Even cut to pieces, the bits of Bonebrute bones throbbed as they gathered on the ground, hoping to rebuild themselves.
Zhao Shanling let out a cold harrumph, and the Voidspirit Pagoda in his hand suddenly split up into streaks of glorious light that arched and flew into the Bonebrutes’ severed heads.
In the next moment, the heads stopped bouncing on the ground and became lifeless.
SHEW!
The streaks of glorious light then flew out of the Bonebrute heads and returned to Zhao Shanling’s palm, where they reformed the Voidspirit Pagoda.
Nie Tian noticed that the Bonebrutes had died completely, and thus after a moment of hesitation, summoned the Spirit Pearl from within his ring of holding.
The Bonebrutes’ discarnate souls rapidly morphed into wisps of pale-gray smoke that disappeared into the Spirit Pearl.
Hua Mu and Zhao Shanling knew about his Spirit Pearl, and thus didn’t find the scene of the Spirit Pearl absorbing Bonebrute souls surprising.
Qi Bailu and the other experts, however, were surprised, and marveled inwardly at how many unique treasures Nie Tian had in his possession.
Eyes narrowed, Zhao Shanling said disdainfully, “They’re only sixth grade Bonebrutes that can’t even withstand a single strike. And they seem to have sustained serious injuries right before coming here. It’s their bad luck to run into us at such a time.”
“But who did they fight?” Hua Mu asked with a grim voice.
Staring at the arch of bones, Zhao Shanling said with furrowed brows, “Whoever they are, they can’t be from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect. The Bonebrutes must have been on the side that has lost. I could tell that they wanted to seal this arch of bones very much. They seemed to be afraid that their enemies would follow them here.”
Qi Bailu’s expression flickered as he asked, “I suppose their enemies will probably be our friends?”
Zhao Shanling nodded. “That’s actually quite likely.”
They waited in front of the arch of bones for some time, assuming more Bonebrutes or their pursuers would show up.
However, no one ever came.
“Shall we enter it?” Hua Mu proposed.
“I’ve marked this arch of bones with my unique method,” Zhao Shanling said. “Even if the portal that’s connected to this one is shattered, I can teleport us back here with my Voidspirit Pagoda. Of course, that’s on the condition that this portal isn’t destroyed.”
Qi Bailu and the other experts all fixed their eyes on Nie Tian.
Nie Tian pondered in silence for a few seconds before nodding. “Let’s do it.”
Immediately afterwards, he sent out a soul message to summon the Bone Blood Demon.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The giant Bone Blood Demon, which was more than thirty meters tall, rushed over, wreathed in a strong aura of death. As it did, it stomped bones to fragments, giving rise to loud crashes.
This Bone Blood Demon had been at the eighth grade when it had been alive, its battle prowess equal to that of a Void domain human expert.
Before, since it hadn’t been able to heal its ruptured bones and lacked death power, it’s battle prowess had only been at the middle Soul realm.
But now that it had gone through a period of refinement with the help of an altar of bones, its strength had gained a strong boost.
As it rushed over, the fierce aura it released even shocked Zhao Shanling. “I see that this puppet of yours has become even stronger. It seems to me it can give late Soul realm cultivators a fight now. Do you want to give it a bit more time to gather more strength with the help of the altars of bones here?”
Nie Tian seemed somewhat hesitant.
He knew perfectly well that the altars of bones here could help the Bone Blood Demon channel death power from the countless skeletons in their surroundings.
Given enough time, the Bone Blood Demon’s strength would grow significantly.
However, the main goal of this trip wasn’t for the Bone Blood Demon to accumulate strength.
Rather, they needed to figure out the cause of Zhen Huilan’s death and avenge her. Besides, they also had to find out whether Pei Qiqi was still alive. They couldn’t afford to waste any time.
“Forget it,” Nie Tian said. “Since you’ll be able to teleport me back here with your Voidspirit Pagoda, I’ll have it come here to gather death power later.”
Zhao Shanling nodded. “Alright.”
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
One after another, everyone flew carefully into the blazing pale flames filling the arch of bones.
As Nie Tian entered, he sensed a bleak, dead-silent aura from the pale flames, which even slowed his blood flow.
