“He’s still alive?!!”

Zheng Bin stood there, staring aghast at Nie Tian.

An Ying and Jiang Lingzhu seemed as if they had seen a ghost, and could scarcely believe their own eyes.

The Lesser Heaven stage Yu Tong had clearly used the Blood sect’s forbidden technique, Earth Web, to trap Nie Tian and start to refine his blood.

When they left, Nie Tian was already on the verge of dying. In fact, he hadn’t even been breathing. The only thing that was standing between him and death’s door was his weakening heartbeat.

How could Nie Tian have survived a situation like that?!

Every one of them found it hard to believe.

Pan Tao was the first to rush to Nie Tian’s side. He circled around Nie Tian a few times, examining him carefully. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with him, he punched his shoulder heartily and blurted, “You little brat, how did you survive?!”

That was the the question that everyone wanted to ask.

At that time, everyone who had run after the people from the Ghost sect and the Blood sect had returned to Nie Tian’s side, and were staring at him with eyes wide, waiting for him to give an explanation.

Nie Tian forced a laugh and said, “The witch proved to be her own undoing.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pan Tao.

“She seemed to have suffered from a backlash when she was casting the blood refining technique.” Nie Tian’s expression was the same as ever. With a calm tone, he continued, “If she had managed to pull through, every drop of my blood would have been drained and refined. However, using the Earth Web with her Lesser Heaven cultivation base seems to be a bit beyond her.

“I sensed that when she was refining my fresh blood, something suddenly went wrong, and then she immediately lost all power.

“Since she could no longer continue with her spell, the blood that had been removed from my body gradually flowed back inside of me. Those countless scarlet blood strings also exploded into pieces, turning into a bloody mist as they slowly dissipated.”

As Nie Tian spoke, Jiang Miao, who was standing next to him, had a subtle, strange look in her eyes, since this explanation of his was clearly different from the one he had given her.

According to him, those scarlet blood strings had exploded, but Jiang Miao had clearly watched as the numerous blood strings, which contained rich blood and Qi, had actually disappeared into him, where they seemed to have been refined by Nie Tian.

Fortunately, Jiang Miao harbored gratitude towards him, and thus didn’t expose his secrets.

After he gave the explanation, thoughtful expressions could be seen on everyone’s faces. Some believed him, while the others… secretly doubted the authenticity of the words. Among that latter group were An Ying, Jiang Lingzhu, Pan Tao, and Zheng Bin.

Those who truly understood the profound mysteries of the Blood sect’s blood refinement technique all knew that once the technique was started, even if Yu Tong had indeed suffered from a backlash, it still wouldn’t stop.

Even if Yu Tong had died, the blood refinement technique would still last long enough for Nie Tian to die tragically due to excessive blood loss.

At the very least, it was impossible for the fresh blood that had been previously extracted from Nie Tian to flow back on its own.

In short, it was definitely impossible for him to have come out unscathed. Even if he somehow survived, he shouldn’t be as radiant as he was now.

Seeing that everyone remained silent, with some of them looking at him with puzzled expressions, Nie Tian hurriedly changed the subject. “How about you guys? Did you catch up to them and kill them all?”

Pan Tao smiled bitterly. “No. Mo Xi, the witch, and two others escaped. We chased them for a while and killed three of the rear guards.

“The weird thing is that Mo Xi and the others seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

“If we could have killed Mo Xi and that witch, at least we would be able to justify ourselves to our elders after we leave the Green Illusion dimension.” With that, he sighed regretfully.

Yu Tong sustained severe injuries, leaving Mo Xi as the only powerful enemy, but still they failed to take them out in spite of that. This left them all with a sour taste in their mouths.

The others also felt that they were useless, thus no one spoke to defend themselves.

Finally, An Ying spoke up. “It’s about time to go. Let’s head to the Secret Dimension Gate. According to my calculations, the trial is going to end soon. We’ll only need to rough it out for a few more days. Let’s feast when we’re out of the Green Illusion dimension.”

Everyone nodded in assent.

It was at this point that Zheng Bin suddenly turned to Nie Tian and said, “We... thought you’d die for sure, and only then did we leave. We didn’t know you could make it. Otherwise, we would have stayed and helped you.”

An Ying, Jiang Lingzhu, and Nie Xian also looked at him with apologetic looks on their faces.

Nie Tian, on the other hand, didn’t take it seriously. He knew that Zheng Bin and the others’ decision was a wise one. If not for his inexplicable uniqueness, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to survive.

They knew nothing about it, therefore abandoning a doomed person and trying to turn the situation around by killing Yu Tong wasn’t wrong in the slightest.

