The female Demon’s name was Yrie, and she was from the Barten Clan in the Fifth Demon Realm.
It was none other than the Barten Clan that had led the invasion of the Realm of a Thousand Devastations through that spatial rift.
Even though Yrie, who possessed sixth grade bloodline power, wasn’t the highest commander of this massive invasion, she was an immediate member of the Barten Clan. Thanks to her noble bloodline, almost all the Demons in the vicinity had heeded her summons.
Before she had entered the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, Yrie had received word that some human youngster had already gathered all three fragmentary star marks, because of which, the Astarte Clan from the Sixth Demon Realm had been forced to terminate their invasion of the Realm of Flame Heaven.
However, Yrie and the Barten Clan behind her didn’t call off their invasion of the Realm of a Thousand Devastations accordingly.
Since she knew that a human had gathered all three fragmentary star marks, she had anticipated Nie Tian’s arrival and paid extra attention.
When Liu Ling’s shiny, silver war chariot appeared in her sight, she unleashed her secret bloodline magic and rapidly drew the conclusion that Nie Tian was the successor that had gathered all the fragmentary star marks.
Hence, she summoned every Demon in the vicinity with her sharp roar, commanding them to leave their current opponents and converge on Nie Tian from every direction.
“Liu Ling, you take Nie Tian and leave!” With these words, Huang Fan from the Heaven Palace Sect took the initiative to jump out of the shiny, silver war chariot. He summoned his banners as he did.
As soon as the banners spiraled out, they formed a special spiritual power field around Huang Fan.
After all, Huang Fan was at the late Profound realm, much more powerful than Liu Ling, who was only at the early Profound realm. He realized how formidable Yrie was, and thus wanted to stall her with his own strength.
The flying banners made rustling sounds as the spiritual power field rippled outward, enveloping an increasingly large area. From the look of it, it wouldn’t be long before Yrie was enveloped by it.
Upon hearing Huang Fan’s words, Liu Ling responded with great decisiveness. Eyes filled with gratefulness, she blurted, “Every sect in the Realm of a Thousand Devastations will forever remember your heroic act!”
With these words, a blindingly bright ball of spiritual power shot of her hand and infused into the bottom of the war chariot.
In a split second, the innumerable spirit stones that had been laid on the bottom of the war chariot seemed to be instantly stimulated and began to use all of their energy.
With a speed that was three times faster than before, the war chariot shot towards the depths of the demon Qi-covered region like flashing lightning.
As two winged Demons swooped towards them, reaching out with their sharp, black claws in the hopes of grabbing the war chariot, dazzling spiritual light shot out from Liu Ling’s fingertips.
PHOOH! PHOOH! PHOOH!
The Demons’ splayed claws were instantly reduced to a bloody mess, as if they had been penetrated by numerous sharp weapons.
Nie Tian’s keen perception made him aware that as Liu Ling used her exquisite magic to shoot spiritual light towards the two winged Demons, the crescent moon high in the sky seemed to have brightened temporarily.
A fierce and chilly aura that seemed to originate from the moon suddenly burst forth from Liu Ling’s body.
“She must be from the Yin Sect!” Nie Tian raised his chin to look at the crescent moon and had a somewhat mysterious feeling that Liu Ling was receiving energy from the moon and infusing it into her own spiritual power.
Then, he looked around with focused attention, and immediately discovered that every Qi warrior in the vicinity had crescent-moon-shaped marks on their collars and cuffs.
Meanwhile, Liu Ling was wearing a crystal-like, crescent-moon-shaped pendant on her snow-white neck, which seemed to have been carved out of some kind of special crystal.
Misty moonlight circulated within it unceasingly.
Nie Tian’s eyes widened as he suddenly came to realize that the mysterious incantation the Yin Sect disciples practiced probably had some kind of close connection with the moon.
He couldn’t help but inwardly marvel at his new discoveries.
Furthermore, the crescent-moon-shaped pendant on her neck seemed to be helping her channel the chilly moonlight into her body, and thus enhance her battle prowess.
For some reason, as Liu Ling cast the Yin Sect’s secret magics and beams of moonlight poured down from the heavens, Nie Tian was struck by a feeling that his mind had become clear, and his heart was put at ease.
In such a state, Nie Tian’s mind drifted away. “Disciples of the Yin Sect can draw power from the moonlight. From the look of it, the Yang Sect, the other powerful sect in the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, should be able to make use of the strength in the sunlight?”
