Chapter 817: A Journey for the Fearless (1/2)

Since a spatial rift that led to the Shatter Battlefield was going to open soon, the Realm of Maelstrom became increasingly clamorous and bustling with activity.

Nie Tian stepped out of a teleportation portal in the Divine Seal Sect, and found himself surrounded by towering stone pavilions. He gazed up and saw ancient starships berthed in the sky.

Some of them belonged to the Divine Seal Sect, the Golden Vast Sect, and the Thousandsword Mountain Sect from the Domain of Heaven Python, but more belonged to sects he didn’t even know.

There were also oddly-shaped ancient starships, which clearly didn’t belong to humans.

Duan Shihu, who had come with him, said in a low voice, “Not every human or outsider domain has access to the Shatter Battlefield. Some outsiders will also come to the Realm of Maelstrom and enter the Shatter Battlefield through the spatial tunnels here.”

Nie Tian nodded, then turned to Jing Rou and asked, “What will the Qi warriors from the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Divine Flame Sect have to do if they want to enter the Shatter Battlefield?”

With a bright smile, Jing Rou said, “It’s very simple. Each of them will need to pay ten thousand spirit jades. After being counted, those spirit jades will be split evenly among the Divine Seal Sect, the Golden Vast Sect, and the Thousandsword Mountain Sect.”

“Ten thousand spirit jades...” Nie Tian muttered with a dry smile.

The Pure Heaven Sect had charged him twenty thousand spirit jades to observe the stone statues in the Seven-star Blue Sea. Who would have thought he would have to pay another ten thousand spirit jades to enter the Shatter Battlefield?

Ten thousand spirit jades were worth a million spirit stones. As wealthy as he was, he had a headache over such a high price.

He had only used about ten spirit jades to smooth his breakthrough into the Worldly realm. Now, as he had traveled to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries and the Domain of Heaven Python, an entrance fee alone could easily cost him ten thousand spirit jades. This made him rather frustrated.

As far as he knew, the Cloudsoaring Sect’s ten years’ revenue was barely a million spirit stones.

“This is actually a fair price,” Jing Rou explained, smiling. “The Shatter Battlefield is a wondrous place. If people can survive in there, their gains will most certainly be significant. Normally speaking, any Earth Cultivated grade spiritual material will be priced at a hundred thousand spirit jades or more. So if you can get you hands on one Earth Cultivated grade spiritual material in there, then you’ll be able to make up for all your losses, and even make a significant profit.

“Furthermore, countless powerful outsiders and Ancientbeasts have died in the Shatter Battlefield. If you’re so lucky as to bring their remains back to the Realm of Maelstrom, you’ll make a fortune out of them as well.

“Besides, cultivators at the Soul realm and Void domain will have great chances at deriving new enlightenment and advancing to the next cultivation realm in there. If Soul realm cultivators can advance to the Void domain, and Void domain cultivators can advance to the Saint domain in there, what does ten thousand spirit jades matter?”

Nie Tian smiled bitterly. “That’s on the condition that they can return alive.”

With a smile, Jing Rou said, “Yeah, but that’s the rule set up together by the Golden Vast Sect, the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, and our sect. Ten thousand spirit jades per person. As the rule-maker, of course we can’t break it. Besides, ten thousand spirit jades shouldn’t be a big number for cultivators who have entered the Soul realm. They should be able to afford it.”

Pointing at himself, Nie Tian asked, “What about me then?”

Duan Shihu’s face grew grim as he asked, “You want to go there too?”

Nie Tian nodded slightly. “Yeah.”

Jing Rou stopped smiling and said with a straight face, “Nie Tian, I know that you’re a Son of the Stars, but you’re still only at the Worldly realm. I don’t think you should take such a big risk.”

“I want to go and take a look for myself,” Nie Tian said.

Duan Shihu fell silent.

After a moment of pondering, Jing Rou said, “The Golden Vast Sect, the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, and our sect all have free quotas. Since you’re Shihu’s junior martial brother, and Senior Wu is your master, you two can take our free quotas, and enter the Shatter Battlefield without paying a single spirit jade. But the rest of them will have to follow the rule strictly, no matter whether they’re from the Domain of the Falling Stars or the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.”

Nie Tian nodded. “I see.”

Then, he went to see Wu Ji with Duan Shihu.

After coming to the Realm of Maelstrom, Wu Ji had gathered some spiritual materials with Duan Shihu’s help, and had been practicing cultivation in the stone pavilion the Divine Seal Sect had assigned to Nie Tian while he waited for the opening of the Shatter Battlefield.

As the two of them arrived, Wu Ji’s face split into a bright smile, and he beckoned for them to take their seats.

Duan Shihu then said in a serious voice, “I hope you can reconsider going to the Shatter Battlefield, master.”

Wu Ji waved his hand and said with a composed expression, “I’ve made up my mind. Don’t try to persuade me anymore.”

“I’ll go with you, master,” Nie Tian chimed in, smiling.

Wu Ji went blank for a moment before recovering his smile and saying, “Alright.”

Duan Shihu said with a slight frown, “You two...”

“Great rewards come only with great risk.” Wu Ji didn’t seem to take the risks to heart. “Whatever danger lies in the Shatter Battlefield, as long as there are people who managed to come back alive, we have a chance at doing the same. I didn’t leave the Realm of Flame Heaven for many years because I was worried that the Realm of Black Marsh and the Realm of Earth Sieve would invade if I wasn’t there.

“After all, as a member of the Cloudsoaring Sect, it’s my responsibility to protect it.

“But now, whether I stay in the Realm of Flame Heaven or not, it’ll thrive because of Nie Tian. Also, I believe disciples of the Cloudsoaring Sect will be treated with respect throughout the Domain of the Falling Stars from now on.

“With that burden lifted from my mind, I can finally put my heart at rest and travel around.

“Now, since the river of time has appeared in the Shatter Battlefield, and the spatial tunnel that leads to it doesn’t stay open all the time, of course I have to go and try my luck.

“If, by luck, I can actually find the river of time and derive profound enlightenment from it, my future path of cultivation will be free of obstacles.

“So I have to take a shot with this opportunity. As vast as this universe is, there are very few places that can help me derive enlightenment of time power.”

Seeing that Wu Ji insisted on going, Duan Shihu let out a sigh and didn’t waste his breath anymore.

The three of them went on and talked for a long time in the small room.

Eventually, Wu Ji urged Nie Tian to go and prepare the spiritual materials and other resources that they would need for daily cultivation and battle, so that he would be able to fight others in the Shatter Battlefield for a longer time.

Therefore, Nie Tian left with Duan Shihu and asked him to purchase some Star Stones, high-grade spirit beast meat, high-tier outsider corpses, and spiritual materials of fire and wood attributes.

At the same time, he gave a large number of spirit stones and materials that he didn’t need to Duan Shihu to sell or trade.