A bitter expression appeared on Hua Mu's face as he said, "I'm afraid we're being framed by the Thousandsword Mountain Sect."
The leader in the golden feather hat had just said that people from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect had informed them that some humans had been secretly providing corpses of their own kind to the Bonebrutes.
Another person had even said that they were from the Domain of the Falling Stars.
Hua Mu pondered the matter a bit more, and realized that people from the Thousandsword Mountain Sect must have thrown Zhen Huilan's body into that spatial rift to lure them to this place so that they could use them as a scapegoat.
Zhao Shanling and the other experts were all patriarchs who had been around for centuries. Every one of them was seasoned enough to see what was happening.
The moment they heard the people from the Golden Expanse Sect mention the Domain of the Falling Stars, they realized that they had fallen into the Thousandsword Mountain Sect's trap.
BOOM! BOOM!
Pale-gray parts of dead Bonebrutes continued to fall out of the sky.
Gazing up, Xing Huanyue from the Yin Sect shouted, "It's not what you think! We have nothing to do with the corpses in that burial ground! That's the Thousandsword Mountain Sect's doing!"
Face filled with disgust, Zhong Shishu, the man in golden feather hat, shouted, "Don't you sling mud at them! We're allies. Why would they provide Bonebrutes with human corpses so that they could build burial grounds to facilitate their invasion of our lands?
"You have a Bonebrute standing beside you. How do you have the face to quibble?!"
With these words, a wheel of golden light flew whooshing out of his sleeve.
Like a small sun, it emanated blinding golden light as it pressed down on Nie Tian and the others.
Calm as ever, Zhao Shanling gave a casual smile. "Late Soul realm… Since you refuse to listen to reason, bring it on then!"
WHOOSH!
The Voidspirit Pagoda suddenly flew out from between his eyebrows to meet the wheel of golden light.
The Voidspirit Pagoda, which was originally only the size of a fist, expanded to be dozens of meters high in the blink of an eye.
Countless mysterious glowing patterns could be seen carved on the walls of the Voidspirit Pagoda. As they swam about on the walls like spatial blades, a terrifying, space-twisting aura was born.
Blinding golden light made contact with the silver spatial blades in midair, sending waves of violent fluctuations out in all directions, along with rays of destructive gold and silver light, riddling the nearby dormant volcanoes with holes.
Another powerful expert from the Golden Vast Sect gave a cold harrumph. "This one is at the late Soul realm and skilled in spatial magics!
"According to the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, the woman they killed also practiced spatial incantations!"
Zhong Shishu's eyes brimmed with anger as he said, "It must be them. We can't be mistaken!
"Spare that junior's life. His cultivation base is low enough, so it'll be easy for us to use soul transmitting techniques on him."
The junior they were referring to was none other than Nie Tian.
Hua Mu, Qi Bailu, and the others were all at the Soul realm.
Even if they managed to subdue Hua Mu or the others, since their cultivation bases were the same, it would be very troublesome to peel memories from their minds. They might even get themselves in trouble.
Nie Tian, however, was only at the Worldly realm, which made him a much easier target.
Nie Tian smiled coldly. "Want to use soul transmitting techniques on me..."
Clearly, these people from the Golden Vast Sect had been fooled by the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, and were convinced that Nie Tian's group had colluded with the Bonebrutes. Now, they wouldn't even listen to reason.
The Golden Vast Sect's arrogance angered Nie Tian and made him realize that to make them listen to reason, he would have to overtake them in battle.
With these thoughts in mind, he focused his killing intent on another Qi warrior of the Golden Vast Sect who had said a lot. "Go!"
The Bone Blood Demon instantly received his message.
BOOM!!
A pale-gray mist of death rose from the Bone Blood Demon as a unique bloodline talent of the Bonebrutes was activated.
The mist of death soared skywards like a dragon made of thick mist.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
Pale flames could be seen burning inside of it. Instead of burning hot, the flames were icy cold, and exuded the profound truths of death power.
The man from the Golden Stone Sect gasped. "This thing can even activate the Bonebrutes' bloodline talents!"
Then, he hastily summoned his Spirit Channeling grade treasure.
A mountain peak that shone with dazzling golden light flew out of his palm.
As it rapidly expanded, numerous golden spell formations could be seen covering the entire mountain peak.
At the same time, countless spell formations vested the mountain peak with power that was either solid, heavy, or sharp.
As the shiny golden mountain peak shot directly towards the Bone Blood Demon, the man morphed into a streak of golden light and flew into the ancient starship that was berthed high in the sky.
FZZZ!
