Chapter 546: An Exorbitant Price
The disciples of the Yin Sect, the Yang Sect, and the Ice Pavilion Sect had personally fought Stonemen in battle, and thus knew how hard they were to deal with.
If the Stoneman leader had told the truth, and there were indeed more powerful experts of different races on that other island, then scouting the island might very well mean their death.
Knowing the deadliness of the mission, no one offered to go.
However, they also knew that they wouldn’t be able to make preparations without knowing the outsiders’ strength.
Only after getting a good understanding of the outsiders’ strength and intentions would they be able to decide whether to strike out or stand their ground.
Seeing that everyone had fallen silent, Su Lin frowned slightly. “Any volunteers to scout out the outsiders’ strength and movements on that island? Whoever is going had better possess life-saving means. Of course, it’s preferable that the person has special means that will allow him or her to get a grasp of the situation in secret.”
With a faint smile, Ye Qin from the Yin Sect said, “Miss Su, we all know what we’ll face if we go scouting on that island. I don’t think anyone is going to volunteer to go on a death mission. Don’t you think?”
Su Lin nodded and said, “You’re right. I actually have a proposal regarding that issue.”
“I’m all ears,” Ye Qin said, looking intrigued.
Su Lin took a deep breath and said, “Whoever goes on that scouting trip will be doing it for the safety of everyone. It won’t be fair if the person is not rewarded. Each of us must have gathered some valuables from this island. I propose that we each take some spiritual materials out as a reward for the person’s heroic action. What do you say?” Her eyes ran through the crowd.
Upon hearing her proposal, the leaders all whispered in each other’s ears in discussion.
It wasn’t long before everyone reached a mutual understanding, and expressed their support for Su Lin’s proposal by nodding at her.
Nie Tian, who stood off to the side, also nodded after watching Su Lin talk eloquently, sorting out the crucial problem and providing a solution.
Even though her cultivation base wasn’t very impressive, she was apparently a very good diplomat. She knew how to tackle tough matters while paying enough attention to people’s feelings.
After pondering for some time, Nie Tian was somewhat moved, his eyes glittering. “There’s going to be a reward...”
He knew that there wouldn’t be a person more suited for this mission than him. He had nine Heaven Eyes at his disposal. Once he arrived on that island, he would be able to obtain a thorough understanding of the outsiders’ strength within a short time with the help of his Heaven Eyes.
In the meantime, his Life Stealth bloodline talent would allow him to travel in stealth.
Even if he was somehow discovered, he would be able to escape with Starshifts.
He also possessed a Sound Stone, which would allow him to instantly transmit the information he had acquired to Dong Baijie and Dong Li.
All these reasons aside, he was personally very curious as to what lay beyond the strait on that distant island.
With these thoughts in mind, Nie Tian broke the silence by stepping out of the crowd. With a smile, he said to Su Lin, “Miss Su, what are you willing to give as remuneration?”
Everyone’s gazes fell on him and Su Lin.
At this moment, everyone present had learned that he was the final winner of the Heaven Gate trial, and the only successor of the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace’s legacies throughout the Domain of the Falling Stars.
They had also heard that he had killed multiple Greater Heaven stage Qi warriors to protect Dong Li while she had refined the eighth grade black phoenix’s corpse. By doing that, he had even forced a cruel killer like Yang Kan to avoid him like avoiding a sharp blade.
When Su Lin had arrived, not only had she not mentioned the Heaven Palace Sect disciples he had killed, but she had also voluntarily handed over the Earthshatter Beast’s eye.
Even though Yang Kan from the Flame God Sect knew that the Flame Dragon Armor was in Nie Tian’s possession all along, he had kept quiet about it.
All of these had proven Nie Tian’s uniqueness and formidableness.
All those who had personally witnessed Nie Tian’s battle prowess viewed him as the most formidable adversary there would be, and would try everything in their power to avoid conflicts with him.
Su Lin was worried that no one would want to take on the heavy responsibility of being a scout, so when she saw that Nie Tian had stepped up, her eyes lit up as she asked, “Are you volunteering to go, Nie Tian?”
Dong Li rushed out of the crowd, her face filled with worry. “Nie Tian! What are you doing?!”
