In the Bone Sect’s former headquarters.
Large pale-gray bones could be seen scattered across a flat land surrounded by extinct volcanoes. Many broken walls and dilapidated pavilions const.i.tuted a scene of desolation and decay.
“The Bone Sect...” Qi Bailu’s eyes were caught by the ruins upon arriving. His face grew cold as he shot a sideways glance at Zhao Shanling.
Zhao Shanling simply stood there without even batting an eye.
Back in the day, when he had forged his Death Reign, it had flown to this place and wiped out the entire Bone Sect overnight.
He was the reason behind all this.
“So this is the place,” Dong Li said. “If I remember correctly, this is close to the place where we found the entrance to that magical land with a Tree of Life.”
Nie Tian nodded. “That’s right.”
He and Dong Li had tumbled into that magical land via a river in this area, where they had obtained Fruits of Life.
Surprised, Pei Qiqi asked, “Did you tell the Heaven-equal Vine that this is where we found the entrance?”
“I did,” Nie Tian answered. “However, it found nothing after conducting a thorough search of this area.”
“I’ve also searched this area, but failed to find anything,” Zhao Shanling chimed it.
That was when everyone’s gazes fixed on Pei Qiqi.
Nie Tian sensed that the Heaven-equal Vine’s aura was also rapidly approaching this area.
It hadn’t entered Pei Qiqi’s spatial rift, yet since it could even capture the most subtle movements in the starry river, not a single power fluctuation within the Realm of Unbounded Desolation could escape its senses.
The irregularly shaped crystal rose from Pei Qiqi’s palm and flew into the bone-covered ruins.
Pale-gray and grayish-brown bones that belonged to humans and spirit beasts could be seen everywhere.
After many years of corruption, they had long lost their residual flesh power.
Nie Tian examined them briefly before shaking his head and saying, “It seems that people from the Bone Sect used these bones to practice cultivation and build spell formations. Now, many years later, the bones have long lost their value and become worthless, like rotten wood.”
With these words, he shot out a beam of spiritual power from the tip of his finger.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Wherever the beam went, scattered bones crumbled and became flying ashes.
Qi Bailu shook his head as well. “Qi warriors from all over the Domain of the Falling Stars must have searched this place countless times. Many experts from the other realms who took part in the equipment forging conventions here came here to do their searches. I doubt they left out any clues.”
With these words, he turned to look at Pei Qiqi and her mysterious crystal with an inquiring expression.
The Heaven Nourished grade spatial treasure started to spin, sending out peculiar waves from each of its facets.
Ashes from crumbled bones filled the air.
The solid stony ground was quickly covered in fallen bone ashes. At this moment, an invisible force suddenly blew the ashes off, revealing a piece of smooth ground.
The irregularly shaped crystal then hovered above it.
As surges of strange spatial power came from within the crystal, many strange, complicated lines magically appeared on the smooth ground.
It was as if those lines had always been there. They had just been masked by something, and thus couldn’t be seen.
In its unique way, Pei Qiqi’s spatial treasure cleared the mask, thus revealing the intricate lines.
Zhao Shanling’s eyes lit up, delight and surprise filling his face. “Spatial patterns!
“Such complicated spatial patterns! And they seem to have formed naturally on the stone ground. I wonder how long they’ve been here.”
Pei Qiqi was intrigued as well. “Yes, very interesting. Perhaps these spatial patterns can be used to form some kind of teleportation portal. But we’ll have to solve their mysteries first.”
“The Realm of Unbounded Desolation was occupied by the Bonebrutes long ago. These spatial patterns won’t connect to some Bonebrute realm, will they?” Qi Bailu asked, his voice filled with concern.
“Even if they do, there’s nothing to worry about,” Pei Qiqi said. “But unfortunately, they clearly don’t connect to the place where that Tree of Life grows.”
At this moment, a wisp of the Heaven-equal Vine’s soul will came from the distance and entered Nie Tian’s sea of awareness.
Nie Tian then explained the situation to it, and told it that if this was a dead end, perhaps there was something else he could do.
t.i.tans and Floragrims were still waiting to have talks with him in the Dead Star Sea.
“Let’s find time to learn the mysteries of this place after we return from the s.p.a.ce disruption zone, shall we?” Zhao Shanling suggested.
Pei Qiqi agreed right away.
The group of four finally ended their detour, and flew to an extinct volcano under Zhao Shanling’s leaders.h.i.+p. They entered a secret portal in the mouth of the extinct volcano, and ended up in the s.p.a.ce disruption zone.
In the uncanny s.p.a.ce disruption zone, Zhao Shanling continued to give directions, while the others followed.
After an unknown period of time, a cl.u.s.ter of bright lightning suddenly flew towards them from the distance, accompanied by rolling thunder.
“You! I remember you!”
Upon a closer look, numerous thick lightning bolts tangled together like human meridians. With constant thunderous claps, a person gradually emerged from within the lightning bolts.
Flabbergasted, Nie Tian exclaimed, “Yuan Jiuchuan!”
“The Thunder Devil!” Zhao Shanling exclaimed with a grim face as well.
Back when Yuan Jiuchuan had devastated the Domain of Heaven Python, he had planned to teleport to the Domain of the Falling Stars, where he could reap more cultivators and spirit beasts that practiced lightning power.
Eventually, his plan had been thwarted. Not only had he failed to enter the Domain of the Falling Stars, but he had been banished to a s.p.a.ce disruption zone instead.
Those who were banished to a s.p.a.ce disruption zone could easily be stranded there forever, especially if they didn’t know any spatial manipulation magics or had low cultivation bases.
From the look of it, Yuan Jiuchuan had been forced to wander the s.p.a.ce disruption zone for years.
However, not only had he not run out of spiritual power and perished, but he had even made advances in his cultivation.
He had actually entered the early Saint domain here!
This was extremely unnatural and incredible.
Normally, only spatial power experts with powerful spatial tools like Zhao Shanling and Pei Qiqi could benefit from the harsh environment and make advances in their cultivation in a s.p.a.ce disruption zone. It was almost impossible for others to do so, even though Yuan Jiuchuan was a reborn cultivator.
Yuan Jiuchuan glowered at Nie Tian and Pei Qiqi. “You! You’re the reason why I’ve been stranded here for so long! I can still recognize your special auras!”
Pei Qiqi got a measure of Yuan Jiuchuan. Eyes narrowed, she said, “Saint domain, right? If we were somewhere else, a Saint domain cultivator might be hard to deal with. But since we’re here, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Zhao Shanling recovered his composure. He chuckled and said, “That’s right. I almost forgot that we’re in a s.p.a.ce disruption zone. I wonder what happened to you here, Thunder Devil.”
Yuan Jiuchuan swept his gaze over the four people in front of him, one calmer than another. He started to question himself.
Why were they not afraid of him?