Nie Tian recognized Xing Bo at first sight, but Xing Bo didn’t have any memories of seeing Nie Tian before.
Back when Nie Tian and others had fought Zhong Shishu from the Golden Vast Sect, Zhao Shanling and the other experts had been the main fighting force. When Xing Bo and the others from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect had arrived, they had only seen Zhao Shanling and Hua Mu from afar.
Nie Tian’s cultivation base had been too low for Xing Bo to notice him.
At this moment, Xing Bo was fighting side by side with some Bonebrutes atop a lofty stone pavilion, surrounded by a large number of evil spirits. He was somewhat surprised to see another group of human cultivators.
All those who dared to explore the Bloody Grave Mountain Range must have great confidence in their strength. Xing Bo had only dared to come because he had learned that his Bonebrute friends had planned to come, and had therefore tagged along.
It wasn’t considered a serious taboo for humans to travel with outsiders in the Shatter Battlefield. In fact, it was rather common that humans and outsiders teamed up temporarily here.
The problem was that they had teamed up with Bonebrutes.
Bonebrutes practiced death power, and had an endless need of corpses to build burial grounds, so most outsider races usually didn’t want too much to do with them.
It was even rarer for humans to work with them.
Xing Bo’s expression gradually grew grim as he observed Huang Jinnan, who was the closest to him.
Even though the Domain of Heaven Python was a Medium grade human domain with Saint domain experts representing their peak strength, there were only a small number of them, and their cultivation bases weren’t very impressive. Because of this, the Domain of Heaven Python was actually one of the weakest Medium grade human domains.
Perhaps it was also because of this that Xing Bo didn’t recognize Huang Jinnan.
However, the vigorous aura Huang Jinnan and the others around him exuded made Xing Bo feel insecure and uneasy. He was totally convinced that they were powerful fighters.
Besides, he knew that it was frowned upon to work with Bonebrutes, so he pondered how he should handle the situation.
“I hope they’re only passing by,” Xing Bo prayed inwardly.
WHOOSH!
Nie Tian’s Star Boat approached and caught up to Huang Jinnan’s golden chariot.
He turned to look at Huang Jinnan.
And discovered that his eyes were shining with golden light as he once again cast the Five Elements Sect’s unique secret magic to scan his surroundings.
Staring at the stone pavilion where Xing Bo and Bonebrutes were, Huang Jinnan said casually, after failing to sense the existence of any Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials, “Nothing special there. I wonder if those people will be able to fight off the evil spirits, but it’s none of our business. We’d better not waste our time on them.”
Even though he wasn’t happy about the fact that Xing Bo and the other cultivators had teamed up with Bonebrutes, he didn’t intend to do anything about it. After all, he wouldn’t benefit from it if he did.
“That man has done something I can’t forgive,” Nie Tian said.
Huang Jinnan went blank briefly before tracking Nie Tian’s gaze to take a closer look at Xing Bo. “Middle Profound realm... I’ve never seen that man before. I suppose he’s not some important figure. Who is he? What did he do?”
At that moment, their air-transportation spiritual tools stopped at a place fairly far from the stone pavilion.
The evil spirits were still hovering around and attacking the Bonebrutes, Xing Bo, and the cultivators with him. Since Nie Tian’s group was still fairly distant, they didn’t drop their current targets to attack them.
“That man’s name is Xing Bo, and he’s from a sect in the Domain of Heaven Python called the Thousandsword Mountain Sect. They have early Saint domain experts in that sect. My enmity towards him is because...” Nie Tian went on and briefly explained the situation to Huang Jinnan.
Afterwards, he said, “Why don’t you keep going, Brother Huang? I’ll wait for their battle against the evil spirits to finish to kill that man. After I’m done, I’ll catch up to you.”
With a confused expression, Huang Jinnan said, “He’s from a Medium grade human domain whose most powerful experts are only at the early Saint domain. He provided Bonebrutes with human corpses and ended up being kicked out of his sect, so he had to join the Bonebrutes, who are now using him to explore the Bloody Grave Mountain Range...
“How can someone like him deserve to be your enemy? You’re the seventh Son of the Stars of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace for crying out loud.”
Disdain filled his face as he talked about Xing Bo. After all, each and every person beside him was more powerful and noble than Xing Bo.
Not to mention that Xing Bo had already been expelled from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect.
Nie Tian gave a dry smile. “I have yet to return to our sect via the ‘path of stars’, remember? So my status as a Son of the Stars is not stable yet. Besides, the Domain of the Falling Stars where I’m from is only an Elementary grade human domain. Only recently did we gain our first Void domain expert. Back in the day, Xing Bo’s status and resources were more than enough to overtake me, so even though he killed my senior and imprisoned my friend, I...”
