Mutant spirit beasts were usually significantly more powerful than normal spirit beasts that matched their grades.

The ones gathered by the lakeside now were all mutant spirit beasts. They consisted of five sixth grade mutant spirit beasts and a seventh grade Earthshatter Beast.

Normally speaking, spirit beasts’ intelligence would be greatly developed after they entered the seventh grade. After entering the eighth grade, they would gain the ability to take different forms, including a human form.

That seventh grade Earthshatter Beast was the one that had let out that angry roar.

Furthermore, its bloodline power allowed it to shake the earth. The violent turbulences that had spread across Graydusk Forest just now had clearly been caused by it.

Its dark-red pupils shone with the light of intelligence as it stared coldly at Nie Tian.

From the look of it, it had long since noticed Nie Tian’s behavior after entering the forest, and was angry with him trampling on the lush forest with his Wood Thriving Formation.

With its roar, it was actually trying to scare Nie Tian, and warn him against coming any closer.

However, Nie Tian approached regardless.

Grinning, Nie Tian pointed at heaven and earth. “A seventh grade spirit beast wants to scare me off with a roar? The entire Realm of Split Void is my territory. Don’t tell me you have a problem with me being here.

“Technically, everything here belongs to me, including you!”

HOWL!

The enormous Earthshatter Beast seemed to be able to understand his somewhat insulting words.

As soon as it let out a fierce howl, the other five mutant spirit beasts exploded towards Nie Tian.

They were an Ice Liger, a Strongwind Beast, a Thunder Beast, and a Golden Armor Beast. All of them had clearly adapted to the tainted spiritual Qi, and were exceptionally robust.

Nie Tian shook his head and laughed. “Even though you’ve mutated, sixth grade spirit beasts are still too weak to withstand even a single blow from me.”

He calmly approached them and after they were close enough, pointed his finger at his Star Boat.

A bit of starlight sprinkled down.

A beam of blinding starlight instantly shot out of the prow of the Star Boat like a bolt of lightning.

The incoming Ice Liger didn’t even last for a second before exploding violently, its silver body reduced to a bloody mist.

More beams of starlight burst forth, and the other mutant spirit beasts were bombarded to death one by one. Not a single one escaped.

Just like that, all of the sixth grade mutant spirit beast died in the blink of an eye.

Nie Tian let out a low laugh as the Star Boat flew by their remains. As he wove his fingers in the air, one blood string after another flew out of his fingertips, chaining pieces of their mangled bodies and dragging them into the Star Boat.

Then, as he activated Life Drain, the crimson blood strings rapidly expanded.

Rich flesh power flooded into Nie Tian like rivers running into the sea, before being madly devoured by his bloodline aura.

With a smile, Nie Tian laid his eyes on the seventh grade Earthshatter Beast. “You’re much stronger than them. If what I suspect is true, you must be the ruler of this forest. But sadly, your ruling days end now.”

The Star Boat slightly adjusted its direction to aim at the seventh grade Earthshatter Beast like a large cannon.

A dark-yellow aura rose from the Earthshatter Beast and merged with the ground it was standing on.

The earth started to give rise to loud rumbles. Numerous huge rocks underground were stimulated by the Earthshatter Beast’s bloodline power, and rose into the air.

Rocks that were as large as stone houses hovered in a certain formation before being wielded by the dark-yellow aura and slamming towards Nie Tian.

Nie Tian snorted coldly. “You’re wasting your strength.”

Beams of dazzling starlight shot out of the Star Boat, shattering each and every incoming huge rock.

Nie Tian shook his head. “The strength of a seventh grade spirit beast is only equal to that of a Soul realm human expert. I can crush you by relying on my bodily strength alone.”

SHEW!

He shot out of the Star Boat like an unchained beast, and instantly engaged in a head-on fight with the Earthshatter Beast.

The Earthshatter Beast slammed Nie Tian with its saw-like tail and sharp claws. However, it failed to cause any considerable damage, like hitting a hard rock with steel.

Nie Tian, however, formed a sword with his hand and plunged it over and over into the Earthshatter Beast effortlessly.

Within seconds, the mutant Earthshatter Beast was riddled with holes, from which it bled light-yellow blood.

The seventh grade Earthshatter Beast bellowed in pain, and gradually became powerless.

As far as it was concerned, this human that had appeared out of nowhere was even stronger than Bonebrutes or Demons at his level.

