When Nie Tian saw the Flame Dragon, his heart shuddered, as he had already faintly guessed the reason why the Black Ice Python had fixed its attention onto him. 

His guess was that there should be a little bit of a Flame Dragon’s breath on his body. 

The “animal” bone of his came from a blazing Flame Dragon after all… 

Even though he didn’t take the dragon bone into the Green Illusion Realm for the trial, he had used his mental consciousness before to appreciate the wonders of the dragon bone time and time again. His soul had also entered the drop of fresh blood inside the dragon bone countless times and from there, his soul had stepped into an unknown blazing world. 

Rubbing the dragon bone daily and using his soul to probe into the wonders of the dragon bone had stained him with the Flame Dragon’s breath. 

He had even thought that the reason his mental strength could be so strong was also related to him continuously probing the dragon bone and using his soul to enter that mysterious blazing world.

A few days ago, as he was worried that the people of the Ghost Sect and the Blood Sect would once again head towards him with the intent to kill, Nie Tian had frequently released his mental consciousness to perceive the movements in his surroundings.

It was very possible that the Black Ice Python had sensed a little of the Flame Dragon’s breath through his mental consciousness, which had filled the surroundings.

Nie Tian, who had roughly guessed the Black Ice Python’s intentions, walked out from the crescent-shaped stone well and arrived at the stone palace hall that was immeasurably wide.

He walked to the front of an obelisk that had a Flame Dragon coiled around it and seriously sized up his surroundings, before turning his attention to the other nearby obelisks.

He noticed that each of the twelve obelisks, all coiled with their respective dragons, was clearly unique from the others.

Amongst them, Flame Dragons, that possessed flames that ascended upwards, were coiled around six of the obelisks.

On the other six obelisks, under Nie Tian’s close observation, he found dragons with vivid, lifelike, copper-coloured scales, which were identical to the ones that had previously grown on the Black Ice Python’s body.

“Ice Dragons?”

As he was touching his chin, Nie Tian was in a daze and entranced, thinking about the words spoken by Pan Tao.

According to Pan Tao, the Black Ice Python was an unusual species that was very ancient. There was even the possibility that the Giant Black Ice Dragon’s blood vessel existed in the bodies of some Black Ice Pythons. 

As long as a Black Ice Python had the Giant Black Ice Dragon’s blood vessel inside its body, then no matter how small the blood vessel was, it would be possible for the Black Ice Python to awaken this blood vessel and from there, morph into a Giant Black Ice Dragon.

The Giant Black Ice Dragon, on the other hand, was like the Giant Flame Dragon. It was rumoured to be the strongest type of the Giant Dragons from the ancient era!

“I have the Flame Dragon’s breath on my body. This Black Ice Python… should have an Ice Dragon’s blood vessel. Moreover, now that it has advanced to a Grade Three spirit beast, it should have already gradually awakened its blood vessel.”

“The reason it summoned me to this place must definitely be because it wants me to help it do something through the use of the Flame Dragon’s breath on my body.”

“If not, it would have long since killed me and wouldn’t have wasted so much energy to bring me to this place.”

Secretly pondering over this matter in this heart, Nie Tian continued to size up his surroundings in search for an answer. 

Soon after, he noticed that there was a square-shaped sacrificial platform in the middle of the twelve obelisks. 

The square-shaped sacrificial platform was made out of dark, brown-coloured stones that were piled up together. There were many grooves on the sacrificial platform. Sparkling, translucent beast bones were fully arranged in those grooves.

Those beast bones emitted glowing rays of light in the dim stone palace hall.

It was very obvious that those beast bones were completely different from the beast bones that Nie Tian had seen before.

He was very clear that only the beast bones of High Grade spirit beasts were able to be sparkling and translucent like jade and continuously discharge rays of light due to the extreme abundance of energy they contained.

Beast bones that were able to emit light must have surging waves of energy in them and were useable for a variety of purposes. 

The numerous grooves in the square-shaped sacrificial platform were aligned in a peculiar sort of way. The beast bones inside each groove were radiating a strange, colourful light. 

Radiance implied that the beast bones were filled with energy. 

“Twelve obelisks. The sacrificial platform in the obelisks. Using beast bones filled with energy as supporting objects…”

“This is a s.p.a.ce Transmission Array!”

Nie Tian had a flash of understanding and realised that the square-shaped sacrificial platform was clearly an unusual s.p.a.ce Transmission Array.

The twelve obelisks with Ice Dragons and Flame Dragons carved on them, the sacrificial platform, and the beast bones that were filled with energy were all components of that s.p.a.ce Transmission Array!

In the next moment, he had guessed the Black Ice Python’s intentions - it wanted to leave the Green Illusion Realm with the help of the s.p.a.ce Transmission Array!

“That’s it, that’s it. All of the strong spirit beasts in the Green Illusion Realm have all been completely killed under the cooperation of the four sects. The heaven and earth spirit Qi in the Green Illusion Realm is also gradually drying up and is no longer suitable for any living thing to cultivate for a long period of time.”

“The Black Ice Python ought to also know that the reason why it’s still alive is completely because the four sects deliberately made it so.”

