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Once everyone of the Lingyun Sect had left, Pan Tao immediately revealed his usual talkative self and said, “Nie Tian, regarding the matter with Elder Sister An Ying, I have the heart to help, yet no power to do so.”

“Elder Gan Kang is the fifth Weapon Refiner in the Treasure Court. The Treasure Court is separate from our Spirit Sect. Even my Grandfather cannot control them.”

“Moreover, Elder Gan Kang is not the only one who has certain thoughts about the Elder Sister from the An Family.”

“Even though my Grandfather is the Spirit Sect’s Grand Elder, he too wouldn’t be willing to involve the whole Pan Family in taking on An Shiyi’s matter, just because I like An Ying.”

Pan Tao was afraid that Nie Tian thought less of him and quickly explained to Nie Tian, clarifying his feelings of helplessness. 

“I understand.” Nie Tian replied.

“Oh right, what Realm are you at now?” Pan Tao asked.

“I have cultivated to the ninth Lianqi level, and have finally encountered a bottleneck.” Nie Tian laughed, “My Master made me come to the Ling Bao Court in hopes that I can improve myself and stride into the Houtian Realm on my own.”

“This youngster’s advancement speed is practically quick to the point where it’s shocking. I know that when you entered the Green Illusion Realm, you were only at the sixth Lianqi level. In the short span of half a year, you advanced from the sixth level to the eighth level. In this other half year, you even broke through to the ninth level. With your innate talent and abilities, stepping into the Houtian Realm should not require too long a time.” Pan Tao said.

“How about you guys?” Nie Tian asked.

Pan Tao laughed, “Let me tell you. Every single Green Illusion Realm trial taker that came back alive faced transformations. The Green Illusion Realm trial, that took place this round, was so dangerous and cruel that it made many of us break through our bottlenecks.”

“An Ying, Zheng Rui and I. The three of us were at the ninth Lianqi level before we stepped into the Green Illusion Realm. Now, all of us have already broken through to the Houtian Realm. Moreover, we didn’t do so with the help of the Heaven Comprehending Pill!”

“Not only us, but Jiang Lingzhu, Ye Gumo and Zheng Bin have all also stepped into the Houtian Realm.”

“Only Nie Xian who is similarly from your Nie Family seemed to have not acc.u.mulated sufficient power from the Green Illusion Realm due to the fact that his time of being at the ninth Lianqi level was too short. As such, he is now still at the Lianqi Realm.” 

Pan Tao explained in detail as though he still cherished the dangers of the Green Illusion Realm, saying, “According to my grandfather, the viler and crueller the environment, the more one can stimulate their potential. In front of moments of life and death, we often are able to recognise ourselves the most and thereby find the method to break through our bottlenecks.”

“Alright, alright. My main objective today is to buy a storage bracelet.” Nie Tian said.

“All you have to do is follow me.” Pan Tao, who was chattering on and on the whole way, changed his direction. Not long after leading Nie Tian, they arrived at a stone building that specially sold special items. 

Amongst those stone buildings, there were many antiquarian books with regards to Lianqi Warrior Formation Arrays and Runes. There were also many books regarding refining weapons. 

“Eh, Pan Tao? What did you come here for?” After the Treasure Court’s Weapon Refiner in the stone building saw him, he suspiciously inquired.

“I’m helping my Brother buy a storage bracelet.” Pan Tao simply replied and took Nie Tian to a counter that was specially laid out with storage bracelets.

Six items of the storage kind were laid out on that counter. Amongst the six, four were bracelets and two were rings.

One of the two rings was red whilst the other was gold. Both of them were priced at ten thousand spirit stones each.

The four bracelets were of different colours, priced only at five thousand spirit stones.

“Nie Tian, the size of the storage ring is small, but contrary to one’s expectation, its capacity is twice the size to that of the bracelet. Hence, the price is also double that of the bracelet.” Pan Tao explained on behalf of the Weapon Refiner, “A youngster like you only has the cultivation of the Lianqi Realm. In my opinion, you should choose a storage bracelet and that’ll be sufficient.”

