Dong Li sighed and said, frowning, “It’s never peaceful in the Domain of the Falling Stars when there aren’t threats from the outsiders. I bet that they still don’t know that outsiders are coming. This time, we won’t be dealing with Demon invaders alone, but rather, we’ll be facing invaders of many races at the same time.”
The last time the three major spatial rifts had opened, the Demons had been the only race that had rushed through them into the Domain of the Falling Stars.
However, this time, they had seen Demons, Phantasms, Fiends, Stonemen, Blackscales, and Birdmen in that strange dimension, which meant that they planned on marching their joint army into the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Nie Tian’s expression grew grim upon coming to that thought.
He suspected that Zhen Huilan hadn’t had a chance to learn about the outsiders’ plan before her return.
Perhaps she had sustained severe injuries when Yao Shou and the others turned on them soon after entering that dimension. She had realized that she hadn’t been fit to go through that vortex to the bottom continent, and thus ended her trip ahead of time.
She probably hadn’t encountered any outsiders before she had left.
If she had learned that outsider experts had been planning to invade the Domain of the Falling Stars, she would have probably stopped Wu Langxie and Hua Mu from getting their revenge right away.
“Do you know where my master is now?” Pei Qiqi asked.
“She’s in Shatter City,” Li Langfeng answered.
“I’m off to Shatter City then.” With these words, Pei Qiqi shot Nie Tian a glance. “What about you?”
“You go ahead,” Nie Tian said. “I’ll meet you there soon.”
Very concerned with her master’s condition, Pei Qiqi immediately summoned her Lightning Shuttle and sailed off into the distance.
Upon hearing about the recent changes in the Domain of the Falling Stars, the other chosen ones also seemed eager to return to their sects and clans to inform their seniors of their encounters and have them make preparations as soon as possible. Therefore, they bid their farewells and left one after another.
Soon, the Dong Clan members and Nie Tian were the only ones that remained in this place.
Dong Li’s eyes were filled with antic.i.p.ation as she gazed at Nie Tian and asked him to go with her. “This will be the first stop for those powerful outsiders. The Realm of Split Void will soon be plunged into turmoil. I really don’t think you should stay with Pei Qiqi. It’ll be much safer if you come to the Dong Clan with us.”
After a moment of silence, Nie Tian shook his head and said, “I’ve got my own plans.”
With these words, he untied the leather pouch from his waist and handed it over to Dong Li. “These are the valuables I looted from the cultivators and outsiders I killed, storage rings and other things.
“I don’t know how much they’re worth, and right now I don’t have the time to sort them through and trade them.
“I hope you can trade them for some spirit stones and spiritual materials that suit my cultivation needs after you get back to your clan. Oh, right, I could also use some meat from high grade spirit beasts.”
Dong Li was somewhat pleased that Nie Tian had asked her to handle his loot, instead of Pei Qiqi.
With a smile, she put the leather pouch away and said, “Alright then. You can come find me in my clan at any time. Or you can let me know where you’ll be, so I can come to you when I’m finished.
“I’ll stay here in the Realm of Split Void for a while,” Nie Tian said. “Afterwards, I might visit the Realm of Dark Underworld.”
Dong Li nodded. “Alright.”
Dong Baijie grinned and said to Nie Tian, “It’s about time we leave. You take care!”
With these words, he summoned a Rainbow Lightning. After every Dong Clan member was on board, they sailed off into the distance.
Nie Tian knew that the Dong Clan had their own secret teleportation portal in the Realm of Split Void. All of the other forces from the Realm of a Hundred Battles had come via their portal.
Therefore, even though the Blood Skull, the Wild Fire, and the Dark Moon had lost their teleportation portals to other sects, they would be able to return home safely.
Their leaving left Nie Tian and Li Langfeng the only ones by the increasingly turbulent spatial rift.
At this moment, Nie Tian took a close look at Li Langfeng. His eyes lit up as he said, “Congratulations!”
Before killing Ning Yang, he had helped Li Langfeng break through into the Worldly realm, but he hadn’t expected that he had already made another breakthrough, and was now at the middle Worldly realm.
It was just that he looked even more scrawny than before. Even though the aura he emanated was strange and fierce, it seemed to be laced with a hint of death.
This suggested that Li Langfeng’s fleshly body had already sustained too much damage, and he was now on the verge of dying.
He knew that Li Langfeng had chosen this self-damaging cultivation path because he needed to achieve rapid advancement in his cultivation, so that he could have his revenge. In order to do that, he was even willing to give up his health.
