Hong Xian and the others from the Beast-controlling Sect stood aghast upon seeing the Bone Blood Demon.
Nie Tian had long since learned about the Wood Thriving Formation’s special features. Due to his own uniqueness, the spell formation didn’t have any restrictive effect on him, which meant he would be able to enter and exit it freely.
However, any living being other than him would only be able to exit the Wood Thriving Formation.
He unleashed the Bone Blood Demon inside the spell formation this time. Under his command, it charged out of the spell formation with only three huge steps.
As the Bone Blood Demon, which was more than thirty meters tall, stood in front of Hong Xian and the others, their expressions flickered drastically.
The Bone Blood Demon was releasing a special aura that seemed to be able to annihilate all lives and silence heaven and earth. This was the high-tier Bonebrutes’ unique bloodline power.
It didn’t matter if it was Hong Xian or the Frost Blood Python, they all seemed puny when compared to the Bone Blood Demon.
The Frost Blood Python, which saw Nie Tian as a great nourishment pill, looked skywards at the Bone Blood Demon and sniffed its aura. In the next moment, fear appeared in its icy eyes.
Thanks to its shrewd perception of auras, the Frost Blood Python instantly realized that the Bone Blood Demon was stronger than itself.
“This... This is a Bonebrute!” Yin Yanan exclaimed in shock.
“This is a Bonebrute turned into a puppet!” Hong Xian managed to see through the truth with a single glance at the Bone Blood Demon. He couldn’t help but take a step back and raise his hand, warning his sect members against making any rash moves.
In fact, even if he didn’t warn them, Yin Yanan and the other Beast-controlling Sect disciples knew not to approach the Bone Blood Demon.
A shudder ran through Qiao Yunxi as she shouted the words, “Nie Tian! You own this Bonebrute puppet?!”
At this moment, she finally realized what had given him the confidence to confront Hong Xian and Yin Yanan. He hadn’t been bluffing at all.
In her senses, this Bone Blood Demon’s battle prowess was definitely higher than that of the Frost Blood Python’s.
He actually had the ability to ‘return the favor’ if the Frost Blood Python came after him again.
Standing in the middle of the Wood Thriving Formation, Nie Tian stared at Hong Xian and said, “Don’t blame me for unleashing it on you if you dare to make a move!”
The fact that Hong Xian and the other experts had failed to send their soul awareness into the Wood Thriving Formation seemed to have given him confidence.
He believed that as long as he didn’t come out of the spell formation, Hong Xian wouldn’t be able to hurt him with his soul attacks.
However, he would be able to command the Bone Blood Demon to attack him or the other Beast-controlling Sect disciples.
At this moment, the lake was still emanating strange fluctuations. Hong Xian still had to spare some of his soul power to protect the Beast-controlling Sect disciples he had brought to this place.
Under such a circumstance, there was no way he could focus on fighting someone.
If he did, those Beast-controlling Sect disciples would be in danger.
Hong Xian’s face grew very grim.
He had long suspected that Nie Tian had something powerful at his disposal, but he had never expected it to be so powerful.
In his senses, he didn’t think he would be able to defeat the Bone Blood Demon even with the Frost Blood Python there to help him.
On a second thought, he didn’t need to fight Nie Tian to the death over this.
At this critical moment, Yin Yanan broke the tension by saying, “Forget it. Since he doesn’t want to help us, let’s get out of here now. Why don’t you take them to a safe location first, Senior Hong? We didn’t come to this place to fight people.”
“That’s right,” Hong Xian said, fixing Nie Tian with a cold gaze. With these words, he left with the weak members of the Beast-controlling Sect, protecting them with his soul power.
Yin Yanan, however, didn’t leave with them. She took another deep look at the enormous Bone Blood Demon, and said, “Now that we’re facing great danger, I hope we can help instead of fighting each other.”
“If you had asked in such a manner earlier, things wouldn’t have gone this far,” Nie Tian said with an expressionless face.
Yin Yanan shook her head in silence and left, riding her Frost Blood Python.
“What level is your puppet’s battle prowess at, Nie Tian?” Qiao Yunxi asked rather excitedly.
“About the same level as that of a late Soul realm expert,” Nie Tian answered.
Qiao Yunxi suddenly grew angry. “You asshole! Why didn’t you unleash it on that bitch from the Bliss Mountain Sect when you sensed her ambushing us on the meteor we went to to get that divine flame seal?! If you had, we wouldn’t have needed to run from them. In fact, we might have killed those bastards already!”
