Outside the Domain of Shadow Devil.
Jiang Qinghuang and the others stared at the gaping tunnel with crimson light in it.
Thick devilish clouds surrounded the glowing opening, adding an extra layer of eeriness to it.
Feng Beiluo and Yuan Jiuchuan were waiting, along with the outsiders and cultivators that had come with Dylan and Grand Monarch h.e.l.l Demon.
After all, they knew how terrifyingly powerful Grand Monarch Heaven Abhorrer was when she was inside the Domain of Shadow Devil.
Dylan, the Snow Devil, and Grand Monarch h.e.l.l Demon were three kingpins of the Doomed Star Sea. Nie Tian seemed to possess unfathomable power. If even they couldn’t get those from the Mortal World out of the Domain of Shadow Devil to safety, their joining them wouldn’t change anything.
Therefore, they wouldn’t try anything without Dylan and Grand Monarch h.e.l.l Demon’s instructions.
After waiting in silence for a long time, Jiang Qinghuang turned to Feng Beiluo and asked, “My father is going to be okay, right? Is that Grand Monarch Heaven Abhorrer really as strong as they say she is?”
Feng Beiluo nodded. “She’s indeed much stronger when she’s in the Domain of Shadow Devil.”
Jiang Qinghuang started worrying.
FIZZ!
All of a sudden, a spatial rift split open in the starry river.
Immediately afterwards, Ji Yuanquan, Ye Wenhan, Yin Xingtian, and the others streamed through the spatial rift with glorious light flowing inside.
“Hmm?”
Chu Rui, Ye Wenhan, and the others narrowed their eyes, and fixed Jiang Qinghuang and the outsiders and hybrids with cold, examining gazes.
If Nie Tian were here, he would have noticed that Ye Wenhan, Ji Yuanquan, and all those with them had become considerably stronger than when they had last met.
Chu Rui had not only recovered from the injuries he had sustained from his battle against Grand Monarch Eternal Purgatory, but he also seemed to be in perfect shape. There were even signs that he might be making an advance in his cultivation soon.
Both Ji Yuanquan and Ye Wenhan had broken through to the middle G.o.d domain.
The others had also benefited from this trip, their strength greatly improved.
“Who are you?” Ye Wenhan asked sternly.
“We’re...” Jiang Qinghuang was just about to answer when her face suddenly turned cold, and she asked instead, “Who are you?”
Seeing Yuan Jiuchuan and the Thunder Devil, Yin Xingtian pondered for a moment before coming to a sudden realization. “Did you come here with Nie Tian?”
Feng Beiluo smiled, and quickly said with a calming tone, “Yes, they’re with the young master.”
“Young master?” Many newly-arrived cultivators from the four great sects exchanged confused glances with each other.
“By that, I mean Nie Tian,” Feng Beiluo said, giving Chu Rui a deep, meaningful look. “We received word that Miss Dong and you were trapped in the Domain of Shadow Devil, so we traveled all the way here, hoping to rescue you from the Domain of Shadow Devil.”
“No one was trapped,” Chu Rui said. “Despite our strong opposition, that girl left us and plunged into the Domain of Shadow Devil by herself. She insisted that we leave her alone and just do what we want to do. So we spent some time exploring the nearby domains, and now we’ve returned to reconvene with her.”
With these words, Chu Rui hesitated for a bit, and then said, “So you’re from the Doomed Star Sea. Is Qin...”
Before he could finish his question, Feng Beiluo said with great respect, “Qin Yao is our master.”
Chu Rui’s expression flickered drastically. “Just as I expected. So Nie Tian is his...”
“Yes, you’re right,” Feng Beiluo said.
His words were like a stone that stirred a thousand waves.
“Qin Yao?!”
“Nie Tian is Qin Yao’s son?!”
“My heavens! But Qin Yao is a human just like us!”
“I can’t believe that not only is Qin Yao still alive, but he’s actually doing well in the Doomed Star Sea!”
“Qin Yao, that monster, was deadlier than any crooked cultivator! I can’t believe he’s Nie Tian’s father!”
Many of the Qi warriors present were powerful experts from the older generation, who knew quite a lot about Qin Yao, the man who had outshone even Ji Cang once as the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s brightest star.
However, most of them had never been to the Doomed Star Sea, and knew nothing about it.
