In the Dong Clan...

Under Dong Qianqi’s leadership, the Profound realm and Worldly realm members of the Dong Clan arrived in the Realm of Mystic Heaven through their teleportation portal.

The upcoming battle against the outsiders drew attention from all over the Domain of the Falling Stars.

All of the major sects had learned that the Heaven Palace Sect’s Five Elements Fortune Formation would be breached within two weeks.

Once the grand spell formation failed, a battle that would determine the fate of the Domain of the Falling Stars would take place.

Because of this, all of the major sects sent almost all of their Profound realm and Worldly realm disciples to the Realm of Mystic Heaven in preparation for the upcoming battle.

Word of the dispute that had taken place in the Heaven Palace Sect had also spread very rapidly. Many soon learned that Xia Yi had demanded the Flame Dragon Armor from Nie Tian, and Nie Tian had refused.

Sects like the Poison Sect, the Spirit God Sect, the Thunder Mountain Sect, and the Heaven Expanse Sect condemned Nie Tian for not seeing the bigger picture.

Meanwhile, sects like the Tool Sect and the Ice Pavilion Sect chose to remain silent.

However, a few of their disciples argued in private that Nie Tian should have agreed to Zhao Luofeng’s terms and traded the Flame Dragon Armor for that wood-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure so that Xia Yi would be able to use it to fight Basto.

Watching the last Dong Clan member disappear into the teleportation portal, Dong Baijie said with a grim face, “I wonder how many of them will get to return after the battle.”

The other Dong Clan members behind them, who were there to see their fellow clan members off, also looked rather worried. After all, a lot of uncertainties would be added to the battle if Xia Yi refused to contribute.

Without a late Soul realm expert to contend against Basto, he would be able to turn the situation around by himself.

If the human alliance was defeated, the numerous Worldly realm and Profound realm cultivators that had poured into the Realm of Mystic Heaven would all be doomed.

Eyebrows furrowed, Qin Yan sighed and said, “Why would Nie Tian choose to go into secluded cultivation at such a crucial moment? Even if he doesn’t want to give his Flame Dragon Armor away, he could have gone to join the defense of the Heaven Palace Sect. It was a formidable force, after all.”

“Nie Tian must have his reasons,” Dong Baijie said.

Disgruntled, Dong Li shot a cold glance at Qin Yan and asked, “What if Nie Tian just doesn’t go? Hasn’t he done enough for the Domain of the Falling Stars? If he didn’t help them seal that spatial rift in the Realm of Mystic Heaven a few years ago, the Heaven Palace Sect would have fallen long ago.

“But how did the Heaven Palace Sect repay his kindness afterwards?”

Qin Yan smiled awkwardly. “I didn’t mean that, Li.”

Dong Li let out a cold snort. “After he helped them through that crisis, the Heaven Palace Sect insisted that he join their sect. If the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect hadn’t stood behind him, he would have been forced to join the Heaven Palace Sect by now. Everyone knows that the Heaven Palace Sect only did that because they wanted to take Nie Tian’s fragmentary star marks and the legacy of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace within them.

“He has already done so much for the Heaven Palace Sect and the Domain of the Falling Stars. But the Heaven Palace Sect and the Flame God Sect still secretly searched for him afterwards.

“Because of that, he was forced to hole up in the Realm of Split Void for years.”

Dong Li gritted her teeth as she recalled the unfairness Nie Tian had received over the years. “The Heaven Palace Sect has done such heartless things. Why on earth would Nie Tian agree to their terms now? Considering their consistent way of doing things, even if Nie Tian agreed to trade the Flame Dragon Armor for that wood-attributed spiritual tool, the Heaven Palace Sect would still try to get it back afterwards.

“If their patriarch demanded that wood-attributed spiritual tool back after the crisis is over, could Nie Tian refuse to do so?”

Upon hearing these words, the juniors that were gathered around the teleportation portal all fell silent.

After pondering for a while, they all thought Dong Li’s words made sense.

Once Nie Tian agreed to give the Flame Dragon Armor to Xia Yi, Xia Yi would never give it back again. After getting it, Xia Yi’s strength would soar. Therefore, demanding it back would become impossible.

Furthermore, even if he received that wood-attributed spiritual tool from the Heaven Palace Sect, its ownership would still be problematic in the future.

Hence, it wouldn’t matter if Nie Tian lent the Flame Dragon Armor to Xia Yi, or traded it for some spiritual tool. He would most likely end up losing in either case.

Hua Mu must have seen through their scheme, and thus refused their offer at the price of their relationship with the Heaven Palace Sect and Flame God Sect.

“I fear that the Heaven Palace Sect and the Flame God Sect will seek trouble with Nie Tian after this war is over,” Qin Yan said softly.

Dong Li, who would stand by Nie Tian no matter what, fell silent upon hearing these words.

She felt mountain-heavy pressure.

If the human alliance eventually prevailed, Nie Tian would probably face joint pressure from the late Soul realm Xia Yi, the Heaven Palace Sect, and sects like the Poison Sect. Nie Tian probably wouldn’t get away.

Even if the patriarch of the Heaven Palace Sect failed to break through into the Void domain, he would still be at the late Soul realm.

