Another spiritual energy ball formed between Nie Tian’s palms.
Inside its misty, gray exterior, concentrated energies of different colors made the spiritual energy ball increasingly turbulent. Then, Nie Tian channeled spiritual power from his dantian region and infused it into the spiritual energy ball.
When his spiritual power in the spiritual energy ball reached a certain percentage, he skillfully manipulated it to separate the cyan phantasm Qi, purple demon Qi, pale-gray death Qi, and green toxic Qi, using his psychic awareness.
Just like that, the clash amongst the four major types of energy was effectively suppressed.
The spiritual energy ball was no longer turbulent, and the feeling that it could go off at any moment disappeared.
“Senior Li!” Nie Tian called out to Li Langfeng, beckoning for him to come over to him.
Face ghastly and eyes seeming to be coated with a green paint, Li Langfeng shot towards him lightly like a ghost.
While Li Langfeng absorbed toxic Qi that was suited for Fiends, he needed to refine the energy and allow its essence into his spiritual sea. Meanwhile, toxic deposits were left inside of him, where they would continue to corrode his fleshy body day and night.
This process was by no means pleasant. From his increasingly frequent coughs, Nie Tian could tell that as he sought a quick breakthrough into the Worldly realm, he had brought enormous trauma to his body at the same time.
“What’s up?” As soon as Li Langfeng arrived by Nie Tian’s side, he took a glance at the spiritual energy ball in Nie Tian’s hands, and a shocked look instantly appeared in his eyes.
After spending several days cultivating with Nie Tian’s help, he had long since noticed that Nie Tian didn’t have total control over his spiritual energy balls.
With no exception, every spiritual energy ball he had formed had exploded soon after coming to shape.
At this moment, Li Langfeng noticed that Nie Tian had already been holding that spiritual energy ball for some time.
If it were the same as before, the spiritual energy ball should have exploded already.
“This spiritual energy ball can last 15 minutes without exploding.” With a slight move of Nie Tian’s fingers, the misty, gray spiritual energy ball slowly floated towards Li Langfeng like an air bubble. “According to my observations, the energy within unexploded spiritual energy balls is the most concentrated and pure. Be my guest and try to channel the toxic Qi into yourself.”
The light of ecstasy burst forth from within Li Langfeng’s emerald-like eyes.
He nodded as a strong attracting force was born within his palm. When the spiritual energy ball was firmly attached to his palm, his eyes narrowed as he began to absorb the green toxic Qi from within it with rapt attention.
Nie Tian observed carefully, and noticed that numerous wisps of green toxic Qi were flowing from the spiritual energy ball into Li Langfeng’s palm, like green creeks.
Moments later, that hand of Li Langfeng’s turned dark-green, while a faint green mist slowly rose from within his pores.
As the green toxic Qi was extracted bit by bit, the spiritual energy ball grew increasingly stable.
Originally, according to Nie Tian’s assessment, the spiritual energy ball would remain stable for 15 minutes.
However, as the green toxic Qi was rapidly channeled away, part of Nie Tian’s spiritual energy were freed, and thus more power was redistributed to the separation of demon Qi, death Qi, and phantasm Qi.
In that way, the level of stability in the spiritual energy ball improved by a great deal.
It only took Li Langfeng 5 minutes to absorb every last bit of concentrated toxic Qi from within the spiritual energy ball.
Li Langfeng retracted his hand, and with a flick of his fingers, the processed spiritual energy ball flew away.
At that moment, Nie Tian stopped using his psychic awareness to separate the different types of energy within that spiritual energy ball.
BOOM!
The spiritual energy ball exploded instantly. Due to the depletion of the toxic Qi, the explosive impact was slightly weaker than before.
Li Langfeng took a deep breath and started cultivating. However, in the next moment, the light of excitement shot out of his eyes, which had turned dark-green.
After a thorough examination, he discovered that the toxic Qi he had just absorbed from Nie Tian’s spiritual energy ball was extremely pure and rich. He could channel most of it directly into his spiritual sea without any further refinement of his own.
Only a puny amount of harmful deposits were created after the process.
If he could continue to absorb toxic Qi from Nie Tian’s spiritual energy balls, not only would the speed at which he accumulated strength increase by a great margin, but his physical body would also be under much less pressure.
“Well…” Excitement could be seen on his face as he rubbed his hands together while looking at Nie Tian. It seemed that he wished to speak, but stopped on second thought.
He, who was only one step away from entering the Worldly realm, had shrewd observation skills. He could tell that this spiritual energy ball was laced with Nie Tian’s own spiritual power.
It was none other than Nie Tian’s spiritual power that had interrupted the clash and turbulence within the spiritual energy ball and stopped it from exploding within a short time.
He realized that the green toxic energy within the intact spiritual energy ball was highly concentrated and extremely pure. Not only could it greatly boost his cultivation efficiency, but it could also relieve the burden on his fleshy body.
He intended to ask Nie Tian to continue.
However, he knew that, by doing this, Nie Tian needed to consume his own strength, which could jeopardize his cultivation.
“Our interests coincide. The sooner you breakthrough into the Worldly realm, the sooner you can help me strip that fragmentary star mark from Ning Yang.” After a brief pondering, Nie Tian added, “I’ll do my best to help you before you enter the Worldly realm. However, once you’ve made the breakthrough, I won’t be able to help you like this, since it will affect my own cultivation.”
“Sure, I understand.” Li Langfeng nodded repeatedly as he promised, “Kid, if you can help me break through into the Worldly realm, consider me in your debt, my deal with the Spirit Condor aside. I’ll help you snatch that fragmentary star mark from Ning Yang all the same.”
“Thank you in advance then.” Nie Tian cut the pleasantries and accepted Li Langfeng’s offer of good will.
