“Life Stealth! It’s such an awesome magic!” Nie Tian grinned as he climbed out of the hole he had dug in the sand and walked to Shang Zhi’s corpse.
He had looted that incomparably sharp broadsword from one of the late Heaven stage Hunters he had killed before. He had kept it because it was fire- attributed and he was able to infuse it with his own flame power.
At that moment, the broadsword was still stuck in Shang Zhi’s chest.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Even though Shang Zhi had already stopped breathing, flames were still burning on his chest and abdomen.
Nie Tian stepped forward and pulled the broadsword out. Then, he looted Shang Zhi’s ring of holding with an increasingly pleasant smile on his face.
He hadn’t expected that he could have snuck up on and killed a Greater Heaven stage expert so easily by using his newly-awakened bloodline talent, Life Stealth.
If it weren’t for Life Stealth, and if he had attacked him with regular means, he never would have been able to kill him.
Considering his current cultivation base and battle prowess, if he had contended against Shang Zhi face-to-face, not only would he have not been able to kill Shang Zhi, but on the contrary, it would have been very likely that he would have been killed by Shang Zhi.
Anyhow, Nie Tian’s unpredictable sneak attack had achieved a very ideal result. He drove a sword through Shang Zhi’s heart when he was completely unprepared and killed him with a single strike.
“On the one hand, Life Stealth can allow me to seal up my life aura completely, along with even the most subtle fluctuations of my spiritual power, and thus allow me to escape from powerful enemies’ pursuit. As long as it’s not Qi warriors who have entered the three Realms and transcended their psychic power into soul power, their perception will be clouded and they won’t be able to sense anything.
“On the other hand, it can be used as a perfect sneak attack magic!
“It’s such an awesome magic with multiple uses!”
Face full of smiles, Nie Tian continued to search Shang Zhi’s body for valuables. Soon, he found a Sound Stone in his waist pouch.
He held it in his palm and listened using his psychic power. Every now and then, he could hear Qiu Yang and the other two exchanging information.
Since they wanted to keep searching for him in separate locations in order to cover a larger area, they constantly communicated their locations with each other.
Nie Tian snorted disdainfully, a fierce look filling his eyes. “Three to go!”
After getting ahold of his bearings, he cast a number of short-range Starshifts as he flashed off into the distance.
Qiu Yang and the other two didn’t travel in straight lines as they searched for Nie Tian.
Considering they didn’t know exactly which direction Nie Tian had escaped in, they moved in serpentine patterns or even traveled in circles in the directions they chose. They scanned their surroundings for signs of life as they moved bit by bit.
By doing this, they had significantly compromised their searching speed.
Via the Sound Stone, Nie Tian located the one who was the closest to him. In order to rush to that man’s location as quickly as possible, he cast a few more short-range Starshifts.
Four hours passed…
Nie Tian came close to the area where the man was searching with the help of his Heaven Eyes and the Sound Stone.
After locking down the man’s exact location, he make similar arrangements as he had done hours ago.
…
Night lifted, and the sun hung high in the sky.
It was midday on the following day, and Nie Tian had successfully snuck up on and killed two of the remaining three pursuers using the same method he had used to kill Shang Zhi.
The sun was burning fiercely as Nie Tian buried himself in a pile of sand.
Similarly, a piece of bloodstained, tattered garment could be seen on the pile of sand, and a line of tiny words was written on the piece of cloth.
Via his Heaven Eye, Nie Tian kept a close watch on everything happening in the vicinity. He wasn’t in a hurry to stimulate his bloodline talent and cast Life Stealth, but rather waited silently for Qiu Yang to approach.
An hour passed…
One of his Heaven Eyes captured signs of Qiu Yang, and learned that he was gradually coming toward him by following the bloodstains he had left on the sandy ground.
Only then did he stimulate his newly-acquired bloodline talent and hide his life aura and spiritual power fluctuations completely.
He lay under the sand, not releasing the slightest sign of life, as if he had become a part of it.
Since Qiu Yang was also at the middle Greater Heaven stage, just like the other three, he hadn’t acquired soul power and developed the ability to capture the subtle fluctuations of people’s souls, and thus he came straight towards Nie Tian’s location.
“Strange. How come those three aren’t responding? Can it be that they have gone so far that their Sound Stones are out of my reach?” Qiu Yang whispered to himself while his incomparably sharp eyes suddenly caught sight of the bloodstained cloth.
Over the past few hours, he had failed to communicate with Shang Zhi and the other two via his Sound Stone.
He wasn’t aware that his friends had already been ambushed and slaughtered by Nie Tian, and at that moment, the three of them were already on their way to the Yellow Springs.
He only thought the three of them had left the range of his Sound Stone and gone searching in further locations.
As he came along, he saw the blood drops on the sandy ground. Even though he was somewhat thrilled, he couldn’t be sure that those blood drops were from Nie Tian.
