The battle between Nie Tian and Auden had broken out and ended abruptly.
The fact that it had ended within such a short time exceeded everyone’s expectations. By the time Anguz realized what was happening and planned to launch attacks with his ancient starship, Auden’s mangled corpse was already lying on the Star Boat.
Pei Qiqi’s bright eyes flickered. “It’s hard to believe that his battle prowess has also become so terrifyingly high!”
Previously, Nie Tian had stood by when a battle had broken out in realm number nine.
During that battle, Nie Tian had only summoned the five evil spirits from within the Spirit Pearl.
Therefore, Pei Qiqi hadn’t had a chance to witness his battle prowess… until now!
The fact that Nie Tian had slain Auden effortlessly with that Star Behemoth bone made her realize that while she had advanced by leaps and bounds after joining the Void Spirit Society, Nie Tian had advanced every bit as fast as she had.
Furthermore, Nie Tian was only at the Profound realm.
Pei Qiqi couldn’t help but wonder, “The fact that Sikong Cuo could kill eighth grade Bonebrutes one after another in that dead realm had a lot to do with his early Void domain cultivation base and the fact that he was a Son of the Stars. His cultivation base roughly matches the grade of those Bonebrutes, and he’s a Son of the Stars. So it’s not that shocking that he was able to kill a bunch of them.
“But Nie Tian is different. His cultivation base is at the Profound realm, and his bloodline is only at the seventh grade.
“Given this, it’s truly unbelievable that he was able to finish Auden off so easily.”
Nie Tian’s performance had greatly surprised her, and put her worrying heart at ease.
Huang Jinnan laughed heartily, feeling truly happy for Nie Tian. “That was awesome, Nie Tian! No wonder people envy you everywhere. The reason why Sikong Cuo is so highly regarded by some of your sect elders and vice sectmasters is because, on the one hand, his cultivation advances at a shocking speed, and on the other, his battle prowess stands out.
“But the way I see it, it’s only a matter of time before you surpass him.
“I never heard that he was able to kill an eighth grade Demon when he was at the Profound realm. The gap is two entire grades, for heaven’s sake!”
He knew the fact that Nie Tian was able to display such incredible battle prowess had a great deal to do with that mysterious bone. However, he also knew that back when they had explored that Lizardman domain together, Nie Tian had only been able to strike once with it, and would have to stop to recover strength afterwards.
That had clearly changed. Now, after killing Auden with the bone, Nie Tian’s flesh power was still rather copious.
That was when he realized that the bone had already become Nie Tian’s regular attacking means that he would be able to use repeatedly in battle.
RUMBLE!
Loud rumbles echoed out from the two Demon ancient starships as they pointed their prows in Nie Tian’s direction.
The furious cries of Demons filled the starships.
Anguz bellowed, as if to order his people to crush Nie Tian with the cannon on their ancient starships.
Spheres of lavender light then blasted forth from the prows of the ancient starships.
Inside the glowing spheres were countless tiny purple crystals, which seemed to carry a destructive essence of qi and blood.
SHEW!
The Star Boat accelerated again, and threaded swiftly through the spaces between the purple spheres.
Not once was it hit.
The ancient starship that had lost Auden became Nie Tian’s next target. With the Star Boat’s dashing momentum, he held out the Star Behemoth bone like a huge sword, and slashed it towards the middle of the ancient starship.
A crimson lightning bolt suddenly lit up the void.
CRACK! CRACK!
The ancient starship that had been forged from enormous low-tier Demon corpses and rare metals split in two from the middle.
Numerous seventh grade Demons screamed and jumped off the ancient starship.
However, wherever they flew, the Star Behemoth bone would follow, reaping their lives like Death’s scythe. As they attempted to activate their bloodline talents, a new discovery drove them into despair. All of their bloodline talents and magics were suppressed by a mysterious aura unleashed by that bone, and couldn’t be activated.
Dead Demons started to fall onto the Star Boat like cannonballs.
Before long, numerous Demon corpses were piled into a small hill on the Star Boat.
Nie Tian laughed, gritting his teeth. “The time has finally come for you to pay for your crimes. You thought up every possible way to invade the Domain of the Falling Stars, plunging all of its nine realms into a world of misery and devastation. You never thought that you’d see this day, did you?”
Recalling the sense of weakness he had felt facing Anguz and Auden back in the day and seeing what was happening now, Nie Tian felt completely relieved.
Decades had passed, and he was no longer the young man who had only been able to observe the battle between high-tier Demons and Li Muyang, Ling Dong, and Hua Mu. Instead, he had become a figure that inspired fear among the Demons. This meant all these years of hard work hadn’t been in vain.
As long as he was still alive, the Demons wouldn’t dare to rashly invade the Domain of the Falling Stars anymore.
“I can’t believe he’s become so powerful!” Anguz panted and bellowed as he watched Auden’s ancient starship split and numerous Demons die at Nie Tian’s hands. With fear rising in his heart, he decided to retreat.
Then, he shouted in the Demons’ language, ordering his subordinates to sail the starship away.
However, at this moment, a network of fine spatial lines appeared in the depths of Pei Qiqi’s pupils.
She took out the irregularly shaped crystal. Staring into it, at the image of Anguz’s ancient starship within it, she uttered softly, “Spatial Imprisonment!”
After that, even though the ancient starship continued to rumble, it only swayed slightly, but couldn’t move a bit forward.
It was as if the enormous starship had been bound by numerous invisible chains!
