now that their ancient stars.h.i.+p had finally arrived in the Domain of Endless Snow, Nie Tian also got the green aura in his heart to enter dormancy again with the help of the tremendous stock of spirit beast in his ring of holding.
But in fact, Master b.l.o.o.d.y Despair was the real reason why it was able to fall dormant within such a short time.
After the green aura had finally acc.u.mulated enough flesh power, he went on to spend day and night refining his flesh power, star power, and wood power cores with spiritual materials of different attributes.
His star power core had the Nine Stars Flower floating within it; his wood power core had three curious tree leaves floating within it.
Thanks to the existence of these two unique treasures, the speed at which he absorbed power from Star Stones and wood-attributed spiritual materials had improved significantly.
After months of devoted cultivation, he had refined his star power core and wood power core several rounds, which had made them more transparent, and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with pure star power and wood power essence.
In contrast, the refinement of his flame power core lagged behind.
“A unique treasure that shares the same attribute with a core would greatly help the refinement of that core, so all of this is because my flame power core doesn’t have such a treasure within it.” Nie Tian pondered as his gaze swept over the Heavenflame Crystals that were piled up in front of him.
“The practice of both Flame Dragon’s Cry and the True Flame Incantation has a great deal to do with my flame power core. If there isn’t enough refined flame power within my flame power core, it’ll be impossible for me to gain profound mastery of the two flame power incantations.”
Eyebrows furrowed, Nie Tian muttered, “The strange feeling of being watched has somehow become even stronger during the past two weeks. Is it really from the cl.u.s.ter of Divine Flame that destroyed the Domain of Flame’s End?”
He felt baffled.
WHOOs.h.!.+
Their ancient stars.h.i.+p sailed close to one of the realms that was on the border of the Domain of Endless Snow.
The Heavenly Ice Sect should have learned of their arrival, yet they seemed to decide to stay put, since they didn’t encounter a single ancient stars.h.i.+p from the Heavenly Ice Sect along their way.
Their ancient stars.h.i.+p sailed quietly past the unknown realm.
An hour after they left, a burning meteor also flew past it, following the exact same track their ancient stars.h.i.+p had left in.
It streaked past in a flash before disappearing into the distance.
However, that realm, where it snowed year-round, was profoundly affected by the burning meteor, as its star core seemed to go through great changes.
Somehow, it suddenly stopped snowing, and the frigid cold that had ruled this realm since its birth was suddenly replaced by scorching heat.
Such heat made the frost-attributed Qi warriors who had practiced cultivation there their whole lives very confused and uncomfortable.
“What happened? How come it stopped snowing?!”
“The snow and ice seems to be melting at an alarming rate. This is bad for us! We need frigid cold for our cultivation!”
“The seventh Son of the Stars just flew past our realm on an ancient stars.h.i.+p. Did he do this?”
“All he did was fly past. It’s not like he’s the head of the flame element sect of the Five Elements Sect. He can’t possibly turn the environment of our domain around with nothing but his aura, right?”
“Then what in the world is going on?”
“Enough guessing. Let’s report this to the Heavenly Ice Sect first!”
Nie Tian’s ancient stars.h.i.+p sailed past many more frigid realms on its way to the Realm of Crystal Snow.
Almost every single realm in the Domain of Endless Snow was enveloped in frigid cold, which was also reason why the Heavenly Ice Sect had been the only overlord throughout the Domain of Endless Snow. Those who didn’t practice frost power would find it very hard to practice cultivation in the freezing cold over the long term, and make progress in their cultivation.
However, after Nie Tian’s ancient stars.h.i.+p sailed past them, each and every one of them started to go through changes.
In some of them, the icebergs that had existed for hundreds of thousands of years started to melt.
In others, the frigid aura was greatly weakened. Earthquakes started to happen frequently. Even their geological structure went through great changes. Many cities that had been built with ice and rock ended up in ruins overnight.
Many subordinate forces of the Heavenly Ice Sect and areas that belonged to the Heavenly Ice Sect suffered heavy losses.
At last, Nie Tian’s ancient stars.h.i.+p arrived at their destination: the Realm of Crystal Snow.
