“Oh, such a strong force!” 

Not long after leaving Yu Tong’s side, Nie Tian could sense warm currents circulating in his stomach and intestines.

Yet, he had only eaten a few Jin worth of dried meat from Yu Tong’s leather pouch!

“This meat should also be from a Grade Two spirit beast! Only, Grade Two spirit beast meat is able to produce such copious energy! Perhaps, this Grade Two spirit beast was even more formidable than the Earth Lizard!”

He suddenly realised.

There were four Grade Two spirit beasts in total in the Green Illusion Realm. The Black Ice Python was unquestionably the strongest. Before the Black Ice Python had left, it had even become a Grade Three spirit beast. 

As for the remaining Grade Two spirit beasts, the Earth Lizard had been killed and beheaded by Jiang Lingzhu and the others, whereas the Black Mist Palace’s Zheng Rui might have possibly gotten rid of another one in the volcanic region.

If there were no mishaps, the dried meat inside Yu Tong’s leather pouch should be from the last Grade Two spirit beast.

Wisps of warm current dispersed inside Nie Tian’s body. His extremely exhausted body rapidly recovered under the warm, replenishing nutrients from the energy. 

Since he had been on the run, he couldn’t sit down to quietly channel the energy into his spirit sea.

However, the power that dispersed into his flesh filled up his physical strength to an abundance, making it so that he could no longer feel the heaviness of his steps.

He was very clear about one thing, that was that as long as Yu Tong could move about, she was bound to chase after him and kill him regardless of anything. Therefore, he didn’t dare to stop and replenish his dried up spirit sea with spirit stones. 

From time to time, Nie Tian would take out the map that he had obtained from Yuan Feng’s hands, to discern a direction, and rush wildly towards that direction.

He had already given up on heading towards the border between the barren land and volcanic region as well as given up on searching for An Ying, Jiang Lingzhu and the others. Now, he only wanted to return to the entrance of the Green Illusion Realm.

That was because he knew, that it was very possible that the people from the Ghost Sect and Blood Sect were still in the depths of the barren land, frantically chasing and killing survivors from the Lingyun Sect and Ling Bao Court.

If he also headed towards the depths of the barren land, it was extremely likely that he would encounter disciples from the Ghost Sect and Blood Sect along the way.

Nie Tian, who had forcefully prompted the use of his Angry Fist, was in an extremely bad state. His spirit sea was currently empty, so if he actually encountered people from the Ghost Sect and Blood Sect, he was afraid that he would be easily killed.

Moreover, when Yu Tong’s condition stabilized and she could somewhat move about, she would also go all out in pursuing and attacking him. 

He definitely could not follow the path to his own doom.

Relying on the few Jin of dried meat that he had s.n.a.t.c.hed from Yu Tong’s leather pouch, Nie Tian gradually recovered his physical strength, but he didn’t dare to idle any longer as he continued on with his journey.

It was unknown how much time had pa.s.sed. He saw glaciers from afar and knew that he was going to exit the barren land soon.

Based on his perception, a very long time had pa.s.sed. He felt that Yu Tong would not chase after him for now.

“Just a little more. When I step into the glacier region, I can then immediately start to recover my strength with spirit stones!” He mumbled to himself.

Two hours later.

He had finally dragged his weary body out of the barren land and he had stepped into the ruthlessly cold glacier region.

At the first glacier, he found a secluded valley and buried his body in a pile of snow, before taking out a spirit stone to recover his energy. 

If he didn’t have spirit stones and was only cultivating using the thin Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi from the Green Illusion Realm, it would take Nie Tian quite a few days to completely replenish the spiritual energy that he had consumed..

Spirit stones, even if it was a Low Grade spirit stone, still contained pure and refined spiritual energy.

Using spirit stones to cultivate and recover his energy was so much faster than using the Heaven and Earth spiritual Qi from the Green Illusion Realm!

Wisps of pure and refined spiritual energy were guided out from within the spirit stone. One by one, the wisps of spiritual energy flowed into Nie Tian’s spirit sea. That kind of carefree feeling made Nie Tian practically want to cry out and cheer.

“No wonder those fellows were all carrying spirit stones on them, before they entered the Green Illusion Realm. Using spirit stones to cultivate really is so much smoother and relaxing!”

Nie Tian sucked a piece of spirit stone dry of its spiritual energy in an extremely short period of time, before it shattered into pieces as it had become an ordinary stone.

He rapidly took out a second piece.

In only one hour, Nie Tian had already used seven spirit stones. The originally dried up spirit sea of his, was also completely filled with spiritual energy once more. 

Once his spiritual energy had completely recovered, he suddenly became completely confident and knew that he was no longer an opponent that could be slaughtered by anyone.

However, even though that were the case, he also didn’t dare to return to where he had come from, as he didn’t want to face Yu Tong again.

After slightly adjusting his position, he made his way out from the pile of the snow and continued carrying on forward.

Now, he only wanted to return to where the gate leading out of the Green Illusion Realm was. There, he would quietly wait for the other survivors to arrive.

The Black Ice Python had already left. The glacier region no longer had dangers lurking around every corner. The Grade One spirit beasts, that were scattered throughout various regions, had also been previously killed by the Ling Bao Court, the Grey Valley and the other people.

