Nie Tian’s tough stance deeply surprised Zong Zheng from the Ice Pavilion Sect.

Qian Buhui, Gu Yuan, and Cao Mou also had awkward expressions on their faces, not knowing what to say.

As far as they saw it, it wasn’t that hard to accept if Xia Yi was only borrowing the Flame Dragon Armor so that he could defeat Basto. They didn’t understand why Nie Tian was being so stubborn.

However, they also knew that if Nie Tian hadn’t come to the Realm of a Hundred Battles with Zhao Shanling, they wouldn’t have been able to turn the situation around by themselves. Therefore, they were all in Nie Tian’s debt.

The other two Soul realm experts from the Spirit Condor remained silent the whole time, as if Hua Mu could speak for them.

Dong Wangling didn’t utter a word either.

Only Zhao Shanling expressed his approval of Nie Tian’s decision.

Hua Mu pondered in silence for some time before breaking the ice by laughing and saying, “Good, if that’s your decision, then we’ll respect it. I doubt that Xia Yi and the Heaven Palace Sect will try anything on you before the war against the outsiders ends. Even if they want to seek trouble with you, they’ll probably do it after the trouble with the outsiders is over.”

“The reason Xia Yi dares to threaten me is that he assumes that he’s the only one who’ll be able to contend against Basto.” Nie Tian gave a cold harrumph as he laid his eyes on the corpses of the several seventh grade outsiders. With a soft voice, he said, “Seniors, I have a favor to ask.”

“Just name it,” Dong Wangling said.

“I wonder if you can give the corpses of these seventh grade outsiders to me,” Nie Tian said.

Reluctance appeared on Zong Zheng and Qian Buhui’s faces.

Like seventh grade spirit beasts, these seventh grade outsiders’ corpses could be put to great use.

Considering these experts’ cultivation bases and strength, they would be able to extract many precious materials from these corpses, which they could use to either forge spiritual tools or refine medicinal pills. Either way, their strength would benefit greatly from them.

Compared to seventh grade spirit beasts, seventh grade outsiders were much more difficult to find, so they all seemed somewhat reluctant to give them up.

Hua Mu was the first to state his stance. “We’ll give you whichever outsider corpses the Spirit Condor should get.”

Dong Wangling chimed in, “Whichever the Dong Clan should get is yours to take too!”

“I’ll only need their corpses. You can still have their storage rings.” Nie Tian explained. “Their corpses will be put to a very important use. For this, I’m willing to promise you one thing.”

“What is it?” Zong Zheng asked curiously.

“One day, I’ll help you walk out of the Domain of the Falling Stars to a wider heaven and earth,” Nie Tian said.

Upon hearing these words, every Soul realm expert’s eyes widened.

“What makes you think that you’ll be able to help us walk out of the Domain of the Falling Stars?” Cao Mou asked hastily.

Zong Zheng, Qian Buhui, and the others also breathed heavily as strong desire brimmed their eyes, as if they had cultivated their whole lives for this very purpose.

“He does have such an ability,” Zhao Shanling said with an expressionless face.

Hua Mu took a deep look at Nie Tian and asked, “Has your master resolved that star map?!”

Nie Tian nodded.

Zhao Shanling and Hua Mu’s words made the other Soul realm experts’ eyes light up. All of the Dong Clan members that were gathered in this place exchanged awed glances with one another.

Before Zong Zheng could ask about the details, Hua Mu said, “Now is not the time to discuss the details. You only need to know that Nie Tian will be able to get you out of the Domain of the Falling Stars in the foreseeable future. The Spirit Condor can guarantee that Nie Tian’s promise is well-based.”

“Alright!” Zong Zheng exclaimed. “I’m willing to give up the seventh grade outsider corpse that belongs to me. Consider it my ticket to the ship that’ll take me out of the Domain of the Falling Stars.”

“Same with me!” Qian Buhui also said excitedly.

The other Soul realm experts then took turns to express that they were also willing to give Nie Tian the outsider corpses that should have belonged to them.

