Eyes narrowed, Nie Tian unleashed his soul awareness and flesh aura, and soon gave her an answer, “I can’t sense any soul fluctuations or life auras. I don’t think there are people there to ambush us.”
Qiao Yunqi nodded. “Good.”
She put her mind at ease and steered the Flame Bird towards the ancient starship that was shining with golden light.
The ancient starship, which seemed to be forged from pure gold, was severely damaged and stuck between several large meteors.
As the Flame Bird flew closer, Nie Tian examined it with rapt attention and discovered that it was covered in what seemed to be many scratches.
They seemed to be caused by extremely large sharp hooks. Some even split the ship’s solid exterior.
“This ancient starship of unknown origin seems to have been attacked by some enormous beasts!” Gasping with astonishment, Qiao Yunxi said, “Golden Obsidian is the main material that was used to forge this ancient starship! Golden Obsidian is a seventh level Premium grade spiritual material, and is of great value. It’s hard to believe that this ancient starship is almost entirely made from Golden Obsidian!”
Nie Tian’s expression flickered slightly. “Seventh level Premium grade spiritual materials?!”
He was well-aware that Premium grade spiritual materials were already very hard to find in the Domain of the Falling Stars, not to mention seventh grade Premium grade spiritual materials.
Spiritual materials at this level could be used to forge Premium grade or even Spirit Channeling grade spiritual tools.
Since the owner of this ancient starship had forged it with such a large amount of Golden Obsidian, that indicated that he or she must have come from a very powerful background.
“Not a single sect in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries would forge an ancient starship with pure seventh level Premium grade spiritual materials. They would have to throw in spiritual materials of lower grades as well. Premium grade materials would only be used to forge the crucial parts of the starship.” With these words, Qiao Yunxi steered the Flame Bird towards the shiny, ancient starship. Then, she suggested that they split up to examine it.
Nie Tian agreed, and they flew in different directions to examine the ancient starship, along with its surroundings.
A few minutes later, the two of them reunited at the Flame Bird.
Eyebrows furrowed, Qiao Yunxi said, “The core of the starship has been destroyed. There’s no way we can fix it ourselves. Also, I didn’t find any corpses in the vicinity.”
Nie Tian chimed in, “Yeah, me neither. If this ancient starship was indeed brought down by some enormous beasts, then could it be that the beasts also ate the remains of those who died?”
Qiao Yunxi nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking...” After a moment of silence, she added, “This ancient starship belonged to the Golden Vast Sect.”
Nie Tian was taken aback. “What? How do you know? Is it a sect from your domain?”
Qiao Yunxi shook her head. “Nope. I only read about it in some ancient records. Even though it’s not from our domain, their members came to our domain before. According to what I read, they were from a domain that was much more powerful than the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
“Only powerful sects like them would have the kind of resources to forge ancient starships with pure Golden Obsidian.
“It’s pity that we can’t take this ancient starship apart and take it away.
“Otherwise, just the pieces alone could be sold at good a price in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.”
The ancient starship was too large for any ring of holding. At the same time, the ancient starship was forged with Golden Obsidian, which was even tougher than steel. It would be extremely difficult to pry the Golden Obsidian off of it.
Looking at the broken starship, Nie Tian and Qiao Yunxi both had a frustrating feeling that they had found themselves standing in front of a mountain of treasures, yet were unable to take any away.
“Since we can’t repair it or take its Golden Obsidian away, we... can only leave it here, right?” Nie Tian asked.
Qiao Yunxi looked rather dispirited as she said, “Yeah, I’m afraid we don’t have a choice. Who would have known that we went to great lengths to discover such a great treasure, yet we can’t take it away. Talk about luck...”
As she sighed in frustration and prepared to activate her Flame Bird again, a light flashed across her eyes. “Hop on board now!”
Nie Tian did as he was told and jumped onto the Flame Bird. After a brief scan of his surroundings, his expression also flickered. “People are coming!”
Those who were coming didn’t try to mask their soul fluctuations, so both of them could sense their presence with great clarity.
There seemed to be hundreds of people in this group, and they were scattered and approaching the place where they were from all directions.
A loud and excited voice echoed out from behind a nearby meteor. “We’re here! The detected location is right up ahead!”
Then, numerous air-transportation spiritual tools that were shining with golden light came whooshing out one after another.
More air-transportation spiritual tools appeared and rapidly approached from other directions like streams of golden light.
“The Golden Stone Sect.” Qiao Yunxi gave a meaningful smile, and didn’t seem to want to leave anymore.
Nie Tian took a look at her and realized what was going on. “Are they from your domain?” he asked.
“Yeah, the Golden Stone Sect is only one of the Trisword Sect’s subordinate forces. Their most powerful expert is only at the early Void domain. Plus, that person practices secluded cultivation year-round. He can’t be here himself.” Qiao Yunxi seemed rather composed now facing the Golden Stone Sect, which was completely different from when she had faced those from the Bliss Mountain Sect.
