This was the second time Nie Tian had felt that strange feeling with the fragmentary star mark on his chest after entering the forbidden region.
The first time had been soon after he had come to this region, when he had arrived at the edge of the crater of the first and largest meteor he had encountered.
However, due to Ning Yang and that other man’s arrival, he had rapidly backed away to avoid them.
This time, standing by the edge of the small yet deep crater, Nie Tian once again felt a burning sensation from the fragmentary star mark on his chest.
Under his command, one of his Heaven Eyes flew into the crater and towards the deepest parts of the earth.
However, it wasn’t long before the Heaven Eye came across the extremely small meteor, which was already reduced to scattered rubble.
Not a single Star Stone could be seen.
Apparently, Ning Yang had done this. In recent days, Ning Yang had been wandering around in this region, and whenever he saw meteors fall from the sky, he would rush to the crash site.
There, he would cut up every meteor, hoping to find methods to refine his fragmentary star mark from within them.
From what Nie Tian could tell, there wasn’t anything worth noting within the shattered meteor.
The thing that had caused the burning sensation from the fragmentary star mark on his chest was probably not the meteor, but rather something in the depths of the earth.
After a brief stay, the Heaven Eye went deeper towards the depths of the earth. As it did, it scanned its surroundings with rapt psychic awareness.
Several dozen seconds later…
Nie Tian sensed that the Heaven Eye had already sunk more than 2,000 meters into the depths of the earth.
Even the connection between him and that Heaven Eye of his started to flicker due to the exceeding distance between them.
However, just as he faced the risk of losing contact with that Heaven Eye, a water-like ward suddenly entered his mind.
The ward lay in a location very deep underground, and it seemed that he was only able to sense its existence with the power that originated from the seven fragmentary stars in his soul.
For some reason, he had a feeling that only those who inherited legacies from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace, practiced the Fragmentary Star Incantation, and had fragmentary stars in their souls would be able to detect that ward with their Heaven Eyes.
Otherwise, even if it were powerful experts whose cultivation bases were several stages higher than his, and who had already transcended their psychic power into soul power, they still probably wouldn’t be able to sense the existence of that ward.
The reason was that when that Heaven Eye of his made contact with that ward deep underground, he sensed a strong aura released by the ward, which carried extremely rich and pure star power.
However, as he attempted to send that Heaven Eye deeper into the earth to explore the secrets behind the ward, he realized that his Heaven Eye had already reached its limit, and couldn’t go any further.
With another step, he would lose contact with that Heaven Eye, and he wouldn’t be able to reflect whatever there was under there in his mind via that Heaven Eye.
After a moment of pondering, Nie Tian retracted that Heaven Eye and sat down by the crater.
He was convinced that a relic of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace sat in the deepest parts of this so-called forbidden region.
It must have been hidden and sealed away by powerful experts from the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace. Only those who received their legacies and practiced the Fragmentary Star Incantation would be able to pry into what was hidden behind that ward.
It seemed that his current cultivation base was still so insignificant that he didn’t have the ability to dig into this secret hidden deep underground.
However, as long as he kept progressing in his cultivation, the day would come when he finally reached the point where his psychic power was fully upgraded to soul power, and then he would be able to solve the profound mysteries hidden in the depths of the earth.
Over the following few days, Nie Tian tracked down and examined many more fallen meteors in this forbidden region.
However, every time he sent his Heaven Eye into the depths of the earth, it failed to penetrate that ward wreathed in star power before he lost his connection with it.
After a few attempts, he was finally convinced that with his current cultivation base and strength, there was no way he could unearth the secret hidden in the depths of the earth.
Via the fragmentary star mark he had refined, Nie Tian could easily obtain Ning Yang’s accurate location without any assistance from his Heaven Eyes.
He knew that Ning Yang hadn’t given up on refining the third fragmentary star mark yet, and that he was still busting his ass looking for a method.
“The third fragmentary star mark…” With a frown, Nie Tian contemplated for quite a long time.
