In the starry river outside the Realm of Maelstrom.

A floating meteor was enveloped in dazzling starlight.

Hou Chulan gradually came to a stop as she approached the meteor. “A star domain.”

She examined it with rapt attention, and discovered that the spherical area enveloped in starlight was like an independent starry river that was dotted with ninety-nine stars.

Sparkling and crystal-clear, the stars seemed to form a certain formation, and move quietly following certain patterns.

Hou Chulan only looked at them for a short while, yet she felt lost in illusions that somehow entered her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t come out of them.

“That’s the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s most profound soul magic: Sea of Illusory Stars!”

Shortly afterwards, she finally struggled free from the illusions, waking up to the fact that Nie Tian was practicing the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s most well-known killer spell.

WHOOSH!

Sudden changes took place in Nie Tian’s star domain.

The Nine Stars Flower suddenly burst forth with blinding light!

The devilish, wondrous plant that had exceeded its limits somehow went into full bloom within Nie Tian’s star domain.

The ninety-nine stars that had transformed from Star Eyes instantly formed profound connections with it.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Morphing and changing, the Sea of Illusory Stars spun at a high speed.

Hou Chulan felt dazzled.

At the same time, glorious starlight seemed to be attracted by Nie Tian’s star domain, and started gathering towards it from all directions.

Nie Tian took a deep breath, and his eyes snapped open in the middle of his star domain.

His eyes also had countless stars glittering in them, as if they contained endless secrets of the starry river.

“I’ve finally fully mastered Sea of Illusory Stars, our sect’s core soul magic.” Whispering these words, he sensed the Nine Stars Flower’s elation by relying on the barrier-free communication between his soul awareness and every star in his star domain.

That was when an immature awareness emerged within the Nine Stars Flower.

“You’re called a Heavenly Stars Flower after your transformation?”

From his soul communication with the curious flower, he learned that it had experienced structural changes and risen to a whole new level after its recent transformation.

The Earth Cultivated grade spiritual material had actually transformed into a Heaven Nourished grade treasure called the Heavenly Stars Flower.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

From Nie Tian’s point of view, the Heavenly Stars Flower seemed to be an illusory plant that had taken root in the starry river, with numerous dazzling stars shimmering in its blossoming petals.

It seemed to be channeling power from those illusory stars to strengthen itself.

Those stars were like tiny realms...

A shudder ran through Nie Tian as soon as this thought entered his mind. He instantly summoned the Flame Dragon Armor.

Puzzled, Agaz said, “Master?”

“Would you take a close look at this Heavenly Stars Flower in my star domain?” Nie Tian said. “It was my Nine Stars Flower. After I provided it with my Blood Essence and refined the Nine Stars Flower that belonged to Luo Wanxiang, its life structure mutated, and it transformed into this wondrous new life form.

“Take a look at it.”

“Alright,” Agaz said.

Moments later, Agaz the flame dragon couldn’t help but exclaim, “Master, this Heavenly Stars Flower is channeling power from the stars in your illusory star domain to strengthen itself. If your star domain is an actual area of the starry river, then what that plant is doing is just like...

“Like that incredibly colossal tree penetrating numerous realms with its branches in that peculiar space we explored earlier!

“Not just that, but that colossal tree also pierced through the hearts of Ancientbeasts and dragons to drain their flesh power.

“Even though this Heavenly Stars Flower is only an illusory manifestation right now, what it’s doing is almost identical to what that colossal tree did!

“Master, do you think it has some sort of connection with that colossal tree? Will this Heavenly Stars Flower transform into something like it if it continues to grow and transform?”

Agaz grew very excited as he observed the peculiar Heavenly Stars Flower, whose features reminded him of the withered colossal tree in that unknown part of the starry river.

Nie Tian took a deep breath and asked, “You have that feeling too?”

“Yes!” Agaz said.

“Hmm?!”

His soul connection with the Heavenly Stars Flower allowed him to suddenly sense a cluster of exceptionally strong starlight in another domain!

RUMBLE!

His mind shook, and a curious scene presented itself in one of the Heavenly Stars Flower’s petals.

That petal seemed to turn into a clear mirror.

It was a scene of Luo Wanxiang’s All Manifestations Star Banner floating and channeling star power from its surrounding stars in an area of the starry river that was wreathed in a faint cyan mist.

