Chapter 734: The Aura of A Grand Patriarch (1/2)

A Phantasms’ ancient starship sailed across numerous domains and arrived at the floating meteor where Nie Tian and the three parties had discovered that strange lake.

If Nie Tian were still here, he would have found this ancient starship to be very similar to the one he had seen in the Domain of the Falling Stars.

The ancient starship berthed directly over the lake.

Many Phantasms stood on the ancient starship and looked down, the lake’s reflection appearing in their cyan pupils.

Standing at the front was a noble female Phantasm with an unearthly beautiful appearance. A ray of blinding light shot out of the prismatic crystal between her eyebrows and quickly morphed into an enormous ring of light.

The ring thrummed with mysterious soul fluctuations that could bewitch and bring all living beings to heel.

The ring of light slowly descended and circled the entire meteor. Wisps of soul awareness infiltrated the meteor to examine the depths of the lake.

Among the numerous high-tier Phantasm experts that stood beside the noble female Phantasm, there was someone Nie Tian was rather familiar with: Armes.

After some time, the female Phantasm withdrew her soul awareness. Frowning, she said, “There isn’t a single soul crystal left at the bottom of that Soul-devouring Lake now.”

Shocked, Armes asked, “What does that mean, Lord Yuna!?”

The other Phantasm experts also looked deeply astonished and confused.

The graceful female Phantasm, who was referred to as Yuna, said, “Either no soul crystals formed here in this Soul-devouring Lake, or someone else beat us to collecting them.”

“How can no soul crystals have formed?!” Armes shouted.

Yuna nodded. “Yeah, there were probably some soul crystals at the bottom of the Soul-devouring Lake, but someone took them. There are signs of a battle on this meteor, and from the look of it, it didn’t last long. This means more than one group found this place. They engaged in a battle, and the winner took all of the soul crystals.”

“Who could they be?” Armes asked with a grim face. “All of our allied races know that this Soul-devouring Lake belongs to us, along with the soul crystals in it. They would have informed us if they had discovered it.”

“Who said anything about our allied races?” Yuna snorted coldly.

Armes was taken aback. “Was it the humans who did this? Our Soul-devouring Lakes have their unique features. Humans have the weakest bodies. They can’t get to the bottom, can they?”

“There are exceptions in everything!” Yuna said, shooting Armes a cold gaze. Then, she suddenly flew off the ancient starship and plunged into the lake. She reached the lake bottom within seconds.

Due to the terrifying buoyancy, Hong Xian, Chu Xuanji, and the other human experts had been unable to descend to the lake bottom.

Even Nie Tian, who had tempered his body over and over with Heavenly Wood Heal, had only managed to descend to the lake bottom with the help of the Flame Dragon Armor.

She, however, reached the lake bottom without breaking a sweat.

As soon as she reached the lake bottom, she unleashed her immense soul awareness, which rapidly spread to and thoroughly examined every corner of the lake like thousands of tentacles.

A strange expression then appeared on her face.

Seconds later, she shot up through the lake’s surface. She raised her hands, and the lake that looked like an emerald embedded in this meteor rumbled loudly. Immediately afterwards, a strong force tore the lake away from the meteor, along with its adjacent land, which rose up and landed in the ancient starship.

“I sensed the faint residual aura of a grand patriarch of our race at the bottom of the lake,” Yuna said after returning to the ancient starship herself.

All of the Phantasm experts were shocked by her words, and started clamoring among themselves.

“How is that possible?!”

“No way!”

Those who could be referred to as grand patriarchs were powerful experts at the ninth grade. These Phantasms didn’t even have one grand patriarch in their clan.

Yuna, Armes, and all these other Phantasms were from the Greivis Clan, which only ranked in the middle among all of the Phantasm clans.

Because of this, Armes had hastily led their forces back home when he had received word of the death of Basto, who had been at the seventh grade.

After his return, he had reported to their clan elders. The elders hadn’t had a full understanding of the situation in the Domain of the Falling Stars, and thus hadn’t sent another invasion army.

Any grand patriarch would attract a lot of attention wherever they went. Why would a grand patriarch suddenly show up in a place like this?

“That grand patriarch’s aura is very weak,” Yuna said, her eyes narrowed. “It seems his soul has sustained severe injuries, and he doesn’t even have one tenth of his peak strength left. I suppose he came to this Soul-devouring Lake in an attempt to recover with the soul crystals at the lake bottom. However...”

“What?” Armes couldn’t help but ask.

“He didn’t seem to have succeeded,” Yuna said, frowning. “If he did, this entire Soul-devouring Lake wouldn’t have been here anymore. He would have taken it with him. He must have been attacked when he was recovering with soul crystals. Otherwise, the aura I detected wouldn’t have been this weak.”

“So what do we do now, Lord Yuna?” Armes asked.

“Find him!” Yuna said, gazing off into the distance. “We can track his aura with the help of the Soul-devouring Lake. This is a ninth grade grand patriarch we’re talking about. If we can find him and help him recover to his peak state, our entire clan will benefit from it!”

...

In a corner of the forbidden region.

The Star Boat shone with dazzling starlight as it pierced into a floating meteor like a sharp sword.

CRACKLE!

The Star Boat went nearly a hundred meters into the meteor before finally coming to a stop.

Nie Tian put the Star Boat away in his ring of holding and then gazed at the mouth of the hole from the bottom of it.

Holding the Flame Dragon Armor’s Blood Core in his hand, he started communicating with its soul.

Shortly afterwards, Nie Tian’s face grew grim as he muttered, “They’re here.”

Looking at the six fierce souls that were flying down the deep hole, he exclaimed, “Let’s go!”