Astonishment spread across Yin Yanan and Mu Biqiong’s faces.
Face grim, Nie Tian explained, “The armor’s first master, the Daughter of Flames, was the flame element section’s Divine Daughter of the Five Elements Sect. What’s really troublesome is that she didn’t actually die. When she was killed by a man named Pang Chicheng, a wisp of her soul managed to escape, which allowed her to eventually be reborn. Now, she has recovered her early Void domain cultivation base, along with her peak battle prowess.”
After hearing Nie Tian’s brief explanation, the girls were smart enough to know that the Flame Dragon Armor couldn’t be exposed.
“If it’s the Five Elements Sect who forged the Flame Dragon Armor... I think we’d better not travel with Huang Jinnan anymore,” Xie Wanting said with a worried expression.
Nie Tian shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I don’t intend to use the Flame Dragon Armor in the b.l.o.o.d.y Grave Mountain Range anyways. As long as I don’t summon it, we’ll be able to get along with Huang Jinnan and the others just fine.”
“That man seems to be generous and kind, but in fact, he’s very arrogant,” Mu Biqiong said with furrowed eyebrows. “He only attaches importance to you, who he knows is a Son of the Stars. He doesn’t care about anyone else, including Han Sen, who he expelled because of you. He’s only so keen to make friends with you because you’re a Son of the Stars.
“However, that suit of armor is one of the Five Elements Sect’s most precious treasures. If he somehow finds out about it, he’ll definitely try to take it back.
“He’s far too strong for us. Even with the help of my coexisting flowers, I doubt that I’d be able to match him in battle.”
Yin Yanan nodded slightly and chimed in, “I’m afraid my eighth grade Frost Blood Python won’t be able to stop him either.”
Nie Tian could tell that they were very apprehensive about this Divine Son of the Five Elements Sect.
“It’s alright. I won’t expose the Flame Dragon Armor.” He tried to comfort them with these words.
…
A few hours pa.s.sed as their air-transportation spiritual tool followed Huang Jinnan and the others from a certain distance.
They started to encounter more and more evil spirits and ghouls along their way, and the ghouls and evil spirits they met became stronger and stronger.
Soon, a magnificent stone city entered everyone’s sight.
Nie Tian stood aghast upon seeing it. “Another Stone Golem city!”
Before marching on to the Fortune Wells, he had come across a Stone Golem city, where he had met some Earth Spirit Sect disciples.
However, that stone city had been in ruins, as if it had witnessed countless fierce battles. Even the city walls had collapsed.
However, this city before them was not only intact, but also much larger and more splendid.
From a thousand meters away, Nie Tian gazed off into the city, and saw numerous evil spirits flying across in it.
Some of them were exceptionally large, as if they were transformed from the discarnate souls of Ancientbeasts.
Others weren’t terrifyingly large, but gave Nie Tian a strong sense of danger.
They seemed to have transformed from the discarnate souls of Phantasms, and the b.l.o.o.d.y Grave Mountain Range’s unique environment seemed to have made them extremely fierce and vicious.
There were also ghouls that were more than ten meters tall and covered in fluffy white hair. They roamed the wide streets, as if they were looking for something.
Huang Jinnan’s golden chariot stopped before the city, where he called out, “Nie Tian! That former Stone Golem capital is our destination. I’m certain that there are Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials in it. All we need to do is find them.”
He was surrounded by other air-transportation spiritual tools, on which chosen ones from various domains looked very spirited.
“Remember: don’t mention the Flame Dragon Armor,” Nie Tian said in a low voice, before signaling for Xie Wanting to pick up speed to fly in Huang Jinnan’s direction.
Gazing at the stone city, Mu Biqiong couldn’t get over a peculiar feeling that something was wrong with it. “I think we should tell him about the Stone Golems we saw,” she said. “Those Stone Golems might have come to the Shatter Battlefield too after leaving the Seven-star Blue Sea in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, and it’s very likely that they’ll return to their former capital.”
Nie Tian nodded. “I’ll tell him about that.”
Xie Wanting gasped. “What?! There are still Stone Golems alive?!”
