The man let out a sigh of relief after seeing that Yin Yanan was safe. Then, he turned to Yue Yanxi and the other experts and asked, “You saw the changes in the depths of the Seven-star Blue Sea, right?”

Yue Yanxi nodded.

Yin Yanan bowed slightly. “I’m alright, Elder Dou. Those senior martial brothers have already left through the teleportation portal on the Divine Flame Sect’s ancient starship.”

The man’s name was Dou Tengshan. As an elder of the Beast-controlling Sect, he was the one who was responsible for this event of deriving enlightenment from those stone statues.

He had been stationed on the other side of the Seven-star Blue Sea, and since he hadn’t expected such an upheaval, he had been in the middle of secluded cultivation when it had happened.

By the time he had noticed the anomaly and scanned the heart of the Seven-star Blue Sea, he had discovered that several air-transportation spiritual tools had already exploded, and many observers from the Pure Heaven Sect, the Chu Clan, and the Trisword Sect had already lost their lives.

He would have gone mad if it weren’t for the fact that he had a special method, through which he had learned that Yin Yanan was still alive.

He had traced her aura and finally met up with her here. He felt slightly relieved after seeing that experts from the other parties were also gathered at this location.

After coming to Yin Yanan’s side, Dou Tengshan said with furrowed brows, “I was caught up in my cultivation earlier. That was too careless of me. I don’t even know what happened exactly.”

Yin Yanan briefly explained what had happened to him.

He was deeply shaken after learning that Nie Tian, the young man standing before him, was none other than the Son of the Stars he had recently heard about.

He pondered in silence for a few seconds before saying to Nie Tian, “Considering that your warning allowed ten of our chosen ones to survive that tribulation, and your close connections with the Dong Clan from the Domain of the Falling Stars, we won’t hold you accountable for Hong Xian’s death.”

Nie Tian’s expression was the same as ever as he said, “Okay.”

Nie Tian had killed Hong Xian from the Beast-controlling Sect in that forbidden region after activating his bloodline talent, which had allowed him to merge with the Bone Blood Demon.

As a high ranking member of the Beast-controlling Sect, Dou Tengshan naturally knew about this.

At first, they had harbored the thought of seeking revenge, but they had dropped the idea after Yin Yanan had returned and informed them of Nie Tian’s true identity.

Dou Tengshan had only said this to find an excuse to make peace with him.

Now, with Dou Tengshan here, there were a total of five Void domain experts in this location. Qiao Yunxi and the other juniors felt increasingly secure.

However, Nie Tian’s eyebrows were still knitted.

He secretly summoned power from his star souls to form Heaven Eyes, and then sent them to the heart of the Seven-star Blue Sea.

The reason why he had decided to stay here was because he knew that his Heaven Eyes’ detection range was limited.

If he returned to the Divine Flame Sect’s ancient starship, he wouldn’t be able to see what was happening at the heart of the Seven-star Blue Sea with his Heaven Eyes.

Soon, his Heaven Eyes flew lightly to the center of the sea.

From there, he sensed that Yue Yanxi, Jiang Feng, and the other experts’ immense soul awarenesses were also fixed on this part of the sea.

He caught sight of Zhou Shang.

Keeping a certain distance from the eight statues, Zhou Shang threw his head back and let out a heaven-shaking roar. “Yue Yanxi, Jiang Feng! You sensed the danger beforehand. Why didn’t you tell me?! Just because you held that from us, dozens of chosen ones from my sect have been slaughtered by the stone statues! You’re responsible for this!”

Clearly, he knew that even though Yue Yanxi and the other experts hadn’t come in the flesh, their soul awarenesses had arrived.

Even though Yue Yanxi and the other Void domain experts heard every word he said with great clarity, they all remained silent.

Instead, they paid close attention to the enormous vortex in the sea, and the giant stone statue that was rising from within it.

Nie Tian’s Heaven Eyes also focused on that stone statue as soon as they flew to this location.

He also noticed that the other eight awakened stone statues had spread out over the vortex, and were paying close attention to the gigantic statue in the sea.

Like guards, the eight floating statues seemed to be protecting the larger statue during its awakening process. The reason why they hadn’t made a move against Zhou Shang was because they were waiting for that larger statue to awaken.

The eight stone statues had seemed lifeless earlier, completely devoid of the auras living beings should have.

However, now that they had smashed those juniors from the Pure Heaven Sect and the Chu Clan, and absorbed their flesh, blood, and even true souls, they started to emanate very faint flesh auras and soul fluctuations.

Blood-colored light squirmed in their blurry faces, morphing them into the appearances of the eight juniors who had awakened them.

The juniors’ true souls seemed to be imprisoned in the statues and suffering great pain, as they twisted unceasingly.

