Several days passed...

Nie Tian had refined every last bit of the toxins inside of Bo Shiming with his wood power and flesh power under the magical effect of Heavenly Wood Heal.

The problem that had bothered Bo Shiming for many years was finally solved.

“Nie Tian, from now on, you and your subordinates are welcome to come find me whenever you need medicinal pills made, as long as they’re not Heaven grade medicinal pills. If you go through our sect, they’ll charge you a certain amount of contribution points. If you come to me directly with the necessary materials, I can make them for you for a small amount of spirit jades.” Bo Shiming offered Nie Tian this privilege out of gratitude.

Nie Tian thanked him, smiling.

Bo Shiming didn’t stay in the Realm of Remote Heaven afterwards. Instead, he teleported back to Fragmentary Star City to refocus on the Dao of alchemy.

Fang Yuan, on the other hand, had recently returned from the Dead Star Sea, so he was eager to get a grasp of the current situation in the domains that belonged to him. He had left before Bo Shiming was healed.

His ancient starship remained berthed at the edge of the Realm of Remote Heaven, guarded by a handful of his subordinates.

Fang Tianyi had left with him.

However, before the two of them had left, Fang Yuan had told Han Wanrong that they would return to Fragmentary Star City soon. If Nie Tian wanted to see him for anything, that was where he could find him.

Nie Tian was aware of how dangerous the Dead Star Sea was, and the fact that the current strength of his subordinates and himself didn’t allow them to go fight outsiders in the Dead Star Sea yet.

After all, the outsider forces that roamed the depths of the Dead Star Sea were all led by grand patriarchs like Cardy.

Only after he had late Saint domain experts among his subordinates would he have the ability to battle the ancient outsider clans in the depths of the Dead Star Sea.

As Nie Tian returned from Fang Yuan’s ancient starship to the piece of floating land controlled by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, he discovered that Quan Zixuan and the others were already waiting.

As Nie Tian reconvened with Quan Zixuan, Qu Mingde, and the others, he saw many passersby whispering to each other with their eyes fixed on him, gasping from time to time.

“Is that the seventh Son of the Stars?”

“Yeah! That’s him! He helped Bo Shiming get rid of all of his internal toxins!”

“As a skilled alchemist, Bo Shiming has a deep understanding of all kinds of herbs. He sought help from many experts, but still failed to expel the toxins that were deposited in his internal organs. It’s hard to believe how special this new Son of the Stars is.”

“It’s not just that, I also heard that he even neutralized the destructive power the Blood Warden had left in Fang Tianyi’s domain.”

“What?! He managed to neutralize Cardy’s residual power in Fang Tianyi’s domain? We’re talking about one of the most powerful grand patriarchs!”

“Fang Yuan’s subordinates told me this. It must be accurate.”

“Is the seventh Son of the Stars really so special?”

After arriving in front of the grand palace, Nie Tian asked with a smile, “Any gains?”

Quan Zixuan and Qu Mingde, as well as Dong Qisong, Zhongli Jian, and Feng Yulin from the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, fixed Nie Tian with respectful and grateful gazes.

Qu Mingde smiled and said, “The Realm of Remote Heaven is indeed a blessed land for those who want to trade. We got everything we need for our next breakthroughs.”

Zhongli Jian thanked him again.

That Profound Yang Pill was very important to him. He had thought he would lose it to Hong Yao.

However, Nie Tian had showed up and persuaded Bo Shiming to give him the Profound Yang Pill with merely a few words.

“We already have the spiritual materials we need,” Quan Zixuan said. “We were only waiting for you to return so we can go back.”

“Oh, right. For future reference, I have to take you here if you come to the Realm of Remote Heaven. But you can leave on your own. You don’t have to wait for me.” After explaining the rule to them, Nie Tian left with them via the teleportation portal in the palace.

After arriving at the Vast Heaven Pavilion, the others hurried back to their respective realms to get ready for their breakthroughs.

Nie Tian, however, stayed in the Vast Heaven Pavilion and focused on cultivation.

In order to advance to the Soul realm, he had to go through a long period of painstaking cultivation.

All of his spiritual cores needed to be further refined.

Therefore, he just stayed inside the Vast Heaven Pavilion, where he practiced cultivation day and night with the various cultivation resources he had stockpiled.

Time flew...

Before he knew it, he had spent three years practicing cultivation in the Vast Heaven Pavilion.

Quan Zixuan and the others had informed Nie Tian’s subordinate forces that Nie Tian had entered secluded cultivation in the Vast Heaven Pavilion, and told them not to disturb him unless it was something very important.

Therefore, not a single person had come to find him in the past three years.

At this point, Nie Tian finally realized that secluded cultivation might take up half of a Qi warrior’s lifespan.