“It’s nothing.” Nie Tian said, smiling. “I won’t blame you guys. You did nothing wrong.”

Pan Tao patted him on his shoulder and amiably said, “It’s good that you survived. Haven’t you become a disciple of the Cloudsoaring sect yet, you little punk?”

“No, I haven’t,” Nie Tian said truthfully. “My cultivation base isn’t good enough yet.”

Pan Tao nodded and chuckled, a meaningful look in his eyes.

Jiang Lingzhu was sizing Nie Tian up as she listened in on Nie Tian and Pan Tao’s conversation. Her expression flickered, as though she had understood the meaning behind Pan Tao’s words. She instantly said in a loud voice, “Don’t even think about trying to recruit Nie Tian! Pan Tao, let me assure you, Nie Tian is joining the Cloudsoaring sect, if not sooner, then definitely later. You’d better give up your little scheme!”

Pan Tao rubbed his nose. “Your sect sets the rules and insists that disciples from the subordinate clans should reach the ninth level of Qi Refining before they can be admitted. Our sect, however, isn’t that rigid. Nie Tian is like a brother to me now. We survived many desperate situations together. I’ll definitely recommend him to the Spiritual Treasure sect after we leave the Green Illusion dimension.”

“There’s no way you can succeed!” Jiang Lingzhu said, her voice firm and tough.

Pan Tao burst into laughter. “Haha, let’s see.”

The Secret Dimension Gate would be opened in a few days. Yu Tong had sustained severe injuries, and only three disciples from the Ghost sect and Blood sect were still in fighting condition.

From the look of it, the Ghost sect and the Blood sect could no longer pose a threat to them.

Convinced that they would be able to make it out of the Green Illusion dimension, Pan Tao loosened up, and had already started to think over the matters regarding after they had left the Green Illusion dimension.

“Yeah, we will see!” Jiang Lingzhu said, not willing to back down in the slightest.

For the next few days, Nie Tian and the trial takers from the three sects remained by the Secret Dimension Gate, quietly waiting for it to open.

Since the gate was about to open and there weren’t any spirit beasts in the vicinity, they chose to simply endure the hunger.

Five days passed...

Everyone was pale, skinny, and feeling dizzy from starvation. But then, strong waves of spiritual power fluctuations emanated from within the stone wall on the mountain.

“The gate is open!” Excitement spread out on everyone’s face.

Soon, the smooth stone wall turned into a bright mirror.

“Everybody, let’s leave in orderly fashion!”

Upon An Ying’s command, the starving crowd followed one another into the Secret Dimension Gate.

Beside the lake in the marshland...

An Shiyi from the Spiritual Treasure sect, Li Fan from the Cloudsoaring sect, Sang Bing from the Grayvale sect, and Dowager Weng were chatting as they looked towards the vortex in the lake center.

Sang Bing tilted his chin up and said to An Shiyi, “Assuming there were no mishaps, the Frost Python most likely was slaughtered by Yuan Feng. If that’s the case, don’t you be petty, kid. That Heaven Comprehending Pill must be handed over according to the rules.”

A charming smile appeared on An Shiyi’s face. “How do you know that Yuan Feng killed the Frost Python?”

Sang Bing chuckled up. “Neither your sister An Ying, nor Zheng Bin or Jiang Lingzhu, have truly gone through trials and hardships. But we’ve trained Yuan Feng with harsh circumstances. We even brought him with us when we battled with the Ghost sect. He has been baptized by blood. The Green Illusion dimension trial will have been a piece of cake for him.”

“Oh really,” replied Li Fan, sounding a bit sarcastic. “Then I very much want to see whether he can bring back the Frost Python’s head.”

“You’ll see.” Sang Bing sounded full of confidence.

“They’re coming out!” said Dowager Weng.

With her words, Zheng Bin and the trial takers from the Mystic Mist sect emerged from within the whirlpool.

After them were Jiang Lingzhu and Nie Xian. An Ying, Pan Tao, Nie Tian, and Zheng Rui were the last to walk out.

“Those who come out last always have the greatest gains.” Face joyful, Sang Bing laughed out loud, as if Yuan Feng was going to walk out of the whirlpool in the next second, with the Frost Python’s head in his hand.

However, after laughing for awhile, he realized that after everyone had gone ashore, Yuan Feng still hadn’t showed up.

He immediately packed away his laughter. Brow slightly furrowed, he said, “Could it be that Yuan Feng and his group didn’t get to the stone wall when the Secret Dimension Gate opened?”

Jiang Lingzhu went over to Li Fan and said, “Yuan Feng is not coming back. He’s not the only one. No one from the Grayvale sect will be coming back either..”

"What?!" Sang Bing’s face changed drastically.