“Then I will go with the bracelet.” Nie Tian nodded.

Liu Yan had also previously said that Weapon Refiners, who were at slightly lower realms, didn’t need storage rings that were too precious.

According to Liu Yan, if he hadn’t bought the Flame Dragon Armor, he wouldn’t need a storage bracelet either. Simply making a cloth pouch could already hold his one-man essentials. 

He, who had spent nine thousand spirit stones on the Flame Dragon Armor, also didn’t wish to be overly extravagant in his spending so as to avoid being called a spendthrift by his Master.

“Then I’ll have that dark yellow bracelet.” Taking out Wu Ji’s token, he handed it over to the Treasure Court’s Weapon Refiner behind the sales counter and pointed towards one of the storage bracelets.

After that Treasure Court’s Weapon Refiner took the token, he then took out the storage bracelet that Nie Tian fancied and conveniently handed it over to him.

On the other hand, Pan Tao was quickly explaining the usage of the storage bracelet to Nie Tian, telling him that he only needed to inject a wisp of his mental consciousness or a ray of spiritual energy to gain access to his items.

He wore the bracelet on his hand and according to Pan Tao’s statement, he placed a few spirit stones, that he had on him, into that bracelet.

A wisp of mental consciousness swam into the the storage bracelet. He realised that the inside of the bracelet was a vast expanse of whiteness that approximately was a third of the size of a stone room. 

Seeing as his current belongings were only a few spirit stones, a animal bone, a token and a Flame Dragon Armor, that s.p.a.ce was already sufficiently large enough. 

Even if he added on that flag banner that he had left with Jiang Lingzhu, the most it would take up was only a small part of the s.p.a.ce inside the storage bracelet. Therefore, this storage bracelet, that was priced at five thousand spirit stones, definitely could satisfy his current requirements.

“Your token.” The Treasure Court’s Weapon Refiner handed over the token to him. After he took it back, he conveniently threw it into the storage bracelet. 

He wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He showed interest towards this stone building, that sold all kinds of special items, and started to wander about within the stone building. 

He originally a.s.sumed that the Ling Bao Court’s Treasure Viewing Gathering only sold all kinds of spirit weapons.

Only later did he realize that other than spirit weapons and spirit armors, the Treasure Viewing Gathering also had medicine pills.

Now, under Pan Tao’s guide, he realised once again that the things sold in this stone building also included all kinds of books, badly damaged antiquarian books, a few unusual Formation Array shards as well as many Cultivation Techniques that had missing pages.

Many of the items in this building were incomplete, however, there was an extremely rich selection available. It made Nie Tian have a new understanding towards the different kinds of objects that a Lianqi Warrior had on them. 

“I didn’t obtain the Spirit Acc.u.mulating Pill and only obtained the Flame Dragon Armor as well as a storage bracelet. According to my Master, I still can buy one more item.” After wandering around the stone building, Nie Tian was thinking to himself about what item he should buy for the last remaining item.”

“That’s enough. There is nothing good to see here.” Pan Tao was impatient, saying, “There are a lot of things here and they are all defective products that are badly damaged and incomplete. As for the antiquarian books and shards regarding Formation Arrays as well as different kinds of books that describes ancient Lianqi Warriors, you absolutely don’t need them. That is because your Master is an expert in this field. The things here are items that have been verified as being of not much worth after being appraised by our Treasure Court.”

“The things here, not talking about those that are still badly damaged, even if they are complete, your Master wouldn’t even take a glance at them.”

“He is the real Grand Master. If you take this rubbish back, your Master will definitely scold you!”

“Oh, is that so.” Nie Tian nodded his head and finally no longer stayed at this place. After he came out of the place with Pan Tao, he was dragged by Pan Tao to hover around the Ling Bao Court according to his wishes. 

