Chapter 989: Deep Enlightenment
The conversation between the dragon and the Demon was so resounding and powerful that every word of it spread a thousand kilometers into their surroundings.
What surprised Nie Tian even more was that they actually communicated in the human language.
As humans rose to prominence, the human language had spread out across the starry river, and gradually replaced the Ancientbeast and outsider languages as the common language among all races.
In this era, both Demons and dragons were able to communicate in the human language.
From this point, it was obvious that humans’ status among the numerous races that lived in this starry river had gone through complete changes.
However, it frustrated Nie Tian that he couldn’t find his place in a battle at such a high level.
Let alone the ninth grade Demon and dragon, even the battle between the Void domain experts and the eighth grade outsiders seemed a bit too intense for him.
He had only one option if he was going to join their battle: use the Star Behemoth bone he had.
However, its flesh power consumption was off the charts.
A single strike with it would drain every bit of the flesh power he had gone a long way to gather, rendering him unable to fight with flesh power again.
With these thoughts, he flew slowly and quietly towards the area where Void domain experts were engaged in a fierce fight against eighth grade outsiders.
Having spent a long while observing their fight, he had long since realized that even though the Void domain experts outnumbered the eighth grade outsiders, the battle prowess of the two sides was actually evenly matched.
If there were no mishaps, their battle would last a very long time.
“How am I supposed to join a battle at such a level without using that Star Behemoth bone?” Nie Tian fell into silent contemplation.
WHOOSH!
The Flame Dragon Armor suddenly descended and clad itself on him.
The Flame Dragon Armor, which had felt exceptionally heavy before, felt much lighter this time.
Nie Tian’s eyes lit up. “Wait, it’s not that the Flame Dragon Armor has become lighter, but instead it’s that my body has become tougher now that I’ve finished Bone Crystallizing, Internal Organ Nourishing, and Meridian Toughening, and started Flesh Tempering. I’m getting used to the Flame Dragon Armor’s weight!”
At this very moment, Wu Yun from the Golden Vast Sect drove a golden spear into her opponent’s abdomen.
As soon as she did, the golden spear seemed to morph into a snake of golden light.
Dazzling golden light sputtered off like tiny golden lightning bolts as it squirmed and squeezed deeper into the Demon’s abdomen.
The eighth grade high-tier Demon was very large and robust to start with. Now, as he activated the Demons’ unique Indestructible Form, he rapidly expanded from three meters tall to ten meters tall!
At the same time, solid purple scales grew out under his arms. As he spread his arms, they looked like bird wings.
Having demonized, he showed signs of ancestral awakening, as he now looked very similar to a low-tier Demon.
Sharp bones grew out of his spine. Like oddly shaped thorns, they pierced out, ripping his skin open. Each and every one of them shone with an ice-cold metallic luster.
The eighth grade Demon let out agonized shrieks as a drop of Blood Essence left his heart and flew towards his abdomen.
“Bloodline magic: Blood Essence Irrigation!”
Like purple diamonds, his Blood Essence gave out a mysterious luster.
In the next moment, the golden spear that had morphed into a snake of light went out like flames that were put out by ice water.
Then, violent flesh power burst forth from within the drops of Blood Essence like a flood rushing through broken river dams.
SHEW!
With its golden light extinguished, the spear recovered its original form and flew back into Wu Yu’s hand.
Vague illusory shapes then appeared in the depths of her domain. Gold Horn Beasts, Golden Stone Rhinos, and many other metal-attributed spirit beasts appeared one after another, as if they had long since been fused into her metal domain.
“Metal Beast Empowerment!”
One metal-attributed spirit beast after another flew into the golden spear, allowing it to shine with dazzling golden light again.
Looking closely at Wu Yun’s domain, Nie Tian suddenly felt enlightened. “Every expert’s domain is different. Even cultivators who practice the same powers forge their domains to have unique wonders.”
Like her, Qu Mingde was also from the Golden Vast Sect, and he was their sectmaster. As a Saint domain expert, his domain had already transformed from illusory to solid.
Filling his domain were towering golden mountains that had merged with him on many levels, Qu Mingde had traveled across the Domain of Heaven Python and chosen each and every one of them carefully. After finding them, he had uprooted them from the earth and refined them into his domain through years of effort.
The golden mountains could be nourished by his spiritual core, and help him store extra power.
In battle, not only could the golden mountains provide him with more power, but they could also fly out of his domain to crush his opponent directly, or form metal-attributed spell formations that carried the profound truths of heaven and earth to trap his opponent.
As for Wu Yun’s domain, she had collected high-grade metal-attributed spirit beasts and refined them into it, which was a whole other method.
From her battle against the eighth grade Demon, Nie Tian, who was only at the Profound realm, came to a brand new, deeper understanding of domain forging.
