Nie Tian looked down at his pounding heart, an astounded look appearing on his face. “Hmm?! What’s going on?!"
At this moment, all of the erupting volcanoes, seas of flames, and rivers of flames had vanished from Lou Hongyan’s flame domain.
Her flame domain was already badly torn.
A raging flesh aura suddenly burst forth from the bone. Within moments, a furious, bloodthirsty aura pervaded Lou Hongyan’s domain, turning it blood-red.
BOOOOM!
The blazing band that had collected all sorts of flames from this world suddenly lit up. The countless fiery spots within it unleashed light and heat that was as fierce as the sun as it wrapped around the bone.
In a flash, torrential flame power filled the entire area, and clashed violently with the frenzied flesh aura, giving rise to terrifying shockwaves that spread in all directions.
Hit by a shockwave, Nie Tian’s Star Boat was instantly sent flying backwards from Lou Hongyan towards the endless starry river.
As exploding sounds echoed out from Lou Hongyan’s blazing band, she was wreathed in flames that flew around her like b.u.t.terflies.
The band that was originally hundreds of meters long shrank down extremely quickly.
Lou Hongyan let out a m.u.f.fled groan, a mouthful of blood escaping her mouth.
SHEW!
Like an injured snake, the blazing band vanished into her.
However, the bone from an unknown species morphed into a streak of lightning that shot straight forward.
Many Void domain experts in the vicinity, including Huang Jinnan, cried out in panic.
“Divine Daughter!”
“Senior martial sister!”
The bone was clearly aimed at Lou Hongyan. The fact that her fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure shrank and returned to her after a single exchange proved that even it couldn’t stop the bone.
Before that, the late Void domain expert who practiced wood power had had his domain shattered and fleshly body destroyed. Only his soul barely escaped.
Therefore, even if the other Void domain experts threw themselves at the bone, they wouldn’t be able to stop it.
Everyone could foresee the bone piercing through and killing Lou Hongyan in the next moment.
Huang Jinnan suddenly noticed something, and shouted loudly, “Wait! Watch out, Nie Tian!”
Just as the grayish-green bone approached Lou Hongyan, driving everyone to despair, it suddenly changed directions.
p.o.o.pH!
In the next moment, the bone that was more than ten meters long impaled Nie Tian’s abdomen, its tip coming out of his lower back.
All of the Void domain experts, including the other Saint domain experts who were fighting the ninth grade Lizardmen, were baffled as to the Lizardman patriarch’s motive behind this.
“Nie Tian?! Why Nie Tian?!”
“That Lizardman patriarch is actually trying to kill Nie Tian!”
“Why did he aim at Nie Tian, who’s only at the Profound realm, when he can aim at our Divine Daughter?”
Floating in the dark starry river, the aged Lizardman patriarch fixed Nie Tian with a cold, piercing gaze, and said in the human language, “You’re different from all of the humans I’ve seen before! Both your bloodline and soul are special!”
With these words, he shot towards Nie Tian, leaving Yang Fan and Zhao Heng behind.
SHEW!
Like a lightning bolt flas.h.i.+ng across the void, Nie Tian’s Star Boat backed away at full speed.
The enormous bone that had penetrated his abdomen was still unleas.h.i.+ng a frenzied, bloodthirsty flesh aura, as if it intended to rip his internal organs to pieces.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Loud, drum-like heartbeats continued to echo out from Nie Tian’s madly pounding heart.
The green aura that coiled up within his heart, which was branded with the profound truths of life power, hadn’t finished its upgrade yet. But at this moment, the numerous Bloodline Crystal Chains within it suddenly lit up.
Like crimson diamonds and mysterious stars, one drop of Blood Essence after another flew out of his heart.
Moments later, all ten drops of Blood Essence separated themselves from Nie Tian. They split up and floated towards the two ends of the unidentified bone.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
As a drop of Blood Essence fell on the end of the bone in front of Nie Tian, the conspicuous, blood-colored patterns on the bone suddenly grew restless, as if they had been ignited.
Like living beings with their own awareness, the patterns wiggled madly as they scrambled to absorb the drop of Blood Essence.
Nie Tian then looked over his shoulder at the other end of the bone that had impaled his abdomen.
