After Huang Jinnan left with the others, Nie Tian hesitated briefly before saying, “You don’t have to stay here. Why don’t you go wait outside with those people?”
Xie Wanting shook her head. “I feel safer with you.”
Mu Biqiong chimed in, “We’ll wait for you right here.”
“I’m actually asking you to leave.” Nie Tian insisted.
“What do you want to do?” Yin Yanan asked with a confused look on her face.
Mu Biqiong and Xie Wanting also fixed him with puzzled gazes.
Nie Tian pondered briefly before saying, “In fact, why don’t you stay here for a while, Yin Yanan, and you two wait outside with the others?”
Seeing that he only wanted Yin Yanan to stay, Mu Biqiong looked rather disgruntled, as she gave a cold harrumph and left.
Xie Wanting still looked at Nie Tian, but after seeing his determined expression, she sighed inwardly and also left.
“Hey, I didn’t know that you actually trust me this much,” Yin Yanan said with a teasing smile.
“Here’s another berry. I want you to stand guard for me. If that Han Sen comes back here, I want you to kill him.” With these words, Nie Tian tossed Yin Yanan another berry, and flew up towards the green shield.
Yin Yanan was indeed the one he trusted the most among the three girls.
He didn’t know Xie Wanting well enough. Mu Biqiong had disliked him from the day they had met. Now, he had to watch out for Han Sen while absorbing the power within the green shield, so he assumed that he would be safer with Yin Yanan here to protect him.
Once again, he flew through and stood on the green shield.
However, he didn’t act meticulously this time, but activated Life Drain instead.
FIZZ! FIZZ!
The wisps of residual life power that swam within the green shield were sucked into him like a whale taking water into its mouth.
The green aura within his heart was thrilled.
The originally thick shield grew thinner with lightning speed as it lost its power at an alarming rate.
Yin Yanan’s eyes suddenly lit up.
At this moment, she finally understood why Nie Tian wanted to stay here.
Wisps of power flew out of the shield into Nie Tian’s body, where they were greedily devoured by the green aura in his heart.
As this happened, numerous new cyan spots seemed to be born within the Bloodline Crystal Chains that formed the green aura.
“This power...” Delight appeared in Nie Tian’s eyes as he realized that the power within this shield was indeed far richer than the power within those berries.
Besides, this power seemed to be of great help to the future upgrade of his bloodline.
He knew perfectly well that with every bloodline upgrade, he would have to accumulate many times more flesh power to achieve his next upgrade. Now that his bloodline had entered the sixth grade, the amount of flesh power he needed to enter the seventh grade would most likely be astronomical.
However, the shield not only contained a titan’s residual flesh power, but also its life power, which agreed perfectly with his bloodline and would benefit him beyond measure.
As one wisp of green energy after another flew into him and were devoured by the green aura within his heart, he could sense its unconcealable joy.
An hour passed...
The green shield finally vanished completely under the effect of Nie Tian’s Life Drain.
Even the severed vines hanging from the cave ceiling shriveled, as they were also drained of their flesh power and life power.
Nie Tian examined himself, and realized that even though the green aura in his heart had absorbed a significant amount of flesh power and life power, it was far from ready to enter dormancy again.
Since he had expected this, he didn’t grow anxious. Instead, he summoned some of his flesh power to form two drops of Blood Essence within his heart.
With this done, he had ten drops of Blood Essence in his heart again. Each and every one of them was rich in flesh aura and as sparkling as diamonds.
Afterwards, one of the berries flew out of his ring of holding into his palm, where he examined the energy it contained.
“The medicinal strength of this berry is weaker than that of a Fruit of Life by over ten times. The Fruits of Life I got for my master and uncle Hua gave each of them a hundred more years of lifespan. But one of these berries can only extend a Qi warrior’s lifespan by no more than eight years. Even though they also contain life power, which is helpful to my special bloodline, it’s far fainter than the life power within the green shield.”
After weighing the situation in his mind, he eventually put the berry away, instead of refining it right away.
Yin Yanan had gazed at him in silence the entire time.
Having witnessed the green shield gradually vanish after Nie Tian had stood on it, disbelief filled her face as she asked, “Did you just absorb the residual power within that green shield?”
