Somewhat puzzled, Nie Tian approached Du Kun, hoping to find out what had occurred.

Du Kun was still twitching on the ground, blood streaming out of the corner of his eyes.

“Already lost your fighting power?” Nie Tian murmured as he crouched down. Then, he grabbed Du Kun’s neck with one hand.

CRUNCH!

A disturbing cracking sound echoed from his neck, then his head sagged down as he died instantly.

“It seems Ghost sect disciples are experts of psychic magics. I wonder if he has those kinds of incantation scrolls on him.”

Nie Tian’s eyes glittered as he started to search Du Kun from head to toe, hoping to obtain secret techniques regarding the cultivation of psychic power from him.

Nie Tian knew that Du Kun’s psychic power far surpassed those with a similar cultivation base to his own.

Just now he managed to paralyze Du Kun with a single strike, which helped him to fully realize how amazing psychic power could be.

Unfortunately, he had been cultivating in the Nie clan his whole life, and never had the chance to obtain knowledge regarding psychic power.

If he looted something from Du Kun that could help him get a better understanding of psychic power, he was sure that his battle prowess would rise to another level.

“Hmm. No information of any kind on him.”

After searching Du Kun from head to toe, Nie Tian failed to find any information regarding incantations for psychic power cultivation. As such, he felt greatly disappointed.

The only things he found were about ten spirit stones, along with a Ghost sect identity medallion, all of which were in the cloth pouch on Du Kun’s waist.

After taking the spirit stones and the medallion, he squinted his eyes, looking in the direction that Du Kun wished to escape in, and fell into deep thought.

He knew perfectly well that Mo Xi, Yu Tong, and the other disciples of the Blood sect and the Ghost sect were currently chasing after An Ying and her alliance at full speed.

He wasn’t sure if An Ying and the others could join forces with Zheng Bin in the volcano area before Mo Xi and Yu Tong caught up to them.

“I killed this guy and weakened the Ghost sect all by myself. I suppose this also counts as helping them. With me gone, they have 19 people on their end, so they should be able to just barely contend against the people from Ghost sect and Blood sect.

“Once they meet with Zheng Bin of the Mystic Mist sect, the Ghost sect and Blood sect’s mission in the Green Illusion dimension will fail.

“I’ve come to the Green Illusion dimension to train and build up myself, so I’d better consume the spirit beast meat as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would be a huge waste.

“The only thing that I can do to help them is to stay here and cultivate, hoping that after the Ghost sect and the Blood sect realize that this guy has died, they will assign others to come and kill me.”

With these thoughts, he sat down next to Du Kun’s body, eyes closed, and started cultivating.

…

In the depths of the desert.

The Blood sect’s Yu Tong once again took out her Blood Searching Compass to detect An Ying and her companions’ location.

Mo Xi stared down at the dots of blood-colored light on the compass, and grinned.

“They’re right ahead of us!”

“We’ll be able to catch up to them in a day. Then we’ll kill them all before they leave the desert!”

Glancing at a corner of the compass, he found a single blob of blood-colored light, and said, “There’s only one blob of light left. Du Kun must have succeeded already.”

“Something’s wrong,” Yu Tong said with furrowed brow. She shook her head. “That that blob of light isn’t moving. If Du Kun really succeeded, he definitely wouldn’t stay in one place.”

Upon hearing her words, not only Mo Xi, but other Blood sect and Ghost sect disciples were also seized with shock.

“What?! Are you saying... Du Kun is the one who’s dead?” Mo Xi’s face turned grim.

Yu Tong said expressionlessly, “I don’t want to believe Du Kun would fail either, but the facts are in front of us.”

After a moment of silence, Mo Xi suddenly commanded, “Song Heng! Head over there and take a look!”

“No,” Yu Tong said calmly. “Considering that Du Kun was the one who died, Song Heng going by himself wouldn’t necessarily be safe. However, if we send more people over, we’ll be short handed. Even if we managed to catch up to those from the Spiritual Treasure sect and Cloudsoaring sect, we wouldn’t be able to guarantee a victory.”

Mo Xi shouted, “But he killed Du Kun! He has to die!”

“I understand.” Yu Tong nodded. “I’m saying that we have to make priorities. We should finish off those 19 people first. After we do, returning to kill him will be a piece of cake.”

“Since he remains in the desert, as long as we have the Blood Searching Compass, there’s no way that he can escape.”

Mo Xi pondered over it for awhile, and realized that her decision was a wise one. “Alright then. I’ll let him live for a few more days!”

…

After killing Du Kun, Nie Tian had always been meticulous while using the spirit beast meat to cultivate.

Every once in awhile, he would release his psychic awareness to detect the fluctuations of life in the surrounding area, and prepare himself for battles that could take place at any time, in case more people from the Ghost sect and Blood sect might come for him.

However, during the following two days, not a single enemy showed up.

In the meantime, he had consumed a large proportion of the Lurker Lizard meat, leaving behind only about a quarter of the original amount.

His spiritual sea had also expanded by as much as eighty percent. Given three more days, he believed he would be able to break through into the eighth level of Qi Refining stage!

“The eighth level!”

The thought of him being able to leap into the eighth level from the sixth level made him suddenly seethe with excitement.

As long as he could reach the ninth level of Qi Refining by the age of fifteen, he would be accepted by the Cloudsoaring sect and become their disciple!

Once he became a disciple of the Cloudsoaring sect, his grandfather’s status in the Nie clan would also rise accordingly.

Perhaps all the humiliations and injustice that his aunt had endured through all the years could finally be met with justice.

“I promised my aunt that I’ll become a Cloudsoaring sect’s disciple! When I get out of the Green Illusion dimension, it won’t be long before I honor my word!”

He munched even harder on the spirit beast meat before starting another round of refinement and upgrading of his spiritual sea.

Time gradually passed by...

Three days went by in the blink of an eye, and all of the remaining spirit beast meat was gone.

Sitting with his eyes closed, Nie Tian was practicing Qi Refining Incantation, channeling the energy to reform the spiritual sea in his dantian.

Although focused on his cultivation, he continued to maintain focus on the surrounding area. He suddenly sensed that the stuffy heat of the desert seemed to have faded away.

His hair seemed to quietly stand up on end due to the change in the temperature.

Having sensed the anomaly, he ceased his work with his spiritual sea, and released his psychic awareness, extending it out in every direction.

His first thought was that someone from the Ghost sect or the Blood sect had come for him.

Waves of extremely vigorous life fluctuations suddenly reflected into his soul. Expression flickering, he looked off in the direction of the disturbance.

Soon, his psychic awareness detected a powerful life form, something that clearly didn’t belong to a human being!

“Spirit beast! A second grade spirit beast just like the Lurker Lizard!”

He sprung to his feet, eyes locked on the direction that had been determined by his psychic power detection, ready for a fierce battle.

He was right!

About ten seconds later, a giant figure appeared from the direction that he had been staring in.

“The Frost Python!” Nie Tian stood aghast.

Previously, when his group went through the enormous trouble to search for it in the glacier area, it seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Now, however, it had actually appeared in the desert!

The Frost Python was the most powerful spirit beast in the entire Green Illusion dimension, moreover it seemed to possess impressive intelligence.

Upon seeing the Lurker Lizard getting injured, the Frost Python immediately fled the glacier area.

It seemed to know that everyone was hunting for it. Hence, it had concealed itself ever since, not leaving a single trace of its whereabouts.

Unlike the Lurker Lizard, it hadn’t been injured by An Ying or Zheng Rui. It had only consumed a little proportion of its strength, which should have long since recovered after such a long time.

This meant the Frost Python that Nie Tian was facing now was at its peak!