Three days later...
Hu Rong, who lived on the same block as them, visited Nie Tian and planned to take him to attend the trading fair, which was going to be held in the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
Li Jing from the Blood Sect instructed the other Blood Sect members to stay in their residence as she left with Hu Rong and Nie Tian.
Shortly afterwards, Chang Sen, Ghost Eye, and Fang Hui also left their residences for the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
As soon as he left the dilapidated block, Nie Tian started to see people everywhere, who were all flowing towards the Blood Skull’s headquarters like a flood.
Nie Tian briefly glanced around, and discovered that not a single one of them was at the Greater Heaven stage or lower.
Even though their cultivation bases were all rather impressive, many of them were dressed in garments that didn’t belong to ancient, powerful sects like the Yin Sect or the Yang Sect.
Hu Rong saw through his thoughts, and explained, “Other than the powerful and renowned sects that have Soul realm experts, there are a much larger number of small sects and clans that are like the Cloudsoaring Sect and the Nie Clan. All of those sects and clans cling to major sects or powers like the Heaven Palace Sect and Ice Pavilion Sect.
“Even though they don’t have Soul realm experts, they do have Worldly realm or Profound realm experts in their sects or clans, so they were also drafted to help defend against the outsiders’ invasion.”
Nie Tian nodded and said, “I see.”
Afterwards, Hu Rong went on to explain, “We organized this trading fair because battles could break out at any moment now. Everyone who’s here needs to be prepared for the upcoming battles. We hope everyone will trade the spiritual materials they don’t need for spiritual tools or medicinal pills that will help with their performance in battle.
“Besides, many of the treasures you’ve brought back from that dimension have gone extinct or never even existed in the Domain of the Falling Stars.
“We hope those magical items will be put to good use.
“I’m sure that many people’s battle prowess will improve significantly if they got their hands on some of the treasures you’ve brought back from that dimension. Meanwhile, you’ll be able to get a tremendous amount of spirit stones or materials that will help you progress in your cultivation in return.
“This time, we’ve arranged for a few very experienced experts to be at the trading fair to evaluate the spiritual materials and tools for everyone. They’ll try to be fair, and their service will be free of charge.”
Nie Tian nodded repeatedly as he listened to Hu Rong explain the details of the trading fair. Soon, he understood the reason why Spirit Condor had decided to hold this trading fair.
Facing the outsiders’ upcoming invasion, they mainly hoped that the experts from all over the Domain of the Falling Star would be able to improve their battle prowess as much as possible through this trading fair.
If they couldn’t turn the precious materials and tools they had obtained from that dimension into battle performance, those things would be of very little help when the outsiders came.
For this very reason, this small trading fair, which was held in a remote corner, had attracted powerful experts from almost every sect from all over the Domain of the Falling Stars.
As soon as Nie Tian arrived at the front gate of the Blood Skull’s headquarters, a loud clamor caught his ears. After a brief scan with his psychic awareness, he rapidly learned that at least hundreds of Qi warriors were now gathered in the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
Most of them were experts at the Worldly realm or Profound realm.
With a soft laugh, Hu Rong said, “At least a third of the Worldly realm and Profound realm experts in the Domain of the Falling Stars are now gathered in this place. It’s all because of the upcoming war against the outsider invaders. It’s not likely that the Spirit Condor alone would attract so much attention.”
“The rare spiritual materials we’ve obtained from that dimension also played a major part, I a.s.sume,” Nie Tian said.
“Of course! Of course!” Hu Rong replied, full of smiles. “It’s exactly because talented youngsters like you have brought a good amount of rare and magical items from that dimension that these lofty experts would come to Shatter City from the Land of the Abandoned, Ash City, and the Void Illusion Mountain Range.”
Nie Tian was aware that the other two major cities in the Realm of Split Void must also be crowded with people.
The Heaven Palace Sect, the Flame G.o.d Sect, the Spirit G.o.d Sect, the Heaven Expanse Sect, the Thunder Mountain Sect, the Poison Sect, and the many small sects and clans that clung to them, were now gathered at the other two rally-points and the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
To attend this trading fair, powerful experts from all over Domain of the Falling Stars almost flooded the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
Led by Hu Rong, Nie Tian threaded through the crowd and rapidly made it to the central square within the Blood Skull’s headquarters.
Standing in the middle of the square, Nie Tian glanced around, and saw numerous people crowding together and moving back and forth as far as he could see.
He didn’t know most of them, but there were also familiar faces like Ji Qingyun in the crowd.
Many Worldly realm and Profound realm experts found locations in the square, where they took out and placed their collection of valuable items on a piece of cloth in front of them.
All kinds of items could be seen, including spiritual materials, tools, incantation scrolls, medicinal pills, spell formations, etc.
