Surrounded by sky-filing golden lights, Xue Long went dumbstruck after seeing that Nie Tian had returned.

ZZZZZLA!

A beam of golden light swept across Xue Long’s waist, cutting off a piece of his flesh and leaving a bloody gash.

With a pained cry, Xue Long refocused his attention on defending against the slithering golden light beams that had shot out of Ning Yang’s sword.

However, he couldn’t help but check Nie Tian out from time to time with a both touched and worried look in his eyes.

After all, he had never expected that Nie Tian would actually have the audacity to come back.

Ning Yang was so powerful that even he was barely able to stay alive. He couldn’t even manage to escape from the blockade of Ning Yang’s golden sword lights.

He believed that there wasn’t a single person in the Realm of Split Void who had the same cultivation base as Ning Yang that would be worthy of being his opponent.

Nie Tian knew perfectly clearly how formidable Ning Yang was, and that he and Xue Long had only come together because of a deal.

Not only that, but the Phantasm currently being held off by Li Langfeng was also a major threat to Nie Tian.

Once the Phantasm broke free from Li Langfeng’s blockade and came for Nie Tian, he would be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Under such extreme circumstances, Nie Tian was obviously being irrational to come back to his aid.

On the other hand, the way Xue Long saw it, since Nie Tian was only at the Heaven stage, even though he had returned, he actually wouldn’t be able to do much to help. It would just be one more life lost.

Therefore, even though he was very touched, he felt that Nie Tian wasn’t being smart.

Xue Long’s face grew stern as he berated, “Why did you come back? I told you not to mind me. Why didn’t you listen? What’s the point of you coming back? Will you be able to help me?”

With a sickly ecstatic look in his eyes, Ning Yang laughed broadly. “Great!!! Leave me those three fragmentary star marks and I’ll spare your lives! Otherwise, both of you will die here today!”

Nie Tian was surprisingly calm as he said, “Uncle Xue, it doesn’t matter what kind of deal you’ve made with the Spirit Condor. Since you’re here to help me accomplish a task, I can’t watch you die. Also, how come you’re so certain that I won’t be able to help you?”

WHOOSH!

The Flame Dragon Armor suddenly flew out of Nie Tian’s bracelet of holding.

The crimson Flame Dragon Armor unleashed blazing flames, as if it had turned into a miniature sun, causing crackling sounds to echo out from the air around it.

“A Spirit Channeling grade treasure! And it’s fire-attributed!” Xue Long was flabbergasted.

Only then did he finally realize that this was probably the fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure that Shi Hui and his men had seen in the Void Illusion Mountain Range.

After all, aside from people from the Flame God Sect, not many people knew that the Flame Dragon Armor had been in Nie Tian’s possession.

Even though Xue Long had figured out Nie Tian’s real identity, he wasn’t aware that he was the owner of that Spirit Channeling grade treasure.

Ning Yang gave a cold harrumph and said, “As I expected, the Flame Dragon Armor is indeed in your hands!”

As a core disciple and the lead searcher of the Heaven Palace Sect, Ning Yang naturally had access to more information than Xue Long did.

Upon seeing the Flame Dragon Armor, Ning Yang slightly restrained his disdain and assumed a much more serious attitude as he faced Nie Tian.

He had heard some stories regarding the Flame Dragon Armor, and he knew that this Spirit Channeling grade treasure had never displayed its true might after it had been obtained by the Flame God Sect.

The reason was that the Flame Dragon Armor they had seized hadn’t been complete.

The most important part of the Flame Dragon Armor was the Blood Core, which was its source of energy. The Flame God Sect had been searching for the Blood Core ever since they had obtained the Flame Dragon Armor, but their efforts had been fruitless.

However, according to the information Ning Yang had obtained, the Flame Dragon Armor Nie Tian had just summoned out of his bracelet of holding should have merged with its Blood Core and become complete.

Even its damaged parts seemed to be somehow repaired. This meant that the Flame Dragon Armor had become intact in Nie Tian’s hands, and it was now a Spirit Channeling grade treasure that was capable of inflicting tremendous damage.

Every Spirit Channeling grade treasure could be considered to be a weapon of massive destruction, not to mention this was the famous Flame Dragon Armor.

After summoning the Flame Dragon Armor, Nie Tian focused his attention on his firm will to kill Ning Yang, “Help me kill this man!”

He had faith that the Flame Dragon Armor’s soul would be able to read his mind.

As Nie Tian had expected, the moment he made his intentions clear, the Flame Dragon Armor, which was burning fiercely like a sun, morphed into a gigantic flame dragon. Thundering ferociously, it swooped down towards Ning Yang, following the directions given by Nie Tian’s Heaven Eyes.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

Red flames were unleashed from within the slithering, gigantic flame dragon’s intangible body.

Wherever the flame dragon flew, even the air seemed to be set ablaze. It was as if the terrifying heat had turned the area within a five-kilometer radius into a fiery dimension.