She was considered the future sectmaster of the Divine Flame Sect, and the Divine Flame Sect was one of the eight major powers in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, the same as the Three sects.
The Golden Stone Sect, however, was only a subordinate force of the Trisword Sect. They were to the Trisword Sect what the Lei Clan was to the Divine Flame Sect.
She seemed to be convinced that their only early Void domain expert wouldn’t appear in this place, so she didn’t seem worried.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Within moments, numerous air-transportation spiritual tools that shone with bright, golden light arrived and surrounded the ancient starship.
A middle Soul realm expert from the Golden Stone Sect was clad in a suit of golden armor. Under his awe-inspiring appearance, his eyes shone with the light of greed.
He laughed wildly and shouted, “We’ve finally found this ancient starship left by the Golden Vast Sect! Months of painstaking searching didn’t go to waste!”
Standing on other air-transportation spiritual tools, hundreds of other Golden Stone Sect Qi warriors seemed to be in high spirits upon hearing his words.
Hundreds of years ago, the Golden Stone Sect had accidentally gained a special item that had turned out to be a piece from an ancient starship from the Golden Vast Sect.
Afterwards, the Golden Stone Sect had scanned every realm in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries with the help of that item, but had found nothing.
However, about a hundred years ago, a powerful expert of the Golden Stone Sect had accidentally discovered that the item in his hands had shown changes as he passed by this forbidden region.
Since then, he had been convinced that an ancient starship from the Golden Vast Sect had crashed, and been left in this region.
At the beginning, exploration teams from the Golden Stone Sect hadn’t dared to make any major moves, but only examined the outermost areas of the region.
But later, they had discovered that this region had gone through changes, and they had been able to enter it.
Therefore, the Golden Stone Sect had sent out almost all of their most powerful experts to search for that ancient starship.
However, the Golden Stone Sect and the Golden Vast Sect actually didn’t have anything to do with each other. They just happened to practice incantations of the same attribute.
That was why they had spared no cost to find the ancient starship lost by the Golden Vast Sect since the moment they had learned about the existence of that abandoned ancient starship.
“Hmm?!” The smile froze on the face of the bulky old man in golden armor as he discovered Qiao Yunxi and Nie Tian.
“What are you doing here, Elder Mao?” Qiao Yunxi asked coldly.
“Miss... Miss Qiao!” Mao Mingyuan went blank briefly before waving at his people, signaling them to hold on and keep quiet.
Many Worldly realm and Profound realm Qi warriors from the Golden Stone Sect went silent upon seeing the Flame Bird, which was known throughout the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries.
They all knew that its owner was the future sectmaster of the Divine Flame Sect. Every Qi warrior in the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries knew that.
Since Qiao Yunxi was here, there were probably other Divine Flame Sect disciples in the vicinity.
Now that she was already standing before the ancient starship, it would be very difficult for them to take it from the Divine Flame Sect’s hands.
Mao Mingyuan appeared to be on the verge of tears as he clasped his hands and bowed towards Qiao Yunxi. “Miss Qiao, we’ve been looking for this ancient starship from the Golden Vast Sect for hundreds of years now. Would you please be so kind as to let us have it? We’ll be forever grateful!”
“You’ve been looking for it for hundreds of years?” Qiao Yunxi asked, seeming intrigued. “So tell me how you came to know that it was here?”
“We gained a special item by accident, and that item turned out to be from this very ancient starship. We searched throughout the Domain of Heaven’s Boundaries, but failed to find anything. Only recently did one of our elders discover that...” Mao Mingyuan went on and briefly explained the matter. Then, he begged, “Young mistress, this ancient starship is severely damaged. You can’t fix it or take it back. You might as well do us a favor and give it to us.”
Qiao Yunxi snorted coldly. “I can’t take it back, but my sect can.”
Mao Mingyuan gave a dry smile and sighed. “Well… How on earth will you agree to let us have it? We’re willing to give anything in return.”
Qiao Yunxi held her head high, an arrogant expression filling her face. “That’ll depend on whether you have anything that can make me change my mind.”
Nie Tian laughed inwardly as he watched her blackmail those from the Golden Stone Sect.
He was well-aware that the two of them had long since lost contact with the Divine Flame Sect’s main force.
If these people from the Golden Stone Sect knew about that, they probably wouldn’t have adopted such a tone. They might even try to attack them.
However, they didn’t.
Considering Qiao Yunxi’s lofty status, they had never known her to travel by herself. Even if she wanted to, the Divine Flame Sect wouldn’t allow it.
It was the Divine Flame Sect behind Qiao Yunxi that Mao Mingyuan was afraid of.
He suspected that Qiao Yunxi had already informed the Divine Flame Sect of her discoveries, and powerful experts from the Divine Flame Sect would soon gather to this place.
If that was the case, each and every one of them would die if they dared to do anything to Qiao Yunxi.