After bidding Qi Lianshan farewell, Pei Qiqi left for the Void Illusion Mountain Range.

Apparently, she had still not given up on looking for the Void Palace Sect.

She had thought that by joining the Void Spirit Society, their resourcefulness would allow her to solve the mystery of the disappearance of the Void Palace Sect, but she was wrong.

The Void Spirit Society had no clue where the Void Palace Sect from the Domain of the Falling Stars was now either.

Rumor had it that, as the overlord of the Realm of Split Void, the Void Palace Sect had found a spatial rift in the Void Illusion Mountain Range that led to a brand new realm that was wreathed in extremely rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.

The Void Palace Sect had thus moved their whole sect to that mysterious realm, and had never returned.

Her parents had been disciples of the Void Palace Sect. She assumed that she would have to find them in order to get answers to her questions about her unique bloodline.

Before, her limited understanding of spatial power hadn’t allowed her to examine every single spatial rift in the Realm of Split Void, especially without that Heaven Nourished grade spatial treasure.

However, she had such an ability now.

Upon arriving in the Void Illusion Mountain Range, she started examining the spatial rifts one after another, looking for even the slightest clues.

Meanwhile, Nie Tian left for the Realm of a Hundred Battles.

In the Dong Clan in the Realm of a Hundred Battles...

As soon as Nie Tian appeared, everyone in the Dong Clan was astounded.

Now, many years had passed. Clanmaster Dong Wangling had advanced from the middle Soul realm to the late Soul realm, and was currently preparing for his breakthrough into the Void domain.

Given the Dong Clan’s profound historical connections to the Beast-controlling Sect in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, many of the Dong Clan’s talented youngsters had been sent to the Beast-controlling Sect, where they could learn the more legitimate beast-controlling incantations, Dong Baijie being one of them.

However, as the clanmaster, Dong Wangling had chosen return to the Realm of a Hundred Battles to oversee clan affairs after learning a number of brand new incantations from the Beast-controlling Sect.

Dong Wangling seemed a bit nervous and overcautious to see Nie Tian. “What brought you here?”

He had been focused on deriving enlightenment from his newly-acquired incantations.

“Where’s Dong Li?” Nie Tian asked.

Qin Yan from the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce, Cao Qiushui from the Cao Clan, Qian Xin from the Pill Pavilion Sect, and a few other juniors were also surprised to see Nie Tian upon his arrival through a teleportation portal.

“Nie Tian!”

“Nie Tian is here!”

“Long time no see, Nie Tian!”

All of them were from the Realm of a Hundred Battles, and had fought alongside Nie Tian back in the day.

They had learned about Dong Li’s return, and had thus come to the Dong Clan to see her.

Dong Li had rarely returned to the Realm of a Hundred Battles these years since she had attached herself to Nie Tian, this strong backer. Instead, she had spent most of her time in the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, speaking for Nie Tian, helping him supervise the major sects, and managing resource distribution.

Her status had already risen far beyond the Dong Clan’s, which made it very hard for them to see her.

But now, not only had Dong Li returned to the Realm of a Hundred Battles, but so had Nie Tian, who they hadn’t seen in many years.

Nie Tian glance over his peers, who he had fought alongside growing up, and discovered that most of them were only at the early Profound realm, with a few at the Greater Heaven stage.

He and Dong Li, however, had already entered the Soul realm.

He thought about it, and quickly realized that it actually made sense. After all, as the clanmaster of the Dong Clan, Dong Wangling was only at the late Soul realm.

The fact that they had entered the Profound realm was already rather impressive.

As Profound realm cultivators, they hadn’t been qualified to join the operation in the three Demon realms. They had only learned about it from the powerful experts from their clans.

The reason why they had come to see Dong Li was because they were hoping to catch up with her and strengthen their relationship with her.

However, surprised upon seeing Nie Tian, they rapidly gathered to his side.

Nie Tian smiled. “Indeed. It’s been a long time.”

Without delay, Dong Wangling took Nie Tian to a dense forest in the mountains not far from the Dong Clan’s headquarters. The juniors followed along.

Nie Tian secretly unleashed his bloodline power to scan his surroundings. The tips of his eyebrows rose with surprise as he said, “There doesn’t seem to be any powerful spirit beasts in this area anymore.”

With a dry smile, Dong Wangling said, “Yeah. There were quite a few powerful seventh grade spirit beasts here the last time you visited. But you haven’t come here for quite some time, and we cleaned out those seventh grade spirit beasts long ago. Those suited for cultivation were shipped to the Beast-controlling Sect, where they were reared and gradually tamed.”

Nie Tian nodded.

Of all of the realms in the Domain of the Falling Stars, the Realm of a Hundred Battles had the most spirit beasts.

Before, the Dong Clan and the other local forces had only explored and controlled a small portion of the vast realm, leaving large areas roamed by formidable spirit beasts.

Later, as connections had been established between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the other two domains, the Dong Clan had found their origin, and tamed the strongest spirit beasts in the Realm of a Hundred Battles one by one with the Beast-controlling Sect.

