Chapter 1054: Domain-corroding Flames (1/2)

Ever since Nie Tian had refined the Spirit Pearl, given it a soul, and fused it with a wisp of his soul imprint, a permanent soul connection had been established between them.

Such a connection allowed Nie Tian to communicate with the Spirit Pearl within a certain range.

At this moment, the Spirit Pearl was drifting around seemingly aimlessly.

Under Nie Tian’s instructions, Hou Chulan controlled her air-transportation spiritual tool to follow it.

Ruan Qingliu and the other experts followed along without saying anything.

Many of them would lay their gazes on the Spirit Pearl from time to time.

Since it was hard to tell time in the starry river, Nie Tian didn’t how long had passed before the Spirit Pearl suddenly accelerated.

Greatly spirited, Nie Tian exclaimed, “Follow it!”

Hou Chulan’s bright eyes lit up as she started to exude an emerald green aura, as if she had turned into a piece of gorgeous jade. Even her skin became smoother and more moist.

The wood power that originated from her fused perfectly into the floor of the air-transportation spiritual tool under her feet.

The spiritual tool abruptly picked up speed.

It wasn’t long before the dashing Spirit Pearl led them to an unknown area of the starry river, and came to a sudden stop.

People arrived and gathered around it, where they glanced around curiously and unleashed their soul awareness to scan the vicinity.

Debris and a wrecked starship was found floating silently in the starry river.

The starship wasn’t very large. Judging from the banners it hung, it was one of the Martial Spirit Sect’s ancient starships.

“That’s one of the starships the Martial Spirit Sect sent to search for the teleportation portals,” Ruan Qingliu said. “There isn’t a single body on it. If my speculation is correct, that starship was destroyed by the Phantasms, and the bodies of those they killed have been cleaned out.”

Hou Chulan nodded and asked Nie Tian, “Why did that pearl of yours take us here?”

“There’s residual Phantasm Qi and Phantasm flesh auras here,” Nie Tian said, looking at the wrecked starship. “It might be difficult for you to capture such auras, but it comes easy to it. The battle that took place here must have ended a long time ago, yet there’s still lingering Phantasm Qi and Phantasm flesh auras.”

Hou Chulan’s expression flickered. “If that’s the case, there must be a teleportation portal in the vicinity that connects to the Phantasms’ heaven and earth.”

Eyes narrowed, Nie Tian nodded. “That’s probably the case. But I have a feeling that the information Qiu Hanshan fed you wasn’t all true. In fact, I doubt there are three teleportation portals.”

“If not, how many do you think there are?” Hou Chulan asked.

“It’s very difficult to forge inter-domain teleportation portals, not to mention a portal that connects to the Phantasms’ heaven and earth. Meanwhile, Qiu Hanshan only needed one teleportation portal to communicate and exchange materials and supplies with the Phantasms.” After a brief moment of pondering, Nie Tian continued, “I’m guessing there’s only one teleportation portal.”

Hou Chulan took a moment to think about the matter, and approved of Nie Tian’s speculation. She turned to Ruan Qingliu and said, “Aunt Ruan, tell He Lianxiong to stop wasting his time searching in other areas. The one and only teleportation portal that connects to the Phantasms’ heaven and earth might just be in this area, so tell him to come here as soon as possible.”

Ruan Qingliu did as she was bid without hesitation.

“Nie Tian, you may cease scanning the vicinity with your pearl for now,” Hou Chulan said. “We can start out after He Lianxiong and his subordinates get here. This is to prevent us from engaging with the Phantasms too early, when we don’t have the strength to crush them.”

“Alright,” Nie Tian said.

As he lifted his hand and made a beckoning motion, the Spirit Pearl turned into a streak of cyan light that shot into his palm.

Since the Phantasms had colluded with Qiu Hanshan to set up Hou Chulan, they must have a full grasp of her overall strength, and have confidence in defeating her force in battle.

Under such circumstances, it was indeed unwise to engage in a battle against them at this moment.

Therefore, everyone just waited by the wrecked starship for He Lianxiong and his subordinates to arrive.

Time flew.

A badly damaged starship that hung tattered Martial Spirit Sect banners appeared in the distance, and was sailing towards Nie Tian’s direction at a very slow speed.

The starship was silver white, and in the shape of a flying shuttle.

Upon seeing this, everyone hastily unleashed their soul awareness to examine it, as if they were facing formidable foes. However, they didn’t detect any soul fluctuations.

This meant there weren’t any living beings on the starship.

Even so, there were corpses on it.

There were a total of six corpses, all of which were human. Judging from the way they were dressed, they were all Qi warriors from the Martial Spirit Sect.

After the starship came closer, Ruan Qingliu rose up and took a glance down at it. “Six corpses, all of which were disciples of the Martial Spirit Sect. They must have been sent to search for the teleportation portals. It’s getting stranger by the minute. Let’s be extra careful, everyone.”

“Did the Phantasms put their corpses on the starship and send it our way?” Hou Chulan asked, frowning. “If so, why?”

Nie Tian was also confused.

As the starship came closer and closer, he secretly examined it with his bloodline power, and his expression instantly flickered.

He sensed unusual flesh power fluctuations from within the corpses, which reeked of a foul smell.