Nie Tian walked straight towards the large-scale teleportation portal.
The base of the portal was octagonal, and paved with a large amount of Space Spirit Jades and other materials that contained spatial power, which were there to power the portal. There was also a compass of stars inside, which seemed to be used for setting up coordinates.
Four sets of spatial coordinates could be seen already set up on the compass. From the look of it, just by choosing from them, people would be able to teleport to any of those destinations.
Nie Tian took a glance at them, and immediately realized that three sets were coordinates in the Realm of Flame Heaven, the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, and the Realm of Mystic Heaven.
He pondered the reason behind it. Each of those three realms had a grand spell formation that had been left there by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and each grand spell formation had three lofty mountain peaks as their cores.
Therefore, he suspected that he would be teleported to a place inside one of those lofty mountain peaks if he chose one of these three sets of coordinates and activated the teleportation portal.
It seemed only natural that this palace had close connections with those grand spell formations in the Realm of Flame Heaven, the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, and the Realm of Mystic Heaven.
His eyebrows furrowed as he laid his eyes on the fourth set of spatial coordinates. Then, his expression flickered.
The fourth set of coordinates weren’t for a location within the Domain of the Falling Stars.
However, to Nie Tian’s surprise, he felt a sense of familiarity as he looked at them.
Without any hesitation, he took out the Spirit Pearl and sent a wisp of soul awareness to examine the star map inside of it, which had become perfectly clear after absorbing a large number of discarnate souls.
He spent quite a while matching the coordinates on the map.
The fourth set of coordinates turned out to be the place on the map where the powerful spirits were gathered. It was none other than the special region between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, where, according to Yue Yanxi, the Divine Flame Sect had been exploring recently. A shocked expression stretched across Nie Tian’s face.
That region had been sealed for what could have been ten thousand years, and was full of dangers. No starships could have sailed through it until recently.
Only because of the recent changes did the Lei Clan manage to sail through that deadly region and find the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Before that, due to the existence of that region, it had been impossible to establish any sort of connection between the Domain of the Falling Stars and the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
Just earlier, Yue Yanxi from the Divine Flame Sect had even invited Nie Tian to go explore that region, saying that secrets had yet to be uncovered there.
He had never expected that there would be a set of coordinates in this palace that had risen from the depths of the earth which were designated to that special region.
Rubbing his chin, Nie Tian pondered in silence. Only after a long time did he reach out with one hand and set the compass to the set of coordinates in the Realm of a Thousand Devastations.
Immediately afterwards, the large amount of spatial power materials at the bottom of the teleportation portal had power channeled from them.
The teleportation portal was then covered in misty starlight, and started to thrum with increasingly intense spatial fluctuations.
Nie Tian jumped inside without delay.
WHOOSH!
In the blink of an eye, he appeared in a sealed, hollow space surrounded by stone walls.
His expression flickered as he felt a strong sense of familiarity with this place.
There was a starlit pagoda in the middle of the hollow space, beside which was berthed a silver boat that was about seven meters long. Clearly, it was an air-transportation spiritual tool.
He found himself standing in a small-scale teleportation portal between the starlit pagoda and the silver boat.
From the look of it, the teleportation portal had just risen from underneath the rocky floor, where it had been hidden.
He had had a peek at this place when he had helped the Yin Set and the Yang Sect seal the spatial rift that had connected the Demon realms to the Realm of a Thousand Devastations.
Both the silver boat and the starlit pagoda had left deep impressions on him.
The only thing he hadn’t seen that time was this small-scale teleportation portal.
Glancing at his surroundings, Nie Tian knew perfectly well where he was: the Realm of a Thousand Devastations.
He knew that the starlit pagoda was the key to sealing that major spatial rift. Since he didn’t know enough about it, he didn’t dare to examine it.
Then, he walked towards the small silver boat.
The head and stern of the boat were both cone-shaped. The entire boat was covered in fine mysterious patterns, and shone with an icy metallic luster. Numerous Star Stones paved the bottom of the boat.
