In the Realm of Split Void.
After Pei Qiqi landed lightly in the Void Illusion Mountain Range, her irregularly shaped crystal appeared in her palm.
It flew off to shuttle among numerous spatial rifts in the sky.
“It’s not here.” Zhao Shanling’s voice echoed out in the distance.
In the next moment, he flashed into appearance like a bolt of lightning.
“The trace of the Void Palace Sect you found is not here? Then where is it?” With these words, Pei Qiqi made a grabbing motion in the air, and the crystal morphed into a streak of silver light that vanished into her palm.
“In a s.p.a.ce disruption zone,” Zhao Shanling answered.
Pei Qiqi’s expression flickered with astonishment. “You, you found a trace of the Void Palace Sect in a s.p.a.ce disruption zone? How is that possible?”
Zhao Shanling frowned slightly and said, “I’m not completely certain about it either. But I did find a magical land in the depths of that s.p.a.ce disruption zone, where I managed to break through into the late Void domain. I appears that people once lived there. It’s just that since that place was full of danger, I didn’t dare to spend too long exploring it.”
After a short pause, he added, “But perhaps you can.”
Now, Pei Qiqi had entered the Void domain. Her bloodline had advanced to the eighth grade. On top of that, she had mastered the Void Spirit Society’s most profound and secret incantations, and held a Heaven Nourished grade spatial tool.
As arrogant as Zhao Shanling was, he had a very high opinion of her strength.
“Do you have time?” Pei Qiqi asked with an urgent tone.
“I do.” Zhao Shanling said. After a moment of hesitation, he added, “But I think we should invite another person to go with us.”
“Who?”
“Nie Tian.”
Pei Qiqi was taken aback. “Why him?”
“I trust him,” Zhao Shanling explained. “Since he’s even defeated Ophelia, he’ll be strong enough. Plus, I think he’ll be able to help. Not only is the spatial power very messy in that d.a.m.ned place, but it’s also full of other dangers.”
Pei Qiqi sighed. “I doubt that he’ll have time.”
The duel between Grand Monarch Primal Demon and Mo Heng had attracted attention from the entire starry river. Many powerful humans, outsiders, and Ancientspirits had entered the Dead Star Sea to witness it.
Even though Nie Tian had just won a hard-fought duel, as long as he could, he would most likely go to witness that duel as well.
Zhao Shanling took a moment to ponder the matter before saying, “I have a feeling that this is the right time for us to go. The unusual environment is only part of the reason why I didn’t stay there for long. There’s another reason why I quickly got out of there.”
“What is it?” Pei Qiqi asked.
Zhao Shanling’s face grew grim as he explained, “I had a feeling that many powerful figures were paying close attention to that place. It was like many sets of eyes and wisps of soul awareness were fixed on it. However, when I returned to that region a few days ago, I discovered that there were much fewer strange auras there.”
Pei Qiqi’s eyes widened. “Are you saying that the eyes that were watching the place have disappeared?”
“Yeah,” Zhao Shanling said. “I suspect that the duel between Grand Monarch Primal Demon and Grand Elder Mo Heng has distracted them.”
Pei Qiqi fell silent. A moment later, she said, “So you want me to find Nie Tian and ask him to go explore that place with us, instead of watching the duel between Grand Monarch Primal Demon and Grand Elder Mo Heng?”
Zhao Shanling nodded. “I think that’s the right thing to do, but what do you say?”
“I...” Pei Qiqi was torn with indecision.
Seeing this, Zhao Shanling snorted a laugh and said, “That’s what I thought. I took the liberty to have Nie Tian’s subordinates send word to him. He should be receiving it any moment now. It’ll be up to him whether he’ll come to help you solve the mystery of the Void Palace Sect’s disappearance, or go witness the duel between Grand Monarch Primal Demon and Mo Heng.”
“Who told you to do that?!” Pei Qiqi said angrily.
Zhao Shanling smiled without saying a word.
...
In the Realm of Remote Heaven.
Nie Tian had fully recovered the Blood Essence he had consumed with the help of the eighth grade outsider and Ancientbeast corpses.
Since he would be able to gather flame power, star power, and wood power with the help of his flame spark, Nine Stars Flower, and G.o.dspirit Tree, as long as he was in the starry river, he didn’t have to waste time recovering them with spiritual materials.
Therefore, he prepared to return to the Dead Star Sea before the duel between Grand Monarch Primal Demon and Mo Heng started.
As soon as he walked out of the secret room with Dong Li, he saw Han Wanrong sitting there, waiting for him.
Han Wanrong managed their sect’s affairs in this realm. She had only gone to the Dead Star Sea earlier to witness his duel against Ophelia.
She had returned after the duel.
“Nie Tian, your subordinates have a letter for you.” With these words, she handed Nie Tian a yellow envelope.
It was from Hua Mu.
After browsing through the contents, he frowned in silence.
Seeing this, Dong Li leaned in to take a look. After that, she fell silent as well, with an unpleasant look on her face.
“The duel between the grand elder and Grand Monarch Primal Demon is about to begin.” Han Wanrong reminded him. “We’d better return to the Dead Star Sea now.”
“I’m not going to the Dead Star Sea,” Nie Tian said with a somewhat apologetic tone.
Han Wanrong’s expression flickered with astonishment. “Is it because you suffered injuries from your duel against Ophelia?”
“Sort of,” Nie Tian answered ambiguously.
“Alright, your health is more important.” Han Wanrong expressed her understanding. “It’s only been a few days since your duel. It’s indeed a bit too short for you to fully recover. Besides, even if you go to the Dead Star Sea, you might not be able to capture the details of the fight between the grand elder and Grand Monarch Primal Demon. I suppose only G.o.d domain experts and tenth grade grand monarchs and Ancient G.o.ds will be able to keep up with their speed.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll return to my domains now,” Nie Tian said.
...
By the teleportation portal in the Realm of Split Void that connected to the Realm of Fragmentary Star.
With a sulking face, Dong Li asked, “Because of her, you’re not even going to be there for Grand Elder Mo Heng’s duel, are you?”
“I won’t be able to help him anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I’m there or not,” Nie Tian explained patiently. “Senior Martial Sister Pei took responsibility for the destruction of the spatial rifts that connected to those Demon realms so that I didn’t get punished. She’s helped me on many other occasions as well. Now that she and Zhao Shanling need me, I really can’t just say no.”
“If you must go, then take me with you,” Dong Li said.
“You?” A puzzled expression appeared on Nie Tian’s face.
“Yeah! I want to go with you!” Dong Li insisted.
After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian said, “Let me ask Zhao Shanling about it first.”
Dong Li snorted coldly. “Ask all you want. I’m going.”
...
Moments later, Nie Tian’s Star Boat descended into the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
After taking a glance at Nie Tian and Dong Li on the Star Boat, Zhao Shanling let out a low chuckle and said, “As I expected, he came.”
Excitement filled Pei Qiqi’s eyes as she saw the Star Boat. However, as soon as she saw Dong Li, she forced herself to calm down.
“Will it be troublesome if we bring her too?” Nie Tian asked upon landing, pointing at Dong Li.
Zhao Shanling took a glance at Dong Li. After pondering for a moment, he shrugged. “I suppose it’ll be alright. But I can’t guarantee that it’ll be a safe trip.”
“If that’s the case, then let’s take her with us.”
“Sure.”
The entrance to the s.p.a.ce disruption zone that Zhao Shanling had been to wasn’t in the Realm of Split Void. He lead the group of people to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.
The moment Nie Tian entered the Realm of Unbounded Desolation, he sensed the Heaven-equal Vine’s aura.