Patriarch Pure Heaven slowly came back to his senses.
Since the five evil spirits had withdrawn from his misty gray domain, the violent turbulence soon stopped. Stability was restored to his domain.
The eight Pure Heaven Arcane Orbs spread out evenly around his domain. The heaven and earths within the the orbs drew power from his domain to gradually fix the cracks and tears in them.
Patriarch Pure Heaven’s eyes snapped open.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw that Zhongli Jian, Dong Qisong, and all the others were looking at him from afar with strange expressions.
He didn’t realize what had happened at first.
Dumbfounded, he recalled everything that had just happened. Bitterness rapidly filled his heart.
“Did I just lose…?” It was as if he was asking the observers, but at the same time, himself.
At this moment, a sad, bleak look seemed to be added to his stately, strongly-built figure.
All of a sudden, Dong Qisong and the other Qi warriors from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries ended their discussion.
Dong Li pondered for a moment before saying, “Yes, you lost.”
Patriarch Pure Heaven canceled his domain and took a stride in the air to rapidly shorten the distance between him and Nie Tian.
Holding the Spirit Pearl, Nie Tian, who was surrounded by a sea of crimson flames, circulated his qi and blood to quietly withdraw his blazing flame aura.
By the time Patriarch Pure Heaven reached him, he had already returned to his regular state, with his Spirit Pearl returned to his ring of holding.
Calm and composed, Nie Tian said to him, “Even though I used spiritual tools in battle, they were mine. I didn’t rely on experts with cultivation bases higher than yours to defeat you.”
Patriarch Pure Heaven remained silent for a few seconds before bowing slightly and saying in a low voice, “I know. This old one submits. From now on, the Pure Heaven Sect and I will be yours to command, as the Beast-controlling Sect and the Divine Flame Sect are.”
As soon as he said these words, he somehow felt a strong sense of relief.
He suddenly realized that on a certain level, he had always known how meaningless his insistence had been.
The fact that he hadn’t been able to drop his status and dignity as the strongest cultivator from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries was the reason why the Pure Heaven Sect had ended up in such an unfavorable position and been surpassed by the Beast-controlling Sect and the Divine Flame Sect.
Now that he had let that go and acknowledged allegiance to Nie Tian, he realized that it wasn’t so difficult.
Seeing this, all of the important Saint and Void domain figures from the five major sects and three major clans gathered to congratulate Patriarch Pure Heaven.
“Hahaha! I knew this day would come!”
“Congratulations! We’ll be on the same boat from now on!”
“The Pure Heaven Sect is a sect from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. It’s only right for this to happen!”
With a somewhat awkward smile, Patriarch Pure Heaven nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything.
Nie Tian, however, accepted Patriarch Pure Heaven’s new identity with a light heart, and declared that the Pure Heaven Sect would be treated the same as his other subordinate forces.
As the atmosphere warmed up, elders and disciples of the Pure Heaven Sect heard the news and came.
After learning that Patriarch Pure Heaven had been defeated by Nie Tian, not only were those elders of the Pure Heaven Sect not angered, but they even cheered for the fact that their sect had become Nie Tian’s subordinate sect.
This made Patriarch Pure Heaven’s expression even more awkward.
Zhao Shanling raised his voice and said, “Alright, there are no strangers among us now.”
Naturally, everyone’s gazes landed on him.
“The Seven-star Blue Sea is full of wonders.” As he spoke, Zhao Shanling summoned the Voidspirit Pagoda and gently flicked his fingers to control the magical pagoda.
Emanating dazzling light, the pagoda then released waves of intense spatial fluctuations, giving rise to ripples on the surface of the Seven-star Blue Sea.
Under the glistening, rippling surface, a curious scene appeared out of nowhere, before suddenly bursting and vanishing in the next moment.
Zhao Shanling took a deep breath and said aloud, “Instead of ‘Seven-star Blue Sea’, it’d be more accurate to call it a… ‘Realm Sea’.
“The unfathomable sea below has taken in numerous shattered arcane realms and the flesh aura seas of outsiders and Ancientspirits. For some reason, many small heaven and earths merged and became a part of it after they perished.
“Even though I don’t know what exactly lies at the bottom, I believe the depths of this sea hold some sort of secret.
“Since the Stone Golems came from there after vanishing for so long, there must be tunnels or portals in the depths of the sea that connect to other heaven and earths.”
Nie Tian was taken aback. “Realm Sea?”
Zhao Shanling nodded slightly and said, “Exactly. Realm Seas can gather and absorb destroyed arcane realms and cultivators’ shattered domains, along with other wondrous small dimensions. The knowledge I’ve obtained about Realm Seas from the Voidspirit Pagoda is fairly limited. I suspect that the Void Spirit Society has many more records about them. Perhaps we can learn more about them through the Pei girl and the Void Spirit Society.
“The only thing I’m certain of is that the Seven-star Blue Sea is one of the so-called Realm Seas.”
Zhao Shanling only knew this because of the Voidspirit Pagoda, or in a sense, the late Master Voidspirit.
Master Voidspirit had been from the Void Spirit Society, Qu Yi’s only son.
If they wanted to learn about the secrets and wonders of Realm Seas, they might have to seek help from God domain seniors of the Void Spirit Society, such as Ji Yuanquan.
“Can’t we explore this Realm Sea ourselves?” Nie Tian asked.
Zhao Shanling shook his head. “It’s gonna be very difficult. I suppose we’ll only be able to explore it after I enter the Saint domain. Even so, it’ll be a troublesome task for us to solve this Realm Sea’s profound mysteries by ourselves. Our best choice is to find the Pei girl and have her ask seniors of the Void Spirit Society about the wonders of Realm Seas.”
Nie Tian pondered briefly, then said, “Alright, but I’ve got to return to my sect first to get a grasp of the latest situation. You may take my command medallion and purchase the spiritual materials you need to enter the Saint domain with the contribution points in it from my sect. After that, we’ll get the information we need from the Void Spirit Society, and then see if we can find out about Mo Heng’s whereabouts.”
Yin Yanan pointed at Han Sen. “What about this one, Nie Tian?”
“Do whatever you want with him,” Nie Tian answered casually.
He no longer attached any importance to people like Han Sen.
There was a large-scale teleportation portal in the Divine Flame Sect’s headquarters, through which Nie Tian returned to the Realm of Fragmentary Star.
The moment he arrived in the Vast Heaven Pavilion, the elders of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace seemed to notice his return.
Wei Lai and Yan Zhan came to see him without delay.
Face as grim as cold lake water, Wei Lai said, “Something has gone very wrong. All of our sect’s subordinate domains are in turmoil.”
Yan Zhan chimed in. “It’s not just us. The same thing has happened to the other great sects.”
Looking unprecedentedly grim, Wei Lai added, “It seems as if a secret force that has been lurking in the dark finally bore its fangs. For some reason, many sects and clans that had sworn allegiance to us suddenly rose in rebellion. And hybrids like Han Sen have been spotted in those rebellious clans and sects!”
Yan Zhan sighed. “The entire human world is falling into chaos.”
