“Nie Tian!”

“Are you guys alright?”

It was also at this time that Guo Qi, Tong Hao, and the others, who were lagging behind, had hurried over with their brows beaded with sweat. 

“Where are Elder Brother Tao and the others?” Guo Qi asked. 

“They went to chase after the people of the Blood Sect.” Nie Tian simply replied, before he took out a huge piece of spirit beast meat from behind his back. He threw it to Jiang Miao and said, “Please help me perfectly roast this.”

Due to the fact that they recently hadn’t encountered any spirit beasts, Nie Tian’s supply of spirit beast meat was quickly dwindling.

Now, the spirit beast meat that Nie Tan was carrying along with him was barely ten or so Jin, and was about to be insufficient for him to be satisfied by eating all of it..

However, when he handed that piece of spirit beast meat over to Jiang Miao, his attention suddenly shifted.

He had fixed his attention on the spirit beasts that came from the barren land and had been killed by the Lingyun Sect, especially… that Earth Lizard!

The Earth Lizard was a Grade Two spirit beast and had escaped to the barren land after sustaining heavy injuries. However, Jiang Lingzhu and the others had found it, and after going through a bitter struggle, finally killed and beheaded the Earth Lizard. 

The Earth Lizard’s head had already been chopped off by Jiang Lingzhu. However, its body was still lying next to the lake. 

Grade Two spirit beasts were much more powerful than Grade One spirit beasts. The energy contained within the flesh of a Grade Two spirit beast was certainly higher than that of a Grade One spirit beast. 

When he had fully used his Fury Fist just now, Nie Tian had used up all of the spiritual energy inside his spirit sea and urgently needed to recover it as quick as possible. 

To him, the meat of the Earth Lizard’s body was undoubtedly the best tonic. 

He briefly hesitated for a moment and glanced towards Jiang Lingzhu, before he suddenly asked, “I don’t want the Earth Lizard’s head. But, its meat… could I have some? I’m a little hungry.”

“Ha, don’t mention the Earth Lizard’s meat, even if you want its head, I can also give it to you.” Jiang Lingzhu’s bright eyes shone with an extraordinary splendor. She pursed her lips and smiled, immediately shouting orders to Ye Gumo. “Big Brother Ye, Nie Tian is hungry and wants some cooked Earth Lizard meat to eat.”

“Of course, it’s no problem at all. I’ll personally help him roast it!” Ye Gumo refreshingly said. 

Once he finished talking, Ye Gumo stretched his arm out and held his thumb up at Nie Tian. He blinked his eyes and went to cut off the meat from the Earth Lizard’s body, helping Nie Tian to roast it. 

At this moment, Jiang Lingzhu and Nie Xian, who were well acquainted with Nie Tian, arrived by his side. 

“Are you alright?” Jiang Lingzhu asked in a deeply concerned manner. 

Nie Tian shook his head. “It’s only because I have consumed too much energy and am now lacking in strength from head to toe. I need to rest for a while.” 

“Nie Tian, what… what is your cultivation level?” Nie Xian curiously asked. 

Previously, Nie Tian had only used one fist to completely burst the blood shadows that the witch, Yu Tong, had solidified, into smithereens and had also completely shattered the shield, that was formed by that witch’s blood energy, in an instant. 

Yu Tong had sustained a heavy injury from Nie Tian’s single attack. Seeing as Pan Tao and the others were about to hurry over, she had no choice but to retreat in defeat. 

Nie Xian simply didn’t dare to believe his own eyes. The might of that punch left an extremely profound impression in his mind. 

Nie Xian remembered that since he had left the Nie Family, after being received by Li Fan to Lingyun Sect, Nie Tian had only been at the fourth Lianqi level.

At that time, other than having a robust body, Nie Tian didn’t have too many other extraordinary features. 

He couldn’t imagine that with only the pa.s.sage of a year, Nie Tian could actually scare Yu Tong off to the point of her escaping, with just the might of a single punch. 

“About that…. A few days ago, I just broke through to the seventh Lianqi level.” Nie Tian replied. 

“In approximately a year, from the fourth to the seventh level…” Nie Xian quietly mumbled to himself. The gaze that he used to look at Nie Tian was as though he was looking at a monster. 

