Chapter 1071: Hope Mingled with Worry (1/2)

“What?!”

Nie Tian couldn’t help but exclaim, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

This was the first time he had heard someone actually talk about his father, who he had never met his entire life.

What was even more shocking was that that someone was Mo Heng, the grand elder of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and that his father had guided him through his path of cultivation.

“Is he a hybrid too?” Nie Tian asked loudly.

“No,” Mo Heng shook his head. “He was the first to put forth and experiment on the idea of mixing human and outsider bloodlines. But he isn’t a hybrid himself.”

“So my bloodline...” Nie Tian said with a confused expression.

“Yeah, he gave you that unique bloodline, but it’s very complicated.” With these words, Mo Heng sighed. “It’s a taboo to even mention your father’s name in the four great sects. The fact that he’s still alive is a miracle. Although, only a few senior members of our sect know about his existence.”

Nie Tian’s expression flickered. “Does vice sectmaster Luo Wanxiang know the connection between my bloodline and him?”

“I don’t think anyone but the sectmaster and I can link you and him together.” After a moment of hesitation, Mo Heng added, “I suggest that you keep this a secret and never tell anyone about your connection with him. If anyone finds out that your bloodline actually came from him, then you...”

Mo Heng sighed. “You may not have a place in the human world anymore.”

Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment. “Is it that serious?!”

Mo Heng smiled bitterly. “Like I said, the major human sects have zero tolerance for those who practice crooked incantations at this moment. And what your father did back in the day was far too progressive, and considered deeply wrong and crooked. It’d do you a hundred harms and no good if people learned that you’re his son.

“So it’s better that you don’t even know his name.”

Nie Tian pondered in silence for a few seconds before asking, “Do you know where he is now?”

“Me?” Mo Heng said, looking dispirited. “How would I know? If you hadn’t shown up, I would have thought that he died already. I’m sure that he’s still alive. But instead of meeting with me himself, he made a series of secret arrangements that got you into the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace as a Son of the Stars. Can he be doing this to tell me that his assumption was right...?”

Mo Heng’s voice grew low as he seemed to drift off into old memories, different looks flashing across his eyes.

“What assumption?” Nie Tian asked, eager to learn the answer.

However, Mo Heng seemed to have not heard him as he continued to mutter something to himself in an increasingly low voice.

Only after a while did Mo Heng snap out of his thoughts.

“No matter what methods you use to upgrade your bloodline, try not to do it in the Realm of Fragmentary Star from now on.” Mo Heng advised.

“Not even in the Vast Heaven Pavilion?” Nie Tian asked, looking surprised.

Mo Heng shook his head. “Better not. This very pavilion belonged to him long ago. Out of the gratitude I harbor for your father, I gave this pavilion to you. But now that I think about it, it might have been a rash decision. Even though only the sectmaster and I know about his final assumption, and not even Luo Wanxiang or Chu Rui do, you’re a hybrid, and your bloodline is extremely special.

“I’m afraid that you being in the Vast Heaven Pavilion and your unheard-of bloodline will help Luo Wanxiang link you to your father.”

Surprised, Nie Tian asked, “Does this mean he was a Son of the Stars?”

“If that major mishap hadn’t occurred, he wouldn’t have just been a Son of the Stars, but the current Lord of the Stars,” Mo Heng said with a hint of pride on his face. “Opinions are still divided over which of the Sons of the Stars of this generation will eventually assume power. However, when your father first displayed his remarkable talent, almost everyone believed that he would be the future Lord of the Stars.

Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment once again.

Mo Heng waved his hand. “Alright, it’s better that I don’t tell you too much about him. Anyways, you’d better go upgrade your bloodline in your own domains. Many major human domains are struggling in war at his moment. I suppose people don’t have the time to try to figure out the origin of your bloodline.”

Though reluctant, Nie Tian left through the teleportation portal in the Vast Heaven Pavilion under Mo Heng’s urging.

After Nie Tian left, Mo Heng let out a long sigh and said to himself, “Now, all kinds of crooked human forces have come back to plague the human world with their outsider allies. Don’t tell me that you’re the one behind all this... What do you want? Do you want to make the four great sects pay? And prove that you were right, and everyone else was wrong?

“If that’s the case, then why did you guide Nie Tian to our sect? Do you want to send a message to the sectmaster and the others that you’ve succeeded?

“What in the world do you want?”

...

When Nie Tian appeared in a teleportation portal in the Domain of Heaven Python, he found Dong Li there waiting.

Dong Li couldn’t mask her joy as she said, “Both Quan Zixuan from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect and Qu Mingde from the Golden Vast Sect have broken through into the middle Saint domain! Dong Qisong from the Beast-controlling Sect and Zhongli Jian from the Divine Flame Sect have advanced to the Saint domain from the late Void domain!”