In the middle of the sweltering hot desert.
Qi Bailu and Hua Mu were flying at full speed, with the Flame Mirror protecting their rear like a s.h.i.+eld of flames.
Cl.u.s.ters of earthflame essence shot out of the Flame Mirror from time to time to bombard the seven foreign Soul realm Qi warriors who were pursuing them with strong killing intent in their eyes.
One of them was brandis.h.i.+ng a huge axe, sending out purple lightning bolts that struck and scattered the cl.u.s.ters of earthflame essence.
“It’s too bad that we aren’t in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.” Eyebrows knitted, Qi Bailu sighed and said, “If we were in the Tool Sect, I’d be able to channel endless flame power from our six fiery arcane realms to boost the Flame Mirror’s might.”
The Flame Mirror was a Spirit Channeling grade treasure handed down to Qi Bailu by the Tool Sect’s previous sectmaster.
The Flame Mirror and the Tool Sect could be viewed as a whole. Only in the Tool Sect would the Flame Mirror be able to channel power from the six fiery arcane realms and display its full might.
Low in spirits, Hua Mu said with a downcast look in his eyes, “This is the fifth time they have caught up to us.”
With a determined expression, Qi Bailu said, “We’re just about to reach the spatial rift that leads to the Realm of Maelstrom. Hang on a bit longer, and we’ll be able to return to the Realm of Maelstrom. Zong Zheng went first with an escape magic. If he can find Yue Yanxi from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries or other Void domain experts there, perhaps we’ll even be able to turn the situation around.”
BOOM!
A silver wheel flew past the man with the huge axe and slammed into the Flame Mirror with great force.
As raging flames spilled uncontrollably from within the Flame Mirror, Qi Bailu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face turning pale.
A skinny old man in a long silver robe stepped past the cl.u.s.ters of flames as he closed in on them. He shouted in a mocking tone, “Give up now! You won’t be able to escape this time! The Domain of the Falling Stars? A remote corner that I’ve never even heard of! I can’t believe even weaklings like you dared to explore the depths of the Shatter Battlefield! Even though you were lucky enough to gather a few precious spiritual materials, do you really think you’ll be able to walk away with them?”
The Heavenly Demonsbane’s shape flickered between Hua Mu’s eyebrows.
Edging into desperation, Hua Mu even thought of summoning the Heavenly Demonsbane to fight for him, risking being possessed by it again.
However, even the Heavenly Demonsbane had consumed too much of its vital power. Even though he had voluntarily loosened up his mind, the Heavenly Demonsbane ignored the opportunity to possess him.
The Qi warrior who was wielding his large battle axe fixed his eyes on Hua Mu. He slowed down subconsciously as he saw the Heavenly Demonsbane’s shape appear between Hua Mu’s eyebrows, but he grew spirited again as he saw it vanish shortly afterwards. “He seems to be too weak to summon that demonic plant again!”
The same went for the other Qi warriors.
They had all slowed down to put a safe distance between them and Hua Mu as the shape of the Heavenly Demonsbane appeared, as if they had all suffered from this formidable foe.
However, as soon as they saw the Heavenly Demonsbane settling down again, the killing intent in their eyes rapidly grew intense.
“Even it has lost too much strength now, and given up,” Hua Mu said in desperation.
“You’ve summoned it three times already,” Qi Bailu said with a bitter expression. “If it weren’t for it, we wouldn’t have even made it this far. As tough as it is, it has consumed too much power fighting off wave after wave of pursuers. Many pursuers died because of it. But it doesn’t have endless power to expend after all. Like a lamp, it will also die out after running out of fuel.”
“But it was our last hope,” Hua Mu said, looking downcast. “Now that it’s gone, I’m afraid we are lost.”
The Heavenly Demonsbane had long since merged with him. If he died, the Heavenly Demonsbane would die with him.
The Heavenly Demonsbane was well-aware of that, which was why it had stepped up every time Hua Mu’s life had been threatened.
Now, even though Hua Mu voluntarily called upon it and left his soul undefended, the Heavenly Demonsbane didn’t possess him. This proved that the Heavenly Demonsbane had indeed used up every last bit of its power after helping him through crisis after crisis.
“Accept your fate!” one of the pursuers shouted.
The silver wheel spun, giving rise to a gust of wind. The numerous glowing wind blades it carried seemed to be able to rip everything in their way to pieces.
The cl.u.s.ters of earthflame essence within the Flame Mirror exploded with loud booms as the silver wind blades slammed the mirror like raindrops.