Inside the mountain valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains, Patriarch Icy Crystal’s snow-white eyebrows flickered slightly.
Standing beside him was a late Void domain Qi warrior from the Heavenly Ice Sect, who also practiced frost power.
The man carved a simple star map on an icy rock next to him, within which he used white b.a.l.l.s to represent realms.
A straight white line went through a total of eight white b.a.l.l.s.
The man moved his finger alone the white b.a.l.l.s that represented eight different realms as he said with a grim face, “This is the route the Son of the Stars took. Word has come from all eight of those realms, saying that the geological structures of those realms went through great changes. Earthquakes are occurring frequently in some of them, while icebergs are cracking in others. All of them have suffered heavy losses.”
Patriarch Icy Crystal was deeply shaken as he asked, “Do you think this has something to do with the seventh Son of the Stars?”
The man grabbed his hair, looking perplexed. “I do, but I also find it very unlikely. No matter how hard I try, I can’t imagine him being able to put those realms through such fundamental changes simply by pa.s.sing by them! Perhaps only G.o.d domain masters of flame power incantations would be able to inflict such calamities on those realms.
“However, such figures would never come to the Domain of Endless Snow in the first place! Even though that Nie Tian is the seventh Son of the Stars, there’s no way he could have gotten someone at that level to come help him!”
Patriarch Icy Crystal pondered in silence for a short while before asking, “Have you told Patriarch Snowy Peak about this?”
“He’s still in secluded cultivation. I delivered the message to his secret room, but I don’t know if he’s seen it yet.” Looking very frustrated, the man was just about to add something when his expression suddenly flickered, and he quickly looked skyward with astonishment written all over his face.
The starlit sky looked like an ocean, where an ancient stars.h.i.+p suddenly appeared like a gigantic beast that rose through the surface from the bottom of the ocean.
Patriarch Icy Crystal let out a cold harrumph, frosty light filling the depths of his pupils. “He’s here!”
Inside the ice prison, Fan Kai and the others from the Domain of the Falling Stars also looked up into the heavens, their expressions flickering.
“Nie Tian is here!” Their eyes were ablaze with the flames of hope, their bodies trembling slightly.
...
As the ancient stars.h.i.+p sailed into the Realm of Crystal Snow, Nie Tian and the others walked out from under the deck, no longer worrying about the deadly impurities that only existed in the starry river.
Looking deeply at Nie Tian, Jing Feiyang said, “Remember: try not to start a conflict. This is the Realm of Crystal Snow, deep in the Heavenly Ice Sect’s territory. If things get ugly with the Heavenly Ice Sect, I’ll be able to protect myself, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to protect you all. Let’s get down there and see what they’re up to. After that, we’ll negotiate.
“Don’t initiate a move unless you absolutely have to. Got it?”
Nie Tian nodded. “I’m here to save people, not to kill people. Besides, I know that I don’t have the power to turn the Heavenly Ice Sect inside-out yet.”
Jing Feiyang let out a sigh of relief. “I’m relieved that you think of it this way.”
Even though he hadn’t known Nie Tian for long, he had picked up signs and heard things that indicated that Nie Tian wasn’t exactly temperate.
The Heavenly Ice Sect had two Saint domain experts: the middle Saint domain Patriarch Snowy Peak and the early Saint domain Patriarch Icy Crystal. If they actually came to a standoff with the Heavenly Ice Sect, he wouldn’t even know how to get out of it.
Their ancient stars.h.i.+p gradually slowed down.
“Over there. Patriarch Icy Crystal’s aura is coming from that mountain valley.” As Jing Feiyang gave directions, their ancient stars.h.i.+p slowly descended.
Nie Tian looked down, and instantly saw the piece of ice that Fan Kai and the others were imprisoned inside.
“Are you Nie Tian from the Fragmentary Star Palace?” As soon as Patriarch Icy Crystal’s voice echoed from within the mountain valley, the surrounding mountains started to shake, huge pieces of snow and ice rolling down their peaks.
The mountains suddenly unleashed frigid auras that shot directly into the heavens like endless pillars.