“You see, those three mountain peaks form the Ling Bao Court’s Crux Formation Array, that protect the sect’s major Formation Array.

“Once the major formation array, the Heaven Burning Earthly Flame is activated, the whole heavenly dome of the Ling Bao Sect will be submerged by the raging flames underground.”

“Even if Lianqi Warriors, who’re at the Mysterious Realm want to break through those flame layers, they’ll also need to go through a considerable amount of difficulty. It’s impossible for Lianqi Warriors below the Mysterious Realm to break through that flame barrier and break into our internal valley.” 

“…”

Pan Tao was very proud of himself, as he introduced Nie Tian to all kinds of specialities in the Ling Bao Court, telling him about the formidable power of that strange array called “Earthly Flame Burning The Heavens”.

When the sky gradually got dark, the duo agreed to meet up again the next day to visit the stone buildings, where the most intense auctions would be held for the most exquisite spirit items.

After Nie Tian returned, he looked for Jiang Lingzhu for her to return the Flame Dragon Armour to him and placed said item into his own storage bracelet. 

Once he had exposed the flag banner, that he had obtained from killing Yuan Feng, there might possibly be faint fluctuations from it. Jiang Lingzhu was worried that the Grey Valley’s Sang Bing and Yuan Xian could sense that faint fluctuation and as such, she told him that after he had left the Ling Bao Court, she would only then give it to him.

Nie Tian also didn’t have a particularly strong interest in that flag banner and was naturally not in a hurry. 

That night, he continued to cultivate with the spirit stones. Moreover, he also specially took out that beast bone and that Flame Dragon Armor from his storage bracelet.

Not long after, he could feel the warmth of the beast bone and also realised that the Flesh Essence in his body flowed towards the Flame Dragon Armor little by little.

It was unknown how long he had cultivated when he ineffably sensed an oppressing feeling on his mind. When he was refining the spirit stones, he also felt that it required more effort than normal.

He stopped and looked towards the full moon outside his window, feeling that the cool and clear moon seemed to have a faint layer of blood coloured mist over it.

“There is something fishy with the fluctuations of s.p.a.ce!”

It was also in this moment that Wu Xing’s deep shout suddenly resounded from the sixth floor of that stone building.

Very quickly, Wu Xing walked down from upstairs. Nie Tian, Jiang Lingzhu and Ye Gumo similarly walked out of the Stone Room blankly, standing at the veranda. 

Liu Yan, Shi Yi and Luo Xin also came down from the fifth floor with serious expressions on their faces.

Liu Yan felt for a stone that was covered with small holes from his bosom and wanted to speak in the direction of that Sound Stone.

- Kacha! -

The strange thing was that once he had spoken the first sentence, that Sound Stone shattered into small pieces.

Liu Yan was overwhelmed with shock and his face lost all colour.

Wu Xing’s face was as cold and white as snow. He suddenly looked towards the moon in the sky and shouted out, “Something big has happened!”

Everyone followed suit and took a look. They realised that the full moon, that was previously still as bright as a silver plate, seemed to have been smeared over by a dense layer of fresh blood in this moment, becoming scarlet and strangely demonic. 

“Blood Sect!” Luo Xin’s voice was slightly shuddering.

Wu Xing shook his head and exclaimed, “Only the Blood Sect definitely won’t dare to rashly invade one’s territory. The Prison Government and the Ghost Sect also ought to have sent out all of their experts!”

“Ah!” Luo Xin cried out involuntarily in fear.

“The Blood Moon is overlooking the sky!”

“The Blood Sect is causing mischief!”

“Oh no!”

It was also in this moment that within the other stone buildings, many powerhouses, who had a sensitive sense of smell, similarly sensed that something was amiss and successively walked onto the street. Either that or they shouted out loudly from the stone terrace upstairs. 

After Nie Tian scanned the scene, he realised that everyone’s faces were filled with terror and anxiety.

……

Translator: Naughty Nata
Editor: s.l.u.tty Sietse
From XianXiaWorld