The higher their cultivation bases became, the more difficult it would be for them to make breakthroughs. For experts at the Void, Saint, or God domain, a secluded cultivation session could easily last decades. Sometimes, they even lasted centuries.

When God domain experts took trips to derive enlightenment of heaven and earth in unmapped areas of the starry river, a single journey might last a thousand years.

BONG!

All of a sudden, a resonant bell toll echoed throughout Fragmentary Star City.

Nie Tian snapped awake from his cultivation.

Unlike the bell toll that had occurred when he had first entered Fragmentary Star City, this one was filled with grief.

As a Son of the Stars, he had learned some of his sect’s practices.

The divine bell normally wouldn’t be tolled. Every time it did, something major must have happened.

Nie Tian walked out of the Vast Heaven Pavilion, summoned the Star Boat, and flew towards the most splendid palace in the city.

As he did, he saw Fang Yuan flying out of another pavilion towards the central palace as well.

Their Star Boats rapidly came close.

“What does that bell toll stand for, Senior Martial Brother Fang?” Nie Tian asked.

“One of our elders has died,” Fang Yuan said with a grim face. “All twelve of our elders are at the late Saint domain. And our grand elder is at the God domain. Each and every one of them is capable of handling grand patriarchs as powerful as Cardy. Also, they’re scattered in different parts of the starry river, either overseeing important realms or exploring new domains. They all have heavy responsibilities.”

Nie Tian gasped with astonishment. “One of our elders died?! Do you know which one?”

Fang Yuan shook his head. “I don’t know yet. We’ll learn about that as soon as we get to the grand palace.”

As their Star Boats flew alongside each other, another Star Boat also shot into the air.

Standing on it was a thin young man, who was gazing at them from afar with an insidious look on his face.

Fang Yuan let out a cold harrumph. “Sikong Cuo!”

“He is Sikong Cuo?” Nie Tian asked with a surprised expression.

Fang Yuan frowned and said, “Who else can it be? You were in secluded cultivation during the past three years. During this time, Sikong Cuo went on a number of operations, and won a considerable amount of contribution points. This time, he’s here to use his contribution points to trade for rare spiritual materials that his subordinates couldn’t find in the Realm of Remote Heaven.

“From what I know, he’s summoned plenty more subordinates recently, including the head of the Bloody Despair Brotherhood, who’s been active around the Domain of Heaven Python.

“Master Bloody Despair?!” Nie Tian was taken aback. “Isn’t he the head of a hunter organization? And the Bloody Despair Brotherhood is notorious for their despicable deeds. The Qi warriors in the nearby domains, including the Domain of Endless Snow, the Domain of Heaven Python, and the Domain of Vast Darkness, have already launched several cleansing operations targeting them. He thinks it’s okay to make such a person his subordinate?”

“Sikong Cuo has many other subordinates that are just as contemptible as him,” Fang Yuan said. “When he takes in a subordinate, all he cares about is their battle prowess. Morality means nothing to him. For this reason, many of his subordinates are every bit as troublesome as him, and cause our sect trouble all the time.

“If he hadn’t done such an unspeakable thing to anger He Lianxiong from the Heaven Span Pavilion so much, he wouldn’t have set me up in the Dead Star Sea!”

As they spoke, Sikong Cuo’s Star Boat beat them to the grand palace.

By the time Nie Tian and Fang Yuan walked into the grand palace, they found that Wei Lai, Yan Zhan, Xin Qing, and Zu Guangyao, the four on-duty elders, were already there.

In front of the four elders lay a dozen bodies. The one in the middle was so badly mangled that its face was unidentifiable.

Wei Lai sighed deeply. “Elder Xiao is dead. Even his soul is gone. Reviving him is not an option. The two from the Five Elements Sect and the Void Spirit Society who went there with Elder Xiao died there as well.”

Yan Zhan trembled as he struggled to suppress his fury. “Together, our three sects sent three late Saint domain, six middle Saint domain, more than thirty Void domain, and hundreds of Soul realm members there. All of them died there. Damn those monsters!”

“I suppose that one has already recovered his peak strength,” Wei Lai said with a bitter expression.

“What should we do? Our sectmaster and vice sectmasters haven’t returned from their trips yet.” Yan Zhan asked.

“I’ve already gotten in contact with our grand elder,” Wei Lai said with furrowed brow. “He’s going to be back soon. I need to go to the Void Spirit Society’s headquarters to discuss our countermeasures.”

Nie Tian looked confused as the four elders discussed matters among themselves with grim faces.

Fang Yuan and Sikong Cuo, however, seemed to know what had happened as soon as they saw the corpses, but neither of them said anything.