Because of this, there weren’t any formidable spirit beasts in the Realm of a Hundred Battles that could threaten the local cultivators anymore.

Moments later, Dong Wangling led Nie Tian to a mountain valley that was filled with dark power.

As Nie Tian saw it from afar, the whole mountain valley seemed to be engulfed in complete darkness.

“The kid has been here with her tortoise since she came back.” With these words, Dong Wangling turned to Qin Yan and the others, who had followed them to this place, and said, “I don’t think you’ll be able to go in there, so you’d better just wait here instead.”

Then, he and Nie Tian walked into the mountain valley.

Qin Yan and the other juniors sensed the dark power that filled the mountain valley. Their expressions flickered as they also realized that it wouldn’t be wise to follow them into it.

“Dong Li reached the heavens in a single bound after she became Nie Tian’s companion,” Cao Qiushui said with mixed emotions. “Her cultivation base has already surpassed her father’s and that of most of the Dong Clan members’. The Soul realm represented our domain’s peak strength before connections were established between our domain, the Domain of Heaven Python, and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.”

Qin Yan sighed. “Yeah, I’m so jealous… But you’ve got to admit that she’s got an eye for talent. I can’t believe she actually saw the unlimited potential in Nie Tian back then, and was bold enough to go after him.”

Whenever Qin Yan cultivated by herself on a quiet night, she would feel waves of frustration.

She and Dong Li were like sisters. She had deemed that her appearance, cultivation base, and status were every bit as outstanding as Dong Li’s.

Things were different now. Her status and cultivation base had lagged far behind, and Dong Li’s relationship with Nie Tian was the reason.

Now, Dong Li and the entire Dong Clan had high prestige in not only the Domain of the Falling Stars, but the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries as well. The Dong Clan had risen to prominence by relying on their special connections to Nie Tian.

If it wasn’t Dong Li who had first met Nie Tian in the Realm of Split Void, but her, Qin Yan...

Every time she thought of this, she would regret not going to the Realm of Split Void, and not meeting Nie Tian before he had displayed his amazing talent. If she had, she would have clung to this heaven-reaching tree and changed her fate.

“Don’t be jealous. You’ll only feel even more frustrated.” Qian Xin from the Pill Pavilion Sect said coldly. “Who would have thought that Nie Tian would become the man he is today as the master of three whole domains? And thanks to him, the Domain of the Falling Stars was finally connected to the outside world. The way I see it, even if you had met Nie Tian first, you might not have had eyes for a nobody like him.”

Bitterness filled Qin Yan’s heart.

...

Dark power pervaded the depths of the mountain valley. All of the dark power seemed to have come from the demonic stone Dong Li had brought back from the Sixth Demon Realm.

At this moment, the stone hadn’t released so much dark power that it prevented Dong Wangling from entering the valley.

On their way to the heart of the mountain valley, Nie Tian had a strong feeling that the existence of the dark stone had turned the valley into a place like the Dark Forest.

He couldn’t help but wonder, “The Dark Forest was not only engulfed in dark power, but raging Demon Qi as well. And it crawled with countless demonic insects and low-tier Demons. But there’s no Demon Qi here, and instead the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. Will the spirit beasts and insects in this place be affected by that stone and gradually develop a dark power attribute?”

SHEW!

Upon arriving, Nie Tian and Dong Wangling spotted the large black stone that was still releasing dark power at the same time.

As the dark power spread into its surroundings, it devoured light and gave birth to darkness.

“Why are you here?” Dong Li asked with a surprised look on her face. “Don’t you have a lot to talk about with your precious Senior Martial Sister Pei?”

Dong Wangling gave her a stern but loving look, signaling her not to be sarcastic. “Alright, you two talk. I’ll be waiting outside the valley.”

He left sensibly.

“Here.” He tossed a ring of holding to Dong Li. “Inside the ring are the corpses of some Astarte Clan members. Qu Mingde gave them to me. Most of the Astarte Clan members carry dark power bloodlines. I thought they’d be useful to you and your tortoise.”

Dong Li’s eyes lit up. She smiled and said, “It seems that you’re not completely heartless.”

“If I was heartless, would I have waited so long for you by the Dark Forest?” Nie Tian wanted credit for his deed. “As you know, a Demon grand patriarch arrived. I almost died with you in the Sixth Demon Realm.”

“Alright, alright, I know you love me dearly.” With a beaming smile, Dong Li grabbed the ring of holding that was filled with dead Astarte Clan members, and then handed it to the black tortoise that was crouching by her feet and greedily breathing in dark power. “They’re yours, lazy thing. You’ll be able to make better use of those corpses.”

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

One corpse after another flew out of the ring before the black tortoise pounced on them and started munching.

As a rare beast, the black tortoise could absorb dark power by consuming flesh and blood that contained dark power, and use it to strengthen its bloodline.

“What’s with that demonic stone? How did it help you break through into the Soul realm?” Nie Tian asked curiously.