Sitting on the fire bird’s back, Nie Tian shook his right arm, grimacing in pain.
The fierce flame power the girl had unleashed had almost blackened his whole arm. Fiery sparks sputtered off his arm as he shook it.
He examined the girl in front of him carefully with his soul awareness, and determined that she was at the middle Worldly realm.
Then, he examined her with his flesh aura, which contained his bloodline power, and realized that she was only about twenty years old.
Twenty years old... middle Worldly realm... Such advancing speed was simply shocking.
Before her, the person whose advancing speed had shocked him the most was Mu Biqiong, the Holy Daughter of the Bliss Mountain Sect.
He had met Mu Biqiong upon coming out of Master Voidspirit’s personal realm. She had been in her early twenties and at the early Worldly realm.
Back then, both he and Zhao Shanling had been shocked by the speed at which she made advances in her cultivation.
There wasn’t a single talented youngster in the Domain of the Falling Stars who could enter the early Worldly realm in their early twenties.
Compared to Mu Biqiong, the girl before him seemed a couple of years younger. Yet she was at the middle Worldly realm. How could he not be shocked?
Furthermore, the girl’s attacks contained terrifying flame power, which had burned his right arm and inflicted a lot of pain on him. He was still suffering from it.
He had realized from the beginning that she was from the Divine Flame Sect, and thus didn’t bring out his full power.
Meanwhile, he could also tell that the girl hadn’t attempted to kill him with her whip strikes and the flaming net magic. She had only gone for capturing him.
Even so, he had suffered injuries, which was enough proof of the girl’s formidable strength.
Eyes slightly narrowed, he examined the girl from behind.
Even though she was small, she was very curvaceous. Her bosoms were so full that her garments almost couldn’t contain them. Her slightly red cheeks were like ripe peaches that made people want to take a bite.
In general, her beauty could even match Dong Li’s.
While he was sizing the girl up, the girl turned her head and gave him a cold, disgusted gaze.
Her name was Qiao Yunxi. As a chosen disciple of the Divine Flame Sect, she enjoyed a lofty status in the Divine Flame Sect.
This time, Yue Yanxi had only instructed her to wait for Nie Tian on that meteor, along with a group of other Divine Flame Sect disciples, but hadn’t told her about Nie Tian’s status.
She only knew that a man named Nie Tian would soon arrive through the secret teleportation portal that had been set up by the Lei Clan.
However, she knew nothing about their discovery of the Domain of the Falling Stars and the relationship between Nie Tian and the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
She had waited for months on that meteor with those Divine Flame Sect disciples.
The fact that Nie Tian hadn’t appeared after such a long time had already disgruntled her. Who would have thought that people from the Bliss Mountain Sect would later show up and kill everyone except her?
Her survival was, to a large extent, because those Divine Flame Sect disciples had given their own lives to buy her time to escape.
Other than that, her special air-transportation spiritual tool had been of great help.
Her air-transportation spiritual tool was forged from the skeleton of an eighth grade Vermilion Bird, which was a powerful fire-attributed spirit beast. Its battle prowess had been equal to that of a Void domain expert when it had been alive.
Therefore, even dead and forged into an air-transportation spiritual tool, it could fly at a shockingly high speed.
Thanks to its high speed, she had managed to escape from the Bliss Mountain Sect pursuers.
She had only circled back because she had been determined to finish the mission she had been charged with.
In her eyes, this Nie Tian person, who had an unknown origin but was greatly valued by the grand elder, was the reason why all her friends were dead.
If he had come earlier, she and her friends would have long since taken him and left that place.
Therefore, her expression was very unpleasant as she looked over her shoulder at Nie Tian.
“What are you looking at?” Qiao Yunxi asked coldly.
Nie Tian put a smile on his face and answered, “Nothing. What happened back there? Why were so many of your people killed?”
“Wasn’t it all because of you?!” Qiao Yunxi blurted, gritting her teeth. “If you had come earlier, we wouldn’t have been attacked by that bitch from the Bliss Mountain Sect! They all died because we had to wait for you there.” Grief filled her eyes as she said these words.
After a moment of hesitation, Nie Tian said softly, “I’m sorry.”
It had been eight months since he had received Yue Yanxi’s invitation through Lei Tianqi and confirmed that he would come to this place.
Indeed, it had taken him a bit too long.
“Where did you come from?” Qiao Yunxi asked.
“The Domain of the Falling Stars,” Nie Tian answered.
Qiao Yunxi frowned. “The Domain of the Falling Stars? Why haven’t I heard of it before? What domain are your most powerful experts at in the Domain of the Falling Stars?”
She was rather intrigued, as she assumed that, since the grand elder had attached such importance to this person, he was probably from a domain more powerful than the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
“The peak experts in the Domain of the Falling Stars are at the late Soul realm, seeking to break through into the Void domain,” Nie Tian answered truthfully.
Qiao Yunxi let out a cold snort with disdain written across her face. “What?! You don’t even have a single Void domain expert?!”
But at the same time, she felt confused.
Since the grand elder had told her that his person’s safety was of paramount importance, she had assumed that this person must be very special. Who would have thought he was actually from a domain that was far inferior to the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries?
Was it worth it to have more than a dozen of her friends die because of him?
She didn’t try to hide her contempt in the slightest. Nie Tian saw that, but didn’t give an explanation.
After a long time, Qiao Yunxi broke the silence by saying, “I’ll do everything within my power to bring you to the grand elder alive.”
“Okay,” Nie Tian answered, his face expressionless.
The air-transportation spiritual tool, which was made from the skeleton of a Vermilion Bird, sped through the spaces among the floating meteors as quickly as a flash of lightning.
Most of the gaps were very narrow. No starships would be able to go through them. Only air-transportation spiritual tools this large and agile could.
Sitting on the Vermilion Bird’s back, Nie Tian felt scorched by the fierce flames on its wings.
Even though he practiced fire incantations as well, he was now covered in sweat and feeling a bit dizzy from the heat.
However, Qiao Yunxi, whose cultivation base was only slightly higher than his, seemed completely unaffected.
In Nie Tian’s senses, her small body seemed to be quietly absorbing and refining the fierce flame power as the air-transportation spiritual tool sped through space.
Apparently, for her, this Vermilion Bird was much more than just an air-transportation spiritual tool.
Hours passed...
An enormous meteor that was covered in craters entered Nie Tian’s view. With great caution, Qiao Yunxi steered the air-transportation spiritual tool towards it.
“Are we there yet?” Nie Tian asked.
Qiao Yunxi gave a cold snort. “We’re not even close. That large meteor is only a large piece from a dead realm that exploded long ago. There might have been spiritual minerals in it once, but they must have long since been mined.”
“Then why are we going there?” Nie Tian asked.
“Will you stop asking questions?!” Qiao Yunxi blurted impatiently.
As their air-transportation spiritual tool approached the huge meteor, Nie Tian unleashed his Heaven Eyes and flesh aura to scan it.
“There are people there!” Nie Tian exclaimed.
Upon hearing these words, Qiao Yunxi stopped the Vermillion Bird and unleashed her soul awareness, which was more profound than Nie Tian’s. Her soul awareness fanned out and spread towards that huge meteor.
Within seconds, she withdrew her soul awareness and threw Nie Tian a nasty look. “How come I don’t sense anyone?”
“There are people there! Believe me!” Nie Tian sounded very certain.
“Where are those people you’re talking about?” Qiao Yunxi asked angrily.
Squinting, Nie Tian pointed in a direction. “Over there! They’ve masked their soul fluctuations, but I can faintly sense their life auras.”