“If it continues to live in the Green Illusion Realm for a prolonged period of time, not only will it be unable to continue to evolve, but there is also a possibility that it will be killed and beheaded by the trial takers arranged by the four sects. This is practically a dead end.”

“Fully aware that this is a dead end, the Black Ice Python naturally is not willing to stay in the Green Illusion Realm and as such, it wants to leave.”

“This s.p.a.ce Transmission Array, that has been concealed beneath the barren land, is its key to leave. The reason it summoned me to this place should be for me to help it.”

“If not, the Black Ice Python would have escaped from the Green Illusion Realm long ago and headed off to some domain of heaven and earth suitable for it to continue to evolve.”

A string of thoughts rapidly appeared in Nie Tian’s mind. The more Nie Tian, who had gathered his bearings, thought, the more thoroughly his thoughts went.

“Hiss, hiss!”

It was also in this moment that the Black Ice Python stuck out its tongue and spit out rays of ice shards and ice mist from its mouth. 

A total of six ice mists were respectively shot at the six obelisks, that had Ice Dragons coiled around them. In an instant, the six obelisks were frozen, before they turned sparkling and translucent like cold jade.

After the Ice Dragons on the ice obelisks had been stained by the cold mist, they seemed to have been brought back to life.

Bursts of ruthlessly cold breath came from the top of the six obelisks, making Nie Tian, who was nearby, cold to the point that his teeth were chattering. 

He could feel that the temperature in the stone palace hall was plummeting at a frightening speed!

His bones, blood, and even his line of thought seemed to have been affected. 

He looked at the Black Ice Python in surprise. 

At this time, all that he saw were grim intentions in the eyes of that Black Ice Python!

It seemed as though if he didn’t think of a way himself, Nie Tian would very quickly be affected by the extremely cold temperature and turn into an ice sculpture that would be unable to awaken ever again.

“It is forcing me!”

Nie Tian came to himself in a flash and knew that the Black Ice Python was currently forcing him to exert himself in a unique manner. 

The only things that could resist the extremely cold temperature were overflowing, raging flames. If the blazing flames didn’t emerge, he would very quickly be frozen to death!

He suddenly looked towards the obelisk beside him. 

He came to the realisation, that only by activating the Flame Dragon on that obelisk, would he be able to release the violently surging flames from that obelisk. Only then would he be able to survive.

Following that, the cold air in the stone palace hall got heavier and heavier. He realised that his ability to think seemed to also be affected. 

If he couldn’t rapidly find a way, Nie Tian would soon not even be able to continue his line of thought. 

He furiously pushed that obelisk!

His mental consciousness that he had been painstakingly cultivating these days was like flowing water, frantically flowing towards that obelisk that had a Flame Dragon coiled around it. 

In that instant that his mental consciousness flowed into the obelisk, it seemed as though wisps of scarlet red flames flashed from within the Flame Dragon on the obelisk. 

In the next moment, a raging inferno surged up and exploded from within the Flame Dragon’s body that had been carved into that obelisk! 

- Bang! -

Blazing flames suddenly rose up from the whole obelisk. Those flames were immeasurably violent and they immediately increased the temperature in the stone palace hall.

Not far away, the Black Ice Python, that was coiled coiled up next to an obelisk, shot out incomparably violent rays of light from its eyes.

Following that, a chill that cut to the bone spread out from those six obelisks that had Ice Dragons wound around them.

Nie Tian immediately realised that he still couldn’t resist the chilliness inside the stone palace hall by activating just one obelisk. 

He didn’t have any more time to think. Once he just withdrew his mental consciousness, he charged towards the other five obelisks that had Flame Dragons coiled around them.

His mental consciousness was like a lighter. Once it entered those obelisks, the Flame Dragons, that were carved into them, seemed to come alive in a flash.

- Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang! -

The other five obelisks slightly shuddered and soon after, they had also been set ablaze in torrential flames.

In this way, the stone palace hall had six ice obelisks that were emitting cold streams, and six fire obelisks that were emitting fiercely burning flames.

One cold, one hot. Two bursts of power, that were entirely different, were attacking one another inside the stone palace hall. Then suddenly, they poured into the sacrificial platform in the middle.

The sparkling and translucent beast bones, that were laid out in the grooves of the sacrificial table, suddenly exploded into pieces!

Countless, strange, flaming sparks flew out and escaped from the beast bones that had exploded into pieces, converging inside the sacrificial platform.

Very quickly, a strange light landed and a multicoloured light screen took form in the sacrificial platform. 

That light screen was continuously distorting and changing irregularly like it was a mysterious gate. 

- Shasha! -

Only at this point did the python, that possessed a Giant Black Ice Dragon’s blood vessel, squirm and rapidly bolt towards that colourful light screen.

When it arrived in front of that light screen, the Black Ice Python, that clearly seemed to possess intelligence, took one final glance at Nie Tian and then made its way into the light screen.

- Peng! -

Once the Black Ice Python entered the strangely shaped light screen, the light screen suddenly collapsed into pieces and turned into a strange multicoloured glow that filled the whole sky.

When the light screen exploded into pieces, the extreme coldness and hotness, that had been released from the obelisks, was suppressed in an instant.

……

Translator: The Most Awesome Nata
Editors: Zachie and Sietse
From XianXiaWorld