Regardless of how the others might judge her, she grabbed Nie Tian by his arm in an attempt to drag him back into the crowd, where Dong Baijie and the others from the Realm of a Hundred Battles were standing.
Upon seeing the spontaneous concern and intimacy Dong Li was showing towards Nie Tian, Gu Haofeng instantly fumed with rage.
Dong Baijie chuckled softly with a meaningful look in his eyes.
Envious expressions appeared on many members of the other sects after they saw Dong Li, who was steaming hot, pulling Nie Tian by his arm in front of everyone without any scruples.
Under everyone’s gaze, Nie Tian’s expression was the same as ever, not embarrassed at all. He grabbed Dong Li’s milky white arm with a bit of force and fixed her with a determined gaze.
Dong Li met his gaze, and saw great determination and confidence in his eyes.
For some reason, Dong Li instantly felt reassured and that Nie Tian must have his reasons for such a decision.
She looked down, and after a brief consideration, slowly let go of Nie Tian’s arm. Then, she turned to Su Lin and said, “Miss Su, you’d better give Nie Tian enough remuneration now that you want him to go on this suicide mission. If you don’t, no matter what you say, I won’t let Nie Tian go.”
“Alright, what do you want, Nie Tian?” Su Lin asked with a faint smile.
“I’ll need an air-transportation spiritual tool to go to that island. Unlike all of you, I don’t come from a wealthy and powerful background. So I want one of your Heaven Palace Sect’s air-transportation spiritual tools.” Nie Tian demanded an exorbitant price.
He had always admired the core disciples of the other sects for the air-transportation spiritual tools they possessed.
One air-transportation spiritual tool alone cost more than a million spirit stones, which wasn’t something he could afford. Since he would have to rely on an air-transportation spiritual tool to go to the other island, he naturally wanted to seize the opportunity to obtain one.
The faces of Su Lin and the other Heaven Palace Sect disciples dropped the moment they heard that Nie Tian was demanding an air-transportation spiritual tool from them.
Even though the Heaven Palace Sect was very wealthy, not every disciple possessed air-transportation spiritual tools. Only their core disciples and those who had made significant contributions to the sect would be bestowed air-transportation spiritual tools.
Su Lin did possess an air-transportation spiritual tool. However, it was the only one she had. It would be like cutting flesh off of her if she were to give it away.
One of the Heaven Palace Sect disciples couldn’t hold his temper any longer. He burst with rage and shouted, “Junior Martial Sister Su! This is outrageous! He’s clearly taking the opportunity to rob us!”
Eyebrows furrowed, Su Lin smiled bitterly as she asked Nie Tian, “Is there anything else that we can give you instead?”
Nie Tian shook his head. “No.”
“Well... How about I let you use it for now, and you can return it afterwards?” Su Lin struck a bargain.
Nie Tian grinned. “You’ll let me use it for now? Perhaps I’ll be able to pass the information back to you after I arrive on that island, but there’s also a good chance that I’ll get myself killed there. How would I return it to you if I’m dead? Also, you really don’t think my life is worth an air-transportation spiritual tool?”
Su Lin fell silent. Moments later, gritting her teeth, she summoned her air-transportation spiritual tool and controlled it to fly to Nie Tian’s side as she said, “Alright! This Golden Chariot belongs to you now. This compass will allow you to control the war chariot with nothing but your psychic awareness. You’ll only need to embed it into the war chariot.”
An exquisite metal compass followed the Golden Chariot to Nie Tian.
Nie Tian raised his hand and grabbed the compass, and then, with a swift leap, he landed in the Golden Chariot, where he placed the metal compass in a groove in the travel device.
As the compass slowly sank into the groove, the spirit stones that filled the bottom of the war chariot were rapidly drained of power.
Then, as he sent a wisp of his psychic awareness into the special spell formation within the compass, he instantly gained control of the Golden Chariot.
This Golden Chariot had been forged by one of the Heaven Palace Sect’s equipment forgers, with numerous precious materials. It was even more expensive than Dong Li’s Rainbow Lightning, which she had purchased from the Tool Sect.
After gaining the Golden Chariot, Nie Tian laughed broadly and nodded. “The Heaven Palace Sect has proved their ample support for my mission. Now it’s your turn.”