After all, unlike an ancient starship, the speed of the Voidheaven Boat was rather limited. They only found a dead realm a few days later.
Even though it had its realm barrier shattered, it could still keep off a small portion of the mixed energies in the starry river.
After the Voidheaven Boat landed, Nie Tian, Pei Qiqi, and Huang Jinnan examined their surroundings, and failed to find any signs of life.
Only then did the three of them put their hearts at ease.
Afterwards, Nie Tian cultivated day and night, channeling flesh power from the outsider corpses he had stockpiled in his ring of holding and fusing it into Pei Qiqi, along with his unique bloodline power.
Thanks to that, Pei Qiqi’s acupoints were healed one by one.
Huang Jinnan, however, recuperated painstakingly by relying on medicinal pills and spirit stones.
On this day…
Looking somewhat depleted, Nie Tian removed his hands from Pei Qiqi’s back to look for more outsider corpses and spirit beast meat in his ring of holding. However, he suddenly realized that he was about to run out of the outsider corpses and spirit beast meat he had accumulated over the years.
He frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Pei Qiqi asked.
He let out a sigh.“I’m running out of the outsider corpses and spirit beast meat that I use to recover flesh power.”
Back when he had been on that floating continent, he had used all of the outsider corpses he had obtained to refine his Blood Essence, which he had fused into the Star Behemoth bone.
Later, he had relied on the outsider corpses Fang Yuan had brought back from the Dead Star Sea to help Fang Tianyi get rid of Grand Patriarch Cardy’s residual power.
After returning to the Vast Heaven Pavilion, he had also consumed spirit beast meat on a daily basis to meet his bodily consumption.
Then, he had spent the past few days refining flesh power to heal Pei Qiqi’s injuries nonstop.
Before he knew it, he was already seeing the bottom of his spirit beast meat and outsider corpse reserve.
“Sorry, I didn’t stock any spirit beast meat or outsider corpses,” Pei Qiqi said somewhat apologetically, “I’ve got to say that you really are unique. You seem to be able to use the remains of any creature to recover your flesh power, as long as they carry rich flesh power. Unlike you, I can only strengthen my bloodline with the flesh of certain special spirit beasts.
“Those spirit beasts are very hard to find and capture. The fact that I was able to make rapid progress in my cultivation after joining the Void Spirit Society is because my master had some of that spirit beast flesh. But even he didn’t have much of it to spoil me with.”
“It’s alright,” Nie Tian said. “I’ll go ask Huang Jinnan.”
At this moment, the three of them were still separated by a light screen on the Voidheaven Boat.
Pei Qiqi nodded and deactivated the light screen.
Huang Jinnan, who was cultivating wholeheartedly, was awoken by the sudden disappearance of the light screen, and shot him a curious look.
“Do you have any spirit beast meat with you?” Nie Tian asked. “Outsider corpses work too.”
“Will a Goldskin Beast skull do?” Huang Jinnan asked, looking puzzled.
“Let me take a look,” Nie Tian said.
An enormous skull then flew out from within Huang Jinnan’s ring of holding. Dozens of meters high, it looked like a hill.
The skull was bereft of any flesh or skin. All it had was bones, within which golden light could be seen flowing, giving rise to a curious aura.
“This Goldskin Beast is still just a spirit beast,” Huang Jinnan explained. “But what made it special was that it was at the ninth grade when my master found and killed it. He hoped to forge me a spiritual tool with its skull. Since I still have yet to gather some necessary materials, I’ve been carrying it around.”
Nie Tian was taken aback. “That’s from a ninth grade Goldskin Beast?!”
Even though a ninth grade Goldskin Beast was still not an Ancientbeast from the Desolate Antiquity Era, its strength must have been by no means insignificant, and it might have been every bit as intelligent as members of higher races.
If it had been found by Ancientbeasts instead, it might have been invited to some Ancientbeast realm, where it could cultivate better.
