Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment. “A cluster of Divine Flame that is a Heaven Nourished grade spiritual material?! And the whole Domain of Flame’s End was destroyed just because it arrived hidden inside a meteor?!”

“That’s right!” Jing Feiyang said with knitted brow. “It plagued every single realm of the Domain of Flame’s End and killed every soul that lived in them, turning them into dead realms! After that, it just stayed in the Domain of Flame’s End and never went anywhere, but it’s very intelligent.

“Once, the head of the flame element sect of the Five Elements Sect, an expert at the peak of the God domain, heard about it, and came here in an attempt to capture that cluster of Divine Flame.

“However, that cluster of Divine Flame shrewdly sensed his aura, and hid itself.

“He scanned each and every realm in the Domain of Flame’s End, but failed to find it anywhere.

“After searching for six months, he left empty-handed and frustrated.

“After that, many other cultivators who practice flame power incantations and had confidence in their abilities came to explore this region, hoping to take that cluster of Divine Flame for themselves.

“The result was: none of those who were powerful enough to pose a threat to the Divine Flame were able to find it.

“Those who weren’t very strong, however, somehow found it, but ended up being burned to death by it.

“Gradually, fewer and fewer Qi warriors would travel through domains to this place to seek that cluster of Divine Flame.

“However, when cultivators who have powerful flame power spiritual tools or spiritual materials on them, or practice special flame power incantations, pass through this region, the cluster of Divine Flame will show up and attack them.”

Nie Tian’s expression flickered. “Powerful flame power spiritual tools will attract its attention?”

Jing Feiyang nodded.

Nie Tian instantly remembered that the Flame Dragon Armor was a fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure, which even had the potential to advance to the Immortal grade.

Its soul was that of a flame dragon’s, and its Blood Core was the flame dragon’s heart. After he had infused it with his Blood Essence, Bloodline Crystal Chains had magically reappeared in its Blood Core, reviving the flame dragon in an unorthodox way.

Furthermore, the head of the flame element sect of the Five Elements Sect had originally forged it for the Daughter of Flames, which meant it had been an unearthly treasure since the day it had been born.

Now that he had infused it with his Blood Essence and life aura, and it had taken it upon itself to absorb a significant amount of earthflame essence and earthflame crystal strings, it was now more powerful than ever.

“Could it be the Flame Dragon Armor that alarmed that cluster of Divine Flame?” Nie Tian thought to himself, his brow furrowed. “But it’s stored in a sealed ring of holding. Don’t tell me it can even sense it like this!”

Days passed, and their ancient starship continued to sail towards the Domain of Flame’s End.

Every once in a while, Nie Tian would examine their surroundings through a curious prismatic crystal inside his cabin.

He would see dead stars that looked like charred wood from time to time. Those dead stars were bereft of any aura of the living. No grass or trees could be seen. Desolation and endless silence was all there was.

During this time, he felt like he was being watched stealthily a few more times while he practiced the True Flame Incantation.

“Is that cluster of Divine Flame really watching me?” He grew more and more vigilant.

Another day passed...

A large shadow suddenly flew out of a dead star as their ancient starship sailed past it.

It rose ethereally, and rapidly expanded to cover dozens of kilometers as it approached their ancient starship.

All of a sudden, an ice-cold voice came from the heart of the shadow. “If you give that Son of the Stars named Nie Tian to me now, I promise that I’ll let the two of you go.”

“Old Shadow Eccentric!” Duan Shihu exclaimed inside his cabin.

Moments later, Nie Tian left his cabin to meet Duan Shihu and Jing Rou in theirs.

Floating in front of Jing Rou was a prismatic crystal that reflected the shadow with great clarity.

Jing Feiyang suddenly appeared in the cabin. “This is exactly as I expected! Old Shadow Eccentric is at the early Void domain. As a well-known Hunter, he wanders the starry river among the powerful domains year-round. The fact that he suddenly showed up here proves that there must be someone behind this!”

“He’s not so easy to deal with...” Jing Rou muttered. After a moment of pondering, she turned to Jing Feiyang and added, “Father, I doubt that he’s the only one. If you go fight him now, you’ll be exposed. Then, if other Hunters show up later, they might come up with strategies that target you.”

