Chapter 1008: The Divine Bell Tolled Again (2/2)

Therefore, not a single person had come to find him in the past three years.

At this point, Nie Tian finally realized that secluded cultivation might take up half of a Qi warrior’s lifespan.

The higher their cultivation bases became, the more difficult it would be for them to make breakthroughs. For experts at the Void, Saint, or God domain, a secluded cultivation session could easily last decades. Sometimes, they even lasted centuries.

When God domain experts took trips to derive enlightenment of heaven and earth in unmapped areas of the starry river, a single journey might last a thousand years.

BONG!

All of a sudden, a resonant bell toll echoed throughout Fragmentary Star City.

Nie Tian snapped awake from his cultivation.

Unlike the bell toll that had occurred when he had first entered Fragmentary Star City, this one was filled with grief.

As a Son of the Stars, he had learned some of his sect’s practices.

The divine bell normally wouldn’t be tolled. Every time it did, something major must have happened.

Nie Tian walked out of the Vast Heaven Pavilion, summoned the Star Boat, and flew towards the most splendid palace in the city.

As he did, he saw Fang Yuan flying out of another pavilion towards the central palace as well.

Their Star Boats rapidly came close.

“What does that bell toll stand for, Senior Martial Brother Fang?” Nie Tian asked.

“One of our elders has died,” Fang Yuan said with a grim face. “All twelve of our elders are at the late Saint domain. And our grand elder is at the God domain. Each and every one of them is capable of handling grand patriarchs as powerful as Cardy. Also, they’re scattered in different parts of the starry river, either overseeing important realms or exploring new domains. They all have heavy responsibilities.”

Nie Tian gasped with astonishment. “One of our elders died?! Do you know which one?”

Fang Yuan shook his head. “I don’t know yet. We’ll learn about that as soon as we get to the grand palace.”

As their Star Boats flew alongside each other, another Star Boat also shot into the air.

Standing on it was a thin young man, who was gazing at them from afar with an insidious look on his face.

Fang Yuan let out a cold harrumph. “Sikong Cuo!”

“He is Sikong Cuo?” Nie Tian asked with a surprised expression.

Fang Yuan frowned and said, “Who else can it be? You were in secluded cultivation during the past three years. During this time, Sikong Cuo went on a number of operations, and won a considerable amount of contribution points. This time, he’s here to use his contribution points to trade for rare spiritual materials that his subordinates couldn’t find in the Realm of Remote Heaven.

“From what I know, he’s summoned plenty more subordinates recently, including the head of the Bloody Despair Brotherhood, who’s been active around the Domain of Heaven Python.

“Master Bloody Despair?!” Nie Tian was taken aback. “Isn’t he the head of a hunter organization? And the Bloody Despair Brotherhood is notorious for their despicable deeds. The Qi warriors in the nearby domains, including the Domain of Endless Snow, the Domain of Heaven Python, and the Domain of Vast Darkness, have already launched several cleansing operations targeting them. He thinks it’s okay to make such a person his subordinate?”

“Sikong Cuo has many other subordinates that are just as contemptible as him,” Fang Yuan said. “When he takes in a subordinate, all he cares about is their battle prowess. Morality means nothing to him. For this reason, many of his subordinates are every bit as troublesome as him, and cause our sect trouble all the time.

“If he hadn’t done such an unspeakable thing to anger He Lianxiong from the Heaven Span Pavilion so much, he wouldn’t have set me up in the Dead Star Sea!”

As they spoke, Sikong Cuo’s Star Boat beat them to the grand palace.

By the time Nie Tian and Fang Yuan walked into the grand palace, they found that Wei Lai, Yan Zhan, Xin Qing, and Zu Guangyao, the four on-duty elders, were already there.

In front of the four elders lay a dozen bodies. The one in the middle was so badly mangled that its face was unidentifiable.

Wei Lai sighed deeply. “Elder Xiao is dead. Even his soul is gone. Reviving him is not an option. The two from the Five Elements Sect and the Void Spirit Society who went there with Elder Xiao died there as well.”

Yan Zhan trembled as he struggled to suppress his fury. “Together, our three sects sent three late Saint domain, six middle Saint domain, more than thirty Void domain, and hundreds of Soul realm members there. All of them died there. Damn those monsters!”

“I suppose that one has already recovered his peak strength,” Wei Lai said with a bitter expression.

“What should we do? Our sectmaster and vice sectmasters haven’t returned from their trips yet.” Yan Zhan asked.

“I’ve already gotten in contact with our grand elder,” Wei Lai said with furrowed brow. “He’s going to be back soon. I need to go to the Void Spirit Society’s headquarters to discuss our countermeasures.”

Nie Tian looked confused as the four elders discussed matters among themselves with grim faces.

Fang Yuan and Sikong Cuo, however, seemed to know what had happened as soon as they saw the corpses, but neither of them said anything.

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