He had originally wanted to capture a few Grade One spirit beasts to expand his spirit sea. It was a pity, however, that he was unable to encounter a single spirit beast in the midst of his return journey.

A long time had pa.s.sed. He used Yuan Feng’s map and pa.s.sed through the glacier region, finally returning to the area where he had arrived.

At the foot of an unknown mountain, ash-coloured bones sat in the midst of a pile of broken rocks.

At the area next to a smooth stone wall, nine young males and females, who were wearing white coloured clothes, were huddled together, tearing spirit beast meat apart whilst talking and laughing with one another joyously.

“White clothing, Black Mist Palace…”

Nie Tian approached from afar and from a single glance, he realised that those nine people were all trial takers from the Black Mist Palace.

Seeing that there were nine trial takers from the Black Mist Palace, he was both surprised and happy.

The thing he was happy about was that with there being nine people here, even if Yu Tong from the Blood Sect had chased after him, he wouldn’t have to be afraid of her.

There were nine people in the Black Mist Palace with Zheng Bin, who was their leader. If Yu Tong came forward alone, Nie Tian, who had recovered, would definitely be able to make Yu Tong face the consequences.

With there being nine people from the Black Mist Palace around, he was safe and didn’t need to be very scared or on edge anymore.

However, with the appearance of these nine people, it also implied that An Ying, Jiang Lingzhu, and the others were unable to meet up with Zheng Bin and the rest from the Black Mist Palace at the border between the barren land and the volcanic region.

With only An Ying and Jiang Lingzhu’s power, he was afraid that they wouldn’t be able to match up to the Ghost Sect and the Blood Sect.. He didn’t know how many people had already been killed. 

“Eh!”

When he was in a distracted state of mind, a delicate and pretty lady from the Black Mist Palace suddenly noticed him.

Until now, the upper half of his body was still naked and in addition to that, there were also wounds that had already long since formed into scabs on his body.

Those crisscrossed scars were densely packed together. Nie Tian, who was hastening on his journey from the start and hadn’t had time to take note of his appearance, had grey hair and a dirty face. This disgraceful appearance lined with the wounds, that looked like thin snakes after forming into scabs, made him appear to be slightly malevolent in this moment.

“Who is it?”

The Black Mist Palace’s Zheng Bin suddenly got up, as he coldly looked at Nie Tian.

Zheng Bin, who was wearing a suit of white clothing had a majestic appearance. He was originally born as an extraordinarily handsome man. Now, comparing him with the shabby looking Nie Tian, Zheng Bin was practically like an elegant person, who was radiating with the rays of sunlight. 

When Zheng Bin was talking, the beautiful eyes that belonged to the three Black Mist Palace girls landed on Zheng Bin’s body in a flash, and their eyes were filled with adoration towards him.

However, when they glanced towards Nie Tian, their expressions abruptly turned cold. The adoration in their eyes immediately turned to hatred.

“I am also a Green Illusion Realm trial taker. I entered together with Elder Sister An Ying.” Nie Tian naturally walked towards them, as he responded.

“The Ling Bao Court’s?” A girl with an oval-shaped face shook with vigour and both her eyes suddenly shone as she said: “Did you guys kill and behead the Black Ice Python in that glacier region?”

Hearing her say this, all of the trial takers from the Black Mist Palace were all energetic. 

The Green Illusion Realm’s glacier region, barren land and volcanic region weren’t in a straight line at all.

It was also because of the fact that after the Black Mist Palace had killed their target spirit beast in the volcanic region, they didn’t go through the barren land and glacier region to return.

Rather, they had returned from another direction. 

A very long time had already pa.s.sed. They knew that it was difficult to kill the Black Ice Python and Earth Lizard if they had gone to the glacier region and barren land once more at this time and so, they had given up a long time ago. 

The Green Illusion Realm’s rule only prohibited ma.s.sacres. It didn’t prohibit personal battles.

The reason why they had arrived much earlier and were preserving and nurturing their spirits, as they waited, was precisely to seize the spirit beasts’ heads from the other three parties.

The way they saw it, since Nie Tian was from the Ling Bao Court’s end, and he had come forward alone, he was a lamb that was waiting to be slaughtered. 

“No, we didn’t encounter the Black Ice Python.” Nie Tian frowned.

He had only prepared to explain the appearance of the Ghost Sect and Blood Sect disciples, only to see that Zheng Bin from the Black Mist Palace had scoffed once and said with a cold expression on his face: “Search his whole body, then tie him up. Prevent him from becoming Ling Bao Court’s combat strength when dealing with us after the people from the Ling Bao Court return to this place.”

“Yes, proceed according to our plans.” The young lady with the oval-shaped face agreed and said.

After that, two youngsters from Black Mist Palace, clad in white clothing, leaped up excitedly. They didn’t even initiate a greeting and wanted to capture Nie Tian first. 

The people from the Black Mist palace thought, that since Nie Tian had appeared, An Ying and the others from the Ling Bao Court would be right behind him.

They wanted to capture Nie Tian at the first possible moment and make it so that Nie Tian was unable to become An Ying’s helping hand.

……

Translator: Naaata
Editor: Zaaach and Sietse
From XianXiaWorld