After taking repeated strong blows, the mysterious fiery patterns on the mirror gradually vanished.
“Dammit!" Qi Bailu’s expression flickered as he realized that the Flame Mirror was just about to lose all of the blazing flame power he had channeled from various fiery arcane realms and infused into it over the past hundreds of years.
Once the Flame Mirror ran out of its flame power, it would become no different from an ordinary mirror.
However, since his spiritual sea was running dry as well, he couldn’t infuse it with more of his own flame power.
“The seventh move of Sky Axe: Heaven Split!”
The large axe glowing with purple light suddenly lit up and unleashed a cross made of purple lightning, which seemed to be extremely sharp.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Like an ancient magical symbol, the large purple cross seemed to be vested with a mysterious force that could split the heavens and crush all living things.
Upon noticing the dangerous situation they were in, Qi Bailu exclaimed, “Hua Mu! Do we abandon our fleshly bodies so that our true souls can escape?”
Hua Mu gave a bitter smile. “Perhaps you can, but my true soul is bound by the Heavenly Demonsbane’s soul strands... My true soul will be ripped to shreds before it leaves my fleshly body. Don’t mind me, Brother Qi. You’d better do it now and save yourself.”
Qi Bailu grew hesitant upon hearing his words.
At this very moment, a streak of starlight sailed across the sky and arrived in front of them in the blink of an eye.
After coming to a stop, the cl.u.s.ter of blinding starlight turned out to be the Star Boat.
Confident and at ease, Nie Tian and the girls stood on it, their garments fluttering against the wind.
Hua Mu’s expression flickered, ecstasy bursting forth from his eyes. “Nie Tian!!!”
He wasn’t Zong Zheng.
Zong Zheng didn’t know Nie Tian very well. He didn’t know how many powerful resources Nie Tian had at his disposal, or what kind of power his Bone Blood Demon could display.
However, he knew very well that Nie Tian, who had gone through numerous impossible encounters, would probably be their hope to survive this tribulation.
SHEW!
A thick beam of starlight suddenly shot out of the prow of the Star Boat.
The starlight was so immense and unfathomable that it seemed to contain a sea of stars. It shot into and shattered the huge purple cross.
The purple cross that was branded with the profound truths of soul power exploded and vanished into the wind within seconds.
The expression of the late Soul realm Qi warrior who was manipulating his large axe with his spiritual power flickered as a drop of blood rolled down the corner of his mouth.
Standing on the silver wheel, another late Soul realm Qi warrior fixed Nie Tian with a cold gaze and asked, “Who are you?”
With a grim face, the first man said, “Three juniors... Two are at the Profound realm, and the other one is only at the Worldly realm. What you just did was a very dumb move, kids. What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to kill you, of course,” Nie Tian said with an expressionless face.
He had already seen Qi Bailu and Hua Mu, and realized that they were about to use up the last bit of their strength. Both their spiritual seas and seas of awareness had undergone tremendous consumption. Now, they were in no shape to fight another battle.
“Kill us?” The man said with a gruesome smile.
Nie Tian didn’t want to waste his breath with him. As a thought entered his mind, the Bone Blood Demon flew whoos.h.i.+ng out of his ring of holding.
Death power that could wither all living things instantly pervaded its surroundings. It lunged forwards in midair, swung its huge bony arm, and thrust it towards the man who was speaking like a life-reaping bone sword.
Yin Yanan’s eighth grade Frost Blood Python hissed ferociously as it created a storm of frigid cold that flooded towards the foreign Qi warriors with an overwhelming momentum.
Mu Biqiong observed briefly before lifting her left arm, and the black demonic flower’s root shot forth like a frenzied black dragon.
The seven Soul realm Qi warriors gasped one after another, as if they had seen ghosts in broad daylight.
“Is that an eighth grade Bonebrute?!”
“And an eighth grade ice-attributed Ancientbeast?!”
“That demonic flower seems to be every bit as powerful as the Heavenly Demonsbane!”
At this moment, the man standing on his silver wheel called out. “Ignore their pets, but target their feeble souls!”
Silver light shone in the depths of his eyes as he fixed them on Nie Tian.
In the next moment, silver strings shot out of his eyes towards Nie Tian’s sea of awareness.
Nie Tian let out a cold harrumph. “Come on out!”
The five powerful evil spirits rose from the top of his head. Carrying strong hatred, despair, fear, rage, and bloodthirst, their illusory bodies rapidly expanded to be more than ten meters tall.
Like evil G.o.ds from ancient times, they floated over Nie Tian, exuding extremely dangerous auras.