Mao Mingyuan smiled bitterly. "Will you stop playing with me, Miss Qiao? How could you lay eyes on things from my collection?"
With these words, he slowly approached the wrecked ancient starship and threw his own ring of holding to Qiao Yunxi.
"My lifetime collection is in that ring," Mao Mingyuan said. "You're welcome to take whatever you like."
Knowing that killing Qiao Yunxi wasn't an option, he could only let her take whatever she liked, hoping that would suffice.
Qiao Yunxi made a grabbing motion in the air with her jade-white left hand, and the ring of holding flew into her palm.
Then, a wisp of her soul awareness swam inside the ring of holding before her for a few seconds before her face grew increasingly cold. "Don't try to fool me with this crap!" she blurted.
She threw the ring of holding back to Mao Mingyuan.
Looking rather embarrassed, Mao Mingyuan bowed slightly and said, "We can never match your sect's strength and resources. And I'm not the sectmaster. It's only natural that you can't find anything you like in my collection. Is there anything else I can do?"
All of the other Golden Stone Sect disciples looked rather frustrated as they fixed Qiao Yunxi with begging gazes from afar.
Qiao Yunxi pondered in silence, and figured that she had better not waste too much time on these people. As an idea entered her mind, she said, "So you were saying that you've searched this region for quite some time now, right?"
"We?" Mao Mingyuan said. "Yeah, my group has been searching this region for more than six months now."
"So did you come by yourselves, or with people from the Trisword Sect?" Qiao Yunxi asked.
"We came by ourselves, but we ran into people from the Trisword Sect after searching for a while." Mao Mingyuan didn't try to hide the truth. "Not just them, we also met people from the Beast-controlling Sect and the Chu Clan. They all seemed to have discovered a huge meteor that was wreathed in rich spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
"According to our master sect, the Trisword Sect, that meteor seemed to be a piece from a major realm that shattered.
"They gave us the location and urged us to go there as soon as possible. However, this ancient starship is what we came for, so we asked them to allow us a bit more time.
"But they were afraid that the Beast-controlling Sect and the Chu Clan would fight them over that meteor."
Qiao Yunxi was taken aback. "A piece from a shattered realm?"
Mao Mingyuan nodded slightly. "Yeah. According to them, the countless meteors we're seeing now are all pieces from shattered realms. Most of the pieces have long since become completely worthless.
"However, a small portion of them are still wreathed in the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, so there might be valuable resources to be unearthed in them.
"The huge meteor the Trisword Sect discovered happened to be such a meteor, but the Beast-controlling Sect and the Chu Clan also discovered it, and now they're summoning reinforcements."
Seeming intrigued, Qiao Yunxi asked, "Where exactly is that meteor?"
Mao Mingyuan came up to her and took out a roughly-made star map on a piece of leather. Pointing at it, he said, "This is the area, but we've never been there ourselves."
As Qiao Yunxi examined the map with rapt attention, Nie Tian also looked down at it. With a single glance at it, his eyes grew wide.
The location Mao Mingyuan was pointing at was none other than where they were heading.
After looking for a while, Qiao Yunxi snapped the map from Mao Mingyuan's hands and said, "Alright, this map is mine now.
"You're quite foxy, huh? Keeping the only valuable thing in your inner pocket. Why didn't you put it in your ring of holding?"
Smiling embarrassedly, Mao Mingyuan said, "It's not that valuable..."
Qiao Yunxi gave a cold snort. "It's much more valuable than the crap in your ring of holding."
With these words, she shot a last glance at the ancient starship behind her and flew away on her Flame Bird with Nie Tian.
After they had gone far enough, Nie Tian said with a plain tone, "The place that man pointed out for you is the place where I'm taking you."
Qiao Yunxi's expression flickered as she asked, "What?! Are you sure?!"
Nie Tian nodded. "Yeah."
Qiao Yunxi seemed rather surprised as she said, "You're a strangely resourceful man. If you know that place is special, do you know what makes it special?"
Nie Tian shook his head.
Qiao Yunxi seemed to be bothered by something as she said, "The Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan all attached such importance to that place; there must be secrets to be uncovered there. We've remained peaceful with those three forces over the past three years, but if we go..."
Nie Tian also pondered the matter.
He had had a long talk with Yue Yanxi from the Divine Flame Sect. From him, he had learned about the five major sects and three major clans in the Domain of Heaven's Boundaries.
