Nie Tian hadn’t expected that he would come under so much pressure after becoming the seventh Son of the Stars.
Before, he had been all alone. He hadn’t had so many worries or scruples.
Now all of a sudden, powerful sects like the Divine Seal Sect, the Divine Flame Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Bliss Mountain Sect had chosen to attach themselves to him, and the Domain of the Falling Stars, the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, and the Domain of Heaven Python had been put under his name. He suddenly felt unprecedented pressure on his shoulders.
Not just that, but someone had been undermining him and trying to prevent him from growing as a Son of the Stars and building up his prestige.
“No matter what, you’ve got to make a trip to the Domain of Endless Snow,” Jing Feiyang said with a solemn tone. “No matter how impudent they are, since you’re a Son of the Stars, they wouldn’t dare to make any moves against you. You’d better go have a talk with Patriarch Snowy Peak of the Heavenly Ice Sect, and try your best to bring Fan Kai and the others back alive. If you don’t go, people will a.s.sume that you’re afraid of the Heavenly Ice Sect, and that you don’t care about the lives of your subordinates. If this happens, those clans and sects in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries will distance themselves from you even more.”
Nie Tian pondered the matter, and soon made his decision. “I’ll go to the Domain of Endless Snow.”
After Xing Lifeng’s death, people from the Void Spirit Society had been focused on searching for Zhao Shanling and Pei Qiqi. Therefore, they hadn’t approached him yet.
In fact, it was good news that even the powerful experts from the Void Spirit Society couldn’t track the two of them down.
From the look of it, they would be safe for the time being.
“I’ll go to the Domain of Endless Snow with you,” Jing Feiyang said, looking as if he already had a plan in mind. “But I’ll hide myself the whole trip. I believe I’ll be able to learn the truth by doing this.”
With a surprised expression, Nie Tian asked, “What truth?”
Jing Feiyang’s eyes shone with the light of wisdom as he said, “I suspect that someone will ambush you on your way to the Domain of Endless Snow. If someone is really bent on undermining you, he might arrange for rogue cultivators or Hunters with unknown origins to ambush you. Those who have established their names or have outstanding power will most likely be apprehensive about your status, and refuse to do such a reckless thing.
“However, Hunters drift about in the starry river without a set residence. They can be easily manipulated to make such a move.
“It’s not a rare thing that they rob the ancient stars.h.i.+ps that travel among different domains.”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered slightly upon hearing this.
Afterwards, Jing Feiyang made secret arrangements for everything for this trip.
Duan s.h.i.+hu said that he would escort Nie Tian to the Domain of Endless Snow, and Jing Rou after him.
Jing Feiyang then secretly arranged for his wife to take over the Divine Seal Sect while he was away. Without bringing a single Void domain expert, he left for the Domain of Endless Snow with Nie Tian, Duan s.h.i.+hu, and Jing Rou, on their private ancient stars.h.i.+p.
As they did, Jing Feiyang hid within the ancient stars.h.i.+p, while spreading word that he was in secluded cultivation.
The ancient stars.h.i.+p headed towards the Domain of Endless Snow at full speed.
As Jing Feiyang had instructed, the Divine Seal Sect spread word of this trip Nie Tian was making.
Jing Rou, who seemed to have inherited her father’s sharp mind, chimed in. “Normally speaking, even if the Golden Vast Sect and the Thousandsword Mountain Sect had opinions about you, they wouldn’t make any moves against you. They’re too big targets. If they do, they’ll easily get exposed. They’re not as stupid as to make you their enemy, no matter how discontent they are with you.
“However, some rogue cultivators may also hold you and your friends accountable for the recent outsider invasion.
“As you know, many of our realms fell. The outsiders slaughtered countless people, perhaps including their friends and family. It’s already widespread news that Pei Qiqi and Zhao Shanling from the Domain of the Falling Stars were the direct cause of the calamity in our domain. If they can’t find Zhao Shanling or Pei Qiqi, they may very well seek ways to vent their anger on you.
“Aside from them, the people who have been undermining you might have made deals with Hunters who wander in the starry river to ambush you.
“I’m afraid this trip won’t be a safe one.”
Jing Rou and Duan s.h.i.+hu went on and a.n.a.lyzed the situation for Nie Tian, while Jing Feiyang hid his aura completely under the deck.
Even Nie Tian couldn’t capture a shred of his aura with the help of his bloodline power.
The ancient stars.h.i.+p, which every major force from the Domain of Heaven Python knew belonged to Duan s.h.i.+hu and Jing Rou, traveled through the silent starry river.
Both overtly and covertly, many forces and rogue cultivators paid close attention to it.
