Touching his ear, Nie Tian asked, “Wasn’t that Xie Yunhai from the Water Moon Sect?”
“Apparently so,” Yin Yanan answered casually.
“Do you know our young lord?” One of the men asked with a surprised look on his face. “He should now be seeking fortune in the region where the Fortune Wells are located. Did you come from there?”
Nie Tian smiled faintly. “Yeah, and we met him.”
“Where is he now?” The man asked.
“Dead, probably,” Yin Yanan said with an indifferent face.
The few Profound realm Water Moon Sect disciples, who looked much older than Nie Tian and the girls, stood aghast. “What?!”
The one with the highest cultivation base, at the late Profound realm, said with a grim face, “That can’t be true! Given our young lord’s strength, he’d be able to protect himself even if he didn’t get to gain any fortune. You lot dare to curse our young lord, do you think we won’t kill you for it?”
“Curse him?” Nie Tian shook his head. “We’re not interested in cursing anyone. To tell you the truth, we don’t know for sure whether he’s dead or not. You may wait and see if we’re right. If he doesn’t come back after an unusually long time, then he’s most likely dead.”
The Water Moon Sect disciples frowned deeply after hearing Nie Tian’s words.
The man who seemed to be the leader fell silent, as if he were counting the days in his heart, and realized that Xie Yunhai should have returned long ago if things had gone smoothly.
After remaining silent for about ten seconds, he said with a serious face, “I’m Lu Feihua from the Water Moon Sect. Would you tell us what happened at the Fortune Wells, and why you think our young lord has died there?”
Eyes narrowed, Nie Tian looked up ahead. Instead of answering the man’s question, he asked, “Why has your sect sealed up this region?”
“That doesn’t concern you,” Lu Feihua said coldly. “You just need to take a short detour around it, and you’ll be able to proceed without harm.”
Nie Tian nodded, curling his lips. “If that’s your attitude, then I won’t tell you what happened at the Fortune Wells.”
The Water Moon Sect disciples’ faces grew long after they heard these words.
Nie Tian, however, didn’t seem afraid at all.
He secretly summoned power from his star souls in an attempt to form a Heaven Eye and use it to scan the region.
However, immediately after his Heaven Eye flew out of his mind, Lu Feihua sensed the anomaly and let out a bellow.
A strand of soul power that was invisible to the naked eye shot up out of the top of Lu Feihua’s head towards Nie Tian’s forming Heaven Eye.
By relying on his late Profound realm cultivation base and developed true soul, Lu Feihua had a shrewd perception of soul fluctuations.
With a gentle, lasting aura, the strand of his soul power shot into Nie Tian’s forming Heaven Eye. Like a spout shooting into a puddle of water, it scattered the wisps of soul power Nie Tian was using to form his Heaven Eye.
BOOM!
Light suddenly blossomed over Nie Tian and Lu Feihua’s heads like water splashes.
After his scattered soul power flew back to his mind, Nie Tian fixed Lu Feihua with a cold look, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
He had only failed to hold his soul power together, but didn’t sustain any soul injuries. He was at the late Worldly realm, while Lu Feihua was at the late Profound realm. There was a huge gap between their cultivation bases.
Every clash of their soul power would be more dangerous than a clash of their flesh. The fact that Nie Tian was able to recover his soul power without harm was already very impressive.
Even Lu Feihua was taken aback. He had assumed that his soul strike would have taught the young man a good lesson.
However, he saw that the look in Nie Tian’s eyes was still sharp and piercing, as if he weren’t much affected. Dialing his arrogance down, he said, “We just want to know what exactly happened to our young lord.”
“And I want to know what right you have to seal this region,” Nie Tian said with determination.
Like a streak of water, a blue figure suddenly flew over. It turned out to be a slender woman enveloped in a light ward that resembled a water bubble. “That’s because our sect was the first to discover the secret of this region, and we’ve lost people exploring it.”
Seeing that the woman had come herself, Lu Feihua and the other Water Moon Sect Qi warriors exclaimed weakly, “Miss!"
Nie Tian examined the woman with rapt attention, and discovered that she and Xie Yunhai looked rather alike. Instead of angular, her facial lines were smooth and round, which gave her a gentle, quiet look.
Like Lu Feihua, the woman was also at the late Profound realm, but she was much younger.
Even though her appearance wasn’t as outstanding as Yin Yanan’s or Mu Biqiong’s, her gentle and warm quality still made her rather attractive and likable.
