Chapter 489: Betrayal
Chapter 489: Betrayal
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
As Bai Yu’s voice echoed out, the enormous hole seemed as if it were being further ripped apart by a mysterious force.
Bai Yu’s petite figure appeared at the mouth of the hole, dragging a large Earth Flame Beast behind her with a number of colorful ribbons.
That Earth Flame Beast was almost twice as large as the one Nie Tian had seen in the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range.
There was an obvious puncture wound on the Earth Flame Beast’s forehead. Apparently, something had gone through its head and killed it.
Bai Yu dragged the Earth Flame Beast towards the others. Pointing at it, she said with great excitement, “This Earth Flame Beast was probably the true target of whoever created that enormous hole in the volcano!
“Look! This Earth Flame Beast has four long blazing tails! This is a seventh grade Earth Flame Beast!”
“A seventh grade Earth Flame Beast!” Zhu Lian’s eyes grew wide as he instantly flew to the Earth Flame Beast’s side. Numerous tiny lightning bolts rose from his fingertips and flew into the Earth Flame Beast’s gigantic body, where they examined it carefully.
In the next moment, his eyes lit up as he exclaimed, “There’s still copious amount of flame power within this dead Earth Flame Beast! Its bones are still imprinted with the profound truths of flame power! The battle prowess of this seventh grade Earth Flame Beast was equal to that of a Soul realm human expert! If we carve its body up, we can harvest the core materials to forge a fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure!”
Zhen Huilan was also inwardly shocked, and said, “If this Earth Flame Beast’s soul hasn’t completely dissipated into heaven and earth, I have complete and utter confidence that I’ll be able to forge a fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure with its soul and body parts!”
The other Tool Sect Qi warriors were also overjoyed as they gazed at the gigantic Earth Flame Beast with wide eyes.
They had never expected that they would gain the corpse of a seventh grade Earth Flame Beast so soon after entering this mysterious dimension.
Even if its soul had completely dissipated, many of its parts were still very precious treasures.
Its bones, skin, teeth, and eyes could all be used to forge spiritual tools.
For those who practiced fire incantations, the profound truths of flame power branded in its bones were rare treasures they could try to derive enlightenment from.
Standing off to the side, Nie Tian sensed the yearning of the Flame Dragon Armor as the Earth Flame Beast was dragged towards them.
It seemed as if the Flame Dragon Armor, which had been absorbing earthflame essence from within that large crystal, had just found a better target, and thus was eager to charge out of his ring of holding into the dead Earth Flame Beast and devour all of its residual flame power.
Therefore, Nie Tian had to spare some of his attention to hold the restless Flame Dragon Armor down, stopping it from unveiling his true identity.
As hard as she tried, Bai Yu failed to mask her excitement and joy. “There is still earthflame essence in the heart of the volcano. I left a storage tool there. It won’t take very long to gather all of the earthflame essence that remains.”
With a broad smile, she looked at Zhu Lian and Zhen Huilan and said, “We’ll split the earthflame essence three ways after it finishes collecting. I don’t plan to carve up this Earth Flame Beast for now. I think I’ll take its intact corpse back to the Tool Sect.”
Then, she turned to look Zhen Huilan in the eye and said, “Perhaps we might be able to forge a spiritual tool out of its intact body. Don’t worry, senior martial sister. I’m only able to get it out of the volcano because you’ve stabilized the spatial fluctuations for us. You’ll get your fair share after this Earth Flame Beast is evaluated.”
With a faint smile, Zhen Huilan said, “Sure, I know I can trust you for that.”
Everyone was full of smiles as they looked the seventh grade Earth Flame Beast up and down, feeling that they had made the wisest decision of their lives by fighting to gain control of one spatial rift and entering it despite the risks.
“There are also some fire-attributed materials in the heart of the volcano,” Bai Yu said. “I’ll gather them and sort them through after my storage tool finishes gathering the earthflame essence.”
Both Zhu Lian and Zhen Huilan nodded briefly.
WHOOSH!
While they were in the middle of discussing how they would divide their loot, a ring of holding suddenly flew over from the distance.
In the blink of an eye, it arrived in front of the Earth Flame Beast’s gigantic body, where it turned into a gray vortex and created a violent suction force.
Channeled by the strong force, the large, mountain-like Earth Flame Beast started floating towards the gray vortex.
The expressions of Zhu Lian and the other powerful experts flickered drastically as they instantly blossomed with dazzling spiritual power, and reached out their hands in an attempt to destroy the ring of holding that had appeared out of nowhere.
An intense sense of danger instantly caused Nie Tian’s hair to stand on end. He subconsciously pulled Pei Qiqi’s arm as he circulated his spiritual power.