While he was carried away by his thoughts, the Demon had already stopped the wound in his abdomen from bleeding. Flesh fibers could be seen regenerating and weaving within it at an alarming rate. At this moment, he suddenly swooped towards him, while yelling in perfect human language. “DIE!”
As he did, the scaly wings under his arms flapped, doubling his speed.
Like a bolt of purple lightning, the Demon dashed across the sky.
“Watch out, Nie Tian!” Wu Yun’s expression instantly flickered, her golden domain twisting violently, as if she intended to split the void and shift to Nie Tian’s location.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The eighth grade Demon’s flesh power fluctuations were as intense as rolling thunder. Even though Nie Tian was still a considerable distance away, they almost burst through his eardrums.
SHEW!
A beam of dazzling starlight suddenly blasted out of the sharp prow of the Star Boat.
Hundreds of Star Stones that had been lying at the bottom of the Star Boat were instantly reduced to ashes that scattered into the wind.
Just like that, the most powerful attacking spell formation that had been carved into the Star Boat drained them of their star power in a flash.
“Bloodline magic: Demonic Cloud Shield!”
Torrential Devil qi poured out of the eighth grade Demon’s pores like incomparably thick, blackish-violet rain clouds. As he further stimulated his bloodline talent, they rapidly condensed into a blackish-violet shield in midair.
Dozens of times larger than doors, the shield was branded with bloodline imprints, as well as countless densely-packed patterns.
RUMBLE!
The beam of starlight slammed into the Demonic Cloud Shield, rapidly erasing the mysterious patterns on it. In the next moment, the enormous shield exploded.
“Bloodline magic: Demonic Soul Curse!”
Drops of Blood Essence flew into the broken pieces of the Demonic Cloud Shield.
Each drop of Blood Essence morphed into a gruesome eye as soon as it entered a piece of the shield.
Immediately afterwards, dozens of scary, blackish-violet eyes fixated on Nie Tian. At that moment, he had a strange feeling that demonic souls were singing in the depths of his sea of awareness, as if they were calling out to their ancestors with their mysterious, rhythmic voices.
Some special spell was clearly taking effect in his sea of awareness.
He sensed stabbing pains in his true soul, as if countless ancient Demons had taken the opportunity to invade his mind in an attempt to devour his soul.
Nie Tian was shocked.
The nine star souls that hung over his sea of awareness suddenly blossomed with blinding light.
At the same time, the five powerful evil spirits that were slumbering in the Spirit Pearl were stirred.
As soon as the Spirit Pearl flew out to the spot between his eyebrows, five shadows that had shrunk countless times flew into his sea of awareness.
Despair, fear, grudges, rage, and bloodlust spread out with an unstoppable momentum, rapidly covering every corner of his sea of awareness.
As this happened, the nine star souls suddenly grew dim, revealing numerous ancient Demon symbols in many areas of his sea of awareness.
Then, the five evil spirits spread out to attack the ancient magical symbols that were previously hidden. Like blackish-violet crystals, the symbols that carried the wonders of soul power exploded one by one.
As that happened, the stabbing pains and the feeling that his true soul was being gnawed away instantly vanished.
The eighth grade Demon came to a sudden stop on his swoop towards Nie Tian. “That’s a Spirit Pearl! Even the Phantasms only have three of its kind!”
As he let out furious, disbelieving howls, fine beads of blood started to exude from his large Demon pores.
Nie Tian’s soul shadows could be seen looming in each and every one of them.
However, as the beads of blood rose into the air and exploded, Nie Tian’s soul shadows seemed to be channeled by the Spirit Pearl as they flew into Nie Tian’s forehead like wisps of faint smoke.
As they returned to him, his feeble feeling was gradually relieved.
That was when he suddenly realized that the feeling that his soul was being gnawed away wasn’t an illusion, but rather something that had actually happened!
The wisps of faint smoke that flew back to him were none other than his soul strands that the Demon had hoped to take away with the Demonic Soul Curse.
If it weren’t for the timely help of the Spirit Pearl and the five evil spirits, his true soul might have already been scattered into heaven and earth under the Demonic Soul Curse’s effect.
Once his soul was gone, it would mean his death, utter and complete death.
“Eighth grade Demons are so much more powerful than eighth grade Lizardmen...” Only at this moment did Nie Tian fully understand that he probably wouldn’t stand a chance at fighting an eighth grade Demon or Phantasm one-on-one without using that Star Behemoth bone.
Then, as he recalled the moment when he had drained his flesh power to pierce through Yuna, who had been at the peak of the eighth grade, with the Star Behemoth bone, he came to a deeper understanding of how terrifyingly destructive the bone actually was.
After all, Yuna had been even more powerful than this eighth grade Demon he was facing.