“Can it be that the incantations the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect practice are respectively related to the moon and the sun?”
“Based on common sense, the sun and the moon are stars with unique features. Meanwhile, the Fragmentary Star Incantation allows its user to channel star power from the countless stars in the vast heavens to launch attacks.”
“In this way, sunlight and moonlight should also carry star power.”
“If that’s the case, does that mean that the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect have something to do with the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace?”
Shocked by his own speculation, Nie Tian had a complicated expression on his face as he attempted to examine the spiritual power fluctuations within Liu Ling’s body.
ROOOAARRRR!!
The fierce roars of Demons woke Nie Tian from his thoughts. He turned around and saw that Huang Fan was commanding his flying banners to trap numerous Demons that were charging towards Nie Tian.
However, the curvaceous high-tier Demon had already broken free from the spiritual power field created by Huang Fan’s banners, and was rapidly gaining on him.
The greatsword in her hand shone with bright light as she stated her name, “I’m Yrie, a member of the Barten Clan from the Fifth Demon Realm. The Realm of a Thousand Devastations is destined to fall. You can stop your meaningless struggle now. Now that the main force of our clan has come, don’t expect us to retreat!”
FIZZ!
As soon as she uttered these words, the numerous glittering, purple strings that had previously merged with her flesh suddenly shot out of her palm.
“Stop her!” Liu Ling called out loudly.
A few Greater Heaven stage Qi warriors from the Yin Sect brandished their spiritual tools, sending out dazzlingly bright moonlight. Beams of moonlight interwove with each other, forming a spell formation as they shot towards Yrie.
Yrie let out a cold harrumph as she gently patted her mount.
The winged beast immediately let out an ear-piercing shriek as light appeared and interwove into a bright grid in the depths of its devilish pupils, activating its mysterious bloodline talent.
In the next moment, rich demon Qi madly converged and spiraled towards the beast as it seemed to be refining on its own.
Then, the highly refined, raging demon Qi seemed to be activated by the beast’s bloodline talent, and escalated into a devastating storm, giving rise to loud crackles.
Many Qi warriors from the Yin Sect, who were fighting Demons with their spiritual tools in the vicinity, were pulled into the eye of the pitch-black demon Qi storm one by one.
Yrie’s mount let out blood-chilling howls as it fixed its eyes, deep inside of which a bright network of mysterious light could be seen, on Liu Ling.
Standing in the war chariot, Liu Ling was looking back to check the situation when her eyes met the beast’s. In the next moment, her soft, womanly body suddenly grew stiff.
Nie Tian was shocked by the scene, and thus immediately unleashed his Heaven Eyes to examine her. Then, he discovered that numerous fine strands of mysterious light, which were invisible to the naked eye, had already covered Liu Ling’s entire body.
They were the most densely packed on Liu Ling’s hands and arms.
A thin layer of grayish-brown rock seemed to be quickly forming on them.
“Petrifaction?!” A shudder ran through Nie Tian’s body.
Fright could be seen in Liu Ling’s eyes as she blurted, “That beast actually carries the bloodline of an ancient magical beast, the Purple Glede (see note 1)!”
Even the crescent-moon-shaped crystal pendant on her neck was now covered by countless strands of demonlight. In the meantime, the demonlight on her body kept interweaving and forming some kind of magical pattern, as if it harbored the intention to infiltrate into her spiritual sea and petrify her completely.
“You’re smarter than I thought.” Yrie said coldly, as if she was surprised that Liu Ling actually recognized her beast’s bloodline origin.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
As she spoke, the purple, glittering strings she had unleashed earlier finally reached the Silver Chariot.
“Dammit!” Liu Ling cursed inwardly, her face looking grim and frustrated.
At this moment, the truly powerful experts from the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect were gathered at the spatial rift. She hadn’t expected that they would actually encounter powerful Demons like Yrie and her mount that carried the Purple Glede’s bloodline so soon after entering the demon-Qi-filled area.
Even though Liu Ling saw that the purple strings were piercing towards Nie Tian, since her body was being petrified, she could no longer move her hands to protect him.
Nie Tian’s eyes flickered slightly before he summoned the Spirit Channeling grade treasure decisively. “Flame Dragon Armor!”
Note:
1. A Purple Glede is a divine beast from ancient Chinese folk tales. They are purple-and-white, bird-like creatures that are large and fierce.