Since the Realm of a Hundred Battles was rather vast, most of the outsiders didn't possess the ability to travel across it within a short time.
However, members of the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, and the Pill Pavillion Sect had managed to arrive in the Dong Clan in the blink of an eye through their teleportation portals.
Upon hearing of the sudden change in the situation at the Dong Clan, the three seventh grade outsider experts who had originally been attacking the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, and the Pill Pavilion Sect had converged on the Dong Clan at full speed.
At this moment, Nie Tian gazed into the distant sky and saw that three streaks of light were coming towards them.
In Nie Tian's senses, each outsider expert was wreathed in incredibly profound flesh power.
The grand spell formation was still protecting the Dong Clan. Members with low cultivation bases were ordered to stay behind it.
Qian Xin, Cao Qiushui, and Qin Yan were among them.
Nie Tian quickly refocused on the battles between Soul realm experts and the seventh grade outsiders.
Soon, he came to notice that, due to the arrival of Qian Buhui, Gu Yuan, and Cao Mo, the two seventh grade outsiders suffered serious injuries within a short time.
The seventh grade Demon, who was as huge as a mountain after unleashing his Ancestral Awakening, was now wreathed in clusters of black flames and slithering, black lightning bolts.
However, under the storm of attacks from Dong Wangling's giant, red ape, Qian Buhui's golden pill, and the Bone Blood Demon, the speed at which he healed himself started to fall behind the speed at which he sustained injuries.
Within moments, his mountain-like body was covered in deep wounds. Many of the sharp bones that protruded from his spine were snapped.
The Demon roared angrily as black flames shot out of its blazing black eyes, engulfing heaven and earth around him. Even Dong Wangling's giant ape cowered slightly after being engulfed by the black flames.
However, as an outsider, the Bone Blood Demon didn't seem to fear the black flames in the slightest. It repeatedly slashed the Demon with its large, blade-sharp hands, leaving deep, bone-revealing gashes.
Nie Tian then laid his eyes on the seventh grade Phantasm.
The Phantasm expert was at the middle seventh grade. Normally speaking, he should have been stronger than Zhao Shanling.
However, Zhao Shanling's Death Reign was unfathomably powerful, as if it connected the space they were in with some remote space disruption zone. Once evil spirits were sucked into it, they were nowhere to be found again.
Meanwhile, the enormous blade Zhao Shanling had formed with a profound spatial magic seemed to be sharp enough to split heaven and earth, which was giving the Phantasm a strong headache.
However, Zhao Shanling seemed to be constantly traveling back and forth between different spaces, which made it impossible for the Phantasm expert to catch him. Now that Cao Mou and Gu Yuan had joined the battle, the Phantasm expert suffered a series of heavy blows and was now at an obvious disadvantage.
Since the other three seventh grade outsiders hadn't yet joined the battle, the human experts were now dominating the outsiders.
In other areas, members of the Dong Clan, the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, and the Pill Pavilion Sect were also at an advantage in their battles against fifth and sixth grade outsiders.
At this moment, more fifth and sixth grade outsiders were still gathered around the Pill Pavilion Sect, the Gu Clan, and the Cao Clan. Even if they started marching towards the Dong Clan right away, they probably wouldn't make it before the battle ended.
"It seems that the crisis in the Realm of a Hundred Battles can finally come to an end." Nie Tian muttered, finally relaxing his strained mind.
Even though Dong Li and Dong Baijie had both summoned their beast spirits, instead of joining the battle, they stood by Nie Tian's side.
After all, with numerous Worldly realm and Profound realm members from the Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, and the Pill Pavilion Sect here, they weren't needed so much in the battle.
The brother-sister pair and Li Langfeng just stood by Nie Tian's side.
After all, they needed Nie Tian to be safe for the Bone Blood Demon, which possessed Soul realm battle prowess, to play an important role in their battle against the outsider experts.
Dong Baijie took a deep breath and said with a tone that was both excited and slightly disappointed, "It seems that our participation in this battle is no longer necessary. But someday, we'll take their place, and became the main force to defend the Domain of the Falling Stars against outsider invaders. I hope we can do as good a job as they're doing now."
"Of course you will, brother," Dong Li said with an encouraging look in her eyes.
Dong Baijie smiled heartily.
It didn't matter whether it was the Dong Clan members or the members of the Pill Pavilion Sect, the Cao Clan, and the Gu Clan, who had joined the battle later; they all knew how important Nie Tian was, and thus secretly kept an eye on him while fighting the outsiders.
At this moment, it suddenly occurred to Nie Tian that his master had told him that there was a star map within the Spirit Pearl.
A star map that marked a remote place of numerous realms.
It was just that it would need a large number of spirits for the star map to light up.
"Spirits..." He pondered briefly, then secretly summoned the Spirit Pearl from within his ring of holding.