A few drops of Blood Essence fell on that end of the bone, fusing into it in the blink of an eye.
After the ten drops of Blood Essence all fell on the bone and were absorbed by the blood-colored patterns, the bone gradually turned dark red.
The shade of grayish-green on the bone, which was identical to the color of the Lizardmen’s skin, seemed to be expelled by the ten drops of Blood Essence.
What Nie Tian didn’t know was that the shade of grayish green on the bone had been the Lizardman patriarch’s Blood Essence, which he had refined into it.
This peak ninth grade Lizardman patriarch was the pioneer of his kind, an extraordinary figure who had a hope of breaking his kind’s grade limit.
He had spent an endless amount of time nouris.h.i.+ng the bone with his own Blood Essence in order to gain control of it.
He had fused thousands of drops of Blood Essence into it through his upgrading process.
He had only been at the seventh grade when he had first obtained the bone. From that moment on, he had fused it with his Blood Essence in an attempt to solve its secrets and gain control of it.
The seventh grade... the eighth grade... the ninth grade.
Every time he had made a breakthrough, he would fuse it with his refined Blood Essence.
He had spent more than ten thousand years on the bone.
Even so, he had only recently gained control of it.
The reason why he had spent ten thousand years on it was because he knew its origin, and understood that it would play a crucial part in his breakthrough into the tenth grade, which would determine whether the Lizardman race would see their first grand monarch, and join the ranks of the powerful races.
However, as the shade of grayish-green was gradually replaced by dark red, he felt that his connection with the bone was being cut off.
A blood connection was a profound thing. Once he could no longer feel the bloodline seals he had imprinted on the bone, it would mean that he had completely lost it.
“How is this possible?!” He roared inwardly. “The bloodline that bone carries is even more ancient than t.i.tans, Ancientbeasts, and the powerful insects from the Desolate Antiquity Era! What race’s bloodline could possibly change it in this way?
“Only bloodlines that override it or are closer to the ultimate bloodline can trigger such incredible changes!
“But that man is still just a human! Given their low bloodline, how could he change it in this way?!
“I don’t understand! I just don’t understand!”
The old Lizardman patriarch hysterically pulled his own hair and scratched himself all over, as if he was experiencing unbearable itches.
Soon, his neck, arms, and belly were covered in deep, b.l.o.o.d.y scratches.
However, he didn’t seem to feel any pain.
Looking at the bone that had pierced through his abdomen, Nie Tian was also baffled. “What the h.e.l.l...”
When it had first pierced into him, he had felt that he was going to die in the next moment.
He could feel the devastating flesh power within it.
However, as soon as his Blood Essence had dripped onto it, it had suddenly grown silent.
Then, as its color changed, he shrewdly sensed that the bloodline power the Lizardman patriarch had vested it with was being gradually dissolved, and the special bloodline seals the Lizardman patriarch had imprinted it with were rapidly vanis.h.i.+ng.
At the same time, his own bloodline seals were being carved into the bone.
“Is it possible that my bloodline is superior to the Lizardmen’s, so the bone is replacing his with mine?” He couldn’t help but wonder.
At this moment, Yang Fan and the other Saint domain experts shrewdly perceived the subtle changes in the bone. All of them were thrilled by their discovery.
“That Lizardman patriarch’s aura is vanis.h.i.+ng from that bone!”
“The soul power that human-form Lizardman has vested the bone with is scattering!”
“His connection with the bone is being cut off!”
In their eyes, that unidentified bone posed a much bigger threat to them than the Lizardman patriarch himself.
If that bone was out of the picture, the Lizardman patriarch’s battle prowess would decline sharply, rendering him defeatable.
What they didn’t know was that since the Lizardman patriarch had fused the bone with his Blood Essence for more than ten thousand years, it could be viewed as a part of him that might be even more important than his fleshly body.
Once his connection with the bone was cut off and he could no longer manipulate it, his strength would indeed suffer a strong blow, which would stop him from doing anything he wanted.
Yang Fan suddenly realized what to do, and thus shouted aloud, “No matter what is going on, we need to protect Nie Tian now! We can’t let that Lizardman patriarch touch that bone again!”
Then, he and Zhao Heng went back to attacking the Lizardman patriarch with full force, lest he realize what was happening and summon the bone back to him.