The dragon made of thick mist the Bone Blood Demon unleashed chased the man to the ancient golden starship, but was warded off by a bright, yellow shield of light that enveloped it.
With great force, the golden mountain peak slammed down on the Bone Blood Demon, which was also enormous, knocking it to the ground.
Meanwhile...
Zhao Shanling's Voidspirit Pagoda was still contending against Zhong Shishu's wheel of golden light in midair.
Numerous spatial blades clashed with golden spell formations, filling the sky with innumerable rays of divine gold and silver light that carried fierce residual power.
WHOOSH!
At this very moment, Zhao Shanling unleashed his Death Reign.
It rapidly spread out, forming a terrifying pale-gray vortex, which looked like an enormous monster's opened mouth that was going to devour the ancient starship.
The Qi warrior who was wielding the golden mountain peak burst into a flaming rage as he berated, "Do you still deny your connections with the Bonebrutes?!"
Zhao Shanling's Death Reign was forged from a magical item that had belonged to Bonebrutes, and it also carried the profound truths of death power.
The Golden Vast Sect had fought far too many battles against the Bonebrutes. One sniff of the aura that the Death Reign emanated and the man was completely convinced that Nie Tian's group were the ones who, according to the Thousandsword Mountain Sect, had been secretly working with the Bonebrutes.
"It's harder than we thought to kill these scum," the man said. "Let's eliminate them with the strength of our starship."
He saw that some Soul realm experts on Nie Tian's side still hadn't joined the battle yet.
He was worried that an extended battle would mean trouble. Therefore, to prevent mishaps, he was prepared to resort to the ancient starship's overwhelming power.
The golden starship that was floating high above everyone suddenly gave rise to loud rumbles as golden sandy light started falling out of its bottom.
Like a rain of golden sand, a great amount of light fell ethereally and lightly.
Upon seeing this, Zhao Shanling's expression flickered drastically.
Nie Tian also gasped with astonishment.
He could sense with great clarity that the wherever the sandy golden light spread, the air seemed to be filled with some mysterious power, making it stagnant and solid like metal.
The intensive, sandy light was extremely fierce. As soon as it showered on the Bone Blood Demon, which had just gotten back on its feet, it seemed to infiltrate the Bone Blood Demon's translucent, jade-like bones.
In a split second, the Bone Blood Demon was covered in countless golden sparks.
"That sand-like light seems to be the work of a Void domain expert, which carries the profound truths of metal power!" Zhao Shanling shouted.
After hearing these words, Hua Mu, Qi Bailu, and the other experts all summoned spiritual power to enveloped themselves in protective wards.
However, as the sandy light touched their spiritual power wards, they crackled, as if they could burst at any moment.
WHOOSH!
The Bone Blood Demon took a step forward and bent down to put its gigantic body over Nie Tian.
It shielded the sandy light from Nie Tian completely with its broad back. Not a shred of light found its way to him.
RUUUUMBLE!
The rumble of another ancient starship echoed out from the depths of the void.
An insecure and uneasy look appeared on Zhao Shanling's face. After a moment of hesitation, he ended his battle with his opponent. "Come with me!"
In the next moment, he appeared beside Nie Tian, under the Bone Blood Demon's crouched body. Numerous spatial patterns started to flash about on the Voidspirit Pagoda's surface like silver lightning.
A glowing spatial tunnel was created.
Without much thought, Hua Mu and the others dashed into it.
Nie Tian also hastily returned the Bone Blood Demon to his ring of holding and flew into the spatial tunnel, not knowing where it would lead.
SHEW!
Zhao Shanling and his Death Reign were the last to flash into the spatial tunnel. Immediately afterwards, the spatial rift rapidly shrunk to a tiny spark and vanished completely.
In the next moment, the sandy golden light that filled the sky showered the earth, riddling it with countless golden holes.
Rumble!
Another huge ancient starship pierced through the clouds and berthed beside the golden starship.
A thin, young man with a Thousandsword Mountain Sect sigil on his chest asked after flying down, "Where are those people from the Domain of the Falling Stars, Senior Zhong?"
"They created a spatial tunnel and escaped," Zhong Shishu said in a sullen voice. "I don't know where they are now."
The young man sighed. "Another one that's skilled in spatial magics?! We can't be mistaken then. It must be them who colluded with the Bonebrutes and provided them with a large amount of human corpses, allowing them to build those burial grounds."
Zhong Shishu nodded, as he was also convinced that Nie Tian and the others were the rats that had been undermining them. "They even have a Bonebrute puppet fighting for them, along with a peculiar tool that seems to be forged from some magical item they acquired from the Bonebrutes."