As soon as the Spirit Pearl landed in his palm, a mysterious magnetic field was born around it and started spreading at an alarming rate.
The expressions of Dong Li, Dong Baijie, and Li Langfeng, who were standing beside him, all flickered.
Nie Tian noticed the changes on their faces, and thus asked, "What's wrong?"
With wide eyes, Li Langfeng said, "Nie Tian, this pearl of yours seems to have the ability to channel spirits and souls from its surroundings. Even my soul was a bit stirred and wanted to leave my body the moment you took it out."
"This is..." Dong Li went blank briefly before suddenly realizing that it was none other than the mysterious pearl Nie Tian had obtained from the Phantasms' ancient starship in the Realm of Dark Underworld.
Back when they had traveled in the Realm of Unbounded Desolation, she had sensed the Spirit Pearl channeling discarnate souls of the newly dead from heaven and earth.
While she was carried away by her thoughts, Li Langfeng's expression flickered again, and he closed his eyes.
After a few seconds, his eyes snapped open again.
With his Worldly realm soul awareness, he noticed that single discarnate souls within a twenty-kilometer radius were converging on the pearl in Nie Tian's hand from every direction.
Among them were discarnate souls of the newly killed outsiders, as well as those of humans.
The pearl then started to glow with a faint, cyan light. Like a mysterious black hole, it continued to channel wisps of discarnate souls from its surroundings.
Since Dong Baijie, Dong Li, and Li Langfeng were all his close friends, Nie Tian didn't feel the need to hide the truth from them. With a smile, he said, "This thing is called a Spirit Pearl. I got it from a Phantasm's ancient starship in the Realm of Dark Underworld. Inside of it, there's a star map. In order for the star map to show itself, it needs to absorb discarnate souls and spirits. Now is the perfect time to do that."
Li Langfeng's expression flickered slightly. "It's an item from the Phantasms!"
Then, after another close examination, he discovered that even the discarnate souls gathered around the seventh grade Phantasm started converging on the pearl after being scattered by Zhao Shanling and Gu Yuan.
Even the beast spirits of the Dong Clan members seemed to be affected.
As Nie Tian sent a wisp of his awareness into the Spirit Pearl, he could vaguely see that there was now a large number of glowing spots floating inside the pearl, lighting up its originally dim inner space.
It seemed as if each of the glowing spots represented a remote realm.
That was when he knew that his master was right. As the Spirit Pearl was infused with more and more discarnate souls, the star map would become clearer and clearer.
Furthermore, he remembered that the Spirit Pearl had another wonderful use.
He could take it to the magical heaven and earth where the titans were buried, and refine the souls and spirits within it with the grand spell formation formed by the enormous flame dragon skeletons.
Through refinement, all of the discarnate souls and evil spirits would be purged of their impurities, grudges, and other negative emotions.
After that process, nothing but pure soul power would remain. Then, he could absorb it, and the nine fragmentary stars in his soul would get to expand upon gaining more power.
Right now, he was at the late Greater Heaven stage, only one step away from entering the Worldly realm.
Once he entered the Worldly realm, his soul would undergo complete changes.
His psychic power would transform into soul power. Perhaps the nine fragmentary stars would also undergo new changes.
If he could gather a copious amount of soul power before that, when he broke through into the Worldly realm, the transformation of his soul would become much easier, and he would have soul power to use immediately after the breakthrough.
Within these thoughts in mind, he let go of himself and allowed the Spirit Pearl to absorb as many discarnate souls as it could.
After a moment of silent pondering, Li Langfeng said, "All living beings possess spirits. It's true of humans, outsiders, and spirit beasts. However, once they die, their souls will quickly vanish into heaven and earth. Only extremely powerful Phantasms or human experts who are very skilled in soul magics can stop their souls from scattering after their fleshly bodies perish.
"However, this pearl can gather a large number of discarnate souls that haven't scattered into heaven and earth by itself. This makes it very powerful, but also very dangerous.
"You'd better use it with great caution. Otherwise, I'm afraid..."
Nie Tian laughed softly and said, "It's okay. I have my way of keeping it under control."
The way he was referring to was taking the Spirit Pearl to that magical heaven and earth, where he could refine the spirits within it with the profound spell formation of flame dragon skeletons, using the pure flame power within the Blood Core.
Some Phantasms sensed the abnormal movements of the discarnate souls. They jerked their heads in Nie Tian's direction and saw the pearl in his hand instantly.
"That's our Spirit Pearl!"
"The Spirit Pearl that we left in the Domain of the Falling Stars!"
"I can't believe he has it!"
Even the seventh grade Phantasm expert, who had sustained numerous wounds from his battle against Zhao Shanling, was taken aback. "The item Lord Basto has been searching for is actually in his hands!!"