The Spirit Pearl hung high over Nie Tian’s head.
The evil spirits that had been attacking the Bonebrutes and human cultivators scattered in panic as soon as they saw him approach with it.
In order to fight Xing Bo without any distractions, Nie Tian decided to stop using himself as bait to lure the evil spirits to come to him, and then take out the Spirit Pearl when they were close enough.
With the evil spirits gone, the Bonebrutes and human cultivators they had been fighting instantly got out of their mire.
However, the Bonebrute leader wasn’t relieved in the slightest. Instead, he seemed to become even more nervous.
That was because he now knew that Huang Jinnan was the the Divine Son of the metal element section of the Five Elements Sect.
For hundreds of thousands of years, the rise of human Qi warriors had made many races in the starry river insecure and nervous. Many of them even trembled before the four major human powers.
The Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, the Five Elements Sect, the Void Spirit Society, and the Heaven Span Pavilion were the four most powerful and ancient human powers. They had contended against numerous powerful races in the depths of the starry river and stood undefeated.
The terrifying battle prowess of their disciples was very well-known.
Not to mention that Huang Jinnan was a Divine Son of the Five Elements Sect.
Divine Sons and Divine Daughters were cultivated as the future of their sect, so their sect had poured countless resources their way. Each and every one of them was every bit as powerful as the younger generation leader of any outsider race.
The leader of this group of Bonebrutes was far from as powerful and n.o.ble as Pergson, who carried the Bone Shatterer.
If Huang Jinnan wasn’t lying, and he could indeed fight Pergson, Gutas, and Froste single-handedly and stay unhurt, how unimaginably powerful must he be?
The Bonebrute leader fell silent, his eyes glittering with green light. Apparently, he had already started to ponder ways to get out of this predicament.
Like him, Xing Bo also fell silent.
He stared unblinkingly at Nie Tian, rage filling his face.
The Thousandsword Mountain Sect had caught him meeting with the Bonebrutes, therefore proving his collusion with them.
As punishment, the Thousandsword Mountain Sect had killed most of the Xing Clan members. Only a small number of them had fled the Domain of Heaven Python with the Bonebrutes’ help.
Before carrying out the punishment, experts from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect had stated that they had only investigated Xing Bo because someone from the Domain of the Falling Stars had fed them information of his deeds.
Therefore, Xing Bo had learned that someone from the Domain of the Falling Stars had discovered his secret, and with the Divine Seal Sect and the Golden Vast Sect’s help, had pressured the Thousandsword Mountain Sect to look into it. From some clues, they had eventually found out about his secret connection to the Bonebrutes. Because of this, his entire clan had been wiped out, and the surviving members of his clan had had to flee their ancestral home.
Even though the Bonebrutes had taken them in, since they had lost their strong backer that was the Thousandsword Mountain Sect and were cast aside by the Domain of Heaven Python, they had lost the ability to provide the Bonebrutes with more human corpses, therefore losing their value.
After that, the Bonebrutes’ att.i.tude towards them had changed completely. They no longer treated them as equals, and had even forced them to enter the Shatter Battlefield.
While he and some of his clansmen had been sent to the b.l.o.o.d.y Grave Mountain Range, his clan’s seniors had been charged to go to the depths of the Shatter Battlefield with high-grade Bonebrutes.
Since the moment they had entered the b.l.o.o.d.y Grave Mountain Range, these Bonebrutes had used his clan members as cannon fodder.
Many of them had died because of it.
Cast aside by his own kind and cold-shouldered by the outsiders, Xing Bo and his clansmen had experienced a great dip in their lives. Therefore, Xing Bo had always hated the person who had brought his secret to light.
“Are you the one who informed the Divine Seal Sect and the Golden Vast Sect of my secret cooperation with the Bonebrutes, causing my sect to investigate me?” Xing Bo asked with an icy tone.
Calm and composed, Nie Tian grinned and said, “That’s right. I’m the reason why you’re so down and out today. To be honest, Duan s.h.i.+hu from the Divine Seal Sect is my senior martial brother. With his help, I hid in the Realm of Maelstrom and reached a mutual understanding with the Golden Vast Sect.”
“Duan s.h.i.+hu! So that’s how it was!” Xing Bo understood the whole thing.
The few other Xing Clan members also grew furious after hearing Nie Tian’s words.
Like a golden G.o.d, Huang Jinnan floated right beside Nie Tian. “You colluded with the Bonebrutes and provided them with the corpses of your own kind so that they could build more burial grounds. Are you proud of it or something? You don’t even deserve to be human for doing such a despicable thing!”