Jiang Lingzhu also had her mouth hanging wide open as she stared at him in amazement. “You’re too amazing, aren’t you?” 

She had personally witnessed Nie Tian and Yun Song’s battle in Black Cloud City. She was positive that the Nie Tian, at that time, was definitely only in the fourth Lianqi level. 

In one year, he had leaped from the fourth Lianqi level into the seventh Lianqi level. This also made Jiang Lingzhu, who was experienced and knowledgeable in the Lingyun Sect, extremely flabbergasted. 

“My luck is good.” Nie Tian chuckled. 

While they were talking, An Ying, Pan Tao, and Zheng Rui disheartenedly returned. 

“The speed that those fellows of the Blood Sect escaped with, is not slower than the Ghost Sect in the slightest.” An Ying stood firmly by Jiang Lingzhu’s side and sighed, before saying, “I originally thought that after arriving in the barren land, we could draw support from the Lingyun Sect’s disciples and defeat the Ghost Sect disciples together. I never would’ve thought that the people from the Blood Sect would have also entered the Green Illusion Realm.”

“What?”

When the trial takers of the Lingyun Sect heard her say such a thing, their expression changed, one after the other. 

“You guys have run into the Ghost Sect’s disciples?” Jiang Lingzhu softly cried out.

“We’re considered to be fortunate.” Pan Tao bitterly laughed, “It’s the Grey Valley who’ve truly suffered a tragic incident. Based on what we have seen, five people of the Grey Valley have been killed by the Ghost Sect and the condition in which they died… was a tragic sight.”

“The Ghost Sect has similarly killed one of our comrades.” Zheng Rui said softly. 

“The Blood Sect and the Ghost Sect…” Jiang Lingzhu deeply furrowed her brows. Her clean and small face seemed to suddenly be covered with a dark haze. “I don’t know how the situation on the Black Mist Palace’s end is. I hope that they aren’t so unfortunate. From now on, it’s best if everyone doesn’t part. Moreover, we must quickly find the people of the Black Mist Palace and Grey Valley. Only when we form an alliance with them, will we have the ability to contend against the Blood Sect and Ghost Sect.”

“The reason why we came to the barren land, was to look for you guys in order to go to the glacier region to kill the Ghost Sect disciples.” An Ying explained. 

“Once the Blood Sect and the Ghost Sect realise that we have merged and are no longer separated, they… will also cooperate.” Pan Tao said. 

“The Green Illusion Realm trial is ten times more dangerous than I thought it would be.” Jiang Lingzhu thought for a moment, before she continued, “We need to recover our strength as soon as possible so that we can respond to any upcoming battle. Therefore, I won’t talk to you people anymore for the time being.”

“Everyone, quickly use the spirit stones in your hands to recover.”

Other than Ye Gumo, the trial takers of the Lingyun Sect, who had survived, didn’t talk anymore, as they quietly sat down. 

Every single one of them had a serious expression on their face, as they didn’t dare to relax for even a second. 

They originally thought that after they had merged with the Ling Bao Court, the five Blood Sect disciples, with Yu Tong as their leader, would no longer be able to threaten them. 

They never would"ve thought, however, that after the Ling Bao Court entered the barren land, it was actually the people of the Ling Bao Court who had asked them for help in order to deal with the Ghost Sect.

Once they knew that the Ghost Sect was also in the Green Illusion Realm, they all felt that the road ahead of them was going to be difficult. The two corpses of their comrades were just by their side. The survivors didn’t feel as though they were already dead, but they continued to maintain a nervous feeling at all times. 

An Ying and her party also didn’t have interest in talking and were similarly bearing a heavy load on their mind. 

“There, this is the meat that you wanted from the Earth Lizard’s body.”

At that moment, Ye Gumo had picked up a piece of cooked meat that was more than ten Jin in weight and had arrived at Nie Tian’s side. He handed over that piece of meat that he thought to be enough for Nie Tian. 

After Nie Tian took the meat into his hands, Ye Gumo, who sat down beside Jiang Lingzhu and Nie Xian, also took out a spirit stone to absorb spiritual energy and recover. 