Badly injured, the Earthshatter Beast finally struggled free from Nie Tian’s hands, dove into the murky lake, and vanished.

With a cold snort, Nie Tian sensed the lake with his bloodline power. However, his expression flickered in the next moment.

The murky lake in front of him actually contained an extremely rich aura!

Such aura was a mixture of the thick blood of a wide array of spirit beasts and outsiders. The feeling it gave him reminded him of Master Bloody Despair’s domain.

“Domain! The lake is a domain!”

Upon the sudden realization, he stared unblinkingly at the murky lake, his expression frozen.

Changes started to occur. The lakewater gradually turned multicolored. Glorious as it looked, every color actually represented the blood of a different species.

All of a sudden, a figure emerged from the peculiar lake.

It was a wrinkled old man, who seemed to be reaching the end of his lifespan.

The old man let out a weak sigh and said with a bitter expression, “Why so aggressive? I’m nothing but a dying old man. For many years, I’ve holed up here with these mutant spirit beasts, clinging to my last breaths. I nourished my domain with mutant spirit beast blood and never stirred up trouble. Why do you have to push me?”

“Who are you?” Nie Tian asked, frowning. “Your aura and your domain are almost identical to that of Master Bloody Despair, the head of the Bloody Despair Brotherhood. Who is he to you?”

The old man frowned deeply. “That crooked one is my junior martial brother. Do you know him?”

“I... had an encounter with him in another domain,” Nie Tian said with a surprised expression. “So you’re his senior martial brother? Then why did you hole up in the Realm of Split Void for many years?”

For some reason, he didn’t feel any danger, even though the old man in front of him claimed to be Master Bloody Despair’s senior martial brother.

He had a feeling that he didn’t mean ill.

Instead of answering, the man said, “In fact, I’m sensing a familiar aura from you. I know who are you. You’re from the Realm of Split Void, and you lived in the Realm of Split Void for a few years, right?”

“That’s right,” Nie Tian answered.

“You learned the Blood Refining Incantation from the Blood Sect when you were in the Realm of Flame Heaven, right?” The old man asked.

Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment. “How do you know that?”

But after a brief moment of pondering, he realized something, and asked, “You spied on me during the time I lived in the Realm of Split Void, didn’t you?”

Fan Kai was the first cultivator throughout the entire Domain of the Falling Stars to enter the Void domain. However, Nie Tian was convinced that the old man before him was at the Saint domain.

If a Saint domain expert wanted to hide his aura and hole up somewhere in the Domain of the Falling Stars, no one would be able to sense his existence.

If he wanted to spy on someone, his Saint domain cultivation base would allow him to do so effortlessly.

“I founded the Blood Sect in the Realm of Flame Heaven. You practiced the Blood Refining Incantation, and you showed up here before. Of course I could sense you.” The man said, as if he didn’t think there was anything wrong about it. “However, you seem to have stopped practicing the Blood Refining Incantation for some time. Even though I don’t know what it is, you seem to have replaced it with another wondrous incantation.”

Nie Tian’s expression flickered with astonishment again. “You founded the Blood Sect?”

“Master Bloody Despair and I are martial brothers, and our sect was called the Blood Spirit Sect,” the man said in a bitter tone, “However, our sect was wiped out by the Heaven Span Pavilion a very long time ago. They claimed that we were a crooked sect, and couldn’t be allowed in the human cultivation world. After I drifted to the Realm of Flame Heaven, I created the Blood Sect. The reason why I got rid of the word ‘Spirit’ was to avoid attracting attention from the four great sects.”

Nie Tian stood aghast.

He knew the history of the four great sects taking it upon themselves to root out crooked human forces.

Both the Nether Spirit Society and the Death Curse Sect had been determined to be crooked human forces, and vanished for many years after the four great sects’ joint cleansing operations.

Who would have thought the Blood Spirit Sect had also been put into this category?

Brow furrowed, Nie Tian asked, “If the disciples of the Blood Spirit Sect only practice with spirit beast and outsider blood, it’s not that unacceptable, right?”

The man sighed. “We thought so too. We only strengthen ourselves with spirit beast and outsider blood. After all, there is next to no flesh power within human blood. We wouldn’t even consider killing our own kind. Even so, the Heaven Span Pavilion targeted and annihilated my sect.”