Even the Demons on it lost all mobility, like locusts that were being pinned to the ground. Anguz was the only one who wasn’t confined by the strange spatial power.
WHOOSH!
The Star Behemoth bone was brought down once again, aimed at the ancient starship.
The starship cracked and split in two.
Anguz bellowed as he jumped onto a satanic dragon. At the same time, he cast a secret bloodline magic, numerous demonic souls starting to wail in the depths of his eyes.
“The Demonic Soul Curse?” Nie Tian laughed and shook his head. “It won’t work. I faced two of your grand patriarchs, the Controller and the Flame Maniac, on a floating continent. Even they couldn’t get the Demonic Soul Curse to work on me, but you think you can? Lord Anguz, times have changed. In my eyes, you’re not the mighty overlord who invaded the Realm of a Thousand Devastations anymore.
“Now, you are nothing but… my prey.”
With these words, the bone suddenly shot out of Nie Tian’s hand.
Like Auden, Anguz was also easily penetrated like a fragile paper doll.
Killing intent burst forth within Nie Tian’s eyes. “Life Drain!”
Like a whale taking in sea water, he started channeling flesh power from Anguz through the bone.
This was a brand new method to channel flesh power which he had just derived from his battle against Auden.
Before, the only items he could couple with Life Drain were the seventy-two tree branches. Through them, he had channeled flesh power from outsiders and Ancientbeasts.
Neither the Flame Star, the Flame Dragon Armor, nor any other spiritual tool could be used this way.
Even the bone hadn’t shown any sign of this wondrous use until just now.
However, at this moment, the bone seemed to suddenly become a medium that pushed the effect of Life Drain to its limit.
As he examined it with rapt attention, he could even see the crimson veins in the depths of the bone squirming and facilitating Life Drain in an unfathomable way.
As rich flesh power poured into him through the crimson veins inside the bone, Anguz’s robust body shriveled at a visible rate.
The light in his dark-purple pupils gradually grew dim.
Then, as Nie Tian stroked the bone upwards, Anguz’s heart split in two.
The last remaining light in Anguz’s eyes suddenly went out.
“It’s over.”
With these words, Nie Tian climbed onto the Demon starship. One by one, he executed the sealed seventh grade Demons and tossed their corpses onto his Star Boat.
The Star Boat wasn’t very spacious to begin with. Now, it was so full of dead Demons that Nie Tian felt crowded after jumping back onto it.
“You finished them a bit too fast, didn’t you…?” Huang Jinnan said with a dry smile. “I was going to join you, but who knew you wouldn’t even give me a chance? Whatever. I got to save my strength this way.”
Pei Qiqi started her Voidheaven Boat and flew to the broken Demon starship. At the same time, the Spatial Imprisonment was deactivated.
Standing on the Star Boat, Nie Tian was still holding the exceptionally long bone, which extended several meters beyond the prow and stern of the Star Boat. The Star Boat was now so packed with dead Demons that not an inch of floor could be seen.
“This broken ancient starship is of no use to me. You guys do whatever you want with it.” After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian added, “I’ll need some time to digest these Demon corpses.”
Pei Qiqi nodded slightly. With a casual wave of her hand, she split open a spatial rift, through which the three of them returned to the dead realm they had come from.
After his return, Nie Tian focused on strengthening himself with the numerous Demon corpses he had brought back on the Star Boat.
Days passed…
The remains of Auden, Anguz, and all of the seventh grade Demons had been drained of their flesh power, and become useless.
With the rich flesh power he had channeled from them, Nie Tian had finished his first round of body refinement after advancing to the seventh grade.
He examined himself with rapt attention, and discovered that the amount of flesh power held by his internal organs, bones, meridians, and blood had increased about tenfold!
Not only that, but he had also condensed three drops of transcendent Blood Essence.
Adding in the first drop, there were now a total of four drops of Blood Essence in his heart.
“That green aura seems to know that I need flesh power to strengthen my upgraded body and condense transcendent Blood Essence, and thus didn’t swoop in and devour the flesh power.
“Now that my flesh power has become ten times richer than before, I can use the Star Behemoth bone even more in battle.
“But the Blood Essence I have condensed is still far from the fifty drops I need to go seek new bloodline magics in the Blood Realm.
“I still need more outsider corpses…”
Brow furrowed, Nie Tian gazed into the dark starry river. After pondering for a while, he asked Pei Qiqi, “How is it going with Sikong Cuo?”
“The battle is still ongoing,” Pei Qiqi said with an expressionless face. “But surprisingly, he and his subordinates are displaying shockingly high battle prowess. If no reinforcements join their battle, they’ll probably emerge as the winners eventually.
“Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher and those Bonebrutes are actually losing the battle?” Nie Tian asked curiously.
“Yeah,” Pei Qiqi answered. Of course, given that Grand Patriarch Bone Crusher is at the late ninth grade, no one will be able to stop him if he wants to leave. The only reason he hasn’t left yet is because he knows that Pergson has spread word, asking for help. They probably don’t know that you’ve eliminated their ‘help’ yet.”
“How many people has Sikong Cuo lost so far?” Nie Tian asked.
“A handful, but the Bonebrutes have suffered much heavier casualties,” Pei Qiqi answered.
While the two of them spoke, Huang Jinnan exclaimed once again, “You’re in luck, Nie Tian. Another group of outsiders is on its way here. They’re all Phantasms, and none of them are at the ninth grade!”
Nie Tian’s eyes suddenly lit up. “That’s terrific!”