“Yeah, there’s a place called the Seven-star Blue Sea in our domain,” Mu Biqiong said with a cautious expression. “We saw eight stone statues fly out of it, along with a last one, which was the largest of them all. Only later did we find out that they were actually Stone Golems from the Desolate Antiquity Era. We didn’t know why they would show up there, but we heard them chanting the word ‘Shatter’ in some ancient language as they flew away. It looked like they were trying to find their way to the Shatter Battlefield.”
A shocked expression appeared on Xie Wanting’s face as she asked, “We won’t encounter those Stone Golems here, will we?”
“I hope not,” Mu Biqiong said softly.
As they talked in low voices, their air-transportation spiritual tool flew to Huang Jinnan’s location. He looked at Nie Tian with a broad smile and teased, “You have three great beauties in your company. No wonder you didn’t want to spend too long with me.”
He had a.s.sumed that Nie Tian had left him to take care of the girls.
Nie Tian played off his a.s.sumption by saying, “Women, right? Always so clingy.”
Upon hearing these words, the three girls all fixed him with sideways glances, but with different looks in their eyes.
Huang Jinnan laughed broadly. “I understand. Young people have every reason to be romantic. I envy your luck with women. Alright, that aside, we still have business to take care of.
“That Stone Golem capital is where the most powerful evil spirits and ghouls are gathered. People have always considered it as a forbidden area.
“But if we want to find Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials, we’ll have to deal with those evil spirits and ghouls. I suggest we stick to our routine. You take care of the evil spirits, while I handle the ghouls.”
With a serious expression, Nie Tian asked, “What’s so special about this Stone Golem capital, Brother Huang? Why would so many powerful evil spirits and ghouls gather in it?”
Frowning, Huang Jinnan said, “Well, I don’t know about that. I just know that some people have come and found Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials here before. Who knows why all of the most powerful evil spirits and ghouls like this place so much that they treat it as their home?”
“There aren’t any Stone Golems left in the city, right?” Nie Tian asked.
“How’s that possible? Stone Golems went extinct after the first great war. No one has ever seen them again.” Huang Jinnan said with an expression as if Nie Tian was questioning the obvious.
Face serious, Nie Tian said, “I saw living Stone Golems not long ago. There were nine of them, and they could have already entered the Shatter Battlefield.”
Huang Jinnan and the other chosen ones were all shocked by his words.
“Tell me more,” Huang Jinnan said, looking very concerned.
Nie Tian then explained, “A total of nine Stone Golems rose from the bottom of the Seven-star Blue Sea in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. Eight of them had the battle prowess of Void domain human experts, and the ninth one seemed to be as powerful as a Saint domain expert...”
Listening to Nie Tian’s words, Huang Jinnan took a deep look at the city, a shade of heaviness appearing in his eyes.
Clearly, he was now hesitant as to whether he should enter the city.
WHOOs.h.!.+
A river of golden light suddenly shot out of the long spear in his hand. Countless divine symbols flew out of it, rapidly forming a large, golden eye.
Like a rising sun, the magical eye floated towards the stone city.
At the same time, Huang Jinnan’s own eyes were also filled with glittering golden light.
Countless strands of soul awareness poured out of the floating golden eye to detect soul movements in the city in a unique way.
Moments later, the floating eye faded away, along with the golden light in Huang Jinnan’s eyes. “The city is quite big, but I didn’t capture any suspicious soul auras. All I sensed were unintelligent evil spirits that roamed the city streets. But still, I can’t promise that there aren’t Stone Golems in the city.”
He pondered briefly before adding, “Even if there were Stone Golems in there, I’d be able to get myself to safety on my chariot. But you might not be as lucky as me. So you should decide whether you want to enter the city with me or not.”
Then, he turned to Nie Tian and asked, “What about you? Do you want to take a look inside, or do you want to leave?”
Nie Tian shot a glance at his chariot and said with a smile, “I have my own means of escape.”
With these words, he summoned the Star Boat from within his ring of holding, signaling the girls to s.h.i.+ft rides.
Huang Jinnan’s eyes lit up as he smiled and said, “One of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s Star Boats! It’s at the same grade as my chariot. I suppose it can take you to safety whenever you want to leave.”
The others took a moment to weigh their choices, and eventually decided to take the risk to explore the city.
“Good,” Huang Jinnan addressed the crowd. “We’re going in, but be careful, everyone.”