Li Jing and the others from the Realm of the Flame Heaven were among the crowd that walked around and checked the treasures the Qi warriors had to sell. Their expressions flickered from time to time as she did.
Most of the sellers were Worldly realm or Profound realm experts. Almost all of the items they were selling were of great value, and very hard to find. It was overwhelming to see so many treasures being piled in front of them in the same manner that vegetable vendors sold vegetables.
“Come with me. I’ll take you to the place you should be.” With a smile, Hu Rong led Nie Tian towards the Blood Fighting Pit.
However, at this moment, the walls of the Blood Fighting Pit had already been torn down.
As he came closer to the Blood Fighting Pit, Nie Tian saw Dong Li, Xuan Ke, Ye Qin, Chen Hao, and the other chosen ones who had returned from the other dimension with him.
Powerful experts from their clans and sects were standing beside them, and the rare materials they had gained from that other dimension were now placed in front of them.
It wasn’t just the Ice Pavilion Sect, the Yin Sect, and the Yang Sect. The five forces from the Realm of a Hundred Battles had also confined their returning disciples to their respective sects and clans.
Their seniors had come with the spiritual materials they had obtained, so they could trade them for items they were in urgent need of.
Of course, Nie Tian knew that they must have kept the treasures they needed in their sects. The items they had brought to this trading fair were those they didn’t need.
Only those who had returned from that other dimension were selling treasures within the Blood Fighting Pit.
However, even more people came shopping in this place than the other places. A large number of powerful experts were gathered before Xuan Ke, Ye Qin, and the other chosen ones, asking questions about the valuables they had for sale with excited looks in their eyes.
Of all of them, Dong Li was the one that attracted the most attention.
That was because Dong Li had the most items in front of her. The rare materials and treasures around her were practically piled into hills.
However, Dong Li looked very careless as people asked her about the things she had to sell. Instead, she was constantly glancing around.
“She’s waiting for you,” Hu Rong said with an envious smile on his face. “You’ve probably noticed that the spiritual materials before her have been divided into two piles. It seems that the smaller pile are the things Dong Baijie, Dong Li, and the other Dong Clan members have for sale. That pile of spiritual materials that looks much bigger must belong to you, right?”
Nie Tian nodded slightly.
At this moment, Li Jing, Fang Hui, and the others from the Realm of Flame Heaven had already followed him to this place. Upon hearing Hu Rong’s words and seeing Nie Tian nod, Li Jing and Fang Hui both gasped with astonishment.
As far as they could tell, that larger pile of spiritual materials in front of Dong Li seemed even larger than the piles of the Ice Pavilion Sect, the Yin Sect, the Yang Sect, and the others put together.
And all of those materials belonged to Nie Tian?!
Fang Hui’s expression flickered as he asked in a low voice, “Nie Tian, how did you manage to gather so many spiritual materials?”
“Actually, I didn’t go around to gather those things at all,” Nie Tian said in a low voice, rubbing his nose. “I got all of my spiritual materials and medicinal plants from others. I only looted the most stuff because I killed the most enemies and outsiders.”
Hu Rong, who had long since learned about this, remained calm and composed.
However, Li Jing, Fang Hui, Chang Sen, Jiang Zhisu, and the others from the Realm of the Flame Heaven all gasped upon hearing Nie Tian’s words.
“d.a.m.n those shortsighted fools!” Jiang Zhisu thought to himself. “If they took just a bit better care of the Nie Clan back in the day and won Nie Tian’s recognition, we wouldn’t be in such a bad place now!”
He was so angry that he felt like coughing up blood.
The light of excitement could be seen in the depths of Ghost Eye’s emerald green pupils as he sighed and said, “Nie Tian, no matter what happened, you’re from the Realm of Flame Heaven. You should come back to visit your home realm more often in the future.”
Fang Hui also let out a sigh. Instead of looking at Nie Tian, he gave Li Jing a quick glance and said, “Sectmaster Li, I envy your sight for talent.”
Li Jing, who was graceful and of few words, was dressed in plain but elegant garments. A hint of a smile appeared on her face as she said, “My sect and I did spend quite a fortune on him.”
“Whatever you spent on him was well worth it,” Fang Hui said.
Li Jing nodded, smiling. “I think so too.”
At that moment, Dong Li, who had been searching for quite some time, finally saw him in the crowd, and thus immediately called out to him, “Nie Tian!”
Nie Tian smiled and said to Li Jing, “Senior Li, you’re welcome to come and pick whatever you like from the things I brought back. Consider this my way of compensating you and your sect for the Bone Blood Demon.”
Li Jing’s eyes lit up as she said, smiling, “It seems that it’d be rude to refuse this sincere offer of yours.”