SHEW!

Chu Tianlu from the Chu Clan flew over, his face filled with sorrow.

He had already learned about the upheaval here. The deaths of ten talented young Chu Clan members deeply grieved him. With a fierce bellow, he charged towards the eight stone statues.

Zhou Shang wasn’t related to those Pure Heaven Sect juniors by blood.

However, Chu Tianlu had been blood relatives with the Chu Clan juniors who had been killed. He had watched them grow up. Therefore, without even thinking it over, he attacked upon arrival.

His private domain flew ethereally with him inside, giving rise to loud whooshes.

Countless feathers made of light shot from within his private domain, and pierced towards the eight stone statues like tens of thousands of arrows.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

The feathers of light shot into the statues’ jade-like bodies as if they were raindrops that had fallen on rocks, not leaving the slightest mark.

However, the statues seemed to be enraged. Two of them instantly pounced towards him.

Withstanding the attack of countless feathers of light, one of them even charged into his private domain in the blink of an eye in an attempt to stop and kill him.

The other stone statue let out a soundless roar, and rings of fluctuations with jade-like gloss spread out from it, causing Chu Tianlu’s private domain to tremble.

The battle only lasted about ten seconds before Chu Tianlu’s blood-curdling shriek came from his private domain.

In the next moment, drops of blood fell from within his private domain.

He suffered severe injuries within such a short time.

Even though he was at the early Void domain, which was slightly lower than Zhou Shang’s cultivation base, the fact that he had sustained severe injuries within such a short time made everyone who was paying attention to this area gasp with astonishment.

Dou Tengshan was flabbergasted. “I can’t believe those stone statues are actually so powerful!”

At the same time, Zhou Shang, who was the closest to the stone statues, gradually calmed down.

He stopped complaining and cursing. Gazing up with a cold face, he shouted, “Now you’ve seen how powerful these stone statues are. They’re waiting for the awakening of the ninth statue, which is larger and probably even more powerful. If it actually awakes, I’m afraid the entire Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries will be plunged into chaos.

“By that time, not only my sect, but all of your sects and clans will also suffer. Don’t imagine that you’ll be able to stay out of this disaster!”

Chu Tianlu from the Chu Clan hastily flew away in his flickering private domain.

The two statues, which had inflicted serious damage on him, didn’t pursue him.

Instead, they flew back to their original places, and continued to guard the ninth stone statue. Obviously, they deemed Chu Tianlu’s life to be far less important than the awakening of the ninth stone statue.

From the look of it, it was their duty to ensure the successful awakening of the ninth stone statue.

Yue Yanxi and the other experts’ expressions grew very grim after they heard Zhou Shang’s words through their soul awarenesses.

At the same time, they noticed that the Void domain overseer from the Trisword Sect finally came to them.

The Trisword Sect had also lost ten juniors to the stone statues, but instead of attacking upon arrival like Chu Tianlu, he observed in the dark.

After pondering in silence for a while, Yue Yanxi turned to the other Void domain experts beside him and said, “As much as I’d like to sit back and watch the Pure Heaven Sect suffer, Zhou Shang’s words make some sense. We can all see that the ninth stone statue will definitely be far more powerful than the other eight.

“Those eight stone statues already possess terrifying strength. If we let the ninth statue awaken, I’m afraid we won’t be able to match them in battle even if Patriarch Pure Heaven were here to help us.”

Dou Tengshan from the Beast-controlling Sect nodded. “The way I see it, we need to forget about the Pure Heaven Sect’s previous attitude, and join up against our common enemy. Destroy that ninth stone statue before it awakes. Even if we can’t destroy it, we have to stop it from awakening. We can’t allow the entire Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries to fall into this calamity.”

Yue Yanxi and Dou Tengshan’s attitude on the matter won the others’ approval. They exchanged a glance, and then shot towards the heart of the floating sea one after another.

At the heart of the Seven-star Blue Sea, Yue Yanxi’s soul voice echoed out from the void over Zhou Shang’s head. “Wait for us there. We’re on our way.”

The Void domain expert from the Trisword Sect, who had been hiding in the dark, finally came to join them too after hearing Yue Yanxi’s soul voice.

“A fierce battle will break out soon,” Nie Tian muttered.

Yin Yanan and the other juniors present all had cultivation bases higher than his, yet since they didn’t have Heaven Eyes of their own, they couldn’t see what was happening from such a great distance just by relying on their soul awarenesses.

However, they had heard the conversation between Yue Yanxi and the other seniors and watched them fly away, so they also realized that a fierce battle that would determine the future of the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries would soon take place at the heart of the Seven-star Blue Sea.

“It’s just that I don’t think they’ll be able to win with just the few of them,” Nie Tian said.