Over the following days, every time Nie Tian formed a spiritual energy ball, he infused it with his own spiritual power, above all else, so that the spiritual energy ball wouldn’t explode.
In the meantime, Li Langfeng absorbed copious amounts of green toxic Qi, which had originated from the Fiends’ realms, from Nie Tian’s spiritual energy balls, and used it to increase his strength at a stunning speed.
On the eighth day, Li Langfeng took the initiative and called for a stop.
Under the pitch-black, starless night sky, his eyes looked like two clusters of burning ghost fire, which was very spooky.
“It’s about time! You stay here with Xue Long. I’ll find another place to finish my breakthrough. I’ll come back for you when I’ve entered the Worldly realm.”
With these words, he shouted out towards Xue Long from afar before flashing into the distance, leaving a dark-green afterimage behind him.
It was natural that he acted with caution when he was about to make his breakthrough.
No matter whether it was Nie Tian or Xue Long, he didn’t have deep friendships with either of them. It was mutual benefit that had brought the three of them together. He knew that he would be very vulnerable when he tried to make the breakthrough. Therefore, he intentionally distanced himself from them, fearing that they might take advantage of the situation.
After he was gone, Nie Tian remained silent as he took out spirit stones and used them to recover the spiritual power he had consumed.
Xue Long seemed to know that Li Langfeng didn’t trust him, and understood that Li Langfeng would find another place to make his breakthrough.
Hence, he didn’t seem surprised at all about Li Langfeng’s leaving.
The only thing that had surprised him was that Li Langfeng had left before the expected time.
According to Li Langfeng, it should have taken ten days for him to accumulate enough strength and reach the point where he would be ready for the breakthrough.
However, it had only been eight days, and Li Langfeng had left in a hurry, which meant that he had already accumulated his strength to the point where he was ready for his next breakthrough.
“Did Hua Tian really provide such great help to Li Langfeng’s cultivation?” Xue Long was secretly amazed.
After midnight…
Knowing that Li Langfeng was on the threshold of entering the Worldly realm, Xue Long somehow felt a sense of pressure.
While he was cultivating wholeheartedly with his eyes closed, his eyes suddenly snapped wide open.
With a grim expression, he gazed into the distance as he exclaimed in a soft voice, “Hua Tian!”
Nie Tian instantly awoke from his cultivation and asked with a confused expression, “What’s up?”
He hadn’t released his seven Heaven Eyes to keep a close watch on everything in their vicinity during this entire time he had been with Li Langfeng and Xue Long.
The reason was that he assumed Li Langfeng and Xue Long were powerful enough. The way he saw it, even if they encountered unforeseen events, Li Langfeng and Xue Long would be able to handle them well.
“Someone’s coming!” Xue Long exclaimed in a soft voice.
Nie Tian was taken aback.
He discovered grimness on Xue Long face, which make him realize that whoever was coming towards them must be so powerful that they even made Xue Long feel pressure.
He hastily flashed over to Xue Long’s side. Meanwhile, he subconsciously unleashed his Heaven Eyes, hoping to use them to learn about the situation around them.
However, by the time he had only formed and unleashed his first Heaven Eye, Shi Hui and four others appeared in front of them.
“Shi Hui!” Nie Tian muttered to himself.
Shi Hui cracked a broad smile as he said, “Long time no see, Brother Xue! Haven’t you been chasing after Li Langfeng from the Dark Moon lately? Why are you here with Hua Tian?”
Standing by Shi Hui’s side, the other four men, who also used to be guest elders of the Blood Skull, stared at Nie Tian with evil smiles on their faces.
The four of them were all at the middle Greater Heaven stage, which was only slightly inferior to Shi Hui’s and Xue Long’s cultivation bases.
A fierce sword intent suddenly shot straight into the sky from the top of Xue Long’s head.
Under Nie Tian’s Heaven Eye’s perception, it was as if an incomparably sharp sword had flown out of the top of Xue Long’s head and pierced into the heavens.
“Shi Hui, are you here for me, or are you just passing by?” Xue Long asked with a frown.
“Neither.” With a sarcastic chuckle, Shi Hui’s gaze landed on Nie Tian. Then, he said, “I heard that you and Nie Tian were in this area by chance. I’ve actually come for him.”
“As you probably know, I was kicked out of the Blood Skull. If it weren’t for this brat, my relationship with the Blood Skull wouldn’t have soured so quickly. As a former guest elder of the Blood Skull, I have friends in the Blood Skull. I’m a man who cares about his face. Now that my title as the Blood Skull’s guest elder was taken away from me because of him, I can’t just sit back and do nothing, can I?”
Xue Long let out a snort and said, “Considering how you behaved in the Blood Skull, even if Hua Tian didn’t do anything, Cai Lan wouldn’t have tolerated you for much longer!”
“Brother Xue, it’s not right on your part to make such comments.” Shi Hui’s face grew cold as he said, “You and I were both guest elders of the Blood Skull. The well water did not interfere with the river water. (see note 1) And we never had any feuds with each other. However, I did hear people say that you didn’t approve of the way I did things.”
“That’s correct.” Xue Long didn’t mask his feelings towards Shi Hui at all.
Shi Hui rubbed his chin before his eyes flickered and he said, “It doesn’t really matter. We’ll be on different sides from now on. The day will come when we meet again. But this time…”
He pointed his finger at Nie Tian and said in a loud voice, “I’ve come for him! As soon as you give this brat to me, I’ll take him and leave, not staying a moment longer. We will pretend we never met. We can settle things the next time we meet if you wish. What do you say?”
1. “The well water doesn’t interfere with the river water” is a Chinese saying that means: everybody mind their own business.