With a solemn expression, Hua Mu said, “I’ll go talk to the Heaven Palace Sect, Nie Tian. You can be assured that Xia Yi won’t dare to try to seek trouble with the Realm of Flame Heaven anytime soon.”

“Many thanks!” Nie Tian said.

Hua Mu smiled heartily. “You don’t need to thank me. If you hadn’t found me that Fruit of Life, perhaps I wouldn’t be standing here now.”

Zong Zheng gasped with astonishment, then gazed at Nie Tian with a completely different look in his eyes.

Hua Mu had kept this matter a secret. Until now, the other two Soul realm experts from the Spirit Condor were the only ones who knew about it. Even Zong Zheng, who was their ally in the Realm of Endless Ice, knew nothing of it.

Since the Spirit Condor and the Ice Pavilion Sect were both based in the Realm of Endless Ice, Zong Zheng had known Hua Mu from long ago.

He knew that Hua Mu was running out of lifespan. For many years, he had roamed different realms and used the Spirit Condor’s resources to look for magical items that could slow his aging.

However, when he had heard that Hua Mu had shattered the Spirit God Sect’s grand spell formation and slaughtered their disciples for what they had done to Zhen Huilan, he had realized that Hua Mu’s lifespan problem must have been solved.

However, he hadn’t known how Hua Mu had solved it.

Only now did he realize that the reason why Hua Mu was still alive was because Nie Tian had found him a Fruit of Life. He finally understood why Hua Mu and the Spirit Condor had supported Nie Tian at every chance.

Nie Tian looked at Dong Wangling and asked, “Senior Dong, would you please find me a secluded location where I can go into secluded cultivation for a few days?”

“Of course, come with me.” With these words, Dong Wangling strode away.

He made a grabbing motion in the air, and a few resilient belts of pure spiritual power shot out and wrapped themselves around the floating seventh grade outsider corpses. Then, he pulled them away like floating balloons.

FIZZ! FIZZ! FIZZ!

As he came close, the teleportation portal in the Dong Clan started rotating and set to a specific location.

Nie Tian took a look at Zhao Shanling. “Please remember our deals, Senior Zhao.”

Then, he turned to Hua Mu and said, “Uncle Hua, I hope you can keep an eye on my master for me.”

Hua Mu nodded with an assuring look in his eyes.

Zhao Shanling snorted with a smile and said, “Don’t worry. Since I gave you my word, nothing will change it.”

His heart finally put at ease, Nie Tian followed Dong Wangling into the teleportation portal.

Dong Li wanted to catch up to Nie Tian, but Dong Baijie shook his head at her, signaling for her not to do so. She then wanted to speak, but also stopped on second thought.

There were too many Soul realm patriarchs here. In their presence, Dong Li and Dong Baijie were juniors of juniors. It wasn’t their place to speak their opinion.

She had wanted to defend Nie Tian on a few occasions, but Dong Baijie had stopped her with stern looks every time.

Watching Nie Tian follow the patriarch of her clan to his personal cultivation location, she felt somewhat anxious. She wanted to stay by Nie Tian’s side as he cultivated.

“Nie Tian needs some time to gather his thoughts and plan his next move,” Dong Baijie said in a low voice. “Right now, he doesn’t need you to be by his side. Since our patriarch is going with him, nothing will happen to him.”

“Alright...” Dong Li said, nodding reluctantly.

“It’s time for us to head to the Realm of Mystic Heaven, everyone,” Hua Mu said.

Everyone nodded. “Alright."

Afterward, they had the Dong Clan members set up the teleportation portal, and then entered it somewhat anxiously.

Only Zhao Shanling remained here.

“Senior Zhao, aren’t you…?” Dong Qianqi, the clanmaster of the Dong Clan, asked in confusion.

“What happens in the Realm of Mystic Heaven has nothing to do with me,” Zhao Shanling said with an expressionless face. “Now that the outsiders are gathered in one realm, they must have learned that someone has sealed the spatial rifts in the Realm of Flame Heaven and the Realm of a Hundred Battles. The spatial rift in the Realm of Mystic Heaven must be heavily guarded right now. I wouldn’t do such a stupid thing as going there now.