“My name is Xie Wanting. I’m Yunhai’s older sister.” The woman introduced herself. Deep concern flashed across her eyes as she asked, “If I may, can I ask what happened to Yunhai at the Fortune Wells?”
Yin Yanan’s patience had long since worn out while Nie Tian had communicated with Lu Feihua. In fact, she was prepared to teach the Water Moon Sect a lesson by forcibly breaking through their blockade to see what was they were up to in this region.
However, Xie Wanting’s few words rapidly calmed her, as if they had some magical comforting effect.
“Can we go inside and take a look first?” Nie Tian asked, smiling.
Xie Wanting hesitated briefly before nodding. “Alright.”
“Miss!!" Lu Feihua and the others tried to stop her.
“It’s not a big deal for them to take a look.” Xie Wanting waved at them, signaling them to let Nie Tian and the girls pass.
Lu Feihua and the others didn’t dare to disobey her.
Therefore, Nie Tian and the girls flew past Lu Feihua on their air-transportation spiritual tool, and followed Xie Wanting to the heart of the region that the Water Moon Sect had sealed off.
Upon arriving, Nie Tian saw a dozen Water Moon Sect disciples scattered by the side of a green lake.
In farther locations, some other Water Moon Sect disciples seemed to be standing vigilant for others that might come uninvited.
Most of these disciples were at the Worldly realm and Profound realm. Not a single Soul realm expert was in sight. From the look of it, Xie Wanting was the person in charge here.
Unpleasant looks appeared on the faces of the other Water Moon Sect disciples as they saw Nie Tian and the girls.
“This lake is giving off rich water power,” Xie Wanting explained in a soft voice. “We’re guessing there might be some precious water-attributed spiritual materials at the bottom of this lake. Originally, our sect arranged this trip to the Shatter Battlefield so that my brother and I could seek fortune from the Fortune Wells and break through into the Soul realm within a short time.
“However, we accidentally discovered this lake while we were passing through this region. Sensing the aura the lake was emanating, we decided to stop here.
“We sent people into the lake to explore it, only to discover that the lake water contains deadly toxins. Three of us were poisoned to death.
“We tried very hard to find a way to get to the bottom of the lake to see whether there were water-attributed treasures down there.
“However, Yunhai didn’t want to waste his time here, so he headed to the Fortune Wells, while I stayed here to oversee the exploration of this lake.
“We both practice water power, and both of these places may provide fortune that we’ll benefit greatly from…”
Xie Wanting went on and briefly explained the situation to Nie Tian and the girls.
The three of them then examined the lake, which wasn’t vast, and sensed the faint mist over its surface, wondering what treasure might lie at the lake bottom.
However, since none of them practiced water power, they didn’t show a strong interest.
Content with Xie Wanting’s warm attitude and her taking the initiative to explain the secret of this place to them, Nie Tian honored their deal by saying, “A reborn cultivator named Yuan Jiuchuan showed up at the Fortune Wells. He seized the Fortune Well that spewed pure soul power by force. We were afraid that he would start a massacre, and thus evacuated the region, but your brother was still there when we left.
“Yuan Jiuchuan seemed to have some problem with his soul after his rebirth. But after recovering more memories of his previous life and perfecting his unique lightning incantations with the help of that Fortune Well, he would be able to slaughter everyone there.
“So we guess there’s a good chance that your brother has already fallen victim.”
After Xie Wanting heard these words, a downcast look appeared on her face, with strong grief flowing in her eyes. “You may leave, or stay here and explore. I need to spend some time alone.”
With these words, she turned around and flew into the distance.
Nie Tian and the girls stayed by the lakeside, while many Water Moon Sect disciples gazed fiercely at them, like tigers at their prey.
Eyebrows furrowed, Yin Yanan said, “Even if there are water-attributed spiritual treasures at the lake bottom, we won’t benefit from them.”
She sounded as if she didn’t want to waste another minute here.
Eyes closed, Mu Biqiong sat silently in a corner of the air-transportation spiritual tool, as if she weren’t interested at all.
“I’ll conduct a brief scan of the lake. We’ll leave if I fail to find anything worth noting.” With these words, Nie Tian told them to wait, while he formed his Heaven Eyes.
His Heaven Eyes that could only be detected by soul power came to form one after another before gradually descending into the lake.