If he and Xia Yi, who was also at the late Soul realm, were to find fault with Nie Tian, would Hua Mu, Zong Zheng, Dong Wangling, and the others still be able to keep Nie Tian safe?

Furthermore, would Hua Mu and the others sustain injuries or even die during the upcoming battle?

If they were to suffer casualties, would they still dare to stand up to the Heaven Palace Sect and the Flame God Sect?

With these questions in mind, Dong Li feared more and more for Nie Tian’s safety.

Dong Baijie comforted Dong Li by saying, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Perhaps things will be different by that time. Nie Tian has worked miracles on many occasions. Perhaps he’ll work another miracle this time. Never underestimate him.”

“Miracles...” Qin Yan shook her head. She clearly didn’t believe in miracles.

“That’s right! Miracles will happen!” Dong Li seemed spirited again.

…

In the room built in a spirit jade vein.

Nie Tian let out a long breath and opened his eyes, which shone like diamonds.

Now that he had channeled every last shred of flesh power from the seventh grade Demon’s internal organs, meridians, and bones using Life Drain, the Demon’s corpse had shrunk to half the size it had been when the Bone Blood Demon had finished draining its blood.

Now, the seventh grade Demon’s corpse had lost its value to Nie Tian.

Like a spirit stone that was drained of spiritual power, the seventh grade Demon’s corpse had become useless.

Nie Tian’s eyes were filled with astonishment as he examined the green aura in his heart and sensed its unsatisfied desire for more flesh power. “I can’t believe it still hasn’t absorbed its fill!”

He had launched Life Drain a dozen times to drain the seventh grade Demon’s flesh power completely.

Even bereft of blood, the Demon’s corpse had contained extremely rich flesh power.

He had expected that the flesh power from this Demon’s corpse would be more than enough for that green aura to devour its fill and go into dormancy again, preparing for the awakening of the next bloodline talent.

However, it didn’t.

“I can’t believe that the amount of flesh power such a small aura needs is actually such an astronomical figure! Plus, as more bloodline talents are awakened, it will need even more flesh power.”

“I’ve only awakened a couple of bloodline talents, and the residual flesh power within a seventh grade Demon’s corpse is already not enough for it to enter dormancy again.

“I can’t imagine how large its appetite will become in the future.”

Nie Tian felt overwhelmed as he focused all of his attention on the mysterious green aura in his heart.

Soon, he snapped back to reality and looked over at the Bone Blood Demon. He discovered that it was draining the blood of the seventh grade Phantasm’s corpse.

The corpses of the seventh grade Stoneman and Blackscale were scattered to the side, both of which seemed noticeably smaller than they had been before.

“Fortunately, there are still three seventh grade outsider corpses left,” he thought to himself.

He blurred into action and started channeling flesh power from the Blackscale’s corpse with Life Drain, hoping to use its flesh power to satisfy the green aura’s seemingly endless needs.

After an unknown period of time, when he launched another Life Drain to absorb flesh power from the Blackscale’s corpse, he could no longer feel the rapid movements of the green aura.

At this moment, there was already not much flesh power left in the seventh grade Blackscale’s corpse.

“Are you finally satisfied?” Nie Tian muttered as he sent a wisp of his awareness into his heart. As expected, he saw that the green aura had finally settled down.

The countless fine crystal-like chains inside of it were shining with glorious green light as they slithered over one another, as if a new bloodline talent was brooding.

From his previous experience, he had learned that the time it took to awaken a new bloodline talent varied greatly.

Sometimes it would only take days, while at other times it could take months.

The thickened flesh auras that hadn’t been devoured by the green aura were now roaming about inside of him. An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he launched Heavenly Wood Heal. Wisps of wood power flew out of his vortex of wood power, merged with the flesh auras, and started another round of refinement of his internal organs.

The Internal Organ Nourishing was the step that was dedicated to the refinement of all of his internal organs. Right now, he had only finished refining his heart.

As wisps of mixed energy flew into his liver, he started strengthening and refining his liver.

To his surprise, he soon discovered that the refinement of his liver seemed much easier than the refinement of his heart.

Apparently, heart refinement was the most difficult sub-step of Internal Organ Nourishing. After it was complete, the refinement of the other internal organs would seem much easier.

Time passed as Nie Tian continued to channel flesh power from the Blackscale’s corpse. With Heavenly Wood Heal, he mixed it with his own wood power, and used it to refine his liver.

As the seventh grade Blackscale’s corpse was completely drained of its flesh power, he finished the refinement of his liver.

As he opened his eyes, he noticed that the Bone Blood Demon had already finished draining the last seventh grade outsider’s blood.

Looking at the remaining Stoneman and Phantasm corpses, Nie Tian sensed the torrential blood flowing inside of the Bone Blood Demon. All of a sudden, an idea hit him.

The Bone Blood Demon had shown an extremely strong desire for his Blood Essence before, as if his Blood Essence would be very useful to it.

Now, he needed the Bone Blood Demon to improve its battle prowess.

It seemed that he would be able to recover his Blood Essence with the remaining two seventh grade outsider corpses if he were to give some to the Bone Blood Demon.

“I might as well take a shot.” With this thought in mind, he summoned a drop of translucent and sparkling Blood Essence, which looked like a red agate, from within his heart. After a moment of hesitation, he controlled it to float towards the Bone Blood Demon’s heart.