They didn’t know about the existence of a secret force in the Doomed Star Sea, whose strength had long since surpa.s.sed any of the four great sects, and that their leader was Qin Yao, the man who they a.s.sumed to have died long ago. After all, there hadn’t been any word of him for ages.
Now, as they ran their eyes over the crowd of human cultivators behind Feng Beiluo and the Thunder Devil, they realized that they all practiced the secret incantations and spells of brutal killing.
They realized that they were from the evil sects that they had attacked and a.s.sumed to have purged completely.
Jiang Qinghuang and those around her shrewdly noticed the unpleasant looks on many of the experts from the Mortal World.
Yin Xingtian, Yu Suying, Master Blood Spirit, and the others gathered together spontaneously, separating them from those from the Doomed Star Sea.
Moments later, Yu Suying broke the ice by saying, “Why don’t we put our previous grudges aside for now? This is the Void World, and we’re facing the Domain of Shadow Devil, Grand Monarch Heaven Abhorrer’s territory. Shouldn’t we break the spell that’s sealing the domain and see if Nie Tian and Miss Dong are safe first?”
“If Nie Tian is Qin Yao’s son, and these people refer to him as ‘young master,’ then he’s evil as well!” A Saint domain expert said coldly. “The way I see it, that Qin Yao is no different from the outsiders in the Void World. They’ve all committed unforgivable crimes!”
Surprisingly, many agreed with him.
The faces of Jiang Qinghuang, Feng Beiluo, and those with them grew grim.
Intense mutual hostility filled the area of the starry river outside the Domain of Shadow Devil, as if a battle could break out at any moment.
Inside the domain...
Thousands of Devil warriors and devilish beasts were frozen and shattered like gla.s.s by the Snow Devil.
The Shadow Devil Flag gathered Devil Qi from the entire domain to weigh down on Nie Tian, Grand Monarch h.e.l.l Demon, and the Gilded Phoenix like lofty mountain peaks.
WHOOs.h.!.+ WHOOs.h.!.+ WHOOs.h.!.+
The flesh power of the Devils and devilish beasts swam into Nie Tian’s flesh aura sea like countless glowing fish, before being refined into brilliant streaks of essence that flowed to his every bone and muscle.
CRUNCH!
Crisp sounds came from Grand Monarch h.e.l.l Demon’s gigantic form as his flesh was torn open in many places.
The golden feathers of the Gilded Phoenix burst forth with blinding light as he went all-out to fight the pressure.
In contrast, Nie Tian, whose bloodline hadn’t even entered the early tenth grade yet, resisted the devil power the Shadow Devil Flag had gathered from the entire domain in his enlarged form, without any sign of his bones cracking or his meridians snapping.
He only felt great pressure weighing down him. That was all.
“This is no lighter than that blow Grand Monarch Soul Capturer dealt me with the Nether River outside the Realm of Dark Souls. I can’t believe that my body has become so much more resilient than before!” His eyes lit up as he discovered that his body had been further strengthened without him realizing it, and that its toughness was already comparable to that of a late tenth grade grand monarch.
The pressure he was under right now wasn’t any lighter than what he had suffered from the Nether River, yet he could manage this time.
At the same time, the flesh power essence he refined from the Devils and devilish beasts that had been killed by the Snow Devil flitted through his body like lightning bolts, strengthening his bones, internal organs, and muscles.
Not to mention that dense groups of brand new Bloodline Crystal Chains were being generated in his heart.
“Almost there!”
After taking a deep breath, he a.s.sumed a tight grim on the Rampage Behemoth’s bone.
Blinding crimson light instantly burst forth from the part where his hand touched the bone, glorious like a rainbow.
“Life Blend!”
As soon as he shouted inwardly, his flesh aura merged with the power of the Rampage Behemoth perfectly.
In that moment, he had a peculiar feeling that he had become the Rampage Behemoth as an unmatched overlord of this entire starry river.
Flesh auras that belonged to him and the bone mixed together and gradually took the form of a colossal monster above him, before it fiercely tore at the descending sea of rolling clouds with its claws and teeth.
FIZZ!
The sea of raging devil power and the Shadow Devil Flag started falling apart.
Countless Devils in the dark Domain of Shadow Devil saw rays of brilliant starlight falling from the heavens, like sunlight s.h.i.+ning through thick leaves. The Domain of Shadow Devil saw light once again.