Eyes still closed, Pei Qiqi seemed to be completely unaware of what was happening in the real world. Her eyes snapped open as soon as Nie Tian pulled her arm.
With bewildered eyes, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Who’s there?!” Zhu Lian thundered. One after another, numerous cyan thunderballs with a metallic luster shot out of his leveled sleeve, each of which looked like a fruit ripe with thunder power.
In the next moment, rolls of thunder filled the air, as if heaven and earth were wreathed with lightning power.
Zhen Huilan also took out her Illusion Realm and gazed up into the air with a vigilant expression, as if she were facing formidable foes.
A vague figure quietly appeared over the ring of holding.
Shocked and confused, Zhen Huilan exclaimed, “Cheng Qian?! What are you doing here?!”
Nie Tian immediately looked up and realized that the person who had just seized the seventh grade Earth Flame Beast’s corpse with his ring of holding was Cheng Qian, one of the late Profound realm experts from the Spirit God Sect.
They had split up when they had left the floating continent where they had first landed. Right now, they should be searching in completely separate areas. It wasn’t likely that they had encountered each other again by accident.
However, not only had he suddenly appeared here, but he had even attempted to seize the Earth Flame Beast’s corpse as soon as he did.
WHOOSH!
Another person flashed into appearance from behind a floating boulder.
With a glance at the man, Zhu Lian’s face gradually fell as he exclaimed, “Lu Jianfan! What the hell are the two of you doing?! We had an agreement that we’d split up and leave each other alone after entering this dimension! We found this Earth Flame Beast. You did nothing to contribute. Don’t tell me that now you want to take a share of it?!”
Zhen Huilan also burst into a fuming rage. “I can’t believe you actually followed us here behind Yao Shou’s back!”
WHOOSH!
As they spoke, the seventh grade Earth Flame Beast was sucked into Cheng Qian’s ring of holding.
Cheng Qian’s expression was the same as ever. With a scary smile, he ran his gaze over the crowd and said slowly, “Who said we’re doing this behind his back?”
Lu Jianfan’s face split into a sinister grin as he said, “We knew you must have found something. That’s why we secretly followed you here. If we sell this seventh grade Earth Flame Beast to the Flame God Sect, Xia Yi will surely throw his weight in to pay for it!”
“We found that Earth Flame Beast!” Bai Yu exclaimed.
Lu Jianfan shook his head as he let out a sigh and said, “It seems that you still don’t understand the situation. Big Brother Yao, I think it’s necessary that you explain it to them.”
Zhen Huilan was flabbergasted. “Yao Shou is here too?!”
Upon hearing that Yao Shou had also taken part in the betrayal, Bai Yu’ and Zhu Lian’s faces grew increasingly grave.
As expected, following Lu Jianfan’s words, another person slowly flew out from behind another floating boulder.
The disciples of the Spirit God Sect practiced a special incantation, most of which was related to souls and soul power.
For that reason, disciples of the Spirit God Sect were all skilled at hiding the aura of their souls.
Since Yao Shou, Cheng Qian, and Lu Jianfan were all late Profound realm experts from the Spirit God Sect, even Zhen Huilan had failed to discover that they had masked their soul aura and stealthily followed them to this location.
“What do you want, Yao Shou?” Zhen Huilan asked coldly.
Nie Tian followed her gaze and also looked at Yao Shou.
Unlike before, Yao Shou’s expression was now cold and gruesome. From the look of it, he wasn’t going to talk pleasantly this time. Eyes filled with killing intent, he said in a low voice, “Master Zhen, we reached a mutual understanding with the Flame God Sect long before we came over to your spatial rift. Also, after all of you went through that spatial rift, powerful experts from the Flame God Sect came upon receiving my message and entered this dimension right before the one hour time limit you told me about.
“I’m sorry that I tricked you.
“But neither us nor the Flame God Sect have someone as skilled at using spatial power as you. We needed you to tell us about the spatial rift, including how long it would stay stable.”
Furious, Zhen Huilan thundered, “You used me!?”
Yao Shou let out a soft sigh and said, “The Tool Sect is destined to fall into another’s hands. Plus, the way I see it, I don’t think we count as friends. We needed you to explain the things we didn’t know about that spatial rift. Oh right, one last thing, I was worried that word would spread if we killed you in the Void Illusion Mountain Range. I didn’t want that psycho Wu Langxie to know that his wife and son had died at our hands and seek revenge.
“Now that we’re here, we don’t need to worry about that anymore.
“As powerful as Wu Langxie is, he can’t possibly learn that it’s us that killed his wife and son in this unknown, remote dimension.”
Upon hearing these words, the expression of every Tool Sect member flickered drastically.
They finally realized that what the Spirit God Sect really wanted wasn’t just that Earth Flame Beast, but the deaths of all the Tool Sect members!