“Such little meat is far from enough to satisfy him.” Pan Tao muttered, before suddenly saying, “Everyone has been busy pa.s.sing through the glacier region and didn’t have time to eat a proper meal. There is more than enough spirit beast meat here. We didn’t partic.i.p.ate in the battle just now and don’t need to immediately recover, so we should enjoy a good meal.” 

He strode forwards, walking towards the Earth Lizard. 

Ye Gumo didn’t know of Nie Tian’s appet.i.te and thought that more than ten Jin’s worth of cooked meat was more than enough to fill Nie Tian’s stomach. 

Pan Tao and Nie Tian had been a.s.sociated with each other for such a long time, and so he naturally knew that Nie Tian still needed at least five times more spirit beast meat to fill up his stomach. Therefore, he was actually tending to Nie Tian instead. 

“Nie Tian, this is the spirit beast meat that I’ve roasted for you.” Jiang Miao walked over and handed a large, thick branch, strung with a piece of cooked meat that was more than ten Jin over to Nie Tian. 

After Nie Tian took it into his hands, he responded with a word of thanks. 

Jiang Miao didn’t immediately leave. She just looked at him with her eyes filled with an expectant look.

When she noticed that Nie Tian first ate the cooked meat that she had roasted and not the Earth Lizard’s meat, she sweetly smiled and said happily, “I’ll go and help you roast some more.” Once she finished speaking, she happily hopped away. 

After more than ten Jin worth of Grade One spirit beast meat had entered his abdomen, Nie Tian immediately closed his eyes.

It wasn’t long before he could feel that a warm current was being produced in his abdomen. When he was utilizing his Lianqi Arts, those wisps of warm energy rapidly poured into his spirit sea at a much quicker speed than before. 

After one hour, his dried up spirit sea was filled by one-tenth.. 

However, there was no longer any warm current being produced in his abdomen and it seemed as though all of the energy that came from the spirit beast meat had been completely absorbed in such a short period of time. 

He opened his eyes and saw that there were sticks of spirit beast meat strung onto large branches stuck into the sand pile by his side. 

When he was surveying his surroundings, he realised that An Ying, Pan Tao and the others had gathered together, as they were eating and drinking as much as they liked while talking jovially. 

Those people seemed to know that he needed a slightly longer time to eat and so, they didn’t go and disturb him. However, those large branches of spirit beast meat were masterpieces that belonged to Jiang Miao and Pan Tao. 

He deliberated for a moment, before he picked up the very first piece of cooked meat that Ye Gumo had roasted from the Earth Lizard. 

He immediately and heartily ate. 

Very quickly, that beast meat from the Earth Lizard’s body, that was more than ten Jin in weight, had been completely devoured by him to nothingness. 

A scorching warm current was gradually created in his abdomen. The energy was several times richer than before and suddenly dispersed towards his flesh and bones. 

His eyes suddenly shone and he quickly channeled his Lianqi Arts to guide that incomparably vigorous energy. 

The wisps of energy turned into a warm stream and it madly surged towards his spirit sea along his meridians. 

In the short span of fifteen minutes, he realised that the dried up spiritual energy inside his spirit sea had recovered to approximately forty percent!

At that moment, his abdomen was still discharging energy!

Under his stomach and intestines’ digestion, the Earth Lizard’s meat clearly still had residual energy!

His body slightly shuddered and he focused all of his mental strength to absorb all of the energy inside his body as he let it flow into his spirit sea. 

It was unknown to him how much time had pa.s.sed. When he could not longer feel that there was a warm current being created in his abdomen, Nie Tian realised that his spirit sea was already eighty percent full!

“Seven-fold!” He secretly felt emotionally moved. 

The spirit beast meat that he had swallowed into his abdomen was of the same size, but the energy that could be produced from the Earth Lizard’s meat was actually no less than seven times more than a Grade One spirit beast’s meat!

It was only a large piece of Earth Lizard meat. He had previously consumed all of his spiritual energy due to the usage of the Fury Fist, but his spiritual energy had actually almost completely recovered! 

“Grade Two spirit beast!”

Nie Tian stared at the corpse of the Earth Lizard, that was tens of Jin in weight, from afar. A greedy light suddenly burst forth from his eyes. 

……

Translator: Natanator
Editor: Zachinator and Sietse
From XianXiaWorld