This small boat seemed to run on Star Stones.
Nie Tian summoned star power to wreath himself before leaping into the boat.
That was when he discovered that the words ‘Star Boat’ were carved on the bow of the boat in an ancient style.
This was probably the name of this air-transportation spiritual tool.
Fascinated by the words that were carved in an ancient and simple style, he couldn’t help but read them out loud. “Star Boat...”
As soon as he did, the three fragmentary star marks on his chest grew burning hot.
One word after another flew out of the second fragmentary star mark, which he hadn’t fully refined, before branding themselves in the depths of his soul.
He instantly learned everything he needed to know about the Star Boat.
The Star Boat was indeed an air-transportation spiritual tool. It was not only lightning fast, but also exceptionally powerful.
Provided with enough star power, both the head and the stern of the Star Boat could unleash deadly starlight on his enemies.
Other than that, with its sharp cone-shaped head and stern, he could charge it into and destroy his enemies’ air-transportation spiritual tools.
After learning all about the Star Boat, he lifted his hand and made a grabbing motion, then the Star Boat morphed into a streak of starlight and disappeared into his ring of holding.
He had known that this air-transportation spiritual tool was meant for him the moment he had seen it years ago.
However, as much as he had liked it, since his cultivation base had been rather low back then, he hadn’t been able to take it into his possession.
“Other than this Star Boat, there are two other items inside these mountain peaks that I promised to get for Li Muyang and Xing Huanyue.”
Eyebrows furrowed, he pondered how to enter the hollow space inside the other two mountain peaks, so that he could secure those two scrolls for Li Muyang and Xing Huanyue.
At this very moment, the small-scale teleportation portal, through which he had come to this place, suddenly lit up.
Two crystals gradually appeared, floating in the middle of the teleportation portal.
One was in the shape of a crescent moon, while the other was in the shape of the sun. There was a scroll in each of the transparent crystals.
Those scrolls were none other than what he was looking for.
“This is incredible...”
Gasping, Nie Tian made a grabbing motion in the air, and the two icy crystals flew into his palms.
That was when it occurred to him that there must be special connections between the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace and the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect.
The Yin Sect disciples channeled power from the chilly moon, while the Yang Sect disciples channeled power from the blazing sun.
The sun, the moon, and the stars had been a whole since the beginning. There were moons, suns, and stars in every corner of the starry river.
Even though there were only a limited amount of moons and suns, the stars were innumerable...
A series of thoughts flashed across his mind, making him more and more convinced that the Yin Sect and the Yang Sect had special connections to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
He went on searching inside the mountain’s belly for a while, but found nothing more. Then, he returned to the grand palace in the Realm of Split Void through the small teleportation portal.
From there, he adjusted the compass of stars and teleported to the Realm of Flame Heaven and the Realm of Mystic Heaven successively.
He discovered nothing but starlit pagodas inside the lofty mountain peaks in those two realms.
After returning, he set the compass to the fourth set of coordinates.
As soon as he did, the teleportation portal started to thrum with even stronger spatial fluctuations, the spatial power materials that covered its bottom were rapidly drained of power.
However, the expected teleportation didn’t happen. Instead, the spatial fluctuations quieted down after a short while.
There must also be a similar teleportation portal in the place at the fourth set of coordinates. However, since the teleportation couldn’t be completed, it meant that something must have happened to that other teleportation portal.
After all, he had no problem teleporting to the Realm of a Thousand Devastations, the Realm of Flame Heaven, and the Realm of Mystic Heaven using the teleportation portal before him.
From the look of it, he would have to visit that place some other way, and then find out what had happened to the teleportation portal there.
With these thoughts, he went to check the other stone rooms that surrounded this great hall.
He figured people from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace had probably lived there once, yet now they were completely empty.
Failing to find anything noteworthy, he could only give up and walk back towards the gate to the grand palace.