Therefore, it was a possibility that he would die from the toxins he had allowed into himself before he could slay his enemy with his own hands.
As his cultivation base rose, he got closer and closer to death.
Li Langfeng glanced around to see if there were others around before saying with a bitter smile, “Yeah, I’ve made another breakthrough in my cultivation, but that means another step closer towards death. My only fear is that I can’t kill that man and avenge my parents and little sister before I die.”
After a moment of silence, Nie Tian said, “I’m not in good shape right now. I hope you can guard me while I spend some time recovering my strength.”
“No problem,” Li Langfeng said without hesitation.
He even seemed to be looking forward to this, as if he was hoping that, in return, Nie Tian would help him efficiently acc.u.mulate strength again.
A major reason why he had been able to enter the Worldly realm within a very short period of time was because Nie Tian had formed spiritual energy b.a.l.l.s for him to absorb concentrated toxins from.
“Great! Let’s go find a suitable location!”
With these words, Nie Tian summoned the Golden Chariot he had gotten from Su Lin from within his ring of holding, and leaped on board.
Li Langfeng’s eyes lit up. “A Golden Chariot of the Heaven Palace Sect! I heard that you had refused to join the Heaven Palace Sect, did you not?”
“No, I didn’t succ.u.mb to their pressure,” Nie Tian said with a smile. “I demanded this Golden Chariot from one of their disciples.”
Li Langfeng was very impressed. “You demanded it from the Heaven Palace Sect? No wonder you’re the only successor the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace has chosen in the Domain of the Falling Stars.”
With these words, he also leaped onto the war chariot, which then rose high into the sky.
With the help of an air-transportation spiritual tool, it took them a much shorter time to travel to the forbidden region where meteors constantly fell from outer s.p.a.ce.
Merely an hour later, they arrived in the forbidden region where they had killed Ning Yang together.
Nie Tian picked a random huge crater and landed the Golden Chariot on the large, dark-brown meteor within it. Then, he put the Golden Chariot away and sat down in the lotus position.
He piled a large number of Star Stones in front of him, along with fire-attributed and wood-attributed spiritual materials.
To contend against Armes’ strike with the Nethersoul Saber, he had drained almost all of his powers. Afterwards, before the spatial rift leading to the Domain of the Falling Stars had opened, he had only recovered some of his wood power with the help of the Wood Thriving Formation.
He hadn’t had the chance to attend to his other powers.
Therefore, he spent the following days recovering wholeheartedly with the materials before him.
Five days later, his powers were all fully recovered.
After the previous refinement, his vortex of star power was already ready for his next breakthrough. His vortex of wood power was also close to being ready. Only his vortex of flame power still needed refinement.
Meanwhile, the previous series of battles had forced him to consume a considerable amount of his soul power from the nine fragmentary stars in his soul.
Since he hadn’t yet entered the Worldly realm, there didn’t seem to be any ways for him to replenish his soul power, which frustrated him.
Then, he formed Heaven Eyes with his soul power and once again attempted to pry into the depths of the earth.
He had long since realized that this forbidden region, which continued to attract meteors from outer s.p.a.ce, must have some secrets, and those secrets were related to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
Then, after his conversation with Armes, he had become even more convinced that whatever was lying under there was meant for him, a Son of the Stars.
Whether he would be able to step out of the Domain of the Falling Stars and explore the wider heaven and earth would depend on him uncovering those secrets that had been hidden deep underground.
However, even though he had entered the middle Greater Heaven stage, he still couldn’t see through that mysterious ward and pry into its secrets. “It seems that only after I enter the Worldly realm, when my soul has transformed, will I be able to see through the barrier.”
Afterwards, he withdrew his Heaven Eyes, opened his eyes, and smiled at Li Langfeng. “Thank you.”
Li Langfeng smiled and said, “You’re welcome.” Then, he started to look awkward. “You know... I want to enter the late Worldly realm as soon as possible, since only after entering the late Worldly realm will I have the confidence to slay my enemy. So can you help me again?”
Eyebrows furrowed, Nie Tian said softly, “Are you aware how poor your condition is?”
Li Langfeng let out a long sigh. “Of course I am.”
“Do you know the consequences of you entering the late Worldly realm? The way I see it, there’s a fifty percent chance of you dying trying to break through into the late Worldly realm.” Nie Tian didn’t try to sweeten his words.
“I know,” Li Langfeng said with a wry smile. “Actually, your estimation is conservative. I think there’s a sixty percent chance of me dying trying to achieve that breakthrough.”
“Then why do you still want to do it?” Nie Tian asked, looking confused.