Outside the magnificent palace.
Yue Yanxi, Jiang Feng, and Jiang Tong were sitting with their eyes closed. Three small vortexes were floating over the top of each of their heads.
Even though the vortexes were small, they were channeling and changing the movement of the rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth on this continent in a profound way.
Yue Yanxi’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Two clusters of flames seemed to be burning in the depths of his eyes.
A loud rumble that sounded like a volcanic eruption echoed out from within him. At the same time, in the very distant fire-attributed region, clusters of flames seemed to be somehow attracted by him, and started to gather towards him.
The sky seemed to be painted red by the sea of flames that was surging towards his location.
SHEW!
A man covered in blood suddenly appeared out of thin air before them.
Jian Tong instantly sprang to his feet and asked with a worried expression, “How are you doing, Big Brother Guan?!”
The man had fine cuts all over him. Some were so deep that bones could be seen, as if he been cut by many sharp blades. Blood spilled from the cuts continuously.
Even now, numerous small, snake-like blade lights were still slithering within his split wounds, inflicting damage to his body.
The burly tall man was Guan Fu, the middle Void domain reinforcement Guan Qi had summoned from their clan.
A grayish-yellow magnetic field seemed to be greatly compressed, and only enveloped a three meter range around him now.
That was his personal domain.
Within the grayish-yellow domain, fierce sword intent was still flashing across with enough might to tear the heavens to bits.
FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!
At the same time, Guan Fu’s own power constantly clashed with the sword intent, giving rise to small explosions and bright lights.
With every explosion, Guan Fu would let out a muffled groan, and his wounds would further split.
“They are here.” Guan Fu bellowed weakly, looking behind him with bloodshot eyes.
Several figures appeared in the distant sky. Each and every one of them looked elegant and carefree as they soared over on their swords.
Xing Beichen was among them.
With his usual harmless smile, Xing Beichen was flying behind the five Void domain experts, who were all dressed the same. Instead of a pursuing killer, he looked more like a young scholar who was out on a sightseeing tour. Not the slightest killing intent could be sensed from him.
The five Void domain experts all had indifferent looks in their eyes, and couldn’t be any calmer.
They were wearing garments with sleeves that were not only wide, but also long. On each of their chests was embroidered a mountain that had countless swords plunged into it.
From the look of it, that must be their sect’s sigil.
Guan Pu gave a pained groan and said to Yue Yanxi, Jiang Feng, and Jian Tong, “They’re from the Domain of Heaven Python, and the Thousandsword Mountain Sect is the name of their sect. According to them, the Trisword Sect in our domain was founded by someone from their sect. Xing Beichen was originally a chosen one of the Thousandsword Mountain Sect. However, he offended some important figure in the Domain of Heaven Python, and thus had to come to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries to lie low until the wind blew over. (Idiom: stay away from trouble)
“Now, his seniors have already solved the problem for him, and he can return to the Domain of Heaven Python at any time now.”
Guan Fu had engaged in battle against the five Thousandsword Mountain Sect experts, during which he had obtained this information.
Confused expressions appeared on Yue Yanxi and Jiang Feng’s faces as they muttered, “The Domain of Heaven Python… The Thousandsword Mountain Sect…”
Obviously, they hadn’t heard of such a domain.
“Their domain is very far from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, so we never got in touch with them before,” Guan Fu explained. Then, his face grew very grim as he added, “Their peak experts are at the Saint domain.”
Upon hearing these words, Yue Yanxi and the other experts finally gasped. “The Saint domain?!”
Their expressions grew unprecedentedly somber as they looked at the incoming experts from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect.
After arriving in front of the palace, Xing Beichen still stood behind the five Void domain experts. Eyes fixed on the grand palace, he exclaimed weakly, “It’s a palace built by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!
“Who would have thought there would be a palace of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace on this continent wreathed in rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth! So does it mean Nie Tian…”
The five Thousandsword Mountain Sect experts’ expressions grew serious as they examined the palace carefully with their eyes.
However, they didn’t pay much attention to Guan Pu, who they had seriously wounded, and the other experts from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
After a moment of hesitation, Xing Beichen said with a reluctant expression, “Martial Uncle Ke, that kid named Nie Tian seems to be from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace. I heard that he came here shortly before us. But since he’s not here now, it’s very likely that he has already entered this palace.”