Nie Tian gave her a sideways look and said coldly, “You never told me how many people were after you and how powerful they were. How would I know if there were other powerful experts coming to kill you or not!?”
Qiao Yunxi fell silent.
In fact, she had been rather cold to Nie Tian back then.
Therefore, she hadn’t told him about the number or cultivation bases of the Bliss Mountain Sect disciples who had been after her.
Only after Nie Tian’s warnings had helped her avoid walking into the trap had she finally opened up to Nie Tian. Even so, she still didn’t tell him many things.
After giving it some thought, she realized that Nie Tian’s words actually made sense.
“Over there!”
At that moment, people from the Trisword Sect and the Chu Clan came ran to Nie Tian and Qiao Yunxi’s location.
Upon arriving, they were even more shocked to see the Bone Blood Demon than the people from the Beast-controlling Sect.
Immediately afterwards, they noticed that Nie Tian and Qiao Yunxi were standing in the middle of that spell formation, completely unaffected.
“Miss Qiao, would you please allow our weak disciples to take shelter in this spell formation for now?” Chu Xuanji from the Chu Clan asked nicely.
Qiao Yunxi threw Nie Tian an inquiring gaze.
Nie Tian pondered for a few seconds before nodding and saying, “Alright.”
After all, unlike Yin Yanan and Hong Xian from the Beast-controlling Sect, these people from the Trisword Sect and the Chu Clan hadn’t offended him.
Furthermore, since his relationship with the Beast-controlling Sect had already gone sour, if he were to become the Trisword Sect and the Chu Clan’s enemy too, then even if he had the Bone Blood Demon to protect him, he would face trouble as long as he was still trapped on this meteor.
Therefore, he gave them permission to enter.
The people from the Trisword Sect and the Chu Clan were overjoyed to see him nod.
The leaders of Trisword Sect and Chu Clan teams hastily made arrangements.
“Hurry up! Into the spell formation! It can hold at least a hundred people!”
“Let the Greater Heaven stage and Worldly realm disciples enter first! The Profound realm and Soul realm disciples can resist the influence to some extent and get away from the lake on their own.”
As their weak members came to the front of their groups, Nie Tian removed a tree branch, allowing them to enter the green energy ward. After they were inside, he put the tree branch back.
However, he walked out of the spell formation himself.
“Stay inside and don’t come out,” Nie Tian said, looking at Qiao Yunxi. “This spell formation will allow you to leave, but once you’re out, you won’t be able to enter again.”
With these words, he jumped onto the Bone Blood Demon’s broad shoulder, where he sat down and commanded it to move out.
“Where are you going?!” Qiao Yunxi shouted hastily.
However, Nie Tian didn’t respond, and the Bone Blood Demon strode towards the lakeside with huge steps.
To her surprise, while everyone was scrambling away from the lake, Nie Tian commanded the Bone Blood Demon to take him to the most dangerous place.
On his way, he saw many juniors from the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan who had already lost their souls and died. Their corpses were scattered everywhere.
The few powerful discarnate souls that had broken free from the Spirit Pearl were nowhere to be seen. It was unknown whether they had been killed by Hong Xian and the other experts, or they had already flown into the lake.
As he marched closer and closer towards the lake, his true soul came under increasingly heavy pressure. Even though the nine fragmentary stars in his soul had magical effects, their power wasn’t limitless.
Soon, he came to the lakeside.
As he looked at the emerald lake water with rapt attention, he discovered that there seemed to be pieces of ink-black crystals at the bottom of the lake.
They were all of different sizes and emanating black light.
Nie Tian was taken aback.
At this moment, Chu Xuanji flew over. Floating in the air, he said, “Thank you for helping us. Those black crystals at the bottom of the lake are soul crystals, which are very valuable. Also, they don’t form naturally, but artificially. Each and every one of them is the condensation of immense soul power. Since there are so many of them at the lake bottom, I wonder who forged them and put them there.”
Chu Xuanji’s eyes shone with the light of desire as he talked about soul crystals, as if they had a strong appeal even to experts like him.
Surprised, Nie Tian muttered, “Soul crystals?”
“Yeah, they can be used to cultivate soul power,” Chu Xuanji explained. “In the same way we channel spiritual power from spirit stones and spirit jades, people can channel soul power from soul crystals and use the power to refine their true souls.”
“Then why didn’t you go collect them?” Nie Tian asked curiously.
Chu Xuanji smiled bitterly. “Of course I want to, but I haven’t figured out a way yet...”