He knew that large amounts of Hunters that normally roamed areas close to Ash City had left this region and poured into the Void Illusion Mountain Range recently after hearing about the appearance of a Spirit Channeling grade treasure.
However, some Hunters might still be preying on passing-by explorers in this region.
At first, he assumed the blood drops belonged to Hunters or Qi warriors from Ash City.
Only when he caught sight of the piece of bloodstained cloth did he change his speculation. At first glance, he felt that it looked familiar. Immediately afterwards, he realized that the cloth was from Nie Tian’s garment.
Excitement finally appeared on his face as he thought to himself, “I’m coming for you!”
As he stepped closer, he saw the line of tiny words on the piece of cloth. As Shang Zhi and the other two had done, he crouched down and reached out to grab the bloodstained cloth so that he could get a clearer view of the words.
And just like Shang Zhi and the other two, he hadn’t detected any signs of life from the beginning.
As he held the bloodstained cloth close to read the line of tiny words, a broadsword suddenly pierced out from under the pile of sand, and blazing flames rapidly wreathed the sword.
The moment he finally read what was written on the piece of cloth, the burning broadsword penetrated into his stomach.
WHOOSH!
All of a sudden, Qiu Yang’s body expanded like an inflated balloon and became bulky.
Then, the broadsword, which had already pierced about 13 centimeters into his abdomen, couldn’t go any deeper.
BOOM!
Nie Tian surfaced from the pile of sand, formed a Rage Punch with half of his strength, and bombarded Qiu Yang’s chest vigorously.
As a mouthful of blood shot out of Qiu Yang’s mouth, he soared into the air like a balloon bouncing off the ground.
“Hua Tian!” He let out a enraged roar in midair while blood kept coming out of his mouth.
After climbing out of the pile of sand, Nie Tian looked up at him, and his expression flickered slightly.
Just now, he had sensed how hard it was for him to drive that broadsword into Qiu Yang’s abdomen. Every centimeter was extremely difficult.
The incantation Qiu Yang practiced must be exceptional and profound, which resulted in Nie Tian’s failure to slaughter Qiu Yang with one sword strike the way he had slaughtered the other three.
Later, when he had launched the Rage Punch into Qiu Yang’s chest, he had felt as if he had hit a giant balloon, and all of his force had been abated.
Only when he saw Qiu Yang fly into the air from the impact was he convinced that Qiu Yang had sustained heavy injuries.
However, he realized that Qiu Yang had survived even though he had intentionally increased the might of his Rage Punch by summoning almost half of his total strength.
Compared to the other three, although they were all at the middle Greater Heaven stage, Qiu Yang’s defensive power against physical attacks was far better.
Even though he had been caught off guard, the moment the broadsword had pierced into his abdomen, he was able to respond instantly and cast a secret magic to prevent the wide sword from going any further.
“Are you looking to die!?” he thundered.
His garment was covered in blood and the burning broadsword didn’t fall out of his abdomen, as if it had pierced into a rock.
However, as he fell from midair, his hands weaved as he formed hand seals to send out thousands of fine, black strings. In the next moment, the pitch-black strings swooped towards Nie Tian like a shoal of bloodthirsty fish.
PUFF! PUFF! PUFF!
In a flash, several pitch-black strings pierced into Nie Tian’s shoulders and abdomen.
Nie Tian experienced pain and soreness throughout his body, so he hastily summoned wood power to repair his fleshy wounds.
Even the green aura, which was branded with the profound truths of his bloodline power, seemed to have discovered his unfavorable condition, and thus rushed out of his heart to devour the strange pitch-black strings.
Nie Tian had dealt with this strange attack before when he had used the long-range Starshift last time.
He knew perfectly well that the strange energy within those black strings carried the profound truths of wind. As it roamed about within his body, it would create air currents, and thus cause his flesh to expand at a high speed.
Since Qiu Yang practiced the profound power of the wind, he was able to control the expansion of his own body and use it as a great defensive mechanism.
As for Nie Tian, however, if he allowed his body to be filled with the strange air currents and expand out of control, he would eventually explode and die, the same way a balloon would explode after being overinflated.
Thanks to the green aura, which rushed out of his heart and ripped apart the pitch-black strings, the expansion of his body was effectively contained.
As a thought appeared in Nie Tian’s mind, bright starlight shone within his palm.
Soon, five starsparks appeared before they rapidly aligned and formed a star formation. Like a miniature nebula, they shot towards Qiu Yang. “Go!”
Staring at the mysterious formation of five starsparks, which were shining extremely brightly even in broad daylight, Qiu Yang went blank due to great shock. “Star power! Star magic!”
All of a sudden, he came to a realization. “Hua Tian… Nie Tian… You’re the Nie Tian who obtained the legacies of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace!”