Apparently, Luo Wanxiang was strengthening his All Manifestations Star Banner with the star power in that area.

A fleet of Phantasm starships were berthed nearby like a shoal of fish. Grand Monarch Dark Nether, who he had met once, was casting some bloodline magic next to Luo Wanxiang, as if to provide him with assistance.

“Grand Monarch Dark Nether! Luo Wanxiang!” Nie Tian gave a cunning laugh. “Who would have thought that the Nine Stars Flower would have such a wondrous use after transforming into the Heavenly Stars Flower! Perhaps the fact that I can sense and spy on him through it has something to do with the fact that I devoured and refined Luo Wanxiang’s Nine Stars Flower!”

“Nie Tian!” Hou Chulan suddenly exclaimed. “How come that petal of your Nine Stars Flower is reflecting Luo Wanxiang’s image? What’s going on?”

Nie Tian snapped out of his daze, and realized that she was approaching him.

Even separated by the boundless starry river, Grand Monarch Dark Nether, who was also included in the image in the petal, suddenly noticed something and exclaimed, “Who’s there?”

BOOM!

The image in the sparkling petal exploded.

Nie Tian immediately realized that the Phantasm grand monarch had noticed that he was spying on them, and thus destroyed the connection between the Heavenly Stars Flower and Luo Wanxiang or his All Manifestations Star Banner with a mighty soul magic.

Nie Tian let out a cold snort and said, “Luo Wanxiang is colluding with Grand Monarch Dark Nether of the Phantasms. They’ve met in the starry river between the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries. From the look of it, they’ve finished assembling their troops, and are ready for their impending invasion.”

Hou Chulan floated to him and said, “White Rose’s Star Hunters have informed us of such news already. That didn’t surprise me. But what’s the matter with your Nine Stars Flower? It’s clearly different from the other Nine Stars Flowers of your sect.”

“It has advanced from the Earth Cultivated grade to the Heaven Nourished grade,” Nie Tian said, smiling.

“What? Spiritual materials like Nine Stars Flowers can upgrade too? How come I’ve never heard of such a thing?” Hou Chulan exclaimed in shock.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

At this moment, the ninety-nine stars in Nie Tian’s star domain started moving following brand new tracks. The Sea of Illusory Stars spun madly.

The Heavenly Stars Flower seemed to be behind such changes.

Nie Tian’s star domain seemed to rapidly turn into a vortex of streaming stars.

A strange gravitational force was suddenly born, and started attracting Luo Wanxiang and his All Manifestations Star Banner.

In another domain.

The All Manifestations Star Banner was floating in the void, absorbing star power to recover its full might.

With Grand Monarch Dark Nether’s assistance, the speed at which Luo Wanxiang recovered his strength seemed to be pushed to the limit.

All of a sudden, the star power he had expended great effort to channel from the surroundings stars poured madly out of him before he could even refine it fully.

“AHH!” Luo Wanxiang cried in pain, blood flying from the corners of his eyes.

Meanwhile...

Having received Dong Li’s messages, Wei Lai, Dou Tianchen, Fang Yuan, Wang Meijia, and a few others from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace arrived in the Realm of Maelstrom through teleportation.

As soon as they set foot in the Realm of Maelstrom, before they could even ask about the latest situation, they cast their gazes skywards.

Wei Lai and the three Sons of the Stars who practiced star incantations instantly felt an overly strong attractive force, which seemed to be pulling at their star power cores in their spiritual seas.

Even their bodies seemed to be about to escape their control and rise into the starry river.

“Who’s in the starry river?” Wei Lai exclaimed in astonishment.

“It’s Nie Tian,” Jing Feiyang answered with a plain tone. “He’s practicing cultivation outside the Realm of Maelstrom, preparing for Gupi’s arrival.”

“But he, he...” Before Fang Yuan, whose cultivation base was the weakest of the four, could finish, he flew uncontrollably into the heavens.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Lai and the others also rose into the starry river one after another through the well-like heavens in the Realm of Maelstrom.

Their strange behavior caught the attention of the God domain and many Saint domain experts in the Realm of Maelstrom.

All of a sudden, streaks of glorious light shot up into the starry river like a reverse waterfall.

Soon, people reached the floating meteor where Nie Tian was practicing cultivation, and saw the peculiar Heavenly Stars Flower in his star domain.