Ke Jinpeng frowned, not uttering a word.
On their way here, he had learned from Xing Beichen that there was a young man named Nie Tian, who was supposed to be a member of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and he had obtained a large amount of soul crystals and Metal-devouring Bugs.
He had assumed that if Nie Tian was an ordinary member of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace who had come here on a tour, so even if they killed him, they probably wouldn’t draw ire on themselves.
However, this palace before him was clearly the work of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
This palace had been here for who knew how many years, and now a successor of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace suddenly came to find this place…
Ke Jinpeng couldn’t figure out what was going on, and thus found the matter somewhat intractable.
Just now, as soon as he had entered the atmosphere and sensed the surprisingly rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth in this place, he had decided to take this continent for their sect and add it to their sect’s arcane realms.
However, now that he realized what that palace stood for, he suddenly grew hesitant.
The existence of the palace proved that this place already had a owner, which was the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!
How would he not ponder the matter carefully if he wanted to seize this unique heaven and earth from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s hands?
After a moment of silence, Xing Beichen said, “Martial uncle, that Nie Tian is only at the Worldly realm, and he didn’t have others from his sect with him. Perhaps the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace has long since abandoned this place, or the powerful expert who had created this place died a long time ago.
“And Nie Tian wasn’t sent here by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, but he just happened to find this place by accident.
“If that’s the case, we may actually take this unwanted place, and it’ll be alright.”
The other four Void domain experts from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect nodded after hearing these words, greed flashing across their eyes.
Even in their domain, they couldn’t find a place with such rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, not to mention that this continent was divided into six regions, and each region had their unique wonders, along with a large number of rare plants and precious materials.
If they managed to take this place for the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, every one of them would be heavily rewarded for it.
With these thoughts, a middle Void domain expert named Sha Yan turned to look at Yue Yanxi, who was standing the closest to the palace gate. With a faint smile, he said, “Fellow cultivators, is that Nie Tian person in there?”
Yue Yanxi smiled coldly. “That’s right. He is in the palace. But we can’t tell who’s in there with him. Perhaps powerful experts from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace are still practicing secluded cultivation in there.”
The Thousandsword Mountain Sect experts’ expressions flickered noticeably.
In the next moment, five strands of immense soul awareness morphed into enormous swords and pierced towards the magnificent palace.
They were hoping to pry into the palace and learn the situation inside.
If Nie Tian was the only one in there, they would seriously consider killing him and taking this place.
However, if, like Yue Yanxi had just said, powerful experts from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace were practicing cultivation inside, then they would have Xing Beichen apologize to Nie Tian. If Nie Tian wouldn’t let it go no matter what, they would even give Xing Beichen up to gain the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s forgiveness.
FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!
Starlight sparks suddenly floated out of the palace walls like numerous dazzling stars.
They interwove into a mysterious star formation, warding off the Void domain experts’ soul awareness.
The giant swords that the five experts had formed with their soul awareness could easily penetrate metal and shatter stone, yet they couldn’t infiltrate the palace in the least.
Seconds later, the five experts had to withdraw their soul awareness, their expressions grimmer and more hesitant.
CREEN!
At this moment, the closed stone gate was suddenly pushed open from the inside.
Nie Tian slowly walked halfway through it. With half of his body out of the palace and the other half inside the palace, he leaned against the stone gate and said to Xing Beichen with a disdainful tone, as if he knew that he had strong backing, “What? You want to kill me? Do you want my soul crystals, Metal-devouring Bugs, or this continent?”
The moment the stone gate was pushed open, Sha Yan and the others took the opportunity to send their soul awareness inside.
Their soul awareness that was as thin as hair rapidly flew through the open gate and circled around within the palace.
Eyes narrowing, Ke Jinpeng said with a respectful tone, “There are quite a few people in the palace, but there don’t seem to be any seniors from your sect among them.”
An icy smile appeared at the corner of Sha Yan’s mouth as he nodded at Xing Beichen and said, “Your speculation seems to be correct.”
Xing Beichen laughed. “You shouldn’t have come out, Nie Tian. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to learn the actual situation inside the palace. It was very foolish of you to come out and allow us to learn that there aren’t any powerful experts from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace inside.
“Now I can tell you what we want.
“Your soul crystals, Metal-devouring Bugs, and this continent. We want them all.”
Nie Tian laughed wildly. “Come and get them then!”