“Besides, I’ve already gotten what I wanted from my senior martial brother.

“The final battle between the humans and the outsiders in the Realm of Mystic Heaven won’t concern me in the slightest.”

With these irresponsible words, Zhao Shanling ignored the strange looks in the Dong Clan members’ eyes and disappeared into a spatial rift behind him.

Perhaps he was the only person who wouldn’t be affected if the Domain of the Falling Stars fell into the outsiders’ hands.

Given his cultivation base and profound mastery of spatial magics, he would be able to escape to a remote space whenever he wanted to.

…

Inside a spacious, closed room, shock filled Nie Tian’s face as he looked around at a large number of extremely pure spirit jades.

Dong Wangling smiled proudly and said, “We’re in an underground stone room that I built in the heart of a rich spirit jade vein. The spirit jades you’re looking at are all tens of thousands of years old. Even though spirit crystals haven’t come to form yet, this is still a good place for Qi warriors under the Void domain to cultivate in.”

“Good doesn’t describe it!” Nie Tian marveled. “Aside from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s grand hall, which I visited during the Heaven Gate trial, I’ve never been to another place where the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth is this rich.”

Compared to this room, the cultivation rooms in the Blood Skull’s headquarters were not even worth mentioning.

All that Nie Tian did was stand there, but he could still sense wisps of pure spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth flooding into his spiritual sea and entering his nine vortexes of spiritual power.

He believed that by cultivating in this room, the efficiency at which he expanded and refined his vortexes of spiritual power would improve ten-fold.

No wonder Dong Li would progress in her cultivation every time she finished an adventure and returned to the Dong Clan.

The reserve power of ancient clans like the Dong Clan was indeed shocking. They had the ability to help their members rapidly accumulate strength and make breakthroughs soon after they achieved the right mental state.

If his master Wu Ji had a cultivation room like this one, perhaps he would have accumulated enough spiritual power to break through into the Soul realm.

After a moment of pondering, Dong Wangling said, “I won’t ask you how you plan to deal with those outsider corpses, Nie Tian. You’re welcome to use this cultivation room for as long as you like. Our clan owes you this much. Dong Li told me how she obtained the Fruit of Life when she gave it to me.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gained these extra years of lifespan. Even though, unlike your master, I still had some lifespan to spare, any human would appreciate some extra years. After all, our lifespans are rather limited.

“I also heard that you helped Dong Li gain the corpse of an eighth grade black phoenix, and brought most of our clan members back from that dimension.

“Even though Zhao Shanling played a very important role in ending the crisis in the Realm of a Hundred Battles, it was you who persuaded him to come to our aid.

“We’ll remember what you’ve done for our clan.”

“I only did what I thought was right,” Nie Tian said modestly.

“Alright, I’ll leave you to it,” Dong Wangling said, smiling. “I still have to go to the Realm of Mystic Heaven. I’ve got to give the Heaven Palace Sect face. Who knows whether their patriarch can advance to the Void domain or not. Even though the odds are against him, if he somehow succeeds, and finds fault with our clan in the future, it’ll be very troublesome for us.”

With these words, he left through the teleportation portal, which only led to the Dong Clan.

As soon as he vanished in the portal, Nie Tian summoned the Bone Blood Demon and had it drain the blood of all of the seventh grade outsider corpses.

The Bone Blood Demon had possessed middle Soul realm battle prowess before Nie Tian had taken it to the Realm of Flame Heaven.

In the Realm of Flame Heaven, it had absorbed and refined a copious amount of blood from numerous fourth and fifth grade outsiders.

This time, it had once again massacred a large number of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade outsiders around the Dong Clan, the Gu Clan, the Cao Clan, and the Pill Pavilion Sect, and refined their blood.

If it went on and refined the blood of these seventh grade outsiders, would its strength rise to a new level?