In a dead realm, Sikong Cuo’s face was distorted as he yelled ferociously at Fan Wen, a Void Spirit Society elder.
“Why didn’t Senior Ji Yuanquan come to our aid in realm number fourteen? Given his cultivation base and strength, he should have been able to arrive moments after receiving your message, right?
“Do you know that three of my Void domain died because you failed to do your job?
“We were facing not only powerful experts from the Nether Spirit Society and Death Curse Sect, but also a Phantasm grand patriarch!
“Be a.s.sured. I’ll settle account with you and your sect after this!”
Sikong Cuo’s roars struck Fan Wen like a series of cannonb.a.l.l.s, making her head spin.
As an early Saint domain female Qi warrior from the Void Spirit Society, Fan Wen was well-versed in all sorts of spatial magics.
Frowning in disgust, she said, “I told you that I couldn’t get in touch with Mr. Ji!”
Face grim, Sikong Cuo confronted her. “Your sect has a secret magic that allows their disciples in the same domain to communicate with each other. Don’t you try to fool me!”
Fan Wen didn’t know what to say. “Believe me or not, I didn’t try to get you in trouble. If I did, I wouldn’t have split open a spatial rift and brought you here in the first place.”
Hearing this, Sikong Cuo suddenly fell silent.
After spending a long while calming himself, he smiled apologetically and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking right just now. It wasn’t your fault.”
Apparently, only at this moment did it occur to him that his and his subordinates’ fate was still in Fan Wen’s hands.
“Elder Fan, how many times can you still use Void Travel?” He asked cautiously.
“Only once,” Fan Wen answered. “And I won’t be able to support the spatial rift for long, so you’ll have to enter as soon as possible. Since I’m only at the early Saint domain, I can’t cast Void Travel freely. Every time I do, it’ll take a long time for me to recover.”
“I see...” Sikong Cuo dragged his voice to feign concern. “If that’s the case, take your time to recover, Elder Fan. I’ll get out of your hair.”
With these words, he walked away to the place where his subordinates were gathered.
Knowing that he was far enough from Fan Wen, he snorted coldly and spat. “Useless!”
Then, he turned to his subordinates and said, “Let’s stay vigilant everyone. That woman from the Void Spirit Society may not be reliable. From the look of things, something major has happened in the Domain of Nether Heaven. The fact that those Phantasms and Death Curse Sect disciples showed up means that we’re not just facing the Nether Spirit Society alone.”
A late Saint domain expert named Zou Qing, who was the most powerful of Sikong Cuo’s subordinates, said in a deep voice, “Master, I have a feeling that the entire Domain of Nether Heaven has become a prison now. When I examined the starry river with my soul awareness earlier, rich outsider flesh auras had already covered wherever my soul awareness reached.”
Sikong Cuo’s expression flickered with astonishment.
With a bitter expression, Zou Qing continued, “If my speculation is correct, that flesh aura comes from outsider grand monarchs! That means more than one! Only that would explain how their flesh auras could spread over the entire Domain of Nether Heaven, stopping even powerful Void Spirit Society experts in other domains from coming to our aid.”
Sikong Cuo’s expression flickered. “Multiple outsider grand monarchs?! So are you saying that even G.o.d domain experts from the Void Spirit Society won’t be able to get here in a flash like they usually can with Void Travel?”
Zou Qing sighed. “I’m afraid so.”
“What on earth is happening?” Sikong Cuo muttered, his face increasingly grim. “We couldn’t get in touch with Ji Yuanquan, and almost got annihilated in realm number fourteen. Don’t tell me that the other teams are all going through the same thing?
“But don’t worry. I’ve dealt with situations like this many times. I’ll definitely be able to get you out of here safely.”
Hearing his words, many of his subordinates remembered their previous experiences, and started chuckling.
More than once, Sikong Cuo had found himself in a perilous situation, but s.h.i.+fted his trouble onto others through some vicious tricks. Eventually, he had saved his own forces at the cost of others’.
Many of them had personally taken part in those operations, and thus believed that Sikong Cou was capable of repeating his success.
Meanwhile...
Fan Wen squinted as tiny sparks flashed across the depths of her pupils.
Those sparks seemed to carry information that she captured from an unknown heaven and earth, since for every spark that flashed across, she received a short message.
“Miss Pei is coming, but I shouldn’t say anything to Sikong Cuo.”
“Grand Elder Mo Heng from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace is now engaged in a fierce battle against Grand Monarch Withered Bones outside the shattered realm number nine!”
“Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher has been pursuing her on an ancient stars.h.i.+p?!”