Then, he grew convinced that, considering his current strength and battle prowess, it would be impossible for him to forcibly take the third fragmentary star mark from Ning Yang.
On the other hand, he didn’t have the ability to pry into the secrets in the depths of the earth for the time being. Therefore, after entering the middle Heaven stage and mastering Starfall, he decided to return to Shatter City.
He planned to go find Hu Rong. He could either seek help from the Spirit Condor and ask them to help him take the third fragmentary star mark from Ning Yang, or disclose his true identity, so that powerful experts from the Heaven Palace Sect would descend upon the Realm of Split Void and strip the fragmentary star mark from Ning Yang.
After all, only when he obtained all three fragmentary star marks would he be able to use the secret magic to seal the opened spatial rifts in the Realm of Flame Heaven, the Realm of Mystic Heaven, and the Realm of a Thousand Devastations.
A few days passed…
After taking a few detours to steer clear of the Hunters that roamed about near Ash City, Nie Tian returned to the Void Illusion Mountain Range and set foot in the Wild Fire’s territory.
As soon as he did, via his Heaven Eyes, he learned from conversations between Wild Fire members, as well as exploring Qi warriors, that they had all heard about the appearance of a fire-attributed Spirit Channeling grade treasure in this part of the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
Therefore, at this moment, a variety of Qi warriors could be seen in every corner of the Wild Fire’s territory, including people from the Blood Skull, Dark Moon, Wild Fire, and different Hunter organizations.
Each and every one of them harbored the intention to appropriate the Spirit Channeling grade treasure for themselves.
This area that should have been exclusive to the Wild Fire was now crowded with people from various organizations. Even though Nie Tian had his Heaven Eyes to help him, he had a strong feeling that it was becoming more and more difficult to avoid all those people.
It felt as if everyone who made their living in the Void Illusion Mountain Range was gathered in this region now.
The appearance of a Spirit Channeling grade treasure seemed to have demented those people, and made them felt as if they all had a good chance at owning it.
It wasn’t long before Nie Tian ran into people from the Blood Skull. Via his Heaven Eyes, he discovered that Pei Qiqi and Cai Yuan were also in the group. Therefore, he took the initiative to approach them.
As soon as he appeared, Cai Yuan exclaimed with a shocked expression, “Hua Tian! Where the hell did you go?”
“I found a place where I could focus on my cultivation.” Nie Tian grinned as he asked, although he knew the answer all along, “Why are you here?”
He snuck a glance at Pei Qiqi, and discovered that her expression was the same as ever as she gently nodded at him.
Pei Qiqi had witnessed the Flame Dragon Armor turn into a streak of blazing light and fly out of his bracelet of holding. When it snatched Heaven Flame Crystals from Shi Hui and the others, he had forcibly parted ways with her without giving her a chance to argue, and cast a few Starshifts to put a sizable distance between them.
He wasn’t sure if Pei Qiqi knew that the Spirit Channeling grade treasure had actually been unleashed by him.
With a serious expression, Cai Yuan explained, “An unclaimed Spirit Channeling grade treasure appeared in this region. Normally speaking, those who own Spirit Channeling grade treasures are usually experts at the Profound realm or Soul realm. Or they could even be unearthly masters at the three Domains!
“As we know, there are countless interlaced spatial rifts in the Void Illusion Mountain Range.
“Some of them lead to regions of death, while others lead to outsiders’ realms. However, it’s also possible that some of them lead to unknown dimensions where powerful human Qi warriors live.
“Perhaps that Spirit Channeling grade treasure flew out of one of those mysterious dimensions. If that’s indeed the case, it means that the Spirit Channeling grade treasure’s master is already dead.
“If we can find that Spirit Channeling grade treasure and figure out which dimension it came from, we’d probably come to some shocking findings.”
Aspiration filled Cai Yuan’s eyes as he spoke, as if he were already living the scene where he obtained the Spirit Channeling grade treasure and entered a deadly dimension ruled by powerful human Qi warriors.
Nie Tian stood in silence.