As the flame dragon swam in the air, drops of lava dripped down from it’s blazing body from time to time.

However, the drops of lava didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, they floated in midair like numerous burning fire beads, as if they were completely free from the influence of gravity.

Moments later, the air above Nie Tian’s head was filled with fire beads.

PUFF!

With a swing of his spiritual sword, Ning Yang sent out a golden light beam. As soon as it made contact with the floating fire beads, dazzlingly bright golden light shot out in every direction, along with sputtering sparks.

At this moment, there were as many as several hundred light beams hovering around and trapping Xue Long, each of which contained sharp and profound metal power. They were swirling at a speed so fast that Xue Long couldn’t find any possible angle to escape.

As Ning Yang sent out more golden light beams and they continued to clash with the floating fire beads, more golden and fiery light blossomed and sputtered into the surroundings.

In a brief moment, the area was overwhelmed by a splendid feast of fire and light.

Golden and fiery light flashed across and rapidly filled the entire sky, making it a glorious scene.

However, the fierce and frenzied energy the sputtering golden and fiery lights carried continued to cause damage to the area they were in.

As the golden light beams sputtered on the desert ground, one sizable hole after another was created in the sandy ground.

As the fiery lights fell to the the desert ground, the sandy ground turned scorching hot, as if it was raining lava and the sand was burning.

“The might of a Spirit Channeling grade treasure is indeed amazing!” Xue Long was overjoyed as he watched the golden light beams around him be destroyed by the countless fire beads. Finally, the trap was broken, and he charged out through a loophole in the swirling golden sword lights.

Standing outside the collapsing trap formed by the golden sword lights, covered in bloody wounds, Xue Long couldn’t stop panting. He hastily took out a handful of medicinal pills from within his ring of holding and stuffed them down his throat.

Immediately afterwards, the numerous gashes on his badly mangled body stopped bleeding.

With a grim expression, Ning Yang let out a sharp cry, “Flame Dragon Armor!”

Holding his spiritual sword, which was glittering with golden bright light, he leapt into the air.

Under Nie Tian and Xue Long’s gazes, Ning Yang seemed to have merged with his golden spiritual sword and become one enormous broadsword. With an unstoppable momentum, it shot into the heavens.

In a split second, the incomparably sharp broadsword engaged in battle with the Flame Dragon Armor in flame dragon form in midair.

If they didn’t sense with their psychic awareness, but rather observed with their naked eyes, they wouldn’t be able to find any trace of the Flame Dragon Armor or Ning Yang. All they would see was an enormous golden broadsword fighting a gigantic flame dragon in midair.

Even more fragmented golden lights and fire drops fell from midair.

The sky was filled with blazing flames and the earth was covered in holes. The fluctuations of spiritual power created by the midair clashes were so violent that they left Nie Tian in awe.

With a shocked expression on his face, he marveled, “I can’t believe Ning Yang is so powerful!”

“Yeah, as the chosen one of the Heaven Palace Sect, he surely possesses unparalleled strength.” Xue Long said with a bitter smile. “Before our engagement, I didn’t expect him to be so powerful either.”

CRUNCH!

As they spoke, the golden broadsword hacked heavily down on the neck of the blazing flame dragon, giving rise to a loud, metallic, clanking sound.

In the next moment, the Flame Dragon Armor resumed its original form.

Ning Yang’s figure also appeared, holding his normal-sized golden sword, which had hacked on the surface of the Flame Dragon Armor.

The sword strike didn’t leave any fissure or dent on the Flame Dragon Armor.

However, the sharp metal power within the golden spiritual sword turned into tiny, golden light swords and flew into the Flame Dragon Armor.

“This is not good!” Xue Long’s expression flickered. “After all, your cultivation base is still too low, and you can’t wear this Spirit Channeling grade armor yet. Because of this, you can’t activate and display its full might.”

Nie Tian also sensed the unfavorable situation.

No matter how high its grade, it was still a spiritual tool. Just like any other spiritual tool, it would only be able to display its ultimate power when it became one with its master.

This meant that only when he was able to wear the Flame Dragon Armor, and his cultivation base allowed him to have the Flame Dragon Armor follow his heart’s desire, would he be able to bring out its full might.

At this moment, he was facing two problems: one, his cultivation base was still too low; second, he still couldn’t wear the Flame Dragon Armor.

Although he had killed Qiu Yang by relying on the Flame Dragon Armor’s might, it seemed that if he wanted to kill the incomparably strong late Greater Heaven stage Ning Yang, the Flame Dragon Armor’s might alone was probably not enough.

Ferocity could be seen on Nie Tian’s face as he blurted, “Uncle Xue, we need to either kill him or badly injure him. Otherwise, we won’t be able to lose him at all. I need your help! Together, we can stop him from chasing after us for good!”

“Sure!”