“Other outsider grand monarchs have sealed the Domain of Nether Heaven and plan to kill us all?!”
Soon, she gained a good understanding of the current situation in the Domain of Nether Heaven, and suspected that the reason why Ji Yuanquan hadn’t responded to her was because he had been caught up in a fierce battle against some outsider grand monarch.
“Miss Pei is going to lure Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher here.” Fan Wen thought to herself. “Is she planning to fight Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher with Sikong Cuo’s help? Or is she thinking...?”
At this moment, Sikong Cuo’s hideous face suddenly entered her mind.
“Whatever. I’ll just do what she says. She represents our sectmaster after all. Even if it’ll create trouble in the future, I’m sure Miss Pei will be fine. I have nothing to worry about.”
After making up her mind, she secretly informed Pei Qiqi of Sikong Cuo and his subordinates’ location, as well as the location on the other side of the realm where she should land.
...
Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher’s ancient stars.h.i.+p finally arrived at the dead realm that Pei Qiqi and the others had just left. He examined it with his flesh aura, but failed to sense any signs of life again.
Just as he was about to have an outburst, he suddenly captured a wisp of elusive spatial power that pointed him towards a nearby dead realm.
Delight filled Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher’s face as he said, “That girl from the Void Spirit Society must have overconsumed her strength! She never left any trace behind when she used Void Travel before, so I had to locate her again through a ma.s.sive search. But this time, she failed to conceal a wisp of her spatial power as she escaped. This means she’s strained herself so much that she’s losing control of her power.
“That dead realm! The three human juniors we’ve been chasing after for so long must be there!
“Even Saint domain experts of the Void Spirit Society can’t use Void Travel as frequently as she does. That girl must be on the verge of breaking down!
“Perhaps she’s already too weak to cast Void Travel again! Their doom has come!”
Now, after having searched the boundless starry river for a long time and repeated frustrating failures, he finally saw hope, and immediately grew thrilled.
“Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Don’t be afraid of burning fuel! Accelerate!” He exclaimed excitedly. “We’ve got to reach that dead realm and kill them all before that girl recovers her strength and casts Void Travel again!”
The bone stars.h.i.+p gave rise to strange creaks as it shot into the distant starry river at full speed, dragging a long tail of gray aura behind it.
...
Pei Qiqi, Nie Tian, and Huang Jinnan arrived in the dead realm. Without conducting a thorough scan of their surroundings, Pei Qiqi said, “This is it. I’ve communicated with Elder Fan Wen. According to her, Sikong Cuo and his lackeys are on the other side of this realm. But we can’t stay here for too long. Otherwise, that late Saint domain subordinate of his might sense our existence.”
Pei Qiqi was aware that that late Saint domain expert wouldn’t examine everything in his vicinity with his soul awareness all the time.
However, she believed that since Sikong Cuo and his men had come to this place, he must be very cautious, and would have that late Saint domain expert examine their surroundings every once in a while.
The dead realm they were currently on wasn’t vast. If a late Saint domain expert spread his soul awareness over it, he would easily sense their existence and locate them.
“You left a trace behind, right?” Nie Tian asked, smiling.
“Yeah, I suppose Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher will get here soon by tracking it.” To be safe, Pei Qiqi didn’t try to communicate with Fan Wen after entering this realm. “Let’s get out of here first. That Bonebrute ancient stars.h.i.+p is already on its way to this realm. And I’ve already told Elder Fan not to get Sikong Cuo’s people out of this realm for now.
“Besides, she’s consumed a significant amount of power, and is currently too weak to get them all out with one Void Travel.”
Huang Jinnan sighed in admiration. “Miss Pei will definitely become the Void Spirit Society’s brightest star.”
He was well-aware that even Saint domain disciples of the Void Spirit Society couldn’t cast Void Travel so frequently.
Not to mention that Pei Qiqi had recently suffered serious injuries. Even though Nie Tian had treated her, he had healed nothing but her fleshly wounds. The fact that she was able to split open spatial rifts repeatedly in such condition made Huang Jinnan admire her greatly.
A new spatial rift appeared, and the three of them entered it without hesitation.
After arriving in another dead realm, Nie Tian took out the Goldskin Beast skull and focused on cultivating with its residual flesh power.
It wasn’t long before his heart suddenly started pounding.
His expression flickered as he immediately sent a wisp of soul awareness to examine his heart. To his surprise, he discovered that the green aura that had lain dormant at the bottom of his heart had finally finished its upgrade, and generated brand new Bloodline Crystal Chains.
“Finally, another bloodline upgrade!”