Chapter 1074: Invading the Demon Realm
Inside the grand palace left by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace in the Realm of Split Void, Dong Li confronted Nie Tian as soon as he and Pei Qiqi appeared in the teleportation portal. “She was the reason why you went to the Void Spirit Society?”
A defensive look filled her eyes as she fixed her eyes on Pei Qiqi.
At this point, she had already entered the late Profound realm.
However, upon seeing Pei Qiqi, she sensed that her cultivation base was far higher than hers.
A sense of frustration instantly filled her heart.
Nie Tian and Pei Qiqi had fought side by side in the Realm of Split Void many years ago. Back then, both their cultivation bases and statuses had been lower than hers.
But now, Nie Tian had become a Son of the Stars, while Pei Qiqi had won the Void Spirit Society sectmaster’s favor and become his fourth legacy disciple.
The fact that the two of them finished missions together like a perfect pair put her in a bad mood.
Even though there had also been rumors about Nie Tian and Yin Yanan and Mu Biqiong, she hadn’t attached much importance to them.
After all, those two weren’t so much more outstanding than her, and they had known Nie Tian for a much shorter time than she had.
However, Pei Qiqi was different.
“I don’t know many disciples of the Void Spirit Society,” Nie Tian explained with an embarrassed expression, “but as you know, we need help from those who are well-versed in spatial power if we want to enter those three Demon realms. Zhao Shanling alone is far from enough. And I don’t want people to find out about what I’m trying to do. I thought about it a lot, and realized that I can only seek Senior Martial Sister Pei’s help.”
The haze clouding Dong Li’s face didn’t fade.
Pei Qiqi took out a ring of holding and handed to Nie Tian. “Here. Inside the ring are some spirit beast corpses that my master gave me. They don’t contain any special spatial power and can’t really help with my cultivation. I knew that your special bloodline allows you to refine most spirit beast and outsider corpses, so I kept them for you.”
Nie Tian’s eyes lit up as he accepted the ring without hesitation. “Thank you, Senior Martial Sister Pei. They’re indeed very useful to me.”
Watching Pei Qiqi giving Nie Tian spirit beast corpses and Nie Tian accepting them right in front of her, Dong Li grew even more angry.
Only then did Nie Tian sense the tension and attempt to break it by saying, “Alright, how’s everything going?”
“All of the major sects from the Domain of Heaven Python and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries sent word back to me, saying that their powerful experts won’t enter secluded cultivation for a while, and will be available to answer your summons at any time,” Dong Li answered.
“You go ahead and talk. I’ll go visit Uncle Hua and that fatty Li Ye.” With these words, Pei Qiqi walked out of the spacious hall.
“I don’t like her,” Dong Li said without holding back. “And I don’t want you to get too close to her. I can feel that she...”
“She what?” Nie Tian asked with a teasing smile.
Dong Li gave him a nasty look. “You know what I mean! I’m going to let this one pass, but you’ve got to keep your distance from her from now on!”
Nie Tian promised.
Only then did Dong Li walk over to him. She buried her head in Nie Tian’s chest and whispered, “I’m feeling a lot of pressure from you. You’re becoming stronger and stronger. Even though you practice three different types of power, your cultivation base still progresses faster than most. Now, you’ve already entered the Soul realm, but I’m only at the late Profound realm, even though I’ve cultivated like crazy.
“What gives me even more pressure is your status as a Son of the Stars. I’m worried... that...”
Her voice grew lower and lower. It seemed that, instead of talking to Nie Tian, she was simply giving vent to her feelings.
Nie Tian felt for her, but didn’t know how to make her feel better. He thought briefly and said, “Why don’t you come with me when I enter the three Demon realms? Over the years, I’ve fought quite a few battles in different human domains. Even though I’ve repeatedly found myself in desperate situations, those experiences tempered me and helped improve my cultivation base. Perhaps the reason why your cultivation base hasn’t advanced as fast as you’d like is because you’ve been overseeing things in the Domain of Heaven Python, and haven’t fought any battles these past few years.”
Dong Li regained her confidence. “Great! I’ll bring out my best in our upcoming battles in the three Demon realms!”
...
Two weeks later, numerous Soul realm, Void domain, and Saint domain experts from the Divine Seal Sect, the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, and the Golden Vast Sect arrived in the Realm of Split Void.
Qi warriors from the major sects and clans in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries also arrived successively through inter-domain teleportation portals. Only the Pure Heaven Sect didn’t send any experts to the Realm of Split Void.
After her brief meeting with Hua Mu and Li Ye, Pei Qiqi found Zhao Shanling, who took her to the spatial rift in the Realm of Mystic Heaven. With his help, she familiarized herself with the environment, found the secret passage, and learned how to travel to the Fourth Demon Realm safely.
Furthermore, Pei Qiqi also got Qi Lianshan, a middle Saint domain elder of the Void Spirit Society, to help them. With Zhao Shanling’s help, Qi Lianshan found the secret passage Zhao Shanling had talked about in the spatial rift in the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, along with the safe way to enter the Fifth Demon Realm.
The spatial rift in the Realm of Flame Heaven connected to the Sixth Demon Realm. Zhao Shanling would guide a group of experts through it himself.
The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Demon Realms were located in the Demon heaven and earth, and were separated from the other realms by a significant distance.
However, once powerful Demons in the other Demon realms sensed anomalies in these three realms, they would still be able to reestablish contact with them within a short time by relying on ancient starships, or the power of Demon grand monarchs.
Therefore, after discussing their options with Jing Feiyang and the others, Nie Tian decided to attack the three Demon realms at the same time.
And the duration of their operation would be exactly one month.
They would have to end their operation when the time was up, no matter the result.