Since she practiced the Beast-controlling Sect’s special body refinement incantations, she had developed a keen perception of flesh auras.
She had long since sensed rich flesh aura and vigorous life power within that green shield. It was just that she hadn’t figured out a way to channel it into her this whole time.
“Alright, I’m finished. Let’s go meet the others.” Without giving her an explanation, Nie Tian took the initiative to leave the mountain cave via the tunnel Huang Jinnan and the others had left in.
Deeply puzzled, Yin Yanan cursed inwardly, “Always making mysteries out of things... What on earth is so special about that guy’s bloodline? My Frost Blood Python and that woman’s demonic flowers all showed a strong desire for him. He can wield the Floragrims’ magical tool, and he was able to absorb a titan’s residual flesh aura... What kind of bloodline is it?”
She racked her mind, but still couldn’t think of an answer. Thus, with a frustrated sigh, she followed Nie Tian out of the mountain cave.
A quarter hour after they left, Fata the Floragrim arrived in the mountain cave quietly.
He didn’t travel with Froste and the other outsiders, but sought this place on his own.
Standing in the empty cave that was bereft of the berries and the green shield, Fata was confused. “There’s nothing here. Someone has collected the fruits of that titan’s residual flesh aura. Who could have taken this great fortune?”
A frustrated look appeared on his face.
Then, he spent a while to examine the cave, only to find a number of outsider and human corpses that were stripped of their valuables.
Having gained nothing, he muttered in frustration, “It seems that my trip to the Shatter Battlefield is going to end ahead of schedule.”
With these words, he turned around and left through the tunnel he had come from.
Meanwhile...
Nie Tian and Yin Yanan walked out of their tunnel into a vast, open area.
This tunnel wasn’t the one they had taken to enter the mountain’s belly, but was instead on the other side of the lofty mountain peak.
Huang Jinnan and the others were waiting at the foot of the mountain peak, recovering strength with spiritual materials as they did.
Mu Biqiong and Xie Wanting were sitting with them.
Upon seeing Nie Tian, Huang Jinnan’s face split into a bright smile as he waved at him.
Nie Tian and Yin Yanan then flew to the location where Huang Jinnan and the others were gathered.
“Well? Any additional gains?” Huang Jinnan asked, smiling.
Nie Tian nodded slightly, not saying anything.
Seeing this, instead of asking for more details, Huang Jinnan said, “Let’s go to another place and see what we can find. I’m certain that this place I’m taking you holds Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials. Perhaps we’ll run into that group of outsiders again. In that case, we’ll also split our gains according to the contributions we make.”
Having fought together once, Nie Tian already had positive feelings towards Huang Jinnan. Now that he heard that there might be Earth Cultivated grade spiritual materials, he was deeply intrigued, and agreed to join them without hesitation.
As Huang Jinnan gave an order, all of the cultivating Qi warriors rose to their feet.
One air-transportation spiritual tool after another was summoned. Standing on a shiny golden chariot, he thought for a moment before saying to Nie Tian, “We can share a ride if you don’t mind.”
As the other Qi warriors flew onto their own air-transportation spiritual tools, Xie Wanting summoned her air-transportation spiritual tool and flew on board, along with Mu Biqiong and Yin Yanan.
Huang Jinnan’s chariot was apparently beyond ordinary. Countless golden divine symbols could be seen carved on it, as if they could help defend the air-transportation spiritual tool as well as attack enemies. From the look of it, it was on the same level as Nie Tian’s Star Boat.
Meanwhile, Xie Wanting fixed Nie Tian with an anticipating gaze, as if she wished Nie Tian would come join them.
However, Nie Tian thought briefly, then eventually avoided her anticipating gaze. Instead, he flew onto Huang Jinnan’s chariot and said, “I happen to have something I want to ask you about.”
“About the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace?” Huang Jinnan asked, smiling.
“Exactly.”
“Alright, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
“Many thanks.”
One air-transportation spiritual tool after another flew out, with Huang Jinnan’s golden chariot in the lead.
Nie Tian, however, took the opportunity to ask Huang Jinnan about the ‘path of stars’ and the Heaven Gate trials, along with other wonderment regarding the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.
Huang Jinnan answered his questions one by one with a warm smile.