Dazzling golden light continued to shoot out of his floating golden eye.
CRACK!
One of the low-grade Bonebrutes, whose body lacked refinement, cried in pain as his bones cracked and snapped.
At the same time, deeper cracks appeared on the bones of the other Bonebrutes as well, as if their bones would also snap in the next moment.
It was not only the Bonebrutes; the few Xing Clan members gathered around Xing Bo also had painful looks on their faces.
Bathed in golden light, they felt as if they were being slowly cut with countless invisible daggers. Soon numerous fine wounds appeared, with blood coming from them.
Their spiritual power wards had already shattered, so, as their flesh was torn open, the tainted energies found their way into their bodies.
Despair filled their faces as they looked down and saw the blood coming out of their wounds turn from fresh blood to filthy blood.
Xing Bo was the only one who was spared by the golden light, and didn’t suffer their agony.
The Bonebrute leader sensed the danger, and shouted in the outsiders’ language, “RUN!”
Upon hearing him, all of the Bonebrutes on the stone pavilion fled in different directions, completely ignoring the Xing Clan members.
“Run? Wishful thinking!” Huang Jinnan shook his head, numerous golden divine symbols appearing in the depths of his eyes, making him look even more awe-inspiring.
The light emanated by his floating golden eye grew even purer and fiercer.
Countless rays of golden light that seemed to have solidified pierced directly towards the fleeing Bonebrutes.
In the next moment, explosions like glorious fireworks took place around the stone pavilion.
Each of them was a Bonebrute that had been shone upon by the golden light and exploded, including their leader.
In just about ten breaths of time, all of the Bonebrutes died violent deaths.
As they exploded, grayish-green souls left their bodies.
Due to the special environment in this place, their discarnate souls didn’t vanish into heaven and earth right away.
Normally, after living beings died here, their discarnate souls would either be captured and devoured by evil spirits, or wander in the tainted energies and turn into evil spirits after a long process of transformation.
However, it was different this time.
The Spirit Pearl rose from Nie Tian’s hand and flew about swiftly to collect the Bonebrutes’ discarnate souls one by one.
By the time the Spirit Pearl flew back to Nie Tian, all of the Xing Clan members around Xing Bo had also been killed by the fierce light unleashed by the floating golden eye.
The Spirit Pearl then flew out again, absorbing and strengthening itself with the discarnate souls that had just left the dead Qi warriors.
All of a sudden, the Bonebrutes and human cultivators who had fought evil spirits atop this stone pavilion had all died except one person: Xing Bo.
This was only because Huang Jinnan had intentionally spared his life.
“Are you sure that you want to kill him yourself, Nie Tian?” Huang Jinnan asked one last time.
Nie Tian nodded. “I am.”
Without saying another word, Huang Jinnan sensibly backed away to a place that was dozens of meters away from them.
Then, he looked over his shoulder at the Qi warriors who had come with him, and said, “Spread out and seal this area. If that Xing Bo wants to escape, stop him. But remember not to kill him. Since Nie Tian wants to play, let’s make sure he has his fun with him.”
“Okay.” Everyone spread out to form a blockade around the stone pavilion.
Xie Wanting, Yin Yanan, and Mu Biqiong, however, stayed in place on Nie Tian’s Star Boat, and gazed at the top of the stone pavilion.
The Star Boat belonged to Nie Tian. Without him, none of them could use it.
Now that all of the Bonebrutes and his clansmen had died at Huang Jinnan’s hands, Xing Bo actually loosened up. Insanity gradually built up in his surprisingly calm eyes as he said, “You think a loser from the Domain of the Falling Stars like you can kill me in a duel? I don’t know how you managed to become friends with a Divine Son of the Five Elements Sect, but I know people like you too well. You’re the kind of garbage from the most remote and desolate places like the Domain of the Falling Stars!”
As he spoke, spiritual swords flew out of him one after another to float around him.
There were a total of twelve swords, one of which was clutched in his hand. Fierce roars could be vaguely heard from them. Clearly, they were Spirit Channeling grade treasures.
Before his secret had been brought to light, Xing Bo had ranked at the top among all the chosen ones of the Thousandsword Mountain Sect. Considering the cultivation resources he had been given, it was natural for him to hold a Spirit Channeling grade treasure or two.
One after another, the spiritual swords flew out, forming a profound spell formation.