Pei Qiqi pondered briefly before saying, “Why don’t you stay here while I go in there and take a quick look? If I go by myself, I’ll be able to get out of there with the help of my spatial treasure if I’m in trouble.”

Zhao Shanling pointed at himself. “What about me, kid? Do you want me to go with you?”

“I’m not sure that it’ll be safe for you either,” Pei Qiqi said frankly.

Zhao Shanling’s face grew grim.

Before he could ask about the details, Pei Qiqi morphed into a streak of glorious light that shot directly into the mysterious portal.

Zhao Shanling turned to Nie Tian and asked, “Nie Tian, you’re a Son of the Stars of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace. How much do you know about your sect’s hybrid program?”

Nie Tian smiled bitterly. “I don’t know anything about it.”

“A large number of hybrids in a secluded heaven and earth that’s accessible through a secret portal in a space disruption zone.” Dong Li thought hard about the matter. “Who’s behind it? I hear that no human forces other than the four great sects have the ability to breed hybrids.”

Zhao Shanling shook his head. “That’s not necessarily the case.”

Nie Tiana and Dong Li fixed him with surprised looks simultaneously.

Zhao Shanling pointed at Nie Tian and said, “Both you and Pei Qiqi were born and raised in the Domain of the Falling Stars. Yet both of you are hybrids that carry unique bloodlines. So the way I see it, your births had nothing to do with the four great sects.

“Otherwise, instead of gradually manifesting your uniqueness and attracting the attention of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace and the Void Spirit Society, you should have been taken into the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace and the Void Spirit Society long ago.”

Nie Tian fell silent after hearing these words.

He remembered what Mo Heng had said to him about his father’s profound connection to the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, and the fact that he was the pioneer of human hybrid breeding.

The portal continued to glow with bright, mysterious light.

It had been some time now, but neither Pei Qiqi nor her spatial treasure had returned.

Nie Tian started to lose patience.

Zhao Shanling was well-versed in spatial magics. Even though Pei Qiqi didn’t think it would be safe for him to enter the portal, he had great confidence in himself.

“How about I go in there and take a look?” he asked. “As skilled and resourceful as the kid is, her cultivation base is still quite low. Perhaps I’ll be able to help her in there.”

“Are you sure that it’s safe for you to go?” Nie Tian asked with a deeply concerned expression.

“I can’t say for sure before I actually go and get a grasp of the situation in there,” Zhao Shanling answered honestly.

“Why don’t we wait a bit longer?” he said with determination.

“Sure.”

A long time passed...

Nie Tian finally wore out his patience. He took a glance at Zhao Shanling and said, “Be careful on your way in.”

Hearing this, Zhao Shanling smiled cunningly and flew into the portal with his Voidspirit Pagoda.

All of a sudden, Nie Tian and Dong Li became the only ones that were left in this strange place.

After that, it was endless waiting.

Time passed bit by bit, while there were no signs of Pei Qiqi or Zhao Shanling’s return.

Meanwhile, Dong Li and Nie Tian lost their spiritual and flesh power at a noticeable rate even though they weren’t doing anything.

Unlike other parts of the starry river, the Nine Stars Flower, Godspirit Tree, and flame spark within Nie Tian couldn’t channel power from his surroundings in this space disruption zone.

It seemed that only spatial power experts like Zhao Shanling and Pei Qiqi could gather wisps of power that were useful to them from a strange place like this.

“It seems that I’ve got to resort to my stock of spiritual materials now.” With a sigh, Nie Tian quietly took out a variety of spiritual materials with flame, wood, and star attributes, and started channeling power from them.

Luckily, he had stocked up on the spiritual materials he needed. Otherwise, his spiritual sea would have run dry within a short time.

At the same time, wisps of his flesh power also flew out of him unceasingly.

Seeing him recover power with spiritual materials, Dong Li thought briefly, then said with a bitter expression, “I don’t have that many spiritual materials that contain dark power on me.”

With these words, she took out several dry bones, all of which belonged to dark species such as black phoenixes and black dragons.

As for the dark stone, she didn’t dare to use it rashly in a space disruption zone like this. She wasn’t sure whether the Demons would be able to sense it if she did, or would it trigger unwanted changes.

While refining spiritual materials that contained dark power, Dong Li turned to Nie Tian and asked, “Are we still not going in there?”

“I have a feeling that they’re fine in there. They just haven’t returned yet.” Nie Tian answered with a thoughtful expression. “I have... special instincts for Senior Martial Sister Pei.”

Dong Li’s face fell. “Special instincts? Do you only have them for her?”

Nie Tian realized that he had said something he shouldn’t have. “Umm, I have them for others too. It’s hard to explain.”

He had activated Life Grant and helped Pei Qiqi strengthen her body and expand her acupoints with his Blood Essence.

The infusion of his Blood Essence seemed to have established a profound connection between him and Pei Qiqi.

Nie Tian couldn’t usually feel it. However, now that Pei Qiqi had left and he was worried about her, he could vaguely sense that she was still alive.

It was as if only if Pei Qiqi perished, both her body and soul, would the mark of his Blood Essence in her be erased completely.

Therefore, Nie Tian remained calm and unswayed, knowing that she was alive.

“So we just keep waiting?”

“Yeah.”

As the two of them quietly refined their respective spiritual materials, a sense of loneliness gradually rose in their hearts.

They moved closer together in front of the secret portal, as if only by doing so could they overcome the lonely feeling this peculiar heaven and earth was bringing them.

As time passed, an idea suddenly occurred to Nie Tian. “What will happen if I let the Star Behemoth bone out?”

The Star Behemoth bone could gather all sorts of power from its surroundings on its own when left in other parts of the starry river.

However, since they were now in a space disruption zone, it remained a question whether it could do the same here.

He decided to make an attempt.

WHOOSH!

The Star Behemoth bone that was dozens of meters long appeared upon Nie Tian’s summons.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

To Nie Tian’s surprise, wisps of faint colorful light were clearly drawn to the bone, as they started converging on it from all directions as soon as it showed up.

Dong Li was taken aback. “That bone can even gather power from its surroundings in a space disruption zone like this?!”

“Perhaps you can give that dark stone of yours a shot as well,” Nie Tian said.

He shrewdly discovered that the wisps of colorful light that fused into the Star Behemoth bone seemed to have a strong stimulating effect on it, as the mysterious veins within the bone were already undergoing subtle changes.

“The dark stone... in this place...” Encouraged by Nie Tian, Dong Li hesitated for a brief moment before bracing herself and preparing to summon the dark stone.

Seeing this, Nie Tian hastily said, “Let’s put some space between us.”

The Star Behemoth bone alone was already quite large. If she was going to summon the dark stone, it would be so crowded in this area that unnecessary conflicts might occur.

Therefore, it would be good for both of them if they put some distance between them.

Dong Li understood his concern, and thus left Nie Tian’s side. Only when she was rather far from the Star Behemoth bone did she stop and summon the dark stone.

FIZZ! FIZZ!

As soon as the dark stone appeared, part of the colorful wisps that were originally converging on the huge bone changed directions, and flew towards the dark stone instead.

Dong Li’s eyes lit up.