Face grim, Jing Feiyang said, “You’re right. If I go take care of him now, I can kill him easily. But I’m worried that he’s only among the first testers. If a handful of the most powerful Hunters team up against me later, even I’ll have a hard time handling them at the same time.”

Nie Tian was taken aback. “There are actually Hunters who can pose a threat to you?!”

Jing Feiyang smiled somewhat bitterly. “I’m afraid there are. Of course the truly powerful ones don’t usually come to domains like the Domain of Heaven Python. But Saint domain Hunters do roam the surrounding areas of the Domain of Endless Snow and the Domain of Vast Darkness. Two of them came from the Domain of Endless Snow and the Domain of Vast Darkness respectively. They used to be important figures in their domains, but suffered defeats while fighting over the ownership of some realms, and were therefore forced to leave their homes to roam the boundless starry river.

“Gradually, they became the leaders of a Hunter organization that specializes in plundering the ancient starships that travel between the Domain of Endless Snow and the Domain of Vast Darkness.”

“The early Void domain...” After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian said, “I’ll go first and see if I can take care of him by myself.”

With these words, he walked out of the cabin onto the deck, where he stood enveloped in a misty, transparent shield.

Many magical symbols could be seen drifting on the shield, protecting him from the deadly impurities that filled the starry river.

“Come on out!” As he exclaimed these words, the enormous Bone Blood Demon flew out of his ring of holding and landed on the spacious Ancient starship with a loud crash.

“Bloodline talent: Life Blend!” Like a magnet, Nie Tian suddenly rose into the air and stuck to the Bone Blood Demon’s chest.

In the next moment, his heart synced with the Bone Blood Demon’s heart that was under its thick, fleshless ribs.

Wisps of his life aura quickly formed a seamless bond between him and the Bone Blood Demon. A profound connection was also established between his soul and the Bone Blood Demon’s incomplete soul.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

His flesh power continued to stream into the Bone Blood Demon as it opened it huge mouth and roared. Then, with a fierce roar, it exploded through the light shield towards the shadow.

The last time Nie Tian had used Life Blend, the Bone Blood Demon hadn’t returned to its peak state yet, and his cultivation base had been far lower than where he was now.

Now, after being nourished by the copious flesh power it had gained from a tremendous amount of spirit beast meat, its strength had reached an unprecedented level, which was roughly equal to that of an early Void domain human expert.

Adding in the strengthening effect of his extremely refined flesh power, its battle prowess had risen to a whole other level.

After Life Blend was activated, a flesh power shield formed over the Bone Blood Demon, so that Nie Tian wouldn’t have to worry about the deadly impurities while he was exposed in the vast starry river.

At the same time, as he pumped more of his qi and blood into the Bone Blood Demon, its flesh aura soared, as if it had somehow come to life.

In the blink of an eye, the enormous Bone Blood Demon shot into the vast shadow, which was Shadow Old Eccentric’s personal domain.

As soon as it entered, bleak auras came piercing from all directions.

Feeling a chill all over, Nie Tian summoned power from within his flame power core to envelop himself in flames.

At first glance, he seemed to have burst into flames, embedded in the Bone Blood Demon’s chest.

The flames instantly drove the chilly feeling away.

A vague figure let out a soft exclamation from the depths of the shadow, as if it were surprised by this.

Inside a cabin...

Jing Feiyang, Jing Rou, and Duan Shihu stared unblinkingly at the prismatic crystal. Their expressions flickered as they saw Nie Tian ‘merge’ with the Bone Blood Demon.

“Where on earth did Nie Tian’s bloodline come from?” Jing Feiyang asked with a disbelieving expression. “The mighty life force his qi and blood carry seems to contain the primal life aura shared by all living beings. Normally speaking, the richer one’s life aura is, the longer one will be able to live.”

With these words, he conducted a silent and rapt examination of Nie Tian’s aura. All of a sudden, his expression flickered, as if he had discovered something. “Both of you have told me that Nie Tian is a hybrid, but I’m afraid he’s far more special than we thought.

“No wonder he dares to practice flame power and wood power incantations on top of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s profound star power incantations. He must know that his lifespan is far longer than that of humans, and even most hybrids! I’m afraid that even if he doesn’t make another advance in cultivation, he might have ten thousand years of lifespan, or even longer!

“As long as he can stay safe, he won’t have to worry about running out of his lifespan in the near future!”