“Take it if you find it useful,” Huang Jinnan said generously. “I can always forge spiritual tools with other materials, but right now, we don’t even know if we’ll be able to leave the Domain of Nether Heaven alive. Go ahead and use it as long as it can help you. It’s all good.”
Nie Tian pondered for a while and said, “I think it can help me heal Senior Martial Sister Pei’s injuries. Once she recovers, she’ll be able to use Void Travel again. Then, the three of us will have a much better chance at surviving this tribulation.”
Upon hearing this, Huang Jinnan didn’t hesitate at all before leaving the enormous skull out for Nie Tian.
Not just that, but he also suggested in high spirits, “If you want, I can go somewhere and give you two some privacy.”
Pei Qiqi nodded slightly at him.
Huang Jinnan didn’t seem to mind it at all, as he summoned his golden war chariot and flew into the distance.
Pei Qiqi shot Nie Tian a sideways glance. “The man is quite sensible. No wonder you insisted on bringing him at the risk of sustaining serious injuries. He’s a much better person than that Sikong Cuo from your sect.”
Nie Tian grinned. “Of course! None of my friends are anything like Sikong Cuo.”
Pei Qiqi’s expression suddenly grew serious. She frowned and said, “You’d better watch out for Sikong Cuo. You were targeted when you were in the Domain of Heaven Python, and ambushed on your way to the Domain of Endless Snow. At first, I thought someone from my sect held a grudge against you, and thus sent people to do those things.
“However, I asked my master, and he told me with absolute certainty that those things that happened to you had nothing to do with the Void Spirit Society.
“It occurred to him that when he searched for me in areas close to the Domain of Heaven Python that he saw Sikong Cuo’s subordinates sneaking around.”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered. “Sikong Cuo!”
Fan Kai and the others had been captured. Quan Zixuan and Qu Mingde had been lured into refusing his offer. Master Bloody Despair had ambushed him on his way to the Domain of Endless Snow… All of these things seemed to have someone standing behind them.
Quan Zixuan and Qu Mingde had come clean, and promised that they didn’t know who that person was.
Nie Tian had many theories as to who it was. However, Pei Qiqi’s words pointed him in the right direction. With a grim face, he muttered, “I’ve done nothing to that Sikong Cuo. Why has he been targeting me this whole time?”
Seeming to have a deep understanding of the matter, Pei Qiqi said, “Because you’re the seventh Son of the Stars. And like him, you also emerged from the Heaven Gate Trial. Besides, Mo Heng seems to have shown special attention to you when you were officially named the seventh Son of the Stars. As far as I know, he doesn’t like Sikong Cuo very much.
“Sikong Cuo might think he has put all his money on you, and so figured he’d undermine you and slow you down, so that you won’t be able to overshadow him.”
Nie Tian chuckled. “Thank you for clearing things up for me, senior martial sister. Things in the Domain of Nether Heaven are getting more and more intense. It’s hard to say whether he’ll be able to survive this tribulation. But if he does, when we meet again, I’ll give him a taste of his own medicine by setting him up the same way he set up He Lianxiong.”
After their conversation, Nie Tian activated Life Drain once again to channel the residual flesh power from the ninth grade Goldskin Beast’s skull.
He hadn’t had much direct contact with the flesh power of ninth grade outsiders or spirit beasts before, except the time when he had dealt with Cardy’s residual flesh power that had been left in Fang Tianyi’s domain.
Back then, he had only been able to dissolve Cardy’s flesh power with Life Drain, but hadn’t been able to absorb any of it.
Therefore, he worried that the same thing would happen this time.
However, his furrowed brow relaxed as soon as wisps of scarlet blood strings flew out of him and pierced into the ninth grade Goldskin Beast’s skull.
Extremely rich flesh power started pouring out of the enormous golden skull into him right away.
It could be because the Goldskin Beast had already died, or some other reason he didn’t know, but the residual flesh power within the ninth grade Goldskin Beast’s skull was channeled without any effort as soon as Life Drain was activated.