Huang Jinnan nodded to show that he understood. “A puny figure like him won’t even be worth killing after you make it back to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.”
Then, he shot Xing Bo a distant glance and said with narrowed eyes, “That man is at the middle Profound realm, which is not bad. How about this: I’ll have my men kill all of them for you, so you won’t have to waste your energy.”
“No, I have to kill him myself,” Nie Tian said with a decisiveness that could sever nails and chop iron.
Huang Jinnan was taken aback. “Is that necessary? Even though you’re a Son of the Stars, your current cultivation base is still much lower than his. I know you’re probably strong enough to kill him, but it’s totally unnecessary to waste your time and energy on a piece of trash like him.”
“Revenge is sweetest when you get to serve it yourself.” Nie Tian insisted.
Huang Jinnan pondered briefly before nodding slightly and saying, “Alright, we’ll stay here for a while, and make our move when their battle against the evil spirits is over.”
Nie Tian clasped his hands. “Many thanks.”
“So let’s enjoy the show,” Huang Jinnan said with a relaxed expression.
Up on the stone pavilion...
A Bonebrute took a cold glance at Huang Jinnan and the others with him before saying with a commanding tone, “Xing Bo, have two of your men lead some of the evil spirits to that group of people!”
Xing Bo’s expression flickered with astonishment. “Do we have to provoke them? Not only do they outnumber us, but they also seem to be stronger than us. There’s no need to start a conflict with them, right?”
SHEW!
As he spoke, a spiritual sword hovered over him, unleashing wisps of soul power and spiritual power that barely fought off an evil spirit.
The Bonebrute let out a cold harrumph and said with a stern expression, “There are too many evil spirits for us to handle. If you don’t do that, many of us will die! But as long as you get a few evil spirits off our back, we’ll be able to break through their blockade and get to safety! Do it now!”
Xing Bo let out a frustrated sigh and reluctantly issued an order.
After receiving his order, two cultivators who were his cousins found a gap and flew through the evil spirits’ blockade.
Upon seeing this, more than a dozen evil spirits chased after them and engulfed them in a place barely a hundred meters from the stone pavilion. The cultivators let out agonized shrieks as their souls were sucked out wisp after wisp.
Since the evil spirits were now closer to Nie Tian’s group than the stone pavilion, they switched targets.
Without returning to the stone pavilion, they swooped towards Huang Jinnan and the others, screeching fiercely as they did.
Eyes narrowed, Huang Jinnan laughed and said, “Use us to take the burden off their own shoulders. Good thinking.” With these words, he turned to Nie Tian. “Here comes more food for that pearl of yours.”
Without hesitation, Nie Tian shot out from his Star Boat.
Just as the evil spirits were about to swamp him, he summoned the Spirit Pearl.
Like insects that were pinned on a board, they struggled about, but couldn’t possibly escape.
Then, the Spirit Pearl rose from Nie Tian’s palm and sucked all of the evil spirits into itself.
Upon seeing this, the Bonebrute leader and Xing Bo instantly gasped with astonishment.
“Forget it. We’re going to waste even more time if we just sit here and watch.” With these words, Huang Jinnan’s golden chariot shot towards the stone pavilion like a bullet. Smiling, he muttered, “It’s hard to believe that such a bunch of weaklings also dared to come to the Bloody Grave Mountain Range!”
As the long golden spear once again appeared in his hand, a large golden eye appeared and floated towards the stone pavilion, emanating dazzling golden light.
All of the Bonebrutes were deeply shaken as fine fissures started to appear on their bony bodies.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Since cracks even appeared in their translucent and sparkling skulls, their true souls were loosened. Some of them had their true souls sucked out of their minds and devoured by the evil spirits.
Infuriated, the Bonebrute leader shouted madly at Huang Jinnan in the outsiders’ language.
“Even Pergson, your chosen one, couldn’t hurt me with his Bone Shatterer, and he had Froste the Phantasm and Gutas the Demon to help him,” Huang Jinnan said in a stern and awe-inspiring fashion. “Are you sure that you want to fight me?”
Upon hearing these words, the Bonebrutes, who were already charging towards him, were flabbergasted. “Who are you?”
Wreathed in golden light, Huang Jinnan looked like a god in gold as he said arrogantly, “The Divine Son of the metal element section of the Five Elements Sect.” Then, he turned to Nie Tian and added, “Nie Tian, I’ll take care of the rest of them for you, leaving only that Xing Bo to you.”
“Sure!” Nie Tian then shot directly towards the roof of the stone pavilion, wreathed in a torrential flesh aura.
As he did, he glowered at Xing Bo and shouted, “Nie Tian is my name! Master Zhen who you killed was a respected senior of mine, and Pei Qiqi is my senior martial sister!”