The reason why they set the time to be one month was because Zhao Shanling had assessed and determined that it would take about a month for Demon ancient starships to reach the three Demon realms from the Third Demon Realm, which was the closest to them.
Of course, that was based on the premise that they successfully destroyed all of the inter-realm teleportation portals in the three Demon realms.
Of all people, Pei Qiqi had the most responsibilities. First, she would help Zhao Shanling destroy all of the portals in the Sixth Demon Realm, then she would go help Qi Lianshan get rid of all of the portals in the Fifth Demon Realm.
Eventually, she herself would lead a group of experts to the Fourth Demon Realm and destroy all of the portals that connected the Fourth Demon Realm to the other Demon realms.
In the Realm of Flame Heaven...
A spatial rift was floating in the sky, surrounded by three lofty mountain peaks.
Qu Mingde and other powerful experts from the Golden Vast Sect, Zhongli Jian and his people from the Divine Flame Sect, and Fan Kai and other experts from the Domain of the Falling Stars were all gathered by Nie Tian’s side.
Nie Tian glanced around, and found himself surrounded by nearly a thousand Qi warriors.
Most of them were at the Soul realm, with a small portion being Saint and Void domain experts. They were the cornerstones of the three sects that came from three different domains.
Zhao Shanling stepped up and addressed everyone. “The most powerful clan in the Sixth Demon Realm is the Astarte Clan, their clan chief being at the peak of the eighth grade. But there are quite a few other clans in the Sixth Demon Realm that also have plenty of eighth grade experts.
“As far as I know, there are about three million Demons in the Sixth Demon Realm alone. Of course, most of them are at very low grades, and are not worth mentioning.
“But there are also a large number of demonic beasts and plants that can be used to assist the Demons in battle.
“The Sixth Demon Realm gave birth to a Demon grand monarch once. After he rose to prominence, he moved his clan to the First Demon Realm. Even though he died millions of years ago, his clan got to remain in the First Demon Realm.
“It’s said that the Astarte Clan shared that Demon grand monarch’s bloodline, but they weren’t immediately related. For some reason, they failed to win the grand monarch’s acknowledgment. Therefore, when the grand monarch rose to prominence several million years ago, he chose not to take the Astarte Clan to the First Demon Realm with him.
“The current chief of the Astarte Clan calls himself the Dark Demon Patriarch. However, that’s only a title he gave himself, and is unacknowledged by the noble Demon clans. Only after he actually enters the ninth grade will his title be acknowledged by them. And by doing that, he’ll be allowed to move his clan from the Sixth Demon Realm to the Third or Second Demon Realm.
“According to what I’ve learned, it seems that it won’t be long before he advances to the ninth grade.
“Aside from that, the Sixth Demon Realm seems to be rich in demonic jades, which, like our spirit jades, are crystallized Demon Qi that can be used to strengthen Demons. But they’re less than useless to us.
“Aside from killing the Demons in the Sixth Demon Realm, another goal of our operation is to collect the following materials.
“Silicon Silver. That’s right. The Sixth Demon Realm has a large Silicon Silver reserve. Silicon Silver can be used to forge all kinds of high-grade spiritual tools and armor, and it’s extremely hard to find in our heaven and earth.
“Then, there’s Dementing Demonic Grass. This kind of demonic grass can be found in most Demon domains. They can be used to dement living beings and cause them to hallucinate, as well as awaken their inner demons. However, they’re also the main ingredient to make Barrier Breaking Pills.
“Barrier Breaking Pills are seventh level Earth grade medicinal pills, which are specially designed for those attempting to break through into the Void, Saint, or God domain. After mixing them with other spiritual materials and a series of refinements, they can actually soothe the minds of those who are seeking breakthroughs, and prevent them from being affected by their inner demons, which gives them great value.
“However, they’re of no use to the Demons. The Demons usually use them to trade with rogue humans to get the materials they need.
“There is a large amount of Dementing Demonic Grass in the Sixth Demon Realm for us to pick. Even if you don’t need them for the time being, you’ll be able to trade them for other rare materials from the powerful sects after your return.
“Aside from Silicon Silver and Dementing Demonic Grass, there are also...”
Zhao Shanling took his time to list the rare spiritual materials that the Sixth Demon Realm had to offer.
Almost all of them were of no use to the Demons, but were extremely rare and expensive in the human heaven and earth.
Furthermore, the Astarte Clan and the other clans in the Sixth Demon Realm must also have large stocks of various other materials.
As long as they could wipe them out, they would be able to loot a tremendous amount of resources, which would help improve the strength of Nie Tian’s subordinates significantly.
It was already very rare that someone could enter a Demon realm and return alive. However, Zhao Shanling had not only done that, but also gained a full understanding of the realm.
Qu Mingde and the other experts grew excited after hearing his words.
The chief of the Astarte Clan, who was their strongest enemy in the Sixth Demon Realm, was only at the peak of the eighth grade. As long as they could destroy all of the portals and seal the realm off, one month was enough for them to do plenty of things.
Nie Tian nodded. “Alright, let’s get started with the Sixth Demon Realm.”
Zhao Shanling and Pei Qiqi were the first to fly into the spatial rift. They were followed by Nie Tian, Qu Mingde, and Zhongli Jian. Then, the others streamed in as well.
Zhao Shanling and Pei Qiqi sped through the Demon Qi-wreathed spatial tunnel while Zhao Shanling looked for the so-called secret passage.
“Over here, everyone!” Zhao Shanling called out.
Everyone then flew towards him, unleashing spiritual power wards to fend off the raging Demon Qi.
The direction they were heading wasn’t where the Demons had come from when they had invaded before. This meant even the Demons might not know anything about the secret passage.
“This is it!” Zhao Shanling found a pitch-black spot that thrummed with strange spatial fluctuations, and flew into it without hesitation.