Fortunately, the strange feeling only lasted a moment before disappearing completely.
In the next moment, he and the other experts appeared on the other side.
Qi Bailu glanced around and saw numerous silent volcanoes in their surroundings. With an amazed expression, he said, “This place is actually very similar to the Realm of Unbounded Desolation.”
After flashing out of the portal, Nie Tian realized that they were standing on the stern of a wrecked starship made of bones.
From the look of it, this starship had recently fallen out of the void and crashed to the ground. The majority of the translucent, jade-like bones that had been used to forge this starship had broken.
Only the stern of the starship, where the arch of curved bones stood, remained intact.
Pale flames were still burning in the arch of bones, giving rise to intense spatial fluctuations.
A few dozen dead Bonebrutes were scattered around the wrecked starship. It was unknown whether they had died from the crash or been killed by others.
Ditches created by lava stretched from the few surrounding dormant volcanoes, passing the wrecked starship.
Zhao Shanling unleashed his immense soul awareness, which spread in all directions with the bone starship as the center, scanning for signs of life.
However, before his soul awareness had fully spread, he suddenly jerked his head skywards.
An ancient starship that shone with golden light pierced through the gray clouds and descended with deafening rumbles.
The golden starship seemed to be made of Golden Obsidian. Like an enormous piece of gold, it gave people a feeling that it was incomparably solid and all-conquering.
As the golden starship approached, wisps of immense soul awareness poured down like golden streams.
Nie Tian was dumbstruck for a moment before exclaiming, “The Golden Vast Sect!”
This golden starship was almost identical to the one he had seen stuck between meteors in the forbidden region.
He had long since learned that the Golden Vast Sect wasn’t from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, but a domain that was even more powerful.
Like the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, the Golden Vast Sect also had Saint domain experts.
Everyone was somewhat bewildered upon seeing the Golden Vast Sect’s ancient starship descending from the heavens.
Eyes narrowed, Zhao Shanling seemed to be able to gain a clear view of the starship even from such long distance as he said, “Signs of impact can be seen at the prow of the golden starship! If my speculations are correct, this wrecked bone starship clashed with that golden starship and fell out of the void.
“These people are probably the ones who the Bonebrutes fought earlier!”
“Do we know anything about the Golden Vast Sect?” Hua Mu asked with a puzzled expression.
Eyebrows furrowed, Nie Tian answered with a grim look, “Like the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, they also have Saint domain experts. I suppose, just like the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, they’re also from the Domain of Heaven Python.”
“Don’t tell me they also have something to do with the large number of human corpses in that burial ground?” Xing Huanyue said with a speculating tone.
Zhao Shanling shook his head. “That’s not possible. If they helped the Bonebrutes build that burial ground, why are they fighting them to the death now?”
“If that’s the case, there’s no need for us to panic,” Hua Mu said. “Let’s have a talk with them first.”
Zhao Shanling examined the starship with rapt attention. His tensed-up expression relaxed a bit as he said, “They don’t seem to have any Void domain experts on their starship.”
RUUUUMBLE!
The golden starship slowly came to a stop at a place about a hundred meters over their heads, blocking almost the entire sky. Nie Tian and all of the experts were in its enormous shadow.
One figure after another flew off the golden starship like streaks of golden light.
The person who looked like their leader was wearing a golden feather hat and a long golden robe. Shining with golden light, he looked like a majestic god forged from pure gold.
As he flew closer, he suddenly noticed the Blood Demon beside Nie Tian.
His eyes instantly grew icy. Face filled with disgust and hate, he spat, “Like the Thousandsword Mountain Sect has said, some humans have indeed made secret deals with the Bonebrutes and have been providing them with human corpses to help them build burial grounds!”
“That’s must be it,” another person chimed in. “They must be the ones they talked about. They’re from the Domain of the Falling Stars, if I remember correctly.”
High in the air, the person in golden hat waved his hand and issued an order without much thought. “Leave one alive so we can interrogate him for information. Kill the rest.”
Shock spread across Nie Tian’s face.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Corpses of Bonebrutes started to fall out of the sky.
They seemed to have been killed earlier during a fierce battle in the void between them and the Golden Vast Sect.