The five major sects were the Pure Heaven Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, the Divine Flame Sect, the Trisword Sect, and the Bliss Mountain Sect.
The three major clans were the Chu Clan, the Jian Clan, and the Guan Clan.
Each of these eight major powers had a late Void domain expert as their patriarch, and their influence reached every corner of the Domain of Heaven's Boundaries.
Even if the Divine Flame Sect hadn't had conflicts with the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan before, if they had found something extremely valuable in this place, they wouldn't have any regard for Qiao Yunxi's status.
After all, the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan weren't weak subordinate forces like the Golden Stone Sect. They weren't afraid of the Divine Flame Sect.
"If we go there, we'll most likely run into people from the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan. You'd better think it over before making your decision." Nie Tian suggested.
Qiao Yunxi pondered briefly before saying, "We'll only go and take a look. It'll probably be fine as long as we don't make any rash moves."
"Alright," Nie Tian said.
After traveling for a month, an enormous, green meteor entered Nie Tian's view.
This was the location on the star map where the powerful discarnate souls had been gathered, and the location that Mao Mingyuan had pointed out for them earlier.
As they approached, they discovered that the meteor only looked green because the entire meteor was covered in some kind of green plant.
Like a huge blanket, the green plant covered every inch of the meteor.
Meanwhile, the meteor was wreathed in misty spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, which seemed to have remained unscattered for tens of thousands of years.
Furthermore, there was an emerald green lake in the central area of the meteor. Observed from afar, it looked like a gemstone was embedded in the middle of the meteor.
It seemed that wisps of spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth were rising from that lake and filling every corner of the floating meteor.
All sorts of flowers and grasses were thriving around the lake, releasing the pleasant scent of nature.
Numerous air-transportation spiritual tools could be seen berthed by the lake. They were of a variety of shapes and materials. Some looked like Bone Dragons, while others looked like swords and pagodas.
Nearly a thousand Qi warriors from the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan were gathered by the lake and having heated discussions with one another.
However, each and every one of them seemed to have their eyes on a plant in the middle of the emerald green lake.
The powerful experts from the Trisword Sect, the Beast-controlling Sect, and the Chu Clan were gathered in a circle, as if they were discussing how to split their discovery.
While approaching on her Flame Bird, Qiao Yunxi couldn't help but exclaim, "This meteor is indeed a blessed land! The misty aura rising from the lake is extremely concentrated spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth! The spiritual Qi is also mixed with rich wood power, which is nourishing this meteor and giving birth to all kinds of plants!"
The people on the meteor soon sensed the incoming Flame Bird. Their faces grew grim as they looked up at it.
A stir broke out among the nearly a thousand Qi warriors on the ground.
"Qiao Yunxi! I can't believe that the Divine Flame Sect has found this place too! Dammit! We'll have to split the spiritual materials with one more party!"
"Aren't the Divine Flame Sect's main force exploring another area? Why would she suddenly show up here?"
"Now that she's here, the others from the Divine Flame Sect will probably arrive soon."
Apparently, they weren't thrilled to see Qiao Yunxi.
However, Qiao Yunxi ignored their comments completely and landed her Flame Bird under their gazes.
Standing in front of a huge python, a well-built young woman fixed her and Nie Tian with an unwelcoming stare. "Where are the others from your sect, Qiao Yunxi?"
The woman was even taller than most men. She was wearing a fur skirt and a piece of leather wrapped around her chest, revealing her waist, which didn't have a shred of fat.
Judging from her tanned skin, she seemed to stay in the sun a lot. Her exposed arms, abdomen, and legs all seemed to contain explosive power. She looked wild, like a female lion.
"Such rich flesh power!" Nie Tian's expression flickered as he gazed at her, who was very different from the most women he had met before.
This woman was either a hybrid, or born unique. With some special body-refining incantation, she had built her sexy but deadly physique.
In Nie Tian's senses, the intensity of her flesh power could match that of a fifth grade Demon.
That meant she could fight a fifth grade Demon by relying on nothing but her fleshly body.
At the same time, her cultivation base was at the late Worldly realm, which was even higher than Qiao Yunxi's.
Nie Tian secretly unleashed his flesh aura to examine the woman's age, and learned that she was only about thirty years old.
He couldn't help but exclaimed inwardly, "Another freak!"