The trip turned out to be rather smooth.
After all, their ancient stars.h.i.+p had the Divine Seal Sect’s sigil on it. Those who harbored evil ideas had to take the Divine Seal Sect’s strength and Nie Tian’s status as a Son of the Stars into consideration, and thus didn’t dare to make any rash moves.
During this time, Nie Tian took the opportunity to practice the True Flame Incantation with the Heavenflame Crystal he had obtained from the Divine Seal Sect.
The first flame incantation his flame power sub-soul had learned on its own was the True Flame Incantation.
The True Flame Incantation allowed its users to channel Heavenflame Essence into their flame power cores, where it would be refined and used to temper them.
The True Flame Incantation seemed rather straightforward, and he didn’t encounter much trouble practicing it. As he consumed an increasingly large amount of Heavenflame Crystals, his flame power core became more refined, and came to hold more Heavenflame Essence.
While he practiced the True Flame Incantation, his flame power sub-soul in his sea of awareness derived new enlightenment of Flaming Finger Swords.
In a secret room inside the ancient stars.h.i.+p, Nie Tian exclaimed inwardly, “Flaming Finger Swords!”
WHOOs.h.!.+
His flame power sub-soul immediately summoned flame power by relying on its seamless connection to his flame power core in his spiritual sea. Blazing flame power poured out of his flame power core and rushed through his arm meridians like rivers of flames.
FZZZ!
Tiny crimson sparks suddenly flew from Nie Tian’s fingertips.
Immediately afterwards, a small sword of flames came to form at the tip of every finger. Each flaming sword looked as if it had been forged from Heavenflame Crystals.
Since they were only the size of his fingers, they didn’t seem very intimidating.
However, as soon as they came to form, Nie Tian shrewdly discovered that his flame power core had suddenly been drained of half its flame power!
According to the descriptions of Flaming Finger Swords, which was an Earth grade incantation, casters with profound cultivation bases would be able to form flaming swords that were several meters long at the tips of their fingers, with which they would be able to pierce through flesh and bone, and burn living beings to ashes.
PUFF!
The small flaming sword at the tip of his left index finger suddenly shot out and pierced into the solid wall.
A small hole instantly appeared in the wall, with sparks flickering inside.
Nie Tian pondered briefly before taking the bone of a sixth grade spirit beast from within his ring of holding.
PUFF!
Another flaming sword left his middle finger and shot into the thick bone.
The bone instantly caught fire and turned black. Heavenflame Essence could be seen burning fiercely in the flames as the bone was soon reduced to ashes, along with every bit of residual flesh power within it.
“Its destructive force is quite impressive.” Nie Tian muttered as he withdrew from his cultivation state. However, as soon as he did, his brow furrowed.
For some reason, he had a feeling that a set of eyes was lurking somewhere in the starry river and looking closely at him.
SHEW!
Jing Feiyang suddenly rushed into his secret room and fixed him with an astonished gaze. “Do you feel like you’re being examined by something, Nie Tian?”
Nie Tian nodded slightly. “Yes, I do, but I thought it was my misconception.”
“It’s not!” Jing Feiyang said with a nervous look on his face. “This is strange. The incantations you were practicing aren’t that special. Don’t tell me that that thing has sensed something special? It shouldn’t be. Things like this haven’t happened in hundreds of years.”
Nie Tian was dumbfounded. “What in the world are you talking about, Senior Jing?”
Brow furrowed, Jing Feiyang said, “Now, we’re out of the Domain of Heaven Python, and heading towards the Domain of Endless Snow. However, there used to be another domain between the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Endless Snow. It was called the Domain of Flame’s End, and the Qi warriors who founded the Divine Flame Sect were originally from there.
“Do you know how the Divine Flame Sect got its name?”
“How?” Nie Tian asked, looking confused.
“Well… about seven thousand years ago, a burning meteor flew into the Domain of Flame’s End. It brought a sea of flames that quickly engulfed the entire domain, plunging its people into a world of suffering and misery.” Jing Feiyang had deep fear in his eyes as he described that calamity. “Many Qi warriors, including Saint domain experts, were burned to death.
“However, some Qi warriors survived, and reestablished their sect in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
“This sect was later known as the Divine Flame Sect. They came up with this name because the meteor that had crashed into the Domain of Flame’s End turned out to have a cl.u.s.ter of flames inside of it, which was a Heaven Nourished grade spiritual material called the Divine Flame.
“Now, thousands of years have pa.s.sed, and that burning meteor is still wandering the remains of the Domain of Flame’s End. It has attacked quite a few pa.s.sersby who practice special flame power incantations and burned them to ashes.”